Prologue Story

Shortly after vacation began, the rainy season arrived.

Maybe because it was kindergarten, there wasn’t any vacation homework.

I just wrote a diary entry or two occasionally, following my habits from my past life.

Looking back at the diary entries I had written so far, they were all about magic.

Even I thought it was a bit obsessive.

Or they were just stories of meetings with someone.

Well, that’s the only time I write in my diary anyway.

When there’s something I want to record, when I meet someone, when something fun happens, or even when someone dies.

I also wrote in my diary on the day I expected to die.

“It’s raining again today. The rainy season really brings me down.”

“Really?”

I was quietly reading a book, but when my mom spoke, I tilted my head and looked outside.

In the pouring rain, the garden flowers were growing brightly and vibrantly.

Seeing the garden flowers standing strong despite the rain that was almost drowning them reminded me of the magic I had recently learned, “breathing underwater.”

Magic really has all sorts of things.

While learning that, I wondered if there was a magic for opening your eyes underwater as well, but I soon realized it wasn’t necessary since I could just use barrier magic.

As long as I put a barrier around my eyes, everything was okay.

…Hmm, now that I think about it, using a barrier, there was no need to learn magic to breathe underwater.

But well, it uses less mana than a barrier and is faster too.

I stared outside for a while, then stood up.

“Mom, I’m going outside.”

“Oh? You are? Do you need an umbrella… or maybe not?”

Mom gave a bitter smile as she spoke.

But I shook my head.

“No, I don’t go around using magic openly. I hardly use magic outside.”

“Really? Is that so? Well then, be sure to use an umbrella so you don’t catch a cold.”

“Okay!”

Even in my past life, I never caught a cold just from getting a little wet in the rain, but now I’m six years old, so I figured it’s not impossible.

I had thought about playing in the rain, but it would only make my mom worry if I came back soaked.

I decided to just go where I was headed.

With an umbrella in hand, I dashed outside energetically.

The rain splashed against my shoes.

The red umbrella cast a reddish glow onto my skin as it reflected the light.

I walked through the alleys, heading towards the hill behind our house.

There was a beautifully arranged flower bed near there.

I hummed a song as I walked, a song I liked in my past life.

Soon, my destination came into view.

It was a flower bed filled with various types of brightly colored flowers.

The flowers in this flower bed, too, stood tall and unyielding, despite the rain.

“There it is.”

I smiled softly as I bowed my head towards the flowers.

The way all the flowers were gathered together was quite a sight, so I often came to look at them—well, rather often, actually.

Usually after finishing magic training, when I was feeling bored.

Honestly, if I followed my original personality, I wouldn’t have had time to feel bored.

Even if I was born into a world of magic, my original temperament hadn’t changed.

If I couldn’t write novels with these tiny fingers, at the very least, I would’ve been reading all the books I could get my hands on.

But the problem was that there wasn’t a bookstore nearby.

That’s why I ended up feeling bored.

‘Ah— I want to read some comics!’

Of course, like bookstores, the library was far away, but most libraries had a transmission device that allowed you to borrow books.

So when I wanted to read novels, I could borrow them from the e-library and get them sent over.

But comic books weren’t like that.

Except for educational ones, libraries didn’t usually carry comic books.

And since I didn’t have money as a child, I couldn’t buy them.

Plus, my mom and dad would notice if I did.

Sigh…

Another problem was the bookstore ‘zones.’

The biggest issue was that this place was outside of any zone.

I reached out to touch a flower but stopped.

I actually liked flowers quite a bit, so I had tried growing them several times before.

But whether it was trees or flowers, whenever I tried to grow them, the roots would rot, or they would die or wither away.

I felt wronged!

I didn’t do anything!

I watered them just right!

Anyway, they would revive if I infused them with mana, but then they’d turn into special flowers.

That’s why I decided not to grow flowers, only to enjoy looking at them or giving them as gifts.

Ugh, no wonder my compatibility with plant-attribute magic is the worst.

I crouched down, umbrella still in hand, and flicked away a few raindrops with a bit of mana.

It had rained so much that even though I hadn’t been outside for long, my clothes were already quite damp.

I looked at my half-soaked clothes and grimaced.

I should have put up a barrier to cover my body along with the umbrella.

Well, whatever. It’s not like the rain is acidic like in my past life; it’s all purified now.

I stood up again.

I did want to play in the rain.

But I had already told mom “okay,” after all.

As I walked around the flower bed, I suddenly spotted a puddle.

Tilting my head for a moment, I kicked the puddle with my sandal-clad foot.

Water splashed forward with a satisfying sound.

Ah, now I feel like going swimming.

I usually preferred the sea over valleys, but for some reason, I felt like going to a valley this time.

Would a riverside be fun on a rainy day?

Of course, I knew it was dangerous, but it was just a thought, so it didn’t matter.

With the rainy season and the heat, such thoughts came naturally.

Though I wasn’t particularly sensitive to heat, that didn’t mean I was immune to it.

But I couldn’t go around maintaining a mana shield around myself all day either—it would be exhausting.

Controlling mana for extended periods takes a toll on your mental and physical energy.

“What are you doing?”

Startled, I turned around.

Inha was standing there, holding an umbrella, her face expressionless as usual.

Uh, how long had she been there?

I hadn’t noticed her at all.

I awkwardly greeted her.

“Hi…”

“…”

Inha said nothing, just stared at me before turning her head to look elsewhere.

I also tilted my head in curiosity and followed her gaze.

Not far away, two figures were slowly walking toward us.

It was Auntie Suna and Uncle Jungmin.

“Oh, Eunha, what are you doing here?”

Seeing the two of them waving at me, I hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Playing in the rain…? Taking a walk?”

“Do you like the rain, Eunha?”

“I guess… kind of…?”

“Ha-ha.”

Auntie Suna chuckled and gently patted my head with a smile, then glanced at Inha.

She bent down and looked into my eyes.

“Inha started walking ahead all of a sudden, so I thought something was up, and it turns out it was because of you. It’s perfect timing. Do you want to go home with Inha?”

“Uh…”

“Auntie and Uncle have to go on a business trip again. So Inha will be staying at your house for about three days. Oh, and of course, I’ve already talked to Mirae and Jinhwan about it. Is that okay?”

I nodded.

I see, so it’s happening again…

I glanced at Inha.

She was silently watching me and Auntie Suna as we talked.

Just then, Auntie Suna asked me an unexpected question.

“What do you think of Inha, Eunha?”

Huh? Why ask that all of a sudden?

Flustered, I glanced back and forth between Inha and Auntie before answering.

“Um, I think she’s pretty.”

“Oh my, you’re adorable too, Eunha.”

Auntie Suna smiled as she continued to pat my head.

Then she straightened up and said,

“Well, I’ll leave Inha in your care. Inha, I’m sorry. I’ll bring you a gift when I get back.”

“…Have a safe trip.”

“Okay.”

I blinked.

Inha was always expressionless, but with her family, it was a different story.

Though her face was usually stiff, when it came to her parents, she sometimes showed clear emotions.

She probably smiled and expressed herself freely at home, just like I did.

I stayed quiet in front of strangers out of nervousness, and Inha was likely the same.

Maybe it wasn’t that she was uncomfortable with us, but rather, we just weren’t close enough.

Inha probably found it awkward around us.

In any case, it meant we weren’t part of her inner circle.

In that sense, we might be alike.

I was just shy for no reason.

The Inha I saw just now really looked like a little kid.

It surprised me a little.

After Auntie Suna and Uncle Jungmin waved goodbye, Inha and I walked home together in silence.

The walk home was incredibly awkward.

When we arrived, mom looked surprised for a moment to see Inha with me, but then she smiled at both of us.

I stood my umbrella next to the shoe rack.

Inha quietly followed my lead and did the same, then followed me into the living room.

“It’s Saturday today, and since you’re already wet, would you like to take a bath? Would you two like to bathe together?”

Inha glanced at me for a moment before replying.

“…I bathed yesterday.”

“Did you? Then Eunha, come bathe with me.”

“Okay.”

“Inha, would you like to play while you wait?”

“…Yes.”

“Alright.”

Mom beamed at Inha and then led me to the bathroom.

Since I was only six years old, my arms and legs were still too short, so it was hard for me to wash or shampoo my hair by myself.

Most of the time, Mom did it for me.

It was one of the few privileges of still being a child.

I splashed around and played with water as I enjoyed my bath with mom.

After rinsing off the soap bubbles, I dried off with a towel and quickly ran to my room to change into new clothes.

Mom stayed behind to tidy up the bathroom.

Well, this was less about being a kid and more about the fact that I was bad at tidying up.

After changing into fresh clothes, I dried my hair with a towel.

I didn’t bother using a hair dryer.

Not only was it too heavy for me right now, but I never really liked using it anyway.

I always found it too much trouble.

Because of that, my hair, which already had a bit of natural curl, tended to frizz right after washing.

It’s fine, though.

I could smooth it out with magic now.

The more I used magic, the more amazing it seemed.

There were so many things you could do with it.

With just a little mana, you could create a breeze, and you could even move distant objects with telekinesis.

I climbed onto my bed and started rolling around.

A soft laugh escaped my lips.

Alright~, maybe I’ll practice some magic for a bit.

I wiggled my fingers and wrote letters in the air.

Recently, I learned how to write letters in the air without using a pen.

It was proof of my growth, but I was more focused on overcoming the weaknesses of Written Magic.

Written Magic, after all, was a magic that used ‘letters’ to exert its power.

The time it took to write out sentences was its main flaw.

That’s why I was practicing writing letters with mana instead of using my hand.

I figured this could be faster than writing by hand.

If it wasn’t, well, I’d just come up with another solution.

I moved my mana and projected my thoughts into the air.

The magic activated, and a question mark appeared in midair.

Seeing it, I couldn’t help but smile, and then the misty shape shifted from a question mark to a heart.

“Eunha, if you’re dressed, come out. Inha is here, too.”

“Oh, okay!”

I quickly erased the magic and opened the door.

Mom looked at me and then transmitted her voice directly into my head using Telepathic Magic.

“Inha is here, so be careful. You don’t want your magic to be discovered, right?”

“…Yeah, I know.”

It was my own decision to live as a normal person, keeping my magic hidden from others.

It was mom’s wish, too, but more than that, it was my own.

So, of course, I was the one who had to control myself.

I nodded and followed mom downstairs to the living room.

“Inha, is there anything you’d like to do?”

Mom asked Inha with me standing behind her.

Suddenly, I felt like Inha and I made eye contact.

“…Can I practice magic?”

“Hm? Oh, right. Inha has already gathered her mana and started practicing basic magic a few days ago, hasn’t she? And she’s already thinking about her main magic…”

Really?

I blinked.

Wow, Mom and Auntie Suna must talk about everything.

Because of my request, Mom didn’t tell Auntie Suna about my magic, but it seemed Auntie Suna had no problem telling Mom about Inha’s talent.

But still, Inha was amazing.

I wasn’t really in a position to judge others, but she was making incredible progress for her age.

I was genuinely impressed.