Chapter 50 : Rachel Bonaparte

“Ancestor…?”

Turning my head, I saw a woman with silver hair and blue eyes staring at me in surprise.

Her round, widened blue eyes looked familiar.

Rachel Bonaparte.

An S-rank hunter who has recently been the biggest sensation in Korea, as well as a Magu ambassador.

Privately, she is a descendant of Napoleon, with whom I once attacked the Toulon Gate.

It was she who had called out to me.

I was secretly surprised but quickly suppressed it.

There was no way Rachel could have recognized me.

That was because I had never shown Rachel my bare face.

Feigning confusion, I looked at Rachel and asked,

“Do you know me?”

“I apologize. There are many eyes watching here.”

Her words, as if she completely understood my situation, left me slightly flustered.

Did she really recognize me?

Judging by her expression, it didn’t seem like she was just testing me.

“Let’s move somewhere else first.”

“Understood.”

I left the auditorium with Rachel.

The auditorium was noisy as they were wrapping up the incident.

Since there were many people at the front entrance, we headed toward the back door through the hallways.

Scattered throughout the hallway were dead bodies.

As if they had been sliced by a sharp guillotine, the bodies had cleanly severed limbs.

‘Was this all Vanessa’s doing?’

As I walked in shock, we soon arrived at the back door.

“This place should be suitable.”

Rachel stopped under a quiet tree and turned to look at me.

Sunlight filtering through the tree’s shade made her blue eyes shimmer like a lake.

“It’s been three months.”

Rachel said, looking at me with steadfast eyes.

“Connector.”

As expected, Rachel had recognized me.

How?

Reading my thoughts, Rachel spoke.

“I saw the blonde girl who was with you at the Toulon Gate in the auditorium.”

The first thing Rachel saw when she broke through the barrier was neither Wang Wei nor the assailants, but the blonde girl.

The girl who had been with the ancestor who saved her at the Toulon Gate.

And the familiar ‘magic bullet marks’ embedded throughout the auditorium.

An ordinary person wouldn’t have noticed, but Rachel, who had been searching for her ancestor, recognized it immediately.

The combination of the blonde girl and magic bullets meant that the ancestor she was looking for was inside the hall.

As she looked around, she happened to see Choi Seo-jun stepping out of the emergency exit.

It was her first time seeing his bare face, but Rachel instinctively knew that he was the person she had been searching for.

The magic bullets had been fired from above.

More than anything—

“Your eyes looked familiar.”

Rachel asked again.

“Are you the Connector?”

“Yes.”

In the end, I admitted that I was the Connector.

She was so certain that I couldn’t deny it.

But still…………

‘Korean?’

Rachel was, surprisingly, speaking in Korean.

When we had met before, Jeanne had acted as an interpreter so we could communicate.

My transcendent Connector abilities only activated in the ‘Otherworld.’

Jeanne and Vanessa could understand Korean because, for them, this place was the ‘Otherworld.’

The two of them were ‘Distorters’ who didn’t belong to any world.

For reference, the ability of a Dimensional Connector, which allows the installation of ‘Doors to Everything,’ also only worked in the Otherworld.

Yet, to my surprise, Rachel was speaking Korean on her own without any translation.

Noticing my thoughts, Rachel asked in an expectant voice,

“How is my Korean?”

“You’re quite good.”

There was a slight awkwardness, but it was perfectly understandable.

Perhaps pleased by my compliment, Rachel beamed with pride.

“I’m glad my efforts paid off. I wanted to speak with you directly if we ever met again.”

Rachel explained that she had bought Korean language textbooks and even hired a personal tutor for weekly lessons just so she could talk to me.

She said her trip to Korea had been slightly delayed because of her language studies, as she shared her experiences.

I was a little dumbfounded.

The fact that she had gone to such lengths just to talk to me was hard for me to understand.

Sure, I had helped her, but still…

“Did you really need to go that far because of me?”

“Of course.”

Unlike me, it seemed to be an incredibly important matter for Rachel.

Her blue eyes, like a lake, looked at me firmly.

“Because you are the reincarnation of my ancestor.”

I was left speechless by the unexpected answer.

A moment of silence passed.

Whooosh…

A gust of wind rustled the leaves from somewhere.

I stared at Rachel for a while before finally opening my mouth.

“…What?”

That was all I could say.

It was just too absurd.

“Are you saying… that I am your ancestor?”

“I understand why you’re shocked.”

Rachel calmly began to explain.

In order to use Napoleon’s relics, one must have a matching ‘magic wavelength,’ and unless someone was Napoleon himself, it was impossible to wield them freely.

But I had wielded Napoleon’s rifle effortlessly.

What initially seemed like a ridiculous misunderstanding turned out to be a rather logical analysis.

Without knowing about my awakening ability, anyone would have come to the same conclusion as Rachel.

After all, who would ever think that a person from centuries ago had given me a gun as a gift?

…So this is how it turns out.

The disaster occurred because I hadn’t even considered the magical wavelength.

The only way to make Rachel understand was to reveal my awakening ability.

Of course, I had no intention of doing that.

“Couldn’t it just be a coincidence? Perhaps I was just highly compatible with the rifle…”

“Medals don’t react to coincidences.”

She even brought up Napoleon’s medals, leaving me at a loss for words.

“It’s not a coincidence.”

“I understand.”

Rachel gave me a gentle smile as if she understood me…

‘She doesn’t understand at all.’

Her eyes had already determined that I was the reincarnation of her ancestor.

She was simply being considerate of my current identity.

No matter what I said, Rachel’s conviction wouldn’t waver.

I rubbed my throbbing forehead and spoke.

“Rachel.”

“Yes, Connector?”

“Please just call me Choi Seo-jun. That’s my name.”

“Understood, Seo-jun.”

“You don’t have to be so formal with me.”

“Ol.”

Despite her words, Rachel’s actions remained just as formal.

It didn’t seem like anything I said would change that, so I dropped the subject.

That aside…

‘This is actually a good situation.’

Rachel was an S-rank hunter from France.

Not only that, but she was also the head of the Bonaparte family, a massive household.

And yet, instead of just being friendly, she was displaying an almost loyal attitude toward me.

I felt a little bad for Rachel, but I decided to take advantage of this situation.

I was already in a difficult position after today’s events.

“Two unidentified ability users appeared at the hall today to eliminate the assailants.”

“I heard. One of them was the girl who was with you, Seo-jun.”

“That’s right. Would it be possible to spread a rumor that those two were somehow connected to the Bonaparte family? Just vaguely.”

“That’s not difficult. Consider it done.”

Rachel agreed to my request without a moment’s hesitation.

I felt a bit relieved.

With this, suspicions about Jeanne and Vanessa would be somewhat alleviated.

A large family like the Bonapartes having a few secret ability users wasn’t strange at all.

‘I should just say they teleported in.’

The assailants had appeared out of nowhere, so there was no reason my two allies couldn’t have done the same.

It was fortunate that only a few people had seen them in the first place.

“Thank you, Rachel.”

“It’s nothing. I’m glad I could help. Is there anything else I can do?”

“This is more than enough.”

I felt guilty asking for more.

I should find a way to repay her later.

“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh, yes. See you tomorrow.”

I instinctively replied, then tilted my head.

“Tomorrow?”

“I plan to stay in Korea for a while.”

“Aren’t you going back to France?”

“It’s fine. I was planning to stay away for a while anyway—arguing with the elders is exhausting.”

They’ll probably be happy that I’m gone.

Rachel smiled.

Her smile looked oddly relieved.

‘But why does she want to see me tomorrow?’

Just as I was about to ask Rachel,

“There you are.”

A deep voice called out.

Turning around, I saw the Marquis of Cunningham approaching.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Oh, alright. Take care.”

Rachel bowed politely and turned away.

As she left, the Marquis glanced at her before asking,

“You two know each other?”

“Just acquaintances.”

“Is that so? For mere acquaintances, you two seemed rather…”

I changed the subject.

“More importantly, I don’t think we’ll be able to purify Edyuz today.”

Since Jeanne had already left, I couldn’t purify the cursed sword.

However—

“Oh, that? It’s already done.”

“What?”

“Hm? You didn’t know? Your lady purified it.”

The wording was a bit odd, but that didn’t matter right now.

The Marquis was holding Edyuz, now purified.

While I was on the fourth floor, Jeanne must have purified Edyuz and handed it to him.

‘No wonder the Marquis was acting wild earlier…’

It was because the sword had changed.

As expected of Jeanne.

She handled things efficiently without needing instructions.

“So, why did you come here now?”

“I brought the essence.”

The Marquis opened a small wooden box and took out a transparent glass vial filled with essence.

The iridescent liquid inside shimmered as it sloshed.