LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 15 - How This Fortune Teller Becomes Famous (3)
Chapter 15
How This Fortune Teller Becomes Famous (3)
『 Translator – Divinity 』
“So, what are you going to do with this bitch and me?”
“…Miss Liu. Are you throwing a tantrum and unable to even remember my name? How unsightly.”
“Bullshit. The one who couldn’t remember the Fortune Teller bastard’s name has a long tongue?”
“…That’s an interesting provocation. Mr. Namgung Min… Don’t believe this, it’s definitely a lie…”
“Haha, please don’t mind me and continue your conversation. I have to wait anyway.”
“Wait?”
“How long do we have to wait…”
“You’ll have to sit here for quite a while. Well, it’s not that we’re doing anything…”
“The one who’s in a hurry will come to us first.”
***
“This is crazy…”
Sasaki Ito, a
Although he didn’t have a special job and couldn’t take the dedicated exam, he was still confident in his abilities, having passed the exam with the 7th highest score in the entire school.
Moreover, since he had lived in the mountains since childhood, he confidently entered this complicated maze, but…
“How are we supposed to get out of this…!”
As soon as he started, what he saw was an endless feast of buildings.
The small paths and air passages everywhere made him hesitate about which way to go, and at some point, the path that was open before was now blocked. No matter how much he ran, all he could see were buildings, nothing new.
“I’m sure it was a little past 8 o’clock when we started…”
Perhaps as a courtesy from the academy, when he looked up at the sky, a giant electronic clock displayed the time.
The current time was 10:41.
Less than 2 hours remained until the time limit of 12 o’clock.
“S-somehow! I have to find the exit somehow!”
Desperate, he ran and ran. As a job holder with a superhuman body that surpassed ordinary people, and on top of that, having the
Despite that, the scenery didn’t change.
Buildings. Buildings. Buildings. Small building. Buildings. Buildings. Somewhat large building. Passage. Bridge. Buildings. Buildings. Buildings.
Only inorganic buildings with the same color and shape endlessly appeared.
“Damn it, damn it…!”
Buildings. Buildings. Buildings. Buildings.
“Where is it…! Where is it?!”
Buildings. Buildings. Buildings. Buildings. Passage. Building.
“Damn academy! Damn entrance ceremony!”
Bridge. Buildings. Buildings. Buildings. Buildings.
“Huff… huff…”
…Just how long had he been running?
At some point, Sasaki found himself leaning against a nearby building, gasping for breath.
The surrounding scenery was still the same. Damn buildings, freaking buildings, damn passages.
The time, what time was it?
“…Ha, haha.”
It was 10:45.
He had only been running for 4 minutes.
He was so tired, so exhausted.
“………….”
But what tormented Sasaki the most was something else.
After catching his breath a little, he looked back in the direction he had come from, not the direction he was running towards.
And there,
“…Damn it.”
He could see the grand auditorium.
Despite wandering, running, and moving for over 2 hours,
That damn building and the entrance he had first run out from were still there to greet him.
As if to say he could never escape. As if to say he was destined to return to the beginning.
Sasaki stared at the entrance for a long time, then finally lowered his head.
“Cleaning… 8 hours every day… for a month.”
When he first heard it, all he could think was “How can I do that?”. He felt nothing but resentment, thinking “I don’t even practice swordsmanship for 8 hours a day, why would I clean for 8 hours?”.
“Should I just… do it?”
Now, even that didn’t seem to matter anymore.
The pride of representing his home country, Japan, at Romance Academy, the excitement of being the 7th best student, the confidence of easily conquering this maze,
All of it shattered in a mere 2 hours.
“…Let’s go back.”
Even if he continued running, he wouldn’t be able to get out.
Maybe no one was meant to get out in the first place? Maybe the academy had set it up so everyone would fail?
Yeah, there’s no way they would actually make us clean for 8 hours, right? It must be a joke…
Sasaki returned with his head downcast, his strength gone.
Despite running for so long, it took less than 10 seconds to return to the beginning.
“…There aren’t many people here.”
Was he the only one feeling frustrated? The surroundings of the grand auditorium were deserted, with only a few students looking dejected or walking aimlessly.
Did everyone else escape the maze? Did everyone except him get out?
Sasaki, with no intention of hiding his feelings of dejection, walked towards the grand auditorium. He just wanted to sit down and rest.
“…?”
But then.
“How much longer do we have to wait?!”
“Time’s almost up!”
“There’s not much time left, so please don’t get too excited.”
“What are you talking about…?”
It was noisy inside the grand auditorium.
He hadn’t noticed it at first, but far more students than those wandering outside were inside the auditorium, talking amongst themselves.
“Why are there so many people…?”
What was going on? Did they gather the students again?
While Sasaki was bewildered, unable to grasp the situation,
“…Huh? Isn’t that Sasaki? The 7th place in the entrance exam!”
“That’s right! I took the exam with him, I’m sure!”
“Alright, grab him!”
“Let’s grab him! Grab him!”
“Wh-what!?”
Some of the students who recognized him suddenly rushed at him and grabbed his arms and legs!
At the scene that was almost like a horror movie, Sasaki instinctively tried to draw his sword from his waist, but before the sword could be fully drawn, he was swept away by the crowd and roughly dragged somewhere.
“Wh-wh-what! Let go of me!”
“Shut up! We can’t start without you!”
“Quickly take him to Namgung Min!”
“They said we only need him…!”
“N-Namgung Min!?”
That Fortune Teller?
Before he could even think about the name that suddenly came up, Sasaki was dragged away and practically thrown into the center of the grand auditorium.
As he was still dazed, four people came into his sight.
“You are…?”
“We’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Sasaki Ito.”
Namgung Min, the only one sitting in a chair with a smile.
And standing on either side of him were Rain Arthur with a shocked expression and Liu Yan with an annoyed look. And behind them was Lucas Arthur, who seemed unable to comprehend the situation.
Sasaki’s eyes widened at the four celebrities, who were impossible not to know for any new student of the academy.
“Th-the special class?”
“Eh, what’s with the ‘special class’? We’re just classmates. I’m Namgung Min, the Fortune Teller. You saw me at the entrance ceremony earlier, right?”
“Y-yes. I saw you well. It was amazing and accurate fortune-telling.”
“Thank you for the compliment. Anyway, now that Mr. Sasaki is here, we can start.”
“What?”
It was just a smile, but why did it feel so ominous?
Sasaki gulped involuntarily and looked at Namgung Min, who was getting up from his seat.
“Everyone, be quiet.”
“Huh? What did he just say?”
“Hey, quiet! Be quiet!”
“Everyone, be quiet!”
“………….”
“…………….”
“……….”
“Good.”
With a single word from Namgung Min, the entire grand auditorium fell silent in an instant.
Second place in the entrance exam, special class, the first Fortune Teller in the academy. Although it was the first day of the entrance ceremony, there were countless modifiers describing Namgung Min. He had shown that he had the ability to back it up earlier.
But he was still a student, wasn’t he? He wasn’t a
Yet his words held power.
A power that somehow made people follow him.
“Would you open the way?”
Thump thump thump thump…
At Namgung Min’s quiet words, the students moved accordingly.
In an instant, a path opened, connecting Namgung Min to the main entrance.
Then, he slowly started walking.
“What do you think, everyone?”
Walking along the path created solely for him,
“Don’t you think this is unfair?”
Thud.
“This exam is biased. Among those with magic-related jobs, my classmates with jobs like
He continued speaking with a smile.
“Of course, not all exams can be fair. There are dozens of jobs, and it’s impossible for all job holders to take a fair exam in every test.”
He lowered his voice slightly, then…
“But don’t you think this is going too far? It’s already 11 o’clock. We only have 1 hour left, and if that time passes, we have to clean for 8 hours every day, for a whole month.”
He gradually raised his voice, added gestures, and slowly heightened the emotions.
…Listening to his words quietly, I felt angry.
I ran so hard. I really did my best.
Just because our jobs are different, they don’t have to clean, but I do?
That’s, that’s…
“Unfair, right?”
“………!”
Namgung Min’s words were like scratching an itch.
Sasaki’s eyes widened in surprise.
But he wasn’t the only one who resonated with those words.
“That’s right. I’ve been lost for over an hour too.”
“Does it make sense that if you turn around, you’re right back here? They’re just messing with us!”
“In the first place, I have a non-combat job, so I’m slower than others…”
“Did you see those magicians using spatial magic? They were just happily escaping!”
The students gathered here were all different. Gender, origin, thoughts, experiences, all of them. Even if they were gathered in one place and talked, it was usually impossible to get everyone to agree.
But the time spent in that maze… was an experience shared equally by everyone here.
And it was an extremely negative experience.
Namgung Min’s words were hitting that exact point.
“Aren’t you frustrated? Aren’t you angry?”
“Of course I’m angry!”
“I also wanted a
“How do they expect us to escape this place?!”
Namgung Min had only opened a small floodgate, but all sorts of words poured out from the entire grand auditorium.
Unreasonable. Unfair. Unjust.
Words containing those meanings were heard from everywhere.
“…Unfair.”
And naturally, Sasaki too,
“This is… unfair…!”
Vented his frustration.
I was 7th in the entrance exam! I worked hard for it!
I wandered and wandered for over 2 hours! I ran and ran until I couldn’t run anymore.
But because of the inherent difference in our jobs, he can do it, but I can’t? Of course that’s unfair. It’s too unfair!
…So.
“But what can we do?”
“………….”
So… what should we do?
What should we do to escape from here?
What method should we use to be rewarded for our efforts?
“One person is powerless. This maze is huge, and a single person is just a small dot in it.”
To Sasaki’s ears, longing for an answer,
Namgung Min’s sweet words reached him.
Not just to Sasaki, but to everyone in the grand auditorium.
Namgung Min whispered,
“But what if we all band together? What if we become not just dots in this maze, but a collective large enough to break it down?”
He urged them to take an action they would never have considered before.
He told them to break the mold.
“Of course, you’ll feel lost. Break down the maze? How can we break down those buildings? Is it even okay to break them? What will happen to the academy if we break them down?”
He constantly empathized with them.
“Don’t worry, I have the instructor’s permission. Just follow me, follow my fortune-telling, and it’s possible.”
He encouraged them to move together.
“Are you still hesitant? Are you wondering if it’s right to follow something like fortune-telling?”
“………….”
“…………….”
“………….”
“Your concerns are valid. But there are already two people who believe in me and are willing to act with me. The
“………!”
They were world-renowned promising figures and celebrities even before entering Romance Academy.
Namgung Min had their fame backing him up.
“If you can’t believe me, believe in them.”
“……….”
“Now, I will ask you all.”
“………….”
“Is there anyone who will go with me?”
“………Me.”
Putting aside his frustration and dejection, with eyes full of confidence and anger,
Sasaki Ito raised his head.
“Me too!”
Someone raised their hand from one side of the grand auditorium.
“Screw it, I’m following!”
Someone else shouted from another side.
As one person followed, then another,
“M-me too!”
“I want to go too!”
“Ah, screw it, it’s a fail if I stay here anyway, so I’ll go!”
“Namgung Min! I believe in your fortune-telling!”
“It’s fortune-telling that even the
“Let’s go!”
Waaaaaaaaaah────
The grand auditorium roared. It reverberated with the students’ shouts and madness.
At the center of all the excitement, Namgung Min turned around with a smile.
“What do you think? Miss Rain, Miss Liu.”
“………….”
“…Ha.”
“I told you, right?”
“Namgung Min! Namgung Min! Namgung Min!”
“We only believe in you!”
“Fortune-telling is god!”
“I told you, all we have to do is wait.”
As Namgung Min gestured, everyone followed his hand and moved.
As Namgung Min walked, everyone followed him.
Namgung Min, who had become the representative of the students here with just a few words, grabbed a tarot card from the air.
“Shall we go then?”
He shuffled the cards randomly and drew one.
“First, that wall in front of us.”
He threw it casually.
“That is a harmful wall. So—”
—Let’s break it down.
With that usual smile of his.