A Pleasant Sense of Belonging
The heavy iron door of the underground waterway slammed shut, its echo ringing through the quiet night campus.
“Haa, I feel alive again.”
Leaving behind the damp stench of the sewers and the fishy aftertaste of mana residue, I stepped back onto the surface. The night air seeped deep into my lungs, sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted.
The tension that had kept me walking the razor’s edge just moments ago melted away all at once. Every muscle in my body screamed in protest, yet a strange sense of accomplishment filled a corner of my chest.
“Good work, both of you.”
Kwon Dohee sunbae, who had been waiting for us at the entrance, approached with a bright smile.
She quickly scanned my torn shoulder and Lee Chaeyeon’s scorched ankle before looking at us with eyes full of deep trust.
“Looks like it wasn’t an easy opponent after all.”
At that moment, a new figure emerged from the shadows behind Dohee sunbae.
It was a female senior with a dreamy aura, wearing a loosely draped purple jersey and letting out a huge yawn.
Slightly curly hair, droopy eyes…
For some reason, she looked familiar. I had a vague memory of seeing her profile picture when I was invited to the student council group chat earlier.
“I’m in charge of treating the kids, right?”
She rubbed her eyes as she walked toward us.
“Ugh… I’m dying of sleepiness…”
It was already past eleven at night. No wonder she looked exhausted.
“Ah, let me introduce you.”
Dohee sunbae smiled softly at Chaeyeon and me, who were both a little tense at meeting someone new.
“This is Yeon Sua sunbae, second-year in charge of student council health and supplies.”
Sua sunbae rested a hand on Dohee sunbae’s shoulder, then casually slid it across as she passed by.
“Do you guys count sheep when you’re trying to sleep?”
She trudged over with an annoyed expression and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“That’s exactly my ability. Just remember me as the ‘Three Sheep’ awakener.”
Three Sheep.
It wasn’t a character from a fairy tale, myth, or historical figure. So you could awaken through superstitious concepts like this too.
It was a superstition related to sleep, but it had manifested as a healing-type ability. Did it have something to do with the meaning of sheep?
While I was busy turning Sua sunbae’s ability over in my head from every angle, she focused her mana through the hand resting on my shoulder.
The mana that flowed from her fingertips merged with the moisture in the air, materializing into soft, white “wool clouds” that looked like cotton candy. They gently wrapped around my wound.
The moment the fluffy wool enveloped my shoulder, I felt more than just the wound closing. It was as if time itself was rewinding—an astonishing sensation.
The extreme comfort of every single cell being restored to its pre-injury state made my tension melt away. I almost closed my eyes without realizing it.
“Whoa.”
It felt similar to when I’d been treated by Bora, but the refined mana needles gave a completely different, refreshing sensation that wrapped around me.
[Jinny’s inner voice] Wow, this is seriously cozy. Her mana is so incredibly soft.
Jinny inside my butt must have read the flow of Sua sunbae’s mana too, because she sounded genuinely impressed.
“Alright, next. You’re Chaeyeon, right?”
Sua sunbae guided the girl standing beside me to a bench and had her sit down. She poured the same mana toward Chaeyeon’s outstretched leg, and fluffy wool clouds burst into existence in the air with a soft poof.
“Yeon Sua. You never treat me like that,” Han Seungwoo sunbae grumbled as he watched the treatment.
“You can heal yourself whenever you feel like it, and…”
While still channeling mana into Chaeyeon through her palm, Sua sunbae only turned her head slightly to look at Seungwoo sunbae.
“You never come back this badly injured in the first place.”
“I guess that’s true.”
Seungwoo sunbae scratched his head awkwardly while Sua sunbae snorted. Watching them, Dohee sunbae wore a warm, satisfied smile.
Sua sunbae carefully wrapped Chaeyeon’s ankle with the wool before speaking in a languid voice.
“Gangjin, Chaeyeon. I know you two worked hard today, but…”
Sua sunbae brushed off her knees and stood up.
“Unfortunately, you won’t have much time to rest. That period is coming up soon.”
“That period? You mean exam season?”
At my question, Dohee sunbae took over from Sua sunbae and began explaining.
“That’s right. Midterms are right around the corner.”
Of course, there were normal written theory exams like any other high school.
But at Gaon High, both midterms and finals included practical combat training that tested mana control.
“Once the practical exams begin, students’ mana control tends to slip.”
“Emotions get mixed into their mana and it leaks out without them even realizing it.”
Dohee sunbae gestured with her hands as she continued.
“When that messy mana piles up all over campus, what do you think happens? The residues that smell it start swarming in huge numbers.”
Sua sunbae, who had been listening quietly, added a comment.
“Last year, three ‘boundary rifts’ opened up in the school backyard alone.”
“Pfft, yeah, that really happened.”
Dohee sunbae and Sua sunbae reminisced about last year and laughed together.
“That’s why the student council begins ‘Residue Intensive Cleanup’ during midterms.”
Seungwoo sunbae took over the explanation while the two girls were still chuckling about the previous year’s events.
“It’s a large-scale operation where we locate every crack in the boundaries around school, seal them, and completely wipe out any residues that have already slipped inside.”
“In short, it’s a total grind,” Sua sunbae said, lightly smacking my shoulder.
“You’ll run into way more annoying bastards than the ones you saw in the underground waterway today. And they’ll come in droves.”
Residues would come in groups. From multiple locations at once.
Our mission was to stop the “wave” of residues surging toward the school from various directions.
It sounded exactly like a defense game.
“Come to the conference room right after lunch tomorrow. We’ll assign you your sectors.”
As student council president, Dohee sunbae gave us the official notice.
“This is your first large-scale operation as official members. With the momentum you showed today, I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”
She smiled and gave us a word of encouragement.
“Yes! We’ll do our best!”
Chaeyeon and I answered in perfect sync, as if we’d rehearsed it.
The student council seniors watched us with silent, warm smiles.
“Alright, that’s it for today! Go get some rest!”
With Dohee sunbae’s signal to disperse, we all said our goodbyes and headed home.
[Jinny] Hey, Gangjin.
On the way home, Jinny spoke up from inside my butt.
“What?”
She stayed quiet for a moment before continuing.
[Jinny] The student council… you really ended up in a good place.
The slightly chilly night air did nothing to stop the warm glow of belonging from lighting up my heart.
The very next day, the moment the bell for fourth period rang, I joined the crowd heading to the cafeteria and sat across from Deokgu.
It was so ordinary that yesterday’s life-or-death battle felt like a lie.
“Hey, Baek Gangjin! I heard you joined the student council?”
Deokgu narrowed his eyes while shoving a sausage into his mouth.
I gave an awkward laugh and gulped down some soup.
“Yeah, that’s right. I went in with Chaeyeon from the class next door.”
“Whoa, that’s awesome?”
Gaon’s student council was pretty well-known. People saw it as an elite group that only the best of the best could join, even among elite schools.
“So yesterday was like a welcome party and orientation combined.”
Deokgu already knew what the student council did, and the look in his eyes as he stared at me seemed to hold a bit more admiration now.
You could’ve at least wiped the rice off your face first, Deokgu.
“Ooh~ already getting thrown into real work? By the way, you look a little different today.”
“Huh? How so?”
“I don’t know… you just seem way more energized. Did you get some kind of special training yesterday?”
Deokgu’s sharp observation nearly made me choke.
The sensation of spinning my butt to the absolute limit with Jinny yesterday and compressing my mana must still be lingering in my body.
“I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”
I felt like if I kept talking, the conversation would inevitably turn to my butt, so I quickly changed the subject.
“Hey, Deokgu. Haven’t you noticed anything weird going on around school lately?”
“Hmm… rumors? Oh! Now that you mention it…!”
Deokgu kept shoveling food into his mouth as he spoke.
“With midterms coming up, the faculty investigation team has been running around like crazy. They say they’ve been finding boundary rifts near the mountain behind the school.”
He patted my shoulder encouragingly.
“Guess the student council’s gonna be busy too, huh?”
I nodded at his words.
To regular students, it was probably just “exam season chaos.”
But for us, the real war was only just beginning.
As lunch was winding down, a notice from Dohee sunbae popped up in the student council group chat.
I cleared my tray and headed straight for the student council room.
This time, I was determined to be the first one there and show the passion of a new member. I stopped in front of the conference room door.
The inside of the student council room was eerily quiet.
Feeling proud that I might be number one, I carefully opened the inner conference room door.
“Hello, I’m new member Baek Gangjin…”
My confident voice cut off sharply in midair.
The air conditioner was humming pleasantly inside the conference room.
On the long sofa lay a senior who looked like a third-year.
But his appearance… was anything but ordinary.
“Huh?”
He was wearing nothing but a single pair of underwear, with a thin blanket barely draped over his stomach. He was practically naked, fast asleep.
The firm chest muscles peeking out from under the blanket and the sharp silhouette of his thighs completely filled my field of vision.
The unexpected full-body silhouette of a well-built man was precariously exposed beneath the thin blanket, which fluttered slightly in the air-conditioned breeze.
The moment I panicked and tried to step back, the senior tossed and turned in his sleep.
The thin blanket that had barely been covering him began to slide slowly to the floor.
His defenselessly exposed body and the cool, out-of-season air conditioner breeze brushing over it.
I forgot to even scream. I simply froze like a statue in the open doorway.
This was a far cry from the dignified, strategic meeting I had imagined a student council would hold.