“Then have a great vacation, and let’s meet again with healthy faces!”
It was something he hadn’t heard in a very long time. After even hearing his homeroom teacher’s cheerful farewell, it finally began to feel real—that it was vacation. Rrrr, dragging his carrier along as he left the field, Sihyeon suddenly stopped in front of the school gate and turned around. The image of himself walking here with a carrier for the first time filled the empty space of the now-deserted field, where all the students had already left. Beside that version of him, Dawoon walked together with him.
Slowly closing and opening his eyes, he saw Haru, along with the Four Heavenly Kings and Jihye, walking together as well.
“…Am I a bit run down?”
Yeah, I should eat something nourishing.
Seeing even scenes that hadn’t existed in the past appear within the nostalgic memories made it clear—his body must be lacking energy. Shaking his head lightly to erase the illusion before his eyes, Sihyeon gripped the handle of his carrier. Somehow, his heart felt unsettled.
Unlike when he first arrived, the moment he stepped out of the school gate in casual clothes, he pulled out his phone. He couldn’t remember the way back home. As he opened a navigation app, tap, someone lightly struck his back. Brown hair and blue eyes filled his vision with mild confusion.
“Did you forget the way home?”
“Jung Dawoon?”
She had clearly said she’d go separately with Jihye, so why was she here? As Sihyeon blinked blankly, Dawoon started walking, asking if he wasn’t going.
“What about Jihye?”
“Turns out we go in opposite directions. That fluffball—are you taking it with you?”
“Pya!”
At Dawoon’s words, Pia reacted before Sihyeon did. A bright, lively voice in broad daylight. Realizing what “fluffball” referred to through Pia’s response, Sihyeon nodded. He had been holding his carrier in one hand and briefly placed Pia on his head while pulling out his phone with the other—but even then, the little creature didn’t fall and balanced skillfully.
“It won’t eat unless it’s my mana.”
“Hm.”
Cute.
That was her brief impression. After acting like she wouldn’t even look at him following the field trip, once Sihyeon collapsed again, Dawoon had gradually begun approaching him. For Sihyeon, who had noticed that Dawoon had been distancing herself due to the sense of dissonance between her and Kang Sihyeon, this was unexpected.
At this point, he couldn’t pretend to be Kang Sihyeon, nor did he want to put on someone else’s personality just to satisfy a few people. In the first place, Kang Sihyeon’s liveliness and eloquence weren’t something that could be imitated. So out of stubbornness, he lived only under the name Kang Sihyeon. If Dawoon felt repulsed by that and distanced herself, then it couldn’t be helped. After all, he had tried to grow closer to her in accordance with Kang Sihyeon’s wishes.
If the other side rejected him, then there was nothing he could do. He tried to think that way and put his mind at ease, but it was true that it still bothered him a little. Yet now they had somehow grown close again—fortunate, if anything, but also faintly uncomfortable.
Sihyeon almost asked if she was okay now, but forced himself to hold it in. There was no need to stir up Dawoon again when things had just settled. Touching the current Dawoon would be akin to poking a beehive. In any case, the fact that Dawoon had distanced herself and then come back meant she had reached some sort of conclusion on her own. Deciding not to dwell on it any further, Sihyeon lowered his gaze. One step—his slow pace lifted his sole from the ground before landing a step ahead.
Each of them had yielded something, one step at a time.
Perhaps it was just his own self-serving interpretation, but that was how Sihyeon chose to see it. His heart felt a little lighter.
The conversation they shared while walking home together was nothing significant. Things like how the evaluation went, or how things were with Jihye. When asked how he planned to spend the vacation, he answered that he’d laze around in bed. At that, Dawoon, who had been quiet for a moment, only spoke after they arrived at the house.
“That sounds like you.”
Sihyeon had been about to say something, but Dawoon went inside right after those words, leaving him unable to respond.
Staring blankly at the door Dawoon had closed, he then turned his head toward the door he needed to enter. After taking about three deep breaths, he opened it and stepped inside. Though he entered as quietly as a stray cat, it was pointless—the moment he closed the door, a bright beep— rang out.
From inside, a voice called, “Sihyeon?” His shoulders flinched. It had already felt unfamiliar, and after not hearing it for several months, it felt even more so. But still—
“…I’m home.”
A small voice slipped out between his lips. Whether it reached inside or not, it was undeniably his own step forward—an act of accepting reality and mustering courage. Crash! The sound of something breaking echoed. Startled, Sihyeon quickly took off his shoes and stepped inside, only to meet eyes with Kang Sihyeon’s mother rushing out from the kitchen.
“…You’re back?”
For a moment, she looked surprised before speaking in an awkward tone. After a slight pause, Sihyeon nodded, and a soft smile formed on her wrinkled lips. Somehow, that smile resembled Kang Sihyeon’s.
Perhaps Kang Sihyeon took after his mother.
“Why don’t you unpack first, then come to the living room so we can talk? I did hear some things from the school, but I’m worried in many ways….”
She spoke with a shadow cast over her expression. At that, Sihyeon parted his lips, realizing something. Since Strongest High operated on a dorm system, if something serious happened to a student, the guardians would be contacted. Though such contact was rare—since the standard was “serious incidents”—he was an exception.
He had collapsed four times and even achieved a Quadruple—a dazzling track record. His parents must have been shocked once upon hearing he was a Quadruple, shocked a second time upon hearing he encountered a Catastrophe-level threat, then a third and fourth time upon hearing he fainted from trauma and subsequently collapsed again. Just imagining their hearts sinking made him realize—
He had, somehow, become an unfilial son.
“Yes.”
His reply carried a hint of guilt. Taking his carrier and returning to his room, Sihyeon looked around. Despite four months having passed, there wasn’t a speck of dust. He turned his head slightly, imagining his parents in the living room.
They must have cleaned every day, thinking of their son who might be collapsed somewhere at school.
“……”
His heart grew heavy once more. Opening his carrier, Sihyeon began unpacking. He had a full month until the new term began. Though he’d heard that as a trainee Mir military student, even holidays weren’t truly restful, it seemed they at least gave a long summer break.
Slowly, he placed the belongings he had packed four months ago back into the closet. Thinking back to that time, a flood of emotions surfaced. A period of confusion. Days spent denying everything after something that wasn’t quite an argument with Kang Sihyeon. And eventually, the moment he gave in, accepted it, and decided to live on.
Since things hadn’t gone smoothly, there was plenty to reflect on.
As he unpacked while recalling those memories one by one, he soon finished. Now, it was time to go out to the living room and say he was sorry.
Swallowing a sigh, Sihyeon stepped out of his room with slightly dragging steps. Just as expected, concern poured toward him, and he repeatedly said he was okay and that he was sorry. Then he ate the meal prepared by Kang Sihyeon’s father, and that was how Sihyeon spent the first day of his vacation.
***
“Pya pya!”
“…Mm.”
“Pyak!”
Tap! Something sharp kept pecking at his fingertips. Frowning, Sihyeon pulled the blanket over himself, but the sharp thing didn’t give up—it lifted the blanket and continued pecking at him. In the end, it was Sihyeon who surrendered to the persistence.
“…Ha.”
Saying he would laze around hadn’t been a lie. Sleeping before 10 and waking only when the sun was high in the sky, he had spent a full week living like a jobless person—sleeping, waking, eating, scrolling on his phone, and sleeping again. Without even setting an alarm, the one who woke him up every day around lunchtime was Pia, crying from hunger. Somehow it held out until morning, but once noon passed, it would cry and wake him up. Today was no different.
“…Can’t you just eat on your own now?”
Still half-asleep, Sihyeon forced his eyes open and held Pia while offering his hand. All it had to do was bite his hand and absorb mana—there was no need to wake him every time. As if responding, Pia cried out, “Pya!” Though he couldn’t understand it, it somehow felt like it was saying no.
Slurp, sip. The small creature happily sucked away his mana. As Pia regained vitality, Sihyeon lost his. Letting out a wide yawn, he slowly walked to the desk with Pia still in his arms. After a week of doing nothing, his body felt stiff. Thinking he should at least study, he sat down, then suddenly grabbed a blank notebook and pen as thoughts came to mind.
‘Situation Summary’
The penciled letters were neat. Writing that at the top of the page, Sihyeon slowly recalled his memories from school. There was a lot to organize.
First—
- Will need to visit the United States during enrollment (Luce)
Writing that first, Sihyeon frowned at the sentence he himself had written. He had incurred a debt, so it wouldn’t be strange if he were called upon. Maybe since Luce was simple-minded, he might forget quickly? He thought briefly—then recalled just how insane that man was and gave up on that idea. Rather than forgetting, Luce was probably thinking about how best to summon him.
“…What a troublesome connection.”
Shaking his head, Sihyeon moved his hand again.
- Do not perform any more Class Engravings
After realizing this upon performing his third engraving, he underlined it in red. It was important. The intense pain he had felt back then was etched into his mind. It was something he never wanted to experience again.
- Visit the Orc settlement once more (Suspicious altar and writing. Consult with teachers?)
Drawing a question mark, Sihyeon let out a low hum. Suddenly, Hamin’s voice came to mind—what if the teachers made him do something dangerous?
Come to think of it, he also needed to reconcile with him.
Beneath what he had just written, Sihyeon added:
- Reconcile with Lee Hamin
Spinning the pen in his hand, he continued thinking. If what he and Hamin had seen in the Orc settlement was some kind of clue about this world, then it was extremely important.
It might even reveal something about the sudden appearance of Irregulars and abilities.
But precisely because of that, Hamin’s concerns were valid.
If he truly could read those strange writings, it might be better not to tell the teachers. You never knew what could happen—what if he got dragged into some research lab and subjected to experiments? It wouldn’t be too late to decide whether to tell them after checking what lay beyond the door in the Orc settlement.
But to do that, he’d need teleportation…
He would have to keep it secret from the teachers—and also from Hamin and the Four Heavenly Kings. As he thought about that, someone naturally came to mind. Sihyeon pictured an irritating face.
“Want help, kid?”
It felt like he could hear the voice in his head.
“…For now, postponed.”
Writing those four words firmly, he wondered if there was anything else to add when—
Bzzz. The phone on the desk vibrated.
“Pya pya!”
Pia jumped out of his arms onto the desk, then pushed the phone toward him with its head. Watching that, Sihyeon let out a small laugh before checking the screen.
‘Yoo Seowoo’
Seeing the caller ID, he frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then pressed the call button.
[Hello, Sihyeon.]
A voice he hadn’t heard in a while tickled his ears. Somehow, hearing it over the phone made it sound even clearer.
“What?”
[Are you busy these days?]
“Not really.”
He should’ve said he was busy. He regretted it briefly after answering, but it was too late to take it back. As he waited for what Seowoo would say next, the latter continued—
[If you’re not busy, want to try a part-time job?]
“What?”
[They’re looking for a student model.]
The sudden suggestion caught him off guard. Only then did Sihyeon recall a line he had long forgotten.
He lives while keeping it a secret that his parents are the heads of a famous entertainment agency.
Right—Yoo Seowoo’s profile had said that.
His red lips parted slightly.
Wait, it’s supposed to be a secret.
Is it okay to be this obvious about it?
The unspoken question rose to the tip of his throat.
