I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 167

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔𝟕

Amidst the exorcists’ flabbergasted expressions, I sighed in relief and allowed my thoughts to wander.

「𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙙.」

To be honest, I had been confident. As I had mentioned earlier, if I had truly intended to kill those two, I would have acted far more swiftly and directly.

However, even so, I was not confident that I could avoid detection by an exorcist of Elder Baek Un-yong’s caliber.

「. . .𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨.」

In truth, since coming to this world, I had only engaged in fierce battles against formidable foes, so it was somewhat unfamiliar to be using my knowledge in this way.

However, it seemed that the exorcists still had not detected my technique, which incorporated various future spells.

“Is this really possible?”

“Unbelievable, is something wrong?”

“. . .Hah, even though I was trying to relax, this is enough to make a ghost cry.”

It was a precarious tightrope, but I had secured a foothold.

And my counterattack was far from over.

“Enforcer from the headquarters.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Would you be able to use the same tracking technique you used earlier on those two?”

It was not a particularly difficult task, so the enforcer nodded and proceeded to do as I asked.

Whoosh.

Swish.

As the spell unfolded, faint spiritual powers began to emerge from the fallen exorcists.

As before, they gathered together and flew erratically through the air, but this time, they failed to find a clear target and simply dissipated into the atmosphere.

“Huh? What the. . . . . . .”

“What’s going on?”

“Ugh, I can’t find any trace of them, it’s not like much time has passed, so it should be easier than before.”

I felt sorry for the enforcer, but from my perspective, her tracking technique was nothing more than a relic of the past.

Deceiving it was child’s play.

“In that case. . . . . . .”

“His words do make some sense.”

“If he can do this much, there’s no need for him to use unfamiliar methods during the crime.”

As a tentative consensus began to form, the Liu family exorcists strongly objected.

“Hold on a moment, it’s certainly impressive, but that alone is not enough to prove his innocence.”

“. . .Remember, it’s just another possibility, and for now, we have no other suspects.”

Their words were valid, of course.

This alone was far from enough to prove my innocence.

However, the important thing was that I had planted a seed of doubt in their minds.

「𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧. . . . . . .」

Someone other than me, the suspect, to step forward.

I scanned my surroundings, my gaze constantly shifting as I waited for those I had been anticipating.

A few minutes must have passed.

As expected, the title of protagonist was not without merit, as they appeared with impeccable timing.

“Wait a moment! Everyone, listen!”

The one who stepped forward was Baek Eun-seo, who had the most authority in this gathering.

“Something didn’t sit right with me, so I looked into it, and I found something interesting. The real culprit is someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

Baek Un-yong stroked his beard, acknowledging Baek Eun-seo’s request.

“Permission granted. Tell us what you have.”

With Baek Un-yong’s approval, there was nothing to hesitate about. Baek Eun-seo held up some data that she seemed to have printed out and began to reveal the truth of the incident, just like in the original.

“I knew the victim, Brother Sang-hui, quite well, so I was able to access his personal device through his password. And among the things I found there was this.”

What Baek Eun-seo showed to the exorcists of each family was a data file that Baek Sang-hui had been investigating privately.

And there, it recorded the actions of Liu Wang-long, an exorcist affiliated with the Liu family, who had taken unfair advantage in transactions between the families.

“Wang-long. . . . . . .”

“Isn’t he the other victim who was killed?”

As this fact came to light, the exorcists of the families also began to show signs of surprise.

The fact that the two victims of the incident had such a connection meant that there was likely some connection to this incident as well.

“. . .Is all of that data true?”

“I just found it, so it must be. If you want, you can come with me and confirm it yourself.”

Once the murmurs had subsided somewhat, Baek Eun-seo began to speak again, providing additional context.

“As you can see, Liu Wang-long had been deceiving the Baek family in their dealings, taking unfair advantage, and Baek Sang-hui, who was in charge of the relevant work, soon noticed. And then he contacted Liu Wang-long to prevent the situation from escalating.”

The content of that message was a proposal to meet at this very location to quietly settle the matter of his misconduct.

Although it was not an ideal solution, Baek Sang-hui had extended a degree of goodwill to his opponent.

“However, in reality, both of them ended up being killed here.”

“So, someone involved in that misconduct took care of them?”

The one who spoke up was Yoo Ha-on, who was standing beside Baek Eun-seo.

“It’s not impossible, but it’s a bit strange to think that way. As of now, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone other than those two knew the truth.”

“Hmm. . . . . . .”

“There is also no evidence of the profits from the unfair dealings going to anyone other than Liu Wang-long. In fact, it’s clear that it was a unilateral action.”

In the end, it meant that only those involved knew about this incident.

“Then who the hell killed them?”

“That’s the problem. . . . . . .”

Baek Eun-seo paused for a moment before uttering her conclusion. It seemed that even she was not entirely convinced.

“As of now, I think the most likely person is Liu Wang-long.”

“Nonsense! Do you think that makes sense?”

“The motive is clear, and he can use the Liu family’s spell, Wibihwa. In terms of ability, he was superior to Baek Sang-hui. Besides, if you look at the last part of the data I provided. . . . . . .”

Baek Sang-hui’s invitation message, asking him to come to his office to discuss the matter, proved that the two of them had met at the scene of the crime.

Therefore, at the very least, Liu Wang-long was definitely the one who killed Baek Sang-hui. Baek Eun-seo concluded.

“Then how do you explain Liu Wang-long’s own death? That part doesn’t make sense to me.”

“That. . . . . . .”

Baek Eun-seo frowned, her face clouded.

Given the urgency of the situation, she must have been in a hurry to prepare her evidence and had not yet come to a conclusion on that matter.

But that was enough. In fact, she had done a remarkably good job in a short amount of time.

After quickly solidifying my plan in my head, I decided how to end this situation and stepped forward to speak.

“May I offer my opinion on that matter?”

“. . .Very well.”

Unlike before, the heads of each family stared at me with a strange gleam in their eyes.

Indeed, now that the charges against me were being dropped, I had inadvertently demonstrated my own abilities.

As someone with no clear affiliation, I must have seemed like a rather tempting talent to them.

“The conclusion is simple. Liu Wang-long killed Baek Sang-hui and then took his own life.”

“. . .He took his own life?”

“Yes. If you think about it that way, it also explains why Liu Wang-long was hit by the spell head-on. All he had to do was turn his palm and aim it at his own heart, so it’s likely that there would be no sign of resistance.”

Of course, in reality, he had been hit in the back of the head by Baek So-yul, whom he trusted, but in the current situation, that fact could also be used to my advantage.

“Ah, certainly. . . . . . .”

“That makes sense. But then why did he commit suicide?”

“I believe Liu Zizhen would be better informed about that.”

Now that the stage was set, it was time for me to flaunt my knowledge of the original work.

“The Liu family places great importance on family unity. Therefore, even if he had silenced Baek Sang-hui, if his misconduct or murder were to be discovered during the investigation, the consequences would eventually fall on Liu Wang-long’s family.”

“. . .That’s not wrong. Go on.”

“And as some of you from the Liu family may know, Liu Wang-long was a greedy man, but he also loved his family dearly. That’s why he gave up his own life to eliminate the possibility of any future consequences.”

At those words, the murmurs grew louder.

However, most of the exorcists seemed unconvinced. Just then, someone conveniently asked me a question.

“But how do you know all these things? Were you close to Wang-long?”

I had been waiting for this moment.

Determined to deliver the final blow, I activated the Mental Spellbook trait and conjured a spell in my mind.

Swish.

Whoosh.

“Everyone, please look this way.”

The spell I then uttered softly and sent into the sky was Jaucheonrin, a high-level attack spell unique to the Liu family.

“W-What the!”

“How do you know the family’s spell. . . . . .?”

Jaucheonrin.

Its significance was not comparable to Wibihwa.

Jaucheonrin was a high-level family spell, and naturally, it was a spell that was only passed down to those of a certain status within the family.

Therefore, in front of the stunned Liu family exorcists, I concluded the whole story with a mixture of truth and falsehood.

“I learned this spell from Liu Wang-long himself.”

“What?”

“The time was just a few days ago. I don’t know the reason, but perhaps the Liu family is aware that he had visited Korea in advance.”

It was something that had come to mind as I recalled the various actions of Liu Wang-long in the original work.

“It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but for me, it was an opportunity to learn a great Liu family spell, so there was no reason to refuse. And while I was being taught, I followed his instructions and did everything he told me to do.”

“In other words, you’re saying that he used some kind of trick to steal your spiritual power while teaching you the spell?”

“I didn’t notice it at the time, but given the circumstances, I think that’s a reasonable assumption. Otherwise, there would have been no reason for him to pass on the spell to someone like me.”

At that point, I had already concluded that I would be coming to this place, so it was somewhat contrived, but the logic was sound.

Furthermore, if that fact were to be denied, there would be no explanation for why my spiritual power remained in the body, given that the true culprit had already been identified.

“It’s a bit confusing. . . . . .But it seems like there are no inconsistencies.”

“We from the Shoumei family have no objections to this development, as outsiders.”

The spokespeople for each family, who had finished their discussions, began to give their conclusions, and Liu Zizhen, who had been staring at me with a blank expression, reluctantly nodded.

“. . .The Liu family has no objections either. We agree with the judgment.”

In the midst of the unexpected crisis, I had finally proven my innocence and solved the case.

「𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧. . . . . . .」

Baek So-yul, who had caused me such a crisis with her troublesome actions.

It was my turn to give her a proper payback.

「𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚.」

I locked gazes with Baek So-yul, who was smiling wryly and looking interested.

I imagined her face, which would lose its characteristic poker face and become filled with panic in just a few dozen minutes.

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