Chapter 17: Maybe You’ll Understand Someday

I had promised to be her friend.

Now I had two friends. Double the amount.

–One had abandoned me, unable to recognize me even when I stood before her.

-The other… I had forced her hand.

Coming to this school had been the right decision. Because of the friends, of course.

——————-

It was the weekend.

Surprisingly, we were allowed to roam freely within the city limits.

Though we couldn’t cross the river north, unless we were returning home.

Still, we could go almost anywhere within the city:

-research facilities,

-the military bases guarding the gates where monsters occasionally appeared, the bustling plazas.

Skyscrapers lined the wide streets, a breathtaking sight. Before I became… this, it had been a suffocating, everyday scene.

Now, it made my heart race.

Perhaps it was the relative freedom.

Yoo Ha-rin was bound only by memories and a boy barely old enough to shave.

I called Si-hyun.

– Hello? Ha-rin? What is it?

“I can really go anywhere? No one following me? No tracking devices in my uniform?”

– None at all. What are you planning…

“Just… pursuing a hobby.”

– Hey, wait! You need to plan these things…

“You said I could call you for a ride.”

– Ha-rin…?!

I could go anywhere, hadn’t she said? Even to a place without security cameras, a grassy field far beyond the research facility’s entrance.

—

“An… academy uniform?”

A woman with green hair, dressed in a loose-fitting uniform, lay on the grass, frowning at me. As if a student had no business being here.

She was beautiful. Even more so than on TV.

And someone like her could probably kill half the city if she wanted to.

I was relieved she didn’t seem alarmed. Just annoyed. If she had been wary, things would have become complicated.

After Si-hyun and I orchestrated the lab attacks, the government had scrambled to assign guards to important research facilities.

Mostly A-rank or higher, stronger than Seo-jun, as a show of force.

They were celebrities. It was hard to not be famous when you were that powerful.

All ability users were required to attend school.

Some awakened their abilities as adults, but that was rare. Most awakened as children.

Students participated in sparring matches and competitions.

The stronger ones, like Seo-jun and my stuttering friend, were even televised.

People flying around with swords, breathing fire, freezing and exploding things… it was entertaining.

These famous ability users, capable of leveling cities, were my seniors.

I could approach them, dressed in a uniform, and strike up a conversation.

If I had shown up in civilian clothes, masked, I would have been attacked.

I must have been grinning.

“What brings a student to such a boring place? You don’t want to end up working here, do you? Hehe.”

She must have thought I was a normal student, with my backpack and neatly pressed uniform.

She didn’t know what I carried inside.

She stared at my uniform for a moment, then spoke.

“They still segregate uniforms by rank?”

“It hasn’t even been ten years since you graduated.”

“You know me?”

“Of course. Everyone knows Lee So-hyun.”

I knew more than just her face. I knew she was close to Seo-jun.

The older, more experienced mentor figure, always ready with advice and guidance.

“Seo-jun told me to seek you out, if I wanted to improve my skills.”

“She did? What’s your relationship with her?”

Her face hardened. She clenched her fists.

“Just… a…”

I wanted to say, She abandoned me. She doesn’t even recognize me. She doesn’t care about me.

“Childhood friend.”

I smiled brightly, changing the subject. She seemed to want to ask more.

“So, you’re guarding the lab here?”

“I’m supposed to be at the entrance, but that’s like being a guard dog.”

“What if the lab is attacked while you’re here?”

“They can attack, but they won’t escape. Honestly, those researchers…”

How did she perceive them? Incompetent fools? Or monsters conducting human experiments? Probably the former.

“You’re someone I admire. You’re the only one who made it from D-rank to A-rank.”

“I just… got lucky. You can do it too, with hard work and a bit of luck. You’re young and pretty. You might even surpass me.”

I doubted it. I wasn’t interested in performing for the cameras.

She was just lucky. And pretty. And strong enough. They needed a mentor figure for the protagonist.

Why did she look so proud? She hadn’t earned any of it. Just luck.

While I was trapped in that basement, suffering, because I was unlucky.

“I like hearing encouraging words. That’s why I’m wearing this uniform.”

“What…?”

I dropped my bag.

“What’s your relationship with Seo-jun? I never heard her mention a childhood friend who looked like you.”

I didn’t look like myself anymore.

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

She sat up.

“I think you’re that childhood friend.”

Was she suspicious? Or would she invite me for coffee?

“I know you visit Seo-jun at school, to teach her things. I know you’re close. And I know Seo-jun doesn’t talk about it.”

Green hair… what did you have to eat to achieve that color? It would attract attention.

Though it wasn’t a bright green. Perhaps it wasn’t that noticeable.

“She wouldn’t want to advertise the fact that she’s learning from someone like you. And you probably told her not to.”

“And Seo-jun keeps secrets.”

“Who are you?”

“Just… Yoo Ha-rin. That’s all.”

I pulled a white mask from my bag with my left hand and smoothed my white hair with my right.

“Someone I used to know told me to wear this. Don’t you think it looks good?”

I put on the mask, tucking my hair inside. It felt weightless. It had been made by an ability user, but I wasn’t interested in the details.

It just kept my face hidden from the cameras.

I kicked my bag, shattering the vials of blood I had carefully collected. The metallic stench filled the air.

I couldn’t risk using someone else’s blood. My new friend might become suspicious.

I regretted wasting my weekends, trapped in my room, watching TV. Unable to pursue my hobby, longing for a friend who didn’t even recognize me.

I pulled out a knife and stabbed my wrist, twisting the blade.

The wound gaped open, ragged and torn. It didn’t hurt, thanks to the pills I had swallowed.

But the sight of my own blood always brought back unpleasant memories. A faint dizziness, a phantom pain.

She had been wary, but now, seeing my self-inflicted wound, her guard seemed to lower.

I was doing this because she didn’t recognize me. I had come here because I was lonely, and she wouldn’t even talk to me.

Perhaps she would notice me if everyone else disappeared.

If she saw how much I had… changed.