episode_0009

When I came to my senses, the first day of the new semester had arrived.

Since I’d already processed my course retake request at the department office, I spent the past month leisurely waiting for classes to begin.

Honestly, it would be a lie to say my heart wasn’t pounding.

I didn’t know what to say when I faced my male classmates again.

And although the department chair had promised to talk to the professors, I had no idea how much of it would actually be reflected.

Frankly, I might even have to consider coming out as a variant.

But then again, I wondered if it was really something worth worrying about this much.

So what if I’m a variant? As long as I’m not hurting anyone, shouldn’t that be enough?

Realizing I might be overthinking it, I decided to relax.

Let’s just go with the flow.

My pounding heart quickly settled down. A reasonable explanation would suffice for my classmates, and if the professors hadn’t been informed, I could just explain it to them myself.

After all, any attention I got would die down soon enough.

…That’s what I thought at one point.

But I had overlooked one crucial fact.

My current appearance wasn’t just pretty—it was undeniably beautiful by anyone’s standards.

The stares I attracted from people around me were overwhelming.

Hey, dude passing by.

Even I can tell you two look like a campus couple, but your girlfriend over there has been glaring daggers at you for a while now…? That’s fine with you, right?!

Suddenly, a chilling thought struck me.

With this level of attention, there would definitely be at least one person—whether an attention-seeker or not—who’d ask for my number.

Oh, how dreadful.

Please, let nothing happen on my way to the College of Humanities.

Thankfully, no man dared to approach me.

It probably helped that despite my beauty, I exuded an intimidating aura that made people hesitate to come near.

Yun Seo-ah once described me as having “a face so cold it could freeze the air just by making eye contact.”

As soon as I arrived at the College of Humanities, I headed straight to the assigned lecture hall.

The first class was… Understanding Modern Literature, taught by none other than our department chair, Professor Kim Yeon-hwa.

If anything, that was a relief.

The department chair already knew who I was—and how I had changed.

When I arrived, the lecture hall was still almost empty. No, scratch that—it was completely empty.

Which made sense, since I’d come absurdly early to avoid running into people.

Blankly, I lowered my head and stared at my phone.

As expected, I found myself browsing the variant community forum again.

I wonder what’s happened today.

With mild anticipation, I scrolled through—and sure enough, something had already blown up.

This time, our high elf friend seemed to have gotten into some bizarre trouble.

[AHHHH SAVE ME!!!]

The Tree Lord is furious!!!!

He’s threatening that if I don’t transplant him into fertile soil IMMEDIATELY, he’ll grow over 100 meters tall!!

-What kind of nonsense is this now?

-Probably just messing with plants during his usual chat routine and accidentally triggered something lolol

-I thought high elves were supposed to be majestic, but this one’s just looking like a dumbass elf smh

-100-meter tree??? LMAO who’s spewing this crap?

-Bro if this is a giant sequoia, it’ll grow up to 80 meters at least!!!

-WHAT DID YOU EVEN DO TO END UP GROWING A GIANT SEQUOIA??? Are you even Korean???

-I am Korean, but I live in California now!!! Moved here after my variant awakening lol

-WHAT DID YOU SAY TO MAKE THE TREE GO BERSERK???

-I teased it for being tiny despite being a giant sequoia, and it suddenly went off like BOOM!!!

-Absolute madwoman LMAOOOOO

-Korean elves can’t even compare;;; what kinda mutant grows a GIANT SEQUOIA??

-Fr fr, I just grow normal potted plants on my balcony, but this girl over here—

-Wait, isn’t a high elf supposed to be like, respected by other elves or something?

-Does that even matter in modern times??? I’ve never even met another elf, and honestly, I wouldn’t wanna bow to someone like her… She acts like my annoying little niece smh;; (Still, kinda jealous she can talk to plants tho;;)

-LMAOOO mood. By the way, what happened to that gardener job you mentioned last time?

-Uh… Got hired by some rich family, so yeah. Pay’s decent too.

-Nice.

Good grief. A Korean-American from California, of all things.

No wonder the tree she posted last time looked unnaturally huge.

As I absentmindedly chuckled at the nonsense, the lecture hall gradually filled with people.

But then… someone unexpectedly started approaching me.

“Um…”

When I looked up, I saw a familiar face standing there.

Lee Si-hyeon.

The underclassman I had saved.

Si-hyeon had spent the break searching tirelessly for Seo-hyeon’s whereabouts.

She dug up rumors about sightings of dragon-type variants and even ventured into variant communities trying to find her.

But Seo-hyeon had vanished completely—as if she had stopped appearing in public altogether.

Given how rare dragon-type variants were, there should’ve been plenty of interest in her—yet she never showed up anywhere.

Si-hyeon couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Even searching by the name “Yoon Seo-hyeon” was futile. How many people in Korea shared that name?

And what if it was even an alias? Someone who concealed themselves this thoroughly would surely use a fake name.

Throughout the break, Si-hyeon’s mind kept replaying the scene she had witnessed that day.

A hero who stopped an out-of-control variant and saved lives.

Will I ever see her again? I want to meet her at least once. Since she’s a dragon-type variant, she’ll show up somewhere eventually…

She dwelled on those thoughts, preparing for the start of the semester while clinging to that lingering hope. Then, on the first day of class, she walked to the lecture hall with her classmates—ones she’d grown close to during the first semester.

The subject was Understanding Modern Literature.

Though taught by the department chair, the class wasn’t overly strict, and the exams were known to be quite lenient, making it a popular pick.

“I heard there’s a group project for this one… Hope we end up in the same group.”

Si-hyeon nodded as her classmate, Nam Su-yeon, spoke.

“Yeah. I don’t wanna get stuck in some group project nightmare with randos.”

“From what I heard from the seniors last semester, things got brutal. Apparently, some groups even had their leader bail midway.”

“Seriously? Who dropped out?”

“No clue. Heard they were some scary senior… Can’t remember the name exactly. But from what I gathered, some incident happened. Medical leave, or something… Some third-year guys were gossiping that he collapsed from overwork carrying six logs during the group project.”

“SIX?!”

“Yeah. And apparently, half the group were exchange students, so he basically prepped the presentation alone.”

“At that point, I’d bail too. That’s insane. Who’d willingly shoulder all that crap?”

“From what I heard, he was just insanely responsible. Remember how our department has almost zero toxic seniority culture now? Apparently, he’s the one who beat the crap out of the fourth-years and fixed things.”

“Wait, for real? That’s like some heroic tale.”

“It literally is, hehe. But after that fight, even the second-years were too scared to approach him.”

“Sounds like a hardcore rebel.”

“Rebel? More like a martyr. Before him, the second-years were constantly harassed by the fourth-years.”

“Honestly, shouldn’t we be thanking him instead of being scared?”

“Psychologically, yeah—some seniors do think that way. But apparently, he puts up walls around everyone himself… Even when other third-year guys invite him to gatherings, he dips instantly, saying he’s ‘not used to this stuff.’”

“Huh… What’s his name?”

“I told you, I don’t know—wait. Hold on.”

Su-yeon tapped on her phone, asking around, and soon returned with the answer Si-hyeon wanted.

“Yo. Someone just told me. His name’s Yoon Seo-hyeon.”

“……What?”

“Hearing the name, I kinda remember now. There was this really intimidating senior who showed up briefly during orientation—huge build, scary face. That’s him.”

“……I think I recall.”

Now that she thought about it, there had been a senior like that during orientation.

But that memory didn’t match the variant who had saved her at all… Still, was it possible?

Of course, it could just be someone with the same name.

“Do you know any other rumors about him?”

“Nope. After he vanished during that group project last year, he totally disappeared.”

“…….”

That was a disappointing answer for Si-hyeon, who had hoped for even a scrap of information.

“Why the sudden interest, though? You into him?”

“No, not like that… Oh, it’s almost time. Let’s head to the lecture hall.”

“Kay.”

When Si-hyeon opened the lecture hall door, her breath caught in her throat.

A familiar silhouette stood out—a woman dressed entirely in black.

Her outfit might’ve looked drab to some, but it suited her almost too well.

And the oversized cap on her head…

Si-hyeon remembered that cap vividly.

Seeing the woman hunched over her phone, Si-hyeon instinctively walked toward her.

“Whoa… Who’s that? Was she always in our department? Transfer student? Hey, Si-hyeon—where are you going?”

“Hold on.”

Ignoring her friend, Si-hyeon approached Seo-hyeon.

“Um…”

“Hm? Oh.”

Their eyes met. Seo-hyeon smiled softly at her.

In that moment, Si-hyeon knew—without a doubt—that this was the person who had saved her.

“Y-You’re the one who saved me that time, right?”

“We’ve met before, haven’t we? How have you been?”

“Ah, well, I—”

“Seems like you’re flustered running into me like this, underclassman.”

“U-Underclassman?”

“Yep. I’m Yoon Seo-hyeon, class of ‘14. You’re Lee Si-hyeon, class of ‘18, right?”

“Y-Yes.”

Before she knew it, Si-hyeon was nodding dumbly in response.