The midterms, short if you considered them short and long if you considered them long, finally came to an end.
There had been fourteen subjects in total.
Korean. Mathematics. Social studies. Science. English. Art. Music. And Physical Education, the only midterm subject that combined a practical exam with a written exam.
That alone made eight subjects, while the remaining six were divided into one common subject and five specialized subjects.
The common subject was ‘Virtues and Mindset Required of a Prospective Hero,’ which our homeroom teacher, Kim Jongseok, taught.
The subject’s name was fairly long, but if you shortened it, it was basically no different from ethics.
The remaining five were specialized subjects for each department. For the Magic Department, they consisted of five courses in total: General Magic Studies, Combat Magic, Dark Magic, Magic Engineering, and Alchemy.
I wondered whether fourteen subjects and that much studying were simply too much for first-year students, but humans were creatures of adaptation. Since everyone else did it, even these little kids managed somehow….
The most surprising part was that the students stayed awake until midnight to study.
During exam season, if you looked around the Academy, not a single building had its lights off. It looked almost like an amusement park.
Yeowoo and Sia also studied diligently at home until late at night, while I sat in a chair and practiced the Mana Cultivation Method under the guise of meditation.
It was a training method for expanding my mana as much as possible while I still had only one Circle, then moving stably into the next stage─Second Circle─.
Ideally, I wanted to master one Circle completely before moving on to the next stage.
And then time passed until today.
The day immediately after the exams ended.
Our average scores had been posted in full on the classroom bulletin board.
The moment I entered the classroom, I saw the children gathered around the board like a swarm of clouds, forming a sea of people. Some groaned in despair, while others were delighted to have scored higher than expected.
Yeowoo, Sia, and I hung our bags on our desks and immediately joined the crowd.
But all three of us were much smaller and shorter than our classmates, so we could not see anything.
Yeowoo stamped her feet in frustration, while Sia brought over a chair.
I simply used magic.
A spell that temporarily allowed me to float in the air.
However, the spell was horribly inefficient and consumed so much mana that, in my current state, I could not rise very high.
“Ohhh! Hyunwoo! How did you do that?”
Startled, Yeowoo immediately started shouting, “Me too, me too!”
Sorry, Yeowoo.
I don’t have enough mana to make you float too….
I barely rose high enough to reach roughly the same eye level as my classmates and checked the rankings posted on the bulletin board.
1st. Lee Hyunwoo. Average Score: 97.
2nd. Yoon Sia. Average Score: 99.
3rd. Moon Mujin. Average Score: 96.
.
.
***
16th. Lee Yeowoo. Average Score: 90.
I’m…… first?
But something was strange.
Sia, who was in second place, had a higher average score than me. Why was I first?
Narrowing my eyes, I examined the calculation method and discovered that each subject had a different weighting.
Non-core subjects such as art and music accounted for roughly 7% of the score, while core subjects such as Korean and mathematics accounted for 23%.
The remaining specialized subjects accounted for around 70%.
I had lost quite a few points compared to Sia in the non-core subjects, but I had either matched or slightly surpassed her in the core and specialized subjects.
That was why, despite my lower average score, our rankings had been reversed.
What a strange and complicated scoring system….
“Ah! Lee Hyunwoo! You’re the obstacle standing in my way!”
Moon Mujin clutched his head and groaned.
I dispelled the mana-guzzling levitation spell and told Yeowoo and Sia their scores.
But neither of them seemed willing to believe me.
Sia, in particular, looked shocked as she asked again.
“You…… came in first? You didn’t study at all.”
“I don’t know. I just paid attention during class, and I already knew everything…?”
“L-Liar. Come on. That’s not funny.”
Still unable to believe me, Sia climbed onto the chair.
Yeowoo also seemed unwilling to accept that she had placed sixteenth, so she squeezed onto the narrow chair beside Sia─the subjects Yeowoo had learned through the Special Education Curriculum were the same subjects studied by the Academy’s first-year students, only reduced in difficulty, so she competed fairly against the others through the same relative grading system─.
Then they confirmed that I had been telling the truth and fell into deep shock.
From my perspective, it was an obvious result, but Sia covered her face with an expression that showed she simply could not accept it.
I could understand why.
She had studied late into the night throughout the entire exam period, and more than anyone else, she had personally watched me spend that same time reading books that had absolutely nothing to do with the exams.
Of course it would be difficult for her to accept.
Looking at her sympathetically, I placed a hand on Sia’s shoulder and comforted her.
“Sia. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
Yeowoo frowned, apparently displeased by my sudden gesture.
Sia looked at me with a slightly hollow expression before giving me a grin.
***
Yoon Sia stared blankly at the scenery outside the window, then picked up the cup sitting on the round table and brought it to her lips.
Sip.
It was not coffee.
Caffeine was not good for the body at such a young age.
“Ah. Delicious.”
Sia stared blankly at the warm hot chocolate before placing the cup back on the table and gazing outside again.
“Even if I work hard…… I can’t beat talent?”
Whenever she thought about Hyunwoo, all sorts of complicated thoughts floated around inside her head.
A genius with a Mana Sensitivity of 2,100.
A genius who had practically dragged his less capable teammates by the collar and carried them all the way to second place during the practical training.
And on top of that, his knowledge of Circles and theory….
Yoon Sia gave a hollow laugh and lifted her shirt.
Her pale abdomen was exposed.
Tap, tap.
She touched her navel with her index finger.
Inside it now rested the Circle cultivation method Hyunwoo had taught her.
Just a little more.
If she went just a little further, she would truly be able to create a Circle too.
And Hyunwoo had thought of and created in a single minute the entire process she had been struggling through for such a long time to create her own Circle.
That boy….
“I can’t beat him. Never.”
Sip.
She raised the cup again and drank her hot chocolate.
Sweet warmth spread through her body.
Then what should I do?
What am I supposed to do?
Sia quietly sank into thought.
She wondered what kind of Academy life she should lead from now on and what kind of relationship she ought to maintain with Hyunwoo.
Suddenly, she remembered what had happened in the waiting room after the practical training.
Her expression twisted for a moment.
“I’m jealous. I’m jealous of Yeowoo…… I wish I could become someone like that to Hyunwoo too.”
She quietly let herself slip into fantasy.
She imagined an adult Hyunwoo taking care of her, cherishing her, and treating her kindly.
It was only a fantasy, yet goosebumps rose along part of her arms, and various places across her body began to itch.
She did not know why, but heat also seemed to rise into her face.
Embarrassed, Sia drank more hot chocolate.
“Ugh.”
Even so, the strange reactions throughout her body did not subside.
If anything, they seemed to be growing more intense.
“What’s wrong with me?”
In truth, faint versions of these strange reactions had been appearing for some time.
For example, her heart would race whenever she thought about Hyunwoo, or heat would suddenly surge up past her neck.
But today, the symptoms seemed somewhat worse.
To calm the emotions she could not control, she picked up a nearby book and opened it.
by Harlan Coben.
She had not managed to read much because of the exams and various other things.
But today, she had plenty of time.
She had read up to page 150, so today she would stop at page 180.
If only to reduce the thoughts of Hyunwoo that kept rising inside her, Sia began concentrating on the book.
***
Half the semester had passed.
With the exams finally over, an energetic and excited atmosphere seemed to radiate from every corner of the Academy.
I did not know about the other grades, but first-year students did not have final exams after the midterms.
Instead of finals, they took three short quizzes before vacation.
The rest of their grades were determined through performance assessments, attitude scores, and similar factors.
Was that why?
The first-year students somehow seemed even more excited.
While waiting for a specialized Magic Department class to begin, I picked up my phone and checked the news.
I was curious about what was happening in the world.
Then, suddenly, I received a message from someone.
<Hey. What are you doing?>
<Sender – Super-Pretty Jisun ^―^>
What’s this?
Oh Jisun?
Flustered, I glanced around me.
Yeowoo was looking through her textbook in preparation for the upcoming class, while Sia was reading a novel.
Acting as though nothing was unusual, I tapped away at my phone.
<I’m waiting for class to start.>
The moment I sent the message, a reply came back.
<You ranked first in the whole school? How did you beat all those older boys and girls at your age?>
<Sender – Super-Pretty Jisun ^―^>
Ah.
This is seriously annoying.
What’s with that sender name?
I frowned and was about to reply when the professor arrived in the classroom.
The students who had been using their phones put them away, while the students chatting with each other stopped talking.
I also slipped my phone away before I could answer.
“Good to see you.”
Today’s specialized class was one of the more troublesome subjects: Dark Magic.
I did not know why they taught something like this as a specialized subject in the first place, but by now I had grown used to simply accepting and following the curriculum they gave us.
Earth’s Dark Magic was already so low-level that it was almost pitiful.
And since this was Dark Magic being taught to first-year Academy students even by Earth’s standards, the level was lower still.
I opened my textbook and immersed myself in the professor’s lesson.
The level was so terribly poor that it was entertaining in its own way….
***
“As I have always told you, safety is more important than anything else when it comes to magic. That is especially true when handling Dark Magic. You could get hurt.”
The Dark Magic professor, Lee Mijeong, firmly suppressed the students’ excited mood.
Each of us had been given one black doll.
We had also each been given a black wand for using Dark Magic.
Today’s lesson objective was simple.
Cast Dark Magic on the provided doll and breathe life force into it.
Even calling it life force was generous.
It was such a pathetic level of Dark Magic that the doll could not even move for more than a few minutes, so there was absolutely no chance of the caster suffering any harm from it.
“Everyone. Remember this. Remember it two times, three times if necessary. Safety comes first, and you must follow my instructions without exception.”
……In other words.
The Dark Magic professor was simply trying to scare them for no reason.
And like the children they were, everyone was thoroughly intimidated by the professor’s stern warning.
This was also their first practical Dark Magic lesson, and since this lesson counted heavily toward their performance assessment and carried a high score, the students who cared about their grades could hardly avoid becoming tense.
“All right. Then let’s begin. Because this is a lesson that requires extreme caution, remember that I may stop you at my own discretion.”
All the students picked up their black wands and began chanting Incantations toward their dolls.
“Trera Skeliu….”
I watched them for a moment before letting out a small laugh.
They were treating magic that looked like children playing pretend as though it were dangerous and deadly serious.
If the mages from my previous life could see this, they might clutch their stomachs and burst out laughing.
Maybe that was why.
I could not bring myself to take this lesson seriously.
So, without letting the professor notice, I began chanting whatever I felt like.
“Orchideous. Obscuro….”
I pointed my wand at the doll like a conductor.
As I continued doing it while snickering to myself, Sia, who was sitting beside me, scolded me.
“Hyunwoo. Are you sure you’re doing that properly? I think your Incantation is different.”
“Huh? Wasn’t this it…?”
Pretending not to know, I scratched my head.
Then, this time, I tried using the proper Incantation.
“Come alive.”
No strange ‘Trera whatever.’
Just plain, straightforward Korean.
After all, an Incantation was merely a means to an end in magic.
Once you reached a certain level of understanding, magic could manifest through will alone.
Of course, with this body, something like a ‘Word of Power’ was still completely out of the question.
You needed to reach at least the Fifth Circle before you could even begin learning the Word of Power.
What I was doing now was merely compressing the Incantation before releasing it.
“Hyunwoo. You can’t just give a direct command like that. You need to chant the Incantation. Trera…… Huh?”
Sia stopped midway through her advice.
Her eyes widened.
“…Looks like it worked, doesn’t it?”
I grinned as I looked at the twitching black stuffed doll.
The doll continued shaking as though an earthquake were running through it, then began pushing itself upright.
“Aaah—!”
Yeowoo, who had secretly been watching from beside us, screamed.
Startled by the noise, the professor hurried over toward the commotion.
“What is it? What happened?”
“Hyunwoo succeeded, Professor!”
It was Sia.
Without even looking at the professor, I gave an order to the doll that was now standing motionless.