Chapter 7: Human Desire
by Afuhfuihgs(TL: Perspective Shift to Kim Soo-ho)
Kim Soo-ho and Lee Seo-yeon were friends.
Childhood friends who had spent time together since they were very young.
Like many childhood friends, Kim Soo-ho and Lee Seo-yeon were the best of pals to each other.
Always together when things needed to be done in pairs.
Rarely separated from each other.
The kind of pals who always yielded a step for the other’s sake.
Of course, the depth of their friendship might have stemmed from their background in an orphanage.
The orphanage where Kim Soo-ho and Lee Seo-yeon stayed was a place that couldn’t be deemed good even when put kindly.
Perhaps it was fortunate they weren’t sold off somewhere without anyone knowing.
Indeed, stories circulated about places with environments worse than their orphanage, selling children to human traffickers.
In conclusion, having lived together through difficult circumstances might have brought them much closer than they otherwise would have been.
Not necessarily because Kim Soo-ho and Lee Seo-yeon genuinely liked each other and became close.
However, Kim Soo-ho didn’t pay much attention to it.
Because he and Lee Seo-yeon were already the best of friends.
So what if their closeness stemmed from their upbringing?
It didn’t change the fact that they were best friends.
He thought such headache-inducing problems weren’t very important.
-“Pardon?”
-“Kim Soo-ho. I see high mana compatibility in you.”
Until his hidden mana talent was discovered.
The beginning wasn’t grand.
He had simply done a good deed.
-“Kyaa-!”
– “Look out!”
A dog that looked like it had rabies charged at a girl living in the same orphanage, and he had simply stopped it.
Without a single injury.
Without allowing even a single scratch.
It was incredible, no one could believe it.
A young boy, not yet old enough to enter the academy, stopped an animal that even an adult with considerable mana couldn’t fend off.
Only sometime later was it revealed that the dog that attacked the girl didn’t actually have rabies.
Come to think of it, that made the story even more incredible.
Because it meant he had stopped a dog rampaging due to someone’s mana, essentially no different from a magical beast.
Naturally, the orphanage was thrown into chaos.
A child under their care was a genius, the kind that might appear once every 100 years.
Moreover, the good fortune didn’t end there.
The girl Kim Soo-ho had saved also awakened ‘Divine Power’ as a result of the incident.
Was it a blessing in disguise?
An accident that could have potentially forced the orphanage to close its doors instantly became an event that elevated its reputation.
One’s a genius, the other possesses divine power.
It was essentially like two geniuses appearing at once.
At first, it was simply joyful.
It was funny how the orphanage teachers, who used to treat him slightly less than human, suddenly started being nice to him.
It was also nice that the friend who awakened divine power after he saved her began showing him a kind of one-sided affection.
Because humans, as creatures, always respond well to kindness.
Lee Seo-yeon also smiled at first.
Even though it had nothing to do with her, she celebrated as if it were her own achievement, and smiled brightly.
‘Is this what best friends, childhood friends, are like?’
His closest friend always flashed him a bright smile whenever she saw him.
…Although it was merely a fleeting moment.
After discovering his talent, Kim Soo-ho became very busy.
It was only natural.
The Empire wouldn’t let such mana talent go to waste.
He had to spend busy days studying things he hadn’t been able to before, alongside the friend who had awakened divine power.
Naturally, the time he spent with his childhood friend decreased.
At first, there was no time to spend together.
Later, he was too exhausted from his busy schedule.
It was a cowardly excuse by anyone’s standards, but he thought it was okay.
-“It’s alright. You must be tired, rest well.”
Because Lee Seo-yeon never lost her smile.
Seeing his childhood friend’s smiling face felt like receiving salvation.
He thought it would be alright.
“……Soo-ho. Do I look okay to you?”
“…”
“If you can understand, then stop and let me go. I need to prepare for the next class.”
Until he faced the chilling voice of his childhood friend, who had always smiled at him.
Thud- Thud-
Until he faced the ash-gray hair of Lee Seo-yeon, turning her back as if she hadn’t heard him call out.
Although Kim Soo-ho was always told by the friendly female students around him that he was clueless.
This time, he could clearly tell.
No, he couldn’t not realize it.
“Seo-yeon……?”
That something was wrong.
And that they’d already become too distant to patch things up.
The realization was better late than never.
(TL: Perspective shifts back to Lee Seo-yeon)
It was strange.
The protagonist and Heroine 2.
Both were strange.
Neither of them usually paid much attention to me.
Especially Christina, who had no interest in me other than the constant bullying.
Why have they been staring holes through me since the last class?
I was willing to understand up to a certain point.
Even to me, my changed appearance was peculiar.
Dyeing hair in Starfrost Academy, where everyone maintained their birth hair color?
It required considerable guts, and it wouldn’t be strange at all if every passing student glanced once.
Of course, that didn’t mean I understood them staring at me throughout the entire class.
No matter how much I thought, I couldn’t figure it out.
The reason why the Third Imperial Princess, Christina Valentine, who lacked nothing, would glare at me like that.
The only thing that came to mind was that Christina originally disliked me.
If she disliked me that much, she should have been doing this all along.
Why start today, all of a sudden?
It’s uncomfortable.
‘…Is it because of this morning?’
For a moment, the thought ‘Could it be because of what happened this morning?’ crossed my mind.
But Christina was someone who would jump for joy like a frog if I died, not someone who would shed tears in sorrow, so I dismissed it.
Think about it logically.
Who would be sad when their rival disappears?
They’d go, ‘Finally, the obstacle is gone! Yay!’ Who would be sad?
The only person who might grieve over the disappearance of their rival would probably be a ‘Saint’ type character, pretty common in fantasy novels.
You know the type, right?
The Saint. Merciful to all, fair to everyone.
Treasuring every life, anyone’s life.
The kind of Saint that ends up infuriating readers of the novel.
“…”
Speaking of Saints, one person flashed through my mind.
A character with a personality more saintly than anyone else.
A character so saintly that, following common novel clichés, she became Kim Soo-ho’s first heroine.
……A character who was also Lee Seo-yeon’s second closest friend.
‘Not anymore, though.’
I shook off the useless thoughts messing with my head.
I didn’t have time for such thoughts.
First, I had to somehow deal with our Princess, whose gaze was extremely intense.
‘Seriously, I might get marks from this.’
‘I don’t want marks left on my body by glares.’
“Alright. That’s all for this morning’s classes. Everyone, enjoy your lunch.”
How deeply lost in thought was I? The 50-minute-long class period at Starfrost Academy vanished at the speed of light.
‘…How annoying.’
‘Usually, it drags on no matter how much I wish it would end quickly.’
Annoyance surged at the always arbitrary flow of time, but unfortunately, there was no time to express that annoyance.
“……Excuse me.”
“?”
“Are you perhaps free during lunchtime?”
Our dear Heroine 2, who had been fervently staring at me since earlier, had personally graced my desk with her presence.
“Why is the Princess going to her?”
“I don’t know either. Maybe the reason she was late this morning was because of her?”
“Ah. Is that why she went over? To confront her about this morning?”
“Looks like it.”
Whispers about Christina and me could be heard from the surroundings.
‘Seriously, what did I even do?’
I felt extremely wronged by this situation I found myself in.
I genuinely wondered what I did to deserve this.
All I said were things Christina should have liked.
Surely she wouldn’t hate the idea of me dying, right?
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. Is that not possible?”
“Yes…… It doesn’t seem possible.”
“……Really?”
“…”
Despite clearly expressing my refusal, Christina didn’t back down easily.
As if she absolutely had to spend lunchtime with me.
As if, should she fail to have lunch with me now, she would regret it for the rest of her life.
…Annoyances flared up.
‘Who do you think you are?’
‘You usually just bullied me.’
‘Who the hell do you think you are, to try and steal my lunchtime?’
Of course, these sentences never left my mouth.
“Lunch is on me.”
“……Are you suggesting we eat out? Not the cafeteria?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Let’s go.”
Because the mere offer to buy lunch caused the iron-like wall around my heart to crumble.
Perhaps the wall was made of clay, not iron.
It collapsed so easily.
But I was still proud.
No, it’s natural for humans to want to eat delicious food.
It’s just one of the natural desires of humans.
Am I wrong?
There was no one to answer.
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