Early morning.
It was the first day of the first semester.
Unlike during the evaluation period, the academy’s main gate was packed with students.
They walked in clusters, laughing and chattering among themselves.
Se-ha moved through the crowd.
And beside him walked a tall, snow-white woman—
“Hey, look over there.”
A student jabbed an elbow into their friend’s side.
A beat later, the hallway fell quiet.
One, two.
Murmurs spread.
“Wait, who is that?”
“An adult? She’s got horns on her head.”
“She’s gorgeous….”
“Oh, isn’t that Yu Se-ha?”
“Yu Se-ha? That failing student from the Summoner track?”
“Yeah. Apparently he ranked first this time. You didn’t hear?”
“That makes no sense. How could someone who can’t even summon….”
Se-ha kept walking, forcing his gaze away.
He pretended not to hear any of it.
“I did get permission from the professor, but….”
He stole a glance to the side.
Da-hong looked utterly unbothered by the stares, gazing around at her surroundings with a leisurely expression.
“You really have to behave yourself. You understand, right?”
“I know. You’ve told me how many times now.”
“You can’t leave during class.”
“I said I know.”
“And with me, too.”
“What about with you?”
“No pranks. I’m being completely serious.”
Da-hong looked at Se-ha with an unreadable expression.
“When have I ever caused trouble?”
Se-ha stopped walking and stared at her as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
The image from last night flashed through his mind—her sitting on his back.
Pressing down with her feet.
“…Are you being serious right now?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t remember what you did last night?”
“I helped you work out. You asked me to.”
“When did I ever ask you?!”
“You were lying face-down, begging me. Saying please, let me do it.”
“I never did that! And that was only because you climbed on top of me without asking!”
“You couldn’t even hit ten. Pathetic.”
“Excuse me?! I did hit ten!!”
“That was when I was using my feet.”
The murmuring in the hallway grew considerably louder.
“Wait, is he fighting with his own summon right now?”
“But what are they even talking about?”
“Lying face-down begging her to let him do it? Climbed on top…? Hitting ten…?”
“…Hey.”
“Is he seriously….”
“Oh my god, he’s out of his mind!”
“!?”
Only then did Se-ha realize how their conversation must have sounded to everyone around them.
His face turned so red it looked ready to burst.
“D-Da-hong. I can’t believe you—!”
“Pfft. What?”
Da-hong turned her face away, her lips trembling as she fought to hold something back.
“You just laughed!”
“Pffhaha—ahahahaha—!!”
She couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Da-hong burst out laughing.
The hallway went instantly silent.
A beautiful woman was doubled over, clutching her stomach.
Tears streaming down her face.
“Ugh, seriously…!”
Se-ha looked around frantically, then grabbed Da-hong’s hand and hurried her toward his classroom.
“Kyahaha!”
Whatever she found so funny, Da-hong kept laughing even as she was dragged along, unable to stop for quite some time.
***
Se-ha let out a sigh.
“Please, just hold it together while we’re at school. My reputation is already bad enough as it is.”
“I’ll try.”
As they came up the stairs, they could see a crowd of students gathered ahead.
“What’s going on?”
A notice had been posted on the hallway wall outside the classroom.
Students were clustered around it in small groups, peering at it.
Se-ha walked over.
⟨First Semester Class Placement Results⟩
Criteria: Comprehensive evaluation semester grades.
He ran his finger down the list.
Class A.
Yu Se-ha.
His name was at the very top.
Class A was the advanced track for combat-oriented students.
It was reserved for the top twenty students by evaluation semester scores.
“Thank goodness….”
Se-ha exhaled with relief.
“Written exam first place, practical exam first place—isn’t that only natural?”
Da-hong leaned in beside him and said.
“Still, I wasn’t sure…. I was failing the entire evaluation semester, after all.”
Se-ha looked at the list again.
Just below his name.
A familiar name.
Han I-sol.
Class A.
That was expected.
And then—
“…Lee Sang-jun is in Class A too.” Find the original chapter at g.com.
His name sat somewhere in the middle of the list.
Well, of course.
Even if his written scores were average, Sang-jun had consistently ranked first in practicals all this time.
Class A classroom.
Se-ha set his bag down at a seat by the window.
He would have preferred to sit near the front, but with Da-hong here, the back seemed more appropriate.
The professor hadn’t arrived yet, so the classroom was still unsettled.
“Da-hong, you can’t interrupt during class.”
“I know.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“And also—”
Slam!
The classroom door flew open with a bang.
Everyone looked toward the front.
It was Lee Sang-jun.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he was seething—anyone could see he wasn’t in a normal state.
Sang-jun scanned the classroom, spotted Se-ha, and strode straight toward him.
The moment Se-ha started to rise—
Thud.
A hand seized him by the collar.
“Ugh!”
“Hey, Yu Se-ha….”
A low, cracked voice.
The classroom went quiet.
“What the hell did you do.”
“Wait, Sang-jun—”
“It started during that evaluation.”
Sang-jun’s hand was shaking.
“Ever since your summon messed with my Salamander, it won’t answer my summons.”
“…What?”
“No matter how much mana I pour in, there’s no response. You know I have a contract negotiation coming up with an A-rank Guild? They came because of the Salamander. So what am I supposed to do if I can’t summon it now?”
“…”
Se-ha couldn’t say a word.
“It’s all gone. The scouting offer, the signing bonus—all of it.”
Sang-jun’s voice trembled with rage.
“Because of you—!”
The hand gripping Se-ha’s collar tightened—
“Fighting on the very first day? You’ve got energy to spare, I’ll give you that.”
A bright voice cut between them.
A young woman Se-ha had never seen before stood in the doorway.
Beside her was I-sol, eyes wide.
“…Who is that?”
Someone muttered.
“Who do you think? Your homeroom teacher.”
The woman tapped the wall with her attendance book.
“Alright, alright! Everyone take your seats!”
Sang-jun clicked his tongue, released Se-ha’s collar, and returned to his seat.
Once everyone was seated, the woman walked to the lectern and stood before them.
“My name is Kang Seo-yeon. I’ll be your substitute teacher and guest instructor for this semester.”
“Substitute?”
“That’s right. The professor who was originally assigned to your class had something come up, so I’m filling in.”
Seo-yeon swept her gaze across the room.
It lingered briefly on the woman sitting behind the student who’d just had his collar grabbed—the one staring out the window.
*That must be the summon everyone’s been talking about….
I heard she can’t even be dismissed.*
White hair.
Red eyes.
Large horns.
It matched the physical description from the report.
Setting aside the humanoid form, nothing seemed particularly unusual at first glance.
A nightmare demon, maybe?
No tail or wings visible, though….
The summon must have sensed the stare, because she turned and met Seo-yeon’s eyes.
“…”
Seo-yeon looked back down at her attendance book without changing her expression.
*Well, I have plenty of time to figure it out.*
“That’s enough for introductions.”
Seo-yeon snapped the attendance book shut.
“Since it’s the first day, we should take some time to get a feel for each other. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.”
She rapped the lectern sharply.
“Everyone, out to the training grounds.”
***
Seo-yeon brought the students out to the outdoor training grounds and had them warm up on their own.
“Alright, let’s pair everyone up.”
She opened her attendance book.
“I’ll be assigning the pairs. It’s no fun if you end up with your friends.”
The students murmured among themselves.
Seo-yeon ran her finger down the list and began calling out pairs.
“Han I-sol, Kim Tae-jun.”
“Yes.”
“…Oh no.”
The student paired with I-sol moved to one side of the grounds with the look of someone who’d just lost everything.
“Park Min-su, Oh Ji-hun.”
Se-ha took a slow breath as he waited for his name to be called.
Just then.
Someone stepped up beside him.
“Yu Se-ha.”
It was Sang-jun.
Those bloodshot eyes.
The same expression he’d worn in the classroom.
“Pair up with me.”
His voice was practically a growl.
Se-ha said nothing.
“Let’s settle once and for all who’s on top.”
“Lee Sang-jun.”
Seo-yeon’s voice cut in.
Both Sang-jun and Se-ha turned.
“No sparring when emotions are running high.”
“Emotions? I’m just—”
“I can tell from your eyes.”
“…”
“If something goes wrong, do you know who has to take responsibility? Absolutely not.”
Sang-jun’s expression twisted.
“Go back to your spot.”
Sang-jun shot Se-ha one last glare before quietly returning to his place.
Seo-yeon looked back down at her attendance book and continued calling names.
“Yu Se-ha, Park Seo-jin.”
Se-ha looked up.
His opponent was a student of middling ability in the class.
The student who’d been matched with Se-ha swallowed hard, visibly tense.
Probably because they’d seen Da-hong dispatch Sang-jun’s Salamander in an instant.
Se-ha clenched his fist and glanced to his side.
“Da-hong, I’m counting on you.”
But no answer came.
“Da-hong?”
Se-ha looked beside him.
She wasn’t there.
Not behind him, not on the other side.
Da-hong was nowhere.
“…?”
Se-ha blinked.
She was definitely here a moment ago.
Where did she go?
“Yu Se-ha.”
His name was called.
“Ready?”
It seemed they were going in order of rankings.
“Oh, um… well….”
Se-ha fumbled for words.
*Without Da-hong, I can’t do anything….*
Seo-yeon checked her watch and urged him along.
“I’d appreciate it if you hurried. We don’t have enough time to get through everyone.”
“Ah, yes.”
Se-ha walked onto the training grounds and looked back one more time.
Da-hong was nowhere to be seen.
*Where on earth did she go….*
Se-ha took his position.
His opponent used swordsmanship, same as I-sol.
With a summon supporting him, the matchup would have been in his favor.
If he had a summon, that is….
*…No.*
Se-ha gritted his teeth.
*I can’t keep relying on Da-hong forever.
And if I’m a Summoner, I should at least be able to control my own summon.*
“Ready.”
Seo-yeon raised her hand.
His opponent, Park Seo-jin, began drawing up mana.
Se-ha clenched both fists.
*It’s fine.*
He steadied himself and pulled his mana up calmly.
*I can do this.*
Se-ha’s expression hardened.
He felt his opponent tense in response.
*The reason I was failing all this time was because I couldn’t summon.
But that’s not true anymore, is it?*
He would show everyone.
That this time was different.
That the old Yu Se-ha was gone.
Se-ha’s hair whipped in the air.
“Begin—!”
Mana surged to his fingertips, and a summoning array deployed in an instant.
*Please come, Da-hong—!*
Shwaaak—!!
***
The school store.
A snow-white woman stood in front of the display case.
Da-hong.
She stood before the case with a serious expression, peering intently at its contents.
Beyond her reflection in the glass, rows of bread were visible.
Red bean buns.
Cream buns.
Sausage buns.
Pizza buns.
“Welcome!”
The lady at the counter greeted her cheerfully.
Da-hong set a pizza bun and a cream bun on the counter.
“Apple juice, too.”
“Oh my, of course! Are you a new teacher? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
“I’m a summon.”
“My goodness, a summon coming to the school store? How unusual!”
The lady pulled a boxed apple juice from the refrigerator.
“That’ll be 3,100 won altogether!”
Da-hong held out a student ID that also served as a payment card.
The card had Se-ha’s name and photo on it.
“…”
Se-ha lay flat on the ground, staring up at the sky.
The sky was right there.
Clouds drifted lazily by.
In the corner of his vision, he could see Kang Seo-yeon running toward him with a flustered look on her face.
*Da-hong….*
Se-ha slowly closed his eyes.
*Where did you go….
Honestly.*