Aren't You Looking Where You're Going?
Aren't You Looking Where You're Going?
It might be stating the obvious, but Siyoram was absurdly vast.
I remembered reading in my original world that Siyoram was roughly the size of Jeju Island. I'd never quite felt how big Jeju actually was before.
But I had enough common sense to be stunned that they'd used an entire island for just one educational institution.
Apparently, facilities for the Awakened took up so much land that such an expansive site was necessary.
Thanks to that size, autonomous shuttle buses stopped throughout Siyoram at roughly ten-minute intervals.
I left the dormitory, boarded the bus, took a seat, and stared out the window... or rather, sensed it.
Feeling the scenery whip past was honestly intimidating.
I knew from the game that they used an entire massive island, but experiencing it firsthand felt different.
Seventeen days had already passed since I began living in this other world.
Today was the day of the Freshman Welcome Party.
While I'd been holed up in my room wrestling with my major textbooks, the other cadets had gradually finished moving into the dormitory.
"Hey, is that really him? The Special Admission."
"Looks like it."
"For a detection-type, there's something different about his vibe, huh?"
The gazes and murmurs stabbing into me were proof enough.
Even crammed into a corner of the bus, I stood out immediately. Was walking around with my eyes closed really that attention-grabbing?
After thinking it over, I figured it probably was.
It hadn't even been a day since I learned my name was pretty well-known on the student community.
That phrase I'd just heard, "special admission."
Not a cadet who'd taken Siyoram's exam and gotten in, but one who'd been directly contacted by an official.
At first glance, it didn't sound like something worth making a fuss over.
After all, there were cadets recommended by Siyoram professors who then took an exam, and cadets who got in thanks to powerful backing.
But if you knew the "official" in question wasn't a professor, but one single person, it made sense.
'Neriel Claidia.'
The founder of Siyoram.
Tower Master of Growth.
The Silent Mage.
A legend of the superhuman world who had lived for over 150 years.
Her list of incredible achievements included quelling a Special-Grade Dungeon and destroying dozens of Grade 1 Dungeons.
If even a Grade 1 Dungeon broke out badly, a city could be devastated. If a Special-Grade broke out, it was a national existential crisis.
The era when the Headmaster was active wasn't this current era of peace, but a time of upheaval and chaos.
Considering how rare dungeon outbreaks were these days, those feats were all the more awe-inspiring.
In short, the Headmaster was a legendary figure whose achievements filled dozens of history books—she stopped a nation-toppling dungeon and dozens of city-destroying dungeons.
And she was the master of the educational institution that had produced superhumans active on the frontlines for nearly a hundred years.
And apparently, that great figure had recommended a talent. For the first time in nearly a hundred years since Siyoram's founding.
The very first time.
That alone was enough to set the rumor mills spinning, but the first person she recommended was blind and mute? You couldn't ask for juicier gossip. Even I'd be curious.
'When it was a game, it wasn't something I needed to worry about.'
The Special Admission status hadn't mattered much in the game.
I never even met Headmaster Neriel during the main story. In the game, Special Admission amounted to nothing more than a reputation meter increase.
In reality, though, it was another matter.
I wasn't exaggerating—honestly, practically everyone was whispering about me. And it wasn't just nice things; I heard plenty of slander too.
"How did a blind guy get into Siyoram?"
"If the Headmaster's his backer, what does being blind matter?"
"Wow... so this is the disability quota, huh."
They were murmuring, probably thinking I couldn't hear, but my now incredibly sharp ears were picking it all up just fine...
'Disability quota, huh...'
I'd seen that term online. It didn't bother me much.
Because even from my perspective, the disability quota thing was pretty accurate...
I had vowed to break these shackles. I'd sworn I'd grow stronger for that. But honestly, I wasn't confident I'd actually become strong.
Splitting a car with one swing of a sword, flames erupting from someone's hand to burn down an entire building.
It had been nothing but fiction, not reality. Such things were impossible by the common sense I knew.
That common sense had been shattered two weeks ago.
My entire world flipped in an instant. My vision suddenly vanished, and I gained this strange ability to sense the space around me and navigate it.
I could sense this supernatural energy called mana permeating the world, and even found a tiny bit of mana within my own body.
Sensing it made part of me think it might be possible... but my old common sense, now ground nearly to dust, still denied it.
It told me, 'Could that really work? At the very least, you probably can't.'
[ Next stop, First Banquet Hall. ]
How long had I sat there on edge? The bus doors opened at my destination, and cadets began flooding out.
I tagged along at the back of the crowd and got off too.
Since everyone was heading to the banquet hall, I didn't even need to turn on navigation; just following the flow was enough.
Inside the banquet hall.
It was already swarming with cadets who'd arrived early. But thanks to the building's size, it wasn't too uncomfortable.
Checking the time, I saw about 30 minutes were left until the start. To avoid the attention that would pour down the moment I entered, I stepped back outside the hall. I headed to a nearby convenience store to grab a drink.
'I need to get used to this.'
Having never received this kind of attention in my life, I found it overwhelmingly awkward and burdensome.
Normally, I would've just dropped everything and run, but given my circumstances, I had to swallow my tears and settle down in Siyoram.
Letting out a deep sigh, I opened the bottle of water I'd bought at the store and took a mouthful.
Originally, I would've bought some fruit juice, but with the state of my tongue... drinking something and finding it tasteless just gets you down.
I wished I could at least sense a scent, but... my sense of smell was the same.
Reaching that thought made me even more depressed. It felt as though negative thoughts kept looming in front of me... well, I can't even see what's in front of me.
A chain of negative thoughts. At this rate, my mood would dig itself a tunnel straight into the earth's core. I shook my head vigorously to chase away the thoughts, then sighed.
...Brooding wouldn't change anything. I couldn't just stop at cursing my own situation.
To crawl out of this negative hole, I had to act. I had to translate thoughts into action.
'Right. I'm preparing even now, aren't I?'
It was while I was repeating that to myself, walking back toward the banquet hall.
"Hey, hey! Watch ou...!"
It was over in a flash.
Just as I was stepping out of the alley where the convenience store was, something came charging in at high speed from beyond my spatial perception and crashed right into me.
"?!"
"Agh! What the hell?"
The water bottle flew into the air, scattering its contents. Unable to withstand the sudden impact, my body rolled across the ground, and I nearly let out a scream despite myself.
The impact had already made me scream, which was why I was now groaning in pain.
"Jeez! Hey, can't you see where you're going? I told you to move, but... Uh... Uhh..."
My throat hurt. I'd gotten pretty used to the pain of my vocal cords being torn, but pain was still pain.
Tears leaked out a little.
While I endured the pain from the Curse of Silence, a somewhat familiar voice sounded from above. It was a character voice I'd heard often while playing the game.
I reflexively lifted my head, and the speaker's words trailed off before vanishing entirely. An outline visible through my spatial perception. A woman was looking down at me.
All I had was an outline to go by for her appearance, but thanks to that voice, I could guess her identity.
Hong Yeon-hwa.
Belonging to the Calamity Flame, one of South Korea's Three Great Families.
Daughter of the current head of the Calamity Flame Family, Hong Jin-seon, and granddaughter of the former head.
A precious child destined to become the next master of the Calamity Flame Family, and one of the main heroines with the potential to stand at the top of the world's power rankings.
"Uh, no, that..."
[I apologize.]
Before Hong Yeon-hwa could recover from her sudden silence and speak again, I hastily scrambled up and bowed my head deeply.
[My body was slow, and I couldn't react properly. I sincerely apologize for causing you discomfort.]
Was I really in the wrong? Wasn't she the one who crashed into me?
I buried that thought before I could even properly lift my head. Here, trying to hash out who was at fault wasn't a good move.
Her looks—a mutated unique ability resembling dancing flames, and a beautiful appearance—were well known, but one trait came to mind even before those.
Her defining trait was her fiery temper: hot-blooded, irritable, and a creed of repaying both kindness and grudges tenfold for one.
On top of that, the force I felt from Hong Yeon-hwa.
She was a fireball. Her mana was taking the form of fire, and just looking at it made me feel like I'd burn to death.
If I responded here with, 'You crazy bitch, weren't you the one at fault?', nothing good would come of it.
An image of myself turning into firewood flashed through a corner of my mind.
At least, that was how she was in the game. Reality or not, arrogantly insisting she was at fault wouldn't end well for me.
Making that judgment, I hurriedly got up and tapped my watch.
"No—! No! What do you even have to be sorry for! I should be the one apologizing. I was moving so fast I didn't see in front of me. I'm really sorry."
?
But her reaction was strange.
Instead, she was the one bowing her head and apologizing.
Wasn't this the kind of situation where, if it were a game, it'd seamlessly transition into a battle event?
I hesitated for a moment, then bowed my head back at her.
"......"
"......"
An awkward silence hung in the air.
I was thrown off by Hong Yeon-hwa's unexpected attitude, and Hong Yeon-hwa... I had no idea what her deal was.
"Uh... you're that guy, right? The Special Admission Cadet."
[Yes, my name is Lee Ha-yul.]
"I know your name. You're pretty famous, I he... uh. Umm..."
I was aware of my fame. For better or worse.
I understood.
The recommended admissions would feel it too, but the exam admissions were probably even more displeased with me.
After all, they'd shed blood and sweat and struggled for ages just to barely get in, and even recommended admission cadets still took a simple test.
But I just waltzed in without any exam. From their perspective, they must be absolutely disgusted with me.
I'd experienced those stares on the bus just now, and even in the original story, the other cadets' affection levels were generally low in the beginning.
'?'
The end of her sentence trailed off. Again, Hong Yeon-hwa reacted strangely. Her fingertips were trembling slightly, as if she didn't know what to do.
"Look... I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything bad by it."
[It's alright.]
I honestly had no idea why she was acting like that.
Before the awkward atmosphere could settle in again, the welcome party schedule came to mind, and I hurriedly checked the time.
Fortunately, there was still time left. The convenience store was practically next door, so even if I walked now, I would have plenty of leeway.
"Wa-wait a moment!"
Just as I was about to turn around, Hong Yeon-hwa urgently waved her hands.
"Hey, uh... can I guide you there? I feel kind of bad about what happened earlier..."
'I'll have to decline...'
[Thank you.]
Once again, I couldn't refuse.
* * *
'Crazy bitch.'
What a goddamn crazy bitch.
Hong Yeon-hwa replayed the moment and unleashed a torrent of self-directed profanity.
The chain of events went like this. She'd overslept a little, so she got ready in a rush and dashed out of the dormitory.
The facilities were decent enough. Not as good as the main family estate, but they were top-tier, so she'd gotten a decent sleep.
But because she'd overslept, Hong Yeon-hwa had to sprint madly.
She didn't take the bus. Normally, even if the bus was slower than running herself, she would've taken it to kill some time.
But since time was tight, she just ran.
In hindsight, had she really needed to rush that much? No, she hadn't. By the midway point, she probably would've had enough leeway to just walk without needing to sprint.
...Her vision had narrowed, so she hadn't noticed him. She'd just been thinking she was late and planned to run until she arrived.
Her thoughts fixating on one thing narrowed her field of view, and because of that, she didn't notice the person walking out of the alley and crashed right into him.
There was one mitigating factor. His presence had been suspiciously faint. It was so subtle that even she, an Awakened with heightened mana sense, had missed it.
Also, she had definitely slowed down before the collision. Enough that even if she'd hit an ordinary person, they would've just stumbled slightly.
Yet the person she hit went tumbling across the ground. And then, they started groaning as if they'd been stabbed by a knife.
His reaction was so exaggeratedly painful it almost seemed like he was acting, which left her a bit dumbfounded.
So, she'd let her temper flare up rashly, and in less than ten seconds, she regretted it.
She glanced back at the male cadet shuffling along behind her, holding onto her sleeve.
A notable trait was his small frame. She was on the taller side, but he was even shorter than her. Seeing his slender, delicate appearance at a glance made sense of how he'd tumbled like that.
Also, the sight of him following her, holding her sleeve with both eyes tightly shut, sparked a strange protective instinct.
...The moisture clinging to the corners of his eyes stabbed deep into her chest. Why was there moisture there? She didn't want to imagine it, but the answer surfaced on its own.
And this was the boy who sparked a protective instinct: blind, and she had crashed into him, knocked him to the ground, and then chewed him out with the worst possible words, 'Can't you see where you're going?'...
'Shit...'
Hong Yeon-hwa had constantly been advised by her family elders, her grandfather, and her dad to suppress her temper when she went out.
Part of it was an innate disposition, and the way her family had always pampered her had also shaped that temperament. Plus, various events had made her impatient and easily irritable.
The biggest reason, of course, was probably that Hong Yeon-hwa herself hadn't really taken the advice to heart. And this was the result.
Unable to contain a fleeting moment of anger, she had caused this disaster.
...Even though she'd dusted him off earlier, it looked like there was still some dirt on his clothes. When she reached out and brushed off his shoulder, he flinched.
"Ah, there was still some dust clinging to you."
[I see.]
Maybe the flinch was just a reflex; he nodded and answered back with the hologram.
...Obviously, it was far more convenient to speak with your mouth than to tap on a smartwatch and output a hologram answer.
But he probably couldn't. Speak, that is.
'Should I have just kept my mouth shut?'
It was awkward. It was hard to even start a conversation.
He wasn't someone she was close with; they'd just met for the first time.
And even more so, trying to say something as the perpetrator who'd committed such godawful rudeness was too much.
To do some damage control, she'd offered a brief apology and was personally guiding him, but she knew that alone wouldn't make him comfortable around her.
She'd already screwed it up.
Hong Yeon-hwa mentally cursed herself and carefully guided Lee Ha-yul by his sleeve.