Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Lily Rose's Provocation
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[What? No interview?]
[That #1 over there sniped you. Check it out lol (link)]
“……She sniped me?”
Lee Seo-jun blankly scrolled down the message window and clicked the link.
An article popped up at the same time.
[British Magical Academy Prodigy, ‘Lily Rose,’ Fires Shot at Lee Seo-jun.]
[Ahead of the Korea-UK Joint Training in two weeks, Lily Rose—hailed as the top prodigy at the British Magical Academy—has taken a shot at Lee Seo-jun.]
["Lee Seo-jun, called the world’s #1 rising star, has overhyped talent," she said, adding, "I’ll show the gap in our levels during this joint exam."]
“Hmm…”
Lee Seo-jun skimmed the article roughly and closed it.
Rising stars sniping him had always been around. By now, he’d grown numb to it.
Still, what set this apart from the others who’d targeted him was that Lily Rose—from the article—was famous enough that even he’d heard of her.
Lee Seo-jun replied to Shin Young-jun.
[Weird. Isn’t she famous?]
[Famous af. Nickname’s Britain’s Lee Seo-jun or something. Saw her pic? She’s drop-dead gorgeous. (photo)]
A photo appeared in the message window.
It showed a beautiful blonde woman smiling brightly.
Lee Seo-jun stared at the photo for a moment before setting down his smart student handbook.
“……Guess I should just focus on training.”
The island nation of Britain, located in the North Sea off Western Europe.
London, Britain’s capital, was one of the world’s top magical cities, where countless magic researches took place.
Among them, around Big Ben—the landmark clock tower of London—stood the British Magical Academy, one of the world’s top five magic schools.
In the dormitory of the British Magical Academy, Britain’s greatest rising star, Lily Rose, was searching for videos related to Lee Seo-jun on her laptop.
“She’s pretty good.”
The mana in her sword, her movements—her combat sense had a mysterious finesse rare for her age.
In a 1v1, she might be a bit tricky.
“But what’s the point if she’s only good at her specialty.”
Lily Rose checked Lee Seo-jun’s grades from the Korean Magical Academy’s public records.
Excluding her specialty, there were several exams where she hadn’t taken 1st place.
“I got 1st in every exam. Heh heh. That’s the gap in levels.”
And this upcoming exam she’d heard evaluated overall abilities. If there was one thing she wouldn’t lose to anyone in, it was comprehensive ability assessments.
As she skimmed Lee Seo-jun’s grade records like that, Lily spotted an unfamiliar name in the rankings.
“Kim Sun-woo?”
In most subjects where Lee Seo-jun hadn’t taken 1st, this guy had.
But she’d never heard the name before.
She knew rising stars from Korea like Yoo Ah-ra and Shin Young-jun.
Maybe search him.
“What’s this. Nerd.”
Theory scores: 1st place. Even two straight perfect scores.
The Korean Magical Academy’s theory exams were famously tough and tricky. Impressive, sure, but…
“Hmm.”
Her practical scores, though, were lackluster.
And from some video on Mityube, she even had a mana discharge during a basic magic aptitude test.
Lily closed the video, embarrassed just watching.
“……Why’d the Korean kids lose to someone like this?”
When had the Korean Magical Academy’s level dropped this low?
It was supposed to be the top of the world’s five great magic schools.
“Tsk.”
Lily shook her head.
Korea’s done for.
“Good for us.”
Britain’s Lee Seo-jun.
She hated that nickname.
“This is my chance to make them call Lee Seo-jun Korea’s Lily Rose.”
Lily pulled out her smart student handbook and snapped a selfie with a confident smile.
She posted it on SNS with the photo.
[An unseen character feels a bit of curiosity toward you.]
[You acquire 500 points as a reward.]
“What?”
The message popped up suddenly as I came out of the shower in my dorm.
“Who now?”
I pondered alone for a bit, then shook my head.
No way to know.
With so many characters, and I’d just done that documentary—probably sparked some interest from that.
Sorting my thoughts like that, I started drying my wet hair.
“Right. Time to buy a new trait soon.”
I’d earned a massive pile of points from the recent documentary.
I had a whopping 103,500 points on hand now.
Enough to buy some S-rank traits.
With the final exam in two weeks, better grab something.
[Entering Point Shop.]
I checked the trait list one by one.
Combat-related. Growth-type.
Plenty came to mind, but some were tricky for me to handle, so I couldn’t pick rashly.
Just snagging Lee Seo-jun’s ‘Genius (SSS)’ trait would solve everything, but it needed a ridiculous 1 million points—way beyond me.
“This seems best.”
[Combat Maniac (S)]
Category: Trait
Description: Grow stronger through battle.
[Passive Effects]
> Bulldozer
When facing someone with higher-grade mana than you, all stats increase by 10%.
> Battle Ready
Magic resistance increases by 15%.
Dynamic vision improves.
[Active Effects]
> Victory Report
Select a target. Win a battle against them, and gain random additional stats or traits based on their rank.
*Cooldown: 7 days
> Fighting Spirit
For 3 minutes, all stats increase by 20%.
*Cooldown: 3 days
Price: 100,000 points
Combat Maniac wasn’t mentioned in the original story, so no clue who used it, but it was one I’d eyed in the point shop for ages.
True to its name, it let you grow via battle—fits me perfectly, knowing this world’s hidden villains.
“Only 3,500 left.”
Hate spending my hard-earned 100k, but the efficiency makes it unavoidable.
Purchase it.
[Purchased Combat Maniac (S).]
A bright light appeared before me and settled into my body.
I instinctively knew how to use it.
[Achieved ‘S-Rank Trait Purchase’ achievement.]
[Acquired 20,000 points as reward.]
“Huh?”
20k points?
“Jackpot.”
Earned 20k for free from an unexpected place.
Cashback I never saw coming.
I grinned.
“Heh heh. Nice, nice.”
Now that I had the trait, time to test it.
First, the active Victory Report.
To maximize efficiency, I need battles.
Start with villains I can take down easily…
Not too weak, but manageable for me.
One that’d give a satisfying win.
One comes to mind.
Too late today—weekend it is.
I pulled out my smartphone and typed a message.
[Han Se-yeon, you busy?]
Next day, Wednesday morning.
The classroom vibe was weirdly chaotic today. Looking around wondering why, I saw tons of students crowding Lee Seo-jun, talking to him.
“Seo-jun, you see that British girl sniping you?”
“Ridiculous. We’ll cheer you to #1!”
“She posted another sniping post on SNS last night.”
Turned out it was from Lily Rose’s SNS post yesterday.
This was a plot point from the original story. And it’d pop up occasionally later too.
This world had countless rivals burning with envy toward Lee Seo-jun.
I opened my smart student handbook and logged into SNS.
Searched Lily Rose—her ID popped right up.
[Lilly Rose(@Lilly_l_)]
[Photo]
Clicking it showed the familiar blonde face from past news.
Below was a long English post.
My Outsider perk activated, auto-translating it.
Roughly: Korean magic level seems way low. I’ll show the gap in our joint training. Super provocative stuff.
[So ridiculous wtf who is this chick?]
[Omg look at her personality gross lol]
[If Lee Seo-jun loses #1 to her I’ll hate her forever]
Comments were exploding.
English cheers and Korean curses flooded in massive numbers.
Practically a mini war between nations.
“……What.”
But seeing the post, I felt baffled for a different reason.
It diverged from the original… a lot.
Lily Rose did snipe Lee Seo-jun in the original, but not the whole country of Korea.
What changed her mindset?
After Lily’s sniping incident, a tense atmosphere spread through the Magical Academy.
Time flew, turning what was just a final exam into a school-vs-school showdown vibe.
And it wasn’t just inside the academy.
Media hyped it up provocatively, fanning national rivalry flames.
Whatever. I attended classes as usual.
My priority wasn’t national pride—it was how to handle upcoming plot developments.
[Hanseong Pharmaceuticals]
Saturday, the school’s day off.
Disguised as Kim Jin-woo, I arrived at Hanseong Pharmaceuticals HQ.
Even on weekend Saturday, the building buzzed with people.
Then, an employee approached me with a friendly smile from afar.
“Hello. What brings you here?”
“To meet Executive Director Han Se-yeon.”
The employee eyed me up and down at my reply.
“Sorry, but Director Han isn’t someone you can just meet. Mind if I ask the purpose?”
“Business talk. I have an appointment.”
“An appointment?”
She tilted her head.
“Yes. An appointment.”
“……May I have your name?”
“Kim Jin-woo.”
“I’ll check.”
The employee vanished with a suspicious look.
After about 3 minutes, she returned.
“Sorry, but there’s no Kim Jin-woo on the meeting list.”
“She’ll know if you say Kim Jin-woo.”
“That’s…”
That’s when.
“Assistant Yoo! Leave this to me and get back to work.”
A middle-aged man rushed over to us.
“Huh?”
The employee called Assistant Yoo looked puzzled at him, then bowed.
“Ah, yes. Got it.”
With the employee gone, the man smiled at me.
“Mr. Kim Jin-woo, my apologies. I’ll escort you right away.”
Under the employee’s polite guidance, we took the elevator to Han Se-yeon’s office.
Opening the door, Han Se-yeon—lab coat over her suit—greeted me with a smile.
“Sorry. I kept it off the list to meet quietly, but seems it got messy.”
“No. It’s fine.”
I smiled like it was nothing and plopped into the cushy chair.
Han Se-yeon sat across, gazing at me with gentle eyes.
“Q.”
M...
“Why stare like that? Something on my face?”
“No. Your beard’s thicker. You look like a historical drama actor.”
“Oh.”
Plenty said my real face—Kim Sun-woo’s—resembled Kim Jin-woo’s, so I’d grown an extra-long beard on purpose.
Unless someone was really into me, they wouldn’t notice.
“Just grew it out. How’s it look?”
“……Beard doesn’t suit you. Seriously doesn’t. Makes you look older.”
That’s the point.
“It’s comfy for me.”
“Hmm. Shave it and you’d be fine. Eyes make you look young. I like babyfaces.”
“Ah, you’re into younger looks.”
I recalled reading that in a pre-regression magazine interview of hers.
Her eyes filled with suspicion.
“Did I ever say that?”
“Oh, misspoke. Meant ‘you like younger looks.’”
Han Se-yeon eyed me suspiciously, then nodded.
“Not specifically younger. Just babyfaces more my type.”