I Became the Childhood Friend Who Commits Sui**de

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Lea.

At just 18 years old, she is one of the greatest geniuses in human history, having rapidly risen to the top rank of S-class with overwhelming strength.

Famous for the title of Great Mage, she harbored a deep hatred for monsters.

In this era, such a story isn’t particularly unusual.

Everyone experiences the loss of a cherished person at least once.

After losing the man who meant everything to her as a young girl, she vowed revenge.

She was determined to eliminate all monsters in the world and ensure that her vengeance was realized.

She received news that monsters were attacking cities across the world.

Lea immediately headed towards one of the densely populated cities under attack.

The burning landscape of New York felt incredibly surreal.

It was as if she were in hell, not Earth.

Moreover, certain scenes felt strangely familiar.

They seemed to overlap with that day five years ago.

Shaking her head, Lea desperately tried to dispel her distracting thoughts.

And then she set out to find the enemy she had to defeat.

It wasn’t difficult to spot him.

Evidently, he had no intention of hiding.

With a fluttering red cloak and a dragon mask obscuring his face, he held a staff in one hand and read a book with the other.

Although his face was hidden, his posture and silhouette felt all too familiar.

“…Why.”

Why did the figure of her deceased mentor appear overlapped with that of the monster?

*

How long had she been waiting?

Sehee, who had been unconsciously biting her nails, confirmed that the elevator was arriving and hurried to check on the boy’s condition.

“Are you okay? Nothing happened, right?”

Shin Woo looked momentarily surprised before shaking his head in response.

“I’m fine.”

“What did the old folks say inside?”

“Um… it wasn’t anything special. I think they just called me to verify that I have the Holy Grail.”

Is that really all there was to it?

For some reason, Sehee felt a sense of incongruity in the boy’s answer.

In the first place, it must have already been verified through the Principal that the boy possessed the Holy Grail.

Moreover, simply healing himself and his sister would have been enough proof.

She thought there had to be another reason for confronting Shin Woo.

Could it have just been her misunderstanding?

But there was no reason for the boy to lie and deceive her.

After all, they were practically the only allies they could trust.

“…Hey. Senior.”

Shin Woo called her hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know anything about the Vice Principal?”

“…Why are you asking about the Vice Principal all of a sudden? I don’t really have any connections with him.”

At her answer, Shin Woo cocked his head in confusion.

“Huh? I’m pretty sure I saw the two of you last time…”

“The two of us? Me and the Vice Principal?”

“…”

Shin Woo furrowed his brow, deep in thought about something.

Finally, he shook his head and trailed off.

“No, I guess I must have been mistaken.”

Although the abruptly halted conversation left a lingering awkwardness, Sehee didn’t pry further.

The two returned to Si-hyun while discussing a different topic instead.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Just standing still isn’t a good idea. Whether the hero dies or the apostle dies, the balance will be completely shattered, and we won’t be able to do anything else.”

It was difficult to assess which side held the advantage at present.

While it seemed like the apostle had the upper hand since the hero was supposed to fight to protect humanity,

If things truly escalated to the worst-case scenario, the association would make a decision.

They might even prioritize the hero’s safety over the lives of civilians.

If the academy began to focus solely on defense, the tide of the situation could change.

Especially considering the power of the Holy Grail in the possession of the boy could not be disregarded.

“The best option would be for us to go out and fight… but…”

Being an academy student doesn’t necessarily mean being weaker than an average hero.

After all, there were numerous underage psychics from around the world gathered in one place.

Furthermore, the faculty were comparable to or even exceeded that of respected high-ranking heroes.

At that point, Shin Woo suddenly stopped in his tracks.

When the boy halted unexpectedly, Sehee found herself stopping too, puzzled.

“Senior.”

“Yeah?”

“If the academy is dirtier than we thought… what will you do?”

“…What?”

That was quite a perplexing question.

Especially regarding a subject that was completely unsuitable to discuss while walking down the street during the day.

Judging by her reaction, something must have happened in the boardroom.

Sehee took a moment to contemplate how to respond.

As the student council president, she was somewhat aware of the academy’s darker side.

Indeed, many of the occurrences here disregarded common ethics.

“I’d probably be disappointed. I might feel angry or disgusted… but I think I’d accept that it can’t be helped.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the kind of world it is. We can’t survive in a perfectly clean state. If the academy is evil, it must surely be a necessary evil.”

“…”

What did the boy think of her answer?

Betrayal? Disappointment? Disgust? Or perhaps acceptance?

“Please wait for today.”

“…Huh?”

“By tomorrow, I think things will be clearer.”

With a rather ambiguous answer that was hard to grasp, the boy resumed walking.

“I’ll head out first. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait a minute. Are you just going to leave like this?”

“Yeah. Please tell Han Si-hyun what I said earlier. Oh, and…”

Shin Woo looked at her with an unreadable expression.

“Tomorrow, I might change my mind.”

Plodding along.

After watching the boy’s back as he walked away, Sehee stood there for a while, dumbfounded.

*

Johann, aptly nicknamed the Ice Knight, utilized his freezing abilities.

He was unparalleled in the entire workshop, adept at binding his opponent’s feet.

His area-wide freezing ability greatly contributed to his rise to S-class hero, having vanquished numerous monsters.

However, now Johann found himself in a position where he was utterly defenseless, unable to take action.

“Ugh!”

He barely blocked an arrow with his shield, but that was just the beginning.

Even as he forced his way through the unceasing hail of arrows, the opponent swiftly distanced themselves.

Their movements were far too fast.

This wasn’t how the battle had gone from the start.

There had been times when he had seized the momentum and gained the upper hand.

But at some point, the woman behind the hawk mask had begun to shimmer with light, and since then, her movements were distinctly different.

It was easy to guess the reason.

It must be due to the girl watching the battle from behind.

Is she a support-type?

The shield that initially blocked his attack was annoying enough, yet she did not actively participate in the battle, merely observing.

Is one-on-one sufficient for her?

If she has such an arrogant thought, I’ll set her straight.

Currently, the streets of the city had become a vast sea of ice due to the continuous battle.

The entire ground was frozen solid, making it extremely slippery. The opponent seemed aware of this and gradually slowed down.

This was his ability’s greatest strength.

Overwhelming territorial dominance, which also dampened his opponent’s momentum.

He raised his shield and charged forward.

As he swung his sword through the air, cold air shot forth like a blade.

Immediately, the Pink Hawk ducked to evade the icy slash, throwing her off balance.

“It’s slippery.”

Not just the ground, the surrounding temperature was also dropping.

Breath emitted white puffs in the cold.

The issue was that it was hard to predict just how low it would go.

As the battle continued, it would undoubtedly become more advantageous for the opponent.

Perhaps it was an ability specialized for long-term battles. He’d better avoid dragging this out and resolve it quickly.

“White Lamb.”

“…”

She still didn’t respond.

For some reason, she had remained in that state the whole time.

Every time there was a danger, she provided support, so it wasn’t like she had completely lost her mind.

The Pink Hawk sighed to herself. Maybe she was still just a rookie.

Or perhaps she couldn’t harden herself as a human.

There’s nothing to be done about it.

Now, she’d have to fight as if she didn’t exist.

As she concentrated her power, a gentle pink energy shimmered around her.

Like flowers, soft pink petals floated around.

As she extended her hand, the petals flew toward the hero.

They embedded deeply into the shield but failed to deal any damage to the opponent.

Ignoring that, the Pink Hawk readied her bow.

Swish!

The petals turned into arrows and shot forth.

Yet again, the attack was blocked by the shield.

“It’s over.”

With her unexpected declaration, the shield suddenly split in two.

“What…!? What’s happening?”

Johann looked helplessly at his shattered shield in shock.

To such a flustered opponent, the Pink Hawk took the opportunity to inform him.

“My petals are sharp winds. They tear everything apart.”

Swish!

The sharply flying arrow pierced right through his head.

Johann couldn’t even scream as he met his demise.

The Pink Hawk glanced at the corpse for a moment before turning to White Lamb.

“White Lamb, if you zone out during battle, it’s dangerous…”

She started to scold but stopped midway.

After gaping at the incomprehensible sight, she finally found her voice.

“What is that?”

“It’s a girl.”