Chapter 344
Chapter 344
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 345
Chapter Title: A Magicless World
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The moment the ice spear shot out, the world began to twist.
The darkness that had shrouded her vision gradually lifted, and sunlight now poured down from the sky above.
Caught off guard by the sudden change in surroundings, Choi Seo-yoon looked around with a bewildered expression.
“……Where is this?”
It was a small city.
A cluster of tightly packed apartment complexes.
People hurrying across the crosswalk with busy faces.
The scenery felt familiar, like something she’d seen many times before, yet strangely alien at the same time.
“What the hell is going on……
The fact that the world had changed was probably proof that the entity maintaining the unconscious had shifted.
Which meant…… she’d been pulled into someone else’s unconscious?
“Hmm.”
Lost in thought, Choi Seo-yoon scanned her surroundings once more.
On the surface, it looked like any ordinary city in Korea.
But upon closer inspection, there were clear differences from the Korea she knew.
For one, there were no signs of magitech anywhere.
The buildings had slightly different designs, and the cars driving down the roads looked somehow off.
This wasn’t the Korea she knew.
It was Korea, but not Korea. A contradictory way to put it, but nothing else fit.
That was when it happened.
—Ugh, I really don’t wanna go to school.
—Yawn. Tell me about it.
The voices of young men drifted over from nearby.
Turning toward the sound, she saw a group of male students in beige school uniforms passing by.
“Hey!”
“……Yes?”
At Choi Seo-yoon’s call, the students turned to look at her. They seemed startled for a moment upon seeing her face, then blushed slightly.
“W-What is it?”
“Could you tell me where this is?”
The students blinked at her question, then exchanged glances.
“It’s @#$.”
“……Pardon?”
What was that? It sounded like a busted speaker with garbled audio.
“Sorry, could you say that one more time?”
“It’s @#$.”
Same thing again.
Was it because this was the world of the unconscious that place names weren’t rendering properly?
As Choi Seo-yoon pondered this, one of the boys noticed her clothes and asked.
“By the way, what school are you from? That doesn’t look like any uniform from around here.”
“Wizard Academy.”
“Wiz……what?”
“Korean Wizard Academy.”
“Pfft!”
One of the boys burst into snickers.
The others quickly joined in, laughing along.
“Wizard Academy? Heh heh.”
“Oh~ So you go to Hogwarts~ Heh heh. This some kinda hidden camera prank?”
Choi Seo-yoon stared at them blankly. Why were they reacting like this?
“You’ve never heard of Wizard Academy?”
“Wow, you’re really committed to this. You’re joking, right? Heh heh.”
“Who even believes in that stuff these days? Magic isn’t real.”
……What?
Did they not even know magic existed?
“Hey, we’re gonna be late for school. That was fun, prank girl. We’re outta here.”
With that, the students vanished off somewhere.
Choi Seo-yoon watched their retreating backs in a daze.
“……No way. Is this a world without magic?”
Whose unconscious could this possibly be……
“Choi Seo-yoon.”
She snapped to attention at the familiar voice from behind.
Turning around, she saw the person who had called her name.
A smile spread across her face at the welcome sight.
“Sunbae!”
It was none other than Kim Sun-woo.
About to rush over in delight, Choi Seo-yoon froze when she noticed his clothes.
A beige school uniform.
“……Sunbae?”
Kim Sun-woo was wearing the same uniform as the students she’d just run into at the crosswalk.
After our unexpected encounter with Choi Seo-yoon, we headed back to the playground.
Her presence in my unconscious seemed to be due to the ‘unconscious overlap phenomenon’ that occurs with those who share deep bonds, as announced beforehand.
［Since our fates are linked, maybe this meeting was inevitable.］
［A change in the future has been detected.］
［Karmic rate increases by 0.5.］
As I checked the messages that popped up after meeting Choi Seo-yoon, a voice came from beside me.
“So, this is your unconscious?”
Choi Seo-yoon, sitting on the swing, asked me.
“Well, yeah.”
“Then where is this? It feels a bit different from the Korea I know. No concept of magic here, either……
Choi Seo-yoon peppered me with questions, clearly full of curiosity.
But I couldn’t answer her properly.
Just like with Lee Seo-jun, the ‘speech prohibition’ was in effect.
With no choice, I made something up.
“……Probably just my dream.”
“Your dream?”
“Yeah, I sometimes dream of places like this.”
It wasn’t a total lie.
I did occasionally dream of my original world.
At my words, Choi Seo-yoon fell into thought, her expression pensive.
“A dream, huh……
She seemed lost in her own musings for a moment, then glanced at me and spoke.
“Then what’s with the uniform?”
I looked down at my clothes.
How was I supposed to explain this?
“Dunno. Beats me too.”
Choi Seo-yoon stroked her chin at my response, then looked me up and down again.
Her eyes sharp and focused, as if committing me to memory.
“Why are you staring like that?”
“Seeing you in a different uniform feels kinda weird. But honestly, it suits you better…… like the clothes just fit you perfectly……
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Just changing clothes shifted your whole vibe.”
The Wizard Academy uniform definitely had a different atmosphere.
The academy one felt a bit classical, while this one gave off a more free-spirited vibe.
Choi Seo-yoon casually pulled out her smart student handbook.
“Mind if we take a commemorative photo? Though I guess we can’t take it outside.”
“Obviously. And no, I’m not interested in pictures.”
“Tch.”
Choi Seo-yoon pouted.
“Anyway, we need to find a way out of here…… Any ideas?”
“Oh, you just have to destroy the crystal hidden in the unconscious.”
Choi Seo-yoon explained.
“The crystal of the unconscious?”
“Yeah. There’s probably something special to you hidden somewhere in this world. Destroy that, and you’re out. That’s how I escaped my own unconscious—though I got pulled back in here.”
“Something special……
Something special to me.
Nothing immediately came to mind. My family was the closest thing, but……
Even if this was a fake unconscious world, attacking my family felt wrong—very wrong.
And call it intuition, but I had a strong feeling the unconscious crystal was hidden somewhere else.
But how were we supposed to find it in a place this big?
“If nothing comes to mind right away, we can just wander around and look.”
Choi Seo-yoon hopped off the swing energetically.
Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Sounds good. Where should we start?”
At my question, Choi Seo-yoon glanced at my clothes.
“How about checking out the school?”
As per Choi Seo-yoon’s suggestion, we decided to head to the school.
I figured there had to be a reason I’d regressed to my high school days.
As we walked toward the school, I discovered one thing about this world that I hadn’t known.
It didn’t perfectly recreate my past experiences.
To put it simply, while I’d returned to my high school days, traces of other time periods were scattered everywhere.
—If you look at it~
For example, the song playing right now was one from the future that hadn’t existed back in high school.
Some places even had buildings resembling those from the novel’s world.
It didn’t feel off, though.
Abyssal expeditions weren’t about reliving the ‘past,’ so of course this place would be reconstructed.
“By the way, Sunbae.”
Choi Seo-yoon called out to me.
“Didn’t you say this is a dream?”
“Yeah, why?”
“No reason. It’s just…… you’re navigating the streets too well for a dream. Like you’ve been here a ton.”
“……Well, it’s a recurring dream. Muscle memory, I guess.”
Choi Seo-yoon gave me a suspicious look but nodded in acceptance soon after.
“Hmm. By the way, some sounds have been glitching out since earlier.”
I turned to her at her mutter.
“Glitching how?”
“You’re not hearing it? The song right now—just the melody, no lyrics.”
No lyrics?
I’d been hearing it fine, so I hadn’t noticed.
Was it like how Lee Seo-jun couldn’t hear my conversation with Jin Cheon-woo in Aporia?
“I’m hearing it perfectly.”
“……Really? Must be different for the owner of the unconscious.”
She continued.
“But what song is this? Never heard the melody before.”
“Hmm, that’s a secret.”
“Ugh, seriously. So many secrets.”
Choi Seo-yoon pouted, looking a bit sulky.
Instead of answering, I gave her a small smile.
That was when Choi Seo-yoon looked around and spoke up.
“Sunbae, how’d you end up dreaming something like this?”
I turned to her, and she went on.
“You know how dreams are supposed to reflect your unconscious desires or wishes? The fact that you dream this often might mean you subconsciously want a world like this.”
It was a pretty serious question—one that made me think, too.
“A wish, huh…… Maybe.”
Choi Seo-yoon gazed steadily at my face. Meeting her eyes, I suddenly grew curious about her thoughts.
“What do you think?”
“Huh?”
“If you had to live in a world like this, without magic.”
My question must have caught her off guard, as Choi Seo-yoon paused, deep in thought.
“It’d probably be boring. I’ve spent my whole life training in magic—if I couldn’t use it, all my efforts would be for nothing.”
“Yeah, figured.”
Choi Seo-yoon looked up at the sky.
“……But if it actually happened, I’d probably find new value in it. I’m more adaptable than I think.”
Choi Seo-yoon flashed me a playful smile.
I chuckled along with her.
A very Choi Seo-yoon answer.
Quick to adapt and always hardworking—she’d thrive no matter what world she ended up in.
Not that it’d ever happen.
Time passed, and we reached our destination.
［Shin Young High School］
The place filled with memories from my high school days.
Students were streaming in through the front gate.
It looked like an ordinary school on the surface, but I couldn’t help being taken aback.
“……What the hell?”
Black clouds blanketed the sky above the school.
And a sinister black aura surged toward them from within.
It felt like staring at a demon king’s castle from some movie or comic.
Sure, the world could be reconstructed, but this was creepy.
Choi Seo-yoon looked pretty shocked too, so she must have seen it.
But the students passing through the gate didn’t seem to notice, heading to class with their usual faces.
“……What’s going on?”
As we stood there confused.
—Hey? Isn’t that the uniform from earlier?
—Yeah. Running into her here too. What school’s that from?
We overheard students talking about Choi Seo-yoon.
“……That uniform?”
From their reactions, it seemed people had spotted the Wizard Academy uniform elsewhere too.
“What’s this? Someone else from your world came here?”
“……I don’t know either.”
That was when a small commotion broke out nearby.
It was coming from inside the front gate.
“Look, I really need to get in there!”
“Student! Only Shin Young students are allowed!”
A female student was being dragged out by a teacher. And the clothes she wore…… were the Wizard Academy uniform.
Choi Seo-yoon and I stared in stunned silence.
“Aaah! I said I need to go in!”
“Student, cut it out. Which school are you from? Huh?”
The girl kept arguing with the teacher.
“……What’s she doing over there?”
“No idea.”
The girl, sounding almost tearful, seemed to sense our gazes and turned around.
Our eyes met.
Her face lit up with deep relief and joy.
“Huh? Sun-woo!”
At her call, the teacher’s eyes turned to me too.
It was Yoon Ha-young.