The instructor still merely looked at me with a barren gaze.
‘Is he confused?’
Gurgle- Gurgle-
Even now, blood kept pouring from the corner of my mouth. The problem was that even that blood was blazing.
Come to think of it, my appearance with flames wrapped around my entire body probably did not look human.
After staring at me in silence, the instructor finally opened his mouth after some thought.
“I tried to determine what kind of power you possess, but there was nothing I could figure out.”
It was not a question that demanded an answer, so I waited.
“When you broke the barrier, you used lightning-attribute mana...... And even calling it simple lightning-attribute mana is difficult.”
“Who do you think you’re chatting in front of?!”
The Head-Pressing Spirit cut off the instructor’s words, which had been about to continue, with a shriek.
‘She can regenerate?’
The Head-Pressing Spirit’s arm regenerating in real time entered my eyes.
It was laughable. It meant that even though I had fought prepared to die, nothing had changed.
KABOOOM!
The moment I formed a self-deprecating smile, the ground beneath the Head-Pressing Spirit’s feet shattered like a glass window. Her blurred form was aimed at the instructor.
“......”
Shhhk-.
The sword that had been pointed at me vanished as it left an afterimage, and by the time it was pointed at me again.
Drip. Drip.
Bright-red blood was flowing before my eyes.
Splurt!
The Head-Pressing Spirit told me why. A red line had appeared across her chest, and blood sprayed out.
Even in that moment, the instructor’s dry gaze remained fixed on me.
“You see what cannot be seen.”
Crack!
The Head-Pressing Spirit shoved her hand inside herself and pulled out a rib.
“Die!”
When the Head-Pressing Spirit swung the rib at the instructor, it transformed in an instant into a club wrapped in demonic energy.
Sliiiide!
At the same time, the pitch-black sword moved away from me.
‘That’s insane.’
I had clearly thought he would deflect it, but the instructor’s sword flowed along with the club’s course with the elegance of a companion walking beside it.
Thud!
After guiding the club to the ground, the instructor’s sword pierced the Head-Pressing Spirit’s shoulder.
“......What else was there? Ah, you can absorb mana too, right?”
As if showing the end of his sentence with action, the instructor kicked the Head-Pressing Spirit and retrieved his sword.
“And now, not only are you spilling blood like a mess, you’re handling some damned flame.”
As if the sword in his hand was in the way, the instructor opened his hand in the air.
‘Now I can finally focus.’
The sword did not rush toward the ground, but remained around the instructor.
The sword’s aloof, still movement restored composure even to me, who had been frantically looking here and there.
“I still do not know well, but the Academy’s higher-ups are still concerned about your power. Thanks to that......”
The instructor briefly lowered his gaze, then met my eyes as if telling me to focus.
“You should be restrained or executed. No. Before that! Since Lee Wonwoo, whose origins are unclear, might be a spy of Demonic worshippers, he should be investigated first.”
“......”
I had not known that what Mom had worried about would happen this quickly.
‘But why are my origins unclear? It’s not like anyone forged anything. Whatever.’
Even after hearing this right now, there was no sense of injustice in my chest. It was simply cooling cold.
Whoosh!
Along with that, the blood that had been flowing at some point stopped, and the flames that had escaped control seeped back into me.
I corrected my disheveled posture.
“Instructor...... I am.”
The moment I was about to speak, the instructor relaxed his serious expression and smiled slyly.
“Why are you trying to explain it to me? That’s what those people think. Of course, they’re not the sort of people who’ll change just because you say otherwise.”
“......Ah, I see.”
The instructor suddenly grabbed both my shoulders.
“I don’t particularly care what you are. You’re just a student brat. And you’re fun to keep around, so where do you think you’re going? Heh heh heh!”
For some reason, the familiar word student reached me as something unfamiliar.
“Student......”
Moreover, Instructor Wagner was also someone who directly taught me. Strictly speaking, he belonged to the higher-ups, so he must have kept hearing talk like this.
‘So this is why they say not to judge people by appearances.’
Thanks to that, I could tell Instructor Wagner was a man with a clear mind of his own.
“Enough. Just remember this one thing. No matter how strong it is, a power you cannot control is worse than not having it at all.”
Lift! Bang!
The Head-Pressing Spirit, whom I had inwardly thought was dead, sprang up again and walked out from the darkness.
For the first time, the instructor looked at the Head-Pressing Spirit. As if he had done it often, his gaze flowed from bottom to top.
“What the hell? She looked this scary? You catch your breath. I will be back.”
As if giving me time to think, the instructor went deeper into the darkness together with the Head-Pressing Spirit and was dyed in shadow.
‘A power I cannot control.’
Those words caught in me like thorns. Because I also knew that I could not yet handle Samadhi True Fire.
However, it was now my power. Because of that, I began to dig into Samadhi True Fire.
‘It reacted to emotion.’
The competitive spirit from failing to finish off the Head-Pressing Spirit held anger, and Samadhi True Fire had clearly synchronized with my emotion.
Now I could understand a little of Samadhi True Fire’s basic nature.
“Keep reason cold.”
At the same time, I also had to maintain composure. Now that I knew the opinions of the Academy’s higher-ups, I absolutely had to.
‘Let’s work hard.’
From now on, I would replace the negative standards and gazes directed at me with good grades and achievements.
With the power of Samadhi True Fire, that should not be too difficult.
If I did that and the way they looked at me still did not change......
‘I’ll have to become someone they can’t do without.’
I would become a Hero with no replacement. That was the way to force them to accept the person called me.
Drip! Drip!
As I renewed my resolve while thinking about this and that, the instructor returned, washing away the shadows.
“......Thank you for your hard work?”
In the instructor’s returning hand was the Head-Pressing Spirit’s cold head.
“Ah, but I thought about it again. Do not throw it away. Try to control it. It seems like it would be fun to watch later.”
What the hell was I supposed to do?
Only now did I feel as if I understood a little what kind of person Wagner was.
***
When I returned to the school grounds that had been noisy from the symbol search, silence and peace had spread over them.
‘Class is over.’
Only now did it finally feel real that I had even fought a magical beast.
When I asked the instructor why a magical beast of this level was in the Academy.
-Off work.
He said only that and disappeared, so I could not even ask further. Still, I felt as if I knew where he was going.
“He’s going to see the president.”
Because in the direction the instructor had headed like a single strand of wind, there was the president’s tower.
While descending the mountain, listening to birdsong, a secretive peach fragrance bloomed brightly.
Without even bothering to look, we walked while facing the same direction like old friends.
“......It suddenly came to mind. The days when I was called the Handsome Monkey King. You are born with it.”
I spoke in a somewhat lonely tone.
“It’s hard to handle.”
Looking back, there was no aspect of me that had been born with it.
“Shall I retrieve it?”
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven tapped my shoulder.
‘That hurts, though?’
It hurt a great deal, but because there was a friendliness in it, as if he were doing it to a friend, I did not manage to show it.
But honestly, I thought the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would be disappointed, yet he still watched over me benevolently.
“Retrieve what? That’s never going to happen.”
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven suddenly stopped, so I also stopped and looked back at him.
“Do not concern yourself with it. If you had been an ordinary person, you would have turned to ash in an instant. Samadhi True Fire is that kind of flame.”
Perhaps those were pleasant words meant to encourage someone blaming himself.
‘What? If that’s what it was, he should’ve said so earlier.’
However, I was the type to hear things exactly as they were.
“But why did you give me Samadhi True Fire? Wasn’t this Red Boy’s?”
Since nothing like this had ever happened before, it was only natural for questions to arise. Then, I briefly sank into thought.
‘Why does it feel like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven could do it?’
Perhaps I had forgotten because I was treating him comfortably without formality.
‘Yes, of course.’
Who was the Great Sage Equaling Heaven? He was a rogue who rewrote the lifespan recorded in the ledgers of the underworld simply because he did not like it.
However, unexpectedly, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven wore a serious expression.
“......”
Thinking there might perhaps be a real reason, I did not rush him. I simply savored a time that was both long and short.
After a moment, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven opened his mouth.
“How should I say it...... It was personal curiosity. I wondered whether I could give someone else’s power to a fellow who makes another’s power his own. But to think it would truly work. Hah hah hah!”
“......?”
Even so, my thoughts were on the flexible side. I had grown up in a relaxed environment, and I had grown up under parents who were always positive.
‘He had no plan......’
And yet time seemed to float, and even though I was thinking inwardly, my words seemed to stutter.
‘I guess good things are good.’
Fortunately, I regained my composure at the same time as I cleared my throat.
It was hidden by his troublemaker aspect, but the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s strategic intellect, or rather his tricks, were quite good.
In any case, I could only be grateful that I had obtained Samadhi True Fire, which had once threatened even the Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s life.
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven also seemed a little awkward, because he hurriedly walked ahead.
“......That fellow earlier also bothered me somewhat. In any case, it has already gotten this late.”
At some point, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and I had reached the foot of the mountain.
“Wait!”
Thinking he might immediately leave like other Divine Beasts, I called out to the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.
‘Why am I only remembering this now?’
I asked about the part that had been tormenting me like a thorn caught in my throat.
“Is it true that something is happening up above?”
“......Well, that is something you will naturally come to know if you keep striving. If you always look back on yourself and confirm whether your path is wrong or not, it will become an interesting journey.”
Just as I tried to grasp what was in his heart, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven disappeared as if everything had been a dream.
“......Unbelievable. Why did he leave this behind?”
The miniature Golden Headband left on my wrist proved it had not been a dream.
It probably did not have bad intentions, but since the Golden Headband’s purpose was so famous, I could not help feeling uneasy.
“Huh?”
At the place that only had the shape of an entrance, I saw a familiar female student.
“Hey! Lee Wonwoo, why are you so late?”
Beside Elena was Jio as well, who had taken off his upper clothes, perhaps because he had gone through a melee.
“I asked why you’re so late!”
Elena strode toward me while watching our surroundings.
“Wait, you...... Something happened again, didn’t it? Come here.”
She suddenly grabbed my arm and glared in all directions. She seemed to be searching for Divine Beasts.
‘Huh?’
Elena brought my wrist to her nose, and I felt her breath.
“There’s nothing. But did you spray something? It smells really good...... Ah!”
Elena startled herself and hurriedly put distance between us. Perhaps embarrassed, she got angry for no reason.
“And who have you been since earlier?!”
The person in question, not me, answered those words.
“I am Wonwoo’s brother-in-arms, so pay me no mind, young lady.”
At the sweltering cheesiness, Elena looked disgusted and moved far away from Jio.
“......Pfft!”
It was noisy and strange.
But I did not dislike this atmosphere. Because I, who had been alone, was no longer alone.
‘I really did well coming to the Academy.’
***
At that moment, Instructor Wagner was making a request to the president that was close to a notification.
“I was thinking of taking charge of him. That’s fine, right? There’s the assigned teacher system. That one. Yes?”
“......Pardon?”
The president hurriedly looked out the window. The days after retirement that had given him peace of mind no longer appeared as a hollow future.