Wednesday.
The long first semester had ended, and summer vacation had arrived.
Now, nearly 150 students were gathered in the auditorium, seated in rows. Everyone looked excited and thrilled.
This scene reminded me of the entrance ceremony. Back then, the entire student body had gathered just like this.
“Hmm. Where should I sit…?”
“Sunwoo!”
As I searched for an empty seat, a voice called out to me from somewhere.
Turning my head, I saw Yoon Hayoung waving at me from the front row. Beside her sat Yoo Ara.
“I saved you a seat.”
Smiling slightly, I walked toward Hayoung.
This was probably one of the things that had changed since the entrance ceremony.
Back then, no one had come up to talk to me like this.
“Sunwoo, you can sit here.”
Hayoung patted the empty seat next to her.
As I sat down, Yoo Ara, who was sitting on Hayoung’s other side, greeted me.
“Hi.”
“Oh, hey.”
After exchanging greetings, Hayoung fidgeted with her fingers and spoke.
“Ah~ It’s finally vacation. It doesn’t feel real.”
“Yeah. Feels like the entrance ceremony was just yesterday.”
“Really? For me, time felt so slow.”
Hayoung replied with a laugh.
I chuckled and asked,
“What are your plans for vacation?”
“I’m going to stay with my family. If you get bored, come visit. It’s in Gangwon-do, though it’s a bit far.”
Hayoung lived with her grandparents instead of her parents.
She had a complicated family situation, but one of the reasons she wanted to become a mage was to make her grandparents proud.
“Not sure if I’ll have time.”
“What are you so busy with during vacation?”
“Training, and… other things.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Hayoung nodded.
“That’s too bad. If you came, I could’ve treated you to something really good. Even better than the meal I got you two days ago.”
She was probably talking about her grandmother’s cooking.
I vaguely remembered that Hayoung’s grandmother was supposed to be a great cook.
After saying that, Hayoung turned to Yoo Ara.
“Ara’s coming over, though.”
Ara?
I glanced at Yoo Ara.
So, she was visiting Hayoung’s place. That was unexpected.
It seemed like they had gotten closer than I thought.
As I gave Yoo Ara a questioning look, she frowned.
“…What’s with that face?”
“Nothing.”
Time passed, and the vacation ceremony drew near.
At the front of the stage, I spotted Lee Seo-jun and Choi Seo-yoon talking. Next to them stood a tall, lean male student—Kim Chang-hyun, the top-ranked third-year—quietly waiting by himself.
Just like during the entrance ceremony, they were probably preparing for the student representative speeches.
“Hm.”
For some reason, Seo-yoon’s face seemed to be glowing today.
Maybe it was because she was standing in front of a crowd—she had clearly put more effort into her appearance than usual.
And judging by how she hadn’t stopped smiling, she was likely trying to give off a bright image.
…She really works too hard.
I shifted my gaze slightly to Yoo Ara.
As expected, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
She was watching Lee Seo-jun with that distinctively uncomfortable expression of hers.
The short vacation ceremony ended.
Jang Ancheol gathered Class A for a brief announcement and farewell message.
With his final words—“Take care during the break”—the ceremony concluded.
“See you, guys!”
“Yeah, stay in touch!”
“Take care!”
Students exchanged goodbyes and started disappearing in different directions.
“It’s finally over.”
“Yeah. I just wanna go home and rest.”
“You guys not eating?”
“We are. Wanna eat together?”
Some students grouped up to go out for celebratory meals.
“Sunwoo! Take care! Keep in touch!”
“Yeah. You too.”
“See you.”
“Yeah.”
“Kim Sunwoo! See you in two weeks!”
After saying quick goodbyes to Hayoung, Yoo Ara, and Shin Young-joon, I glanced around for Lee Seo-jun.
He was nowhere to be seen—probably busy with the student representative schedule.
“Hmm.”
Well, I’d see him soon enough. No need to go out of my way.
‘Guess I’ll head out.’
I slowly walked toward the exit of the auditorium.
As I stepped outside, I spotted Seo-jun talking with some students.
So that’s where he was.
Looks like he got caught up in endless greetings.
‘Man, he’s always busy.’
That would’ve been way too annoying for me.
Feeling a little sorry for him, I was about to turn toward the school gate when—
“Kim Sunwoo!”
Seo-jun called out to me.
“You’re just gonna leave without saying goodbye?”
He walked over.
I glanced at the students around him and said,
“You looked busy.”
Seo-jun chuckled.
Just then, a boy who looked like he was in his late 40s—despite being a student—approached me with bright, eager eyes.
I knew him well.
First-year Rank 2, Jeon Min-gi.
Choi Seo-yoon’s rival and a devoted follower of Lee Seo-jun.
“Hello, senior! I’m Jeon Min-gi, a first-year! You’re Kim Sunwoo, right?”
“…Yeah, that’s me.”
“It’s an honour to meet you! I’m a huge fan! I watched all the documentaries about you!”
Min-gi declared in an energetic voice.
I was slightly taken aback.
This guy was my fan?
As I stood there awkwardly, Seo-jun chuckled.
“Sunwoo, you’ve got fans now?”
“Shut up.”
“Senior! Every word you said in those documentaries resonated with me. The battle with oneself. The loneliness of the journey. I completely understand! The path of a professional mage is always solitary!”
“…”
Was that really how viewers saw me?
The thought made me feel a little sick.
Come to think of it, I did recall Min-gi having a thing for these overly dramatic lines.
[‘Fan Meeting’ achievement unlocked.]
[You have earned 2,000 points as a reward.]
…What the hell?
There’s an achievement for this?
I felt weirdly unsettled by the sudden notification.
Min-gi was looking at me expectantly, his eyes shining.
Not sure how to respond, I just nodded.
“Oh… uh, thanks.”
“If I ever get the chance, I’d love to train with you.”
“…Sure.”
“Well then, I’ll be off!”
Min-gi bowed and disappeared somewhere.
Time passed, and soon, only Seo-jun and I remained.
“You heading out now?”
“Yeah. No reason to stay here during vacation.”
Seo-jun chuckled.
“Fair enough. What are you doing during break?”
“Dunno. Training, catching up on things, that kind of stuff.”
“Hm.”
Seo-joon nodded.
“Kim Sunwoo.”
“What?”
“Have a good vacation.”
I smirked.
“Yeah, you too. Not that it matters—we’ve got a special class meeting in two weeks anyway.”
“Hah… true.”
“Anyway, take care. Don’t push yourself too hard and get hurt.”
“Yeah, yeah. You too.”
“Well, see you.”
With that, I started walking away.
Then—
“Kim Sunwoo!”
“What now?”
“Wanna train with me during break?”
“…Training?”
What was he talking about?
“You know the president of the World Mage Association?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Chairman Kim Jin-Cheol.
It’d be weirder not to know him.
“I’m training with him during break. Thought I’d ask if you wanted to join. If I put in a good word, you might be able to learn from him too.”
I blinked in surprise.
Training under Chairman Kim Jin-Cheol?
That was a one-in-a-million opportunity.
…But.
“Sorry. I don’t think I can. I’m a bit busy.”
I had things to do over the break.
And in the first place, I wasn’t talented enough to improve just by being taught.
For me, earning points and acquiring traits was far more efficient than learning from someone.
At my refusal, Lee Seo-jun looked slightly surprised, then grinned.
“Yeah? Alright. That’s a bit of a shame.”
“Thanks for the offer.”
“No problem. Take care over the break.”
“You too.”
After finishing everything at school, I disguised myself as Kim Jinwoo and arrived at my apartment.
As I stood in front of the first-floor elevator waiting, someone approached.
“Huh? Next door?”
It was Jung Yoon-seul.
The sudden encounter made me feel a vague sense of unease, so I just bowed my head in greeting.
“Hello.”
“Oh, yeah. Hey.”
Jung Yoon-seul nodded in return. Dark circles under her eyes made her look exhausted.
“Yaaawn… Man, I worked all night, and I’m dead tired. What were you up to today?”
“…I was working.”
“Work? Hmm. Yeah? Everyone’s busy with something, huh?”
Jung Yoon-seul nodded.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
We both stepped inside.
“But you’re a mage. What kind of work do you do?”
“…I mainly hunt in monster fields.”
I gave the pre-prepared response.
Jung Yoon-seul nodded without much suspicion.
“Monster fields, huh? Yeah, that’s a decent way to make money when there’s nothing else going on.”
Then, she glanced at my face.
“Hey, so, I thought I’d heard your name somewhere before and looked you up.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Kim Jinwoo. Turns out there’s quite a bit about you. Solved a few crime cases recently, too.”
She said it so casually, as if investigating someone’s personal history was no big deal.
“…That’s right.”
“And four months ago, wasn’t it you who cleared the hidden floor in the Tower of Proof?”
The hidden floor of the Tower of Proof?
Ah…
Now that I thought about it, I recalled that Jung Yoon-seul had attempted to clear the 27th floor of the Tower of Proof for over a year, only to fail and return to reality.
It seemed that had sparked his interest in me.
“Yes, that was me.”
“The Tower of Proof… That place has so many tricky traps that even support-type mages struggle. How’d you find the hidden floor?”
“I was lucky.”
“Lucky, huh. You’re an offensive-type mage, but maybe you’ve got a knack for support magic too?”
“….”
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
Jung Yoon-seul stepped out, then turned to look at me.
She stared at my face intently.
“…Interesting. Let’s talk again sometime.”
With that, she entered her apartment.
I flopped onto the couch as soon as I got home.
Jung Yoon-seul’s expression as she looked at me flashed through my mind.
Something was off.
It felt like she had something up her sleeve.
Out of all the characters in the original story, Jung Yoon-seul was one of the hardest to predict.
She acted according to her own desires, yet when something piqued her interest, she pursued it relentlessly.
It was likely that discovering the hidden floor of the Tower of Proof had caught her attention.
“…She wouldn’t have figured out my real identity, would she?”
If Jung Yoon-seul suspected that I was actually Kim Sunwoo, things would get messy.
“…Should I move?”
Sigh.
I let out a deep breath and turned on the TV.
[Breaking news. A massive dungeon has appeared in the heart of Seoul. Experts say that the dungeon’s size is the largest ever recorded, and it is estimated that a full conquest will take approximately 30 years.]
“Oh.”
The colossal Seoul dungeon had finally made its appearance.
In the original story, this dungeon wasn’t described in detail—just mentioned in passing as a factor in the Hanseong Group’s succession battle.
This dungeon’s emergence had caused Han Se-yeon major failure in the provincial dungeon business.
And to recover her position in the company, she had started moving in earnest.
Just then, my smartphone rang.
—Kim Jinwoo, what on earth are you?
Speak of the devil.
It was Han Se-yeon.
“What do you mean?”
—That thing about the dungeon business. You warned us off because you already knew a dungeon would appear in Seoul, didn’t you?
She wasn’t wrong.
Because of this, the Hanseong family’s dungeon hotel project had flopped spectacularly.
But I couldn’t admit it outright, so I had to talk my way around it.
“That’s not it, but it worked out well, didn’t it? Thanks to this, Vice Chairman Han Se-jin’s dungeon hotel business will fail.”
—Ugh, it’s total chaos right now. My brother invested a fortune into the provincial dungeon sector. The grand opening was supposed to be in two days.
“That means Vice Chairman Han Se-jin’s position will weaken a bit.”
—Yeah, in the end, this is a good situation for me. Still, your predictions are never wrong. I really wonder what kind of person you are.
I chuckled and spoke.
“Oh, right. I need a favor. In four weeks, on August 10th, there’s a social event and an underground auction. I plan to attend, so I’d like you to get me an entry pass.”
—Oh, the one you mentioned before? Got it. You mean the ‘Pioneers’ Night,’ right?
“Yes, that’s right.”
—Okay. Since my brother is organizing it, it won’t be hard to get one.
“Alright. I’ll leave it to you, then.”
—Yeah, yeah. I’m busy, so I’ll hang up now.
Click.
“…That should do it.”
I set my phone down and leaned back on the couch.
Then—
[Character ‘Choi Seo-yoon’ feels disappointed in you.]
[You have received 500 points as compensation.]
“What the hell?”
I frowned at the sudden message.
What was this about?
Then, my smart student notebook chimed with a notification.
I’d been too busy to check, but a lot of messages had piled up.
There were even some missed calls.
[Senior, where are you?]
[You didn’t leave without saying goodbye, did you? Lol.]
[You’re not even answering your phone.]
[I heard from Seo-jun. You really left without a word. Unbelievable.]
[I’m seriously disappointed.]
“…….”
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