Day 3, the final day of the Taehwi Festival.
I did absolutely nothing that day.
There were a staggering 11 events left, but I didn’t participate in a single one.
Naturally, my ranking dropped to 6th place. But I didn’t feel disappointed. My goal was 5th place, after all.
I waited.
Waited for the final event to arrive.
And eventually, the last event, Stage Escape, began.
It was a category I was confident in, and I showed overwhelming performance, easily taking 1st place.
The host, the audience—all of them stared at me in astonishment.
I had just made a dazzling finale for the last event of Taehwi.
In the end, I locked in my goal: 5th place.
Won Hyuk came in 6th.
Time passed, and the closing ceremony began.
Students gathered once again in the auditorium.
Like during the opening ceremony, Choi Seo-yoon led the proceedings. Her skilled hosting made the entire ceremony flow smoothly.
Finally, Choi Seo-yoon gave a polite bow and stepped down from the podium.
“Now, we will begin the award ceremony,” said Lee Hee-young, stepping up to the podium.
“I will now announce the students who placed 1st to 5th.”
1st: Lee Seo-jun
2nd: Yoo Ara
3rd: Choi Seo-yoon
4th: Shin Young-joon
5th: Kim Sunwoo
[You have achieved the ‘5th Place at Taehwi Festival accomplishment.]
[You have received 2,000 points as a reward.]
Aside from me, the rankings perfectly matched the original story—very satisfying.
By the way, the reason there are no third-years in the top ranks is due to low participation.
They already enjoyed everything the Taehwi Festival had to offer over the past three years, so they intentionally left the top spots to the underclassmen.
“Would the students whose names were called please come up to the podium?”
As I stepped up, I could hear murmurs from the crowd.
“Kim Sunwoo got 5th? Seriously? I thought he’d be at least 2nd. He placed top 2 in every event he joined.”
“He only participated in 7 events. And he still made 5th.”
“He only did 7? Damn, that’s nuts.”
We were given the bracelet item known as the Sanctuary of the Soul, the symbolic trophy of the Taehwi Festival.
Wearing it brought a strange sense of clarity to my mind.
Choi Seo-yoon, standing beside me, admired it, saying it looked beautiful.
I glanced at the bracelet on my wrist. The blue gem embedded in it was pretty, though not quite to my taste.
Then Han Se-yeon stepped up to the podium.
Facing her again in my Kim Sunwoo form brought an odd sense of tension.
She handed each of us a special tonic developed by Hanseong Pharmaceuticals.
We also received scholarships and other prizes—like tickets to the Training Room.
Next came the handshake time.
One by one, students moved forward. When it was my turn, Han Se-yeon smiled and extended her hand.
I shook it.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
With that, the award ceremony for the top ranks concluded.
As I stepped down, I could feel Won Hyuk glaring at me from a distance with resentment in his eyes.
Well, what can I say? If he wanted the bracelet so badly, he should’ve played it safe and stayed in the top 4.
[Character ‘Won Hyuk’ feels mild resentment toward you.]
[You have received 500 points as a reward.]
Time passed quickly.
It was Wednesday.
Finally, the long-awaited practical training session had arrived.
I would be receiving one-on-one training from none other than Choi Ilhyeon.
When I opened the door to the private training room, Choi Ilhyeon looked at me.
“You’re here?”
“Yes.”
As I gave him a polite nod, he spoke again.
“Hm. No need for introductions or anything like that. I don’t know your level exactly, so let’s just have a go.”
Just like that, he wanted to fight.
So typical of the Choi Ilhyeon from the original work—it made me laugh.
Well, it’s more efficient than wasting time on small talk.
“Hm. So I can attack right away?”
“Yeah. Come at me with 100%.”
I was planning to anyway.
Choi Ilhyeon’s skills are far greater than what’s known publicly.
The only person I’m sure stronger than him is Chairman Kim Jin-cheol.
And getting the chance to spar with someone like this doesn’t come around often.
I needed to find out how well I could hold up against him with my current strength.
Of course, I couldn’t use things like electric attributes or Runes bind, so it wouldn’t be a true 100%.
More like 85%, maybe?
I stretched my limbs and loosened up a bit.
“Okay, I’m coming. Oh, and just to say in advance—please don’t accidentally counter me seriously. I’ll die.”
That wasn’t a joke. I meant it.
If Choi Ilhyeon showed even a fraction of his true power, I’d genuinely be done for.
“I know that much. Come when you’re ready.”
“Yes sir.”
At that moment, a message popped up in front of me.
[‘Headstrong Charge’ has been activated!]
[All stats increased by 10%.]
I exhaled and immediately manifested an orb and rapid-fired it.
Pang—!
A half-beat faster than normal, quick enough to make it hard for an average mage to dodge.
But Choi Ilhyeon calmly tilted his body and avoided the attack.
I wasn’t surprised—this was within expectations. I kept up the rapid fire.
Against a mage like him, condensed spellcasting was pointless.
He’d dodge everything anyway. My goal was to increase the rate of fire as much as possible and try to land at least one hit.
“Focusing on discharge rather than construction—not bad. You’ve got decent sense.”
Choi Ilhyeon murmured as he suddenly kicked off the ground and dashed at me.
Whoosh!
I simultaneously retreated, but he quickly closed the distance.
Wham!
His fist swung toward me. I ducked just in time to dodge.
But as if waiting for that, a kick came flying.
Thud!
“Gahk!”
My body was lifted off the ground and rolled across the floor.
Thanks to him holding back, it didn’t hurt too much.
Still, it had been a while since I felt this kind of overwhelming pressure. My fingertips trembled slightly.
“Not bad for a manifestation-type mage—you’ve got decent endurance.”
A smile spread across Choi Ilhyeon’s lips. He was enjoying this.
“Good, good. Come at me a bit more seriously. If you manage to land even one clean hit on me, I’ll give you a reward. Try to make me go ‘Ugh’—even once.”
“……What kind of reward?”
“Anything you want. Not that you’ll hit me anyway, so go big.”
“Then let’s make it a wish instead of a reward.”
Choi Ilhyeon chuckled.
“A wish, huh? Sure. If my student manages to land a hit, I’ll grant one wish.”
I grinned.
Just one hit…
One hit…
Can I really pull it off? Of course, with a wish on the line, I’m getting stubborn about it.
It’s not like I have no way at all. I’ve got a new technique I’ve been practicing lately.
“I’m going.”
“Alright.”
I released five spells at once and charged toward Choi Ilhyeon.
Choi Ilhyeon blocked the attacks with a barrier and waited for me to close in.
I enhanced my legs with mana and swung at him. But he caught my leg with one hand.
I used that opening to immediately aim a kick at his head with my other leg, and from his blind spot, I created and fired a magic sphere.
“Not bad, but—!”
Choi Ilhyeon cleanly dodged all of it.
“Predictable!”
None of my attacks landed.
Still, I kept up the assault in that style—close-quarters combat mixed with bursts of magic. I wanted him to get used to my rhythm.
Just as he was beginning to get bored—
‘Now!’
Thump!
I activated Heart of Nature and Fighting Spirit.
With several abilities stacking, my body felt lighter, and I could feel my strength growing. I further enhanced my body several steps with mana.
The plan was to create a new shift in my movements just as he started getting used to me and catch him off guard.
I spun quickly and launched a kick.
“…!”
Choi Ilhyeon seemed to notice the change in me and showed a slightly surprised expression.
My kick grazed his hair.
You could say he avoided the attack with minimal movement, but it’d be more accurate to say he barely dodged it.
Next, I activated Instant Acceleration.
For a moment, the world around me felt slower.
I could see Choi Ilhyeon’s movements lag slightly, and a small opening appeared.
“Haa!”
I summoned a new magic sphere over my hand.
The manifested magic sphere shot toward Choi Ilhyeon’s abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Surprised by my sudden change in speed, Choi Ilhyeon hurriedly threw up a barrier.
At the same time, I was thrown back by the force of his shield. But right at that moment, I used Nature’s Grasp to push lightly on one of Choi Ilhyeon’s legs with nature’s mana.
And as his balance faltered from the unexpected force—
BAM!
“Urgh!”
A pillar of mana shot up from the floor and struck Choi Ilhyeon in the stomach.
It was my secondary form spell, Pillar, that I had been practicing with Yoo Ara over the weekend.
He probably didn’t know I could use something like that.
Choi Ilhyeon’s face briefly showed surprise.
“…Huh?”
“Phew. Finally pulled it off.”
I collapsed to the ground. My whole body felt drained—I couldn’t move.
Still, I was trembling from the thrill of success.
“I won, right? You totally went ‘Urgh!’ just now. I heard it loud and clear.”
Choi Ilhyeon shook his head.
“…Nope. I said ‘Huh?’ Not ‘Urgh.’”
He insisted with a serious face.
“What are you talking about? I clearly heard ‘Urgh!’”
“I said ‘Huh.’ Not ‘Urgh.’”
He frowned, sticking to his argument. I was too stunned to even respond.
“Wow. You’re really not letting this go, huh.”
When I stared him down, Choi Ilhyeon let out a deep sigh.
“…Alright, alright. You win. Happy now?”
Choi Ilhyeon finally admitted defeat. A grin spread across my lips.
“Okay, so what’s your wish?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“…What kind of wish is this gonna be… Tch.”
Choi Ilhyeon scratched his head, looking a bit troubled.
But there was a satisfied smile on his face.
After school.
Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo headed to Seoul as soon as classes ended. After their trip to Ghost Island, they had submitted a request to a certain organization.
Their destination was an information guild on the outskirts of Seoul.
When they entered, a staff member greeted them.
“Welcome. Are you Mr. Lee Seo-jun, who placed the request?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
The staff glanced at Lee Seo-jun’s face and looked slightly surprised.
“Oh? I thought the name was familiar… Are you the Lee Seo-jun from the Mage Academy?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Wow, didn’t expect such a famous client.”
The staff beamed with a smile.
“Please, have a seat.”
Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo followed him to a table.
“Here is the information on ‘Lee Yoon-kyung’ that you requested. As you said, there was indeed someone by that name who attended the Mage Academy in the same era as Choi Ilhyeon.”
Lee Seo-jun received the documents.
“There wasn’t much noteworthy info. No special background or anything that stood out.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded as he reviewed the contents.
Sure enough, just as the staff said, there was nothing particularly unusual about Lee Yoon-kyung’s profile.
It was ordinary.
She ranked fourth at the Magic Academy, placing her in the top tier, but still—
“…And normally, we’d find some context on what kind of person she was, but surprisingly, not many people seemed to know her. A rather unusual case.”
2006 – Graduated from Magic Academy
2007 – Active in Seoul Special Ops Team
2009 – Deceased
She was 23 at the time of death.
“…Wait a minute.”
Lee Seo-jun narrowed his eyes.
“She really died in 2009?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Another odd thing is that her exact cause of death wasn’t recorded. The Special Ops team claims it was an accident, but…”
Doubt crossed Lee Seo-jun’s expression.
Next to him, Lee Hyun-joo frowned.
“What kind of info guild doesn’t have solid results?”
“Haha. We rarely see cases like this. But you know, sometimes not finding something is also a form of information.”
“…Fine. Understood.”
Lee Seo-jun got up and walked outside. Lee Hyun-joo followed him.
“Looks like she really has nothing to do with me. Must’ve just been someone who looked like me.”
“Huh? How can you be sure? You looked way too similar.”
“She died in 2009.”
“So what?”
“We were born in 2015.”
“…Ah!”
Lee Hyun-joo’s eyes widened.
“Right. The timeline doesn’t add up.”
“Or… we could just ask Choi Ilhyeon directly.”
There was no need to go the long way around.
Because someone who knew Lee Yoon-kyung very well… was nearby.
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