Prologue Story

In-ha asked as she stepped off the warp portal.

“Eun-ha, that person earlier said, ‘I like you in a pure sense.’ Is there a way to like someone that isn’t pure?”

“Oh…”

Seeing the innocent look in In-ha’s eyes, I reflexively swallowed and then screamed inwardly.

‘Eun-hee unnie──! What am I supposed to do with this bombshell after you just tossed it at me and ran!’

A moment later, as we walked down the shopping street, I cautiously explained the concept of ‘impure intentions’ to In-ha.

I told her it referred to people with perverted interests in children.

And In-ha, because of her pretty appearance, had unfortunately encountered her share of such perverts.

“But Min-hee’s brother is a guy, right? And he likes a little boy.”

Oh, right. It wasn’t that In-ha didn’t understand the meaning of impure love.

It was that she couldn’t grasp the idea of an adult man having impure feelings for a young boy.

“An adult man could like a young boy too, you know.”

“Is that so.”

In-ha nodded quietly.

‘Sigh, this is something she should learn when she’s older.’

I felt a bit of self-doubt.

While it’s necessary to be cautious, In-ha is still too young to personally experience such perversion.

It’s a truth that’s better left unknown even when she’s older.

But then the next question she asked was even more surprising.

“So, is Min-hee’s brother a pervert?”

“Oh, no, no. He likes him in a pure way, remember?”

“Oh.”

In-ha accepted this explanation, and I let out a sigh of relief.

Honestly, Eun-hee unnie…

Only after finishing all my explanations was I finally able to chat with In-ha as we usually did.

“So, since when did Han-soo and Min-hee become so close? For Min-hee’s brother to know about it, did she go over to his house or something?”

“That’s true.”

In-ha doesn’t particularly like Han-soo.

When I mentioned Han-soo, In-ha frowned for a moment, but then she nodded.

In my view, it wasn’t necessarily because Han-soo and Min-hee had become close that they visited each other’s houses.

Rather, Han-soo and Min-hee likely got close because Hyun-ho and Han-soo have been friends since childhood, and as Hyun-ho and Min-hee grew closer, it naturally included Han-soo in the mix.

Oh, come to think of it, I’d recently seen Han-soo hanging out with Shia often too. Or rather…

No, I shook my head. It’s not just Han-soo.

All of us had somehow started spending a lot of time together.

It seems that, as Eun-hee unnie said, children with natural talents have an inherently mature demeanor.

Although I was already a cautious person, it was hard to interact as genuine friends with other kids since I used to be an adult.

But, for some reason, I felt comfortable around them, and we got along well.

When I entered school, I thought In-ha would be my only friend, if even that… it really was an unexpected connection.

Even Min-hee, who seemed so carefree, showed mature traits if you looked closely.

Oddly enough, Shia seemed the most childlike among us.

Though Shia was a bit shy for a boy, his mental maturity matched his age group.

“Oh? Eun-ha and In-ha?”

While heading to the bookstore and chatting, In-ha and I turned our heads at a familiar voice.

There, we saw Yoo-jung unnie and In-ho oppa standing side by side, looking at us.

Yoo-jung unnie had her jet-black hair tied in two half-twists, which suited her well.

I blinked at the sight of the two of them.

I’d heard from our chats during level-based classes that In-ho oppa developed his magic over spring break, and Yoo-jung unnie developed hers last winter.

So, this year, when we all joined Class I, it was the first time they learned of each other’s magic abilities.

Perhaps because of the anxiety from their early development, they always seemed to stick together, much like us.

Seeing us, they both smiled. These two were also quite mature compared to their peers.

“What teams are you both on for the upcoming sports meet?”

“What about you two?”

In-ha was the one who asked in return.

In-ha had a good impression of everyone in Class I.

It was a stark contrast to her aloofness with the rest of the class.

Ah, well, Han-soo was a bit of an exception.

“I’m on the Blue Team, and In-ho is on the Red Team, right?”

“Yeah.”

Let’s see… then… I, In-ha, and Shia were on the White Team. Hyun-ho and Yoo-jung unnie were on the Blue Team. Min-hee, Han-soo, and In-ho oppa were on the Red Team.

It seemed pretty well balanced.

Oh, I forgot to ask Eun-hee unnie which team she’s on. Ah well, it’ll work out somehow.

For now, it seemed fairly divided.

“You two are on the same team? I’m jealous. What about the others?”

I repeated the team assignments I’d just sorted out in my mind to Yoo-jung unnie.

Wait, is Hyun-ho the only one on my team? Well, it’s a relief there’s at least one.

Yoo-jung unnie sighed, disappointed.

“Let’s give it our all. Our school’s sports meet is huge. Last year was no joke! I’m super excited.”

Following Yoo-jung unnie, In-ho oppa smiled brightly, seemingly looking forward to it as well.

Yoo-jung unnie clenched her fist enthusiastically, stomping her feet.

“I’m dying to know what events we’ll do! When I was in first grade, we did this thing called the opening event, right? It’s the first activity. You put magic into a magic orb and hit the ball. When it breaks, the ball opens. Both the ball and the orb are pretty, but when the orb breaks, it disappears so you don’t get hurt.”

“Yeah, that’s the first event at every sports meet. There’s nothing else first graders can do, right? By now, most of our first-grade classmates should be able to move magic power.”

Nodding, I recalled what we had learned so far.

We had learned a variety of things, but since many first graders had yet to manipulate magic, the focus was on mastering the basics of magic control.

With the level-based classes, our class had progressed to the point where everyone could at least move magic power, although to varying degrees.

Besides us, there were other kids who had begun to accumulate magic within themselves.

However, no one had developed enough to accumulate magic through meditation.

It seems like that stage takes more time.

Naturally, we could accumulate our own magic.

Besides, with each spell we cast, our magic capacity steadily grew.

Since we had already created spells, it was only natural.

And from the beginning until now, I’d always had the highest amount of magic and skill among the I class.

I almost smirked but stopped myself.

“We’re currently learning spell magic. Now that the first semester is over, even the kids who struggled with magic can now cast two spells. Most of what we’re learning now is spell magic, but we’re using the spells to draw magic circles, aren’t we?”

“That’s right.”

“Magic circles require the most intelligence among spells, so…”

Starting from talking about the sports meet, Yoo-jung unnie cheerfully started chattering about class topics.

Although the conversation had veered off-topic, seeing her talk excitedly about what she’d learned in class was adorable, so I listened with a happy expression.

In-ha, intrigued by the second-year curriculum, listened intently as well.

“By the way, what are you two doing here in the shopping street?”

“Huh? Oh, we’re here to return some books.”

“Really? We came to draw the recent popularity fortune lots among friends. We wanted to try our luck.”

Yoo-jung unnie said, smiling. Fortune lots? Do they have things like that here? The shops around here really have some peculiar things.

“I just came along with Yoo-jung. I actually came to buy something else. Yoo-jung, let’s go now. We have to buy and draw the lots too.”

“Oh? Right. See you, In-ha, Eun-ha!”

“Yeah, unnie and oppa, see you.”

In-ha and I waved back at them, then resumed heading to the bookstore.

The bookstore in Daehyun’s shopping street was quite large.

After returning the book, I stood In-ha aside and chose my next book to read.

In-ha glanced at some books as well.

Most of the people around us were senior elementary or middle school students, but I confidently picked a novel and rented it before heading outside.

“Now I’m starting to look forward to the sports meet.”

I looked up at the sky and mumbled to myself.

The blue sky was beautiful.

Then In-ha looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked.

“Didn’t you say earlier that it was annoying?”

“Well, thinking about it, it’s a chance to see a lot of magic, right? How often do you get to see the magic of high school seniors up close?”

“Hm… you’re right.”

In-ha nodded in agreement, then looked at me and smiled faintly.

“Let’s head back, then.”

“Okay.”

We immediately activated the teleport function on our badges and returned home.

☆

Beep beep.

『It’s here ^^』

I stared at the translucent window floating above my student ID and checked the sender.

It was Min-hee. Of course.

By “here,” she probably meant the sports meet schedule.

I popped the balloon-shaped notification and checked my student ID.

Sure enough, in the recent announcements, there was a post titled 『Sports Meet Schedule』.

I tapped on it, and a new window popped up with a list of events.

I read through the sports meet schedule.

At the very top was the opening ceremony, followed by an event labeled 『Opening Event』 with a bright highlighter mark.

It was the only event that first graders would participate in, clearly indicated by my student ID.

I pressed on 『Opening Event』 to see the details.

The opening event. Breaking a large ball with a magic orb to announce the start of the event. Right, what else could elementary first graders do other than this? And this, other first graders couldn’t even do.

Other first-grade events were also marked with a lighter highlight, but all of them were team events.

They included activities where each grade level would select a representative for a relay or a scavenger hunt, and an all-grade cheer competition.

Those were the only events first graders could participate in.

Some events also had stars next to them, likely because they were important or popular regardless of grade.

The event with the most stars was the last one.

Aerial Race: Any student can interfere with competitors as long as they remain within the event boundaries─ it read. Wow.

I smiled with excitement.

Thank goodness first graders didn’t have many events.

I wasn’t interested in competing; I just wanted to watch.

The final event was scheduled for 5 p.m., so it seemed everything would wrap up in a day.

The main participants in the sports meet were the middle school seniors who had fully developed their talents.

And the most important combat-focused events were handled by the high school seniors.

As I scanned the details of the magic performance event for fifth and sixth graders, I frowned.

『Selected particularly outstanding students from each team.』 Ugh, no way, no thank you.

I really don’t want any part of this.

Honestly, I need to keep a low profile at least until middle school.

Especially since my main magic, illusion magic, can be incredibly flashy depending on how it’s used, it’s perfect for such performances.

I yawned while reading through the event descriptions.

At that moment, a small window popped up.

『Sender: Kang In-ha

Did you see the sports meet schedule?』

I smiled and quickly pressed the reply button, then wrote my response.

『Recipient: Kang In-ha

Yeah, I saw it ^^ Looks fun』

I meant it. Soon after, In-ha’s enthusiastic reply came back.

And shortly after that, I received another message from Min-hee.

『Sender: Joo Min-hee

Hierarchy chart!』

…Chart? What does that mean? …Oh, a typo.

『Sender: Joo Min-hee

My brother’s school ranking is number one! He’s in the White Teamㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ』

So that “chart” was actually “rank”? White Team, yes! If I’m competing, I want to win, so this is great.

I smiled slightly. The message continued below.

『Sender: Joo Min-hee

Rank 2, high school vice president! Blue Team

Rank 3, high school president! Also Blue Team

You both know them, right?

Rank 4, Chunho oppa, Red Team

Ah, my brother said he’ll write down the rest』

Oh, good, those typos were getting on my nerves. Soon after, a new message popped up.

『Sender: Joo Min-hee

School Ranking

Rank 5, In Juyeol, White Team

Rank 6, Kim Juyeon, Blue Team

Rank 7, Seon Sihyun, Red Team

Rank 8, Kim Juhan, Red Team

Rank 9, Yeon Yoon, Blue Team

Rank 10, Kang Seoyoung, Red Team

Rank 11, Yoo Seojun, White Team

The rest is too much work』

…Looks like Min-hee’s brother doesn’t pay much attention to spacing either.

But anyway, so that’s how it is. Haha, this’ll be interesting. It’s fairly… well balanced, I guess.

Then, I made an awkward smile. But this whole “school ranking” thing… I just can’t get used to it.

It’s so cheesy, it feels like something out of a juvenile novel.

As I laughed awkwardly, I turned off my student ID and lay down on my bed, imagining what might happen next.

No matter the magic, seeing it often is helpful.

Just the thought of seeing all sorts of magic made my heart race with excitement.

Lying down, I shivered with anticipation and chuckled.