Prologue Story

The woman opened her eyes wide in that moment.

It wasn’t just the woman.

Her male companion was also startled.

It seemed like the child was writing something in the notebook.

Then, something like light rose from the notebook.

The light flew towards somewhere, and the girl followed it.

The woman let out a cry of shock.

“Magic? That’s impossible! How old is she?”

“…There’s a report. Yoo Eunha, five years old, from the Sunlight Class at Sky Kindergarten… Missing near the Iron Room…”

“A five-year-old?!”

The child in the water mirror continued walking, following the light.

Then, she stopped at a certain location.

The child seemed to look around before walking straight towards the wall without hesitation.

With a determined expression, the child began drawing something with the pen she was holding.

Scratch, scratch.

A part of the wall was filled with black.

“What is she doing?”

A large, pitch-black circle was completed.

The child closed her eyes and spread her hand.

At that moment, the magic was activated.

“…!”

The two people sensed it.

However, nothing happened, and the child collapsed on the spot.

“Sujeong. Bring the mirror closer.”

At those words, Sujeong adjusted the angle of the mirror.

The mirror now reflected the wall right in front of where it had been painted black.

The woman, who had been looking into the water mirror with narrowed eyes, eventually noticed something and widened her eyes.

It was hard to confirm beyond the video, but it was clear.

The once-flat iron wall was now slightly dented, forming a depression.

“Magic? She can use magic? My goodness…”

But that was all.

The child, as if collapsing, approached the wall.

Then, with a truly sorrowful expression, she hit the dented wall with her fist.

The faces of the man and woman filled with pity and seriousness.

After hesitating for a moment, the woman spoke to the blue-haired spirit, Sujeong.

“Sujeong. Connect that side and this side with the mirror. I’ll send my magic power directly to break the spell.”

The man frowned at those words.

“You’re not compatible with metal, are you? I’ll do it instead.”

“Then… please.”

The two agreed on how to break the spell placed on the Iron Room.

At that moment, the child’s magic activated once again.

The part of the wall where the circular drawing had been painted began to cave in.

The iron that made up the wall seemed to melt, being pushed outward.

A ‘hole’ appeared in the iron wall.

“What…?”

It was an unbelievable sight.

The iron had been pushed back by the child’s hand, creating a hole in the once solid wall.

A hole, an ‘exit.’

“….”

The two watched the scene without even breathing.

Eventually, the girl disappeared through the hole.

The two were at a loss for words.

The Iron Room was left completely empty.

The two remained silent for a while.

After a moment, the woman was the first to speak.

“Yoo Eunha from Sky Kindergarten… is that right?”

“Yes.”

“The child managed to….”

The woman, who had been muttering, swallowed her breath.

“That’s already developed magic, isn’t it? There’s existing magic similar to that, but it’s difficult. Besides, it’s definitely not elemental magic. Could it be drawing magic? No, that light earlier must have been written magic. Written magic and… iron shaping magic.”

“….”

“She’s a subject for protection.”

“That’s right.”

“And also a candidate for scouting.”

The man silently nodded at the woman’s words.

“We can’t just leave a child with that kind of talent, can we?”

“Of course! Absolutely!”

The woman smiled and agreed with the man’s words.

The man, who had been maintaining a calm expression throughout, slightly softened his face at the woman’s smile.

He looked at the woman with a gentle gaze.

“Well then. Let’s take these guys and head back.”

Soon, the figures of the two disappeared along with the criminals’ bodies.

☆

After the incident in the Iron Room, my mom completely scolded me.

Hearing that I had been involved in a dangerous situation, my dad rushed home earlier than usual, and the news was passed on to him as well.

After that, I began training in magic with my mom in earnest.

The dangerous incident in the botanical garden soon faded from my memory.

I didn’t worry much about it because I thought it was just a thing of the past.

People were saying it was something like a terror attack, but as long as I was safe, that’s all that mattered.

During this time, the day Auntie Suna would return to Korea was approaching.

As the scheduled day drew nearer, my mom became more excited.

Of course, I was looking forward to it too, but compared to my mom, my excitement was nothing.

Mom even bought a new tablecloth, teacups, and pretty clothes.

From my perspective, it was amusing to see mom singing with joy while wearing her new clothes.

However, a few days later, my mom, who had been eagerly awaiting Auntie Suna’s return, received shocking news.

“Postponed for another month? What is this! It’s too much!”

[Yeah… But I’m the only one going late. Inha and her dad will be going as scheduled in a week.]

My mom frowned as she looked at Auntie Suna, who appeared on the screen with an apologetic expression.

Mom was no different from a child in front of Auntie Suna.

In the end, mom sighed as if she had no choice.

“Alright… I hope you can come back soon.”

[Yeah. It really won’t take much longer.]

I watched mom having a video call with Auntie Suna in silence, lost in thought.

To mom, Auntie Suna was an irreplaceable person.

However, despite this, I had asked mom not to tell Auntie Suna about my abilities yet.

It might have seemed like a selfish request.

But mom, thankfully, kept my promise.

I didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing.

If anything, Auntie Suna was doing the same.

She didn’t intentionally reveal Inha’s talent.

From what I saw, Inha could definitely manipulate magic.

I suspected that in a few years, Inha might even be able to create magic.

And I had no plans to tell mom about that.

If I hadn’t mentioned it, it meant I didn’t want to bring it up.

In fact, maybe mom already knew and was just pretending not to notice.

After the call ended and the video screen disappeared, mom turned to me and smiled brightly.

“Eunha, Inha’s coming in a few days. Isn’t that great?”

“Yes.”

To be honest, Inha and I weren’t exactly close, but since mom liked her, and I also liked Inha, I just nodded.

Yeah, Inha was pretty.

That’s what I thought, smiling.

“So, have you made more progress in magic lately?”

“Yes!”

This time, I answered with sparkling eyes.

My response was noticeably different from earlier, but I didn’t care and proudly reported my achievements.

“Ever since I switched to the meditation technique you taught me, my magic power has been increasing faster, and I can use more magic now. Especially barrier magic! A few days ago, I succeeded in creating a small square barrier, not just one that surrounds me!”

Since mom started supervising my training, I had been improving at an explosive rate compared to before.

Mom observed my magic abilities and found the right training methods suited for me.

As expected, having a mentor was beneficial.

For someone as young as me, with little knowledge of this world, it was too difficult to grow solely through my own efforts.

If I had known, I would’ve confessed the truth to mom earlier.

I had improved a lot in written magic and illusion magic too.

Although the change might not seem significant from the outside, I could clearly feel it when I used magic.

The range of magic I could use had also expanded.

But the greatest improvement was in barriers.

Now, I could even create barriers with a defined shape in the air.

My magic power had noticeably increased as well.

But of course, creating a ‘gate’ was still beyond me.

Well, I’m still only five years old, so I’ve decided to take my time without being impatient.

“Oh dear. You really are something…”

Mom sighed, looking at me with a mixture of admiration and concern as I excitedly talked.

I grinned at her.

“Alright then. Let’s try casting some basic elemental spells this time. Shall we start with the one you have the best affinity for—dark magic?

Of course, we’ll stick to the most basic level.

Dark magic is dangerous, after all.

Really, how could you have an affinity for such unusual things?”

“Hehe.”

“Now then…”

The moment mom started explaining, I stopped laughing like a child and focused my gaze on her.

I tried not to miss a single word of her explanation.

After the explanation, it was time for practice.

I moved my magic power as mom had instructed.

The magic activated, and soon darkness fell over the room.

Even though I had succeeded in casting the spell, mom’s reaction was the same as ever.

“Sigh…”

…Well, it couldn’t be helped.

I already had memories of living as an adult, so how could I not understand something this simple?

I gave mom, who was sighing, another playful smile.

Oh! Now that I think about it, I’ve practiced the magic I used to move the iron during that incident several times.

But it seemed that magic could only be used when there was ‘metal’ present.

Since I had used the iron in front of me the first time, the magic was activated.

It didn’t seem like I could generate metal by myself, which must have been the condition for the magic.

To be precise, it felt like metal wasn’t included within the magic itself.

However, if there was metal in front of me, I could move it into whatever shape I wanted.

I could even slightly increase the mass.

Well, that’s the magic I wished for at the time.

I just believed in my high affinity with metal, wanting to move the iron as I pleased, hoping it would create an exit in front of me, and used the magic for that purpose alone.

It’s certain that I have an affinity for it.

But I wasn’t particularly interested.

I practiced metal magic for a bit after that, but I stopped.

I didn’t actively try to improve it.

Even though I was spending a lot of time at home learning magic, I didn’t stop being passionate about magic even when I was at kindergarten.

In my very ordinary kindergarten life, I made training part of my routine.

I rotated my magic power around my body or read all the fairy tale books related to magic.

Even if I already knew most of it, I was still much more ignorant than knowledgeable.

Besides, the kindergarten had a lot of educational books related to magic.

I studied with enthusiasm.

I wasn’t good at studying things I wasn’t interested in, but I had incredible concentration and memory for the things that fascinated me.

In my previous life, I had huge gaps between my high and low test scores at school.

In that sense, once I focused on something, I was the type to concentrate until the end.

So, my magic was progressing slowly, but quickly by the standards of my peers.

Two days before the day Inha and her dad were supposed to arrive, I was in the living room, circulating my magic and creating a small breeze in my hand.

But at that moment, mom came running towards me, sounding frantic, and shouted in a flustered voice.

“There’s a big problem!”

“Huh?”

“Inha is arriving today!”

“…What?!”

Surprised, I dropped the magic in my hand and stood up abruptly.

What?

With an equally shocked expression, I asked.

“Weren’t they supposed to come in two days?”

“Yes! They were supposed to come in two days! But suddenly, the schedule changed, and they decided to send Inha ahead! Today! Suna looked so panicked when she asked me to take care of Inha! We need to leave right now! In less than an hour, they’ll be arriving at the warp array!”

“What? But mom, the International Warp Array is in Seoul! This is Jinju! Even with a gate, we’re cutting it close within an hour, aren’t we?”

“Phew. Of course, I have a plan. Here.”

Mom said as she handed me something.

It looked like a compass.

It was a small, round plate with letters engraved on it.

I quickly realized what it was.

It was a magic item.

I immediately sensed the magic power inside the item mom handed me.

This feeling… is it related to ‘space’…?

I guessed what the item was based on the situation.

“Is this a teleportation artifact…?”

“That’s right. You figured it out quickly.”

“Well, considering you said it’s a plan for this situation…”

When I answered like that to my surprised mom, she smiled proudly.

Mom quickly explained how to use the item.

“It’s a simple item. You just have to place the needle on the destination stored in it and say ‘teleport.’ Alright, Eunha. Hurry and get ready. Change your clothes.”

I looked at the item with curiosity before nodding.