The Summoner of ■■ (55)
As always, any place where people gathered was pure chaos. Today, though, was different.
Aside from the occasional whisper, a chill silence hung over the vast space of Arena One as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over the entire crowd.
The main reason was obvious: the third-years, openly radiating their auras without the slightest attempt to hide them.
Thanks to that, at least I didn’t have to deal with a pounding headache first thing in the morning. Small mercies.
I shaped a chair out of shadow in a quiet corner of the arena and slumped into it like a rag doll.
Cool breeze mixed with warm sunlight—perfect temperature. Ideal conditions for a nap.
If I could, I’d sleep right through everything. But I knew better than anyone that wasn’t going to happen.
“...To lounge around like that in a place this crowded... Jang Sinwoo, do you even possess a sense of shame?”
The moment I tried to rest, one of the sources of my headaches showed up.
Lucia wore an expression of pure disbelief, Ban Taewung offered a wry smile, and Riri clung to Taewung’s back like a koala. The usual lineup. Just looking at them drained me already.
“...Does shame put food on the table? Don’t start shit this early. Get lost.”
“As class president of Class S, it is my duty to correct the dignity of those under my charge.”
And that was supposed to mean something to me?
I didn’t even bother answering. Eyes still closed, I just waved a hand like I was shooing away a bug.
Lucia’s delicate brow furrowed hard, and she let out a long sigh. Predictable.
Who told her to take on a pain-in-the-ass job like class president? Nobody put a sword to her throat. She volunteered, so she could deal with the consequences.
“Keeping his cool no matter what is one of Sinwoo’s strong points.”
“Taewung! That isn’t keeping his cool—that’s pure laziness! Completely carefree, living in his own little world! Must be nice to have zero stress. Damn it!”
She clearly wanted to drop something far more vulgar, but the watching eyes, her reputation, and especially Taewung’s presence forced her to just chew her lip and swallow the anger.
Soothing her was Taewung’s job too. You chose this heroine. Tough it out with pure grit.
Me? I didn’t care. My reputation had already cratered after the whole Cheon Jang-mi incident, and I was on decent terms with the professors separately, so it wasn’t a real problem.
I wasn’t so fragile that other people’s stares could push me around.
Even now, someone was staring hard enough to bore holes through my skin. That constant pressure had trained me well—I could out-shameless any thick-skinned bastard alive.
Yesterday’s fatigue still hadn’t fully faded, so my annoyance meter had not only hit the ceiling but smashed straight through it. Just showing up to the arena on time was a miracle.
“Haaah...”
Thinking even that little bit brought on a yawn. Immediately after came irritation at the fact that my brain had burned enough oxygen to need it.
I’d wanted to think about absolutely nothing until class started, yet I’d gone and woken my mind up for useless crap.
No matter how often I complained about being tired, it was only mental. An Awakened body that had gotten a full night’s sleep was in peak condition, ready to spring into action at any moment.
Once the brain started running, it didn’t shut off easily.
A brain evolved to understand, accept, and process the nonstandard mystery of mana wasn’t going to tire out over something this trivial.
If I’d pushed myself to the absolute limit like yesterday, maybe. In my current state, no amount of trying would let me sink into deep sleep.
The sensation of being yanked out of a peaceful dream back into reality made my brow crease on its own.
And with that, the ambient noise I’d thought was quiet suddenly roared into a chaotic buzz.
Even without pouring mana into it or stacking the effects of Subjugator, my Perception stat was already sky-high.
I could hear the whispers of people on the far side of the arena as a baseline, and from those whispers I could already predict their next moves.
It used to take concentration. Now it just came to me.
Forcing my eyes shut only made my hearing sharper. In the end I opened them and stared up at the sky.
Few clouds. Perfectly clear. Disgustingly clear.
Not great for an indoor type like me. A nice gloomy rain would’ve been so much better.
“Haa... Well, you’ve never listened to a word anyone says. Stubborn as ever.”
“Right back at you.”
I let Lucia and Taewung’s chatter wash in one ear and out the other after they finally gave up trying to haul me upright.
Lately it felt like I was getting dragged into more and more nonsense, and I wasn’t thrilled about it.
Getting involved with these two always left me with the uneasy feeling that I was stepping into some trap the gods had laid out.
Plop.
While I was busy lamenting my lot in life, something warm and heavy settled on top of me.
The number of people who could pull this kind of stunt and still be breathing afterward was tiny, so the options narrowed themselves.
I tilted my head just enough to look down. The white-haired girl who had somehow climbed off Taewung’s back was now using my body as a mattress.
Not so much hot as stifling.
Her childlike frame ran hot, which only made it worse.
More impressive was how she settled in without a single wasted movement, finding the perfect compromise that didn’t crush me yet kept her comfortable. That wasn’t beginner-level skill.
I didn’t have the energy to shove her off, so I just stretched the shadow chair sideways.
“...You’re heavy. Move over.”
“Mmm... warmer here.”
I even made her a spot and she still treated me like a personal heater.
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue and tried to shift the shadows to peel her off, but it didn’t go as planned.
The moment the shadows touched her, the archmage-level anti-magic unique to her kind rejected the mana controlling them.
“Mmm, blanket.”
Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she stole control of my shadows and draped them over herself like a blanket. Peak shamelessness.
Unbelievable. Seriously.
Moving her with my own strength now would feel like losing, so I just tapped my heel against the floor.
Hive, reading my thoughts through the Link, immediately formed a clone that mimicked a human shadow.
It rose from my own shadow, roughly my size—a pitch-black silhouette with a pure white bone mask for a face. The edges of its body wavered like heat haze, proof it wasn’t human.
Fully formed, it wasted no time carefully lifting the Riri sprawled across me and setting her aside.
She started whining, but that wasn’t my problem.
The sudden appearance of a humanoid figure made Taewung and Lucia freeze mid-sentence; I could feel their stares lock onto us.
I waved a hand like it was nothing. Hive’s clone finished its job and sank back into my shadow.
“...What was that just now?”
“A summon.”
“That’s not what I—haa. Never mind.”
Lucia started to say something, then clamped her mouth shut, crossed her arms, and looked away. Cold, expressionless—her usual face.
But my heightened Perception caught the truth underneath.
The faint tremor in her hands, the way she clenched her crossed arms tighter to hide it—she was afraid.
...Why the sudden reaction?
This wasn’t new. She’d faced worse monsters head-on with a sword, yet now she was scared of one?
“...I just remembered I have an errand the teacher asked me to handle. I’ll be back shortly.”
The excuse sounded exactly like someone desperate to escape. Lucia turned on her heel and left without another word.
“Huh? Wha—Lucia?”
Taewung was flustered in his own way.
In his case it was pure shock at her sudden behavior.
I jerked my chin toward the direction she’d gone. He nodded and sprinted after her.
One nuisance gone. Next up: figuring out the problem.
Why did she react like that?
Taewung had seen the same thing and hadn’t batted an eye, so it was personal to Lucia. I racked my brain for a moment but came up empty.
...She’ll handle it.
Anything involving a heroine was the protagonist’s job. Me sticking my nose in would just be meddling.
When the protagonist does it, you get a bittersweet love story. When I do it, I get nothing but cold stares. Reality.
This wasn’t a war zone, and nobody was hunting our lives at the moment, so there was no need to stay razor-sharp.
Everyone carried one or two worries. That was normal.
If it dragged on and caused bigger problems later, that would be bad. But as long as she could still function, she could fry pancakes alone or cry her eyes out for all I cared.
Like I said—emotional bonding with the heroine was Ban Taewung’s role, not mine.
I gave the white-haired head that had somehow crawled back over and was using my leg as a pillow a light smack, then settled in to rest until class started.
Drip.
The sound of falling water mixed with something else.
Hi! What’s your name?
Memories of the past flickered past one after another in time with the sound.
Lucia? That’s such a cute name! You look just like a princess!
This was before she ever met Taewung.
A brief but precious encounter at a gathering of children from famous houses. At the same time, a memory she could never forget.
Even now she could recall that day with perfect clarity.
It’s been so boring with nothing but boys my age.
Her bright smile had been incredibly charming. If pure innocence could take human form, it would look exactly like her.
We met today, so that means we can keep meeting from now on, right?
No matter how dark the place, the moment she stood there it became a stage made just for her. Like a spotlight finding the lead actress, every eye naturally turned to her.
Ugh, now that I’m about to say it, I’m getting nervous...
Even though they were only two years apart, she had the gift of capturing hearts and drawing every gaze without effort.
W-will you... be my friend?
A warm-hearted girl who reached out first to the one everyone mocked as a “doll” for being so bad at expressing emotion that she could only keep her mouth shut. Who called her a princess.
The person who taught her that a shy smile and honest feelings could make the inside of your chest tickle.
To Lucia, “princess” was a word that suited her far more than it ever suited herself.
So Lucia admired her. As an only child who had always longed for a sibling, that girl was the perfect “big sister.”
She wanted to copy everything she did, imitate her, stay by her side. Just a little closer.
A small, childish wish.
The problem was that Lucia was far too talented.
A mere two-year gap was nothing. Catching up was almost too easy for her.
Day after day piled up, and the adults’ eyes began to shift from “big sister” to her instead. At first she was simply happy. Finally she was the same as her sister.
Her sister celebrated with her as if it were her own achievement. It was happiness.
Her relationship with her family wasn’t bad, but work and schedules left her alone more often than not, so the affection she received had naturally dwindled.
Feeling that long-empty place finally filling, Lucia imitated her “big sister” even harder.
Drip.
One day, then another... When she came to her senses, she realized the time she spent with her sister was steadily shrinking. Wanting to meet more, sooner, Lucia pushed herself harder.
She went beyond imitation and started trying new things. Her talent made it possible.
Drip!
Never realizing she was slowly tightening a noose around her sister’s neck, she pressed forward with even more force.
I’m working hard too, you know...
Everyone only says your name. Lucia, Lucia, Lucia...!!!
I’m so sick of it...
Push something too hard and it breaks.
I really hate someone like you...!
Get away! Don’t ever show your face in front of me again!!!
A human heart was no different.
Drip!!
In the end, she killed the “big sister” she had loved—no, revered.
...I never should have gotten close to someone like you.
She had always possessed exceptional mana sensitivity.
On the day the dam of emotions she had suppressed under adult injustice and the quiet mockery finally burst, her sister Awakened.
Mana reflected her thoughts. The mana that had writhed in pain and twisted in agony went berserk the moment her heart crumpled, causing considerable damage to the surroundings.
The family managed to cover up the incident, but the Association’s eyes never fully left.
In the end she left for “recuperation.” Recuperation in name only—it was confinement.
And to prevent another rampage, she was forced to learn how to control her power whether she wanted to or not.
That was the last Lucia ever knew of her.
As if she wanted not even the slightest connection left with the cause of everything, she vanished from Lucia’s side quietly and quickly.
Looking back now, it was nothing. Just reputation. Just expectations.
But to a child, those things were everything. The wound born from adult hypocrisy never got a chance to heal before adult circumstances cauterized it shut.
What remained was a massive scar. Touch it and it hurt. Touch it and it made you sad.
After that day, Lucia lost her smile again. She became “Doll” Lucia once more.
Later, meeting Taewung changed her again.
Every day was full and happy, so the face of her “big sister” that used to surface whenever she had a free moment stopped appearing.
She believed it was because she had trusted the words everyone always said—that time would fix it—and had tried her hardest to forget.
But she was wrong.
Other memories had simply covered it. The scar was still right there.
The moment she saw Riri being carried in the arms of a darkness shaped like a person, her body locked solid.
It overlapped with the last image she had of her sister—limp and lifeless in an adult’s arms.
That alone was enough for everything she had forgotten to come flooding back at once. Including every emotion she had felt that day.
Drip!!!
“...Ah.”
The sound of a water droplet falling from her face snapped her back.
This was... right. She had run straight to the restroom. She remembered washing her face to chase away the nausea and the crushing tightness in her chest. Lucia hurriedly pulled out her device.
“The time...!”
Thirteen minutes still remained until first period.
“...Huu.”
Relief loosened her shoulders. Lucia put the device away and lifted her head to check the mirror. The same face she always saw.
She had forced a calm expression, but the faint crease between her brows and her deathly pale complexion made it clear she was not okay.
Her hands had clenched so hard they had gone white. She consciously unclenched them.
Stay calm. Just stay calm.
She used the breathing technique she had learned from Jang Sinwoo, the one she always repeated. Color slowly returned to her face.
“...What a pathetic look.”
A face she never wanted Taewung to see.
If her “big sister” saw her like this, would she worry that such a pretty face was a mess? Or would she sneer that it served her right?
Either way, Lucia didn’t think she could bear it.
So she washed her face again, as if scrubbing the thoughts themselves away. Hoping the gloom would vanish the way the faint tear tracks disappeared under the cold water.
After several rounds, her mind finally felt clearer.
Shhhhhh...
The sound of running water she had left on to keep herself from sinking back into thought filled the empty restroom.
With class about to start, no one else was around. The silence made the water roar even louder.
“...Unnie.”
No answer came. Of course not. Her “big sister” had died that day.
What she had seen after everything ended was nothing more than a stranger.
It hurt. She wanted to help right that second, but she couldn’t. Time couldn’t be rewound.
So forget it.
Just like always. Let it drift away until other memories covered it completely and it disappeared from sight.
Creak.
She shut off the faucet, cutting the stream.
“Time will... fix it.”
...It would, right?
She repeated the same words over and over, as if slamming a lid on the other thoughts rising in her chest.
The weather was already sliding past spring toward summer, yet the cold refused to leave her.
Warmth. She needed warmth. For some reason she desperately wanted to see Taewung right now.
With that thought, Lucia quickened her steps.