Chapter 86
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Lesson 19. Changeling - 1
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Changeling—the "change" part means exactly what everyone knows: to be replaced or swapped.
So what about "ling"? It generally attaches to nouns or adjectives to indicate something younger or smaller than that thing.
It's akin to the Korean suffix "-aji" that follows words like cow or dog to denote calves or puppies, marking the young of animals.
Thus, changeling refers to a "swapped child."
It's a well-known term in Europe, with various theories behind it, but...
The most dominant one is that when parents had an ugly baby, a frail one, or one so unlike them it sparked suspicions of infidelity, they'd whine nonsense like, "The fairies swapped our beautiful baby for this ugly one."
And apparently, this held true in other cultures, even other dimensions.
"It's just too much, isn't it? The baby born that way did nothing wrong, yet they curse both it and our fairy folk at the same time."
Saturday morning.
Sitting across from each other at a back-alley cafe in Ronica—the same one where she'd brought Ban Yu-won before—Ketra grumbled like that.
Ban Yu-won took a sip of the drink before him and replied with a smile.
"So after the fairy folk's abilities became known to other races, they spun lies claiming the fairies swapped their kids, and the term was born from that."
"Of course it was a lie. Fairies are superior to other races in both looks and abilities. Why would we swap with some inferior species' child? But the word 'changeling' got so famous that it gained power in its own right. That's how our fairy folk's unique authority ended up just being called 'Changeling.' See? Totally unfair, right?"
"Unfair as it is, your tone sounds pretty similar."
Ketra giggled and waved her hand as Ban Yu-won shot back incredulously.
"That wasn't dissing humans. Humans are actually quite attractive on average compared to the newer races. Especially you, Junior Ban Yu-won... ahem."
That's why he kept saying not to shove her face so close for no reason.
These popular types had no sense of personal space, regardless of gender.
Ever since enrolling at Union Academy, Ban Yu-won had hung out with friends who were loners like him at best—never popular ones—so his mindset was solidly that of a loner. Dealing with Ketra was a bit uncomfortable as a result.
"Junior Ban Yu-won, what do you think girls passing by would say seeing us two together? Two handsome guys like this—they must be dying to strike up a conversation—"
"They're Union Academy students. 'Hook one and my life might change forever,' right?"
"You're so dry."
Hmph. Ban Yu-won snorted.
He'd never lacked popularity, but he could never forget middle school year three, when his wealthy family background got out by chance, leading to an unnatural surge in girls approaching him.
The lesson from that sparked a mild persecution complex, leaving him without a single proper relationship through all of high school. Bitter memories.
Maybe that's why he'd ranted about chasing people abroad—figuring foreigners who knew nothing about it would be easier to talk to... No, that was just nonsense after all?
"Even if there were ulterior motives, so what? Turning a woman lovely is a man's quality. If you can draw out her true heart with a flashy night of passion..."
"Senior, you didn't call me out to hit on girls together on the street, did you?"
"Sadly, that'll have to wait for next time. Team us up, and we'd snag every girl in the city."
"There won't be a next time."
The Second Coming of Pickup Artist Nova would never happen again.
Besides, his teammates wouldn't approve.
Lucelle called herself his slave and such, but she'd pout if he seemed linked to another girl (though she'd never blame him—that was more burdensome).
Dokgo Yeon viewed romance negatively overall.
And Light had the mindset of a sheltered maiden, scorning purely physical relations like one-night stands as impure.
'...Wait, are all my teammates just annoyingly high-maintenance?'
Ban Yu-won realized this late, but hadn't yet grasped that he was just as troublesome.
Meanwhile, his fourth-year senior, having realized it sooner, gave up on black coffee, smiled warmly at the first-year junior sipping milk tea, and thought.
It might be her role to turn this kid into a real man—a massively intrusive notion.
"We'll talk about that next time. More importantly, did I clear up your curiosity about fairy folk authorities?"
"Yeah, mostly."
Ban Yu-won had demanded details on fairy authorities from Ketra, who had called him out to express thanks.
Not only could hearing about it help devise countermeasures, but maybe he could even replicate it with his own powers.
Ketra wasn't one to blab about racial authorities, but his clear help this time made her explain 'Changeling' without much resistance.
"It swaps anything small like objects to large like existences and concepts. But it usually needs a medium, and success rates rise with similar conditions. Right?"
"Exactly. Like swapping liquids at the student cafeteria yesterday—high success rate. But swapping memories, common sense, or perceptions—like making someone see me as Ban Yu-won—requires matching our conditions first: race, looks, height, soul rank, abilities, even clothes."
And that was just for swapping perceptions, not actual existences.
In short, impossible.
"Why zero in on that, though? Even we who wield it don't think of it easily."
"It overlaps with my magic research lately. Super intriguing topic, honestly."
Of course.
Lie.
"It was fun for me too. Talking with smart guys is always a blast. You should join the student council, Junior. Not just Mira, but our super pretty student council president too?"
"Uh..."
He really hated bringing this up now.
But Ban Yu-won drained his milk tea glass cleanly, feigned a bit of embarrassment, and asked his still-misunderstanding senior.
"I'd love more details on Senior Mira. Especially your relationship with her."
"Ah, Junior, really, no need to worry about it?"
As expected, Ketra grinned and patted his shoulder.
"Mira and I have zero chance of going that way. Zero. Alright, then for the rest of our time, I'll cram every bit of info you need to win her over."
Finishing her coffee in one gulp after checking her watch, Ketra stood.
"Sitting here's getting old anyway. Let's move. Start with fashion that'd click with Mira?"
"Fashion?"
"Let's go."
Leaving the cafe, Ketra dragged Ban Yu-won straight to a department store's luxury clothing section.
Ban Yu-won, a homebody, hated places like this, but endured for the intel.
He knew, but Ketra's fashion sense outshone even his own, honed from being dragged shopping by his sister every weekend.
He rejected half of her recommended clothes and accessories on the spot, tried the rest, culled another 20%, and bought the remainder.
"Junior... you're loaded, huh?"
"I'll take this too! ...Anyway, start from your first meeting with Senior Mira."
"Won't mean much, but yeah, people wanna know more about crushes. Fine."
Through their brisk shopping, he steadily extracted Mira info from Ketra.
Mira, a rare fairy freshman drawing eyes with her looks and talents.
Rude Special Class guys made crass moves to claim her, blocked by Ketra and other student council execs, leading her to join.
Excellent at magic, especially alchemy, quickly catching Professor Campanella's eye in Artifacts Creation.
Her team wiped repeatedly in the tower, but after strict review, got solo exploration rights, climbing fast to reach "Ketra's floor."
Her standards too high for friends; in council, only chatted with same-race Ketra.
Perfect abilities, yet oddly no constellation ties—once quite anxious.
Likes mean pranks despite cool looks, spicy food, hates vulgar speech, slackers; ambitious.
'For real?'
Ban Yu-won, transformed from pre-department store to modern nobility by Ketra's hand, gaped in a face unfit for his new clothes.
'No matter how I hear it, she's smitten with Senior Ketra, but at the same time...'
90% sure of his hypothesis, Ban Yu-won asked again.
"How's she lately?"
"No clue on her routine. But we meet regularly. Like I said, not romantic—"
"Ketra?"
At the voice calling Ketra, they turned together.
The girl with golden, radiant hair stood out even on Ronica's crowded main street.
She looked hurried, pained.
"Mira? What's up, were you looking for us?"
"Us... ah."
At "us," Mira glanced at Ban Yu-won, eyes widening in surprise, then frowning slightly.
As her heavy breathing steadied, they approached.
"You okay? What's wrong? We were just heading to dinner—join us?"
"No... no, I'm fine. So it is."
Mira denied strongly, squeezing her eyes shut then open.
As if something inside might overflow if not careful, she pursed and unpursed her lips repeatedly.
"Freshman, you clean up nice."
She complimented Ban Yu-won's appearance reluctantly.
"Right? Your type, huh? I knew Junior had good bones, but any clothes fit him perfectly—"
"Got it. Definitely my taste. Royal descendant, surely?"
"That's what I thought too."
Royal what frozen hell.
And what did she "get"?
Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes at her.
"...Hmph."
Meeting his gaze, Mira looked startled, then smirked crookedly and looked away.
"Ketra, I'm off."
"Huh? Why the rush...?"
"—Sorry, bye."
Mira touched her student ID and vanished.
"What was that? Exam stress break her?"
Ketra blinked at her sudden come-and-go, seeking silent agreement from Ban Yu-won.
Instead, he pulled out a prepared talisman and handed it to her.
"Huh? What's this."
"I can't do Changeling, so I'll be straight."
Severance. Curse Removal.
Protection. Reversal.
He'd infused it with all the mystical energy he could muster across those four concepts.
Shoving it into the arms of this man so like Mira in race, ability, looks, even soul rank, Ban Yu-won said firmly.
"You suspected too, right? Use it now. ...My final 'demand.'"
With that.
Ban Yu-won had perfectly resolved the incident.