Prologue Story

The first level-based class ended safely.

Thanks to that, I felt like I’d unexpectedly formed new friendships.

Park Hansoo and Inha bickered until the very moment school ended, and the kids named Joo Min-hee and Kim Hyun-ho quickly became friends, chatting with mischievous faces as if their personalities clicked.

I found myself in the middle of it all, watching them warmly.

Oddly, I didn’t feel uncomfortable.

Instead, I even felt a sense of closeness.

Perhaps it was because of a sense of kinship—something subtle, coming from sharing the same abilities.

It seemed that Inha felt the same way.

Considering that Inha usually ignored most kids, it was obvious from how she responded to their words and jokes after class.

“The class, right? It was pretty good, wasn’t it?”

Lying on my bed and absent-mindedly thinking about my world, I turned and smiled at Inha’s words.

Yes, it was good. Thanks to it, I could create the world in my dreams.

To think that such a beautiful world was my mental space…

“Yeah, it was good.”

“Learning through conversations really makes things easier to understand. I feel like I’ll be able to get stronger quickly.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“…What did you work on?”

At those words, I released a bit of magic from my fingertip, making a blue, fairy-like figure float in the air as I answered.

Even though it was a fairy, it looked more like a cartoon character’s version of one.

“As you can see, my main skill is illusions, right?”

“Yeah, though your Written Magic is even more impressive.”

“Right, exactly. So, there are two types of illusions that I aim to create.”

“Yeah?”

“One is spreading my world in reality, and the other is showing my illusions within someone’s mind, in their ‘mental space.’”

“Hm…”

“For example, making something happen in a dream that stays with them even when they wake up. And that experience could affect them in reality too, passing through their brain. Of course, I don’t fully understand the brain, but there are cases where if the brain believes something is real, it applies to the body as well, right? It’s something like that.”

“….”

“So, I can already create illusions in reality, but I barely have the ability to produce mental illusions. Today, I learned the first step to achieving that.”

“The first step?”

“Yes. Having lucid dreams.”

I proudly made a V with my fingers.

“I succeeded today!”

Inha watched me, excited, and tilted her head.

“What’s ‘lucid dreaming’?”

“…”

…Wait, from that part? Come to think of it, she didn’t understand most of what I said. I was momentarily flustered but then understood.

Inha was just a child. Her manner of speaking and acting might seem mature, but her knowledge was still quite limited.

After a moment of hesitation, I explained.

“So, a lucid dream is when you realize you’re dreaming while you’re in the dream.

You know how usually, in dreams, we don’t realize that we’re dreaming? Normally, we only think, ‘Oh, that was a dream,’ after we wake up.”

Inha nodded. Most people were like that.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“But lucid dreams are different. As the name suggests, you become aware that you’re dreaming, right in the dream.”

“…Ah, I see. So, what does that have to do with mental illusions and lucid dreaming?”

“Hmm… it’s a bit tricky to explain, but…”

After seriously thinking about it, I continued speaking.

“The main point is this: what happens in dreams happens within our mental space, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But normally, since dreams happen subconsciously, we aren’t aware that it’s a dream.”

“Right.”

“To be ‘aware’ of it means being able to control your mental space. At the very least, it lets you see your own mental space.”

“To… be able to see it?”

Yes. I nodded.

“Like I said, dreams happen within our mental space. I told you that mental illusions are a kind of illusion that turns into a dream once you wake up. So in the end, dreams and mental space are connected.”

Inha slowly nodded at my words. Was she understanding this time?

“And they say that anything is possible in dreams, right? Mental illusions also involve manipulating the other person’s mental space, which is basically the place where they normally dream.

It’s like teaching someone origami; you need to be able to fold it yourself before you can teach someone else, right? It’s similar to that. I need to be able to control things in my own dreams before I can enter someone else’s mental space.”

“Hmm…”

“Dreams are a part of the mental world. So, I need to start by understanding my own dreams. Only then can I understand someone else’s.”

I felt a sense of pride, realizing I’d managed to explain it step by step. I tried my best to make it as clear as possible, but Inha was still tilting her head with a puzzled look.

“So… your mental illusions are… the ability to control dreams, and in order to do that, you have to be able to realize that it’s a dream?”

I listened to Inha’s words and beamed brightly.

“Yes! Good, that’s perfect. You’ll understand the rest by watching over time. As expected, you catch on quickly, Inha!”

In fact, most kids would just memorize my words without being able to interpret them this way. But Inha could do it at this young age. My Inha really was quite clever.

Feeling proud, I patted Inha on the head. Inha’s cheeks flushed slightly.

A moment later, she asked another question.

“So… what about Written Magic and Barrier Magic?”

“Oh, I haven’t told the teachers about those yet, so I’m just practicing on my own for now.”

“Is that so…”

Inha nodded. Well, they said I only needed to mention my main magic, anyway. They wouldn’t imagine a child at this age could have more than one type of magic. Though we’re aware of the Confidentiality Policy, it still feels burdensome to mention other magic skills.

“I’ve been practicing regularly. With Barrier Magic, I might soon be able to create something like a passage. Just like the teacher said, once you reach the growth period, things start to feel different.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And if I keep practicing teleportation with the student ID, I might soon be able to teleport myself alone. Even if not, I think I could link barriers together to teleport, but… of course, both still need more time.”

Inha didn’t look particularly convinced. Though we were on the same level as magicians, our areas of focus were quite different.

I had a high affinity with spatial magic, while Inha had none at all.

“So, what about Written Magic?”

“I scribble whenever I’m bored.”

When I have nothing to do at home, I create characters. Once I write their profile and appearance details on paper, it’s as if they become real and appear on the paper.

I could even turn them into drawings. I thought this was a type of illusion magic as well.

Just like illusion magic, Written Magic was truly a crystallization of my imagination. Since I’d written so much in my previous life, the effect was even more pronounced.

I planned to focus on ‘Verbal Incantations’ with Written Magic. That had been my intention from the start. Written Magic was, in a way, like writing a novel.

Whether I set something up or draw something, whatever I write down materializes based on my imagination.

“I need to work hard too. I’ve started to think about my sub-magic now.”

“Really?”

The more I thought about it, Inha’s Light Magic was excellent for both offense and defense. It was very efficient magic, but it also worried me. I wondered if she might grow too powerful at too young an age.

‘A sub-magic for Inha, huh…’

When I think of light, I think of speed, which means strong penetration and force. Inha was practicing applying light to her body.

Speed was one of the key elements of combat. Light can carry heat and can even vibrate. Considering this, her sub-magic might be something like fire or lightning, both highly offensive.

Meanwhile, my magic was all far from direct combat. I hadn’t even thought about fighting and simply chose elements that suited me and that I wanted, so the result was natural.

I’m sure Inha chose magic that she wanted too…

“Sleepy?”

“Yes… I am sleepy.”

I smiled warmly at Inha, who was rubbing her eyes, and pulled the blanket up to cover her.

“Good night.”

“…Yes.”

…I felt a strange sense of concern. With that final thought, I closed my eyes.

☆

When I regained my senses, I was sitting in a field, knees drawn up, endlessly gazing up at the starry sky. Unbothered even by the light of early dawn in the distance.

I blinked as I looked at the dazzling starlight.

A beautiful night sky. A lovely world where I could go as far as I wished.

Yet, even in this world, I sometimes felt a vague sense of emptiness.

“So beautiful…”

Such a mesmerizing beauty—it was almost unbelievable that I’d created this world.

A sky full of stars… Haha. It would be the perfect romantic setting for lovers.

Yes, truly. Ignoring the emptiness in my heart, I casually reached a hand up toward the sky.

“Is it beautiful?”

“Yes, it’s beautiful.”

“That’s good to hear.”

I had answered without thinking, then gasped in surprise and turned quickly. I couldn’t help but swallow when I saw the face that appeared before me.

He was looking at me with a gentle smile. His neat face with flowing black hair, his dark brown eyes that seemed black, his thin lips curved in a line—all were familiar. Familiar and missed.

A face I could never forget was right before my eyes. I froze, eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?”

He smiled, reaching out his hand to my face with a curious expression.

In that moment, I realized my young body had transformed into an adult’s.

“Oh…”

“Acting strange today. Oh, is it because I look handsome?”

“…Idiot.”

“What? Same as always, huh?”

My eyes, which felt close to tears, twisted with emotion.

It was definitely different from my usual childish body.

As I looked down at my curvier form, I couldn’t believe it. I looked back at his face.

That cool, handsome face. The voice that spoke to me so kindly.

Yes, he always smiled at me like this with such kindness.

I realized then: this was my dream world.

A beautiful, surreal place that couldn’t possibly exist. My dream world, a place solely in my imagination.

Right, you couldn’t possibly be here, and my body couldn’t exist here either.

I felt tears sliding down my cheeks.

“What, why are you crying?! What’s wrong? 「───」!”

That name… it’s been so long since I heard it. No one calls it anymore.

I cried, laughing softly as I reached my hand out to him. I mumbled, feeling the warmth I’d drawn from my memories.

“I… I didn’t know.”

“Huh? What didn’t you know?”

I let out a soft, bitter laugh. Of course it had to be this way.

I, who left you behind and died in my past life.

“…I thought I was okay. But, it turns out I missed you so much.”

I slowly lowered my hand that had been caressing his cheek, then covered my face.

I felt the false you holding me, startled.

Feeling it, I laughed sadly.

So I missed you this much.

I had thought I was okay. I remembered the promise we made before I died.

The warmth faded, leaving no trace.

“Even if I’m reborn… I hope to meet you again.”

Even if I’m reborn, I hope to love you again.

Even if I die and reincarnate, I hope to remember you.

Even if I die and am reborn, I thought I wouldn’t forget. So I made that promise and died.

In reality, it was true. Even now, I love you so much…

“Where are you…?”

Where are you? Where are you now?

I wonder if I can truly see you again.

I missed your face, your voice, and that presence so much that it hurt.

It was painful, so painful that my heart ached.

I turned my gaze away, trying not to think about it, but it felt like I was coughing up blood. I missed you.

I wanted to see you so badly, missed you so deeply.

I cried painfully, letting out a low groan.

Even after death, I loved you this much and missed you this intensely.

To the point where I unconsciously recreated you in my dreams.

☆

“…That’s a relief.”

I wiped my tears and looked at Inha. She had fallen asleep soundlessly.

With trembling hands, I stroked her long hair, feeling a pang of tenderness.

“I hope… I can meet you.”

I remember this. Before I died, I was certain that I would be able to meet you again after reincarnating.

I don’t know why. I don’t remember it now. But still…

“Even if I’m reborn after death, I hope I can recognize you.”

Even if you have reincarnated too, whatever form you may have taken.

I wrapped my arms around my knees and buried my face.

A dull ache spread through one side of my chest.