Third-Year Debut (1)

"Nnngh...!"

The morning sun pouring through the window stabbed at my eyes, and they opened on their own. I rubbed at them, got up in a fine mood, and looked outside. Fierce early light washed over me until my whole body felt warm.

Somehow, it felt like the kind of morning when something good was bound to happen.

I glanced to the side. Franc was there, fast asleep on her stomach, showing off the long, slender line of her back.

"Kehehehe..."

She slept deeply, the alluring curves of a woman's body on full display, and my hands started shaking hard. I didn't bother hiding how rough my breathing had gotten. Those trembling fingers reached for something so soft I felt they'd melt the moment I touched it...! I grabbed her by the waist and tickled her without mercy.

"Kyaa!"

She thrashed, shrieking, and rolled clean off the bed.

Franc stared up at me, still half-asleep and blank, and I couldn't hold the laughter in. I snickered.

That was how I started the first day of the week, in an excellent mood. Then I got to school, and found that a great many things had changed.

Mainly my reputation.

"Eek, look, look over there! There's actually blue light coming out of his eyes!"

"Whoa. Is that some kind of skill? That's so cool."

"Seeing that light, doesn't your body feel kind of tingly? I'm all itchy, like, here and there~."

"Wait, you too?"

"Did you see the article online? They say he even linked arms with the President. I heard he joined Time River, too."

"That's insane. He's a detection-type, right? How incredible does he have to be for the President to take an interest?"

"His road ahead is paved smooth. I'm so jealous I could die."

"Think it's okay to talk to him? Does he have a girlfriend?"

"Eek, go talk to him! Talk to him!"

"Now that I look properly, isn't he kind of cool? He seemed weird the first time I saw him, but the more I look, the more attractive he gets."

......? Before my second entry, those looks had definitely been the kind you give a dog that suddenly starts speaking human. What is this? Some hilarious hidden-camera prank?

Eavesdropping on kids in the same uniform as mine, whispering among themselves, left me with a feeling that was... something. I couldn't even say what.

"Seoha's reputation has completely turned around. What do you suppose is the cause?"

"I'm curious about that too. Is it because I was in the news, out and about with Madam President?"

Franc was still hanging on my back, and the way my reputation had flipped in four days seemed to fascinate her.

Of course, I was fascinated too. Honestly, I'd expected a lot of hostility just for linking arms with the President, but not a single one of them was sending me any. If anything, they were looking at me with envy.

Because I'm an ability user? Because I joined Time River? Because I showed how close I am with Madam President? Or all of it?

Whichever it was, I didn't care. Getting to feel what it's like to be popular was actually pretty nice. Hehehe.

As I went in through the school's main entrance, I secretly enjoyed the way kids startled at my eyes, and opened my shoe-locker door. A flutter of flat white and pale-pink rectangles spilled out and scattered.

"......"

"......"

I lost my words for a moment, stared at the dozen or so letters on the floor, then picked them up one by one and looked them over.

On the outside, written with obvious care in the round, cute hand peculiar to girls, were things like these.

These were the love letters I'd only ever heard about...? T-to think the day would come when I received love letters.

My cheekbones felt ready to ascend straight to heaven. Grinning all by myself like a creep — that, at least, I had to hold back!

I desperately suppressed the corners of my mouth as they tried to shoot upward, and gathered the love letters. Behind me, Franc smiled softly and spoke.

"I believe the children have finally come to know your true self, Seoha."

"No way."

One delusion was enough. If my sister called me self-absorbed again, I wouldn't survive it.

More than that, I couldn't tell why the old formula of scary over cool had suddenly flipped to scary under cool. Seriously, what was it?

I stuffed every letter into my bag, took out my indoor shoes, put them on, and headed for the fourth-floor classroom. Kids coming down the other way parted left and right to open a path in front of me.

It was embarrassing, and it felt good, and it was a burden, all at once.

Why had my reputation changed this much?

When I reached the classroom, my classmates were glancing at me too, giving off a mood like they wanted to come closer and somehow couldn't quite.

"Wooow~. The popular guy has arriiived~."

Kang So-ra, whom I was seeing again after five days, still had her unruly hair gathered back into a ponytail. If it weren't for that drowsy face... what a shame of a girl.

"What are you talking about? More importantly, do you know why the mood changed like this?"

I asked the only person I actually knew, Kang So-ra, and the moment I hung my bag on the desk I saw the drawer packed with white, pale pink, and yellow somethings.

I reached in and pulled one out... These were love letters too.

I took a single one, and love letters of every shape and color cascaded out. There had to be three times as many as the ones in my shoe locker.

"What else~? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, while you were ooout~, the rumors went everywheeere~. That the government~ and the Ability User Alliance~ and Time River are all trying to snatch you up for themselveees~. And that blue light in your eyes got out tooo~."

Listening to that dragging voice, I felt like I was about to start dragging too.

"What's with those eyees~? What skill is thaaat~?"

I picked up every fallen letter, had nowhere to put them, hesitated, and then crammed the lot into my locker.

"You're not going to read them?"

"No reason to. I've already got two incredible girlfriends, you and Hwayeon. Even if I didn't, I still wouldn't look. Kids who wouldn't give me the time of day until I became an ability user can spray letters at me all they want. All it feels like is that they're shallow."

I came back, sat down, and answered Kang So-ra.

"It's my ability. And the government and the Ability User Alliance weren't trying to recruit me. They wanted to hear my account."

"And Time Riveeer~?"

"Already under contract. I'll start operating next year."

"I'm so jealooous~."

Kang So-ra let out a heavy sigh and flopped onto her desk. From the muttering I could hear, she seemed to be worrying about her own future.

"Me..."

"What am I gonna do when I grow up..."

"H-heeey~."

Hm? The girl who'd been sitting in front of Kang So-ra suddenly turned around and spoke to me.

"What?"

"Does Seoha have a girlfriend, by any chance?"

Heh. Heheheh. To think the day would come when I got a question like that.

"I do."

"Ah... you do. Sorry."

I had no idea what she was sorry for. She turned back around with a crestfallen face, and in that instant Spatial Perception caught hostility, flickered, and sent me a warning.

"That guy's at it again."

"Pardon? Ah — do you mean that boy?"

"Yeah. The shaggy-cut troublemaker."

"Pfft."

Our eyes met, and he crumpled his face into something vicious. It wasn't scary. It was only pathetic.

I had no idea why he was like that. I'd never even been tangled up with him.

I set my school tablet on the desk and was checking today's schedule when kids from another class started gathering beyond our window, murmuring.

"I think every one of them is looking at you, Seoha."

"Yeah. I can see them with Spatial Perception too."

"Why not give them a look, just once?"

Franc said it while hiding her body beside my desk, only her head peeking up over the top, so I glanced toward the hallway windows. A commotion went up — kyaa~! Most of them were girls, with a boy here and there, and it was genuinely embarrassing!

If they'd been like this from the first day I came to school as an ability user, I would have been flustered, sure, but I would have enjoyed it. Having it happen all of a sudden today made me want to reject the whole thing.

"...Why are they like that. They weren't, not through Tuesday."

I muttered it to myself, and the boy sitting in front of me turned around.

"Your rumor's spread past our school. It's all the way through the one next door."

Messy hair... Kim Chang-hyun, was it? A pretty clean face, the kind that ranked near the top even in this class. A well-made guy. Good grades, too, and a good personality.

Why doesn't this damn school have a single person less impressive than me!

"What rumor?"

"An insanely powerful detection-type ability user. Enough for the President to take an interest, and for an Alliance team leader and even the director of a government research institute to come in person! I saw it in an article online. Did you really ride in the President's car?"

"Yeah, more or less. I was going to dinner with Madam President..."

"What?!"

"For real?!"

"That photo was real!"

"Whoa! You actually met the President?!"

Ack.

As if my words had been the starting gun, the class came rushing over in a herd and poured out questions without waiting their turn.

So what — they'd finally figured out how big a deal I was because I hit the media?

Even the pretty-boy and pretty-girl clique that ran the class was showing an interest in me. The girls especially were marveling at my eyes with Mana Vision active, snapping photos like crazy. It was no joke.

My right to my own face...

Then the kids who'd gathered split left and right, and through the gap came the prettiest girl in class, speaking with a haughty air.

"Hey. You. Want to go out with me?"

Han Go-eun. A beauty who currently ranked among the top three in the third year. Maybe she'd put on a little makeup; her face was clean, and the hair she'd dyed a faint brown looked like she'd put real effort into it.

Her uniform, altered to emphasize her chest and hips and looking a size too small, seemed to insist, I'm a high school girl!

...But perhaps because I'd already gone all the way with Franc and Hwayeon, it didn't stir so much as a speck of interest. Pretty as she was, next to Franc and Hwayeon she was a firefly before the sun — no. An asteroid before a galaxy.

The others didn't seem to feel that way. At Han Go-eun's words, the whole class began to stir.

Objectively, Han Go-eun counted as a beauty, and she seemed quite confident in herself, waiting for my answer with that haughty face. I nearly burst out laughing.

Ahem. Sorry. I've been looking at so many real beauties lately that you only come off as cute.

"Sorry."

I cut her off flat, and Han Go-eun's face flushed a little.

"Y-you don't have to reject me right away, do you? Don't regret it later. How about you at least think it over a little?"

Sure, I'd heard the rumors that her grades were good and her family was well-off, but that was all. Set her next to Hwayeon — childhood-friend position, older, a beauty, a bombshell, et cetera — and the rest could be omitted.

"Sorry. I have a girlfriend."

This time I refused with a short reason attached, and Han Go-eun's still-youthful face reddened a little more, her breathing growing faintly rough. Hot-tempered, just like the rumors said.

Franc was watching as if it were entertaining, and the class was watching me and Han Go-eun with fascinated eyes, but Han Go-eun already seemed past the point of seeing anything else.

"Can you show me a picture of your girlfriend? If she's enough that you'd turn me down, I'll admit it and back off."

...I almost snapped back at her, asking who she thought she was to admit anything, but we'd be studying together for another year, so I held it in.

Then I realized I didn't have a single photo.

"We haven't been together long, so I don't have any pictures yet."

At that, Han Go-eun suddenly put on a triumphant I knew it face and started babbling.

"Heh~? You know, I'm a softer girl than I look. You don't have to make excuses and turn me down just because you feel pressured. If you don't know me well, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think we can learn each other one thing at a time while we date."

...This was a terminal case of delusion about her own appeal.

Leave it alone, and I had a strong feeling something annoying would come of it. Hwayeon misunderstanding and thinking I was cheating, for instance. Or my sister getting the impression that any woman would do.

Han Go-eun was puffing herself up, about to say something more, and I signaled her to be quiet. A girl my own age acting like that was a little cute, but no was no.

"Wait a second."

I turned on the Certifier, and another commotion rose around me. I ignored it and called Hwayeon. It was only eight. She wouldn't still be asleep.

The call connected, and just as I'd expected, Hwayeon's upper body appeared in the hologram window, dressed in a perfectly proper suit.

"Yeah. It's minor, but I needed your help, so I called. One second."

I worked the hologram window and switched the display so that not only Han Go-eun, but the class and the kids from other classes watching from outside the window, could all see Hwayeon.

"Gasp — Yoo Hwayeon!"

"The boss of Time River?! For real?!"

"Eek! Unnie~!"

Among the kids who'd been unsure, screams spread like a plague, and in an instant the room was in an uproar.

Shove proof like this in her face, and even a terminal case of looks-delusion like Han Go-eun shouldn't be able to say a word... What.

"Unnie..."

Han Go-eun was gazing at Hwayeon in the hologram window the way one looks at an idol, as if I weren't even in her thoughts.

Hey. Weren't you here to confess to me?

It felt a little like I'd lost to Hwayeon, and it was a strange feeling, knowing that a woman who drew this much attention even from other women was my girlfriend.

I stared, dumbfounded, at Han Go-eun grinning uhehe like an obsessive fan who'd just seen her celebrity, and then I spoke to Hwayeon.

"You can roughly tell what this is about, right?"

Hm. Hwayeon was surprisingly bad at reading a room. I'd thought the uproar in the classroom, plus Han Go-eun, would be enough for her to catch on.

"So... Han Go-eun?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Let me introduce you. This is my girlfriend, Yoo Hwayeon."

At my public declaration, Hwayeon's cheeks flushed faintly. Seeing that, Han Go-eun greeted her with the face of a follower — no, a worshipper.

"Uh, Unnie, you're my idol! Hello! I'm Han Go-eun!"

"Yeah. I figured I ought to let them know I have a girlfriend, so I called."

She seemed to catch the hint at last. The temperature of Hwayeon's expression dropped about two degrees. The change was funny enough that I pulled out the few love letters still left in the desk drawer and waved them, and Hwayeon's gaze locked onto the letters and tracked them this way and that.

"Look at these. Know what they are? I got to school today and my shoe locker and my desk drawer were stuffed with them."

...Uh. This time, the temperature seemed to be dropping below zero. Had I stepped on a landmine?

A chill ran down my spine as Hwayeon spoke in a calm voice.

"Y-yeah. I know. That's why I just shoved all the letters I got into my locker. Ah, anyway, it's time for you to work, right?"

"Second Sub-leader — that's Sophia?"

I figured the First Sub-leader was Cha Soyoung, so I said Sophia's name, and she nodded that I was right.

"You must be busy. Sorry for interrupting."

"I will. Hanging up."

"Yeah."

With Hwayeon's encouragement as the last word, I shut off the Certifier and swept a look over the kids around me. Every one of them had their mouth shut, watching me with sparkling eyes.

Then I looked up at Han Go-eun, standing in front of me. A moment ago she'd been sunk in a crucible of excitement. Now she was staring at me with her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"Now do you believe I have a girlfriend?"

"Im..."

"Im?"

"Impossible! How are you together with Unnie?! And what?! A b-boyfriend?!"

Huh?

There's a saying that a rumor needs no feet to travel a thousand miles.

Word that I was dating Hwayeon spread through the school in truly no time at all.

I'd thought Madam President was the most popular person at our school, but by the time third period ended and lunch arrived, I realized the rumor that I was dating Hwayeon had covered the entire school. Hwayeon was no small name either.

Nothing bad about it. Better than girls keeping after me out of pure opportunism and earning me a misunderstanding from Hwayeon.

Franc, for her part, had been smiling brightly the whole time, as if she were watching an entertaining sitcom.

...And yet. Even after I'd announced I was dating Hwayeon, what were these kids who called me out into the hallway to confess?

"W-will you go out with me?"

"I'll pass."

I refused her clean as a knife and went back into the classroom, and behind me I could hear the girls squealing — "So cool~!" and "I'm going to fall for that cold side!"

More than anything, the girl I'd rejected ran to her friends with a flushed red face, delighted that he'd spoken to her...

...I'd thought being popular would be a thrill. It was a lot different from what I'd imagined.

I'd thought it would be nothing but good, but having people stare every time I did anything was uncomfortable, and having a total stranger walk up and talk to me was uncomfortable too. And then the guys looking at me with faces full of jealousy.

Most of them were friendly, but not everyone can be the same, and a minority kept getting on my nerves. That was the most irritating part of all.

The good of it lasted the first few hours. One-sided resentment kept pouring in, Spatial Perception kept catching it and warning me, and I suppose you could say it was making me irritable.

Having people interested in me wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either... If I split like and dislike into percentages, it was about thirty to seventy.

"This is... annoying..."

At least the shaggy-cut troublemaker, burning with jealousy and quivering, was entertaining enough to make up for it.

He still hadn't put his hostility away, but all he did was glare. I shot the shaggy-cut a glance and ignored him. He pounded his chest as if the rage were boiling over.

I'd given him minus one last time. Should I give him another point now? He hadn't openly badmouthed me, though... Hmm. I hadn't set a clear standard, so filling it up to minus ten looked like it would take forever.

The moment he started picking a fight directly, I'd just wreck him.

But would it be all right to thrash him with raw physical ability, without using my power? The hearing had only ended a few days ago. If I caused an incident, I'd draw attention in a bad way... When the time came to wreck him, I'd better look into it properly first.

I returned to my seat and was getting ready for the last class of the morning when Kang So-ra spoke up in that languid voice.

"Must be niiice~, exploding with popularity~?"

"It's good, and it's bad. It also feels kind of shallow."

"Well, yeaaah~. If people flip like the palm of a hand and come at you easy just because you became an ability user~, you'd feel disgusted, riiight~?"

Disgusted? Now that I heard it, yeah. I watched Kang So-ra for a moment, sprawled on her desk and humming like a cave cricket, then checked the timetable and pulled up the textbook on my study tablet.

Fourth period was Aberrant Biology, and honestly, it was a class I didn't want to sit through.

It wasn't so much that I disliked the subject. I disliked the teacher in charge, Flower Pig. I'd heard she was going around subtly talking as if my making it back alive had been thanks to her.

If what that teacher taught had actually helped, I wouldn't have had anything to say. But it hadn't helped by so much as a speck. Even so, Flower Pig went around declaring it was all thanks to her, so there was no way I could look at her kindly even if I wanted to.

Thinking about how I'd nearly died to the Long-snouted Lean Wolf right after my first entry still set my teeth on edge.

Oh, right — that thing was a Low-Rank Variant, wasn't it? Hmm... If it had been Lowest Grade, would it have been the way the biology teacher said?

I thought for a moment about how big the gap between Lowest and Low really was. Mid-Low Grade and Low Grade had differed quite a bit, so maybe Low Grade and Lowest Grade differed quite a bit too.

On the last day of my first entry, a No-Head Mantis had fought three Long-snouted Lean Wolves and won handily, so if the gap were any different, it would be bigger, not smaller.

Hmm... Thinking about it that way, maybe Flower Pig wasn't someone I ought to curse. Even so, I couldn't give her a pass for bragging about my return as if it were her own achievement.

The bell for the start of class rang, and at the same moment the classroom's front door opened and Teacher Flower Pig came in. She looked around this way and that, found me, and called out with a wide smile.

"Hohoho! Have you been well?!"

I could tell she was in a good mood from her voice alone. I didn't want to meet her eyes for no reason, so I kept my gaze fixed on the tablet screen, and Flower Pig, standing before the podium, called me and waved.

"Ah, yes! There was something I simply had to ask when I saw you, Jung Seoha. Would you answer?"

"...Yes."

"The knowledge of aberrants Teacher gave you must have helped a great deal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with your return, yes?"

"Well... sure..."

"Ohohoho! Yes, yes! Teacher may not look it, but my knowledge is extensive enough to have taken prizes at the Phase Studies Competition, and I have even observed the examination of aberrants captured alive for research purposes..."

I forced a smile and made a show of modesty, but she hohoho'd without a scrap of tact, laughing so her jowls wobbled. On top of that, watching her brag about things I didn't even want to know dropped my impression of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Teacher Flower Pig straight to the floor.

I felt like an idiot for having tried, just a moment ago, to think better of her, and the other kids in class seemed to feel the same. Their expressions weren't particularly good.

Unable to watch Flower Pig blah-blah any longer, the class president raised a small hand.

"Teacheeer~. Let's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠start class already. I heard our class is the only one behind on the materiiial."

"Hm? It's true we're a little behind the other classes, but it isn't something that has much to do with grades, so it's all right. Teacher would never go so far as to disadvantage you..."

Despite the class president's efforts, Flower Pig did not stop bragging about herself. A way with words that turned anything you said back into self-praise. I genuinely couldn't stand it.

"Haa..."

I ducked my head and let out a heavy sigh, and Franc, beside me, smiled awkwardly and stroked my hair.

"Did it really heeelp~?"

Kang So-ra whispered from the side, as if she'd heard my twisted sigh. The other kids around us were glancing at me too, looking like they wanted the truth.

"...Flower Pig probably explained things on a Lowest Grade basis, but everything I saw was a Low-Rank Variant, so it didn't help at all. And the only aberrant she taught us was a single Lean Wolf."

"Ehh~? A low-rank species~?"

"Y-you fought a Low-Rank Variant too?!"

The little guy sitting behind me — small as a schnauzer puppy — blinked his big eyes and asked. The name tag read Cho Min-ho. He had a cute face, his bowl cut trimmed so it covered his eyebrows, and at the words Low-Rank Variant he looked thoroughly shocked.

"Huh? Low-rank?!"

"What? You fought a Low-Rank Variant too?"

"Now that I think about it, when he came back he had a mantis foreleg. I looked it up. It was the foreleg of a No-Head Mantis, a Mid-Low Rank Variant."

"Whoa."

"And he still came back alive? As a detection-type? That's incredible. No wonder he's getting attention."

...Thanks to Cho Min-ho's voice being pretty loud, the classroom turned noisy in an instant.

"Ohoho! To encounter a Low-Rank Variant and still survive — it seems you weathered that perilous moment thanks to Teacher's excellent instruction!"

At the children's uproar, Teacher Flower Pig quivered her cheeks and grew even more delighted.

Suffocating. Seriously.

The garbage fourth period, about half of it bragging, came to an end, and when lunch arrived two girls from class came over. The narcissistic, delusional Han Go-eun, and the class president, Su Yu-ri — cute, kind, sociable, and meddlesome on top of it.

"Seoha. Want to eat together?"

Instead of Han Go-eun, who was glaring at me with envy and jealousy, Su Yu-ri spoke with a bright smile.

"...With me? I was going to eat at the cafeteria."

"We're eating at the cafeteria too. Let's go together."

A certified outsider, acknowledged as such by himself and everyone else, had never been through anything like this, and didn't know how he was supposed to act.

While I hesitated, two boys came over as well.

"Oh? I wanna come too!"

"I-I want to eat with Seoha too."

One was Kim Chang-hyun, the very definition of a popular kid, and the other was Cho Min-ho, like a frightened schnauzer. At the pair of them — one cheerful, one hesitating — Han Go-eun lit up and shouted.

"Whaaat? Kim Chang-hyun, why are you trying to tag along! Go eat with Min-ho and the others like you always do!"

"It's more fun if we're all noisy together. Go-eun, let's go."

"Come on, Yu-ri, you're supposed to be on my side!"

"Ahaha."

Somewhere in the middle of my hesitation, going together seemed to have been decided as fact. The human pull of popular kids was a frightening thing...

"You're coming to eat with us, right?"

"Uh? Y-yeah."

Su Yu-ri took my hand and pulled without a hint of reserve, and I couldn't feel a trace of ulterior motive on her face. She simply looked happy that a chance had come to get close to the classmate who didn't fit in. Because of that, I felt less resistance toward her than toward the other girls, who seemed opportunistic.

Less resistance, but this was still... a bit much. If I refused even now...

"Seoha. I don't sense any ill will from these children, so I think this would be a good chance for you to make some friends as well."

...Lunch, I could eat together. This was absolutely not because Franc wanted me to.

Han Go-eun and Kim Chang-hyun were like professional socialites, and Cho Min-ho, for a guy, was all shy and bashful while showing curiosity about me. No need to look twice. They wanted to hear about the Phase World.

Saying a few words wasn't hard, so I'd eat with them today.

And so, pulled along by Su Yu-ri's hand, I headed for the school cafeteria with the in-crowd trio.