Chapter 6 : The world we live in (2)

Seo-hyun left the principal’s office and walked down the quiet hallway.
The conversation with the principal, which he thought would be long, was surprisingly short.
He simply received a document and listened to the explanation about it.

He stopped for a moment and looked down at the document in his hand.
Written there were the privileges and obligations Seo-hyun could receive between school classes.
These were possible because she had her abilities as an A-rank Guardian verified through the association’s strict procedures.

To summarize only the important points among the contents:

–Exemption from all classes except Guardian Education and Character Education.
–One purification activity per month in the Erosion Zone, accompanied by a supervising teacher.
–Emergency deployment without evacuation in case of emergencies.

If unfamiliar people saw it, they might consider the latter two as disadvantages, but in reality, these were obligations that A-rank Guardians had to perform.
It would be rather strange to raise an issue here.
All the more so because Seo-hyun was already receiving a salary equivalent to a quasi-A rank.

‘Come to think of it, my paycheck came in two days ago, didn’t it?’

Seo-hyun smiled slightly, thinking of the amount that had been deposited in advance into his bank account two days prior.
An amount that could buy hundreds of fried chickens was coming in every month just for showing a few powers,
just how did this society work?

Seo-hyun, who had been lost in thought for a while, shook his head and started walking.
It was time to go to Class 1-6, as his teacher had told him.

As Seo-hyun started walking again and climbed the stairs leading to the second floor, he stopped after finding a mirror installed in the center of the staircase.
He remembered Hyun-a, who always nagged him to fix his clothes and hair and keep his appearance neat.

At first, Seo-hyun found it quite bothersome, but thanks to Hyun-a’s enthusiastic education, he had recently developed the habit of tidying up his appearance, even if briefly, whenever he went outside.

‘I think this is pretty neat.’

Seo-hyun fixed his messy hair with his hand and looked carefully at the mirror reflecting his appearance.
Fine silver hair reaching down to his chest, blue eyes reminiscent of sapphires, a face his younger sister always called ‘cute’.
And a short stature, barely reaching 150cm, in a white-based school uniform.
The girl in the mirror, with such an appearance, was standing still with a foolish expression, staring straight ahead.

In fact, Seo-hyun still didn’t understand what was so cute or pretty about it.

Like an acquaintance showing off a meaningless piece of modern art, saying it’s a profound work.
Like an adult watching a child consider a glass marble as something precious and expensive.

To her, all of this felt like a meaningless illusion.

Seo-hyun extended his hand forward.
The girl in the mirror also reached her hand out toward Seo-hyun.
Crystals began to grow from the outstretched hand, like flowers blooming.

“No matter how many times I see it, this seems prettier.”

A strangely structured crystal with all sides of different lengths.
The something sparkling inside it could be said to correspond to Seo-hyun’s true self and soul.
Seo-hyun looked at it and thought, ‘No matter how I look at it, this seems more beautiful than the girl in the mirror.’

…It seemed like it would still be a long time before she could regain proper human emotions.

*

A while later, Seo-hyun was standing under the sign for Class 1-6, as his homeroom teacher, Yu Do-hwa, had instructed.
As he slowly closed his eyes and focused his will, he could sense beings with magical power arranged at regular intervals inside.

‘Those must be the students in this class.’
Thinking so, Seo-hyun grabbed the handle of the sliding door and pulled it.

*Slide*, *Click*.
Perhaps due to the quiet surroundings,
even though he didn’t pull very hard, the sliding door made quite a loud noise.
Seo-hyun, unfazed by the sound the door made, peeked his head inside.
As if on cue, nineteen pairs of eyes turned to Seo-hyun.

“…….”

Seo-hyun, realizing something was wrong, carefully closed the door.
There was no teacher in sight to explain the situation and introduce him.

‘The teacher clearly told me to come here.’

He wondered if he had made a mistake, but he had only done as the teacher had instructed.
He took out his smartphone from his uniform jacket and checked the time; it wasn’t even class time yet.

He could hear the students murmuring inside the classroom.
The situation had already been spilled like water.
Honestly, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to make friends, but he felt like he had made a bad first impression.

Seo-hyun, starting to feel annoyed, pushed open the door in a fit of pique and walked to the front of the podium.
Nineteen pairs of eyes started to pierce him again, but this time he didn’t care at all.

*Tap, tap, tap tap tap tap*.
With small hands, he picked up a whiteboard marker and wrote his name on the board.
Even after tiptoeing due to his short height, the height of the letters was still quite low.

[Han Seo-hyun]

Finally, three letters were written on the white board.
When Seo-hyun, who had finished writing his name, turned around to face the front, most of the students were smiling.
Taking this as a positive sign, Seo-hyun mustered his courage and spoke.

“…My name is Han Seo-hyun. I’ve been transferred to Class 6. Please take care of me.”

*Clap clap, clap clap clap clap!!*

Starting with a single clap, thunderous applause erupted.
It was a tribute and praise for the girl who showed courage in the teacher’s absence.
Soon, questions from the students poured down on Seo-hyun, who was standing there dumbfounded.

“What’s your power?!”
“Gem-making…?”
“How old are you? You look a little young…”
“She’s a Returner and a Variant, so her physical age is only fourteen…”
“A Returner? Where did you return from? Gangho Murim? Secradon?”
“…I don’t know.”

Seo-hyun makes a perplexed expression at the sudden influx of attention, which he hadn’t experienced since returning.
Fortunately, it was the bob-cut, brown-haired female student who seemed to be the class president who mediated.

“Now, now, everyone calm down, Seo-hyun is flustered~ I’ll ask questions on everyone’s behalf as the class president, so quiet down!”

As she stood up with a bright smile and said so, the students quieted down.
She seemed to have considerable influence, perhaps possessing some powerful ability.

“So…. Seo-hyun, have we met somewhere before?”

When the class president asked Seo-hyun with a teasing look, the other kids booed and jeered playfully.
It looked like she was joking no matter how he looked at it, but her appearance felt familiar to Seo-hyun.
A scene from the day he returned to Earth, in front of the vending machine, flashed through Seo-hyun’s mind.

“The girl patrolling?”

The class president stared wide-eyed at Seo-hyun, who had spoken unconsciously in his bewilderment.
Soon, her expression brightened, and then she burst into a big smile and shouted to the other kids.

“Hey, hey! Did you hear? Did you hear? I think I’m getting famous now!”
“What are you talking about, B-rank scrub.”
“Ah!! I’m telling you, once I successfully raid a gate, I’ll be A-rank!!”

Seo-hyun’s indifferent gaze shifted towards the boy in the corner who was teasing the class president.
A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, a somewhat Western-looking face, but speaking Korean.
Sensing something strange from him, Seo-hyun closed his eyes and realized that he possessed considerable magical power, so he must be a Returner like her.

But it wasn’t that boy who caught Seo-hyun’s attention.
More precisely, it was the bright longsword he was wearing.
It was definitely not something a human could possess.

Seeing that, Seo-hyun’s face frowned slightly.