Prologue Story

After a moment, Hyun-ho raised his thumb, praising Min-hee.

“Min-hee, you’re amazing.”

“Hehe, right? I am a bit amazing.”

Min-hee tossed one side of her twin-braided hair with a confident expression. Han-soo shook his head with a look that said he found it pathetic.

“Give me a break.”

Watching Min-hee tease Han-soo, Shia smiled shyly with a proud expression.

“Min-hee has always been like that. She makes friends with anyone quickly and reconciles people who are fighting. She’s really amazing.”

At those words, I frowned slightly. That… that story felt a bit odd. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange, but something felt off. She quickly makes friends with anyone and reconciles people who are fighting? A child? …One who can read the room?

After walking for a while, I stopped in my tracks. With a somber expression, I apologized to Min-hee.

“Min-hee, I’m sorry…”

“Huh? What for?”

Min-hee asked back with a genuinely confused look. The other friends had similar expressions. I lowered my head with a dark face, recalling the situation from a moment ago.

“But, doesn’t it bother you a bit to hear things like that? Because I mentioned getting to know Senior Ji-hyun through someone I know…”

“Huh…? Uh, well… I guess, yeah. But…”

Min-hee suddenly looked at me with surprised eyes. Then, as if delighted, she beamed widely.

“That’s the first time anyone’s ever said that! Wow, Eun-ha, you’re amazing! How did you know how I felt?”

Smiling in amazement, Min-hee grabbed my hands with both of hers and shook them. I mumbled, not knowing how to explain.

“It’s just, it makes you feel like people are using the friendship, right? When they actually ask for an introduction, it makes you wonder if they’re friends with you just for that. It feels like they’re using you. And if he’s introduced to people like that often, Senior Ji-hyun would probably dislike it too. If it were a casual chance meeting, maybe it would be different, but when someone explicitly asks for an introduction… You know, famous people go through that a lot, so they end up doubting people’s intentions. Even though you’re his sister, a friend you introduce… uh, well, how to put it. It’s kind of a burden? I mean…”

In the end, I couldn’t finish my sentence properly. My thoughts were tangled and in disarray. But, anyhow, that was how I truly felt. Isn’t it something you often see in novels? How someone gets sick of these kinds of opportunistic relationships, resents the people who only approach to take advantage, and after being betrayed so many times, they end up unable to trust anyone until they finally find someone who loves them, and they’re saved.

Senior Ji-hyun might not be to that extreme, but still, I was sure he must feel complicated. If people come after him like that, he’d start to doubt even those who genuinely want to meet him. Anyway, that’s how it is. Yeah, that’s it.

“So, just… doesn’t it feel a bit unpleasant?”

Even as I said it myself, I thought, ‘This is exactly it!’ It was the most fitting thing to say. The more I spoke, the brighter Min-hee’s expression became.

“Right! That’s exactly it! It just feels unpleasant, doesn’t it?”

Had she experienced it that much? Min-hee seemed happier than I expected, almost excessively so.

“Our brother has been popular since elementary school. We were really young then, so I don’t remember it well… but I remember middle school clearly. Since middle school, he was popular even outside of school. When I’d say, ‘I’m his sister,’ older girls and boys would flock around… I really, really hated that. They’d ask me to introduce them to him, and if I refused, they’d get mad; if I did, he’d make this really annoyed face. Since then, I thought, ‘I guess this isn’t something I should be doing.’ So, maybe? I’m not sure, but I just hate that kind of thing. I didn’t realize why until now…”

“……”

“After hearing you, Eun-ha, I understand. Yeah, that’s it. They’re trying to use me. There are just so many people who come to me with those intentions that it makes me suspicious, and I hate it. All of it’s fake, right? Isn’t that true?”

Seeing Min-hee’s bright smile, I felt a strange feeling. I pitied her for realizing these things at such a young age. But even more than that, I was once again struck by the fact that she was indeed still a child.

My friends, blessed with talent as magicians, possessed maturity beyond their years. Yet, in times like this, I was reminded that they were still children. They sensed emotions and accepted them in ways that seemed far too mature for their age, yet didn’t fully understand the source of those feelings. In moments like this, I couldn’t help but feel an urge to protect them, despite it being rather presumptuous of me. These children were far stronger than I was. In truth, I was the weakest among them.

I met Min-hee’s gaze and smiled warmly.

“Of course. Disliking something fake is only natural.”

I held Min-hee’s hand in return, and she laughed innocently like a child.

Our friends who had been listening to our conversation tilted their heads with puzzled expressions.

“Uh, I don’t really get it, but you just mean it feels unpleasant, right?”

“My mom also tells me not to share things about her with anyone who isn’t a close friend. I wonder if it’s related to that?”

Now that I thought about it, there were two people here who might feel this issue more acutely. It was In-ha and Han-soo. Han-soo’s mom was an A-rank magician, and In-ha’s mom was an S-rank, while her dad was B-rank. In-ha, who had listened to the conversation with a completely expressionless face, finally let out a sigh.

“I’m used to it. And you guys are my only close friends.”

“Right. In-ha and Han-soo must have it worse than me, huh? It must be annoying…”

Looking at them, Min-hee wore an anxious expression. But both of them shook their heads simultaneously.

“It doesn’t really happen often. It’s only like that when I have to go to parties with them sometimes. Normally, my parents just turn everyone down and avoid people they don’t know.”

Now that I thought about it, In-ha’s face wasn’t particularly well-known. Being the daughter of an S-rank magician, there should be plenty of people interested in her, though. Han-soo tilted his head with a vague expression.

“Huh? Me… well, I’m not sure? I’ve never gone with Mom for her work. And she always tells me to be cautious around adults she meets outside, so I haven’t really spoken with any of them. I don’t think anyone’s approached me about her work.”

It seemed their parents had been proactively shielding them from those possibilities. But going forward, they would likely face such situations more often. In those cases, I’d be the one to protect them. While I hated standing out, I’d learned a few tricks as a somewhat popular novelist in my past life, about how to handle unwanted attention.

Thinking that, I suddenly laughed. Besides watching over my younger siblings in my previous life, this was the first time I’d felt the urge to protect someone. My adorable younger siblings, whom I would never see again. Right, they weren’t the only ones I’d never see again. My beloved family—Mom, Dad, and my cute siblings. I’d lost them all. I had died of an incurable illness at the age of thirty. I’d left everything behind.

If someone were to ask whether I thought of these kids like my younger siblings, I’d have to say no.

But I still just wanted to protect them.

I liked my friends so much, and among us, I was the most adult.

Through this event, everyone learned something new about me.

It was that I was surprisingly poor at socializing with people.

Watching my friends talk about how they’d just realized this, I was a bit taken aback.

When I asked them if they hadn’t known, they said I seemed so mature that they thought I’d be good at everything.

Well, except for art…

Hey, I’m not that bad at art! I’m decent at most things, whether it’s art or whatever! …Except for clay and dough.

Setting aside my frustration, I thought back on the way I’d acted in front of my friends until now.

What exactly had I done to make them think I could handle anything?

“What exactly did I do to make you think I could handle anything?”

“Hmm… Eun-ha, you just seem really mature somehow… you’re good at studying, the best at magic among us, so it just felt like you’d be good at everything?”

Listening to Hyun-ho’s words, I stifled a sigh.

Studying, magic, only those? People have so many talents beyond those two, so how could they think that someone would be good at everything (except for art) just because of those two things…

‘Honestly, unbelievable.’

Anyway, after that, my friends shed a layer of admiration for me and got to know a more truthful side of me.

The real me was just a girl who was more mature than others but still shy.

That was all, and yet having such wonderful friends was truly a stroke of luck.

After that, the girls stopped asking me about Senior Ji-hyun.

It was a good thing, but it felt a bit strange, too.

They’d say things like, “Oh well, that’s just how she is.”

Schools that rank students by magic skills have these downsides.

They say middle school is less like this, but in elementary school, kids especially act this way.

Basically, it’s the “frog in the well” thinking they’re amazing.

Since middle schoolers have a lot of new students from outside, they naturally realize there are plenty of peers stronger than themselves.

But elementary students haven’t felt that reality yet.

Well, as long as the girls don’t directly demand things from me, I don’t care.

After all, it’s not even my true magic skill, right?

I’ve gotten used to being mocked to some extent.

I blankly flipped through my textbook among the kids working hard at their magic practice.

Suddenly, the teacher called out to me.

“Eun-ha, instead of just reading the textbook, why don’t you try using magic? Theory is important, but you learn better by actually trying magic.”

I showed an uncomfortable expression at those words.

But… I hesitated for a moment.

The other kids laughed at me because of the teacher’s words.

Honestly, it made me feel very uneasy.

But with my shy nature, I couldn’t bring myself to say no to the teacher.

I nodded and quietly said, “Yes,” then opened my senses for basic magic.

As I moved my magic over my hand, I focused my sixth sense on the teacher.

It was to grasp the teacher’s emotions through the fluctuations in their magical energy.

The range of emotions I could sense was ve~~~ry limited, but it was better than nothing.

Please, as long as it doesn’t waver in surprise.

Right, let’s take this chance to “succeed at using magic clumsily.”

I circulated my magic in my hand in an incredibly clumsy way.

This way, even the completed magic would look clumsy.

Honestly, it was really difficult.

“It’s going to fail again anyway…”

I let the mocking voices go in one ear and out the other.

How did the other kids use magic again?

I compared the appearance I’d seen from them in my hand, attempting to copy it.

After a while, a faint “light” appeared in my hand that could only be described as incomplete.

“Oh, you did it.”

“Isn’t that her first success?”

“Hmph, still last place.”

The teacher praised me, saying I’d done well.

Behind my blank expression, I hid my joy.

Unbelievable, I’d finally “succeeded at magic clumsily like the other kids.”

This was truly an unspeakable struggle.

I knew full well that this inner struggle would seem obnoxious to the other kids, who might even curse me for it.

But I still didn’t want to stand out.

I absolutely didn’t want to stand out because of my magic skill.

Especially if it was a talent that would be treated as ordinary in time.

I was just as happy as the amount of struggle I’d gone through.

The next class was P.E.

In a good mood, I confidently changed clothes in the classroom.

I put on my gym pants over my uniform skirt, then took off the skirt.

Since I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt underneath, I just took off my top.

I layered the short-sleeved gym shirt on top.

But after I finished changing, I made a bored face.

P.E. was a subject I didn’t like.

They say that as we advance in grades, we’ll learn martial arts focused on magical combat, but for now, we’re only doing sports that everyone knows like dodgeball, basketball, and soccer.

They just play and have fun.

The most practical part is probably the ten minutes of endurance training before we start.

In any case, I wasn’t interested in dodgeball, basketball, or soccer, and I found them annoying.

After changing into my gym clothes, I headed toward the field and ran into Eun-hee unnie.

“Oh.”

“Ah.”

[Is something wrong?]

“No, it’s nothing.”

Ah, she was working.

It was refreshing to see her communicating over the radio.

I smiled, nodded, and was about to pass by when Eun-hee unnie quickly finished her radio call and called out to me.

“Yes, yes, then. Eun-ha, hold on a second…”

I stopped and turned to look at her.

She smiled brightly and greeted me.

“Hey, Eun-ha. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

I nodded and replied.

“Yes. Hello. You seem busy, unnie.”

“Haha, a bit? Guard work can be pretty tough. But our school doesn’t have much trouble with things like terrorism, so it’s pretty laid-back. I even get to slack off a little while working.”

“Slack off…”

That was obviously a joke.

Yeah, probably.

I laughed along with her.

“How are the others? It’s been a while since I saw Min-hee. How’s In-ha?”

“They’re all doing well. Min-hee is popular since she’s so cheerful, and In-ha is popular with everyone, boys and girls, even though she ignores everyone…”

“Wow~. That’s so like them. I guess they just have that natural charisma? They seem like kids who’ll stand above others someday.”

I gave a slightly awkward smile at those words.

For a compliment to a kid, it felt a little out of place but strangely realistic.

I hoped it wouldn’t be like that, but those two seemed like they wouldn’t mind standing above others.

Right now, they hide their power because they hate being pushed around, but when they grow up, they’ll probably wield it freely.

As for me… I’d rather not join an organization.

I don’t like battles, and I don’t want to be above others.

If I work, I’d like to do it freelance.

Maybe writing novels like in my past life wouldn’t be bad, though I’ve written plenty of novels before, so I also feel like trying something different.

I enjoy making things with my hands.

Origami is standard, and while my pottery turns out rather odd, I still enjoy the act of creating something with my own hands.

Novels were one form of that, too.

Hmm, I probably don’t need to think about things like that just yet.

“Well, we’re still young, so we don’t really know yet.”

“That’s true… but it feels strange. It’s not often you hear a child say they’re still young.”

Ah, that’s probably true.

But I really am a child.

“Then, I have P.E. class, so I’ll get going. Take care, Eun-hee unnie.”

“Alright, thank you.”

We waved our hands as we walked away from each other.

I started heading back toward the field.

But as I walked leisurely, I heard a voice calling out to me.

“Hey.”