Chapter 7 : The world we live in (3)

Seo-hyun finished exchanging introductions with everyone in the class. The excited atmosphere gradually calmed down. Just then, their homeroom teacher, Ms. Yu Do-hwa, flung the door open with an urgent look, poking her head inside.

“Did a new student arrive that you haven’t seen before?”
“Seo-hyun? We all introduced ourselves!”

Ms. Do-hwa smacked her forehead apologetically upon hearing the class had already acquainted themselves.

“Oh dear…. I’m so sorry, Seo-hyun. I should have introduced you. The teachers’ meeting ran longer than expected….”

Her face, contorted with genuine remorse, was a picture of apology. Seo-hyun, gazing into her auburn eyes, the same shade as her hair, accepted the apology.

“It’s alright. Everyone’s been nice, so I think I’ll adjust quickly.”
“Phew, that’s a relief. Ah, did anyone mention you’ll only be attending for six months?”

Seo-hyun shook his head, “No.” Ms. Do-hwa nodded in acknowledgment and stood beside Seo-hyun.

“Alright, everyone, listen up! Although you’ve all met Seo-hyun, there’s one more thing. Seo-hyun will only be with us for six months. Do you understand what that means? So, be nice to him, ask each other questions and get along, alright?”

The students responded with a chorus of “Yes,” a familiar routine for them. It seemed that returnees commonly attended high school for six months before transitioning into Guardians.

Ordinary ability users had to attend school for years to become Guardians. Returnees, on the other hand, qualified after just a few months of training.

It was a system that treated returnees with almost excessive deference, even considering its meritocratic nature. Seo-hyun, thanks to his mother’s position as an executive in the Guardian Association, knew where this preferential treatment stemmed from.

There were the unsettling incidents occurring in the contaminated zones of China and North Korea. Large-scale gate occurrences continued to ripple across the world. Some vulnerable nations had even faced collapse due to failed gate suppression attempts and failures to eliminate ‘impurities.’

All these threats to humanity’s existence had led to the preferential treatment afforded to returnees, individuals tempered by years of struggle in other worlds.

“Seo-hyun is a bit short…. You can sit in the empty seat at the front on the right. Su-rim, our class president, will take care of you. Alright?”
“Yes.”
“Yay! Let’s get along, Seo-hyun~”

Seo-hyun sat where Ms. Do-hwa indicated. Class President Su-rim tried to chat him up, but Seo-hyun, still feeling awkward about the earlier incident, found it hard to be dismissive. She didn’t seem like a bad person to have as a friend.

“Seo-hyun, where did you see me patrolling? Do you live near my house?”
“Maybe. I’ll tell you if we become closer.”
“Really? I’ll have to work on that! Oh, right, should I show you around the school later?”
“…That would be great.”

*

…Their idle chatter continued until the bell signaled the start of class. A new teacher, a man with round glasses, entered, adjusted his glasses, and spoke.

“Good morning, Class 6. Did you all have a good weekend? I hear we have a new student?”

The students answered in unison.

“Seo-hyun in the front! ”
“Here.”

Seo-hyun raised his hand. The teacher introduced himself as the morals, ethics, and character education instructor and welcomed Seo-hyun. Seo-hyun forced a smile in return.

As the class began, Seo-hyun politely responded to the teacher’s attentive inquiries while his thoughts drifted.

He wasn’t planning on getting involved in the world’s affairs just yet…. However, if those affairs threatened his family or livelihood, he was prepared to act. He pursued a human life, but he couldn’t stand by and watch a preventable situation escalate into another world-ending crisis like the one he’d just escaped.

‘Especially something like *that*.’

Seo-hyun closed his eyes, focusing on the strange presence he felt from the back of the room. The sword wielded by Kim Ha-neul, the returnee boy, felt utterly alien to this world. It had an almost holy, fairytale-like quality that made Seo-hyun’s head ache.

Observing the sword, Seo-hyun realized its power was the product of some higher authority, a connection that remained active, constantly exchanging information. In his own terms, its nature was ‘light,’ its ability ‘connection.’

The Guardian Association, unaware of this fact, had left it unchecked. But Seo-hyun recognized it instantly. Among the countless treasures he’d abandoned to avoid harming this world, there were mountains of similar artifacts.

“A backdoor.”

Seo-hyun muttered, recalling recent controversial incidents on the news. The sword was a Trojan Horse, a backdoor. Some powerful being from another world had placed it in the boy’s hands, sending it here.

The boy himself seemed innocent enough. However, the sword relayed information about this world to another realm, a tool potentially controlled by another world’s will.

And such a powerful being wouldn’t undertake such measures without an ulterior motive.

Seo-hyun had discarded his own precious hoard to protect this world. Could he allow it to be threatened by such an object?

Seo-hyun decided he had to investigate. He would destroy it if necessary.

If no one else noticed, he had to step up.

*

Time passed, the sun climbed high, and after lunch, Seo-hyun headed to the faculty room to see his homeroom teacher before leaving school.

He was accompanied by Su-rim, the class president, and Kim Ha-neul, the returnee from his class, trailing behind.

“Oh, right.”

As they passed by Class 1-4, Seo-hyun stopped, seemingly remembering something.

“…Su-rim, Ha-neul, wait a moment. There’s someone I need to see.”
“Hmm? Will it take long? We should all go together, so we’ll wait.”

Seo-hyun reassured Su-rim it would be quick and peered into Class 1-4. In a corner, he spotted his younger sister, Hyun-a, chatting with her friends after lunch. He called out softly, “Hyun-a, do you have a minute?”

Despite his low voice, Hyun-a heard him. Her eyes lit up as she glanced toward the door.

“Unni! I haven’t visited you at school so you could make friends!”
“I know, but…. There’s something I need to tell you.”

Hyun-a, though she tried to hide it, seemed pleased to see her brother. Noticing the two figures waiting behind Seo-hyun, she approached the door and whispered, “Made some friends? That’s great! But what’s up?”

“I might be home late today.”
“Huh? Unni, you don’t have afternoon classes, do you? What’s going on?”

Hyun-a knew Seo-hyun was usually free to leave early, as there were no Guardian training sessions in the afternoons except on special occasions. She looked concerned.

“…There’s something I need to look into.”

Hyun-a gasped. Lowering her voice so others wouldn’t hear, she asked, “Is it dangerous?”

“I don’t know yet. I just need to investigate.”
“Okay. If it’s dangerous, don’t just rush in, ask for backup, okay?”
“I will. I’ll call you later.”

This exchange, where Seo-hyun hinted at the situation and Hyun-a reacted with concern, demonstrated the growing trust between the sisters over the past three weeks.

It helped that Seo-hyun had emphasized that if she sensed a threat to their daily lives, she might have to take action.

Even as a trainee, Seo-hyun retained her A-rank Guardian authority, with the duty and ability to take preemptive action. Though she’d normally report to her homeroom teacher before escalating beyond investigation, the current situation wasn’t concrete enough to warrant such a report; it wouldn’t be considered overstepping her boundaries.

“See you tonight, Hyun-a.”
“Yeah, Unni. Be careful….”

Having whispered their goodbyes, the two sisters waved to each other across the classroom threshold. Su-rim, who had hung back, approached with curiosity.

“What?! Do you know the class president of Class 4? Are you friends? Family?”
“She’s my younger sister.”
“Whoa…. No wonder…. I’ve never seen her smile so brightly.”
“Do you know Hyun-a?”
“Not really, but…. Hmm… I’ve seen her a few times for school-related matters?”

Su-rim explained that as the class president of Class 1-6, she’d encountered Hyun-a, the class president of Class 1-4, during class-wide training or joint classes. However, Hyun-a had always seemed cold and distant, making her difficult to approach.

Seo-hyun, listening to Su-rim, wondered if her sister was actually the more reserved one.

Well, looking back now, seeing Hyun-a chatting cheerfully with her classmates, she seemed to have come out of her shell a bit….

Seo-hyun, of course, had no idea this change coincided with her return.

*

The three arrived at the faculty room located between Class 3 and Class 4. Su-rim knocked, and Ms. Do-hwa greeted them.

“There you are. How was your morning, Seo-hyun?”
“It was good. It brought back memories.”

Though most of the original Han Seo-hyun’s memories were lost in the vast vortex within him during his time as a foreign god, only three years had actually passed. So, Seo-hyun responded as such.

“Come, come, this way.”

Following Ms. Do-hwa, Seo-hyun entered the faculty room with the others, observing the teachers at their desks.

‘Just like before.’

A fleeting memory of three years prior flickered in his mind. The faculty room seemed unchanged. He sat with the others on a sofa in the corner, as instructed by Ms. Do-hwa. He and Su-rim sat together, with Ms. Do-hwa and Ha-neul, the person of interest, opposite them.

“Alright, let me tell you why I called you three here.”

Ms. Do-hwa pulled out a document, drawing their attention.

[May Large-Scale Purification Operation Participation Trainee List – Former North Korean Contaminated Zone]

This was Seo-hyun’s official first assignment, the one mentioned by the principal earlier that morning.