Summoned into the Academy
I'm summoned and my head is spinning so loudly I can't even hear properly.
The announcer's roar echoes through the arena like a thunderclap. Even that sound feels thick and muffled in my ears.
K-KicK Night. This light heavyweight division's winner is the rising saint! It's Kim Jihun's student!!
The largest domestic MMA organization in the world.
The largest domestic MMA organization in the world, K-KicK.
Under those blinding lights, I'm facing my third straight defeat.
The cruel reality didn't allow any twist in the story.
Tuq―
I spat out the mouthguard along with the bitter taste of blood lingering in my mouth.
Even that small gesture was painful.
The burst mouth throbbed, but what was worse than the pain was the emptiness left by defeat.
The team's mood was terrible too.
At most a couple of losses, some encouragement might have come, but repeated failure faded even the most hopeful words.
An uncomfortable sensation like sitting on a bed of nails enveloped my whole body.
"I'm sorry."
"No. You did your best."
The director's nonchalant comfort only scraped at my chest.
Doing my best only resulted in three straight losses.
I wished he'd gotten more aggressive, that I lacked talent and didn't shine, and that he'd scolded me harshly.
But even though I did my best, I lost.
That's all it came down to.
No longer qualified to stand on the pro stage.
"Y-yes... That's right. Even though I gave my all, I couldn't win. Then maybe I should quit now?"
"Huh? Why, Tae-san...? The next fight will be more fiery―"
"Director, you've said that line after the last match too."
I knew it all too well.
Even if I hid behind cowardice, the root of every problem was always just me.
That night, I finally packed up and left the cage I'd devoted my life to.
The bag in my hand felt light.
But the hollow wind that blew through the hole in my chest was so bitter I couldn't endure it.
Overall record: 8 wins, 12 losses.
The thrill and excitement I'd felt stepping into the world's largest MMA organization had now faded to nothing.
"Ha... What now starting tomorrow."
When I stopped the path of struggle I'd devoted my life to, the mirror of cold reality showed only a miserable loser with nothing to show at thirty years old.
"I just wanted to taste a clean KO win for once. How the hell could I lose to that guy..."
After finishing the shower without even wiping the wet body, I collapsed on the bed.
Even the unpleasant sensation of the damp sheets against my skin meant nothing in the face of defeat.
Please... anyone... just anyone.
Was the tinnitus mixed with the pounding headache a hallucination?
A slender, fragile girl's voice lingered like a ghost at my ear.
Please crush their noses that laugh at me... Send me a strong and ferocious summon!
At that moment, a strange vibration rose from the floor and climbed my spine.
I tried to jolt up thinking it was an earthquake, but my body was swallowed helplessly like into a vast swamp.
Flash! A blinding light burst before my eyes, reality scattering, a sharp tinnitus tearing at my eardrum, and a floating sensation I'd never felt before enveloped my entire body.
And when I opened my eyes again.
"...Eh?"
I lay there alone on the cold stone floor, permeated with an unfamiliar chill that seeped into my spine.
The cold texture of the stone against my cheek was vivid enough to give me goosebumps, but the scene spread before my eyes was too surreal to believe it was real.
"Success!"
"Gaju! Young Miss Yustia has succeeded in the supreme summoning spell!"
Through the hazy gray smoke, a mysterious blue light seeped in.
The bizarre pattern carved into the floor, the overlapping circles and characters that intertwined with perfect precision, formed a flawless geometric structure that spewed out eerie light.
Soon, as the smoke slowly cleared, dozens of people in dark robes entered my field of view.
All of their gazes were fixed on me sprawled on the floor.
Shock and bewilderment swirled in their eyes.
"What... Is this a dream?"
Clearing my foggy mind, my own murmur froze the surrounding air.
"T-that...? A human?!"
"Didn't I just say it? How could a human... in the summoning circle?"
"A human?! That's impossible. A summon being a human."
"Is it perhaps the golem's disguise...?"
Everyone whispered in shock while staring at me, but the most shocked one was clearly me.
What kind of situation is this?
Summoning circle? Summon? Golem? Unfamiliar words rang out.
"Everyone, stop."
At that moment, a cool and oppressive voice that silenced the commotion split the hall.
The man in the blood-red robe who had been observing from the back opened his mouth, and instantly it grew quiet.
"Yustia..."
"Father! No! The summoning circle was perfectly fine. I checked it multiple times―"
"Yes. Since last year, Professor Lifedimer, who was on the academy faculty, personally supervised it, so the summoning circle should be fine. The problem is the summon."
"I... I just wanted a strong summon."
"It's a human."
"..."
The girl's shoulders in the robe visibly shrank.
A despairing shadow fell over the girl's pale, blanched face.
From her trembling lips, a rebuttal didn't seem to come out.
"A plain human male whose mana aura is completely absent. Is this what you wanted as a summon?"
The man with sharp eyes scanned me once more with cold eyes.
Like a contemptuous gaze appraising meat on sale at an auction.
"Disappointment."
He clicked his tongue briefly and turned his back.
The hem of the blood-red robe fluttered roughly.
"Handle the aftermath yourself. I can't stand looking at you. All the servants, gather in the conference room."
Leaving only the cold command, the man in the blood-red robe exited the door.
As the footsteps of the attendants following him faded, the silence left in the hall grew thicker and heavier, pressing down on the girl.
The girl stared endlessly beyond the door with eyes still smeared with lingering attachment.
...Yeah. The other side looked just as bewildered.
But the one more bewildered was me, who had no idea what was happening and was sitting here.
"Excuse me, what exactly is going on right now? What is this?"
"Oh! You startled me..."
The girl who had summoned me clutched her chest with a short scream and stepped back.
"C-can you speak? Are you really a human?"
"Yes, a human. But... would it be okay if I asked first?"
"Of course! Anything..."
"Excuse me, but I'd like some clothes... I'd be embarrassed talking naked."
"Ah, I'm sorry!"
The girl's face flushed red in an instant.
Her ears turning bright red as she looked around helplessly, then dropped her gaze to the floor.
"Just a moment! I'll bring clothes right away!"
Trailing off, the girl turned around in a startle.
The hem of her robe swept the floor as she hurried out the door like she was fleeing.
"Hahaha... What a mess."
It was the moment I tried to rise to escape the cold of the stone floor.
Body that should have been heavy as lead became feather-light.
No, like the shackles of gravity had loosened, it floated up lightly.
"Eh?"
The center of my body rose into the air.
The action of just trying to stand up unintentionally bounced me.
As if the floor had spring-loaded me, my knees flailed helplessly in the air and my toes scraped the void.
Teetering. My body leaned forward.
"Ah, wait!"
In a hurry to regain balance, I slammed my feet down harshly.
Crack.
A dull explosion split the stone floor.
The solid tile beneath my feet cracked like a spiderweb, then sank into the abyss.
"What?!"
Instinctively, I flailed my arms to grab at the air, but nothing caught.
Crash!
The impact of falling was far greater than usual.
I had only slightly tilted, but the moment I hit the floor, the entire hall vibrated.
I sucked in a breath and inhaled the acrid stone dust.
"Cough... cough... Ah, damn it."
On the palm pressing the floor, the rough texture of cold stone dust clung.
"What is this... Kyah! Are you okay?"
The girl, who had entered carrying an armful of clothes, froze like a stone upon seeing my disheveled state.
My gaze naturally drifted to the floor beneath my feet, the tragic crack of crushed tile, and the faintly trembling tiles.
"How did the summoning circle... Ah! Clothes, first clothes―"
"What is this? Why does it break so easily? The floor is weird."
"It can't be. The stone used in the summoning ritual is harder than iron..."
The girl handed me the clothes without hiding her confusion, but her pupils still refused to leave the deep crack crossing the floor.
I dressed and cautiously rose from my seat again.
This time, slowly, without exerting force.
Yet my body moved far larger than expected.
The angle at which my upper body rose exceeded my intention, and before my feet could plant on the floor, my center of gravity shot forward.
The floating sensation continued to linger.
Thud.
"...What the hell."
"Are you okay?"
"Something feels off... It feels like my body's become lighter."
"That's impossible..."
The girl's pupils began to sparkle with an eerie light.
"Wait a moment. Maybe..."
The previous confusion was gone, replaced by an expectation as if I'd witnessed some enormous secret.
"Perhaps Father was wrong. No, he was wrong. You're not a plain human. Right?"
Her voice gained a subtle conviction and rose slightly.
Life began returning to the girl's face that had been drowned in gray despair.
"No, I just..."
"As expected! It's impossible for a plain human to come out of the summoning ritual!"
"Hey, wait a second... Could you please explain the current situation? Summoning ritual."
The girl briefly moved her lips, then dropped her gaze down.
"Summoning... is a ritual that pulls 'monsters' from another dimension."
"...Another dimension?"
"Yes. There are multiple names for dimensions. In some books, it's called the Abyss, and in others, the other side..."
She pointed at the pattern of the summoning circle with her fingertip. The overlapping geometric form of circles and characters faintly glowed on the floor.
"But the purpose is the same. In exchange for the contractee's mana, summon a being with powerful strength to the real world and make it swear absolute obedience. That's the essence of summoning magic."
"Absolute obedience?" The girl's voice gradually shrank and trailed off.
She glanced at my eyes, then continued cautiously.
"Normally, a ferocious beast or spirit should have come out..."
I brushed my hair back.
"Hah... Then there must be a way to send it back too. Since you summoned it, you should be able to send it back―"
"No."
The girl cut me off hurriedly.
"There's no record of sending the summon back... and I've never heard such a thing."
"..."
My head went white in an instant.
"O-over there! First, please calm down! There's no immediate method, but it's not impossible. Magic can do anything. So..."
She waved her hands in the air while rambling, but no consolation reached my ears. Not only had I been chased away from the fight stage I'd devoted my life to, but now I'd even lost my home.
"W-well, we can't stay like this here..."
The girl carefully grabbed the hem of my clothes.
"First, there's a guest room at our house. I'll guide you there. Rest and think slowly, and there should definitely be a way. Right?"
In a voice dripping with earnestness, I barely managed to pull myself together.
There was nothing that could be changed by sitting down here and now.
I forcibly detached my heavy leaden feet and entrusted my body to her hand.
"...Yeah. Please guide me."
The moment I took a step, the strange floating sensation wrapped around my ankles again.
The sensation of stepping on the ground felt like stepping on wet cotton, hazy and dreamy.
"Ah, yes! This way!"
Ah, yes! This way!