chapter 90
I untied all the tug-of-war ropes binding me, took off my blindfold, and removed the earplugs before I was finally able to get a proper look at the kids from the other school.
‘…All unfamiliar faces.’
I wondered if I’d recognize anyone from before my regression, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Ah, though I did spot a few faces I’d seen back during my elementary school retreat.
With that in mind, I asked them,
“So? What business do you have with our school?”
“You’re slow on the news!”
When I asked, the kids from the other school puffed up proudly and replied,
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know that this year’s exchange competition is between your school and ours!”
“…Exchange competition?”
Come to think of it, that was a thing.
‘The exchange competitions I experienced before my regression… were only the ones between high schools and academies.’
Back then, there were duels and dungeon raids as events.
But that was because they were specialized high schools and academies for Awakeners.
Middle school exchange competitions were different.
‘Didn’t they just play sports like soccer, basketball, or ping pong?’
Unlike regular schools, specialized Awakened elementary and middle schools naturally had fewer students.
Since it was difficult to play sports that required many people on a regular basis, they held exchange competitions with other schools.
And since Awakeners and non-Awakeners couldn’t exactly compete together in sports, these events were limited to Awakened schools.
So, the competition itself wasn’t strange, but…
“…But it’s vacation right now. Don’t tell me they’re holding the competition during break?”
Not that it was impossible, but if they were, they would’ve already selected participants before vacation started.
If they held the competition during break and no one showed up, it’d be a disaster.
So that meant it wasn’t during break, but—
“No? I heard it’s a few days after vacation ends.”
“……”
So, still quite a while away.
“Anyway! Our school’s going to crush yours!”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
“Prepare yourselves!”
The kids from the other school were fired up for no reason.
Seeing this, our own students…
“We’re not going to lose either!”
“Special training starts today!”
“Ah… I’ve got cram school though…”
“Then we’ll train until you have to go.”
They were fired up too.
‘Honestly, if I went all out, I could singlehandedly win every event in the competition…’
But having an Aura Master do that wouldn’t exactly be very mature.
I’d just do enough to pull my own weight.
“A-and also…!”
At that moment, the kid who seemed to be the leader of the other school’s group hesitated before declaring:
“Ryu Ah-yeong…! If our school wins the exchange competition… you’ll go out with me…!”
His declaration was a shock.
He’d done the absolute worst kind of confession—
A public one.
“Ew…!”
Ah-yeong reacted with genuine disgust and quickly hid behind me.
The reason she instinctively hid behind me was simple—among the boys here, I was the most reliable in her eyes.
No deeper meaning than that.
But the boy clearly didn’t see it that way.
“……”
Looking furious, he glared at me and declared again:
“In this competition… I’ll defeat you no matter what! And I’ll win Ah-yeong back…!”
“…She was never your girlfriend to begin with.”
I sighed as I said it, but he turned away, unwilling to hear more.
The others followed him as they left our school.
‘…Good grief.’
Weren’t those kids the ones who used to bully Ah-yeong back in elementary school?
And now they were confessing to her?
‘Don’t tell me… it’s that thing? Boys bullying the girl they secretly like?’
I wasn’t sure if I should call it “cute” or just plain “stupid.”
But one thing was certain…
“You guys…! You have to win! Got it?! Especially you, A-min!”
“…Yeah, yeah.”
To Ah-yeong, that boy’s actions were nothing more than bullying, so it was definitely a bad move on his part.
She started drilling the boys, swearing she’d organize the girls into a cheering squad and demanding that we absolutely win the exchange competition once vacation ended.
Especially her twin brother, Ryu A-min—
Though he grumbled, he was secretly fuming, eager to show that boy a lesson for daring to target his sister.
“……”
Well, in any case…
So much for soccer today.
Thinking that, I left the kids to their “special training” preparations and decided to head home.
No one tried to stop me.
They knew that for someone of my level, half-baked training meant nothing.
‘…Come to think of it…’
Did those kids not know who I was?
I was famous as the youngest Aura Master, and ever since I attended Arthur’s wedding, even more people recognized me.
“Ah, Gun-woo.”
As I was about to pass through the school gate, a teacher called out to me.
Not my homeroom teacher, but…
Ha-eun’s homeroom teacher.
“Hello.”
“Right, you live next door to Ha-eun, don’t you?”
Not exactly, but…
“We live in the same apartment complex.”
“Ah, thought so. Sorry, but could you drop this off at Ha-eun’s place for me?”
He handed me a piece of paper.
Curious, I looked at it—
‘…A Magic Contest?’
It was a poster for a magic competition.
He probably wanted to encourage Ha-eun to enter since she was a Great Mage.
‘But isn’t it unfair for a Great Mage to enter a competition meant for middle schoolers?’
Still, I just folded the poster and put it in my bag.
Delivering it was no big deal.
Oh, right—since I had a teacher here anyway…
“By the way, teacher.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Do we really have an exchange competition at the start of second semester?”
“Ah… So you heard. The schedule and the opponent school were finalized just yesterday. We were going to announce it after break ended. Where’d you hear it from?”
I see.
I explained about the other school kids showing up earlier.
The teacher’s expression stiffened slightly.
‘Hm?’
A normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but my senses picked up the subtle shift.
What I felt was—
‘Irritation?’
Why?
“I clearly told them, ever since that incident at the elementary school years ago, not to let outsiders wander in. Even if they were just kids, how could they have been let in so easily?”
…Apparently, this teacher had a habit of muttering grimly to himself when thinking.
Not a great habit, but useful for me.
I now knew why he was irritated.
‘The incident years ago at the elementary school must be…’
That one, of course.
When an orc dungeon appeared at school, and I took care of it.
I’d deliberately left the orc corpses behind so it would look like an unknown intruder had handled it.
The aftermath caused nearby schools to temporarily close, and ever since, they’d been much stricter about preventing suspicious outsiders from entering.
“Haa… At least this time it was just kids, not an intruder… Still, I’ll have to give a warning.”
So that’s why—
Even children from other schools weren’t supposed to be let in.
The guard who allowed it would probably be disciplined.
‘…Poor guy.’
He must’ve thought kids weren’t dangerous and let them in, but now he’d get punished for it.
Technically, he did break the rules, but still… I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
Time passed, and soon it was the first day of second semester.
The opening ceremony was brief—just a gathering in the auditorium in the morning—before regular classes resumed.
The kids loudly protested against having normal lessons right after break, but of course, it changed nothing.
“Have the homework ready by next class. That’s it for today.”
Class dismissed.
The kids groaned, slammed their heads on desks, or chattered with friends.
But then the teacher’s next words changed the mood.
“Oh, and you’ve all heard about the exchange competition next week, right?”
The kids immediately perked up.
Those who hadn’t come to school during vacation looked confused.
Those who had… seemed resigned that the time had come.
“Some of you might not know, but your homeroom teacher will explain in detail. You’ll be competing against another school in multiple events.”
With that, the teacher left the room.
‘…Wait, if you leave now…’
It wasn’t recess yet, so we weren’t supposed to leave the classroom or make a ruckus.
But of course—
“I wanna play soccer.”
“Me too, soccer.”
“Hmm… If too many go for soccer, I’ll do basketball.”
The boys rushed up to the board to start dividing themselves into teams, making the room noisy.
‘…Even though we’ll have to coordinate with other classes later, so deciding now doesn’t mean much.’
As I was thinking that—
“Guys, breaking news!”
One kid, scrolling on his phone, suddenly announced,
“They added e-sports—like video games—as one of the events!”
“What? Seriously?”
The boys’ eyes lit up instantly.
In a flash, their interest shifted from soccer to gaming.
‘Hahaha…’
Well, of course.
They might like soccer, but nowhere near as much as video games.
Soon, when recess actually came, our boys rounded up guys from other classes too, trying to figure out who would compete.
“Gun-woo, what about you?”
“Hey, wanna do ping pong? No one’s signing up for it.”
And so, I was half pushed into taking ping pong.
Honestly, I didn’t care.
Like I’d said before, it wasn’t mature to take these things too seriously.
I’d just do my part.
Besides, ping pong would probably end quicker than soccer or basketball.
But then—
“No way!”
Ah-yeong shouted, her voice firm.
“We have to win! Gun-woo, you’re definitely doing soccer or basketball!”
“……”
“……”
“You don’t want to?”
With an aura like she’d flip the table if displeased, none of the boys dared argue.
And remembering the public confession incident from break, they sympathized with her, reshaping teams with a different goal—
Not to have fun, but to win at all costs.
Oh, and for reference…
“The competition will be held over two days, and one person can participate in as many events as they want.”
“……”
“……”
Silence.
Because that meant all the teams they’d just planned under the assumption of “one event per person” were meaningless.
