Chapter 30
“Ugh... Is it a cold? My body feels chilly.”
Ever since getting this job, changing into a swimsuit had become my daily routine, but suddenly a chill ran down my spine. It felt like some grudge-holding virgin ghost was glaring at me from behind! But there was no one there. Instead, standing next to me was...
“Ahem! I told you to take care of your health with the match coming up.”
My coach, who handled my room, board, and everything else, clicked her tongue.
“I'm fine, Coach. It won't affect my performance.”
“We'll see after checking your times in the match.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
I didn't bother making excuses. The results would speak for themselves.
Today's pool felt different from our usual practice sessions right from the atmosphere.
“......”
“......”
Athletes in swimsuits, long towels draped over their shoulders, watched us intently from the stands.
They're all so young.
Was it because of the geniuses pouring out every year thanks to P's Aptitude Test? They brimmed with youthful vigor over experience! And beneath it all lay rock-solid confidence in their own abilities. Every single one of them had that arrogant look and posture.
“That's the second-string team.”
“School reps? So where's the first-string?”
“The first-string headed out on a luxury cruise for Pacific training camp.”
“Whoa...”
A luxury liner for training camp? I was speechless at the blatant preferential treatment based on rankings.
“We can go too. First, we gotta make second-string.”
“But even if we make second-string, do we keep the same coach?”
“What? Don't like me?”
“Don't misunderstand. Just curious.”
The coach kneaded my shoulders lightly as she answered.
“I'll be with you all the way to first-string. If you wanna split from me early, just make the national team within a year.”
“Sounds impossible.”
“Depends on you.”
“......”
I'd planned to do this athlete thing for just one year, until I landed a stable job.
I thought she didn't have high hopes for me...?
Apparently, her expectations were way higher than I'd figured.
“No need to feel pressured. Just do like you did yesterday.”
“Got it.”
I had no intention of slacking off just to lower those expectations. Once I started something, I went all in! That was why the convenience store owner trusted me for so long.
“Here they come.”
The coach nodded toward them.
“...Damn.”
I didn't need to measure—her limbs were visibly longer than mine from afar. And those broad palms, perfect for pushing water like a fish's fins! She had all the physical advantages that even Song Seon-yeong, with her swimmer aptitude, lacked.
“That's your opponent.”
“Coach. Just looking at her body, I feel like I'm gonna lose.”
“You're not bad yourself. For a normie.”
“That's zero comfort.”
“Didn't you say you wanted beef?”
“Oh! Suddenly pumped! I'll give it my all!”
“Good! That's the spirit!”
As I did some light warm-ups, the coaches met, shook hands, and exchanged greetings.
“Nice weather for some humiliation, huh?”
“Yeah. If it rains, no one'll notice the tears. Haha!”
“Tsk tsk. Where'd you pick up this kid who can't even eat properly?”
“Starved him so he'd stuff himself at dinner.”
“Ridiculous. Can that scrawny thing even finish the race?”
“Worry about your own swimmer. Word is she's lazy as hell...”
“Instead of spreading rumors, scrape together cash for a tuna party.”
“Oops! Forgot since I figured we'd win.”
“...You planning to welch?”
“Who said that? I said we'd win.”
“We'll see after the results.”
“Talk later.”
The coaches' mind games were more thrilling than the athletes'. And so the showdown began.
* * *
“Help! Somebody!”
“Waaah! Mommy! Mommy!”
“P-please, help!”
Without any warning, an entire apartment block froze solid, and people on the streets turned to ice in seconds, like they'd been dunked in liquid nitrogen.
And right in the middle of this nightmare, someone was laughing gleefully...
“Uahaha!”
A silver-haired man, buck naked except for ice armor sculpted over his body. Everything he looked at froze just as much as his outlandish outfit defied common sense—trees, grass, bugs, people... Nothing alive remained around him.
“Fire!”
“Open fire!”
Bang bang bang— Police and soldiers, unable to get close because of his powers, fired from a distance to keep him pinned.
A normal criminal would've been subdued by that overwhelming firepower.
“Haha! Pathetic!”
But the bullets froze solid just before hitting him and dropped harmlessly to the ground, dealing zero damage.
They couldn't just launch missiles in the middle of the city, either. He was untouchable.
“Requesting backup...!”
“He's coming!”
“Fall back! Everyone fall back~!”
“Pull the line back!”
Police and soldiers could do nothing but taunt him like a game of tag and run. But they didn't think it pointless.
“Thank you!”
“Huff! Huff! We survived!”
It bought time for civilians to escape.
“Urgh...!”
“Can you move?”
“M-my legs are frozen...”
With far more dead than injured, the damage snowballed. They didn't say it aloud, but they all thought the same thing deep down.
When's he coming?!
Why's he so damn late?!
Did their pleas finally reach him? At last, the 'hero' arrived.
“Magic Boy, guardian of the world and aptitudes, makes his entrance...!”
A red cape fluttering, Magic Boy descended from the sky.
Boom! Boom!
No special effects, yet colorful fireworks burst around his landing spots.
“It's Magic Boy!”
“We're saved now!”
“Magic Boy~!”
Citizens trembling from the superpowered killer's indiscriminate attacks cheered in relief. Even the soldiers and police facing a monster impervious to gunfire felt the same.
“Phew!”
“He's here.”
They'd chosen those jobs out of duty to their aptitudes, so they never looked away or fled from crime. But they were human too. Staring down an 'evil' unscratched by a hail of deadly bullets left them hopeless, yearning for a god. And that god had come.
“No need to worry anymore! Magic Boy's here!”
Choi Kang-min, shifting not just his looks but his voice and speech to childlike innocence, charged the villain like always.
“Magic Boy...!”
The man, with a history(?) of defeats at Magic Boy's hands, glared like at a mortal enemy.
Whoooosh~!
A blizzard capable of freezing air itself raged forth.
“Feels refreshing!”
But Choi Kang-min pierced the attack that had claimed countless lives without a care.
“Magic Boy! Don't underestimate me!”
“Nah.”
“Interrupting me again—gah?!”
Crash!
The ice man's armor shattered like glass under Magic Boy's staff swung like a club.
One strike. For the villain who'd terrorized the city, it was an anticlimactic end.
“Magic Boy wins!”
“Our hero! Magic Boy!”
“Magic Boy! Hooray!”
Onlookers from afar cheered the city-saver.
“Urk...”
“Cover his eyes quick and cuff him!”
“Yes, sir!”
Instead of executing the defeated killer, they dragged him back to prison... To study his surreal powers and reform villains into civil servants devoted to humanity! But the cycle of jailbreaks, crimes, and recaptures by Magic Boy had repeated for 20 years.
“Magic Boy. Thank you.”
“No sweat! Wasn't doing it for thanks!”
Meeting the site commander, Choi Kang-min replied humbly in his innocent tone, as usual.
“You were a bit late, though.”
“......”
“Not blaming you, but know the damage was severe.”
“......”
“Rumors say you've been late a lot lately...”
“...Just rumors!”
Choi Kang-min forced his crumbling expression to hold as he answered.
“Don't mind it. We're in no position to complain when you're the one helping us one-sidedly.”
“......”
Saying it then telling him not to mind—what the hell? Choi Kang-min wanted to smash the commander's skull.
No—You'll pay for this.
As businessman Choi Kang-min, not Magic Boy, ruining one lowly civil servant was child's play. He'd fabricate charges for a dishonorable discharge without pension!
“Gotta go!”
“Good work.”
The clueless site commander saluted.
Boom! Boom!
He exited with fireworks flair! But once airborne and alone, Choi Kang-min screamed.
“Damn it...! Goddamn it...!”
It wasn't baseless gossip. His recent delays were fact.
If there was a grand reason for the tardiness, fine—but...
What's wrong with me?!
He was zoning out more and more, blankly lost in thought.
A Magic Boy who could fly to the antipodes in a second, spacing out? No one would believe it.
(Chairman!)
“Ah!”
Choi Kang-min jolted at his earpiece comms, his secretary's urgent voice blaring. Had he zoned again? No clue.
(Hurry back. People are getting suspicious.)
“...How long was I out?”
(About 5 seconds.)
“Got it.”
In that reply, he'd shifted from Magic Boy to businessman Choi Kang-min. Total time: one second. Without zoning, he'd have been back at the office sooner.
“Chairman. Straight to the boardroom.”
The secretary on comms didn't bat an eye—routine stuff.
“How late am I?”
“23 seconds.”
“Tch