I'm Done For (1)
I'm Screwed (1)
"Are you nervous?"
My father standing next to me asked abruptly, as if tossing out the question.
Instead of answering, I rubbed my damp, sweaty palms on my pants.
Of course I'm nervous.
Because today,
is the day my life gets decided.
No need for grand words.
My meal ticket.
That's the one thing being decided today.
The place created by the heroes who repelled the Demon Tribe. The Academy.
This place sorts people by one thing only.
Innate magical power.
Based on that single, absolute talent,
status and life are divided.
The massive domed auditorium of the academy's main building was packed with hundreds of students and their guardians.
Magical lamps, embroidered across the ceiling like constellations, glowed softly,
and in the center of the auditorium sat a huge transparent crystal the size of two human heads.
The Magic Power Measurement Stone.
My future life depends on that one hunk of rock.
A rosy penthouse,
or a moldy basement studio apartment.
"Next."
At the dry voice, a male student stepped forward.
As he placed his trembling hand on the crystal, a faint light, about as bright as a fluorescent lamp, swirled around.
"C-grade magical power. No attribute."
"Haa..."
Sighs erupted from here and there.
Watching this, I ran the calculations in my head.
C-grade means...
I can get by decently.
Will it be tough without an attribute?
"Next."
This time it was a female student with a rather confident expression.
The moment her hand touched it, a fiery light like blazing flames burst forth from within the crystal.
"B-grade! Fire attribute!"
"Waaaah—!!"
Cheers erupted.
Parents cried, friends jumped for joy.
I averted my gaze.
That, is not my life.
Sword Saint? Grand Archmage?
No.
My goal is just one.
To earn a decent living,
live a decent life,
and die a decent death.
That's enough for me.
"Next. Lee Jeong-hoon."
Finally, my name echoed through the auditorium.
"......I'll be right back."
I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible,
but my heart was pounding like crazy near my ears.
As I took a heavy step forward,
my mother's trembling voice came from behind me.
"Jeong-hoon, it's okay. Just do as you practiced."
My father just watched me silently, his jaw set firm.
On the platform.
I stood before the measurement stone.
Up close, inside the crystal,
a misty, opaque substance swirled slowly.
"Place your hand. Relax."
I gulped.
A short, deep breath.
And—
I raised my trembling hand and placed it on the crystal.
The moment it touched—
—Flash!!!
"Eeek!"
"What the?!"
Light exploded.
The entire auditorium was instantly bleached white.
—As if,
the world had turned off and on again.
"Aah, it's blinding!"
"What is that!"
Screams broke out.
The crystal vibrated madly.
As if a sun had been stuffed inside it.
The face of the previously indifferent Measurer instantly turned pale.
"Th-this... The reading is—"
—Vrrrm, vrm!
The magical lamps on the ceiling flickered simultaneously.
And in that moment,
all the light and magical power—
was sucked into my hand.
"Jeong-hoon!"
My mother's voice sounded distant.
But I couldn't move.
My hand wouldn't come off.
And—
Deep within my mind,
—Click.
Something,
opened its eyes.
It wasn't a sensation.
It was an existence.
Something sticky, damp,
and suffocatingly alien.
"Remove your hand! Now!"
The Measurer shouted.
But—
Before he could.
As if exhaling its last breath, the crystal,
—Fssssss...
extinguished its light.
Thud.
A completely dead stone.
A crystal gone cold and black.
The Measurer checked the gauge with a trembling hand.
"Magical power level..."
A gulping sound echoed.
"Measurement... impossible."
Instantly,
the auditorium buzzed.
"What was that just now?"
"Measurement impossible?"
The Measurer tapped the machine several times,
then spoke again in an irritated voice.
"Correction."
Silence.
"No magic circuit reaction."
My heart sank with a thud.
"Final reading... 0."
Instantly—
My mind went blank.
Zero?
How does that make sense?
Didn't all that incredible light just get sucked into me?
What the hell was that creepy sensation flowing through my veins?
'...Clearly, something inside me woke up.'
Something that swallowed the crystal's entire magical power whole.
But where my trembling gaze landed,
stood the Measurer, shaking his head decisively.
"Student Lee Jeong-hoon. Ability not manifested. No magical attribute."
The sound of a red pen scratching on paper was heard.
I stood there dumbfounded.
In the distance, I saw my parents' devastated faces.
And—
A torrent of words poured down.
"Must be a machine malfunction."
"He's a dud."
Thump.
A stamp was pressed.
"Judgment complete. Incompetent. Next!"
It's over.
My life.
No, to be precise,
my plan to live a moderately ordinary life was shattered.
No matter what woke up inside me,
in this academy, the brand of 'measurement 0' was practically a death sentence.
I did not bow my head.
That was my last shred of pride.
The moment I turned around—
—Tingle.
A gaze.
From somewhere among the hundreds of people,
someone was watching me.
It wasn't a simple gaze.
It gave me chills.
A gaze that licked over me,
pried into me,
as if to devour me.
It's suffocating.
'...What is that.'
I turned my head and scanned the crowd.
But—
There was no one.
Not even a trace.
"Next."
The Measurer's irritated voice echoed through the auditorium once more.
But no one moved.
Because the gazes of hundreds of people were all fixed on me, standing before the stone that had turned ashen gray.
The crystal, which had been glowing like a miniature sun like crazy under my palm just moments ago,
now lay cold and dead, as if nothing had happened.
No power, no sensation remained in my hand.
"Judgment complete. Student Lee Jeong-hoon, ability not manifested."
The Measurer's dry, emotionless coup de grâce stabbed into my ears.
Immediately after, the sharp murmurs of the people washed over the auditorium like a wave.
"What, was it really a machine malfunction?"
"No wonder. A hollow dud with no attributes touches it and it errors. Scared me for nothing."
"Defective product, defective. Tsk tsk."
My face burned.
Under the weight of the piercing stares, my head bowed deeply without me realizing it.
My parents standing behind me also couldn't hide their bewilderment.
Mother was trembling her lips, just calling my name, and father stood silent with his arms crossed, his face stiff.
'I just wanted to live an ordinary life...'
Just as I was about to descend the platform, crying tears of blood internally.
"Next student, aren't you coming out?!"
It was the moment the Measurer shouted neurotically.
"Wait a moment."
From above, a very strange, languid voice fell.
Though it wasn't a loud voice, the buzzing of the hundreds of people filling the auditorium stopped as if by a lie.
People's gazes shot upward in unison.
I, too, looked up as if entranced.
The second-floor balcony.
There, a man was leaning on the railing, looking down.
Neat black suit.
Hair streaked with strands of silver.
And eyes slanted like a snake's.
Someone gulped and whispered in an awestruck voice.
"The Principal-nim..."
One of the four heroes who repelled the Demon Tribe's invasion in the past, the absolute ruler who governs this, the finest cradle.
He slowly, with very leisurely steps, descended the stairs.
In the suffocating silence, where only the sound of his dress shoes echoed, he stepped onto the platform and stopped before the deadened crystal in front of me.
And stared straight at me.
It was truly a fleeting moment,
but I saw clearly the corner of his mouth twist upward ever so slightly.
"This student."
The Principal opened his mouth in a soft voice.
"What is your name?"
The Measurer, pale, hurriedly flipped through the documents.
"L-Lee Jeong-hoon! But Principal-nim, it was just judged as a machine error due to magical overload, his ability is..."
"I saw."
The Principal lightly raised his hand, cutting off the Measurer's words as if shooing a fly.
He placed a hand clad in a black leather glove on the cold crystal, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"This is... not just an interesting level."
"...What do you mean?"
The Principal turned his head and made eye contact with me again.
"It's not that you lack ability."
He paused for a moment as if savoring the words.
"It might be that it simply hasn't 'manifested' yet, from a very deep place."
The auditorium began to buzz fiercely again.
"An unmanifested ability user? Where does that exist?"
"The crystal shattered, how does that make sense?"
The Principal shrugged his shoulders lightly, as if he didn't care about the fluttering of insects.
"The Academy is a place to discover and nurture talented students. I will specially permit this student Lee Jeong-hoon's admission."
I gasped.
The Measurer's jaw looked like it would hit the floor.
"B-but Principal-nim! According to regulations, those without an ability assessment cannot be admitted...!"
"I will take responsibility."
A short, cool, single phrase laden with absolute, suppressed authority.
The Measurer, who was about to protest, became like a mute who'd eaten honey and buried his head.
The Principal turned his gaze back to me and smiled softly.
"Welcome, Student Lee Jeong-hoon."
It should have been a benevolent, warm smile.
But for some reason,
a chill like a midwinter's cutting wind ran down my spine.
After the crazy commotion in the auditorium ended.
I reassured my half-dazed parents and sent them home first.
Mother kept turning back, asking "Are you really okay, Jeong-hoon?" several times, but I forced a smile and nodded.
Honestly, I have no idea if I'm okay either.
Who knows if it was a machine error or if there's really something inside me.
The important thing is, this chance to enter this elite academy is the only one I'll get in my entire life.
If I want to lead a normal, stable life like others, I have no choice but to graduate from here safely.
I'll endure no matter what.
'But that Principal's gaze was strangely unpleasant, you know...'
That slimy gaze, as if it was scanning my very insides, stuck clingingly to a corner of my mind and wouldn't come off.
"You are Student Lee Jeong-hoon, correct?"
I was walking around, looking for the dormitory assignment office.
From behind me, a soft, clear voice that tickled the ears came.
When I turned around, I instantly stopped breathing, *Hup*.