The Trap of Shared Pain

The day after my participation in the academy tournament was confirmed and I registered and submitted my 3rd Circle magic to the operations committee, I remember the middle school seniors secretly calling me to their hotel room to explain the opponents we'd be facing.

[Lee Jae-hwan, Jo Su-yeon, Park Jun-yong, Lee Min-young. This quartet has been tight for nine years already, and except for Lee Min-young, they all come from prominent families—putting it nicely, they're the group leading the entire grade.]

[Put it not so nicely?]

[They're just a bunch of stuck-up smartasses who don't know the real world. Plenty of kids have transferred out because of them, from what I hear.]

Due to Alteer Academy's closed-off nature—where you can't even go out on weekends except for rare exceptions—the kids had built their own little society in that tiny space.

[Especially, Lee Jae-hwan, whose mom is the Green Party's floor leader, and Jo Su-yeon, whose great-uncle is a cardinal—they're the core duo. Lee Jae-hwan mainly uses nature barrier magic based on biomimicry tech, and Jo Su-yeon, being from the Archdiocese of Seoul, follows Aquina's Theological Wars as her philosophy.]

[And the last one?]

[Oh Deok-jae, weirdly enough—he actually graduated from our Seferon Academy, our direct senior from the year above. Guess he repeated a year. His parents are just researchers at the Korea Defense Development Agency or something... nothing particularly standout.]

[But how do you know all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this?]

[Ah, one of my parents' acquaintances works for the national intel... *gasp!*]

It didn't take much thought to figure out why Korea's gifted education had been handed over to an American foundation. Whether Seferon or Alteer, these places lumped together the kids of what the public dismissively called the "old guard" forces. No way that'd function normally under Korean educational oversight.

"Just two left now?"

My tattered shirt sleeve kept bothering me. I wrapped my fingertips in aura and neatly sliced off the rags.

In the meantime, Lee Jae-hwan had been eliminated, and Oh Deok-jae had entered as the final runner.

With kids unleashing their ultimate moves right from the start, it was a total headache. There must be a good reason heroes only unleash full power in dire moments.

"Ugh, my neck's killing me."

Jo Su-yeon twisted her head as she spoke. Tournament rules forbade threatening the opponent during substitutions, so the arabesque knots naturally dissipated. She'd used the time to regroup, and now she glared at me with eyes full of murderous intent.

"Jo Su-yeon, we're numerically superior for now, so let's play it safe and take it slow."

"Shut your trap, you otaku shit. Interfere in this fight, and I'll kill you."

Jo Su-yeon brutally cut off Oh Deok-jae's words. Her Aura Heart began to thrum, manifesting a tremendous will into the world.

"I'll handle this brat."

A pure beam of light erupted, circling her head like a halo.

"The onset of external manifestation?"

It wasn't perfect, but she'd already breached the outer wall of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mental world.

"Bullshit. It's God's grace."

Jo Su-yeon bit her lip in retort.

She charged at me, disrupting the mana along her path with her hand. She kneaded the twisted mana streams like clay, clenched her fist—and white thorns burst wildly from her fingertips.

"Lord, forgive our sins!"

"What are you, a werewolf?"

Each one was a lethal strike I had to handle carefully. Every time I widened the distance, Jo Su-yeon closed in with long strides, unleashing indiscriminate barrages. I focused aura in my eyes to pick out the deadly thorns and flick them to the ground. Our gazes locked across the arena, a breathless exchange of offense and defense dragging on.

"Just take one hit! One hit! Take iiiit!"

"Hup."

She seemed to have lost her reason, but her footwork and movements were exquisitely precise. She was keeping an ambiguous distance to prevent me from casting Demon King's Horn again, aiming to overwhelm me with her reach advantage. Instinct or not, she was a born fighter.

After dozens of combos pushing me back toward the arena wall, she stomped her lead foot, eyes blazing as she lunged.

"Bet you didn't see this coming!"

Sensing the turning point, she swung her fist from low to high, scooping it up from the ground.

"...!"

I'm much shorter than her. Unless she bent way down, an uppercut wouldn't hit my head. But in that instant, a ring of light erupted from the floor where I stood, binding my upper body.

Panting heavily, drenched in sweat, she scanned me up and down before flashing a sinister grin.

"Haha, fuck... You don't even scream in a spot like this?"

"..."

"Haa haa whoo... You get it now, right, kid? Why I don't lead in tournaments? These Seferon brats are just on another level. Unbelievers aren't even worth the effort."

But Jo Su-yeon seized my horn with her other hand, dispersing all the mana savagely.

"Don't do anything naughty, friend. No matter how you squirm, big sis is always seven years ahead. If it bugs you, you should've been born sooner. You thought you could just barge into middle school matches unprepared and do whatever?"

The horn's shape distorted, on the verge of reverting to mana. I snapped my half-lidded eyes wide, scrutinizing her face intently.

"Does your god free you from pain?"

"What?"

"Here's some advice: don't touch my horn carelessly. You might get hurt."

"Aaaah, what the—!"

Jo Su-yeon flinched, shaking her face furiously as the mana fragments dispersed harmlessly. Nothing happened, so she looked baffled.

"The horn's semi-permanent, but it can also serve as an engraving medium, like a stone tablet or mana crystal. Get what that means?"

"...?"

"In game terms, big sis, you just triggered my trap card."

Tournaments banned scrolls, but not engravings themselves. Just like she'd hidden a chain-cast circle in Longinus's Spear, I'd engraved something special in my Demon King's Horn. Trigger: horn damage plus bodily contact. The engraving: pain synchronization.

I pinched my left cheek hard.

"Ow!"

Jo Su-yeon winced, rubbing her face. I pinched my right cheek next.

"Nngh!"

"Lost interest in you now, sis. Surrender already."

"You think some crude trick like that makes me tap out? It's just a tickle—"

I conjured glass shards instantly. I held a sharp fragment high for her to see clearly.

"What're you gonna do? You crazy...?"

"Long ago, black mages did this daily, they say."

"Hey! Stop!"

By old mana-saturated world standards, sure. The cold, razor-sharp glass bit into my palm. I pressed harder to pierce the particle barrier.

A bloodcurdling scream pierced the air right after.

"Aaaaaaaah!!!"

The crowd murmured at Jo Su-yeon's raw shriek.

"Jesus got nailed to the cross, yet his followers are this fragile?"

Her sturdy legs buckled pathetically. Clutching her hand and rolling didn't help—the pain signals still scrambled her brain.

"Didn't they teach you at the academy? Disrupting linked transmutation circles is basic. Middle school level, right?"

I approached her groaning form with measured steps.

"Hnggh... St-stop!"

She reached for the circle at my words. Couldn't let her disrupt it. I slid the glass shard slowly toward my wrist.

"Hnggh! Hup! Haaaah!"

Tears streaming down her face, I lifted her chin to meet her eyes. Fresh blood from my arm dripped onto hers, mixing with sweat.

"Scary... It hurts... Hic sob hng. Please. Stop. What'd I even do wrong?"

Her venomous face softened amid the wretched sobs. I tossed the glass away and knelt to hug her tight.

"So promise me: speak nicely from now on, stop looking down on people. And fix that cringey speech—it's been bugging me. Got it, sis?"

"Hic..."

"Good job. Rest now."

I patted the zealot's back a couple times and stood.

Whines like a baby but stubborn as hell.

She could've surrendered midway but hated losing to me more than death. Judges ruled her combat ineffective; she was carted off on a stretcher.

Just as Jo Su-yeon said, I turned to the boy who'd stayed out of it till things got this bad.

"Thought it was over..."

"NoName..."

"The best part's still here, isn't it?"

Maybe meeting Katsuhata Emika lately raised my standards too high, but the other academy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tournament kids just weren't satisfying. I'd half-considered ditching for Japan to spar endlessly with her—till Oh Deok-jae changed that.

While reading mana flows to select Jo Su-yeon's threatening thorns, I'd sensed his presence too. Analyzing from afar like it was his own fight, spot-on—and matching my judgments perfectly. I wasn't the only one surprised.

"NoName, just how far does your talent go?"

Oh Deok-jae adjusted his glasses and asked.

"How'd you read all of Jo Su-yeon's aura? No human—no, no eight-year-old should be able to..."

Early 160s cm, a bit short for his age, broad build, skin bumpy from puberty. Nothing standout at first glance—but when he flexed, his limb muscles ballooned massively. His narrow, elongated eyes always locked on the battlefield's crux.

Suddenly, he rolled up his dress shirt sleeves, tossed his tie aside. He dropped into a low stance, knees bent, center of gravity down—left hand toward the ground, right hidden behind his waist.

The textbook starting stance for a duel. Every action meaningful, even 0.1% win rate bumps—he was all-in. Shedding prejudices, recognizing me as a real opponent.

Finally... finally...!

Can't half-ass this. I tossed Baek Bong-gon's gifted magic crafts—the golden hairpin and hair ties—to the arena corner. Pulled a simple rubber band from my pocket, tied my long hair into tight high twintails again.

The stifling limit on my Aura Heart vanished, like sucking a mint—wide open and refreshed.

"That curious? Check for yourself, senior. See how far my talent goes."

At least you—I'll crush for sure.