I looked at Yoo Ara.
She had made a suggestion I hadn’t expected.
Well, it’s not like I hadn’t considered it at all, but still.
“I think it’d be better for me to reduce the enemy numbers as much as possible from the offense team, rather than being the captain.”
At my words, Yoo Ara shook her head.
“That’s not an option.”
“Why not?”
“……I just can’t think of anyone else I trust enough to be captain.”
What is she even saying?
I narrowed my eyes and spoke.
“Isn’t that too emotional a decision?”
“No. I have a plan.”
Yoo Ara fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke.
A plan, huh. What could it be?
“What kind of plan?”
Yoo Ara shrugged.
“It’s nothing fancy. It’s really simple. A reckless strategy that only works because it’s you and me.”
She went on to explain the strategy she had come up with.
Just like she said, it really was a simple and reckless plan. So much so that I wondered if the opposing team wouldn’t even consider it due to how absurd it was.
But it also felt like something worth trying. Because it was Yoo Ara and me.
A strategy that could work precisely because it was the two of us.
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright. I’ll be the captain. Let’s give it a shot.”
It’s a position that comes with a lot of responsibility, but just like Yoo Ara wants to beat Lee Seo-jun, I also want to try beating him.
More than anything, I’m in a rush too.
I have to somehow make it into the top five before the year ends.
“Let’s try to win, just like you said. Lee Seo-jun.”
Yoo Ara gave a soft chuckle.
“Down with Lee Seo-jun.”
Down with Lee Seo-jun, huh. That’s amusing.
“Yeah. Down with Lee Seo-jun.”
Time flew by again, and Saturday arrived.
As usual, I hunted down villains and earned a modest amount of points and causality.
Even though it was a life-threatening job, it had become so routine that it didn’t faze me anymore.
Getting used to it is fine, but I shouldn’t let it turn into mere habit without purpose.
After finishing everything, I headed to a high-end Korean restaurant in Seoul.
Click.
When the door opened, Han Se-yeon stood up from her seat with a bright smile, wearing a brown sweater.
“Jinwoo.”
“Did you wait long?”
“Nope. I just got here. Have a seat.”
I sat across from her.
Then we immediately placed our orders. After the staff stepped out, Han Se-yeon glanced at me and spoke again .
“It couldn’t have been easy to get a reservation here.”
“I got lucky. Booked a cancellation slot two weeks ago.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
“By the way, I finally get to be treated to a meal. I’d been wondering when that would happen.”
She sounded genuinely excited. Her words stirred up a strange emotion.
Having a meal alone with Han Se-yeon isn’t something that happens often. I’m sure countless people dream of that moment.
Whether it’s out of personal affection or business interests.
“I’ve gotten a lot of help from you recently. You even lent me a large sum. I have a lot to be thankful for.”
“But you paid it back so quickly.”
“Well, yeah. Things worked out.”
The land I bought and the various investments I made all turned out well, so I was able to gather the money quickly. Since I had already achieved my goal, I could pay her back right away.
“But honestly, I’m the one who should be grateful. That Ilwol Pharmacology Book you gave me. It’s been a huge help.”
As expected. Just like I thought, the recent news about new drug development had something to do with the Ilwol Pharmacology Book.
I fell into thought for a moment. Because whenever new drug news came up, a certain topic always followed.
I wondered how to ask and decided to just be direct.
“How’s Chairman Han Dae-hyeon’s health?”
“……My father?”
She looked surprised, as if she hadn’t expected the question.
“Hmm. Honestly, it’s not like the news says. He hasn’t really gotten better. But… I think the possibility of improvement has slightly increased. I keep getting new insights as I study the medicine. I guess it depends on how hard I work.”
It didn’t sound like there was any major progress, despite the news. I had wondered if Han Dae-hyeon’s illness might be curable, but maybe that wasn’t the case.
With how little time he likely has left, I began to worry whether the Ilwol Pharmacology Book might have given false hope.
“……I hope everything goes well.”
I said that out of courtesy, and Han Se-yeon responded.
“Anyway, I’ve been really busy lately. My father’s health, new drug development, managing the business, and also the sponsorship schedule for the Mage Academy.”
Mage Academy sponsorship schedule.
It’s a topic that was treated as pretty important in the original story. I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Sponsorship?”
“Oh, more than half of Hanseong Pharmaceutical’s customer base is mages, you know. So we’re sponsoring the academy and planning to pick out some promising students for additional support. We call it sponsorship, but it’s really just for PR.”
“Sponsorship, huh. Sounds good. Great for image branding too.”
I took a sip of water and asked,
“Is there a particular student you’re interested in?”
“Yeah, um… You know Lee Seo-jun, right?”
“Of course.”
There’s no one in this world who doesn’t know him.
“He’s already confirmed.”
It’s the same as in the original story… Well, that’s only natural.
If they’re going to support promising students, how could they not support Lee Seo-jun?
“We’re planning to choose mainly from among the top-ranking students. The midterms are coming up soon, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
I nodded.
The door slid open again as the food began to arrive.
Dishes of every color and kind.
I couldn’t help but be impressed. At some point, Han Se-yeon had ordered alcohol and was now pouring it into my glass. She seemed to like drinking as much as I did.
I glanced at the glass and then looked at Han Se-yeon. She was still gazing at me. But her gaze felt different than usual.
It was like… she was observing me?
“There’s this student who strangely catches my eye. I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination.”
I took a sip of the drink. The bitter-sweet aroma lingered in my mouth.
I’m not dense. She’s talking about ‘Kim Sunwoo’.
She’s probably wondering if there’s some connection between ‘Kim Sunwoo’ and ‘Kim Jinwoo.’
“I’m curious what kind of student that is.”
My casual reply prompted Han Se-yeon to down her own drink as well.
Then she spoke again.
“It’s starting to feel like autumn.”
She murmured as she looked out at the trees. The leaves were just barely starting to change colour.
“Maybe I’m getting sentimental. Lately, I keep remembering childhood memories.”
Suddenly, she brought up her childhood out of nowhere.
“I grew up with nothing lacking. The reason was simple. My brother gave me everything I wanted. I’m sure people saw us as affectionate siblings.”
I looked at her, wondering where this was going.
“But as I got older, I realized the reason. My brother was brainwashing me. He’d give me everything I wanted—just so I wouldn’t covet Hanseong Group. Because it was his.”
She continued, gently caressing her glass with her pale, slender fingers.
“It might sound arrogant, but I’m a very greedy person. Incredibly ambitious. As I got older, I started wanting more and more. One day I wanted a house with a huge garden, so I asked my brother for one. But he said no.”
A deep smile formed on her face.
“That’s when I realized. My brother couldn’t give me everything. And… if I wanted to have it all, I had to become the owner of the Hanseong family.”
I already knew how strong her ambition was. When she wants something, she’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
Whether it’s money, objects, or people.
Han Se-yeon carries the blood of the Hanseong family more purely than anyone else.
“I just… suddenly felt like talking about my childhood. It was random, wasn’t it?”
She gave a soft smile and refilled her empty glass. Then she looked back at me.
“What about you? Tell me about your childhood too.”
Meanwhile, somewhere in Seoul at a branded coffee shop, Choi Seo-yoon and Song Seung-ah were studying theory together.
Originally, Choi Seo-yoon would always go back to her family home for training on Saturdays, but as exam season approached, she got permission from her family to focus solely on theory.
Song Seung-ah, deep in her studies, glanced over at Choi Seo-yoon.
“But… is it really okay for us to be doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
Choi Seo-yoon tilted her head at Song Seung-ah’s out of the blue question.
“I mean, should we really be studying theory when we need to prepare for practical exams?”
“…I’m confident in my practicals.”
Choi Seo-yoon replied without taking her eyes off the textbook. Song Seung-ah frowned.
“What the heck? You said we’d study together—am I the only one getting the short end of the stick?”
Choi Seo-yoon looked up.
“There are a lot of people around, so shh.”
“…”
That made Song Seung-ah feel a little sulky for no reason.
“Oh, there’s something I don’t get. Should I ask Senior Kim Sunwoo? Do you think he’d teach me if I asked him for help?”
At that moment, Choi Seo-yoon’s hand, which had been taking notes, hesitated.
“Senior Kim Sunwoo?”
“Yeah, he’s good at studying.”
“…He’ll 100% ignore you.”
With that, Choi Seo-yoon went back to focusing on her notes.
“You never know though. Or maybe not. He is pretty popular these days. Oh, right, remember that stalker incident involving Senior Kim Sunwoo a while back? Wow. That person must’ve known his true worth from way back then.”
“…Stalker incident?”
She remembered. The minor incident involving a suspicious promotion of Kim Sunwoo online.
It was a bizarre event where a user got caught advertising Kim Sunwoo in the comments section of a site.
Fortunately, Kim Sunwoo verified his smart account and cleared it up, but the account in question went inactive after that day.
Most students thought the stalker stopped posting out of fear once interest in the matter picked up inside the school.
“I wondered why someone would stalk that senior, but I guess there was a reason. That person was impressive in their own way. They had a good eye for talent, right?”
“…Yeah, I guess so.”
Choi Seo-yoon answered, then fell into brief contemplation.
Who was behind the stalker incident?
Someone who had known about Kim Sunwoo’s abilities early on and was close to him.
Then she remembered something from a few days ago in the school park.
That late-night rendezvous between Kim Sunwoo and Yoo Ara (…or whatever that was).
Come to think of it, Yoo Ara had seemed to know about Kim Sunwoo’s abilities for a while now.
And it felt like they were sharing some secret she wasn’t aware of.
Could it be… Senior Yoo Ara…?
…No way. That’s definitely not it. She was 100% sure.
Still, it remained a mystery why the two of them had met at that hour.
“Hmmm…”
As Choi Seo-yoon’s expression grew unintentionally serious, Song Seung-ah gave a playful smile.
At that moment, a man caught Choi Seo-yoon’s eye by the window.
“…”
It was a brown-haired man wearing a mask. Next to him was a woman wearing both a mask and sunglasses—suspicious-looking at a glance. Probably some kind of celebrity couple.
But something about the man felt oddly familiar. Maybe it was just the distance.
…Probably just imagining things.
Choi Seo-yoon shook off the thought and went back to her studies.
Returning home, Han Se-yeon lay on the couch after taking a shower.
She closed her eyes absentmindedly and recalled the conversation she had with Kim Jinwoo earlier that day.
—Tell me about your childhood.
Kim Jinwoo had paused, his face stiff with thought.
Then, with heavy words, he spoke.
—It was normal. A regular family, a regular environment.
Though he said it was ordinary, his voice had a strange tremble. A lonely look in his eyes, as if he was reminiscing about a bittersweet past.
As if there was more to the story.
—Is that so? What about hobbies?
—I liked books. I read a lot of novels. Got scolded for it a lot, too. Hmm. Yeah, that’s how it was.
Han Se-yeon had already looked into Kim Jinwoo’s past before, but found nothing.
All that turned up was basic information like his name.
But from the way he spoke now, it didn’t seem like he had no past.
—…And your family?
—My father, my mother. Just the two of them. That’s all.
Han Se-yeon picked up the documents on the table in front of the sofa.
It was a list of students at the Mage Academy.
Shff. As she flipped through the papers, she found one student’s name.
[Kim Sunwoo]
His eyes in the photo looked very similar. She wondered if there might be a connection with Kim Jinwoo. Could he be a hidden younger brother or something?
“…Maybe not.”
She recalled what Kim Jinwoo had said to her.
It didn’t feel like a lie.
It was a genuine recollection, loosened by alcohol.
Even his family seemed pretty normal.
Han Se-yeon put the documents back on the table.
If Kim Sunwoo had no connection to Kim Jinwoo, there was no need to pay attention to him anymore.
Time to focus on the top students.
…For now, at least.
Late at night, I came back home.
Not the dorm, but my own place—an apartment in Seoul.
Feeling good after drinking for the first time in a while, I had a great time drinking with Han Se-yeon.
I probably said some unnecessary things during that time, but since it was about Kim Jinwoo and not Kim Sunwoo… it should be fine, I think.
Suddenly, I thought of Gretel, who must be alone in the dorm.
I felt a bit worried—would she feel lonely because I wasn’t there?
But it couldn’t be helped. I had drunk too much tonight, and if I ran into a student, they might notice the smell and cause a big fuss.
Besides, more students had been acting friendly toward me lately, so it was even more dangerous.
I took a bottle of water from the fridge and drank it, then flopped onto the bed.
Starting next week, the first round of midterms begins. My mindset is different from how it was in the first semester.
Back then, I only cared about raising my grades. Now, thanks to my improved performance, a possibility has opened up—a clear goal.
To make it into the top 5 overall by the end of this year.
So I have to give it my all.
And in the main exam, the Captain Match, I need to defeat Lee Seo-jun…
Can I really do it?
In the original story, Lee Seo-jun never lost first place in any major exam.
Sure, he ranked second or third in some side evaluations, but when it came to the important tests, he was always number one.
And I need to beat someone like him.
I activated the outsider’s privilege.
And for the first time in a while, I checked my stats.
━━
[Stats]
Stamina: 70.8
Strength: 59.6
Magic: 49.5
Speed: 37.9
Agility: 57.1
Dexterity: 29
━━
“Wow. I’ve grown a lot.”
My magic had finally surpassed 49.
It used to be just 21 in the beginning. More than double now.
Stamina was at a whopping 70. At this rate, I might even break 100 someday.
I guess it’s only fair. I’ve been training nonstop, even taking down villains along the way.
Next, I checked my points.
[Current Points: 95,000]
“Ninety-five thousand points, huh.”
I’d saved up a lot more than I expected.
It’s only been about two months since I spent everything on Binding Rune, and I’ve already made this much back. Not bad.
Well, considering how much attention I drew the moment the second semester began, it’s no surprise.
Guess it’s about time to use these points and buy something.
Whether it’s a trait or a skill, I should definitely get something to prep for the midterms.
[Entering the Points Shop.]
Alright, time to go shopping for the first time in a while.
TL : Nah, I’m spamming chapters for this novel to make up for the time I missed before we go back to 1 chapter a day from next week.
Leave a Reply