The Ice Princess Smiled
Beware fake news! —Crash!
"Hey, hey, everyone! Breaking news hotter than hot! I just witnessed something totally insane!"
A bespectacled male student burst into the S-Class room, shouting frantically. His face was lit up with excitement, his body buzzing with energy.
"Hey, Glasses! I told you to knock before coming into our class!"
Whoosh! The sturdy class mom of S-Class, the vice class president, hurled a chair at him while scolding.
"And 'breaking news' my ass! You're trying to spread more weird rumors about Seol-hwa again, aren't you? I said I'd break your damn legs if you did it one more time, right?"
"W-Wait a sec! This time it's legit, I swear! And throwing a chair out of nowhere is too much!"
"Be grateful I didn't throw the desk!"
The reason the vice president was so prickly toward the innocent-looking Glasses Guy? He was infamous at school as "Lecca," the king of rumors.
With his ghost story ability that fed on gossip, he got an itchy mouth if he didn't spread secrets. That was why most students treated him like the plague—seven colors of disgust.
"I get why you all hate me. But! You gotta believe me on this one! Even the boy who cried wolf tells the truth once in a while!"
Calling himself the boy who cried wolf was already a bad start.
But his unusual persistence today started swaying the class—maybe they should hear him out.
"Vice prez, Lecca's never been this insistent before. Might as well listen once."
"Yeah, true~ We're stuck waiting here till the Ice Princess shows up anyway. Might kill some boredom."
"Sigh... Fine, Lecca. If this is bullshit again, you're dead."
"T-This one's 100% real, no cap!"
True sincerity moves heaven, or so they say. Grateful for the rare chance, Glasses cleared his throat, put on a serious face, and began.
"Phew, okay. So, I was peeking through the training hall window crack, and I saw the Ice Princess?"
"Eeeeeek!!! You pervert bastard! I knew you were creeping on our Seol-hwa!!!"
—Tremble! The vice president finally grabbed the desk she hadn't thrown earlier and swung it down at Glasses.
"W-Wait! I won't dodge, so hear my last words!"
"No need! You're not shaking in your boots—you're gonna die like a straw doll from now on!! Pray to God while you can!!"
Swoosh! With the vice president's iron mace just 30cm from his head, Glasses mustered his final desperate cry.
"Aaaah! Th-The Ice Princess smiled!! Seol-hwa, who never smiles, was smiling!! I saw it clear as day!!"
Freeze!
His final words halted not just the vice president, but every S-Class student mid-motion.
'Seol-hwa smiled.'
It was a bombshell event for classmates and the whole school.
"You guys in her class know best, but the Ice Princess doesn't just not smile—she barely shows any emotion, right? But she was really smiling earlier!"
Seol-hwa was KAGIS's public face and future star. A young awakener who'd crushed a powerful ghost story. Add her stunning looks, and she couldn't avoid the spotlight. But she lacked one thing: emotional expression.
"Seol-hwa smiled...? You sure you didn't see wrong?"
"Even when the class prez praised her in front of Eun-ha-sensei, she was stone-faced. You expect us to buy that?"
"Yeah. Fake news has to be at least believable. This is on par with 'Phantom's actually human' levels of BS."
Naturally, no one bought it easily. Seol-hwa had been the genuine Ice Princess since enrollment—no smiles, period.
"I swear! I saw it with these eyes! The Ice Princess laughing in some guy's arms!"
"Hold up, a guy?"
Ha Jin-woo, the Thunder Piss-Pants who'd been listening silently, stepped forward slowly.
"Huh? The S-Class rapid-fire king, Jin-woo?"
"......Don't call me that."
Jin-woo approached with a fed-up look.
"More importantly, a guy? The top rank bans access to the training hall when she's relieving stress."
Jin-woo wondered what lunatic had approached the building Seol-hwa used solo. One wrong move and you'd freeze solid.
"Dunno. I only saw the guy go in, then Seol-hwa suddenly run into his arms."
"Hmm... What'd he look like?"
"Tall guy with dark brown hair, good build. And hot as hell? Matched Seol-hwa perfectly."
The moment Glasses described him, Jin-woo knew exactly who.
The man who'd silently taught swordsmanship to cocky him. Strong, fast, wielding beautiful, fluid techniques. Even unawakened, he'd dominated him throughout.
That man's name—
"Yoon Si-hyeon... Instructor...?"
······
Once Jin-woo dropped Si-hyeon's name, the rumors exploded with wild embellishments.
'Heard the Ice Princess fell for Si-hyeon at first sight during the guild tour.'
'Yuki told me Si-hyeon Instructor's the new S-Class teacher?'
'What? Teacher-student romance?! Kyaa! Forbidden love!'
'Saw Seol-hwa losing control of her frost and he dashed into the training hall without hesitation! So cool!'
'Asked my uncle at Dawn's Light Guild. Turns out Instructor Si-hyeon... is a certified lolicon approved by the guild master.'
'Uh, that's a bit...'
'But is dating minors okay?'
'Dunno lol.'
By the time the rumors circled the school,
* * *
<<KAGIS Principal's Office>>
"Wahhh, this mom is so disappointed in her son! Wasn't Lea, Ga-eun, and Emilia enough to satisfy your creepy lust? How could you even seduce Seol-hwa...! Sob sob."
Eun-ha sat Si-hyeon down and fake-sobbed into her hands.
"A real man can chase women with just enough strength to lift a spoon... but I never thought my son was such a shameless pervert...! Euuuhuhuk!"
"Sigh... Mom, enough with the teasing already. It's been an hour."
"Heehee, but it's too fun~♡"
He'd only come for Lea's tour, and now this disaster. Who could've guessed that creepy girl he'd sworn to avoid was in that building!
'Lea blocked the frost... but that just sparked weird misunderstandings.'
Lea was gradually sprouting apocalypse-level power. No way a disaster-to-apocalypse Frost Queen ability would work on her.
Mengmang-grade could call apocalypse-grade "trash."
"Anyway, when's Lea's test done?"
"Hmm~ Probably wrapping up now~"
—Bang!
"Hehet, this body has finally been recognized for its power!"
Right on cue, Lea burst in beaming with excitement.
Perfect timing—guess Lea wasn't much better.
'Knight thing, so she doesn't care?'
Anyway. Squeeze— Si-hyeon lightly hugged the incoming Lea and asked how it went.
"Lea, good job?"
"Umph! The humans were shocked by this body's strength!"
Lea had just finished her awakening test as part of the tour process.
"How'd the results turn out~?"
Eun-ha lazily asked the verifier who'd entered with Lea.
—Rustle.
The exhausted-looking verifier flipped through documents with a hint of thrill, briefing us.
"Frankly, even after tests 2 and 3, I still can't believe it. How does Lea have such mysterious powers?"
"What exactly's so mysterious~?"
"I knew it was no joke when she nullified Seol-hwa's frost—the undisputed KAGIS #1. But... various tests show zero awakening abilities work on Lea."
"Zero? Like a defense-type ability~?"
The verifier, as if expecting it, chuckled and waved no.
"Not that simple. Lea's power is more like... 'Awakening Nullification.'"
"Nullification~?"
"Yes! No similar abilities reported. A groundbreaking discovery!"
He couldn't hide his excitement, rambling on about Lea.
"Not just attacks—healing and buffs don't work either. Perfect nullification."
Truth was, nothing affected Lea because of her apocalypse aura. The verifier, unaware, labeled it nullification.
"Hmm~~ Nullification, huh~"
Tap tap— After hearing it all, Eun-ha drummed her fingers on the desk and ordered secrecy on Lea's info.
"Keep this inside KAGIS~ 'Nullification' would make nations drool~"
"Of course! No fool here would leak such treasure!"
A girl nullifying awakening powers. If neighbors learned... their reaction was obvious.
At a glance, it resembled Phantom erasing ghost stories.
"Haha... Our Lea's amazing, huh?"
"Umph! This body is the strongest, so of course!"
"That's right~ Our Lea's the best!"
Si-hyeon, knowing the full truth, just gave a hollow internal smile.
'...If they knew I can nullify with my beginner package like Lea, it'd be chaos.'
He vowed to hide Phantom's identity even tighter.
* * *
"Hmmng~~ Heard some unexpected juicy info, nyang~"
Flick flick— Perched precariously on the principal's office window sill, a sky-blue cat-eared girl grinned slyly like she'd struck gold, then hopped down.
Hop!
"Nullification ability~~ This info's gonna fetch a high price, nyang~"
Fujiwara Yuki, Kagutsuchi Guild's Japanese info broker, tapped her smartphone and messaged someone.