[March 1, 2032]
[Today, there is an entrance ceremony and opening ceremony of the Korean Magic Academy. The entrance ceremony for the first grade and the opening ceremony for the second and third graders will be held together, so all students should gather at the auditorium of Hyunja Hall by 10:30 a.m.]
“Apparently, things are going to turn around.” Feeling absurd about the situation, I put my smart student notebook in my pocket.
It was the same day seven years ago. School uniforms, school, text messages, everything. I had no choice but to admit it – I had definitely regressed back in time. “By the way, why did Lee Seo-joon die?”
I was lost in thought as I recalled last night. Perhaps the cause of this situation was the death of Lee Seo-joon. This was because I had seen with my eyes the phrase resetting the world with his death. However, I still didn’t understand this situation.
According to the original, there was no reason for Lee Seo-joon to die. Even the fact that Akryong and Cruas caused a second runaway in downtown Seoul was the same as the original. That meant that there was something else playing about with his death.
“Um….”
“…Oh, I don’t know.”
I leaned back on the bench, sighing. On second thought, there was no way to find out. The previous life was already over and there had been a lack of clues. I would have thought that there would be something inevitable, but I didn’t know that, either.
This thought suddenly occurred to me. What would happen if Lee Seo-joon died again in this life? Would we once again be going back to the past like this? Or was the world coming to an end?
I didn’t know for sure. However, what was clear was that we didn’t know what would happen if Lee Seo-joon were to die again this time. Then the answer was out. This life couldn’t possibly turn around like before. We would need to intervene in the main scenario or prepare for Lee Seo-joon’s death in the future.
“……Can I do it?” I had been hiding for seven years. I couldn’t help but feel less confident now that I was active.
“Ha, if I knew this would happen, I would have experienced this and that.”
At this point, the belated regret came, but it was quickly shaken off.
Still, I felt a little comfortable now that I had organized my thoughts to some extent. Yeah, let’s not be impatient. Lee Seo-joon would die in seven years anyway. We had a lot of time, so we could prepare in advance by building up our strength or investigating the cause and solving it. The important thing right now was that I was back in time. Going back in time meant going back to this damn school for two years.
Today was the day of the entrance ceremony and the opening ceremony. Since it was concluded to be an important event, I should probably move to the auditorium so that it’s not late. I heard the laughter of the students from somewhere. It sounded like youth.
Looking at the amicable atmosphere, I felt repulsed deep down. Would I be able to adapt?
* * *
When I opened the auditorium door, I saw a huge podium. Apparently, it was still in full swing preparing for the opening ceremony and entrance ceremony. Uniquely, the school had a tradition of holding first-year entrance ceremonies and second and third-year opening ceremonies together. It was a very boring and obvious ceremony in which the representatives of each grade came up to the podium and shouted for oath together.
Being in the auditorium like this made me realize that I was back as a student. This was my third time in school. One time, in the reality I lived in, and the other time, when I first fell into a novel. The third was now.
There was excitement until the second time, but not now. Second year seats…….’Oh, it’s over there. There were designated seats for each grade, so I headed to the reserved seats for the second grade. The seats were about half full. I sat in a suitable empty seat. An ambiguous position that is not forward or backward, but slightly behind the middle. This is mentally stable.
“Um.”
Sitting like this, I could see some familiar faces. There were Shin Young-joon and Lee Hyun-joo just in sight. These were all the main characters of The Modern Wizard. And who else…
‘Hey, is that a freshman?’
‘Where?’
‘That big guy with a little hair loss.’
‘Crazy.’
“What’s that? Isn’t that an old man?”
I was looking for a face I knew, and from there, I heard a humming noise. When I turned my head, there was an old man sitting in the first grade. I stood out alone even though I was wearing the same school uniform. A student bravely talked to the uncle.
‘Well, are you a freshman?’
‘What? Oh, yes.’
‘How old are you?’
‘I’m 17 years old.’
‘Oh…….”
The student sighed. I watched the conversation and held back my laughter. That man was also a major character. 1st grade, 2nd place, Jeon Minggi. He was a body strengthening wizard with extreme presbyopia. I remembered being quite popular among readers because of his good personality and talent. I saw him on the news a few days ago.
How did he look so old now?
Squeak! A poking microphone rang loudly in the auditorium. The students frowned and covered their ears. The noisy auditorium became silent in an instant.
[Ah! Students, please take your seats. The entrance ceremony and the opening ceremony will be held in 3 minutes.]
Was it starting now? Students who were talking in groups began to sit down one by one. The empty seats were filling up. There were about 150 students per grade. Including all grades, about 450 people were gathered in the auditorium.
But no one sat next to me. I was sitting awkwardly for no reason, and I could feel a presence next to me. “Hi.”
It was a clear woman’s voice. I turned my head and found a girl with long dark brown hair sitting next to me. “Yoo A-ra?”
A pure appearance that any man would wonder. Yoo A-ra was in second place in second grade. As I stared at her blankly, she looked my way as if she felt the gaze. “Why? Do you have something to say?”
“……No.”
‘Then can you turn your eyes away? It was a little burdensome.”
Yoo A-ra was definitely this kind of girl. Good greeting, bad sociality. She had strong pride and did not easily open her mind because she considered all the students around her as competitors. In particular, Yoo A-ra had a strong competition with Lee Seo-joon, who was always pushed by Lee Seo-joon and gave up the top spot in school grades.
[Let’s start the 2032 Korean Magic Academy entrance ceremony and opening ceremony]
The sound of the microphone rang again in the auditorium. The students in the chairs looked up at the podium with nervous faces. When I slightly turned my head, Yoo A-ra was staring at Lee Seo-joon, who was preparing under the podium.
[Haknyeon’s representatives, please come up to the podium].
A few seconds of silence. And as the three students climbed onto the podium, they began to hear the humming again. “Wow. Freshman’s head is so pretty.”
‘What’s his specialty?’
‘Ice expression system. But I heard that Ganghwa is also good at handling it.”
The first person to take the podium was Choi Seo-Yoon, the No. 1 first-year student. She was not a big part of the main scenario, but she sometimes helped Lee Seo-joon and played a big role. She smiled brightly and cheered among the boys. There were probably few men who wouldn’t be fascinated by that smile.
However, that smile was evidently a calculated smile. Full of self-love, she obviously enjoyed being noticed. It was one of her little stinks. After that, the guy I knew well climbed onto the podium. First place in the second grade, and the main character of this world. Lee Seo-joon.
“He finally came out.”
“Lee Seo-joon.”
“Wow. He’s more handsome than I saw on the Internet.”
“Wow. He’s so charismatic.”
“I heard you’re being taught directly by Chairman Kim Jin-cheol.”
“That’s how talented you are.”
When Lee Seo-joon appeared, the eyes of the first graders began to sparkle. It was like looking at a celebrity that I had long since longed for. Although Lee Seo-joon was just a student, he was already known as an all-time promising player among active wizards.
Such was why the novel The Modern Wizard was regarded as popular. A munchkin novel where the main character cooked up all the action by himself.
Finally, a slender man with glasses came up. Kim Chang-hyun, the third years’ Number One. Compared to the previous two students, the external rapport was a little lower. Actually, even I didn’t know much about that man either. He had not played a big part in the original.
The microphone rang again when all the school year representatives came up.
[Here comes the student oath.]
“Oath.”
“Oath.”
“Oath.”
After watching the oath with a bored expression, I turned to Yoo A-ra. She was still staring at the podium with frightened eyes.
This had always been a great competition. He probably thought that his place belonged on that podium. I could understand how she felt. Her talent was second only to Lee Seo-joon in the auditorium.
“It’s a shame,” I secretly talked to Yoo A-ra. There was no answer. At first, she seemed to have not even recognized that I had talked to Lee Seo-joon because she was focusing on him.
I could feel myself getting awkward for no particular reason. I couldn’t even talk to him again, so I just turned my eyes to the front. Then a voice came from the side. “Did you say that to me?”
I turned my head and A-ra was looking at me with meaningful eyes. ‘Uh.’
‘What’s the shame?’
‘Honestly, I think you’re better than the two over there.’
It was a kind of lip service. I didn’t think, I knew. It came from the idea that it would be okay to build a friendship in advance as we intended to intervene in the main scenario in the future. And there was also a ‘special benefit’ to me when I had become close to the main characters. However, Yoo A-ra was serious about what I said.
“Hey. You’re funny. What do you know? Did you see them use magic?”
“No.”
“But why do you decide it on your own?”
“I know it at first glance.”
“What?”
Yoo Ara’s face seemed to be shocked at my firm words. “I have a good sense.”
At this, A-ra’s face distorted when I spoke this with a smile. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m not kidding.”
From there, she shook her head as if she was full of energy. The look on his face seemed to say, “I shouldn’t deal with it.”
Ignoring it openly made me feel like I didn’t have it for no reason. Perhaps I should do some more teasing. “You have a lot of trouble these days regarding your career, right?”
Yoo A-ra’s shoulder flinched for a moment. She looked at me with a frown. “You….”
[This concludes the student oath]
While Yoo A-ra was about to say something, she heard the sound of announcing that the oath was over.
The three on the podium came down from the stage. A-ra, who was watching them, once again spoke to me. “How did you know?”
I thought she would deny it, but it appeared to be an honest response. I couldn’t answer honestly, ‘It was like that in the novel,’ so I roughly spoke up about it. “I told you. I have a good sense.”
‘I’m not in the mood for a joke.’
‘I can’t believe it because it’s real.’
‘Hey! …It’s done. I guess I was lucky to get it.”
Then, Yoo A-ra turned to my chest’s name tag. “……Kim Seon-woo.”
She repeated it several times as if she was trying to memorize the name. The figure was appalling for no reason. “Kim Seon-woo. I remembered your name. Don’t talk to me from now on.”
From there, I couldn’t help but feel as if something was wrong. I thought I shouldn’t make fun of her more here, so I nodded. I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t step back from here.
