Ch.2927 – Playground

# Enhanced Streaming Translation

“Hey Jihye! How was your break?”

“Wow Seori, it’s been a while! Yeah, good! How about you?”

“Hehe, mine was good too. We went skiing last week!”

“I’m so jealous! My dad always wants to go hiking even in winter.”

At Cephiron Academy, the snow that had been frozen solid during winter was gradually melting with the vibrant stirring of new sprouts.

Unlike the high school division where the bitter cold still lingered, the elementary division was so filled with the children’s energy that even passersby might mistake the warmth radiating from them.

The awkward two-week period between winter and spring break.

Most schools had merged this into one winter break, but a few institutions including the Academy still maintained the February semester system.

Instead, the school provided various non-academic activities, giving children opportunities to explore potential career paths.

A school without classes was nothing short of a massive playground for elementary students.

Children who hadn’t seen each other for a month and a half greeted one another, eagerly unpacking their stories.

Being the first day back, teachers weren’t particularly inclined to quiet the children’s excitement.

After all, the planned programs were officially starting tomorrow, so today had no schedule beyond announcements.

The innocent children’s minds were filled with nothing but thoughts of getting to recess quickly to have snowball fights.

“Is that kid late? They’re just walking across the field now.”

“Where, where?”

“Waaaay over there, just coming in through the back gate.”

“Oh yeah! Who is that?”

At Cephiron Academy, the concept of late students was unimaginable.

That’s why a child leisurely strolling across the field naturally attracted attention.

“Alright children, quiet down and take your seats. There’s a transfer interview in multipurpose room 126 on the first floor from 11 to 12 today, so make sure you don’t go near that area. Everyone understand?”

“Yeeeees.”

“Teacher, what’s a transfer?”

“A transfer is when someone switches to our academy mid-year. They have to take the same tests as you did, right? That’s why there’s an interview test today.”

“Teacher, is a transfer student coming? What grade are they in?”

“I can’t tell you what grade until they’re accepted, so I can’t say.”

*Ding dong dang dong*

Hearing the recess bell, the homeroom teacher of Cephiron Academy’s Class 1-A reminded the children to play carefully and emphasized once more not to go near room 126.

“They looked really young! Aren’t they our age?”

“Right? So they must be transferring into second grade?”

“Want to go see? If we hurry, we might get to see their face!”

“No way! Teacher said we’d get penalty points if we went there.”

Unlike Seori, who was already excited about the unconfirmed transfer student, Jihye calmly tried to dissuade her.

But even Jihye couldn’t help being curious about the rumored transfer student.

“Really? Our teacher didn’t tell us anything about that!”

“Probably because we don’t usually have any reason to go to room 126.”

“What do they look like? Boy or girl?”

The transfer student gossip wasn’t just hot among Class A students—it was the talk of the entire first grade.

Rumors ranged from claims that a daughter from a famous foreign royal family had come to study abroad, to whispers that a spy raised secretly by an unnamed criminal organization had come to Cephiron Academy on a mission!

In just the 10-minute recess, the children had begun theorizing about her identity, each displaying their own creativity.

While the teachers were called to the auditorium for career program announcements, it was Class A’s action leader Han Seori who summoned the courage to meet the transfer student directly.

With bold declarations that she would become a detective and expose the transfer student’s identity, Seori led her assistant out.

And that’s how Jihye was helplessly dragged along.

“Seori, the teacher said not to leave the classroom during fourth period self-study until the bell rings. What if we get caught?”

“It’s fine. All the teachers are gathered in the auditorium, they won’t know.”

“We’ve been waiting for 30 minutes already…”

“Shh! We’ll get caught because of you! Oh? Someone’s coming out! Hide, hide!”

Penalty points were far from enough to suppress Seori’s curiosity.

“I think that’s the same kid from earlier. Can you see?”

“It’s too far to see clearly. Oh, I can see now! But what are we going to do? Are you really going to talk to them?”

“Of course! Why else would we have waited?”

“Ugh, I don’t want any part of this!”

Seori ran toward the back gate without a moment’s hesitation.

Jihye tried her best to catch up, but Seori had already gotten too far ahead and was about to come face-to-face with the student.

“Hi! I’m Seori! Han Seori!”

“…?”

“Hi! I’m Seori! Han Seori!”

“You didn’t need to say it twice. Do we know each other?”

“No, first time meeting!”

“Ah. Are you a student at this school?”

“Huff huff… Seori, you dropped your scarf.”

“Oh! When did I drop that? Thanks!”

“Um, hello…? I’m Jihye.”

Jihye, who had joined them late, handed Seori her scarf and introduced herself as well.

The transfer student was smaller and more slight than Jihye had imagined. They were about a head shorter than Seori, who was tall for her age.

Unlike Seori, who had curly blonde hair and blue eyes due to her mixed heritage, the transfer student had black hair like Jihye’s, suggesting they were Korean, though there was an undeniably exotic air about them.

“I’m Han Seori, first year at Cephiron Academy! This is my friend Ma Jihye. Are you transferring to our academy? What’s your name?”

But despite Seori’s enthusiastic greeting that resembled a retriever, the transfer student chose to ignore her and walk past.

“Uh… uh…?”

“They just walked away?”

Having never imagined being ignored, Seori’s mouth remained agape.

“Yeah, they just left…”

They stared intently for a while, hoping the transfer student might turn back, but no such thing happened.

The only thing they could see was the transfer student taking a headband from their pocket and neatly tying their hair on both sides.

* * *

They say that sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.

Similarly, sufficiently advanced brainwashing magic is also hard to distinguish from reality.

Especially in a barbaric age where magical ethics were thrown to the dogs, the joke that even stray cats could cast black magic didn’t sound like a joke anymore.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m not actually reincarnating repeatedly, but rather under some powerful hypnosis.

A brain in a vat, that sort of thing.

But when truly confronted with reality, such thoughts would quickly disappear into the abyss.

“Hey big sis, my mom says if you don’t live in this apartment complex, you’re not supposed to play here!”

“Who made that rule?”

“Umm… I don’t know? Wait, let me ask my big brother!”

The world constantly evolves.

Humans discover fire and defeat mammoths and wyverns.

The concept of nations is established, and conquest wars unfold.

Slavery is abolished, and democracy based on freedom and equality is built.

Mana is continuously refined, and magic also advances.

And now, is this world with the means to rationally control all these things a brave new world?

“Hey, where do you live?”

“…”

“I don’t think I’ve seen you in this complex before. No outsiders allowed here. If you want to play, go to another playground.”

“I live in building 102, apartment 3903.”

“Oh, really? Well, have fun then.”

The world develops through human selfishness, and that driving force probably won’t disappear until humanity goes extinct.

As long as money and fame remain the forces driving world development, the sad reality is that humans cannot defy capitalism and power hierarchies.

Failed the academy interview, no one to hang out with at home, and not in the mood to connect to the capsule—just one of those days.

Sitting on the swing and kicking my legs, I tried to feel like other kids my age, but the unsettled feeling wouldn’t go away.

“Get lost, you beggar!”

“Ugh, you stink!”

Look.

In this world, there is no clear good or evil.

There must have been reasons for banning outsiders from wealthy apartment playgrounds.

Perhaps difficulty in holding outsiders accountable for property damage, or real adult concerns like property values.

Under adult control, children enjoy good environments, but conversely, that young child who happened to wander into the playground is now being beaten.

Children either join in or deliberately ignore it, while adults look the other way.

“Aaaahhhh!!!”

“Why aren’t you leaving? Go back to your home!”

Disgust. Yes, disgust. I’d been wondering what this unsettled feeling was.

The memory was so old I’d completely forgotten.

When a hero’s party, destined to defeat the Demon Lord, encounters their own sponsors exploiting the people everywhere they go, what should they do?

Should the common folk all be sacrificed under the greater cause of defeating the Demon Lord? Or should they ignore the people dying at the borders and focus on immediate relief?

How did they respond back then…

“Hey, what are you doing! Why are you hitting that kid!”

Anyway, when my disgust reached its peak and I finally got off the swing, there were children who took action before me.

“Who are you to say that?”

The girl, whose face was now covered in dirt, barely lifted her head. Her white dress was so soiled it was barely recognizable.

And there were five children, at least three or four years older than her. They had been bullying her where parental supervision couldn’t reach.

When no one thought to stop them, two familiar figures appeared, bravely confronting them.

The two first-year students I’d coincidentally met on the way home from school.

“We live here too! Aren’t you ashamed of ganging up on one person? If it were me, I’d bite my tongue and kill myself from shame!”

“What? Did your mom teach you to talk like that?”

“Well, did your mom teach you to bully innocent kids?”

Children fighting without giving an inch.

Though their vocabulary might be lacking, their spirit doesn’t yield to anyone.

Finally, the bulky child who seemed to be the leader of the five stepped forward.

“You think we’re doing this because we’re bored? She’s being stubborn and refusing to leave. How much better would it be if she just left when we asked nicely?”

“That’s not true! I was… I was waiting for my mom! Mom told me to wait right here… hic… waaaah!”

“Will you shut up?”

“Hey! I told you not to hit her! If you hit her again, we won’t let it slide!”

“What are you going to do? Want to fight? You confident?”

“Yeah, I’m not scared.”

It’s absolute chaos.

I mean, if this is a wealthy neighborhood, shouldn’t there be security guards?

I wonder where all the adults have gone.

“Kyaaaah!”

The friend who introduced herself as Han Seori was pushed and rolled on the ground.

“Try acting up one more time and you’re dead.”

“Using aura? You crazy bastard… you’re all going to get destroyed by Jihye.”

“What are you talking about? Huh?”

“Die!!!”

As soon as Seori fell, Jihye charged through the group of boys.

I was wondering what made Seori so confident, and it turned out her friend was no ordinary kid.

Jihye had wrapped aura around both her legs and arms, and literally ran in for a body slam.

“Aaaaargh! She’s actually crazy!”

“Die! Just die!”

“Someone get this brat off me!”

And then, regardless of whether she got hit or not, she focused relentlessly on the one who had fallen.

But one of the children brought a thick wooden stick from somewhere and was about to strike Jihye’s head with all his might while she was busy hitting.

Just when I thought things were being resolved…

“That’s enough.”

[Casting: Friction Coefficient Adjustment]

[4th Circle Joint Casting: Gravity Coefficient Adjustment]

[Writing: Rotational Transformation]

The children who were about to beat Jihye all lost their balance and fell.

Everyone, regardless of limbs or face, completely adhered to the ground in a perfect prone position.

Finally, it’s time for me, the adult, to step in.