Chapter 25
Chapter 25
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Children's Guardian
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Even after that, there were a few more times when classes were canceled for sports festival prep. Sometimes they'd swap out entire lessons, but most often only the selected kids got called out.
Well, excluding the cheering squads... the best the first-years could hope for was probably just running with mana reinforcement. That's what I figured, so I didn't pay attention to sports festival stuff until the day itself... but I cheered enthusiastically for Hansu, Minhee, and Hyunho, who weren't even on my team. I even brought them candy and chocolate. It was just nice seeing how happy they got.
Time passed like that, and before I knew it, the day of the sports festival had arrived.
We headed out in our gym uniforms. Like the school uniforms, they adjusted in size and color to fit perfectly, and they even had defensive spells woven in. In terms of armor functionality, they were way better than the school uniforms.
I wore a white short-sleeved gym top with navy long pants for the bottoms. Just in case, I tied a thin cardigan around my waist. Short clothes still weren't my thing.
With my teleport badge pinned to the top of my gym uniform, I finished getting ready to head to school. Mom and Dad watched us, looking apologetic.
"Sorry! I should at least go, but..."
"It's fine, Mom. First-years barely have any events anyway, and we're not competing."
"...Mom's busy, so work hard, okay?"
"Sorry~ Inha, Eunha~~!!"
It really was fine. We weren't at an age to get bummed out over stuff like that. Besides, our school was huge—even if the class sizes were smaller than other schools, with all the elementary, middle, and high school students plus the staff, the campus was massive. If every mom of every non-competing kid showed up, it'd be chaos.
We firmly shook off our busy parents and teleported to school. As we walked to the classroom, I suddenly brought it up. Come to think of it, the final event was something I was really looking forward to.
"Why?"
At Inha's question, I glanced around and whispered softly.
"But a ton of people are interfering all at once, right? Unless you're a detection mage, you might not even notice the mana from the person right next to you—it's that chaotic. Plus, my magic has almost no precursors. Apparently, even kids who haven't revealed their affinities are messing around in the chaos."
"Hmm."
"And we're blending in with the lower years~ Plus, the whole city's the venue? They're scattered everywhere, so you can hide and interfere too. It's a chance to test our magic, right?"
My words came out a bit jumbled from excitement. Inha finally nodded, like it made total sense. See? Right?
After that, we chatted about nothing important on the way to the classroom. When Inha asked why I was wearing long pants, I proudly said I just liked them. Inha nodded like, "I see."
As I entered the classroom, I glanced at the next class over. The hallway was still empty.
Today, we gathered by team in our homerooms before heading to the main sports field. Class 1 was White Team, Class 2 Blue Team, Class 3 Red Team. They'd teleport us to our assigned seats when it started. When I heard that, I thought, yep, magic school is something else.
"But with our student IDs, we don't need phones."
Inha suddenly said that and pulled out her phone. Her white phone had a crown-shaped charm on the strap. I agreed with her. Yeah, definitely.
"But we can only contact other students, right?"
"Yeah. So no need. We have message spells for Mom or Auntie anyway."
"True..."
Both Inha and I could already use message spells. They weren't that hard to begin with.
I nodded and pulled a textbook from my desk drawer. Exams weren't far off, so I figured I'd squeeze in some studying. I wanted to carry everything in a subspace, but no first-years could use that function on their student IDs yet. A few second-years could, though. While I read for a bit, people started trickling into the empty classroom...
『Sender: Joo Minhee
Eunha you at school? Inha? You guys are always together lol』
Right after Sihwa arrived, a message from Minhee popped up. Inha, who had been dozing next to me, sat up and looked. Wow, her spelling was still terrible. I casually replied, 『Yeah. Inha's right here.』
『Sender: Park Hansu
Ugh Minhee's bored and nagging me to come lol won't stop』
...Hm, nope. It wasn't just Minhee being bad at writing—most first-years still struggled with it. Come to think of it, we did dictation every week in language arts, and almost no one got full marks. But messing up your own name? That's too much... They'll get better as they grow.
Hansu's message was only to me, though. Inha checked her student ID, then glared at the message window in front of me and scowled.
"...Why does this guy always send stuff just to you?"
"Huh? 'Cause he's on bad terms with you?"
"Oh, yeah, Hansu and I don't get along."
"Hmm."
Inha's scowl softened a bit at my words and Sihwa's. But she was still muttering "well, yeah, but..." so there was lingering beef. Oh? Was she sulking because he didn't send it to her? Cute...
...Nah, maybe not. More likely she was jealous he messaged me. I tapped my chin with my finger.
The classroom had filled up by then. I watched the chattering kids, then glanced at the clock. The digital display read 9:15:35, 36 seconds. I looked around and spotted text floating above the blackboard.
『Teleport to High School Outdoor Training Ground (Sports Festival Venue) in: 10 minutes』
"Hey!"
"Look at that!"
An alarm message spell? Then someone poked their head out the door and yelled down the hall.
"Hey! Teleport in 10 minutes! Get in your rooms!"
"For real?!"
『Sender: Joo Minhee
Inha dummy Eunha too says enemies. Won't come meet up ㅠㅠ
Sihwa came when supposed to tho』
I gave a awkward smile at Minhee's new message.
The timer on the blackboard counted down from 10 minutes. It switched to seconds, and soon everyone in the room teleported away without a trace. When I opened my eyes, we were seated in circular tiered stands, with the sports field far below. Giant screens hovered above the field, showing it from multiple angles.
"Whoa! Elementary first-years are here!"
"You guys line up below!"
The massive sports field—used for school-wide training or events—was way bigger than expected. Even with fewer students per grade than other schools, it could easily hold thousands. We lined up along the mana-marked lines and numbers.
Pledge to the nation, mage oath, school song, chairman's speech, and...
"Upper years, step back!"
"Kids, come forward."
We were pushed ahead by the seniors. A huge golden ball hung from strings high above. We took mana orbs passed from behind and stood in the center of the field, staring it down.
At the signal, I instinctively poured mana in and threw—no thinking needed. The tense kids followed one by one. The golden ball split in half, releasing a burst of sparkling light purple dust. Confetti fluttered down as mana infused the whole field.
「Blessings on this joyous day! Now, let the 25th Sports Festival of Daehyeon Magic Academy begin!!!」
Waaaaa!! Cheers erupted, and the festival kicked off. I rubbed my eyes, staring blankly at the glowing golden ball.
"Eunha, you okay?"
At Sihwa's question, I answered with dazed eyes.
"It's so bright..."
"......? The sparkles are gone already?"
I ignored Inha's question, still staring. The ball's edges glowed with pure white silver light—how could she not see it? Such a shame.
It was really, really pretty. I kept gazing, rubbing my eyes.
We focused on clapping and cheering. I usually felt lazy about everything, but I put real effort into cheering. Because everyone else was. Sihwa was the model student type, cheering hard for our team from beside us. Inha looked a bit reluctant at first but soon joined in clapping—though not super enthusiastically.
There were tons of events. Cheering squads and scavenger hunts were afternoon stuff, but the relay was in the morning. Right now, middle school seniors were doing tug-of-war by grade. Next up: relay. Then a quiz contest to end the morning games... huh? It said '??' for the grades there. What's that?
"What's up? Curious about something?"
"Yeah. Next to the quiz contest, the participating grades just say question marks. What is it?"
"Dunno?"
Inha tilted her head too. Sihwa peered at the screen from beside us and shook hers.
"Thirsty, though..."
"Yeah? Want me to grab something?"
"Nah, it's fine. I'll get it."
"No, the paths are crowded. I'll go."
Inha pondered my words for a sec. She wasn't bad at directions, but as a kid, her attention span was spotty. She thought I was good at navigating, though. As she mulled it over and said let's go together—
A teacher came over carrying a box of bottled drinks.
"Kids, hot out? Got drinks—one bottle each!"
"Whoa!"
"Teacher's the best!"
"Haha, good timing. No need to push through the crowd."
"Yeah."
I nodded at Sihwa. Inha was mature for a friend, but to me, she still felt like a kid who needed protecting. Even that grown-up Inha showed clear childish traits if you watched close. If Inha was like that, Minhee and Hyunho were straight-up babies to me.
Mm, sure, she was mature enough to hang with as a friend, but that's totally different. A kid's maturity versus the natural kid stuff that slips out—they're separate. Both mental growth, yeah, but the latter comes from life experience at that age. For a second, I thought, ah, that's why everyone treats me like the protector without realizing. My friends always ask me stuff they don't know.
We cooled off with drinks. Worried about sunburn, I'd slung my cardigan over my shoulders instead of my waist.
While the kids made a fuss over the drinks, the relay race finally started. Red Team won the three-way tug-of-war—attacking each other with magic while pulling? Yeah... no way I'd want in on that.
'Tug-of-war isn't even pure strength anymore. Wow...'
The relay obviously wasn't pure physical either. Teleport and space moves were banned since it was basically running, but...
I watched the lined-up runners below. Relay went from elementary first-years up, lowest grades first. So Red Team's first runner was Minhee.
"...Who do we cheer for here?"
Inha and Sihwa looked uncertain too. Honestly, our team's first runner wasn't that close. Our dilemma ended with the next voices.
「Minhee~!! You got this!!!」
「Hold up, Senior! You're White Team!」
「Who cares. My little sis is first!」
「Hey!! You call yourself next chairman acting like that?!」
「Eunhee Senior, it's sports fest—who cares?」
「Sigh...」
「Seonghu Senior, stop sighing and rein him in!」
Huh? That was the top-ranked, middle school president, high school president, and VP? Hearing the kids, I let out a hollow laugh. Whoa, oppa! Minhee beamed innocently, and her bro—the school's top dog—went even wilder.
"Whatever, Red Team doesn't auto-win if Minhee does, so let's just cheer moderately for ours."
"Yeah."
"Well, not same team, so can't cheer for Minhee... like Je-hyeon oppa."
That meant we could cheer for her, but Inha and Sihwa, being young, didn't seem to get that far.
Bang!
Minhee started strong. She reinforced her body with mana and ran great. Ah, that's the technique I taught her—focusing mana behind the feet. Gives an explosive start.
"A first-year with that control...?!"
"Think about it—she's Joo Je-hyeon Senior's sister."
"Yeah..."
I made a troubled face hearing the murmuring seniors.
"That's gonna expose her skills eventually."
"Hmm."
"Haha."
Inha nodded indifferently; Sihwa gave an awkward smile. Anyway, Minhee instantly gapped the others, and cheers swept the area. Mixed-gender relay—after first-years...
"Second-year has Inho oppa?"
"Yeah, for real."
Sihwa checked his face at my words and looked shocked. Same leveled class as us, and we bumped into him around school, so Sihwa knew Inho oppa and Yujeong unni. Ugh... but Red Team again? That's gonna widen the gap.
But Inho oppa ran moderately. I could see him using mana just right. Still, he pulled ahead of others by the needed margin.
As it went to third-years, fourth-years, and up, styles changed. Spell magic first, then unique magic mixed in.
"Whoa, check that!"
Someone leaped an insane distance in one step. Not teleport—banned—so shrinkage spell? Covered ridiculous ground.
"That side's wind magic!"
By middle school, it was full magic battle.
Plenty dashed on magic roads, so no single lead clinched it. But... White and Red were already two laps ahead. Blue was one lap behind us; we were two behind Red.
"Rank 6!"
"Kim Juyeon Senior!"
"Accelerated her own time!!"
"That side's In Juyeol Senior! Rank 5! Flame booster accel!"
Flying practically~ Thanks for the commentary, makes it easy to follow!
I focused more on Kim Juyeon Senior—our teammate In Juyeol aside. Her magic related to the space-time stuff I was developing.
Accelerating her own time... I'd checked her spells before. With my mana level, I could access seniors' public magic info via student ID. Only widely known ones, though—not for protection alone, but magic's so diverse here, hiding your unique stuff helps as a future mage. Schools and public databases only list big-known spells.
Her main: Time Manipulation! Controls perceived time for people/objects/magic/senses even. Tied deep to my 'space-time magic' and 'illusion magic' elements.
Relay ended: 1st Red, 2nd White, 3rd Blue. Overall: 1st White, 2nd Red, 3rd Blue. Magic sports fest—too early to call, though.
「Next up: Break time~! OX Quiz Contest! Open to all! Elementary, middle, high—no magic, pure wits! No spells or devices! Nika! Interfere if you come down!」
"Yay! Quiz time!"
「Most remaining team gets bonus points! 10 minutes—participants, come down!」
My eyes sparkled. No-mana pure knowledge showdown! My two neighbors looked bored, but I jumped up excited. I hate standing out, but sometimes I crave jumping in. Weird trait, I know.
"Alright, Inha, Sihwa. Be back."
I said that and stood to head down. They both stared, shocked. Sihwa first, then Inha: "What? You're entering? Don't you hate that stuff?"
"Yeah, you avoid spotlight events, right?"
"Not just me—blending in the crowd. Those are fun."
I grinned and turned. Inha panicked and stood.
"Wait, if you're going, I'm in."
"Oh, me too."
"......? Really?"
Inha nodded, stuck to my side, grabbed my hand. Sihwa stood too. We wove through the crowd to the field.
Minhee, already down, lit up and waved.
"Inha! Eunha! Sihwa! You guys too~ Awesome! Hey, Hansu, let's just follow our Eunha!"
"Yeah... she's the smartest anyway."
"Oh, Eunha's here."
Then I spotted Hansu, Hyunho, Yujeong unni, Inho oppa—and made a weird face. Whole Class I was here. Minhee and Hyunho for fun, Hansu dragged— but why Yujeong unni and Inho oppa?
"We can join sports fest without magic."
Ah, got it. I nodded.
"Minhee."
"Ah, oppa!"
"Guh."
Her oppa snuck up behind her and called. Hansu—who'd had Je-hyeon senior behind him like Minhee—froze at the voice, unlike Minhee's glee, and ducked behind me. Hey, what? I stared at him, flustered. You really see me as your mom or sis?
"Hansu, Sihwa, Hyunho too."
"Oh, hi."
"Yup! Long time no see! Je-hyeon hyung!"
Sihwa bowed shyly to Je-hyeon hyung; Hyunho waved happily. He patted Hyunho's head warmly, then turned to us. Eyes cold toward me and Inha, as Eunhee unni said—he really disliked little girls.
"And... hmm, Minhee, you got lots of friends. Don't know these ones—introduce?"
"Sure!"
He totally ignored me and even Inha's looks, turning to Inho oppa with a light smile. Whoa! Passed over Inha's appearance naturally?! Finally got what Eunhee unni meant.
'Inha ignored too—that guy's a total shota-con?'
Yeah, weird dude like she said. I eyed him awkwardly. Inha gave me a puzzled look, but Hansu saw Je-hyeon senior's smile, stiffened, gripped my clothes harder, and hugged me like a shield. I flinched at the touch. Inha scowled.
"Hands off?"
"Agh, just this once. That guy's creepy."
"Then hide behind Minhee."
"No way!"
As they bickered over me, Minhee introduced us: friends Inha and Eunha, close unni-oppa Yujeong unni and Inho oppa.
Je-hyeon senior finally looked our way. I'd been treating the bickering as normal and glancing around when our eyes met. Blink, blink. Staring, I widened my eyes.
Between blinks, his mana's color imprinted in my vision. Pretty... mana. I'd thought it deep from afar, but this gorgeous? Purest black, yet mysteriously transparent. Nothing like Minhee's yellow-green. Color, property, depth—worlds apart. That sharp feel—I had it too, so I knew. Probably 'darkness' mana.
I'd only checked magic related to mine, not all top ranks'. This guy sparked huge curiosity about theirs.
'Especially that time-manip one's—what color's her mana?'
Fresh curiosity bubbled up. But before I could dwell—
「Alright! Quiz time starts!! Problem caller: this person!」
We all gaped at the stage. Jeong Junhwi teacher! Minhee waved excitedly at him.
"Whoa! Teacher! Teaaacher~!"
[Shut it, you brats.]
Minhee and Hyunho waved wildly; teacher shut them down via mic. I admired him this time. Heard from way up there? True detection mage.
「Quiz category: 'Magic Trivia'! O if you think true, X if false. See the gold line? That's the boundary. Jeong Junhwi Teacher, first question!!」
His eyes gleamed sharp behind glasses. He leaned into the mic.
[The first mage to publicly reveal his identity in history, Frank, was famous for his sub-magic Amplification Magic. This is light magic—true or false?]