Chapter 381
Chapter 381
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 382
Chapter Title: The 4 Systems Play
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“Sun-woo’s everywhere. Sun-woo over there too. Man, he really is the center of the world.”
At 10 p.m. in the mage academy’s training grounds.
Shin Young-jun, who had finished training late due to the Taehwi Festival, muttered while scrolling through the news on his smart student notepad.
‘Rising star Kim Sun-woo, ‘Endured with a sense of responsibility.’ Exemplary performance amid Taehwi Festival accident’
‘SBC special on Kim Sun-woo airs at 9 p.m. on the 21st... Anticipation builds’
As he said, it wasn’t an exaggeration to call Kim Sun-woo the center of the world right now.
Sun-woo here, Sun-woo there. One broadcaster was even advertising a special feature on him.
“Your performance today was amazing. If Kim Sun-woo hadn’t suppressed it early, the festival probably would’ve been canceled, right?”
At the same time, Lee Seo-jun, who had finished preparing to head home, chuckled as he spoke.
“...Well, yeah, but he’s been in the news so much lately that it’s weirdly worrying.”
As he said, Kim Sun-woo’s popularity was skyrocketing day by day.
Wherever you went, stories about Kim Sun-woo popped up, and it was all but confirmed that next year, upon graduation, he’d stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Lee Seo-jun as the next top star mage.
The so-called ‘Kim Sun-woo syndrome.’
With popularity like this, maybe he should run for president.
“What’s worrying you?”
Just then, Yoo Ah-ra, who had finished her training right on time, approached and asked.
Shin Young-jun glanced at her and answered.
“Public attention isn’t always a good thing. It can breed jealousy, and... uh... how do I explain this...”
Shin Young-jun rubbed his chin, lost in thought, then shook his head.
“...Never mind. It’s probably just pointless worry. Don’t mind it.”
But Lee Seo-jun and Yoo Ah-ra vaguely caught on to what he’d been about to say.
The world doesn’t have only good things.
For every good event, there could be a backlash of bad.
Of course, it wasn’t guaranteed, but Kim Sun-woo had this ticking time bomb vibe about him, so the uneasy feeling was hard to shake.
Plus, that prophecy about his death he’d heard before was nagging at him.
“Kim Sun-woo’s always handled everything fine so far. He’ll manage on his own. Anyway, things turned out just like you said today, huh?”
Yoo Ah-ra changed the subject to lighten the mood as she spoke to Shin Young-jun.
“Oh, you mean how Sun-woo’s expression made it seem like something was about to go down?”
“Yeah, I didn’t think a real incident would actually happen.”
“His face just gave off that vibe. And it’s not the first or second time, so it’s hard to call it coincidence.”
“...So you’re saying Kim Sun-woo knew about the incident beforehand?”
Yoo Ah-ra murmured in a thoughtful tone.
“That’s the most likely explanation, right? Makes you wonder if he has precognition or something, but when I asked last time, he denied it. Sigh, who knows~”
Yoo Ah-ra let out a small laugh at that.
“Having lots of secrets is a classic trait of precognitives.”
It was a common point about those with the inherited ‘prophecy’ ability.
The reason wasn’t known, but jokes like ‘What secrets does a prophet have?’ had been around for generations.
“What do you think?”
Shin Young-jun asked Lee Seo-jun.
Lee Seo-jun stared at his face for a moment before nodding.
“I’ve thought the same. There’s a lot about Kim Sun-woo’s actions that’s hard to explain without assuming he knows the future.”
Moving before incidents happen, or vanishing suddenly only to return once they’re resolved.
He definitely had behaviors that raised suspicions of foreknowledge.
But right now, Lee Seo-jun didn’t believe Kim Sun-woo had prophetic powers.
He couldn’t explain why.
His inhuman strength, his changed behavior...
When you pieced it all together, something other than prophet fit better.
“Seo-jun?”
Yoo Ah-ra quietly called out to him, lost in thought.
Snapping back, Lee Seo-jun looked up with a faint smile.
“It’s nothing.”
The first day of the Taehwi Festival, heavy on the sports side, came to an end, and the second day—known as the festival’s highlight—arrived.
Tourists from outside began flooding in early in the morning to enjoy it, and students bustled about preparing for the ‘Cultural Arts Competition’ that day.
“Hey? Sun-woo’s here.”
Arriving at the Cultural Arts Competition venue, Yoon Ha-young greeted me warmly.
The key club members were all gathered around her.
“You’re all here already.”
“We’ve got a ton to prepare today. You guys have the play, and I’ve got the manifestation contest.”
“Is the play first?”
At Lee Seo-jun’s question, Yoon Ha-young nodded.
“Yeah. Then the manifestation contest... and after that, the singing contest, I think?”
That’s when Choi Seo-yoon approached me with a smile.
“Oh, right. Senior, did you see all the people today?”
Of course I did.
No, it was impossible not to.
The main gate had a crowd incomparable to last year’s Taehwi Festival.
“There were so many, it startled me.”
“Half of them probably came to see you, huh? The news was hyping it up big time yesterday.”
Lee Seo-jun grinned teasingly.
“Hype?”
“Yeah, the news advertised the play last night. Said if you’re interested, come watch.”
What?
So that’s why the friend requests started pouring in last night?
Well, more attention meant more points, so I didn’t mind...
What worried me was Lee Seo-jun and Yoo Ah-ra.
I knew the disastrous(?) end their terrible acting would bring.
“Hmm. This is worrying.”
Yoon Ha-young chimed in then.
“What’s there to worry about? Let’s show everyone the skills we’ve honed with our everyday acting!”
Everyday acting? What’s that?
And at Yoon Ha-young’s words, Choi Seo-yoon looked puzzled.
“...Skills honed with everyday acting?”
“Huh? Oh! Not everyday acting... uh, I mean...”
Realizing her slip, Yoon Ha-young trailed off.
Seeing that made me sigh involuntarily.
Here she goes again.
She’s not pretending to mess up for some social assassination angle, is she?
“I meant the acting we practiced together. I asked Ha-young to be my practice partner a couple days ago since I needed one, and we rehearsed in secret.”
We hadn’t practiced even once, but I made it up to smooth things over.
Choi Seo-yoon nodded like she got it.
“I could’ve helped with acting practice too...”
It didn’t feel fully resolved, but it seemed to pass okay enough.
[And now, the 3rd years’ special Taehwi Festival performance, 「4 Systems」, will begin!]
In the mage academy’s grand auditorium.
The 4 Systems play, star of the Taehwi Festival’s second-day Cultural Arts Competition, began.
Countless people had gathered to see Kim Sun-woo, who’d wrapped up yesterday’s latent personality incident with the law professor.
There were so many that some had to stand in the back because seats ran out.
“I’m not seriously expecting anything, just worried. Seo-jun and Ah-ra suck at acting, Sun-woo’s never synced breaths with them. Total disaster, right?”
Shin Young-jun muttered anxiously from his seat, and Yoon Ha-young let out a sympathetic little sigh.
“Yeah. Ah-ra was seriously bad.”
Cameras from numerous broadcasters were set up around.
Partly because of the starring roles of the academy’s top prospects—Lee Seo-jun, Yoo Ah-ra, and Kim Sun-woo—but mostly due to yesterday’s incident drawing them in.
“How’s Senior Sun-woo’s acting? You were his practice partner for two days, right?”
At Choi Seo-yoon’s question, Yoon Ha-young flinched for a second.
“...Huh? Sun-woo?”
She had no idea.
The practice partner thing was something Kim Sun-woo had made up.
“Uh, well... he did okay.”
There’s a clear difference between everyday improv and reciting lines from a script.
Especially in a play with a defined tone.
So it was tricky to say Kim Sun-woo would be good just because he’s good at casual acting.
No point building expectations only to disappoint.
“Hmm. Okay?”
Choi Seo-yoon nodded.
Right then, a thud! echoed, and the stage lights went out.
The noisy audience fell silent in an instant.
Footsteps soon rang out, and Lee Seo-jun appeared in a white shirt.
—...Mana is mysterious and profound.
Something humans cannot comprehend—
A stiff, unnaturally choppy voice. He closed his mouth, then spoke again.
—Too vast for humans to comprehend fully.
Laughter erupted from the audience seats.
Shin Young-jun felt embarrassed but kept watching, expressionless.
—For humanity’s progress, mana must be divided clearly, made easy for all to understand...
Lee Seo-jun’s awful acting continued. It was so bad some spectators mistook the play for comedy.
Then, in that hellish time, Yoo Ah-ra entered as the ‘Witch of Death.’
Her appearance in a beautiful black dress drew small gasps of admiration from the crowd.
“Wow, Senior Ah-ra looks amazing.”
Excitement filled Choi Seo-yoon’s eyes.
Yoo Ah-ra’s entrance meant her minion, the porter Kim Sun-woo, would appear soon.
—...The world’s destruction and chaos. Those are not inherently bad...
But unlike her charismatic look, awkward lines spilled from her mouth too.
The contrast sparked another burst of laughter from the audience.
At that moment, Yoo Ah-ra stopped.
—Not inherently bad...?
“Oh man.”
Yoon Ha-young pressed a hand to her forehead.
“Ah-ra forgot her line again.”
She’d done that during rehearsals too.
Despite her top scores in theory exams, the pressure made her unable to memorize the script properly.
“Ah-ra, what do we do.”
Right then.
Urgent footsteps came from stage left, and a man in a shabby jacket with a large bag appeared.
Small cheers rose from the audience again.
—It’s Kim Sun-woo.
“Woo!”
Choi Seo-yoon whipped out her smart student notepad like she’d been waiting for his entrance.
Yoon Ha-young glanced at her, then turned back to Kim Sun-woo.
“...The porter’s entrance isn’t supposed to be yet.”
That’s when Kim Sun-woo spoke.
—As the witch says, destruction and chaos aren’t all bad.
A natural voice with no hint of acting.
After the comedy so far, this first taste of real performance pulled the audience right in.
“Wow, she’s good at acting too.”
“Yeah, it suddenly has weight.”
The audience let out quiet admiration, sensing the shift from his one line.
Kim Sun-woo continued.
—Destruction is the seed of new beginnings. To save a rotten world, death is the only answer! Why don’t people understand the witch’s will?
—...Huh?
Caught off-script, Yoo Ah-ra looked at him with flustered eyes.
Realizing he was helping her forgotten line, she nodded and picked up.
—...R-Right. Destruction is the new—
—But! There’s a fool meddling without understanding our will. Taehwi, the so-called great mage. We must kill him now.
Kim Sun-woo cut in with Yoo Ah-ra’s line. She blinked blankly, confused by the sudden turn.
—...Uh, now?
—Yes, right now!
—But we’re not ready yet...
—Now’s our chance. Don’t we have an important mission?
—Uh... Y-Yeah, got it.
From then on, the play proceeded under Kim Sun-woo—no, the porter’s lead.
The main villain of 「4 Systems」, the Witch of Death, followed the porter around, and even the climax battle with Taehwi had the porter handling all the lines.
“...What is this?”
Noticing how it diverged from the fairy tale 「4 Systems」 they remembered from childhood, the audience tilted their heads.
“Was the porter supposed to be the puppet-master villain from behind the scenes?”