Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: 05. The Day I Went to School
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“……!”
……Huh?
“……ㅎ…ㅏ!”
Ugh……noisy…….
“Yoo Eunha!!”
Whoa?!
I snapped my eyes open. And scanned my surroundings with a flustered face. The kids around were looking at me with surprised or exasperated expressions.
“Huh…!”
Only then did I realize the situation and panic. My face flushed red on its own.
‘Did I just fall asleep? During class?!’
Sure, it was possible to doze off. I’d slept through classes plenty of times before. But falling asleep so blatantly in front of so few kids was embarrassing, so I got up without a word. Just being seen sleeping was humiliating.
“How do you fall asleep in such an important class?”
“…….”
“Don’t pick on Eunha. Anyone can fall asleep.”
“You’re only defending her because it’s Eunha.”
“Shut it.”
“Hey, you there, quiet down. If it were anyone else, maybe, but this one was in the middle of mental illusion training, so it’s understandable she dozed off. I can let it slide.”
“That’s discrimination!!”
Hyunho grumbled at Teacher Jeong Junhwi’s words. I felt a little relieved and looked up at the two teachers. Teacher Jeong Junhwi asked me.
“So? Any progress?”
“Um… I had a ‘lucid dream.’”
“Already? Damn, you’re quick. Anything else?”
“Um…… Before getting pulled into the dream, the things I thought of as my world beforehand were reflected exactly in the dream’s scenery?”
“Wow. First time I’ve seen someone progress this fast in mental arts with just one tip.”
“Tell me about it.”
For some reason, the two of them looked at me with exasperated expressions. Well, good is good? I felt a bit awkward but accepted it inwardly.
“Anyway, class time’s up while you were visualizing images in your dream. Head back.”
I nodded silently. Inha held out her hand to me. I took Inha’s hand and slipped out of the building. At that moment, I felt mana being applied to me and everyone else’s bodies.
‘Ah… the restriction.’
I recognized it immediately; the way the mana was applied matched that image perfectly. A ring-like mana compressed around our bodies, seeped into us, and vanished.
“What’s wrong?”
Inha turned back to me with a puzzled look as I stopped. Instead, I was the puzzled one.
“You didn’t feel it?”
Was it that subtle? It definitely had a fainter presence than normal magic. But I could sense it without issue….
I looked at my hand. My ability to sense mana was growing the more I observed it. I had no intention of developing it into specialized magic, but it was an appealing trait. So, could something like this be possible?
With these eyes that grasp mana, could I one day replicate a spell I’d seen exactly?
I chuckled at the ridiculous thought and turned my head.
The first leveled class ended without issue. Thanks to it, I’d unexpectedly built some rapport. Hansu and Inha bickered until the end of school, while Minhee and Kim Hyunho hit it off right away and chatted with playful faces.
I watched those kids warmly in between. Strangely, it didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. If anything, it felt familiar. Probably a sense of kinship. That subtle camaraderie from sharing the same talents. Inha seemed the same. She usually ignored most kids, but after class, she was putting up with their words and pranks.
“The class, huh? Pretty good, right?”
I was lying on the bed, lost in vague thoughts about my world, when I turned to Inha with a smile. Yeah, it was good. All of it. Thanks to it, I’d created my dream world. And such a beautiful one, too….
“Yeah. It was good.”
“Personal guidance makes it easier to understand, right? Feels like I can get stronger faster.”
“Yeah. It does.”
“…What did you do, Eunha?”
At that, I spread mana from my fingertips, floating blue fairy-like orbs, and answered. Like a cartoon character, heh heh.
“My main is illusion, as you know?”
“Yeah. Though your rune magic is even more impressive.”
“Right. So the illusions I aim for are in two categories.”
“Yeah.”
“One is unfolding my world in reality, and the other is crossing into mental realms to show my illusions ‘inside the mind.’”
“Mm…….”
For example, something that lingers after you wake up, like events from the dream becoming real through the brain. Of course, I don’t know much about the brain, but if the brain truly feels it, doesn’t it become reality sometimes? Like that.
“So. I can already manifest illusions in reality, but the mental world? Nothing at all. Today, I learned the first step.”
“First step?”
“Yeah. Lucid dreaming.”
I said proudly. And grinned happily.
“I succeeded today~!”
Inha looked at my excited, smiling face and tilted her head.
“‘Lucid dream’? What’s that?”
“…….”
……From there? Now I realized she hadn’t understood most of what I said. I panicked for a moment. Come to think of it, Inha was still a kid. Her speech and actions were mature, but her knowledge was lacking. I pondered briefly before explaining.
“Okay, a lucid dream is a dream you have after realizing it’s a dream. Y’know how in dreams, we don’t realize it’s a dream? Usually, we only think ‘oh, it was a dream’ after waking up, right?”
Inha nodded. Most people were like that.
“Yeah. Right.”
“But lucid dreams are different. You become aware it’s a dream—while still dreaming.”
“……Oh, got it. So, how does that connect to mental world illusions?”
“Mm…… That’s harder to explain…….”
This time, I thought seriously before continuing.
“The point is this. Events in dreams happen within our mental world, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But we don’t usually realize unconscious dreams are dreams.”
“Yeah.”
“Becoming ‘aware’ of it means you can control your mental world. At least, you can observe it.”
“Observe it……?”
Yeah. I nodded.
“As I said, dreams happen in our mental world. Mental illusions are the kind that turn into dreams upon waking. So dreams and the mental world are connected.”
Inha slowly nodded at my words. Did she get it this time?
“And in dreams, anything’s possible, right? Mental world illusions let you manipulate the opponent’s mental world—their usual dream space. Like origami: you can’t teach it unless you can fold it yourself. Same idea. You have to manipulate something in your own dreams first before entering others’ mental worlds.”
“Mm…….”
“Dreams are the mental world, I’m saying. I need to understand my own dreams first. Then I can understand others’.”
Even I thought I’d explained it step by step pretty well. I’d made it as simple as possible, but Inha still tilted her head.
“So…… Eunha’s mental illusions…… are dream manipulation, and to do that, you need to realize it’s a dream while dreaming……?”
I beamed at Inha’s words.
“Yeah! Perfect, that’s it. You’ll figure out the rest as we go. Inha’s got such quick understanding~.”
Most kids would just memorize it without interpreting like that. But Inha could at this age. As expected, Inha was smart.
I stroked Inha’s head proudly. Inha’s face flushed slightly.
A moment later, Inha asked her next question.
“Then…… what about rune magic and barrier magic?”
“Oh, I haven’t told the teachers yet, so they’re self-practice for now.”
“I see…….”
Inha nodded. Well, they said only main magic needed reporting. Plus, no one would expect a kid this age to have more than one. I knew the secrecy rule, but it was still burdensome to reveal the others.
“Still practicing steadily, though. Barriers might let me make something like a passageway soon. Teacher was right; it’s growth spurt time~.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And with student ID teleport practice, I might teleport ‘myself’ soon. Or connect barriers for teleporting…… But both’ll take time, huh?”
Inha looked unimpressed. We were the same level as mages, but our directions differed a lot. I had high affinity for spatial magic, while Inha had none.
“What about runes?”
“Scribbling whenever I’m bored.”
When idle at home, I create characters. Writing their profiles and appearances on paper makes them materialize on it. I can turn it into drawings too. I think of it as a kind of illusion.
Like illusion magic, rune magic was the crystallization of my imagination. Having written countless stories in my past life made it even more potent. I’d decided on ‘word spirits’ for rune magic’s path. From the first time I thought of it. Rune magic was like me writing a novel. Settings or drawings—whatever I wrote became real. Based on my imagination.
“Guess I need to work hard too. Lately, I’ve been thinking about my sub-magic.”
“Really?”
Inha’s light magic was versatile for offense and defense the more I thought about it. Highly efficient, but its nature might cause issues later, which worried me a bit.
‘Inha’s sub-magic…….’
Light meant speed, its synonym. Fast meant piercing power and force. Lately, Inha had been practicing applying light to her body. Speed was key for attack, evasion, defense. Light could vibrate, hold heat. So her sub might be offensive like fire or lightning.
Mine, meanwhile, were all far from direct attacks. I hadn’t made them for fighting—just what I wanted and suited me. Inha probably did the same…….
“Sleepy?”
“Yeah…… sleepy.”
I smiled tenderly at Inha rubbing her eyes and pulled the blanket over her.
“Night night.”
“…Yeah.”
……Somehow, I felt worried. With that thought, I closed my eyes.
When I came to, I was kneeling in a field, gazing endlessly at the starry sky. Ignoring even the distant dawn light. I blinked suddenly.
Such a beautiful starry sky. A beautiful world I could go anywhere in if I wanted. Yet something felt lacking.
“Pretty…….”
Mesmerizing beauty, unbelievable that I created this world. A starry sky. Haha. Perfect for romance with a lover. It really was. Ignoring the emptiness in my chest, I casually reached toward the sky.
“Pretty?”
“Yeah, pretty.”
“Good thing.”
I answered unconsciously, then startled at the tender voice. I whipped my head around, eyes wide, and swallowed.
With a kind smile……
Black hair, deep brown eyes that looked black. Thin lips curved in a gentle arc.
A familiar face. So very familiar.
A face I could never forget. I froze, eyes wide.
“What’s wrong?”
He smiled, puzzled, reaching toward my face. In that moment, I realized my young body had become an adult’s.
“Uh…….”
“You’re acting weird today. Oh, because I’m handsome?”
“……Stupid.”
“What, same as always.”
I twisted my teary eyes.
Definitely different from my usual child body. Looking down at my curvaceous form in disbelief, I stared at his face.
Handsome, refreshingly so. A voice whispering tenderly to me. Yes, he always smiled at me like this.
Then I realized. This was my dream world.
A beautiful, surreal, impossible place—my dream, my imagination only. Of course you wouldn’t be here, nor this body of mine. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks unbidden.
“Why, why?! What’s wrong?! 「───」!”
At my past life name from his lips, I reached for him, crying and laughing, and murmured.
“I…… didn’t know.”
“Huh?! Know what? What’s so sad?”
A hollow laugh escaped. It had to.
The me from my past life, who died leaving you behind.
“……I thought it didn’t matter. But I miss you this much.”
I covered my face. I felt your flustered arms embrace me falsely. Feeling it, I laughed sorrowfully.
I miss you this much.
I thought it didn’t matter. I recalled the promise we made before I died. The false warmth vanished without trace.
“Even if reborn…… I wish to meet you.”
Even reborn, I wish to love you.
Even dead and reborn, I wish to remember you.
I thought even dead and reborn, I wouldn’t forget. So I made that promise and died. And it was true. Even now, I love you this much….
“Where are you…?”
Where are you? Where are you now?
Could I really meet you again? Your face, voice, that form—I missed them so. My heart ached from the longing. The feelings I’d turned from to avoid thinking now felt like vomiting blood. I wanted to see you. So much, I longed to meet you.
I sobbed wretchedly, groaning. Even in death, I loved you this much, longed for you this much.
Even my unconscious conjuring you in dreams.
“……Good.”
I wiped my tears and looked at Inha. She was fast asleep, unnoticed. With trembling hand, I sadly stroked Inha’s long hair.
“I hope…… I meet you.”
I remembered this. At that moment, I was filled with certainty that even dead and reborn, I’d surely meet you. I don’t know why. I don’t remember now. But still…….
“Even dead and reborn, I hope I recognize you.”
Even if you’re reborn too, no matter your form.
I hugged my knees, burying my face. A faint ache bloomed in my chest.