Meeting My Favorite Character

To Seo Gayeon, Lee Seoha was an extraordinarily special person.

It wasn't just that he treated her well. He always moved as if he already knew the future — like someone standing a single step ahead of everyone else, quietly steering the story forward.

Like a protagonist, almost.

He had been the only one to recognize a talent no one else had ever noticed in her. That alone placed her deeply in his debt.

If it's you, then of course you can do it — that was what he'd told her.

'Well...'

Now that her Starlight Mana had bloomed, she suspected it had probably been a near thing. She figured she'd only have awakened by luck — expelled from school, pushed forward into a hunter's life, and stirred to power only when death came breathing down her neck.

'Or I'd have just died right there.'

Seen from that vantage point, Lee Seoha was nothing less than her savior.

She wanted to repay that debt.

Holding on to that thought, Seo Gayeon slept only three hours a night, slowly teaching herself how to command her own mana.

Until her rank rose so visibly among the students that people began to notice.

The girl who had once been dead last had, before she realized it, climbed into the top three hundred.

And then she understood.

'The wall is high.'

The further up the rankings she climbed, the higher the level of the students around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her became. And the one standing at the very summit of that wall — Lee Seoha — was far, far above anything she had imagined.

It felt as though she could spend her entire life chasing his back and never close the distance.

'Does he even need me?'

The question gnawed at her. So Seo Gayeon asked him, honestly. Do you actually need me?

"I need you."

Lee Seoha looked at her and said it without a single shred of doubt.

"I've been watching you for a long time."

If it gets too hard — if you, Gayeon, tell me it's really too much, if you say you want to stop — then I'll let you stop. But —

I imagined a future without Seo Gayeon in it. It was so horrifying I couldn't bear to imagine it at all.

Seo Gayeon knew.

She knew that the power Lee Seoha possessed resonated with her Starlight Mana.

This is what he truly thinks. A future without me is too terrible for him to even imagine.

Before she knew it, she felt her face burning hot.

She didn't know what to do with herself. It was embarrassing. And yet — it felt good. So good she thought she might float clean off the ground.

She barely remembered what came after. Somehow, dazed, she had said yes, and then parted ways with Seoha.

But his words kept circling in her head, over and over.

Back in her dorm room, she lay down and stared at the ceiling until the sun came up again, replaying them without sleeping a wink.

Seo Gayeon had said yes. Then, face scarlet, she had bolted for her dorm.

-That day felt strangely nostalgic, somehow.

-Does it, now...

Heukcheon answered Yeongcheon with a faraway look in her voice.

-Yes. The Heavenly Demon before me was the one who made her own advances... but Seoha-nim does it with pure sincerity and no agenda at all. Honestly, that makes him the more dangerous of the two.

-Precisely. Our master is more wicked than he looks. He should put that diligence into polishing me with a little more devotion, if you ask me.

-That's not what I meant... no, wait. Have you already fallen too far gone to be saved?

-?

Yeongcheon sighed, and Heukcheon tilted her head in confusion. Me, wicked? How cruel.

'Maybe I should have at least eaten with her.'

After sending Seo Gayeon off, something felt oddly empty in my stomach. In my past life, I'd have been too busy to bother and simply skipped the meal — but now, needing to build this body, I was forced to shove something down whether I liked it or not.

'The single flaw of the Black God Martial Arts.'

The Black God Martial Arts forged the body to near perfection. And each time I reached an extreme, it naturally shattered its own limits and pushed the flesh into a further evolution.

Less a martial technique than something closer to mysticism — to magic itself.

Anyway, I wandered the streets. After a full minute of deliberation over what I could eat without starting rumors, I headed for a restaurant I spotted nearby.

I was in the mood for Western food for the first time in a while.

"Huh?"

The moment I stepped inside, a familiar silhouette caught my eye. Golden hair, eyes with stars set in them. Erciel was here.

"Came here to eat?"

"Yeah. You too, Erciel?"

"Yes, I just..."

Glancing at her table, I saw she was already more than halfway through her meal.

"Care to join me?"

Erciel asked with a small smile. I nodded.

"I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

"What, I don't suit it?"

"No, it suits you wonderfully. It's just that you usually eat such simple things."

What's wrong with stir-fried pork.

At my disgruntled look, Erciel burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You're just fun to look at."

What exactly about my face was entertaining? Come to think of it, even in my past life there had occasionally been women like her.

I called over a waiter and ordered whatever came to hand. A personal gorgonzola pizza, vongole pasta, and a single-serving steak to round it out.

Once the waiter walked away, Erciel spoke with a mischievous smile creeping across her lips.

"Do you know you've gotten rather hot underground lately, Seoha-ssi?"

"Me?"

"Yes. They've practically founded an entire religion around you. The devout ones are doing tireless promotion."

Erciel giggled — while quietly raising a barrier of mana around the table.

"......"

My face curdled by degrees. Honestly, if it were up to me I'd have put a stop to it, but that was no longer possible, because the special stat Faith had begun climbing at a geometric rate.

Because Faith, one day, would evolve into the very power that strengthened Yeokcheon.

I stole a glance at the stat.

...No other stat had ever risen this fast. And when you considered that Faith grew faster the more numerous and devout the people who worshipped you as an object of faith became — well.

'In a way, this is my true calling.'

And the talents I currently possessed — Genius of Bewitchment (B+) and Demonic Charisma (C+) — were surely playing an enormous role in that calling.

"Your food, sir."

"Ah, thank you."

Erciel and I had been chatting about this and that, so the food arrived before we knew it. I dipped the pizza in honey and popped it into my mouth.

"Have you heard the rumors going around lately?"

"Rumors?"

"Yes. They say a woman who kills demonkin with a smile on her face, and a masked man, have been moving as a pair through the heart of Seoul, sweeping the demonkin away."

"...Is that so."

Sorry to disappoint, but those identities were standing right in front of you.

"And that masked man just happens to be wearing the coat I gave him, you know."

"...I'm putting it to good use. Thanks to you."

"Oh-ho. So that's your taste, is it?"

Erciel rested her chin on her hands and gazed at me.

"Anyway — be careful. There's word that the Nazi faction has set its sights on you."

Maybe it was because the difficulty was hell itself, but names I shouldn't have been hearing yet were already reaching my ears.

"People here in Korea don't seem to grasp it, but those people are genuinely dangerous. They refine power that seeped in from beyond the outer planes and use it to 'forcibly' turn human beings into demonkin — into magical foot soldiers."

"I know."

Those people were truly dangerous.

One of the nations scheming to turn the entire world upside down, after all.

And in the ending, they were the number-one contributors to creating that shattered, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ruined world.

In terms of raw power, a force equivalent to three of the Seven Evils resided within that single nation.

We finished our meal and rose from the table.

"Pretty good place, right?"

"Yeah. Now I know why you come here."

"My palate is a refined one. Trust me and me alone."

As Erciel and I walked along, trading jokes, we ran into Hong Yuhwa's clique on the street.

"Hm? Why are you two together?"

"Who knows. Why are we, I wonder?"

Erciel answered Hong Yuhwa's question with a serene, knowing smile.

"Wait — isn't that the man Lady Hong Yuhwa secretly adores?"

"Could Lady Yuhwa really have him stolen away...? She has over two hundred photos of him, you know."

...Well, if that counts as a drawback of the Black God Martial Arts, so be it. A body tempered by it caught practically every whisper within earshot. And given the nature of the Body of Defying Heaven, walls and such didn't help much either.

Erciel glanced back and forth between Hong Yuhwa and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me for a moment, put on an impish expression, and then looped her arm through mine.

"...Well, truth be told, we're in one of those relationships, you see?"

"WHAT?!"

"...Don't joke around. Yuhwa actually believes in you."

"Hee hee."

Erciel flashed a mischievous smile — one that, somewhere beneath it, looked faintly bitter.

"Anyway, we'll be off together now. Enjoy your meal~"

Erciel and I headed back to the dorms side by side.

"Hmmm."

I stared at the mirror.

Reflected there was a handsome young man with black hair. Even by my own assessment — good-looking. Perfect proportions, impressive height, a face that would flatten most actors outright. I'd deliberately woken up early and styled my hair with a dryer to a respectable degree.

'...Is this passable?'

I usually wore a hoodie under my uniform, but today I'd put on a dress shirt.

-Master? Have you acquired a girlfriend?

-Right? This is the first time I've ever seen Seoha-nim fuss this much over his clothes.

Heukcheon and Yeongcheon chattered away. I ignored them with practiced ease, gave my uniform a final inspection, and set out.

'So today's the day, huh.'

Today was a rather historic day.

And yet, also a day that frightened me a little.

The classroom went silent the instant I walked in.

"Wh-what is it? Wh-why are you all dressed up today?"

"Dressed up? Nothing of the sort. I was born looking like this."

I gave Erciel a suitably deadpan reply. Seo Gayeon was watching me with an odd look in her eyes. Kim Ara was watching me with an expectant one.

Kim Seohyun and Erciel watched me with eyes laced with a trace of unease.

That state of affairs lasted only a moment.

Soon, Instructor Seo Wooju entered the room.

"As previously announced, today you will have a joint lesson with the second-years."

"O-oh, so the joint lesson was today?"

"The third-years I couldn't say, but the second-years seem like they'd be worth a try."

"Minus the student council president, the second-years haven't got much, honestly."

Conversation rippled up from every corner of the room.

In terms of pure ability, it was a fair assessment. The current third-years were the class once hailed as the Golden Cohort. But this year's first-years were being called the greatest Golden Cohort in history.

The third-years were, at present, about a silver class.

The second-years, meanwhile, were rated as the worst cohort of all time.

A student ranked in the 800s could probably transfer in from the first-years and land in their upper half.

'With the exception of the current student council president, that is.'

The current student council president was a monster. The council itself was quite capable too, and the president was the one leading them forward.

"Then everyone, proceed to the joint training grounds."

One last time, I checked my appearance in the window's reflection. Not a single thing out of place.

"...Are you heading off to confess to someone or something?"

Park Unhyeok remarked, apparently finding the whole spectacle absurd.

"Not even close."

Of course not. When you're going to meet your favorite character, this much preparation is simply mandatory.

'Honestly, I've wanted to meet her for a long time now.'

The student council president was busy.

Not ordinarily busy — insanely busy. On top of that, things kept cropping up even during the breaks, and she'd dragged the entire student council off to joint training camps besides, so there had never once been a chance to meet her.

Regardless, we set out for the joint training. Since it couldn't be held on the island — the second-years were stationed elsewhere — the venue had been relocated. The site was somewhere out near Ulsan.

The second-years were already in position when we arrived, their killing intent honed to a razor's edge.

One look told the whole story.

They refuse to lose to a pack of freshmen. The student council president must have driven them half to death.

I turned my gaze. At the very center of their formation stood a woman, wearing an utterly self-assured expression.

"So the freshmen finally showed up."

A commanding, resonant voice.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was staring at her with a blank, dumbstruck expression.

That's right.

No point hiding it.

My favorite character was none other than the current student council president of the second year.

Erciel was beautiful.

Cute besides, and she instinctively understood exactly how to sway a man's heart. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She had no romantic experience, but that didn't matter — it was an innate intuition. She possessed an innate sense of how to be loved by another person.

'......'

And so Erciel had made a decision.

Someday, the one who claims Lee Seoha will be me. For the sake of that day, she refused to be greedy, and kept herself at a careful, measured distance.

'Insane.'

That premise, of course, had rested on one condition: that there was no woman Lee Seoha already loved.

But look at his eyes right now.

That look — that look was... wasn't that unmistakably the gaze of a man in love?

Kim Ara thought.

Today, there was a possibility she might commit murder.

Seo Gayeon thought.

After hearing those mortifyingly sweet words yesterday, Seoha had clearly prepared himself today, and she'd let herself hope — and then.

Fuck.