Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Lesson 19. Changelings - 3
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It was an utterly one-sided relationship.
Their positions differed, their thoughts clashed, their tastes and personalities had nothing in common.
Even their views on rationality.
And their ideas about romance were worlds apart.
To him, love was a short, blazing flame that one couldn't help but reveal.
But to her, love was such a precious treasure that she hid it tightly away in a box, yet couldn't trust it was really there—so she'd open it repeatedly to check.
It was too clumsy to call love.
Yet too obsessive for mere friendship.
Perhaps she just wanted to lean on him endlessly.
Maybe it was simple admiration.
Probably more than sixty percent of those feelings were just childish whims.
—Still, she wanted to stand by his side.
Her start had been far behind everyone else's, but she'd achieved such massive results in solo explorations all thanks to him.
"I made a contract. Seems like a constellation that's pretty open about showing its face, but its powers mesh well with mine, so that's fine."
"What? You'll get it once you try, but it's better not to get involved with constellations. It's like growing an extra heart—and that heart feels insanely heavy."
"Don't get antsy, Mira. You're already a student council executive and Professor Campanella's top disciple."
So when she heard he'd contracted with a constellation, she grew frantic.
He, who had already been hard enough to catch up to, now seemed to be leaving her completely in the dust.
But oblivious to her feelings, he tried to dissuade her from contracting with one.
It felt like he was teasing her, someone who'd never even been approached by a constellation once.
She liked him.
But that made her hate him even more.
He'd approached her so gently at first, only to draw a firm line and pull back.
He achieved massive results without any real effort, ignoring her desperate struggles to keep up.
He rendered her efforts worthless, yet casually treated her like a proud little sister.
She grew to despise him.
—Your precarious, sharp mind is truly delectable.
That was the first time she heard the constellation's voice.
If it had appeared before she started hating him, there wouldn't have been any issues.
—Then I couldn't savor the you of right now.
To contract with her, the constellation demanded she offer someone else's mental energy as payment.
And it said:
They wouldn't die, but they'd suffer for life.
In exchange, she'd become a master of underworld magic.
Why not? she thought.
But the constellation teased her:
—You could fail, though. You're just an inferior student who's never even exchanged words with a constellation.
The method the constellation suggested to seize another's mental energy was none other than a curse.
And if a curse failed, it backlashed on the caster.
There's a saying: "A curse always claims at least one life."
This wasn't baseless confidence that curses never fail—rather, a curse that couldn't kill its target would kill the caster instead.
—So let's hedge our bets.
The constellation said.
Conveniently, you have a fine authority.
Even if this curse ritual fails and backlashes by some fluke.
Then just prepare someone to take it in your place.
Swap with someone in a similar position via "Changelings."
—With that man you hate the most.
She could have refused the offer... but then the constellation probably would never speak to her again.
From the start, it had only wanted to revel in her precarious mind, her anguish.
So she nodded.
She thought it wouldn't fail.
She was sure it couldn't fail.
Even if it did, maybe that would be okay.
And then "he" appeared.
A man similar to her in many ways.
And yet, in another, similar to him.
"...!"
The first time their eyes met was on her way back after completing the "contract" with the final sacrifice.
Even after hiding her presence with high-grade magic and artifacts, and altering perceptions with her authority—she couldn't forget his chilling gaze that seemed to pierce right through her true identity.
She thought it was coincidence, but the next day she realized it was fate.
"Professor Campanella, what's this?"
"Something I got from a student today. Impressive, isn't it, Mira?"
"It's... incredible. Does that mean he'll be a junior in the department next year?"
"Interested? Ban Yu-won from that popular Rebellion channel lately. He doesn't have Professor Xenon's hefty charisma, but the girls love him."
"Is that what's important right now? ...But he might be useful for this incident. I'll talk to Ketra about it."
She didn't know at first that the man whose eyes she'd met was Ban Yu-won.
She'd simply recommended him—a promising freshman Professor Campanella had her eye on—to the student council members who'd requested her help.
But the moment she spotted him at her usual café in Ronica's alley with Ketra, she knew something was wrong.
A mind unshaken by fairy beauty.
Innate poise seeping through even his casual speech and demeanor.
A honeyed voice burrowing into her brain.
And—those transparent eyes that seemed to see right through her secrets when they locked gazes.
Everything fueled her anxiety.
Would he recognize her? She fretted restlessly, convinced intuitively he was dangerous despite no evidence.
For the first time, another man besides Ketra made her heart race—but in a different way.
The thought that this man she'd drawn in thoughtlessly might cause the curse ritual to fail.
If so—since the Changeling swap was already done, Ketra would bear the price.
Should she curse him? But how? On what grounds?
Yet he never seemed to recognize her in the end.
She dismissed it as unfounded anxiety and tried to forget him.
She sensed something off Saturday morning.
One by one, those who'd contracted with her and drunk the potion were escaping the curse's influence.
Instinctively, she knew it involved that man—Ban Yu-won.
A belated message from another student council executive confirmed her hunch.
Her mind went blank, unable to think.
She knew the curse was already complete, irreversible—yet she desperately sought Ketra.
More desperately than she could comprehend herself.
When she finally found him—with Ban Yu-won, no less—it was so absurd she almost laughed.
Did that wise yet foolish man realize he'd tried to help his senior only to corner her instead?
Did he know she might be behind the incident, yet he'd dressed up to impress her? How pathetic and ridiculous.
But she hated Ketra for meticulously learning her tastes... only to teach them to his junior and even try to set them up.
She was fed up with him for never noticing her thoughts, her deep worries, never changing his attitude.
—So she turned away without a word or smile.
She gave up.
Her chest felt refreshingly clear.
Why had she wanted to contract with the constellation again?
Right.
To get revenge on Ketra.
The curse ritual was set to activate the moment it was formed.
Monday afternoon—the time when the false contractors would normally be most focused.
But with all connections to them severed, the ritual's burden would concentrate entirely on Ketra.
A curse of such dense potency was too much for one person; it'd drag him to ruin on the spot.
Knowing this, Mira sat calmly in the corner of her usual alley café in Ronica, silently awaiting the contract's fruition.
"Hello, Senior Mira."
Her junior appeared.
Ban Yu-won, the rising star drawing attention inside and outside the academy for his bold actions and talents.
The one who'd ruined her plan—no.
Completed it.
"Mind if I sit?"
"You're already sitting."
The junior resembled Ketra in his unhesitant words and actions.
Even his refined face and lightly carefree aura.
But his eyes were different.
Ketra never shot such a gaze that chilled to the core.
Ironically, that difference brought her relief.
"First-years must be busy today."
"I finished two lecture classes this morning, and sparring ended early with a winning streak."
When she was a first-year, she'd dreaded sparring.
She hated how it ignored individual traits and roles, judging purely by simplistic metrics to rank them.
But Ban Yu-won seemed different.
—Even in artifact crafting, he'd already surpassed her achievements.
To the junior smiling oddly, she cut straight to it.
"Are you interested in me?"
"Yes."
She couldn't believe she'd felt even a flicker of joy at his immediate reply.
Was she this frivolous?
Had she truly abandoned Ketra—and severed all feelings for him?
Or since she hadn't, was she craving new love?
...A love to replace Ketra, whom she'd never see again after today.
"Truth is, I'm interested in you too. Surprised me a bit."
"That must've been close."
Ban Yu-won's smile deepened.
A smile that stirred unease.
"Close how?"
"If your interest had been just a bit greater, I'd have failed."
Failed.
What?
The moment she grasped the meaning, a chill like swallowing a block of ice gripped her gut.
Ban Yu-won, having ordered a sweet café mocha sometime, took a sip and leisurely scribbled words on the table.
Soundproofing.
Vision Block.
Barrier.
"Now we don't have to worry about prying eyes."
"What are you—"
"Just being considerate, Senior. I don't know how bad the curse backlash will be, but it's for dozens of people."
"Wait, what do you—"
That instant.
A stabbing agony pierced her from head to toe like razor thorns.
She realized the curse had activated.
—Thud
—Thud thud
—Ruuuuumble!
"Guh—!"
"I don't know the full story between you two seniors. And honestly, it's not my business."
Did having dozens of people's mental energy ripped out at once feel like this?
Strong shocks led to stronger ones, waves of even more horrific pain crashing relentlessly.
Her mind emptied, only to fill with countless curses.
She wanted to die, but her innate fairy soul wouldn't allow it.
"You... h-how... is Ketra...!"
As she flailed, clutching the chair and trembling through the agony, Ban Yu-won replied indifferently.
"Cursing someone innocent is a bit much, don't you think? Worst way to end a crush."
"You... you... krrgh!"
"Why so wronged? It's just karma. You don't expect me to explain exactly how I figured out your scheme here, right?"
The pain intensified; she could barely speak.
She'd hit her limit long ago, but every breath brought escalating torment far beyond.
What else to call this but hell?
"I did want to ask something, but seeing you like this... I can't stomach it. Well, in the end, no one but you got hurt, so that's good. ...Probably thanks to the constellation's mental tampering too."
Ban Yu-won sighed, setting down his cup.
Over the half-full glass of sweet coffee, he suddenly drew his staff and aimed.
"I'll do one thing I've always wanted to try, Senior."
Various concepts activated via language magic and sank into the coffee.
Concepts to ease pain, heal the mind, boost regeneration, weaken the constellation's interference.
But this was mere pissing in the wind.
Ban Yu-won knew it too; finally, he produced a blazing magic core crystal like a flame and dropped it in.
"Here's an offer you can't refuse."
He pushed the liquid—no longer mere coffee—toward her.
His tone had shifted, starkly proving their reversed positions.
"Drink if you don't want to end up a vegetable. In exchange, hand over everything you can offer me."
Ah—.
In the endless pain, she realized.
Wasn't this the exact same setup as when she'd tricked her "victims" into contracts?
It had all been read.
Who was the foolish, pitiful one?
Her.
A perfect defeat, without room for a single complaint.
'This man—he—'
Oddly, a euphoria rivaling the pain flooded her mind.
The man who'd smashed her plan head-on.
This tyrant who surpassed her, Ketra, even mocked the constellation.
Was trying to dominate her entirely for one cup of sweetness before him.
He wanted her.
—As expected, he's different from Ketra.
"Ah... aah...."
Her trembling hand reached out and grasped the cup.
Strangely, all pain and shaking vanished in that moment.
Even the lingering dregs of emotion and anguish in her heart were wiped clean.
Only the dominator—Ban Yu-won—remained.
—Gulp
Without hesitation.
She drained the cup of the contract.