Prologue Story

December 1st finally arrived, and the grand-scale Rank Exam was held.

All shops closed, and every institution across the country, except those related to information and communication, was paralyzed.

Because of the Rank Exam, Mom, Auntie Suna, and Uncle Jungmin were out of the house, so In-ha and I spent the whole day glued to the television with Dad.

We watched the local broadcast, hoping to catch a glimpse of Auntie Suna’s face.

It would be even better if I could see Mom’s face too.

I checked internet news from time to time.

The names of famous people came up.

It was a strangely quiet yet bustling day.

As soon as Auntie Suna appeared at the Rank Exam venue, she became the center of attention.

And then, a bit of time passed.

After that, I didn’t see the seniors for a while.

I just occasionally recalled the faces of Eun-hee unnie, Senior Ji-hyun, and Seonghu oppa.

What happened to the three of them after that, I don’t know either.

It’s said that although the official results weren’t announced, based on the outcome after the exam that day, Eun-hee unnie became a provisional B-rank magician.

Then, as winter break quietly approached, I received a call from Senior Ji-hyun.

At first, I didn’t know whose number it was.

The call came to my cell phone, but the number displayed on the screen wasn’t saved in my contacts, so it was an unknown number.

I usually didn’t answer calls from numbers I didn’t recognize.

So I didn’t answer and hung up.

But right after that, I got another call, this time under Min-hee’s name.

I picked up the call.

“Hello?”

[Ah, is this Eun-ha?]

At first, I was confused and tense when I heard a man’s voice coming through under Min-hee’s name.

But I soon recognized the familiar voice and realized it was someone I knew.

“Um… is this Senior Ji-hyun?”

[Yeah. Actually, there’s something I want to show you guys. Can you come to the high school gym tomorrow morning?]

“The high school gym?”

[If you’re not sure where it is, we can meet in front of the school gate.]

“No, it’s fine… What time tomorrow?”

[Tomorrow at 9:30 AM.]

Tomorrow happened to be Saturday, a holiday. I nodded briefly.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

[Good. Bring that Kang In-ha kid along too.]

“Understood.”

With that, the call ended. I stared at the phone screen with a bewildered look.

It was because I never expected that Senior Ji-hyun would call me.

Still feeling a bit flustered, I pressed the keypad to make a video call to In-ha.

After hearing everything, In-ha looked puzzled.

[Why does he suddenly want to see us?]

“Well, I’m not sure. We could ask Min-hee, but we’ll probably find out tomorrow anyway.”

[Yeah, probably.]

“Mm.”

I looked up to check the time. It was already 9 PM. Oh no, it was already bedtime.

After chatting briefly with In-ha, I smiled and waved goodbye.

“It’s already 9. Goodnight, In-ha. See you tomorrow.”

[Yeah. See you tomorrow.]

Actually, I don’t usually sleep at 9, but Mom and Auntie Suna usually tell us to sleep around this time.

In-ha also laughed and waved at me.

I ended the call and read a book until around 11 PM before going to sleep.

The next morning, we headed to the meeting spot together.

Unlike In-ha, who was lightly dressed in just a coat, I went out well-prepared for the freezing winter weather.

I wore a coat and scarf imbued with warming magic, leather gloves, long pants, a sweater over a shirt, and even a short-sleeve tee underneath.

I really hated the cold. I wished I could grow up quickly to be at an age where I could naturally use barrier magic.

Come to think of it, ever since I learned meditation to circulate magic outside my body, I felt a bit less sensitive to the cold. Was that right? Or maybe not… I wasn’t sure.

Using a teleportation badge, we arrived at school and headed directly to the high school grounds through a shortcut.

With the GPS in our student ID, there was no need to worry about getting lost on the way to the gym… I paused as I looked at the map.

“Hey, In-ha.”

“What?”

“There are multiple gyms. The high school has three gyms. Which one should we go to?”

“Hmm…”

Gym 1? Gym 2? Gym 3? Randomly guessing wouldn’t get us anywhere.

After hesitating, I tried writing Senior Ji-hyun’s name on the map. The magic didn’t work.

It was still difficult to locate someone stronger than me… Last time must’ve just been pure luck.

After pondering, I tried writing Min-hee’s name instead.

Since Senior Ji-hyun had called us, there was a good chance he had also called Min-hee, Hyun-ho, Han-soo, or Shia.

That assumption was correct. Min-hee’s name glowed beside the first gym.

It was unlikely that Senior Ji-hyun and Min-hee, who had come to school together, would be far apart.

We headed toward Gym 1.

When we reached Gym 1 following the glowing light on the map, we saw familiar faces.

Min-hee, Senior Ji-hyun… and also Han-soo, Hyun-ho, and Shia.

Seeing all their faces confirmed that everyone had indeed been called.

We approached where they were.

Min-hee recognized us right away and waved with a bright expression.

“Ah! Eun-ha! In-ha!”

“You’re here.”

“Hello.”

I waved back at my friends, then stood in front of Senior Ji-hyun and bowed politely.

In-ha also followed my example and slightly bowed his head without a word.

“Yeah, hi.”

Then I looked at my friends.

“So, what’s the reason for today’s gathering…?”

“Eun-ha, look at that!”

Min-hee interrupted me, pointing towards the gym and shouting.

In-ha and I turned our gaze in that direction.

Only one side of the gym door was open, and inside, we saw kids who looked noticeably older than us gathered.

What’s going on?

“It’s an annual exchange event between schools. Famous magic schools in Korea select a few elementary students to have a duel, showcasing their skills against each other. By the way, middle and high school students don’t participate in this, as it would be too intense. Even if they did, it wouldn’t be in this form. And while participation isn’t mandatory, the schools usually push the strongest students forward, so…”

Senior Ji-hyun looked over us as he spoke. The look in his eyes gave me chills.

“It’s hard to refuse, which means you two are likely to participate as well. Let’s go inside.”

Senior Ji-hyun led us inside. Likely to participate? Representing the school in duels like that…

Ugh, I frowned. I absolutely didn’t want to.

I really disliked fighting. Even if it was a duel and I could use magic for attacks, what if someone got hurt? Or got a scar? Or if there was bleeding… I hesitated so much that I’d probably end up being hit instead.

I disliked getting hurt myself, but hurting others was even worse. In that sense, having barrier magic was really reassuring.

We stood by the railing in the sparsely populated stands, looking down below.

Some elementary students were already using magic, competing with each other.

Watching them launch magic at one another seemed so impressive, and we watched in awe.

As complete beginners who had just started learning magic, duels like this were something we hadn’t even thought about yet.

Watching us, Senior Ji-hyun began explaining the friendly event in more detail.

“Usually, it’s the sixth graders who participate. Schools here today include Daehyun, Yuran, Sangju, Segang, Bonghwang, and Suseo… I think that’s about it. Of course, barriers are set up. If any dangerous situation arises, teachers, including those from other schools, will intervene. It’s a hassle, but I thought it’d be helpful for you guys to watch, which is why I called you. Oh, and keep this a secret from the other kids.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

Senior Ji-hyun casually patted Han-soo on the head, calling him cute. Han-soo, of course, looked horrified.

I watched the kids using magic, swallowing down my amazement.

It was natural in this world for adults to use magic in battles, but seeing kids only about five years older than us fighting with magic felt different.

“Honestly, the magic that elementary students use is all similar. Occasionally, you get kids with overwhelming talent, but… usually, it’s just newly crafted magic. Plus, at that age, their ‘vessel’ is still small, so even if their magic power is strong, it doesn’t make much difference. The real growth happens once they reach middle school and start building their physical foundation.”

Yeah, I’ve heard that before.

I glanced down at my hand. Even if my magic is strong among elementary school students, as I grow older, it might not be as remarkable.

Even if I had an early start, the magic power that grows after middle school is on a whole different level.

For a moment, I let my gaze sink.

Indeed, my talent was just an early start. The pressure of being called a genius was something I only needed to experience during elementary school.

Holding onto the railing, I focused on the kids’ fights below.

The kids were each wearing their school uniforms.

Well, our school uniforms are also designed to serve as armor.

Those uniforms were probably made with similar functions.

The kids used their unique magic, attribute magic, spell magic, and true magic.

The unrefined magic was clearly visible.

Their magic, although bright and big compared to other kids their age, didn’t feel particularly strong to me.

To be honest… they didn’t seem that much better than us.

Even if there was a five-year age gap, I guess elementary school magic power is still elementary level.

Or maybe I felt that way because I had seen many adults using magic, like Auntie Suna and my mom, who is a C-rank magician.

But that’s why it felt more “helpful”.

Watching people just a bit better than us fighting with magic made it easy to imagine ourselves in their place.

As I watched the duel, I recalled the basic stances of magic combat in my mind.

We were currently learning the fundamentals of martial arts for magical combat in our leveled classes.

Right now, it mostly felt like self-defense, but they said we’d learn more serious techniques in second grade.

And since we’re already learning, everyone else decided to learn along with me, even if it was a bit later.

Yoo-jung unnie and In-ho oppa will probably learn in the upper class, though…

That’s why my friends were also doing physical training and learning meditation for physical strengthening.

They were struggling with the new meditation, finding it unexpectedly difficult.

Apparently, it’s tricky to control.

Meditation to gather or sense magic involves moving magic within the body.

It’s like circulating magic through your veins along with your breath.

But the meditation for physical strengthening makes the magic circulate just outside the skin.

Rather than simply releasing magic, it feels like slowly moving it over the skin and outer muscles.

In a way, it’s the complete opposite method.

So, it’s naturally hard. The fact that I succeeded in one try was the unusual case.

Among us, Min-hee learned it the fastest after me.

Her magic control was the best after mine.

Next were In-ha and Han-soo, who were about the same, followed by Hyun-ho.

Usually, martial arts for magic combat are taught in middle school.

At our school, it starts a bit earlier, around fourth or fifth grade, but we began much earlier than that.

The teachers said it was an unusual case.

I observed closely, keeping my senses open, to see which types of magic people used in attacks.

Especially attribute magic and spell magic, which I’d likely use for offense.

My unique magic was really far from being offensive.

Written Magic might work as an attack, but it’s too slow since I have to write it by hand.

So, I’d probably end up using attribute magic or conventional magic.

Illusion Magic is also only effective in disorienting the mind unless it’s solidified.

It just barely started affecting the brain a bit.

Barrier Magic and Space-time Magic are still far from being usable in combat… and they’re dangerous.

If I used my barrier as an attack, it might cut through someone’s body cleanly.

And if Illusion Magic went wrong, it could be fatal.

Well, I might be able to create lightning or hail inside a barrier once I reach sixth grade…

Pondering over these thoughts, I focused intently on the match below.

At some point, I felt a touch on my shoulder and looked up, freezing for a moment.

It was Senior Ji-hyun who had tapped my shoulder.

He looked into my eyes and asked.

“You’re watching with such focus. Is it interesting?”

I nodded, my eyes tense with nervousness.

As I sensed his gaze on me, I gradually relaxed my body.

It was just that I wasn’t used to him, that’s all.

“So, what’s the most interesting part?”

“Uh, well, um… over there…”

I stammered but answered honestly.

Senior Ji-hyun was an incredibly smart person.

He solved my curiosities about magic almost instantly.

Judging by his extensive knowledge of magic, I could tell that his early achievement of a B-rank was not just due to talent.

He must have put in a lot of effort.

Just talking with him taught me a lot.

And he explained everything so clearly that it seemed like I could cast a few spells just with his guidance.

I bowed my head slightly to express my gratitude.

“Thank you for explaining, Senior Ji-hyun. I’ve learned a lot thanks to you.”

In truth, not many of us focused on magical combat.

The kids kept switching between watching and playing around.

In-ha watched seriously for a while but eventually got bored and joined the others exploring the stands.

We were still at an age where playing was more appealing than studying.

Senior Ji-hyun, who was watching me, suddenly smiled faintly.

I was surprised and froze as he gently patted my head.

“You’re so formal, kid. You can call me ‘Oppa’ instead. You called Seonghu ‘Oppa’, right?”

“Huh…? Uh… Ji-hyun oppa…”

“Good, that’s better.”

Didn’t he dislike girls more than boys…?

I felt a bit stiff at his unexpected kindness but nodded slowly with an awkward expression.

There wasn’t much difference between “senior” and “oppa” for me, but if I had to choose, “oppa” did feel a bit friendlier.

But somehow, his attitude of treating me like a little kid was unfamiliar, and I blushed slightly with embarrassment.