Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Tracking
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“Thank you for your cooperation. So, what I wanted to say is… Hm?”
The female police officer who had been speaking to me suddenly scanned me up and down, her expression clouding over with concern.
“That uniform… Daehyeon’s…?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Inha stepped forward confidently and answered.
“A student at Daehyeon?”
“Yes.”
“…I see. Well, thanks anyway.”
The woman’s face twisted for a split second before she bowed her head again. Watching her, I could guess what she’d been about to say. A request for future cooperation… or maybe scouting for talent… something like that.
The thought made me uncomfortable, but I brushed it off and asked her to look after the kids. She gladly took the crying children.
“If you follow the police sister, you’ll get to see your mom. Just hang in there a little longer.”
“Hic… Okay…”
There was no real way for me alone to find their parents anyway. In situations like this, handing them over to the police was best. I waved to the two kids as they followed her. Minhee waved to them too, looking relieved. At least the kids were safe. That was a huge relief.
Once the kids were out of sight, Hansu scolded Minhee again.
“You’re always like this!”
“Ugh… Sorry! But I saw the kids might get hurt by the magic, so my body just moved on its own…”
“Haa…”
Inha let out a sigh too. Seriously, Minhee was hopeless sometimes. Of course it was great that the kids were safe, but she really shouldn’t do stuff like that. My heart nearly stopped.
As we were catching our breath like that, the man who had saved us earlier approached.
“No injuries, right?”
Oh. I turned to him in surprise. Come to think of it, I hadn’t thanked him yet. He grinned at me.
“…Um, thank you.”
I bowed carefully toward him. His mana felt a bit off-putting, like it didn’t mesh well with mine, but that aside, I was truly grateful. Ah…! Minhee quickly bowed too.
“Thank you! We survived thanks to you!”
“No, no big deal…”
The man’s eyes crinkled as he smiled, then he glanced over us. …Was it just his mana making even a normal gaze feel uncomfortable?
‘Come to think of it, was that guy inside the barrier when the kids were crying?’
The thought crossed my mind, and I glanced sideways at the barrier zone. But then again, for someone like him, inside or outside probably didn’t matter. He had that level of power. While I was lost in thought, he continued chatting with Minhee.
“You’re Daehyeon students, right?”
“Yes! Why?”
“Hm, looking at you, maybe fifth or sixth year in elementary division…?”
“Yeah. Why?”
Minhee answered with a puzzled look. The man chuckled.
“No reason… Just thought you might know Yumin or Hwi.”
‘Hwi… Wait, Yumin?!’
We all looked up at him in shock. He chuckled as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Now that I noticed, his eyes were a deep purple, like red wine, curving with amusement.
“E-eh, spot on?”
He lit the cigarette and brought it to his lips. I cast a barrier over us to block the smoke and watched him.
“Are you… friends with Teacher Yumin…?”
“Friends? You could say that.”
His eyes gleamed with a strange expression.
“We were rivals back in our student days… something like that?”
Oh. It wasn’t hard to believe. His mana seemed upper B-rank, so it made sense he’d been rivals with Teacher Yumin, who was probably C or low B back then.
‘And Hwi… If it’s paired with Yumin, does that mean Teacher Junhwi?’
I eyed him suspiciously. The rival thing, and calling the decidedly not-cute Teacher Junhwi ‘Hwi’… Was this guy…?
‘Gay?’
It was an idle thought. Rivals in romance too? No way, probably not.
I shook my head. He murmured to us in a somewhat meaningful tone.
“Yeah… Yumin’s disciples, huh…”
His voice carried a subtle emotion. He exhaled smoke and gave me a sly smile.
“Don’t tell Yumin you met me. We fought a ton back in the day. Nothing major. Just that we both liked the same person, so there were some issues.”
‘No way!’
My idle thought was true?! I stared at him in shock. At the same time, I recalled what Teacher Yumin had told me before.
I was the only one among the kids who knew Teacher Yumin’s love life, so he’d shared tons of old stories with me. Especially about how things worked out with Teacher Junhwi.
‘That’s the pervert best friend he mentioned!’
Whoa. I gaped at him.
“Wow! Love and war with Mr. Min? That’s intense! So Mr. Min had someone he liked?!”
“Of course. Far as I know, he’s still happily dating my darling honey. The nerve.”
“No way. That’s huge!”
“I’ve never heard that before!”
“Tell us more details!”
But then my guard shot up. In Teacher Yumin’s stories, this guy was a total psycho. Always trying to seduce Teacher Junhwi, forcing kisses, even trying to pin him down…
Ugh! And he was super strong, so Teacher Junhwi couldn’t do a thing. Teacher Yumin stepping in saved the day.
I swallowed hard, tense. Plus, unlike Teacher Yumin, he swung both ways from the start.
Realizing that, I snuck glances at him, trembling inwardly. Right now, we had Hansu here, the school’s top guy with sexy, prickly charm that belied his kid status. And Inha! She was a total beauty. But Hansu was probably the riskiest—his type matched Teacher Junhwi a bit!
Hyunho and Minhee worried me too. They were both so cute and fluffy. If he were even a little normal, I wouldn’t worry. But from what Teacher Yumin said, he was a bisexual pervert with a broken personality! Hard to relax just because they were kids.
Holding back the urge to call for backup, I squeezed between Minhee and him.
“Hey, hey! Guys, I have class today! Let’s head out for now!”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
“Minhee! Let’s go!”
“Aww… I wanted more of Mr. Min’s love story.”
“But yeah, time to go.”
I sighed in relief and led my friends away. We all activated our teleport badges at once.
“Yeah, Yumin’s disciples…”
At that moment, I heard his voice and turned. He was watching us with an odd gaze. He smirked, then vanished into a rift in space.
After all that hassle, I headed to Master’s house and found not just him, but Teachers Junhwi and Yumin there too. All three stared at the TV with unusually grave expressions. When I greeted them, they turned with the same serious faces—their gazes so intense I flinched.
“Perfect timing, Eunha.”
“Y-yes?”
“You mentioned going to that Cafe Etwal place with the kids last time? The popular one.”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Don’t go. Apparently, it got caught in a battle today. Total chaos.”
Teacher Yumin spoke seriously, and I hesitated over whether to mention the man. But I had to tell them this much.
“Um… I already went today…”
“What?!”
All three whipped around in shock. Teacher Yumin rushed over and grabbed my shoulders.
“You went?! W-when…?”
“Just now. Um, so… yeah, we got caught up in it…”
“What?!”
They all stared in horror. Teacher Junhwi grabbed my shoulders too, checking me over.
“So? No injuries?”
“Nope.”
“What happened? Explain.”
“Well, so…”
Not just Teachers Junhwi and Yumin, but even Master looked stony. I nodded at his words and explained from the start. We went to the cafe, ate something delicious, and as we left, an attack hit downtown out of nowhere. Machine soldiers and golems appeared, mages started fighting—C-ranks, from what I heard. Then two kids got caught in the crossfire, Minhee jumped in to save them, I intervened to protect her. Some weird solution melted my barrier, and I panicked—then someone saved us…
“…”
“…”
As I finished, Master clutched his forehead and staggered. Wh-what? As I panicked, he muttered.
“I’ll kill those bastards…”
His tone was vicious, unlike usual. But he wasn’t the only one furious beyond normal. Teacher Yumin gripped my shoulders tight, grinding his teeth with an uncharacteristic expression. Teacher Junhwi stayed calmest, soothing them.
“Sis, you’re scaring the kid. Hey, Yumin, you too. Your old personality’s showing.”
“Ah, shit…”
I ignored the cursing and looked at Teacher Junhwi. Yeah, I figured they’d be mad. He gave me a gentle look.
“Anyway… glad you’re safe. Everyone else okay?”
“Yeah.”
“So, who saved you?”
I clamped my mouth shut at that. But he was Teacher Yumin’s friend, right? And he said not to tell. Swallowing my dilemma, I hesitated, then spoke.
“Um, so… I don’t know his name. He worked at the cafe today. Super strong.”
“Strong?”
“Yeah. His mana was intense.”
“Hmm…”
Teacher Yumin pondered briefly, then smiled and ruffled my hair.
“I see? Good thing. I’m just glad you’re safe…”
He pulled me into a tight hug. Hugged by him, I blinked in surprise.
Teachers Yumin and Junhwi really doted on me. I knew why, too. I smiled quietly.
“Does that mean I can’t do this stuff when I grow up?”
They all burst out laughing at once.
A bit later, we started training. Well, I did the training; they just supervised.
Master and the teachers suggested skipping due to the incident, but no way. I was just getting the hang of attribute fusion. I still couldn’t mix the tricky dark and light attributes, but now I could combine three high-compatibility ones. I’d also succeeded in mixing attributes by just infusing mana with them, without fully converting it.
And… secret: I’d been secretly practicing special attribute magic a bit. Not by picking spells one by one like usual, but by mimicking their mana.
Copying attributes is harder than copying normal spells. I’d hunted down virtual experience videos for every special attribute spell I wanted: purification, sealing, sun, star, atmosphere, celestial, etc. Using the virtual system, I felt them out and practiced converting my mana one by one. I succeeded with the easiest spells first.
Moon and atmosphere attributes—I could cast spells now. Actually, I could mimic purification mana pretty well too. It meshed great with me. Star was progressing fast next. Sun was average, space was impossible. Sealing was so-so.
So… anyway, I was getting stronger bit by bit. More things I could do. Not battle-ready yet, but steadily achieving stuff felt rewarding and fun.
After training, I chatted a bit more with Master and them. Or rather… I had a question.
“By the way, what was that solution?”
“What solution?”
“Earlier, something hit my barrier and melted it. I thought it was acid, tried acid-related rune magic, but nothing. So I wondered…”
“Oh… that was probably…”
Master seemed to have an idea.
“Magic solvent.”
“Magic solvent?”
“Yeah. A type of magic potion that kills magic. Lately, with magic-gene tech fusions, production’s up, but it’s still pricey and rare.”
“Ah…”
Then runes like ‘Magic Interference Prohibited’ or ‘Magic Dissolution Defense’ would’ve been better. Or a new barrier targeting it?
After training, I tinkered with my ongoing scenario, then sighed. I grumbled a bit while writing. Was my scenario really that popular? They tell me to search online. My pen name’s ‘Seol Eunbyeol’—no special meaning. It was someone else’s from my past life; I liked it, so I use it.
Anyway, searching ‘Seol Eunbyeol’ online brings up two games. Both reverse harem: one school setting, one time travel. Lots of reviews, more praise than criticism. ‘God-tier artist’ comments make me puff up.
This one’s a fantasy game, a training sim. I stopped typing. Stuck on the early part.
Tilting my head, I suddenly recalled ‘that man.’ Purple hair, purple eyes—Yumin’s old bestie and rival. Casually, I asked.
“But didn’t you say Teacher Min had a rival?”
“…Rival?”
All three scowled instantly. Oh, oh… Good I didn’t mention earlier? Or bad?
“So… you mean that Han Jaeil guy you mentioned before?”
Ah, Han Jaeil. That was his name. I nodded.
“Was he really that psycho?”
“Yeah.”
Teacher Yumin answered immediately. The other two seemed to agree.
“Well, not total scum, but a real jerk. Battle maniac, always smiling, impossible to read. We were kinda close back then… Ah, well…”
He trailed off. As I looked puzzled, Teacher Junhwi pointed at him.
“Truth is, this guy was a psycho too.”
“Hey!”
“Yeah, he was.”
“Sis!”
Oh, Teacher Yumin panicked. I sparkled at the reaction.
“Is this that classic ‘I was a lone wolf~ until I met Junhwi and reformed’ story?”
“You know it.”
Master chuckled and nodded, petting my head. Ohhh! I lit up. I love those stories. Love changing people. Could be scenario inspo. I dove in.
“So, so? What was Teacher Min like back then?”
“Well… typical delinquent. Middle schooler smoking, causing incidents left and right. Magic vandalism, cold stares intimidating kids, endless fights…”
“Jun~hwi~!!”
Teacher Yumin hurriedly covered Teacher Junhwi’s mouth. Then Master spoke.
“Yeah, that’s right. Then one day, he started following our Hwi like a puppy. I thought he’d lost it.”
“Uwaaa… Please, Sis! Not in front of Eunha…!”
“Ahem, got it.”
I smiled lightly. So Teacher Yumin was saved by Teacher Junhwi.
Imagining the unimaginable scene, I softened my gaze. Stuff like that… sounds nice.
I don’t disbelieve in love at first sight. Sure, possible. But I prefer love with reasons. More intense, tender, touching than sudden crushes or growing feelings.
“Nice. That kinda thing.”
I murmured, clutching the ring hidden in my collar.
Wish it’d been like that for me, but no—I fell for him without reason one day. If this foolish love had one, I could accept it. Instead, I decided to give up on the day I’d stop loving him.
Honestly, even now, I have no idea why I fell for him. Friends? Maybe. Always around? Sure. Confessed hotly, sweetly, desperately multiple times? Yeah, heart-fluttering stuff.
But in the end, he did the worst to me. Not just to a crush—as a person. Yet I still loved him. I closed my eyes briefly.
Unaware of their subtle gazes, I suddenly spoke.
“Ah.”
But that wasn’t all I wanted to ask. Since we were on the rival topic…
“But that rival of Teacher Min’s—”
“Uncle’s fine!”
“…That uncle, what magic does he use?”
“Why?”
Teacher Yumin asked sullenly. I answered lightly.
“Well, he was rivals with an A-rank like you. Curious what kind. Yours is iron and ice, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
He nodded, annoyed but nostalgic-eyed, answering my curiosity.
“His is poison, hypnosis, illusion.”
I widened my eyes in shock.
“Special attribute mage?”
“Yeah… something like that. Not good magic anyway, right?”
Poison, hypnosis, illusion—mixed, obvious results. I nodded seriously. Yeah.
…So that dangerous vibe wasn’t wrong.
“Anyway, psycho guy. Can’t say much in front of a kid, but he did awful stuff to Junhwi too… Can’t understand it. We got along fine before. Was I friends with that? Or was he always like that…? More like we just ended up hanging out. But we were close…”
“…”
“No idea where he is or what he’s doing now…”
He doesn’t know? I blinked wide. Cafe Etwal’s been around a while. He should’ve heard rumors. Unless he was just part-time, maybe not. Should I say?
After hesitating, I asked.
“So, what if you meet him?”
“I’ll beat his ass!”
“…”
I decided to keep quiet for now. He was kinda our benefactor—can’t let him get beat. Yeah.
After that, their reminiscing continued a bit. I listened happily.