episode_0067

‘Where am I, who am I…?’

Cheon Soyul was in an extremely bewildered state. She felt as if she couldn’t possibly step onto the stage while keeping her sanity.

No, it was true. She had hesitantly stepped out of the waiting room, but she was by no means in a normal state.

She was simply moving by inertia.

Because she had to, because it was her role.

Sometimes, Awakened individuals’ senses become heightened without any particular reason…

For Cheon Soyul, it was precisely now. Her five senses were sharpened.

And her gaze suddenly moved far away, towards the topmost floor of the academy’s main building, standing tall in the distance.

Her sight stretched far into the distance, but of course, she couldn’t see inside.

She could only guess. Perhaps the Hero Yang Chan-ho was beyond it. He was the one who had urged her and Lee Hyunjin to participate in the tournament.

…Receiving the promised item would only be possible once the condition of one of them reaching the finals was met.

Nevertheless, a contract was a contract. Cheon Soyul was not a girl so irresponsible as to run away from an already prepared stage, even if unexpected personal circumstances arose.

Thus, she forced her trembling legs to move, advancing towards the stadium…

But what good would advancing do? It was merely a minimum condition.

Cheon Soyul knew who her opponent was. How could she not? Lee Hyunjin.

Once, she had even been excited, thinking it was time to truly determine the superiority between the top student and the second-ranked, and had resolved to completely redefine their hierarchy and standing.

Now, Cheon Soyul had no room left for such trivial thoughts. Not even a tiny bit.

‘…Ah…’

Her mind was simply blank. No, it wasn’t so serious as to be incredibly complicated or make her heart pound.

Still, her condition wasn’t quite perfect enough to display her full power.

Cheon Soyul lightly pressed down on her clothes, adjusting their position.

Precisely the spot where Lee Hyunjin’s hand had almost reached just moments before.

Suddenly recalling the recent memory made Cheon Soyul’s head spin again.

And she screamed internally: *Crazy bastard, son of a bitch, perverted horny bastard.*

Naturally, all those epithets pointed to only one person. Cheon Soyul felt she couldn’t possibly maintain her sanity.

Just then, a roar of cheers erupted.

“…”

Cheon Soyul had no choice but to take another step forward. Then, she lifted her head.

She forced a confident posture, expression, and gaze as she looked at her opponent.

Lee Hyunjin stood there.

Cheon Soyul suddenly felt wronged.

‘That son of a bitch, really…’

His expression was so calm it was infuriating. He was preparing for their upcoming battle with such composure, it made her wonder how a person could be like that.

Lee Hyunjin’s unique, blue-white mana began to calmly swirl in the air.

Cheon Soyul’s lips pressed together. At the same time, she gnashed her teeth, suppressing the sound so others wouldn’t hear.

*Grind…*

Even so, she looked as if she was about to literally chew someone up. Probably Lee Hyunjin.

To her, the calm demeanor of her close friend felt utterly unfair.

Just moments ago, in the stadium’s waiting room—which, despite no one else being present, was officially ‘outside’—he had done such a thing.

Yet, after she had somehow been coaxed, appeased, and convinced onto the stage, she was the only one cautiously looking around.

What did this mean? Was *she* strange for caring about such a trivial matter(?)? No, rationally, that couldn’t be right, could it?

Cheon Soyul finally couldn’t hold back.

‘Ugh…!’

*Boom!*

She stomped the ground fiercely. The stadium stage, having undergone precise magical treatment, was unlikely to collapse, but a faint current began to flow from her powerful stomp just now.

This meant faint cracks had formed on the floor.

The noisy and chaotic arena suddenly fell silent. Quietly and calmly, everyone’s attention focused on Cheon Soyul.

And at this moment, Cheon Soyul decided not to care about such gazes anymore.

*What did it matter?*

‘What’s the main point? Ultimately, it’s about beating that bastard here and now, and all those other strange thoughts can be dealt with once I’m off the stage.’

Her eyes shone sharply. Her expression grew more serious, and a streak of lightning sparked beside her pale forehead.

Cheon Soyul was a girl with a personality that could admit all her own faults.

As such, she accepted everything as it was. Allowing Lee Hyunjin her body, dropping her guard to allow a relationship to form.

Furthermore, even allowing him to act like her lover, beyond just being a partner.

It was all her doing. Dealing with the aftermath was also her role, and since she had no intention of denying it, she would simply acknowledge it.

In any case, only one thing was most important.

Cheon Soyul’s gaze lowered.

That if he acted like a son of a bitch, he deserved a scolding. At the time, she had been flustered and let it slide, but not anymore.

‘Lee Hyunjin.’

*Zap!*

‘…No.’

With a brief clap of thunder, a pale blue blade of lightning formed in each of Cheon Soyul’s hands.

Cheon Soyul looked up straight ahead with a cool, detached gaze.

‘Come here, my son of a bitch.’

She muttered softly to herself.

*Peeeeeep!*

The next moment, the whistle signaling the start of the match blared through the speakers, echoing throughout the vast stadium.

Lightning and ice clashed fiercely.

*****

“Yes, yes. Calm down, calm down.”

Cheon Sehee’s eldest daughter, and the third team leader of [Raven], the most famous and powerful Awakened guild in modern-day Korea. ‘Mad Thunder’ Hyeon-a Cheon.

She was currently supporting her younger brother, while simultaneously patting his back.

Of course, she wasn’t talking about Cheon Soyul. She was currently on stage, in the middle of a brutal confrontation.

That is to say, she was talking about her other sibling. Her younger brother, not her younger sister.

A twenty-two-year-old young man said to have been born with lightning magic aptitude exceeding even Hyeon-a Cheon’s.

Cheon Woohyuk. The student council president of Cheongsong Academy.

“I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him, Lee Hyunjin…”

He was currently groaning and mumbling something as if half-sleep-talking. Though his speech was very slurred.

Hyeon-a Cheon could roughly guess what Cheon Woohyuk was trying to say.

Well, wasn’t it obvious? Even if he pretended otherwise, among his siblings, Cheon Woohyuk was the one who cared most deeply and cherished his family terribly.

Moreover, the topic that had just come up was none other than the youngest. The family’s darling, Cheon Soyul.

Hyeon-a Cheon twisted her lips, wearing a subtle expression that was difficult to decipher.

What she was looking at was straight ahead.

That is, the center of the stadium. The middle of the stage. On it, two geniuses were unleashing magic far beyond the level of second-year academy students.

One was a girl she knew well, and of course, that was Cheon Soyul.

This time, Hyeon-a Cheon’s focus was on the other one.

Lee Hyunjin, the prodigy of ice magic.

‘Haha, are those high-level spells truly possible at such a young age? Truly…’

Hyeon-a Cheon let out a silent burst of laughter, curling her lips into a grin as if she couldn’t help herself.

Whenever she asked about academy matters, Cheon Soyul would avoid the topic, and Cheon Woohyuk would clam up, so she didn’t know much.

How could her two younger siblings have hidden the existence of such an interesting child?

How heartless of them.

Hyeon-a Cheon, who had muttered to herself, casually laid Cheon Woohyuk on the chair before straightening her posture. The attitude of a model spectator!

She simply clapped softly, a faint smile playing on her lips.

The stage was filled with brutal person-to-person attack spells, any of which could inflict a fatal wound with a single graze, yet the individuals involved seemed to be completely unharmed.

If one pondered how that was possible, the answer came surprisingly quickly.

They were simply too familiar with each other.

At a level where they could read each other’s ‘hands’ completely.

Hyeon-a Cheon, an ‘Awakened’ individual, genuinely showed respect for the achievements of the two young students. The quiet applause she emitted was proof of that.

And then.

‘Oh dear, what should I do…’

The impressions of Hyeon-a Cheon, ‘Cheon Soyul’s elder sister’, were just beginning. She quickly shed the serious expression she had briefly worn and put on a mischievous smile across her face.

Simply put, if Cheon Woohyuk could see it, how could she not?

Naturally, she had understood everything. She had grasped the truth of the situation.

For instance, she felt like she could infer more detailed information about the interesting happening that occurred two months ago at the Cheon family’s main residence…

Hyeon-a Cheon simply thought to herself.

*How far did they go?*

Of course, no matter how the truth was revealed, she would respect and support her youngest sister’s choice.

Would the other family members do the same, though?

It was a question she couldn’t quite be sure of.

No, perhaps quite the opposite.

There was no need to mention Cheon Woohyuk. He was gnashing his teeth, and even now, while lying down and groaning, he was openly displaying hostility.

And the biggest problem, above all, was elsewhere. To be precise, to her right.

This time, holding a slight tension, Hyeon-a Cheon looked to her side.

More precisely, at the woman sitting there.

“…”

There sat the strongest mage in this country. The most experienced among the three Grand Mages.

She was none other than Myriad Thunder Cheon Sehee.

Hyeon-a Cheon hesitated for a moment, then leaned her shoulder against her with an awkward smile.

*Lightly.*

“Um, are you alright, Mom?”

*Zap!*

“Mom!”

And she quickly recoiled in surprise.

Hyeon-a Cheon quickly brushed off her shoulder.

Despite inherently possessing lightning resistance, a rough current that made her feel a sting had coursed through her body for a moment.

‘Oh dear, why is she taking it out on me like this…’

She decided to just keep her mouth shut.

Only grumbling internally.

It was the moment Hyeon-a Cheon thought that there was no one else to talk to about this matter, and she should just quietly watch the match.

*Whoosh…*

For a moment, a strangely artificial cold wind brushed past Hyeon-a Cheon’s ear.

Immediately after, a change occurred in the space.

Hyeon-a Cheon’s expression changed completely.

Cheon Woohyuk straightened himself.

“…You…”

Cheon Sehee erased the displeased expression she had been wearing moments ago and began to clearly show signs of bewilderment.

Her head turned to the side.

“Ahaha.”

There, a girl stood.

With a white hood pulled down deep.

The girl, with only her faint blue eyes visible, was already there, glancing over at the arena.

“…I thought I might be a little late.”

The girl’s lips curved into a pleasant arc.

She hummed in a clear voice.

“Fortunately, I seem to have arrived well. Haha, this is perfectly within the margin of error.”

“…”

“Don’t you think so, Auntie?”