TRPM 188

I was on my way to school as usual.

‘… There are a lot of people watching me.’

There were always occasional people keeping tabs on my movements, but today it was worse than normal. I’d expected this after it became public that I’m an Artist. Once information about me has value, it’s natural that more people would surveil me to get it.

Of course…

“(Guh?!)”
“(Ugh?!)”
“(How….)”

I took care of every one of those guys and threw them into the nearest police box. Since they were shadowing me secretly, killing them wouldn’t have caused any problems, but I didn’t bother to kill them. After all, they were probably just following orders from above. It’s possible one or two acted on their own, but I think that’s unlikely.

Oh, and for the ones who attempted suicide when they realized I had found them — of course I prevented them from succeeding. The ones who tried to pop the pills they had in their mouths? I forced their mouths open, smashed the pills, pulled the fragments out, and sealed their mouths. The ones who tried to force a backflow of their aura or mana to make themselves explode — I pinched their blood channels so that they temporarily couldn’t use aura or mana.

‘As for the ones who killed themselves the moment they knew I’d caught them, before I could get there — I couldn’t save them.’

If I’d moved faster I might have been able to save them, but I’d been moving deliberately, so there was nothing to be done.

Clack! Clack!

I cremated the dead ones in the Sammaejin furnace, took the ones who didn’t die to the police after making sure they couldn’t succeed in killing themselves, dusted off my hands, and headed back toward school.

‘… The closer I get to the school, the more of our students I see.’

Seeing students in the same uniform made me think that. I usually get to school early, so I hadn’t noticed before, but maybe because it took time to deal with the watchers, there were a lot of students around today. And…

‘Everyone’s carrying a lot of gear.’

A lot of them had weapons, and many brought armor — the kind you’d wear for a dungeon raid.

“You ready for sparring class today?”
“Of course. I can at least beat you, I think.”
“What did you say, punk?”

Ah — right. Today’s the first practical class… and it’s sparring.

‘We never had practical classes in middle school… so for the first-years going to school now, this sparring is their first time.’

So they all looked like they’d brought their own weapons.

“Hey… look at those guys…”
“Heh heh… they brought a lot.”
“We were like that when we were first-years, remember?”

The second- and third-years snickered quietly at the first-years. It’s understandable…

‘Sparring normally uses only the training weapons kept in the school’s sparring hall.’

This isn’t a life-or-death duel; it’s just regular sparring. There’s no reason to bring the weapons you use for hunting monsters. The weapons and armor the first-years brought won’t be used. I think the first-years were told — by some upperclassmen — that they should bring personal gear, and they believed that lie. I smiled wryly at them.

‘I fell for it before I reset, too.’

Teachers never once told us to bring weapons or armor, yet the rumor spread that we should. Many upperclassmen always carried weapons at their hips, like me with a sword, so the rumor seemed credible. Naturally most of the first-years fell for it and brought their own gear. I did too.

‘My family wasn’t well off, so I got the cheapest sword I could and brought that.’

Many kids brought their own arms, but I remember the teacher smiling and telling us to pick training weapons — that feels nostalgic now. With that thought I arrived at school and went to my homeroom.

Creak….

When I opened the classroom door, the kids greeted me.

“Oh! Geon-woo’s here!”
“You came back on a plane yesterday, right?”
“Are you okay?”

Except for Kang Garam and Jin Cheonha, who still felt a bit awkward meeting me again, and Kim Eun-yeon who went to the US for a certification exam, everyone came up to me. The two who didn’t approach were watching us intently. I took a snow globe out of my pocket-space for those kids.

“Huh? What’s that…?”
“A souvenir. Take one each.”

At my words the kids in class reached for a snow globe. I didn’t mind them grabbing one, except for one person in particular…

“You can’t have one.”
“Ah, why?!”
“You already came to my house yesterday and got one.”

Lee Ha-eun had visited my house yesterday and had taken a snow globe then; when she reached for another, I snatched it out of her hand.

“But there are still two left?”
“One’s for the teacher, and the other is for Eun-yeon in the States.”

Hearing that, Ha-eun gave up trying to grab another. If she’d been mean-spirited she might have tried to take the ones meant for absent kids, but she wasn’t like that. Thanks to that, the two snow globes for the absent students were safe.

“But how will you give Eun-yeon hers? She’s in the US, right?”
“I’ll just put it on her desk. Once her exam is over she’ll be back at school no later than next week.”

I said that and placed the remaining snow globe on Kim Eun-yeon’s desk. Then I looked around at the kids.

‘… Looks like these kids fell for it too.’

Each desk had a weapon propped up nearby. I thought some kids in other classes might be gullible, but our class has kids experienced in sparring and smart ones too, so I didn’t expect most to be tricked. Maybe sensing my look, Elena came up to me and quietly spoke.

“It was something Lee Doo-min heard from some upperclassmen — they said you must bring weapons to sparring class.”

“… You telling me that means you knew those upperclassmen were lying. So why did you bring your own equipment?”

As a spirit user she had several ornaments that helped with spirit energy — technically equipment, so she couldn’t use them during sparring.

“Because of my naive princess image. I pretended to be fooled to keep that image. Oh, and Elliot really was fooled and brought armor.”

“……”

“… Why are you looking at me like that?”

Well, she looks normal on the surface, but inside she’s a ticking psycho. I decided to ignore Elena. She glared at me as if to ask what that look meant, but most of the kids in the class didn’t know her true nature, so she didn’t raise her voice.

I ignored Elena, passed the kids inspecting their snow globes, and sat at my desk. But it didn’t take long before I had to stand up again.

“… Why does sparring have to be first period…?”
“They say Class 1 is first, so we go first.”

Ryu A-min answered when I grumbled. I knew that already — I was just annoyed I’d have to get up shortly after sitting down.

“Hey, hurry up and put your armor on!”
“Okay!”
“… Sigh…”

I sighed as I watched the boys head toward the changing room to put on armor or combat suits. They’ll have to go back to the changing room to take them off when class starts. With that in mind I grabbed my gym clothes and followed them in to change. Then we headed to the school’s sparring hall.

“……”

In the sparring hall the teacher sat in a chair with his eyes closed like he was meditating.

‘Same teacher as before the reset.’

Our practical instructor was a muscular man who could probably compete in fitness contests. He also had a number of scars across his body, as if he’d come back from brutal battlefields. I sat in the chair prepared in front of him. The other kids who changed into their gear entered and, seeing the teacher seated and me quietly nearby, sat down one by one in chairs near me, wary.

“… Hmm.”

No one spoke until the teacher opened his eyes and spoke. Usually the kids were loud during break times, but in front of that teacher they seemed intimidated; it was quiet even though class hadn’t officially started.

“… Nine students…? Class 1 had ten, didn’t it?”
“She went to the US for an alchemy certification exam.”
“Oh, right.”

The teacher muttered that and I answered. He nodded as if he understood, then stood and began to speak.

“You’ve seen me in PE for the last few weeks, so you should know who I am.”

The teacher’s muscles twitched as he spoke. Looking at him like this felt a little imposing.

“Sparring is normally done in pairs. But your class has nine…”

He glanced at me briefly.

“And one of you is asymmetrical power, and the one in the US is non-combat personnel.”

I’m asymmetrical power too, and Lee Ha-eun, being an archmage, is also asymmetrical. I don’t know if the teacher realized I was thinking that, but he continued.

“I thought about how best to run class, and decided it’s best if everyone but Han Geon-woo pairs up for sparring. Han Geon-woo, you’ll train individually as you like.”

“……”

It felt like he was ostracizing me, but it couldn’t be helped. I didn’t particularly want to spar with the kids anyway; I’d rather meditate during sparring time because it’s more efficient. So I decided to follow his direction.

“And…”

After finishing the explanation of the sparring lesson, the teacher sighed, scanned the students, and spoke quietly.

“Wear either your uniform or gym clothes. Use only the training weapons located in the sparring hall. And, of course, any magically-treated equipment aside from the training weapons is strictly prohibited.”

He said it as if he was used to saying the same thing. Most first-years at this time of year were tricked by upperclassmen into bringing personal equipment, after all.

“Go change right now and come back! Put your weapons in the classroom or in the lockers in the changing room — whatever you want!”
“Yes!”
“Yes…!”

When the scarred, muscular teacher said that, the frightened kids bolted for the changing room.

“Phew…”

Once the others left the sparring hall, the teacher sat back down as if tired. After confirming that, I put the sword I always carried into my pocket-space and moved to one side of the sparring hall to begin meditating.