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chapter 89
Not long after I returned from London, I received a message from Arthur.
[First of all, the compensation for stopping the terrorist attack at the British Museum, as well as the reward for lending us your combat suit, has been sent to the Ironblood Guild by courier.]
“First of all?”
Did he have something to say beyond the compensation for what happened in England?
[Yes. You remember those things you entrusted to me? The equipment that Oracle’s terrorist group had.]
“Oh, that? You’ve already finished analyzing it?”
When Yeon Mirae had fallen into the Heart Demon state and later awakened to Magic Arts, she had been attacked by some men—those men, and the equipment they carried.
[The gear they were wearing was certainly cutting-edge, but it’s still within the realm of what modern science and magic combined could produce. So we can set that part aside…]
The real problem was the device that had weighed down Yeon Mirae’s mana.
[This is the tricky part… As you said, this device is a kind of “sorcery” that forcibly crams in the contradictory narrative that ‘there have never been supernatural powers in human history.’ Because of that, even with my analytical abilities, it was hard to figure out how it works.]
Arthur admitted it was difficult, but said there had still been progress.
[In the end, it’s a device that uses the power of “stories.” Which means if you use the power of another story, you can counter it.]
“…What do you mean?”
[In other words…]
If that sorcery enforces the story that supernatural powers never existed, then to block it you could use the story that supernatural powers emerged among humanity after the appearance of the Black Mist.
And since that story didn’t contradict the sorcery itself, it would have been easier to craft.
“…So the terrorists who used the device in front of Yeon Mirae must have taken advantage of that method.”
[Most likely? Honestly, I don’t know much about sorcery. I only know that if I use story power, I could block the device’s function—but I don’t really know how. But…]
But you, Artist-nim, who understand sorcery well, would be different.
“……”
Hearing Arthur’s words, I quietly smiled.
“You did well.”
[Thank you. As for payment, please make it some kind of artifact that can block this device. If it’s activated in front of me, I might freeze up completely, since I’m a puppet.]
“I don’t know when I’ll finish it, but I’ll do that.”
It was just as I said that—
“Gunwoo, who are you talking to?”
Ryu Ayoung, my classmate, leaned her face right in front of mine and asked.
Arthur must have heard her voice, because over the phone he sounded startled.
[What? Wait—are you at school? Isn’t it summer break?]
“Yeah, but our school runs special summer classes… so even during vacation, we still have lessons.”
Attendance wasn’t mandatory.
But about half our class had come.
[Ah… they do something similar in England too.]
“Break’s almost over, so I’ll hang up. Nothing urgent, right?”
[Right. Take care, even during vacation.]
After ending the call, I turned my head toward Ryu Ayoung, who was still leaning in close.
“So? Who were you talking to?”
“Arthur-hyung, from England.”
It wasn’t anything I needed to hide, so I answered honestly.
Then another student—not Ayoung—jumped in with excitement.
“Oh, I saw that on the news! Arthur, the British Aura Master, had a wedding! And they said all sorts of important people from Britain attended, plus you—Korea’s Aura Master Gunwoo—were there too!”
…Well, it was newsworthy.
The guest list had been prestigious enough to rival a royal wedding.
That alone was enough to make the news, but with me—Korea’s youngest Aura Master—attending as a guest, the Korean press must have broadcast it nonstop.
“……”
I looked at the boy making a fuss with a flat expression.
His name was Lee Doomin.
Unlike me, Ayoung, or Ha-eun, who had gone to Awakened-specialized schools since elementary school, Doomin had only joined such a school in middle school.
And… he had been quite the troublemaker.
‘He awakened in upper elementary, and none of his classmates could keep up with him.’
Not that he threw punches—he showed off through arm-wrestling or soccer and the like.
If he had actually used his fists as an Awakened, he wouldn’t have been written off as just a “problem child.”
Anyway.
When he got to middle school, he still acted like he was the strongest—until he challenged me and got crushed.
Arm wrestling, soccer, basketball, ping pong… even video games I wasn’t known to be good at.
He tried everything, and lost every time.
The humiliation made him cry buckets.
Not just some grade schooler, but a middle schooler, bawling so hard it even made me wonder if I’d gone too far.
‘Since then, he learned humility and stuck to me, calling himself my underling.’
So nowadays, I usually hung out with my childhood friend Ha-eun, the siblings Ryu Ayoung and Ryu Amin, and this Doomin.
Even though Ha-eun and Amin were in other classes, the five of us spent most of our time together.
Oh, and of course—
“Anyway, Gunwoo, you’re coming to play soccer at lunch, right?”
It wasn’t just us five—we were friendly with the rest of the class too.
Especially at lunch, when the boys gathered to play class-against-class soccer matches.
Of course, we never played seriously.
I was handicapped with things like being tied up with ropes, blindfolded, or wearing earmuffs—every imaginable restriction.
“What? You’re playing soccer again?”
“We always do.”
“Yeah. Ayoung, you’ll come watch, right?”
“No way~! I’m going home to enjoy the air conditioner~. Why would you want to play soccer in the middle of summer, sweating buckets?”
Ayoung said it like she couldn’t understand us.
Not just to me, but to all the boys in the class.
‘Haha… well, she has a point.’
Honestly, even I didn’t quite get it.
My body didn’t feel heat or cold much—it could be called impervious to temperature—so I was fine.
But I didn’t know why the other boys were so full of energy.
‘Then again… I was probably the same before my regression.’
Why I had been so energetic back then—I had no idea now.
By lunchtime—though during summer break we only had morning classes, so there was no official lunch—the kids would finish class, eat at home or nearby, then gather back at school.
Even those with academies later had time to play before leaving.
“Tying me up?”
“Yeah.”
I answered Ayoung’s question.
She wrapped me up like a sushi roll with a blanket slightly shorter than my height, then tied me tightly with a tug-of-war rope.
She blindfolded me with a cute character mask and plugged my ears with earmuffs.
“Tada! All done!”
“Right.”
After finishing, she headed for the shaded stands.
She’d said she wasn’t coming to watch, but like always, she came anyway.
Maybe because her brother, Amin, often played too.
Meanwhile, I shuffled along using only my ankles, making my way toward where the boys were gathering.
Ridiculous as it looked, this was the best I could do while bound from head to toe.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
“Rock, paper, scissors! Won! Okay then… Gunwoo, you’re on our team!”
The kids were splitting into teams.
My team already seemed set.
“Who’s with us?”
“Okay, so from our class…”
Doomin, now my teammate, explained who else was on our side.
I confirmed their presences by their energy.
But just then—
“Hm? Who are those people?”
One of the kids pointed toward the stands.
I spread my inner energy slightly to sense them.
‘Ayoung… and some others? Who are they?’
From their aura, they seemed to be Awakened around our age.
But not from our school.
I knew every aura from our school by now.
So, strangers.
As I was wondering, Ayoung suddenly ran over angrily.
“What is it, Ayoung?”
“Something wrong?”
Sensing this wasn’t ordinary, the kids stopped the game and gathered around her.
She revealed the strangers’ identities.
“Those guys! They went to my elementary school—they’re the ones who bullied me!”
Ayoung had white hair, unlike most people.
Because of that, she and her twin brother Amin had been ostracized.
Not openly bullied, but subtly excluded.
And now those same kids had come to our school?
‘…Wait. Ayoung and Amin’s elementary was in the next town over, wasn’t it?’
They’d moved to attend this middle school, but those kids hadn’t.
So for them to come all the way here… what was going on?
“You!”
As I wondered, the apparent leader of the strangers pointed—
Not at me, but at Doomin, who was standing by my side.
“…Me?”
“Yeah! You’re the boss of this school, aren’t you?!”
Boss…?
That was something I’d only heard in anti-bullying lessons. People actually said that in real life?
‘Well, Doomin is the strongest among them.’
Aside from me, of course.
Knowing that, Doomin quickly pointed at me.
“No… he’s the strongest in our school.”
But the other boy sneered, clearly not believing him.
“Hah! He’s probably just your lackey! Otherwise, why would you tie him up in a blanket, blindfold him, and plug his ears, if not to bully him?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Uh… well.
If you didn’t know any better, I suppose that’s exactly what it looked like.
“…What? Why are you all reacting like that?”
The kids from the other school seemed confused by our silence.
