Clubs (4)
"Did you go check out the club room?"
Kim Gabyul spotted me the moment I stepped into the classroom and asked.
"Well, they said they'd look into it."
"Look into it?"
After hearing the full story from me, Kim Gabyul nodded.
"What a pain."
"It is, yes. Until I hear back, applying to another club feels a little awkward."
Kim Gabyul kept nodding, then suddenly lifted her head.
"You know second period today is martial arts, right? I'm winning today."
Classes had been running normally since yesterday. In yesterday's martial arts period we had sparred.
Of course, I had won.
In pure swordsmanship, the current Kim Gabyul would have a hard time beating someone who had trained under Seo Jia.
The martial arts instructor had said we could spar freely this week, so the odds were high we would be sparring again today.
Just then two people entered the classroom together.
Hwang Ju-hyeon and Lee Ye-rin.
They had been fighting so fiercely yesterday, yet today they were arriving at school side by side.
I sense something.
The energy of a Flame Palm technique.
Kim Gabyul's blade clashed against mine.
Real steel, not wooden practice swords, rang out with a high metallic note that filled the sparring hall.
There was a reason we could spar with live blades.
The anklets and bracelets on our feet and arms.
A double-layered barrier stood ready for any accident.
Healing specialists were always on standby as well.
Her sword, knocked aside after meeting mine, rose again.
The blade she leveled at me gleamed with a razor-cold light.
Keeping her sword trained on me, Kim Gabyul circled slowly to my left, closing the distance.
I matched her, turning right to keep the space between us.
"Come at me first."
"No way. You come first."
In the end I lost patience and charged her.
Our blades met.
Bit by bit I released mana like mist, wrapping the entire sparring hall.
Black fog rose like exhaust fumes and stole her vision.
I slipped into a concealment technique and blended with the mana mist.
With every direction saturated by my mana, pinpointing my location would not be easy.
As her sight dimmed, her eyes brightened in inverse proportion, glowing pure gold.
Channeling mana into her eyes, she pierced the black-mana fog and swung her sword straight at me.
The strike was fierce enough to shatter every barrier; I threw myself into a full-power roll across the floor to dodge.
...Come to think of it, Kim Gabyul is a Divine Magic User. Of course she would find this kind of thing easily.
I simply reeled every scrap of mana that had formed the mist back into myself.
The moment her vision cleared, Kim Gabyul shot me a scornful look.
"Hiding like that—isn't that a swordsman's disgrace?"
I can't even argue with that...!
This time Kim Gabyul closed in first.
I twisted my body sideways to avoid the downward cut.
Seeing me dodge to the side, she forcibly redirected the descending blade into a horizontal sweep.
"Haha. Looks like I won again today."
Sitting on the floor catching her breath, Kim Gabyul muttered,
"Looking like a villain and everything..."
"Hahaha. No matter how hard you try mental attacks, the one who won is still me, you know?"
At my words Kim Gabyul made a thoroughly incredulous face.
Once again after school, Ha Ye-song was meditating in the club room.
Meditation let her organize her thoughts and train her mind.
Unlike yesterday—the first day of club recruitment—applicants had been pouring in since lunchtime today.
She was grateful Park Min-seo was helping; alone she never would have lasted through that crush of people.
The Magic Club was a storied organization that had existed since Warna Academy's founding, a large club that had always ranked first in membership.
Recently many other clubs had sprung up and numbers had dipped, yet the Magic Club still held the top spot in membership.
Being president of such a club was something to be proud of.
Her personality, however, simply could not keep up.
From the start she had never wanted to be president.
Tradition alone—the long-standing custom that the strongest mage automatically became president—and the academy's pure meritocracy had forced the role onto her.
The position should have gone to Park Min-seo.
Of course Park Min-seo always smiled and told her not to worry about it, yet the guilt of having stolen a presidency that suited Min-seo far better never left her.
On top of that, the constant feeling that she was only a burden...
She thought of the person named Baek Sejin who had come to apply yesterday.
Park Min-seo had said they would accept him only if the first-year quota was not filled, but given the Magic Club's prestige and current situation, the chance of Baek Sejin actually joining looked vanishingly small.
Knock-knock.
Someone rapped on the classroom door.
Ha Ye-song straightened her posture and spoke.
"Come in!"
"Excuse me."
The door opened slowly to reveal a girl with pure white hair.
The white-haired girl looked at her with eyes that glowed a luminous amber and said,
"I came because I want to join the club."
"...Ah! Yes! Please sit here!"
Only after a beat did Ha Ye-song realize she had been staring, entranced by the girl's beauty; her face flushed scarlet in an instant.
"Your face is really red—are you all right...?"
"I-I'm fine! It's nothing. D-did you bring the application form?"
"I did."
Ha Ye-song read the form Kim Gabyul handed her.
Name... Kim Gabyul. ...Kim Gabyul? The Kim Gabyul I know?
She lifted her eyes from the form and looked at the girl.
Kim Gabyul was glancing around the spacious Magic Club room as if fascinated by the interior.
Ha Ye-song focused mana into her eyes and examined her.
Something faint sat on the girl's shoulder.
Is that Gabriel?
She returned her gaze to the application form to check the reason for applying.
The reason was ordinary.
Simply that she had always been interested in magic and wanted to study it properly while she had the chance—perfectly mundane.
The reason itself did not matter.
What mattered was that Kim Gabyul herself had come in person to apply to the Magic Club.
Leaving the Holy Magic Club behind!
If I get Kim Gabyul into the Magic Club, the club's reputation will rise even higher.
If that happened, maybe she could finally be of some help to Min-seo.
"Am I rejected?"
"N-no! R-rejected? If anything, I'm the one begging you! Please join the Magic Club!"
Kim Gabyul, who had been watching her reaction carefully, asked cautiously,
"If I join this club... would it be possible to bring one more person in with me?"
"That..."
"Of course! Who is it? Just say the name!"
Ha Ye-seo had appeared at Ha Ye-song's side without anyone noticing and shouted with complete confidence.
Kim Gabyul looked back and forth between the two of them, briefly flustered, then recovered her composure.
"I heard someone named Baek Sejin came yesterday."
"Baek Sejin...?"
At the name Baek Sejin, Ha Ye-seo's face flooded with panic.
Ha Ye-song felt the same.
"He did come, but... wait, are you...?"
"Yes. Would it be possible for Baek Sejin to join with me? I can personally guarantee his skill."
"Hoh."
It actually worked.
The text that had just arrived told me to visit the Magic Club during lunch tomorrow.
I replied that I understood, then messaged Kim Gabyul that I had been accepted.
For some reason, while she was heading home today she had sent a message telling me to contact her if I got in.
Seeing Kim Gabyul's message, Marbas let out a laugh.
"Kyeng."
Miho, sprawled across my stomach, gave a soft bark as well.
Good.
Having someone I already knew around would put my mind at ease.
I smiled with quiet satisfaction.
When Kim Gabyul and I visited the Magic Club at lunch, the place was fairly crowded.
"Hello."
"Ah, you're here. Just a moment."
Park Min-seo, who had been conducting interviews, confirmed my arrival, handed the remaining interviews over to Ha Ye-seo, and led Kim Gabyul and me deeper into the club room.
Once we had gone far enough inside, Park Min-seo turned to us.
"You know the Magic Club has several subdivisions under it, right?"
Because of its size, the Magic Club was divided into many specialized branches.
First came the split between Combat Magic and Lifestyle Magic.
Within Combat Magic the branches split further according to the type of magic each student primarily used.
The system existed to classify students by aptitude and specialty so talent could be cultivated more conveniently and efficiently.
In short, multiple groups existed inside a single club.
Of course there were no restrictions if someone wanted to learn a different elemental magic.
It was simply a system for sorting specialties.
"We've decided to create a new Black Magic Division. I checked—there isn't a single black-magic club in the whole academy."
"So the Magic Club is founding one itself."
"Exactly."
Park Min-seo continued the explanation.
"Even though we call it the Black Magic Club, it's really just a name. In practice it's only one of the many factions—or cliques—inside the Magic Club. Just to be sure, I'll ask again: your specialty is black magic, correct?"
"That's correct."
Park Min-seo nodded at my answer, then spoke to Kim Gabyul.
"And Miss Kim Gabyul has also decided to join the Black Magic Division."
Kim Gabyul crossed her arms and nodded.
"Miss Gabyul is a Divine Magic User—why join the Black Magic Division?"
At my question Kim Gabyul shrugged.
"I'm joining because I'm a Divine Magic User. The relationship between demons and angels is famous, right? I barely know anything about the other elemental magics. At least I've had more exposure to this one."