The scholarship room attached to the department office.
Five cups of coffee sat atop a clean white table.
Steam curled upward as everyone silently sipped their drinks.
The Special Scholarship Students selected this time were Baek Sayoung, Cheon Seoyoon, Lee Daeho, and me.
“Welcome. I look forward to working with all of you over the next year.”
Kim Miyoung conducted the orientation in place of Lee Taekjin, who was attending a faculty meeting.
“Scholarship students have a variety of responsibilities. They range from simple paperwork to assisting with lecture preparations. On days when the professor attends academic conferences, you will also need to accompany him—”
She explained everything calmly and clearly, but very little of it registered.
The boundaries of causality would weaken…….
The message I had seen earlier kept circling through my head.
If the reward was something I desperately needed, there was a good chance it would be either an Armament related to mana or information regarding Yoo Soyoung’s whereabouts.
An Armament was one thing, but would the system really give me actual information?
.
.
I tried to speculate, but of course that got me nowhere.
If I could predict what was going to happen from a single word, I would never have been a webtoon artist in the first place.
I would have joined NASA and studied space instead.
That left only one option.
I had to gather SP as quickly as possible and find out for myself.
Nothing could be better if it turned out to be related to Yoo Soyoung, but I decided not to get my hopes up prematurely.
If it was not……
The disappointment might hit hard enough to shake the resolve I had finally managed to steady.
So I pushed those distracting thoughts aside and focused on Kim Miyoung again.
“Starting next week, you will work one day each week in pairs. Your scholarship stipend of three million won will be deposited at the beginning of every month.”
She happened to be explaining an extremely interesting part.
Three million won?
They were paying us three million just for coming in four times a month?
That was insane.
I flinched in surprise, but apparently I was the only one.
“Understood.”
“Please make sure it is deposited on time!”
Everyone else reacted as though it were perfectly normal.
Was the pay so high because we were considered elite talent?
Taehak students were among the greatest elites in this world, so that was entirely possible.
I was pleased, yet at the same time, a bitter taste filled my mouth.
It was not much different from what I had earned when I stayed up all night drawing webtoons.
Come to think of it, did I have any money?
I suddenly wondered about the state of my finances.
Most facilities were free to use, so I had never paid much attention to it.
Money was an essential resource for daily life, so hopefully I had plenty…….
I would have to check soon.
I was still a member of a prestigious family. Even if support from the main family had been cut off, Park Hayul’s bank balance was probably far greater than mine had ever been.
“That concludes everything I needed to tell you. Shall we decide the pairs now?”
With that, Kim Miyoung held out a square box.
Four wooden sticks protruded from it.
“You are choosing the partner you will work with for an entire semester. Something like this is always more exciting when left to chance.”
Kim Miyoung smiled in an uncharacteristically playful manner and pushed up the thin frames of her glasses.
At that instant, without anyone needing to say a word, our gazes met.
There were two people here who absolutely had to be avoided.
Me and Cheon Seoyoon.
“Do we really have to draw lots? Assistant Kim, can I not just pair up with Baek Sayoung?”
Cheon Seoyoon was the first to speak.
She muttered, I do not want to work with him, while glancing toward me.
It was an obvious provocation.
And who had decided that she got Baek Sayoung?
Not while I was standing here with both eyes open.
“This is not something you can solve by whining.”
“What? Whiiining?”
“Why? Asking for special treatment when there is already a fair method available is hardly how an adult should behave.”
“Wow, listen to that obnoxious way of talking. You think I am doing this just for myself? You do not want to work with me either.”
“Then you pair up with Lee Daeho. I will work with Baek Sayoung.”
In truth, that would have been the cleanest arrangement.
Most of the episodes related to the Special Scholarship Student activities revolved around Baek Sayoung.
“Are you insane?”
“Guys, maybe my opinion should matter too……”
“Ahem. Hmm……”
But somehow, the atmosphere had become strange.
Cheon Seoyoon was one thing, but even Baek Sayoung and Lee Daeho looked distinctly uncomfortable.
Ah…….
Only then did I remember that I was awkward with both of them.
Their faces were so familiar to me that I had completely forgotten.
“The competition is…… fierce. At times like this, nothing beats drawing lots.”
Fortunately, Kim Miyoung, a devoted believer in settling everything by lots, intervened at exactly the right moment.
When she held the box out again, I began to think this might actually be better.
I already knew which stick Baek Sayoung would draw.
The first and third sticks should form one pair, while the second and fourth formed the other.
I had personally decided that order when drawing this scene.
Thus, Baek Sayoung and Cheon Seoyoon had originally ended up together, while the other pair had been Lee Daeho and…….
Who was it again?
I thought it had been another man, but I had drawn him so carelessly that my memory was hazy.
“Ugh, whatever. I’ll just pick one.”
Meanwhile, Baek Sayoung reached out first and, exactly as expected, took the first stick.
Now, if I picked the third stick, I would naturally……
SWIPE—
That was when a hand the size of a pot lid suddenly appeared and snatched away the third stick.
……It happened so quickly that I did not even have time to react.
“I picked first. You have no complaints, right? There was no set order. Heh heh.”
Lee Daeho, who had been doing nothing but breathing until now, had interfered at the decisive moment.
Why had this lumbering bastard suddenly……?
Had he gotten sulky?
“Everyone keeps rejecting me. What else am I supposed to do? I might as well draw before anyone else.”
He was sulking.
He definitely was.
Apparently, despite being built like a mountain, he hated feeling excluded and wanted to do something about it.
But why did he have to take the third stick?
While I was reeling from the unexpected disruption, a pale hand appeared and drew the second stick.
“Fine. If it has come to this, I will carve out my own destiny.”
Carve out your own destiny, my ass.
You had already lost.
There had never been a more uselessly late act of determination.
Cheon Seoyoon, who naturally had no idea what was going through my head, spoke with renewed solemnity.
“Baek Sayoung, what does yours say?”
“Mine? Number 1.”
“Okay. Just wait. I might not look it, but I have pretty decent luck with little things like th…… You have got to be kidding me…….”
Cheon Seoyoon’s expression first froze, then twisted completely.
With trembling eyes, she alternated between looking at me and Lee Daeho.
Then, as though settling for the lesser evil, she stared desperately at Lee Daeho.
Did she really think that would change anything?
“Huh? Wahahaha! I’m number 3! Number 3!”
Lee Daeho burst into roaring laughter.
As expected.
Expecting tact from someone whose brain was probably made of muscle was asking too much.
“A-Assistant Kim. Can we draw again? How can we draw without even deciding an order first?”
Cheon Seoyoon clung desperately to the issue as though grasping at a straw.
“You just saw how.”
But a straw was only a straw.
As befitted Lee Taekjin’s teaching assistant, once she decided something was not allowed, it would remain forbidden until the day she died.
This was already over.
……Should I just quit?
The thought occurred to me with surprising seriousness.
Getting tangled up with Cheon Seoyoon would probably only make things more troublesome.
***
Thursday morning arrived.
After everything that had happened the day before, both my body and mind had been thoroughly exhausted, so I made up my mind to sleep properly.
For the first time in a long while since falling into this world, I enjoyed something that could truly be called sleep.
[Remaining Time: 13 days, 15 hours, 22 minutes]
And even after that, I still had this much remaining.
It was enough to make me feel full without eating.
“As expected, a person needs full pockets……. No, plenty of time.”
It was something I already knew, but I felt its truth all over again.
And that realization poured fuel onto the determination already burning inside me.
This week was a restricted period, and an external episode was scheduled for next week, so those could not be helped.
But starting the week after that, I would go outside and scrape together as much time as I possibly could.
If luck favored me, I might even complete some Achievements and accumulate SP.
Then I could take another step closer to 100 points.
I hurried out of the dormitory.
Today was the day for elective lectures, when Taehak students selected one class related to their respective Systems.
Since I belonged to the Sorcery Arts System, I naturally took a class related to Sorcery Arts.
What had I chosen?
There had not been anything to choose.
There was only one course.
‘Understanding and Analysis of Sorcery Formulas.’
CLACK.
The reason became obvious the instant I arrived and opened the classroom door.
One, two, three…….
Even from a rough count, there were barely twenty students.
“Well, this is something.”
This was not some newly established literary fiction club.
There were seriously only this many second-year Sorcery Arts System students?
A hollow laugh escaped me before I casually made my way toward the back.
In truth, whether the System was thriving or dying had very little to do with me.
“That is the guy from the Origin Sorcerer Family, right?”
“Wow, his hair really is navy blue.”
“He must be insanely good.”
…….
What was with this atmosphere?
“I do not think so. I heard his ranking is pretty low.”
“But Cheolsu said he was shocked. Apparently he did really well in the Diagnostic Assessment.”
Was this how a newly arrived Maltese felt when it was brought into a pet shop?
Everyone was staring so intently that my entire body practically tingled.
Was this some hidden-camera prank?
The thought occurred to me for a moment, but considering Park Hayul’s past behavior, it was actually a fairly reasonable suspicion.
Most of the gazes directed at me contained a kind of goodwill I had never experienced before.
……This was extremely uncomfortable.
I felt as though I were wearing clothes that did not fit.
“Um. Hi?”
A chubby male student hesitantly approached me.
“Y-you probably did not know, but we are in the same department. I’m Choi Cheolsu. Before you changed Systems, I was the only Sorcery Arts System student in Class A.”
“Cheolsu?”
The name was faintly familiar.
I thought he had been someone with a talent for information retrieval and hacking…….
But his primary System was Sorcery Arts?
While I was wondering about that, Cheolsu scratched the back of his head and continued.
“The atmosphere is a little strange, right? Sorry about that. It is everyone’s first time seeing a direct-line member of the Origin Sorcerer Family up close. You know how the Origin Sorcerer Family is the foundation and pride of the Sorcery Arts System. So……. Uh, so……”
“…….”
“……What was I going to say?”
Why was he asking me?
Had he memorized a speech before coming over?
……This guy was a little strange.
Just as a laugh threatened to escape me, a sharply edged voice rang out.
“Choi Cheolsu. Would it not be better if you returned to your seat?”
She was a tall, slender female student with striking brown hair tied high behind her head.
That girl was……
Unlike Cheolsu, she was the representative of the Sorcery Arts System and its sole named character, so I recognized her immediately.
Lee Yoonji.
She was from the Thunderclap Lee Family, a family renowned for Sorcery Arts even if it could not compare to the Origin Sorcerer Family, and she ranked twenty-third overall.
True to her characterization as a genius at analyzing Sorcery Formulas, she took great pride in Sorcery Arts and was extremely haughty.
“If you like him that much, why not ask for his autograph?”
“Th-that is not what I was doing.”
“Why are you embarrassed? Shall I ask him for one on your behalf?”
“N-no. Park Hayul, let us talk again later.”
The moment Lee Yoonji spoke again, Cheolsu hurried back to his seat.
“Hmm—”
Her behavior was somewhat excessive, but I could understand it because theirs was not an ordinary relationship between classmates.
It was one of the peculiar consequences of the Sorcery Arts System’s severe shortage of personnel.
A single professor was responsible for both the first- and second-year students.
As a result, even if it was only simple administrative work, the representative had to fill in whenever the professor was absent, and authority naturally came with the responsibility.
“An increase in our numbers is certainly something to welcome. But excessive attention can sometimes become poisonous. Imagine how burdensome it must be for the person receiving it.”
After kindly looking around at the others, Lee Yoonji turned toward me and smiled with her eyes.
Anyone watching would have taken her words as simple consideration for me……
“Well, look at this.”
Yet her gaze was saturated with emotions that felt strangely familiar.
Contempt, disdain, hostility, and other such negative feelings.
I could more or less guess the reason.
It was probably because of the relationship between the Thunderclap Lee Family and the Origin Sorcerer Family.
Now this felt more like Park Hayul’s life.
Compared with all that mindless attention, this was far more comfortable, like finally putting on clothes that fit properly.
The one in a hurry would approach me on their own.
[Trait ‘Manifestation’ activated.]
To hell with the lecture.
I would gain far more by practicing the Three Powers Art and improving my understanding.