episode_0001

It was ten years after I was reborn that I realized I had fallen into the world of a novel I hadn’t even properly read.

On the way home from school, I suddenly looked up and saw that the street was more boisterous than usual.

I heard that a Korean S-rank Awakener had finally succeeded in subjugating a great monster that had been threatening the world in the Arctic Ocean.

I became a little interested. Perhaps because it was a moment when the existence of gates, monsters, and Awakeners, which hadn’t existed in my previous life, were clearly imprinted upon me.

So, when I returned home, I looked up a bit about that S-rank Awakener. His name was Yang Chan-ho, he was in his early twenties, and his hometown was Daejeon.

And his unique ability: the ability to transform a mop into a holy sword for battling monsters…

“…”

I remember seeing this ability somewhere.

A strong sense of déjà vu washed over me.

Click, click. So I decided to look further online. Hero Yang Chan-ho, exactly what kind of person was he?

Then I saw an article.

[Korea’s Pride who subjugated Jormungandr revealed he wants to establish an academy to foster Awakeners if he gets the chance…]

“Ah.”

And then I realized. More accurately, perhaps it’s right to say ‘it came to mind’?

My past life, which I could no longer properly remember, and a novel I seemed to have read sometime.

The genre was a common academy-themed story, but I remembered not having looked deeply into even the prologue, let alone chapter 1.

Was it not interesting? Or perhaps it wasn’t to my taste. Either way, it probably wasn’t a significant reason. Such things are hardly rare.

However, the reason I could still remember the setting of that novel, whose title I didn’t know,

was, so to speak, all because of that man, Hero Yang Chan-ho.

Whether it was the ability to control flames, or the ability to draw sword energy from a blade. Such things were all so common that they didn’t evoke much emotion.

But an ability user who turns a mop into a holy sword? Regardless of the work’s content, the impact alone was strong. It was bound to be impressive.

Awakeners in this world were usually like that. Like someone who could reach train-like speeds with a rabbit hop, or someone who turned into a giant by drinking seawater.

At first, I just thought, ‘What a unique world this is.’ Was it because it was a world inside a novel?

Anyway.

That was the moment I began to think more seriously about my future path.

After all, this place was not entirely unrelated to my previous life.

The dilemma naturally began. Anyway, though this world was an academy story, as I said repeatedly, I hadn’t even read the novel properly.

I didn’t know the content. I didn’t even remember the protagonist well. Plot development? Ending? How could I possibly know such things?

…However, there was one thing I did know. That usually, academy-themed stories inherently have a rather harsh world.

Whether contrived or not, ultimately, if you weren’t within the academy, a civilian’s fate was to be exposed to threats in some way or another.

That’s how it was, ultimately. Of course, I didn’t want to become an extra who would get caught up in a commotion caused by the story’s characters encountering villains in the city center on a weekend, ending up hurt or dead.

So, was enrolling in the academy the most ideal choice?

The situation where I couldn’t definitively say ‘yes’ to that was truly perplexing. After all, what guarantee of safety was there just by enrolling in an academy?

Since I wasn’t the protagonist, it meant I ultimately had to look out for my own safety.

Was enrolling in the academy really the right choice?

Or was finding another way to survive more stable…?

It was around the time I had deliberated and agonized for a full year. Perhaps it wanted to relieve my worries even a little.

Ding!

“Huh.”

A characteristic mechanical sound in the air, said to be heard only by rare Awakeners, I felt like I was having a delusion that it had also reached my ears.

──────────────── Congratulations. You have been chosen as an Awakener. ────────────────

…No, it wasn’t a delusion. Because the next moment after the mechanical sound was actually heard, I witnessed a translucent blue window appear before my eyes.

Thus, I became an Awakener. Even though I hadn’t particularly wished for it.

But I wasn’t even given the time to properly process my vexation.

Before that, my unconsciously moving hand had already touched the status window—.

──────────────── [Owned Ability] [The ability to steal a certain portion of an individual’s power by engaging in sexual intercourse with them.] ────────────────

“Huh?”

My ‘ability,’ which I would have preferred to live my whole life without knowing, I ended up observing it because I carelessly pressed the status window.

Now I can’t turn back…

Oh, and by the way.

At the time, I was a third-grader in elementary school.

*****

As people live their lives, they often experience their expectations being wrong, or plans they’ve painstakingly made going awry from the very first step.

It was natural. Because no one can accurately know their own future.

Well, unless you’re that famous British prophet with the ‘ability to glimpse the future by chewing and swallowing gold bars,’ that is.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this:

It’s nothing else but that my various imaginings and conjectures from that young age, specifically around when I was ten years old, didn’t entirely pan out.

First of all.

Was this world a vicious place that constantly threw life-threatening crises at civilians?

It wasn’t. Of course, it wasn’t as good as my previous life, but the public safety here was quite decent.

For example, it didn’t mean gates exploded every other day, rampaged, and monsters just burst out.

The world had largely regained its peace after Hero Yang Chan-ho defeated the colossal serpent monster named Jormungandr.

Talk of South Korea’s international standing rising, now that it was a ‘Yang Chan-ho Possessing Nation,’ and so on, and whether villain guilds still remained in the shadows, and such…

Frankly, such matters had little to do with me.

Since the methods for dealing with gates and monsters had become quite standardized, the instances of people dying almost daily, as in the early days of the great upheaval, had practically ceased.

As a result, I didn’t even need to bother enrolling in the Cheongsong Academy founded by Yang Chan-ho anymore…

Well, even so, I did end up enrolling because I felt it would be a waste of all the effort I put in since that ‘turning point day in my life’ back in third grade.

I don’t know if it should be called a reincarnation perk, but regardless, I was born with quite an excellent talent for mana, among many Awakeners.

Fortunately, I met a capable master and was able to become a promising young mage.

Therefore, I proudly secured the second-highest rank among the 9th-generation freshmen of Cheongsong Academy and entered the institution.

At nineteen years old, I spent a year in the competitive arena known as the academy. Moreover, maintaining the second-highest rank itself wasn’t difficult.

After all, wasn’t I someone who had studied under one of Korea’s three greatest archmages?

Even those from prestigious Awakener families, and so on, were all beneath me. The Sword Saint’s disciple, the Gwon Hwang’s granddaughter, and the Dragon King’s successor — all of them.

At this point, it wasn’t strange for me to feel quite proud of my magical abilities.

Yes, with this level of skill and talent, why would I need to rely on a unique ability that was like a chicken’s ribs [something not valuable enough to keep but too good to discard, a dilemma]?

There were many in the world who became S-rank Awakeners purely through skill, despite possessing useless abilities.

In that sense, I decided not to reveal my ability to the world, not to utilize it, and to live carefully my whole life, ensuring it was never known.

Because there would be absolutely no good from a rumor spreading that a promising new mage’s unique ability was so obscene.

I resolved that, and maintaining the second-highest rank until the end of the semester, I became a second-year student at the academy.

Then, on the day vacation began, I had a drinking session with the top-ranked student from my cohort, with whom I had fiercely competed for a year…

──────────────── [Based on your ability, copying Cheon Soyul’s unique magic, Heavenly Lightning (天雷).] ────────────────

Huh?

“…Die. You bastard. You beast. You’re truly the worst, Lee Hyunjin.”

Oh.

“And I should die too. Even if I was drunk, for sleeping with a guy like that, I, I should just die.”

Um.

“…It was my first time, sob…”

“…”

“Take responsibility, take responsibility…”

How did things end up like this? It had been almost twenty years since I last drank, and I remembered the alcohol tasting quite good, so I went for a third round.

When I came to my senses, morning had broken, and I was under the same blanket as a beautiful girl with light brown hair, her pale bare skin completely exposed.

Her name was Cheon Soyul. The precious jewel of the prestigious Awakener family, the Cheon clan [天, meaning Sky/Heaven], and the top-ranked student of the 9th generation at the academy, specializing in lightning magic.

And for an entire year, she and I had been constantly competing for the top spot, the position of the top-ranked student.

Last night was probably no different. She and I always fought tooth and nail.

Except now, the battlefield had become a bed.

“Sob, sob.”

“…”

“I can’t even remember it well, but, sob, you were so rough. You really have no manners whatsoever, and even though I said it was my first time, you showed no consideration. Haa. Are you trying to show off your virginity, you idiot, really…”

Ah…

This is, well.

Hmm.

So this is how it turns out.