The Thread
Before the semester had even begun, the academy was unusually quiet.
Yet a girl in a strikingly colorful outfit walked through the grounds.
She wore a jacket covered in graffiti, a short-sleeved crop top with a mesh insert, hot-pink mixed with secret two-tone hair, short jeans, and sneakers. Over everything she had draped an academy uniform jacket, marking her as a student.
It was Lee Rumi, the freshman who had once been called a prodigy.
“Haah… how am I supposed to solve this?”
Rumi had arrived early for the academy and was staying in the dorms. She frowned deeply, lost in thought.
Following the hint from someone who had decided to call her Daehyeop, she was still struggling to figure out how to improve her abilities.
The given abilities were more than enough.
She possessed an enormous list of them that took over a day just to organize.
By setting aside the familiar ones she usually used and trying out abilities she had acquired but never touched, she had discovered new things about herself.
“Small return, but small risk too.”
She had thought abilities with heavy restrictions or demerits would be difficult, but Rumi found she could use them far more easily than expected.
The power remained severe, yet unlike her past obsession with performance, there was still a harvest.
“Let’s go outside and get some fresh air.”
Rumi headed to the dorm rooftop, hoping the open view would lift her mood.
“It’s open?”
Surprisingly, the rooftop door was unlocked.
Creak.
Opening it, refreshing air and a beautiful view greeted her.
As befits an academy that gathers the best talents, the entire academy grounds were managed like a park with cutting-edge facilities.
“Eh?”
And Rumi spotted a familiar silhouette.
A woman with a black bob haircut and all-black outfit leaned on the railing, gazing downward.
She knew that face.
“Prim! You’re here?”
Rumi waved cheerfully and approached her.
“You are…?”
“It’s me, Rumi. Can’t you recognize me?”
“Ah… Now I remember. Bad specimen.”
“That’s a bit harsh! And the reaction is late!”
Prim smiled lightly at Rumi’s words.
Unlike her mysteriously mature aura that made her seem older than her peers, Rumi remembered her as a mischievous friend.
Rumi thought it was one of Prim’s jokes and stepped closer.
“You have the camera again today?”
“I always carry it except when sleeping.”
“I see. I thought no one was here since it’s before enrollment, but I didn’t expect to see Prim here.”
“I don’t like being noticed by others.”
“True. Being praised and noticed feels good, but excessive attention from others can sometimes be bad.”
Rumi nodded, understanding Prim’s feelings.
Having wandered for over two years because of excessive attention and her own limits, Rumi had her own quiet pride in knowing more than anyone.
Prim looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression.
“You know well? I thought you were someone who knew nothing and came up to me.”
“Hey! Treating me as a stranger is too much. We’re friends who went through the 1st exam together, even conquering the Alpharan nest. Too much.”
“As friends, shall we?”
“Hey!”
At Rumi’s grumbling, Prim smiled faintly again.
She turned slightly and looked at Rumi.
“You seem to have changed a bit from last time.”
“Changed? Really?”
“Really.”
“Really? Maybe it’s because of this.”
Rumi took out a mana herb from her inner pocket.
“What is that?”
“It’s mana herb mixed with mana stone powder.”
“Mana herb…”
Prim examined the mana herb Rumi offered with interest.
“Want to smoke?”
“Eh…? Here? Is it okay?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, it’s the rule.”
“It should be fine. There’s an ashtray over there, so staff come and smoke.”
“Ah, I see? Then what…”
Rumi put the mana herb in her mouth.
Chik.
“Eh? Th-thank you?”
Prim silently lit the cigarette for Rumi’s mana herb.
Rumi inhaled the smoke from the lit mana herb.
Cough cough.
It was still burning, perhaps because she wasn’t used to it yet.
Her eyes stung from the smoke, tears came, and she kept coughing.
Click click click.
Looking at Rumi, Prim took a photo.
“Is this also a specimen?”
Instead of answering, Prim showed Rumi the camera’s screen.
“Oh, it’s not bad?”
The photo of Rumi smoking the mana herb with teary eyes against the blue background came out quite atmospheric.
“This photo came out nicely.”
Whoosh.
Prim developed the photo on the spot and handed it to Rumi.
“You’re giving it to me?”
Rumi’s face flushed a bit at the good feeling.
“Speaking of which, what are you doing here, Prim?”
“I was looking at the photos I took last time.”
Photos of those who had performed well during the 2nd exam.
“Wow, you took photos even in that chaotic situation.”
The 2nd exam, which wasn’t a simple test but turned into a brawl because villains joined, was the biggest turning point for Rumi.
Most of the people in the photos were those who had excelled, like Siu and Sia.
“Eh? Isn’t that Daehyeop?”
And among them was a photo of the one Rumi thought was Daehyeop.
“It seems you have interest in the Punitive Force.”
“Ah, there was a big incident. It was like a chance to reflect on my life.”
Rumi happily explained how she met Daehyeop in the 2nd exam and got new insights.
Prim listened quietly to Rumi’s words and had a pensive expression.
“I came up here because I didn’t know how to solve this frustration of not being able to find a way that seems like it could work.”
Rumi rambled about how it was hard to grasp the thread.
If it’s too hard to handle everything alone, take some time to think. You can look for such an ability too. Isn’t there at least one?
First, set everything aside and think again. Just because it’s familiar and comfortable doesn’t mean it’s the best for you.
Fortunately, she remembered the words exactly.
“Is the reason you changed because you met that person?”
“Probably. It’s a bit embarrassing, but after that one sentence, it felt like a lightning strike in my head, like I found a motto for my life.”
“Interesting.”
Prim looked at the photo of Tis in the Punitive Force outfit with interest.
“‘Night of Falling Stars’, right?”
“Ah, my ability name? You know? Well, more people would know.”
Since her nickname was as famous as Rumi’s, it wasn’t strange that Prim knew.
“I guess so. Why did you say that?”
“Eh…? What do you mean?”
“You didn’t understand. Even though you’re a prodigy.”
Rumi recalled the image of Daehyeop who seemed distant from the term prodigy.
“Eh… Honestly, I don’t quite understand… I try to understand what he said.”
Rumi tried using different abilities one by one, not the ones she used to, and organized them to understand the meaning of the words as much as possible.
“Rumi, thank you.”
“Eh…? Uh… Th-thank you?”
“No need to thank me.”
At Prim’s mysterious words, Rumi muttered thanks, and Prim lowered the camera for a moment and looked at the sky.
Against the blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds, the sun was sparkling.
“Do you know about constellations?”
“Eh, I know a few famous ones? Dragon constellation, unicorn constellation, those kinds of things. Do you take photos of constellations too, Prim?”
“No, I only take photos of people.”
“Huh?”
Weren’t you wanting to talk about constellations?
Cough cough!
Rumi coughing from smoking the mana herb out of embarrassment.
“Do constellations exist even now?”
“They don’t exist…? The sun makes them not visible, but…”
“Not visible?”
“Well, they’re not visible to the eyes, but there is that famous unicorn constellation somewhere in the west.”
“Why?”
“Why… Because we group specific stars in the west as the unicorn constellation?”
Why they were having this disconnected conversation, Rumi’s questions only grew.
“What are you trying to tell me by circling around?”
“I just told you the answer. Think of your ability in connection with constellations. It should help.”
Prim turned her back to Rumi as if she had said enough and looked at the scenery again.
“Ah!”
Rumi finally understood the true meaning of Prim’s enigmatic words.
“Thank you! Thanks to you, I got the thread!”
To test the inspiration that came to mind, Rumi hurriedly headed to the training ground.
After a while, when Rumi’s presence completely disappeared, Prim continued speaking without turning her head.
“You’re here.”
People appeared without any presence, as if they had been there from the beginning behind Prim.
They wore black mesh-like camouflage on their faces and the uniforms of watchers like Emily.
“New tools?”
“No, just ordinary students. You wouldn’t be interested in us.”
She turned and leaned on the railing, looking at the watchers.
“You guys wear those nets? The ones who came out as exam proctors took them off.”
“She was selected by the director as a special personnel. She took off the camouflage because she’s going to do teacher duties. Originally, all watchers’ identities are level 1 secrets.”
“I see. Well, it’s not important.”
Tap.
Prim took out a photo from her inner pocket and threw it in front of the watchers.
The blurry photo was of Cheon Geomhwa and her younger sister Roseria during the 2nd exam when they kidnapped Tis.
“Have you secured Roseria’s identity?”
“…Sorry. Location not yet identified.”
“Cheon Geomhwa?”
“Same.”
“Interesting. Watchers sometimes miss their targets.”
“I’ll correct it.”
“Okay. Say that to your superiors, not me.”
The shadow of the Management Bureau missed the target.
Prim guessed that Cheon Geomhwa’s skill was higher than expected or there was someone behind it.
“Her?”
“Probably won’t come on the day of the opening ceremony.”
“That’s good.”
Prim smiled faintly with genuine happiness.
“What message did Baba Yaga leave that made you come personally? No matter the reason, I’ll get to see a legend for the first time in a long time.”
“…!!”
“Approaching personnel: two, male and female in uniform.”
Even though not in Prim’s field of view, the watchers looking at the academy entrance said due to the distant presence.
Two blonde youths were walking towards the academy entrance.
“Block the approach?”
“They’re academy students, so no need to worry. I’ll go see what they want.”
“Understood. Sub-director.”
At the noisy voices from outside, Prim looked down over the railing.
“Oppa!”
“Calm down. Obviously kids playing. Thinking such things is weirder. There’s Teacher Lionel next to us.”
“Th-that! Ah, anyway, the instinct was weird. It felt like a dangerous thing was appearing that interferes with my future.”
“You… What were you secretly looking at at night to have such delusions?”
“Hey, pervert! Who asks their sister such things?”
“Whoa, Sia, even if it stings, people should solve with words, not knives.”
“Pervert oppa dies!”
They were people Prim knew.
Siu and Sia.
When Siu and Sia looked up at the rooftop, the watchers had vanished as if they had never been there.
“Eh? It’s Prim?”
“Don’t dodge. There’s no way Prim is here… Eh? Really?”
Click.
“Hello? Good specimens, siblings.”
Prim pressed the camera shutter and took a photo of them, then greeted them.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, back then, Tiss
“Hello, 2942th.”
-Hi! Best comrade Tiss!
“I’m happy too.”
-Hug me!
“Here.”
hehe.
After laughing brightly, Tiss hugged the swarm of Katie’s children tightly.
-It’s warm…
-Hurry hurry!
-Next is me! Next is me!
-Move move!
-Hiiing… don’t push!
Because the swarm members inside Katie wanted to greet Tiss too and were bouncing around, they decided to take turns greeting her one by one.
As a result, a 6000-person relay hug competition broke out.
6000-person Relay Hug Competition
📍 Location: Dorm Rooftop
🎁 Reward: Warmth and Comradeship
[Uwaaaah, it never ends!]
-Me too, me too!
[Kkyaak!]
-Kyahaha! Shan comrade’s reaction is fun!
[Huuuh… I’m tired]
Getting Katie’s heart and cooperating with the plan turned out to be harder on Tiss’s arms than expected.
Until the night before the opening ceremony, Tiss and Shan hugged every single one of Katie’s 6000 swarm members whenever they had time.