First Year, Second Semester
First Year, Second Semester
Time flew.
The sun set and the moon rose again and again.
At last the warm, cozy spring weather passed, and we reached the height of summer, with the blazing sun beating down.
The second semester had arrived.
Which called for celebration.
A celebration so great I ought to stand and applaud right now, blow a trumpet like an elephant, and sing my own praises.
You know how there's a custom of throwing a seventieth-birthday feast to celebrate an elder who's safely made it to seventy? This was like that.
When I first moved into the Siyoram dormitory.
Shut away alone in my room, scratching out theory notes, I'd honestly been scared I wouldn't make it past the second semester before dying.
But I made it past after all.
Despite the passage of time, I survived.
...Sure, there were plenty of twists and turns along the way, but I lived, so that's what matters.
And my life is still hanging by a thread now, but... that doesn't mean I can just lie down and die gracefully either.
I decided to praise myself for what I'd achieved so far.
The path to school, which I was taking for the first time in nearly a month, was packed with cadets.
As a side note, Seo-yul was in Hong Yeon-hwa's attendant Eriel's care.
Just like in the first semester, I left the dormitory and boarded the self-driving bus.
By now I was used to the gazes that pinned me from all around.
- Stare...
But the looks were remarkably blatant.
Rivalling the start of the semester... no, maybe even worse.
I could understand why.
I'd caused quite a few incidents throughout the break.
First, news had spread that I'd been added to the Calamity Flame family register as a blood relative.
And not just that I was a blood relative, but that I'd manifested the Calamity Flame unique ability as well.
There was no news about the Beacon Fire Sword yet.
At the Calamity Flame family's regular gathering, I'd picked up the founder's Beacon Fire Sword and carelessly stained it with my color. A fair number of people witnessed that spectacle, and given that word still hasn't spread, it seems they succeeded in silencing everyone.
I'd heard directly from Mrs. Choi Ji-yeon that the matter of the Beacon Fire Sword was still under discussion and they'd get back to me with the result later.
That side must have its own complications.
It's the Beacon Fire Sword that the family's founder personally wielded.
An heirloom brimming with symbolic meaning, and I went and dyed it with my color right in front of an audience...
I was lucky just not to have been scolded on the spot.
'Anyway.'
I hadn't changed my name to Hong Ha-yul or anything, but the special admission cadet suddenly had a sort of affiliation, so that alone must have been plenty of gossip.
Of course, that news was quickly neutralized not long after by the Twin-Headed Poison Dragon that struck.
But then that same Twin-Headed Poison Dragon got its head lopped off by me.
With both of those major topics tied to me, it's only natural the attention would land on me.
- Staaare...
...But the emotion in those stares was truly strange.
If they'd been awed, pitying... even negative emotions like jealousy or envy would make sense, but the looks were oddly lukewarm.
Feeling heat rise to my face, I tugged at Hong Yeon-hwa's sleeve.
A pair of red eyes looked down at me.
"Put... me down..."
"No."
A firm voice that cut my request off at the knees.
Shaking her head as if telling me not to even dream of it, Hong Yeon-hwa pulled me deeper into her arms.
Second semester or not, nothing about my appearance had reverted.
My hair was still white, and my body remained in its shrunken state.
"But... why..."
"Are you asking because you don't know, Ha-yul?"
Poke, poke... Ellia, who'd come to school with us, prodded my cheek.
Ellia's yellow eyes silently asked if I truly didn't know.
I turned my head slightly, as if avoiding her gaze.
Was it two days ago?
I'd collapsed, coughing up blood from all over my body, and nearly got barred from coming to school on the grounds of needing rest.
It was even worse because my supervising professor, Professor Liana, and my teacher happened to witness the scene.
After earnestly persuading everyone around me that I was fine now, I managed to get permission to attend class, but this is the shape I'm in.
I looked exactly like an accident-prone child being handled.
The gazes flying at me from all around grew stranger.
'What on earth is this, from first thing in the morning...'
I couldn't bring myself to lift my head.
.
.
.
Only after entering the Ipchun Room did I barely recover half my freedom.
Hong Yeon-hwa argued that because of my small body I wouldn't be able to see the front even if I sat in a chair, and tried to hold me again, but I fended her off by saying I could use the Sky Wing Feather as a cushion to compensate.
Disappointed, Hong Yeon-hwa sat down beside me.
It was the same back-row seat as in the first semester.
Originally it was the end seat right up against the window, but that spot had been stolen by Ellia.
"Hey, isn't it a bit quick to be playing the early bird?"
Baek A-rin, also in the Ipchun Class, arrived a few minutes later.
Seeing Hong Yeon-hwa and Ellia seated on either side of me, she clicked her tongue as if disappointed.
"You always sit up front. Why are you coming over here?"
"I've been like this for a while, why act like it's new? And besides, Ellia used to sit up front too, so why are you only calling me out? That's discrimination!"
Grumbling, Baek A-rin plopped down in the seat next to Hong Yeon-hwa.
It wasn't new, but the mana waves I sensed were truly complex.
On the left, a warm bright yellow color sparkled; on the right, blazing crimson flames and cold ice and water rippled.
The waves were both comforting and chaotic.
A moment later the front door opened and Professor Liana, the advisor for the Ipchun Class, entered.
"It feels like I met you cadets just the day before yesterday, and now it's already the second semester... it really makes me realize how fast time flies!"
Standing before the podium, Professor Liana smiled brightly and began the morning assembly.
"Since everyone's arrived on time with no one late, I'll skip attendance and get straight to the announcements."
Every last cadet listened intently to Professor Liana's words.
They'd probably heard these announcements in advance, but there could have been changes.
"Starting today, the free-but-not-free semester ends, and the proper semester where you cadets choose and enroll in lectures begins!"
The first semester at Siyoram is like a sampler platter.
In the first semester you experience various subjects as the academy prescribes, then you apply for the ones you want and take them in the second semester.
That's probably why the second semester is longer than the first.
"This week is the course registration period, and most lectures will just spend the whole time on orientation and basic explanations! You'll already have sampled everything in the first semester, but the second semester can be different, right? Choose carefully and let's have a smooth second semester!"
Unusually, Siyoram holds course registration at the start of the second semester, not during the break.
You'd think this place was run by guesswork, too, but seeing as there've been no problems so far, it seems to be functioning properly.
"I imagine a lot of cadets have been eagerly awaiting the second semester! Since lecture hours generally get shorter. Of course, with additional activities like clubs starting up it'll probably balance out, but it beats a complicated, messy lecture schedule, right?"
Clubs also start in the second semester.
To be precise, this is when the new cohort's freshmen first join clubs.
There's a wide variety of clubs.
From skill-improvement clubs for swordsmanship, spear art, archery, to academic clubs like Monster Strategy, Dungeon Statistics, Erosion Zone Analysis, and more.
There are also plenty of hobby-oriented clubs like baseball, soccer, table tennis, gardening, reading, and film and music appreciation.
Hobby activities are actually the primary purpose of Siyoram clubs to begin with.
Most clubs are essentially a system for relieving the fatigue of the already stressed-out cadets.
So a lot of cadets will have been waiting for the second semester.
Clubs also serve a networking function.
Once admitted to Siyoram, your potential is already proven. Siyoram cadets can already operate as top-tier talent on the outside just by graduating safely.
So there's no downside to forming ties with such people. Also, cadets without backgrounds can be recruited into groups.
Through these ties, unaffiliated cadets sometimes find a group to call home.
"Now, and the final announcement!"
Professor Liana clapped her hands for emphasis.
The cadets straightened up in their seats.
"In the second semester, there is a traditional Siyoram event. Namely, the system where seniors and juniors guide each other and draw out their potential together... the Mentoring System!"
Mentoring.
In a way, this was the most important event of the second semester.
"The Mentoring System takes place between first-years and second-years, and each side can designate their preferred partner! Rejection is also possible, of course!"
Mentoring was a system I had been waiting for as well.
Since Lee Ji-yeon, who I had several things to discuss regarding Seo-yul, is a second-year, my plan was to submit a mentor request and meet with her.
"This week is likewise the application period! From course registration to mentor applications... goodness, this week is going to be awfully busy!"
At Professor Liana's exaggerated sigh and theatrical lament, several cadets nodded in agreement.
As she said, this week was going to be quite busy.
Course registration, mentor applications... cadets concerned about clubs also had to handle club matters.
The first week of the second semester, which was supposed to free up a fair amount of time, was paradoxically busier than the first semester.
.
.
.
I still hadn't finished course registration, so my morning hours were completely empty.
As a result, I was separated from everyone else.
Hong Yeon-hwa, Ellia... they'd all been worried I might suddenly collapse again like the day before yesterday, but I'd barely managed to slip away.
I felt bad, but I had a lot to do from here on out, too.
Specifically, I intended to attempt a method to restore this body of mine.
- Ding!
With that, I sent a message from my smartwatch.
Nodding at the notification confirming successful delivery, I dismissed the hologram.
Without delay, I submitted a mentor request to Lee Ji-yeon. Sending it sooner rather than later would make it more noticeable.
'It'd be nice if it works out...'
A sudden worry came over me.
I'd built a small connection with her back in China, but... whether she'd grant a request based on that alone was uncertain, so I wanted to create a firmer connection through the mentoring system.
But whether Lee Ji-yeon would accept my request was another matter entirely.
If she rejected it... I'd just have no choice but to find another way.
- Ding!
'Huh?'
Just as I let out a deep sigh and pulled up the list of lectures to register for, an alarm sounded and a hologram appeared.
[Unregistered Contact: ID-Lee Ji-yeon]
►Lee Ji-yeon: Junior Lee Ha-yul
►Lee Ji-yeon: If you have time, would it be possible to meet?
I blinked.
It was a reply from Lee Ji-yeon.
'It hasn't even been a minute since I sent it.'
Had she just happened to check her messages? Even so, the reply was too fast.
Tilting my head, I sent back a reply agreeing to meet.
.
.
.
"Come on in, Junior..."
[?]
The sight of Lee Ji-yeon when we met at the café like that was shocking.
Tangled hair, dark shadows carved under her eyes like a panda's, a wan complexion like a patient who needed to be put to bed immediately.
At a glance, she was clearly not in a normal state.
'...What the?'
Why on earth was Lee Ji-yeon in this kind of shape again...
I couldn't fathom the reason.