The Worst First Meeting
"Help me — so that when that time comes, I can be of help to you, Seoha."
—When that time comes, I hope I'll be able to stand by your side.
……
She said it plainly, without a trace of drama.
I could do nothing but nod along, a blank look on my face.
It was a confession hot enough to make my face burn of its own accord. Because I felt it through the mindscape, her emotion reached me with no sense of distance at all — as if it were crashing straight into me. Our feelings were beginning to bleed together.
Sensing the mindscape wasn't supposed to be a good thing.
This was more dangerous than I'd realized. One careless moment, and my own emotions could get swept up in hers. And with a personality as cold as mine, I could end up hurting her.
"……Right."
"Mm."
Seo Gayeon nodded.
"Oh, and Seoha — have you decided where you're going for your internship?"
"No, not yet."
Korea Hero Academy ran a system called internships over every vacation. Students used it to get an early taste of 'society' at organizations around the world that wanted Academy students. The pecking order was simple: guilds that threw around enormous sums of money got first pick, and the Association came after them.
"What about you, Gayeon?"
"I don't know. I doubt many guilds will come asking for me."
"Your rank shot up last time, and it's about to shoot up again, isn't it? Then plenty of them will come. Potential counts for a lot in how they evaluate us."
"It does?"
They weighed your current ability, sure — but with teenagers, they weighed your potential just as heavily. If Seo Gayeon properly grew into her power, she would surpass Park Unhyeok at the very least.
At my words, relief spread across her face, and she smiled.
—I want to go wherever you go.
……This was genuinely dangerous.
I very nearly blurted out, Then should I go to the same place too?
I fought to hold onto my composure.
I awakened my talent and my Tranquil Mind.
……Whew.
The heat drained out of my face in an instant. I slammed my soaring spirits down to the bedrock and forced myself back to my senses. The giddiness was gone.
"How's the magic coming along lately?"
"Really well. Maybe because it's nothing like other magic."
Seo Gayeon said it with a faint smile. Magic woven from Starlight Mana wasn't drawn from formulas — it painted itself from her mental imagery. That was why, alone among mages, mental strength mattered more to her than anything else.
"So, about the other day—"
We talked like that for a long while.
"Yeowch! Who touched Haesu?!"
"H-hold on! Can't we just call it a draw?!"
Dozens of monitors flickered, and through them the students' voices came ringing, vivid and clear.
It's been a while.
I settled back and watched the kids getting put through the wringer on screen. I wasn't the only one here, either — Park Unhyeok, Kim Seohyun, Hong Yuhwa, Erciel, and Kim Ara were all watching alongside me.
"The hamster's grown a lot."
"……Hamster?"
"I mean Seo Gayeon."
It was the nickname Kim Ara had taken up after growing close to her midway through the semester. Hearing it this early felt strangely novel.
So this is that butterfly effect thing or whatever.
I looked at Seo Gayeon. When she wielded Starlight Mana, her appearance transformed completely — but with black hair and black eyes as she was now, she really did resemble a hamster.
Maybe it's the beige cardigan.
"That kid. When did she get that strong?"
"Is it because Seoha's her partner? Her skills have shot up like crazy."
Park Unhyeok and Kim Seohyun had their eyes fixed on her. Seo Gayeon was fighting with attributeless magic.
On the screen, a translucent spear materialized in front of her and slammed into a student's chest with a heavy crunch.
Rank 575 — Han Jaeyeon : ELIMINATED
The instant the Spear of Judgment struck home, shields bloomed around the student, and every safety device in the arena sprang to life to protect them. Cushions swelled up from the floor, a magic circle spread beneath their feet, and a teleportation array inscribed itself in light.
With a whoosh, light flared from a corner of the arena, and the student was summoned back.
"Student Han Jaeyeon, arrival confirmed."
"……She already took down rank 575?"
"Her growth curve is steep. At this rate, she could realistically set her sights on the top 400."
I watched Seo Gayeon on the screen. The Spear of Judgment was powerful, but its mana drain was ferocious — she was hauling in great gulps of air.
"Student Lee Seoha."
"Yes?"
A professor with neatly combed-back white hair and glasses came over to me and spoke.
"The Headmistress is asking for you."
"The Headmistress?"
I was puzzled. I'd played a major part in bringing down the Minotaur, but she'd said she would commend me in person at the closing ceremony.
Then again, I couldn't imagine the professor standing before me was delivering a false message.
He was basically the villain of Chapter 5, after all.
To be precise: a man whose reverence for the Headmistress ran so deep that Kim Seohyun — the student who monopolized her attention — got under his skin, and who schemed behind the scenes because of it.
The professor gave me a long, hard look.
I rose from my seat and followed him.
"She is a Transcendent. Show more respect," he bit out, prickly as ever.
A snort of laughter escaped me before I could stop it. He revered Seo Yebin — and he was also a rather pitiable man.
Back when Seo Yebin asked what reward he wanted, he told her he wanted to become a star. She turned him down — said he lacked the talent.
That was the moment that ultimately made him a villain.
And his final lines were unforgettable.
He'd believed that becoming a demon would make Seo Yebin look kindly on him. Instead, she stared at him with eyes of pure ice — and the sight of him falling apart in despair was honestly pretty funny.
A massive door stood directly before the headmistress's office. The moment I drew near, it swung open on its own with a long creak.
Seo Yebin sat in the chair within.
Smiling.
"……"
The professor froze mid-step.
"Come in."
"You seem to be in a good mood?"
"I am. It is you who brings me delight."
Seo Yebin greeted me with a smile. I stole a glance at the professor — his expression was priceless, the face of a man who'd just heard the Earth would end tomorrow.
"You may go."
"……Yes."
Head bowed, the professor shuffled out of the office, the very picture of misery. Creak — the door swung shut the instant he was through it.
"So that professor let his tongue slip."
"You heard that?"
"The school, at the very least, lies within my domain. There is no reason I would not hear."
With that, Seo Yebin gave a faint smile.
"Then — why did you call for me?"
"It is because of Cheongyeon."
The moment she said it, a black shadow stretched out long beside her. It soon took the shape of a person, and a man stepped forth.
"A pleasure."
"Yes. A pleasure to meet you."
"Indeed. Now, there is but one reason I have called you here, Lee Seoha."
Cheongyeon stretched a hand out before him.
"That being—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
At the same instant, Seo Yebin's face twisted in disbelief.
"Why is that brute out of the Boundary? He was buried in there—"
"Did word reach him?"
Cheongyeon and Seo Yebin exchanged a look as they spoke.
Crack.
"……That ignorant oaf?"
"He was always a muscle-brained fool, but why on earth—?"
Something was shattering.
Seo Yebin and Cheongyeon were rattled. Them? Rattled? I turned my head to follow their gaze.
Click.
Something switched on inside my mindscape, and I activated the Star God Eye. Eyes that beheld the bright dawn took in every phenomenon before me.
I saw it.
A fracture splitting across the colossal barrier that shrouded the school.
And then—
KRA-KOOOM!
Something burst apart with a deafening roar. The barrier shattered like glass, and a presence crash-landed into the earth.
"Tch. We have an uninvited guest."
"Absurd. Do they have any idea what that barrier was worth?"
The sight was staggering.
The very 'mana' in the air was shrieking, as if crushed beneath something. The landscape shifted — buckling, warping, pressed out of true by some unseen weight.
I knew exactly what that sight meant.
Insane.
Through the smoke, the silhouette of a man seemed to be rising.
"Do you have any idea what the word 'intrusion' means?"
"Do I look like someone who concerns himself with such things?"
A voice like a landslide rolled out across everything.
Slowly, the man rose from the smoke.
He was built on a colossal scale.
2.2 meters tall. Standing beside him, most people would have looked like children.
Yet his proportions were so flawless that, from a distance, he cut the figure of a handsome man.
He wore a suit — black jacket, black trousers — striding toward us with a rough grip on his tie.
Thud.
One step. He had been more than a kilometer away, and a single stride closed the gap until even an ordinary person could make out his features.
The sheer pressure of him made my flesh tremble.
Violet eyes settled on me.
Thud.
The air grew heavier. As if distance simply didn't exist for him, he strode closer and closer.
"So it's you."
The air around us compressed. He wasn't even bothering to gather his presence — just letting it pour off him freely — and all he was doing was looking at me.
Cold sweat broke out down my spine.
……Well. Of course it would.
Because this man was a monster who stood toe to toe with the Emperor and Cheongyeon.
He faced evil alone, and accepted help from no one.
And yet no one had ever brought him down.
A being who hoisted mountain ranges single-handedly, keeping lone watch over the Boundary.
Of every Transcendent in existence, the one judged the most ferociously powerful of them all.
Paewang. The Overlord.
And the father of Kim Ara.
"So you're the punk who seduced my daughter?"
……My first meeting with him was the worst.