Chapter 56: He Was a Strange Man
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 56: He Was a Strange Man
He was a strange man.
He had a handsome face that you couldn't help but notice even in a passing glance, a tall stature, and broad shoulders.
He was a man whose good looks no one could dispute, yet for some reason, he rubbed me the wrong way.
"Angelica Graham."
"...Ye-Yes!"
I snapped to attention at Instructor Derek’s call, but I couldn't stop my heart from thumping wildly.
A battle, all of a sudden...
I had applied because both my father and mother were combat mages, so I felt I had no choice, but I was still terrified of fighting.
‘Angelica, you have a vast amount of mana, so you’ll become a wonderful mage.’
‘Defeat the monsters and demons to save people. That is why God gave us mana.’
To be honest... I hated fighting.
Or rather than hating it, I was simply too scared.
Everyone expected so much from me because of my high mana capacity, and I hated myself for getting so nervous every time I had to step onto a battlefield.
Why did they have to make us fight starting from the very first day of the entrance ceremony...
I wanted to complain to someone, but seeing how motivated the other students were, I couldn't say a word.
A scary-looking man named Takeo charged forward, and I was pushed onto the battlefield as if by the tide.
And then, my first death.
I knew it was an illusion, but the sensation of a blade slicing through my neck still lingered, making my hands tremble uncontrollably.
No, I can do this.
Everyone believes in me. I have to live up to their expectations.
My second death.
I died when a girl named Kurumi pierced my heart with her katana.
She didn't even acknowledge me as an enemy; she just stabbed me with total indifference... A wave of helplessness washed over me.
Dazed, I looked around and saw the students who had been summoned back after dying charging out once more.
Why? Was I the strange one?
Even if it was an Illusion Space and I knew I wouldn't actually die, weren't they scared?
My mother had told me since I was a child that I needed to fix my fragile personality, but it never got any better.
And what was with those three gathered over there looking so relaxed...
While everyone else was working so hard, they were just playing around as if mocking them.
He might be handsome, but there was a reason I found him unpleasant.
Telling myself I was different from a person like him, I headed back to the battlefield despite my fear.
And then, my third death.
Daihara Akito. The son of Daihara Yukio, the strongest of the 12 Zodiacs.
I had died to him twice already.
I couldn't go on like this.
My fourth death. Fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth...
Seeing Akito kill me repeatedly, it seemed everyone else had caught on to my weakness; they wouldn't give me a moment to gather my mana.
Even when I stood on the battlefield, I was just helplessly victimized. The way their eyes lit up as they rushed at me, seeing me as easy prey, was terrifying.
I... I didn't want to go anymore...
"Angelica! Come on, hurry! We have to retake Base B!"
A girl I had met during this test grabbed my wrist and pulled.
They praised me, saying my magic was powerful.
But my weakness had already been exposed.
"Angelica! Why aren't you firing?! We're all going to die at this rate!"
The praise quickly turned to blame. The girl looked at me with frustration before being swept away by a massive water spell.
And then, my tenth death.
Summoned back to the base, I touched my neck where Akito had cut me.
It was the exact same spot where he had sliced me the first time.
Had I taken the battlefield too lightly...? Did I have to be someone like him to survive this?
As I sat there in despair, the girl who had both praised and blamed me was summoned back to the base.
I would have preferred it if she had said something, but her silent stare followed by a look of resignation felt like a tightening noose around my heart.
Ah...
I hated myself for wishing the test would just end.
To be thinking about my soft bed and warm hot chocolate in the dormitory in a situation like this—I really wasn't cut out for combat.
If I could, I wanted to run away right this second.
"Want to lend me a hand?"
"Huh...?"
At the sudden voice of that unpleasant man, I answered blankly without thinking.
Ignoring my foolish appearance, the unpleasant man looked around at the other frustrated students and spoke coldly.
"You've been struggling all alone without anyone to protect you. I'll make sure you win."
"Bullshit. You've been doing nothing until now."
The students raised their voices in criticism, but the man wasn't discouraged at all and argued right back.
Just what was this man relying on to be so confident?
"I get that I don't seem very trustworthy, but at this rate, your loss is already decided, isn't it? You've worked hard, so why not take a gamble on me just once?"
Now of all times?
He was incredibly shameless, especially coming from a man who had been playing around doing nothing until a moment ago.
However, he possessed a radiance I lacked—a confidence that didn't falter even when everyone was criticizing him.
"What... what do I need to do...?"
And so, I ended up fighting on a team with that unpleasant man.
And then, death.
"Kwah! That was a refreshing explosion. Hey, seeing your magic in person, it's even more badass than I thought."
Even though we died, the man laughed heartily.
And strangely, I no longer felt that sense of helplessness.
I wondered if this was right, but that last attack had taken down nearly ten people from Team A.
The scoreboard floating in the sky announced that we had captured Base A, which we had just attacked.
"Let's keep it going like this. Shall we go take Base B next?"
His crude way of speaking. And the way he casually patted my shoulder—it was unpleasant.
But following his lead onto the battlefield was becoming increasingly fun.
He protected me by any means necessary, using his battered body to hold off the enemies until the very end just to buy me time to complete my spells.
And then death. Another death. And death again.
The deaths repeated, but dying with him was no longer a meaningless event.
Because I felt valuable, I was no longer afraid of death, and the battle became heart-pounding.
It wasn't just that I felt safe because he protected me. I felt a strange euphoria because I could feel with my whole body that he believed in me and my magic.
And...
No. Let's not think about that.
The motorcycle was shaking so much... that... hard thi—Aaaaah! Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
As I clutched my head at the embarrassing memory, I saw him walking briskly toward a friend named Rio.
"E-Z-P-Z!! You scrubs, that was so damn easy! You guys suck at this game!! My dog could play better than you! EZ GG, EZ! EZ! Losers~ Losers~ Uhahaha!"
Wow, his personality.
The unpleasant man had an equally unpleasant personality.
It was almost humiliating to think I had been physically pressed against that man until just a moment ago.
The man, who was joyfully mocking Team A over the radio, remained dignified even under the incredulous stares of the other students.
I was jealous... How could someone have that kind of confidence?
"You piece of trash. Does winning like that make you happy?"
When we exited the Illusion Space, someone said those words, and I reflexively flinched and shrank back.
I think I was even more nervous because everyone was staring in silence.
However, all the arrows of criticism were aimed at that man.
If it had been me, I think I would have broken down in tears, but the man stood his ground against all the blame, soaking up every insult thrown his way.
‘You've been struggling all alone without anyone to protect you.’
Ah... I see.
It was for me.
That man was protecting me not just during the battle, but afterward as well.
Just as he had blocked every attack in the Illusion Space, he was now taking all the criticism alone so that I would fall out of the people's focus.
I felt disgusted with myself for feeling relieved that I wasn't the one being criticized.
But why...?
Just because it was the strategy he suggested? Did "protecting me" include all of this?
He wasn't silently enduring the blame like a movie protagonist, but his actions to protect me were incredibly thoughtful.
Seo Yeon-woo... So Yeon-woo is his name.
Could I ever become strong like you?
But I was too timid to ask the question I truly wanted to, and time just passed by.
"Angelica. Are you interested in joining a club?"
"Huh?"
Akito, who I had become quite friendly with, invited me to a club he had started called the Magic Research Club.
The three people who always followed him around were a bit scary, but I was grateful to Akito for being kind to me.
Strangely, Akito's words resonated with me, and there were many times when my eyes naturally followed him.
As I was contemplating for a moment, I saw Yeon-woo passing by behind Akito.
They seemed close when I saw them last time...
"Is Yeon-woo in the Magic Research Club too?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. He said he was busy with his part-time job, but he joined."
"If you're hesitant because of that bastard, it's fine. I'll kill him myself."
Perhaps there was some misunderstanding, as Chika spoke fiercely, telling me not to worry about Yeon-woo.
If I joined the Magic Research Club, I could meet Yeon-woo again.
We were in the same class anyway, so I saw him every day, but we had no point of contact, so I hadn't been able to strike up a conversation even once.
I wanted to properly tell him thank you for that time.
And I felt like if I stayed by his side, I could become strong too.
It was only a brief experience during the entrance ceremony test, but I had never felt as reassured and capable as I did then.
This time, I'll become strong and protect him too.
Because both Akito and Yeon-woo were there, I readily accepted, only to find out shortly after that I had been scammed.
"Huh...?"
"That bastard only lent us his name. Akito suggested it, and he had the nerve to..."
I couldn't think of anything to say to Chika's words, and so more time passed without me being able to say a single word to Yeon-woo.
Before I knew it, Yukina was spending more time by Yeon-woo's side, and Mary and Jade had also grown close to him.
It became even harder to talk to him...
I knew Yukina, Mary, and Jade were all kind people, but... they were such "insiders" that they didn't really fit with me...
The thought of becoming a wallflower around them scared me, so I couldn't bring myself to approach.
Sigh—I really am timid to the core.
Even during the Deserted Island Exam, Yeon-woo made his presence known to everyone and played a major role.
It hurt a bit that I was one of the ones who drowned because of Yeon-woo's plan, but I could never imagine taking on the entire first-year class by myself.
"There's a girl named Haruna."
Those were the words Yeon-woo said when I met him while trying to restrain Takeo and Keiji on Instructor Derek's special request.
It was the first time I had seen Yeon-woo, who was always smiling, get angry.
When you're angry, you're scarier than I thought... and your face looks sadder than I expected...
And the way Yeon-woo got angry for Yukina's sake regarding what happened between Akito and Emma—it was scary, yet cool.
Yeon-woo was protecting Yukina this time.
When the false rumor spread that Emma had slept with him, he endured it without saying a word, but for Yukina's sake, he was getting angry on her behalf.
I could never be like Yeon-woo.
The scale of our character as human beings was just too different.
A thoughtful and broad-minded person, the kind you only see in movies, was standing there getting angry at Akito and Takeo.
All for Yukina.
Wait.
Did I just feel jealous of Yukina?
Yukina spoke coldly to the two men who were apologizing with frozen faces, then took Yeon-woo's hand and left.
The scene of the two of them walking away into the sunset looked like the ending of a movie, and I found myself staring blankly.
After watching for a long time, I turned my head to see Chika watching them as well.
Chika had changed a bit since the Deserted Island Exam too... I don't know the details, but I think Yeon-woo influenced her.
Finding myself jealous of that again, I turned my head away, feeling pathetic.
Stop relying on someone else and think about becoming strong on your own.
Become strong, find the courage to approach Yeon-woo directly, and talk to him.
Tell him thank you for protecting me. Tell him that thanks to him, I was able to become strong.
"They're basically advertising that they had sex."
I was staring blankly at Yeon-woo, who had arrived at school in a helicopter with Yukina, when I heard someone mutter those words.
Why did my heart feel so heavy at a mere murmur that might not even be true?
... ...
Ah... I'm in love with Yeon-woo.