Prologue Story

A little later, the test completely ended.

All the children finished the test and returned to the classroom.

After the closing session, we somehow ended up going to Min-hee’s house.

“So? How was the test?”

We needed a private place to talk about the test.

The free tasting coupons for the café were already used, and we didn’t have enough money to go on our own.

So, we ended up going to Min-hee’s house.

It was the first time In-ha and I visited Min-hee’s house.

Not just Min-hee’s, I’d never been to Han-soo’s or Hyun-ho’s houses either.

The three of them often seemed to visit each other’s homes, but In-ha and I rarely did, so it felt a bit unfamiliar.

Min-hee’s house was just right.

It was a house, neither too big nor too small for living with her older brother.

However, the layout was a bit unique.

Opening the front door, there was a hallway with long sliding doors on the side.

One door led to the kitchen, and the other to the living room.

At the end of the hallway, across from the kitchen wall, was Min-hee’s room, and next to Min-hee’s room was a staircase.

Apparently, the attic above was Senior Ji-hyun’s room.

And when we opened the door, we were so startled by the housekeeping robot that first came into view.

Though it was off now, it automatically moved if the house got too messy.

We gathered in the living room, occupying one side of the sliding door along the hallway, to talk about today’s test.

“It was… manageable.”

I replied to Hyun-ho.

Thinking of the teachers’ surprised faces left me feeling mixed, but what could I do about something that had already happened?

The test was conducted in accordance with the school rules, so there was no risk of the topic veering elsewhere.

“Me too. It didn’t feel particularly difficult, but… hmm, it was harder than usual. It took me over a minute to move that thing.”

“Me too! For some reason, it just wouldn’t move well, so I tried to handle it like moving water, but even then, it didn’t work well. It took me two minutes.”

Seeing Hyun-ho agree with Min-hee’s words, I thought, “Of course.” I felt the same.

I guess that itself was also part of the test.

“Well, yeah, it was like that. It took me about a minute?”

“Me too, around a minute.”

Han-soo and In-ha nodded in agreement.

Among us, I was the most skilled at handling magic, followed by In-ha, Han-soo, Min-hee, Hyun-ho, and then Shia.

However, in Min-hee’s case, she used Shooting Magic, which sometimes required quite fine control, so her control skills were on par with In-ha and Han-soo.

Additionally, Han-soo and In-ha’s magic-handling skills were so evenly matched that it was hard to distinguish who was better.

Not only that, but their magic capacity and skill levels were almost identical.

In-ha soon looked back at me and asked.

“What about you, Eun-ha?”

“Me… just over thirty seconds.”

“……Huh.”

“Well, of course.” Han-soo grumbled.

Min-hee and Hyun-ho nodded as if it were only natural.

Of course, Eun-ha is the best at handling magic among us!

Finally, Shia mumbled softly, “I barely finished within ten minutes. Nine minutes, fifty-one seconds…”

I stiffened at his words.

Huh? This might be… dangerous for me.

…My grades might turn out exactly the opposite of what I expected.

Even though my mind was filled with all kinds of complex thoughts, in the end, I gave up, thinking it was all in the past anyway.

What could I do? I just had to trust the teachers.

Instead, I brought up the topic of the magic stored in the crystal orb.

“The magic inside was actually our homeroom teacher’s.”

When I mentioned this, everyone looked amazed.

I continued, imagining the effort the teacher must have gone through to fill it.

*Clatter.*

“Huh?”

While we were deeply engrossed in our conversation, we suddenly heard the sound of a door opening across from us.

Min-hee immediately looked up at the clock hanging on the wall to check the time.

It was currently 4:10.

With a bright expression, Min-hee jumped up from her seat.

“It’s my brother!”

She shouted and slid open the door with a loud rattle.

“Brother! Welcome back!”

However, it wasn’t just Senior Ji-hyun’s face that appeared.

“Hi, Min-hee! Oh, Eun-ha and In-ha are here too? Are you all hanging out at home? Seeing you here is a surprise.”

Eun-hee unnie smiled kindly at me.

Vice President Senior and Chunho Senior were also there.

Wow, I thought, marveling at the group.

Senior Ji-hyun, Eun-hee unnie, the Vice President, and Chunho Senior—all of our school’s top ranks, first through fourth, were gathered.

I looked at Min-hee and nodded in agreement.

I’d thought it before, but Min-hee’s connections were really something.

Then, I paused as I looked at In-ha.

Though it wasn’t really my place to comment, I knew that Auntie Suna was an enormous, top-tier connection who could blow all of this out of the water.

Min-hee seemed momentarily surprised to see Eun-hee unnie, but she quickly smiled widely.

“Oh, it’s Eun-hee unnie! Long time no see!”

“Yes, yes. Your little sister is still so cute, Ji-hyun. You’re lucky.”

“Of course. She’s my sister, after all.”

“Wow… how do people without siblings survive?”

As Senior Ji-hyun laughed proudly, Eun-hee unnie pouted as she looked at him.

Then, he turned to us and spoke.

“You’re all here too?”

“Why are both the high school president and vice president here?”

“Oh… it’s because I’m the next president, so, you know, for various reasons.”

Despite Han-soo’s prickly question, Senior Ji-hyun responded as if talking to a cute child.

Meanwhile, Eun-hee unnie approached us warmly, almost hugging In-ha and me.

I felt a bit uncomfortable, and In-ha was clearly not pleased.

“Aww! Not having younger siblings is truly miserable! Eun-ha, In-ha! Comfort unnie! My adorable juniors~.”

“Oh, no, wait…”

“It’s stifling.”

“In-ha, you’re so cold!”

She seemed almost like someone who’d had a drink.

In any case, I knew well that Eun-hee unnie liked kids.

But could you let go for a bit? I’m the type who gets embarrassed being hugged, even by my mom.

I don’t mind it from peers or younger kids, but…

In-ha also found being hugged uncomfortable for similar but slightly different reasons.

However, since we couldn’t match her strength, we had to stay hugged for a while.

“……”

At some point, I realized that Senior Ji-hyun was watching Eun-hee unnie and me with a complex expression.

I frowned.

Huh, what’s this?

I didn’t quite know how to describe it, but I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘Come to think of it, I felt that way the first time I saw Senior Ji-hyun through the monitor. Like I’d met him somewhere before.’

But where could that have been?

Was it just my imagination?

‘I mean, there’s no way I’d forget a face that handsome. But with me, it’s possible. If someone’s too good-looking, I tend to forget.’

As they say, if it’s too much, you forget.

Not entirely, but usually.

I sighed.

From the side, I could hear Chunho Senior and his friends chatting playfully.

“By the way, Chunho is the next vice president, you know?”

“What? Don’t just go by skill; consider brains, too.”

“This little brat~?”

Chunho Senior playfully ruffled Hyun-ho’s hair for his cheeky words.

I thought it was kind of fascinating to see.

It made me realize that my friends were building connections with these people while I wasn’t aware of it.

“But didn’t you guys take the test too? How was it?”

“Well… we probably did well. It was mainly practical.”

“Of course, it’s the strongest people in our school!”

“What about you guys? How did you do on the test?”

In response to Eun-hee unnie’s question, Min-hee answered, “Probably?” and casually shared her test results.

However, even though Min-hee showed great interest in the test, she didn’t mention anything about our scores.

This was based on the school’s ‘rule’—the Confidentiality Policy, which stated that one must never disclose another’s skills.

Listening to Min-hee’s explanation, Eun-hee unnie murmured in amazement.

“Wow, so first graders in elementary school take such tests…”

“Ah, that! I remember. We saw that when we were in first grade too.”

“Right.”

“Yes, we did.”

Meanwhile, the other three looked like they understood.

From their reactions, I could tell that, unlike Eun-hee unnie, who had attended this school since middle school, the other three had been here since elementary school.

Eun-hee unnie tilted her head and asked,

“Really?”

The three of them each nodded.

“Yes. It seems it’s still done the same way now.”

“It’s probably because it’s a test that’s just right for first graders. From what I remember… wasn’t the amount of magic inside the orb around 100? Right, Ji-hyun?”

“Yeah. Plus, there’s a magnetic force inside the crystal orb that pulls on the magic. I remember being puzzled the first time I did it because there was more resistance when I moved magic than usual.”

The Vice President Senior continued,

“If you moved that magic within one minute, you’re naturally the top among first graders. For the record, I think the best time ever was about fifty-four seconds.”

“Really?”

It seemed even Senior Ji-hyun was hearing this for the first time.

At those words, Chunho Senior looked shocked and patted Senior Ji-hyun on the back.

“Whoa… hey, hey, isn’t that your record, Ji-hyun?”

“Huh? Was it?”

“Yeah! It was!”

So that record was Senior Ji-hyun’s…

Listening to the seniors’ conversation, I had a helpless expression.

While Eun-hee unnie shouted, “How annoying!” and Senior Ji-hyun retorted, “What did I do?” everyone’s gaze turned toward me.

Ha, I covered my face and sighed.

“Did you say the record is fifty-four seconds?”

Does that mean I set a new record today? Damn it.

No wonder the teachers looked at me so strangely.

Swallowing a curse rising from within, I sighed.

Alright, I admit it. Even if it’s something that might get overshadowed when I grow up, I guess I do have some talent.

“So, that means our Min-hee is first place in this test.”

A little later, Senior Ji-hyun, who had been bickering childishly with Eun-hee unnie, grinned and patted Min-hee on the head.

Min-hee averted her gaze from his affectionate smile and mumbled with an uncertain expression.

“Hmm, I don’t know about that….”

It was only natural that I sighed once again.

We finally left Min-hee’s house around sunset.

We ended up staying long enough to be treated to dinner.

Thanks to that, my stomach was full.

Looking at the red carpet-like sky, I felt good and kept my gaze downward.

“I hope our test scores come out well.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s invite some friends to our house next time. Senior Ji-hyun is a better cook than I thought. Well, it’s only natural since they live together. Min-hee already seems to know how to make simple dishes too.”

With a face that seemed unrelated to cooking, Senior Ji-hyun had laid out home-cooked dishes one by one.

He was the very picture of an ideal husband.

If he didn’t already have someone he liked, he was the kind of guy anyone would feel no regrets proposing to immediately.

‘Though he may seem expressionless, he’s kind to his friends, good to his sister, a great cook, and skilled in magic. There’s no way women would leave him alone.’

In-ha quietly nodded at my words, looking down.

As I briefly recalled Senior Ji-hyun’s face, I suddenly remembered something and turned to In-ha.

“By the way, come to think of it.”

“…Hmm?”

“You know, Min-hee’s brother, Senior Ji-hyun, I feel like I’ve met him somewhere before. Why is that?”

Naturally, after living through several lives, I tend to feel déjà vu more often than others.

But still, I rarely get that feeling when it comes to faces.

I’m just not very good at remembering faces to begin with.

In response to my words, In-ha looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“We met him, remember, the other day.”

“No, it’s not… like meeting him through Min-hee, or seeing him in that video last time… it feels more like… we met before all that….”

“So, we did meet?”

In-ha looked at me as if I were a strange person stating the obvious.

I was startled.

“Huh?”

“That time, when we went to school with Eun-hee unnie. Before we enrolled, in the winter, when we went to Daehyun High School with Eun-hee unnie. Senior Ji-hyun is the guy who spoke to Eun-hee unnie on the way, the one Eun-hee unnie said was quick to notice.”

“…What?”

I opened my eyes wide.

Last winter, you say? Now that I think about it, that’s right.

There was a time when I went to tour the school with In-ha and Eun-hee unnie.

And the people we met then were indeed…

“──Aahhh!”

I finally remembered.

Right! It was him! He was the guy we ran into while heading to the student council room.

He smiled kindly at Eun-hee unnie but looked so cold when he saw us that he seemed about to freeze.

Recalling that incident left me feeling somewhat pitiful.

Ugh, am I really a complete fool?

I remembered everything about that day except his face, which I had totally forgotten.

I must be truly terrible at remembering faces.

I only remembered the Vice President Senior’s face because Eun-hee unnie said he was her savior.

When I first saw Senior Ji-hyun, I was sure I thought he was handsome and admired him, but I never imagined I would forget it so completely…

But soon, I found myself accepting it.

It was something that happened often.

No, it could happen to anyone.

The strange ones are people who remember a guy’s face half a year later after meeting him only once.

Oh, and In-ha isn’t strange, just smart.

Yep, that’s it.

Nodding to myself, I took In-ha’s hand, and we walked side by side under the crimson evening sky.