Ch. 59.2

There was some riddle hidden within the dancing statues.

Since they couldn't interpret the Persona Gate, they had no choice but to use their insight to solve the riddle.

"Hey, Commoner, have you interpreted this gate?"

Hong Bi-Yeon asked directly, and Baek Yu-Seol blinked before replying.

"No."

His answer was slightly disappointing.

"But I have a rough idea of how we can pass through here."

"... Really? You said you couldn't interpret it."

"If you look closely, you can understand some parts even without interpretation."

As Baek Yu-Seol said that, he pointed to the statues.

"If you look closely, you'll see that each statue has a different pose but is performing the same type of dance."

There were almost more than ninety statues, each intricately depicting the movements of a particular dance.

Hong Bi-Yeon nodded her head and spoke.

"The Requiem of the Dead Serena. It's a dance Serena, who couldn't bear her own tragedy, performed right before she died."

"That's right. You know it well."

"Dance is a fundamental part of culture."

"Then you must remember the movements well, right?"

"Well… uh."

Finally understanding Baek Yu-Seol's intention through his smiling words, Hong Bi-Yeon hardened her expression.

"No way...?"

She urgently examined the movements of the statues carefully.

Now that she noticed... all the statues' movements were connected in sequence.

She initially thought there were just many statues dancing, but now she realized that those countless statues had arranged a single movement in chronological order!

But occasionally, there were empty movements.

There were precisely four movements.

It matched the number of people.

"So... if we fill in those empty movements with our own, will it work?"

"Uh, yeah? That seems to be the case."

That was the riddle of the first gate.

Since there were preceding and following movements, it wouldn't be too difficult to predict the intermediate movements.

"Alright, let's each take a movement starting from the end, no need to actually dance, just imitate it."

"I'll take this one."

"I'll take this one..."

Even without Hong Bi-Yeon explaining the movements, the students found their positions and performed the corresponding movements.

There were various reasons why this dance became so famous, but fundamentally, it was because dancing was considered an essential etiquette for nobles to learn.

As all four of them took the vacant positions, gears clicked into place!

With the sound of the grinding, the door at the end of the corridor opened.

"We did it!"

"Wow... It was easier than I thought. I'm glad to be in the same team as Baek Yu-Seol."

"Let's go. There will be more puzzles like this in the future."

Baek Yu-Seol urged them forward while glancing briefly at the still dancing statue. They were fortunate to have succeeded smoothly this time, but if they had failed to solve the riddle or if they had taken any longer, those statues would have come to life.

As they crossed the door and moved forward, a large room appeared.

The spacious and elegant room, about 100 square meters in size, had a completely different atmosphere from the worn-out corridor, and it exuded luxury and warmth.

Knight-shaped statues were arranged throughout the room. Some knights were aiming their swords at the air, some stood still, and others gazed in a particular direction.

"Perhaps these knights are the riddle this time?"

"Oh, I think so too."

Indeed, the statues seemed a little suspicious. The previous riddle was also related to a statue, so the students focused their investigation on the statues.

About five minutes passed like that.

"It's the carpet."

"Huh?"

Baek Yu-Seol spoke up, and until then, Hong Bi-Yeon had been observing the statues.

"Look at the pattern engraved on the carpet. They are all dancing. When I partially interpreted the gate, the keyword 'dance' came up. Perhaps this time, the dance on the carpet is the problem."

"Really?"

"Yes. If you look closely, you'll see that the person depicted in the pattern is performing different movements with their fingers in different sections. Properly matching it might be the solution to the riddle."

Hong Bi-Yeon felt a flash of realization at those words.

She, too, could have interpreted this place to some extent, but didn't she miss the keyword "dance" back then?

'Why didn't I think of this...?'

As if being hit on the head with a hammer, she stood there dumbfounded.

Once again, she had wasted time on unnecessary details, assuming it would naturally be a statue.

It was a fixed mindset.

She knew how dangerous such rigid thinking could be, yet she still hadn't been able to fix it.

"Here, let's rotate this. Now, can you see the proper dance? This is... 'The Serene Tango.'"

"Oh, yeah. I know that."

"That's right. Does everyone remember the movements?"

"It's such a famous dance, so we've tried it many times."

"Then, match the pieces of the carpet to fit the movements."

As the students started moving busily, Hong Bi-Yeon looked at Baek Yu-Seol, who was working diligently with slightly lowered eyes.

'Indeed... different.'

Since the moment she was taught the concept of unique thinking, she had known it, but now that she directly experienced the difference, he somehow felt distant.

The ability to grasp the secret of the statues in such a short time, to observe and think from a different perspective than others…

Surely, given enough time, Hong Bi-Yeon could have figured it out too.

No, anyone could have figured it out.

However, the Persona Gate inherently had a time limit.

The longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became.

Baek Yu-Seol, unaffected by time, immediately derived the solution the moment he looked at the riddle.

Strategy, ideation, observation, calculation, deduction, and more.

In every field that required intellectual prowess, Baek Yu-Seol was undoubtedly a prodigy.

However, a question arose.

'A prodigy?'

There was something odd about using such a term.

It wasn't simply a matter of being a prodigy... Baek Yu-Seol's way of thinking resembled that of a master strategist.

In other words, what distinguished him was not just a difference in raw creativity but a depth that stemmed from his experiences.

It felt as though Baek Yu-Seol had explored the Persona Gate dozens, if not hundreds of times, allowing him to view things from a perspective different from that of Stella's first-year students.

'Hmm, a difference in experiences…'

Hong Bi-Yeon's suspicions deepened gradually.