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Lee Chae-song seemed flustered when I suddenly asked her to protect me.

I didn’t have the luxury to satisfy her curiosity right now.

“Anyway, please!”

“…Okay!”

Although it hadn’t been long since we met, she seemed to trust me enough to agree despite her confusion. She stood in front of me, taking a defensive stance.

Thanks to her, I could close my eyes and focus inward.

Without hesitation, I channeled my magic power toward my brain.

I saw the seal that was containing the vast amount of magic power.

Out of the seven layers of the seal, only three remained.

It was supposed to naturally break as I turned 15, 16, and 17, but I couldn’t afford to wait that long.

If I started losing this battle, I might not even make it to 15.

Ever since I returned from England, things had been oddly peaceful.

But trouble always seems to follow me.

I’d rather have my bones crushed than do this… but I have no choice.

*Tap—*

I sent a bit of magic power, hoping it might break the seal.

As expected…

Even with the slightest touch, my whole body tingled painfully.

‘Damn it…’

It hurts like hell.

Is there really no other way?

…

I shouldn’t hold onto false hope. The longer I delay, the higher the chance students will die.

I steeled my resolve and focused my energy, pushing more magic power into the seal.

*Boom—*

It felt like thunder was roaring in my head, accompanied by a deafening noise.

“Ugh!”

It felt like my head was splitting open.

Electricity surged down my spine.

I could feel the current gathering at my tailbone.

“Ahhh!”

It felt like my pelvis was shattering.

The electricity seemed to fry every nerve in my body.

‘F***!’

The curse slipped out naturally.

If I stop now, I’ll be in a worse state.

I struck the seal with even more force.

*Thud— Thud—*

My heart pounded like a drum.

My magic circuits, blood vessels, and muscles boiled and writhed.

The sealed magic power burst through the cracks and began circulating through my body with overwhelming force.

“Gyeoul! What’s wrong with you?”

“Winter! Why is she like that?”

“Dorm supervisor! Winter’s acting strange!”

I could hear the commotion outside, muffled as if I were underwater.

The sealed magic power seemed to get excited by their noise, moving even more violently.

When I forcibly broke the seal before, it was excruciating, but this pain was on another level.

Something was going wrong.

“Gurgle—”

Strange noises escaped my mouth instead of screams.

At this rate… I’ll die.

I wish it would stop, but the sealed magic kept leaking out.

It’s going to explode… it’s going to explode!

I clung to my fading consciousness and moved toward the seal.

I tried to block the cracks to stop the magic from leaking, but it was useless.

Like water breaking through a dam, there was no way to stop it.

The students’ commotion gradually faded.

No, it was my hearing that was failing.

The consciousness I barely held onto was slipping away.

Am I… going to die?

Ignoring Heinz’s advice to never touch the seal… led to this.

At that moment…

“It’s okay, child.”

A warm voice echoed in my mind.

My ears were already gone, but the voice resonated directly in my brain.

“This time, I can help. Gently embrace the energy.”

“It was your magic from the beginning. You need to accept it.”

…Gently?

The magic leaking from the cracked seal was ravaging my body.

How am I supposed to gently embrace that?

Don’t talk nonsense!

“Who… who are you?”

I couldn’t even finish my sentence.

The taste of blood filled my mouth. My stomach churned violently.

If I opened my mouth any wider, I felt like I’d vomit my guts out.

“The one who sent you here…”

*Static—*

Sent me here?

The voice started to crackle with noise, then faded away.

What the hell is going on?

Does this mean someone planned for me to be transported to this strange world?

I was half-ready to give up.

I couldn’t stop the seal, and my body was going haywire from the leaking magic.

But…

Why was I sent to this world?

Why did I end up in a girl’s body?

And why was my magic sealed?

There were too many questions.

To find the answers, I needed to survive.

The only thing I could try was to do as the voice said—accept it.

…Just let it go?

I’m going to die anyway.

I decided to stop trying to block the seal and let the magic flow freely.

Surprisingly, the pain began to subside.

The raging magic calmed down.

It’s… working…

When I first touched the seal, I also let the magic flow freely.

But back then, the pain was overwhelming.

Now, the result was different.

As the pain faded, I waited for the voice to return.

I focused and waited, but it never came.

‘…What was that?’

It said it could help me this time.

It seemed to know about my previous situation.

It even said it sent me here…

Is it some kind of god?

Bullsh*t.

There’s no way a god exists.

If it did, the world wouldn’t be in such a mess.

The magic forcibly opened my circuits and flowed into them, and no more magic leaked from the seal.

The raging energy and the pain were gone.

I slowly opened my eyes…

The surroundings were a mess.

Trees were shattered, and broken skeletons were scattered everywhere.

The ground was torn up as if it had been bombed.

The students, however, were unharmed.

They were staring at me with their mouths agape, as if they’d seen a ghost.

At least no one was hurt because of me.

As I looked around, the dorm supervisor approached me.

“You… what are you?”

“Huh? I’m Jeong Gyeoul…”

“That’s not what I mean! The magic that just exploded out of you was more than what the Demon King used to defeat Behemoth! It was more ferocious and sharper! Even the president couldn’t unleash that much power!”

Was the dorm supervisor there when Behemoth was defeated?

For someone who was there, he seems too weak…

“Do you know my sister?”

“I saw her during the Behemoth raid at headquarters… No, that’s not the point. How do you have that much magic power? You were C-Class when you enrolled!”

“…I don’t know either.”

Seals, hidden powers, reincarnation, possession…

No matter what I say, they won’t believe me, and even if they do, it’ll cause problems.

It’s better to play dumb.

“…I have to report this to the higher-ups. We’ll talk later. And… thank you.”

“…You’re welcome.”

Reporting to the higher-ups won’t cause me any trouble, right?

What if the National Intelligence Service captures me and dissects me in a secret lab…

Should I run away now?

But my sister is Jeong Ha-yul, and Park Seol-hwa has my back.

I can even rely on the Taebaek Guild.

With three S-Class heroes on my side, what could go wrong?

Unless it’s a villain…

Villain?

‘…What are the chances the government disguises themselves as villains to kidnap me?’

I shouldn’t trust the government for a while.

…Should I call Jeong Ha-yul to the academy?

***

The enemy forces seemed to be completely wiped out, and nothing else happened after that.

We made it safely to the shelter with the help of other instructors.

“…The other students all seem fine.”

“Yeah, it’s like the attack was only aimed at us…”

The other students started to notice the state of Jeong Gyeoul’s group, who had left from the first-year girls’ dorm.

“…Why do they look like that?”

“What the hell happened outside?”

“Ugh!”

Their clothes were torn, and they were bleeding.

Some students had limbs dangling from skeleton weapons.

Jeong Gyeoul looked just as bad.

Blood was dripping from her mouth, staining her entire front red.

She looked like she could die from excessive blood loss at any moment.

The other students started to panic.

Despite all the injuries, no one stepped forward to help.

Only the instructors approached.

Then.

A male student walked up to Jeong Gyeoul.

“…You look the worst. Are you okay?”

It was Kim Heum-soon, the student who had covered Jeong Gyeoul with his jacket when her underwear was exposed in the cafeteria.

Jeong Gyeoul, who had thought Kim Heum-soon was a good guy, frowned.

“Do I look okay to you? I’m on the verge of death…”

She knew he meant well.

But asking if she was okay after all the pain she endured wasn’t comforting.

If it weren’t for the aftereffects of breaking the seal, she might have punched him.

“…Sorry, drink a potion and rest inside.”

“Okay.”

The instructors were handing out potions to the injured students.

The usage was simple—apply some to the wound and drink the rest.

But the effects were anything but simple.

It boosted the body’s healing ability to an incredible level.

Wounds that were torn or cut would heal in seconds.

It couldn’t reattach severed limbs, but any injury before that point would heal instantly.

‘They’re ridiculously hard to get.’

Park Seol-hwa’s recovery potions were piled up like mountains in the Demon King’s house, and Jeong Gyeoul had brought a few bottles to the dorm when she enrolled.

But for others, buying even one bottle a month was difficult.

Thanks to the academy selling them in bulk, almost all first-year female students received potions, and there were still plenty left in the shelter.

After Jeong Gyeoul enrolled in Hero Academy and Park Seol-hwa could no longer follow her, the supply of potions suddenly increased.

But Jeong Gyeoul didn’t know that.

Anyway, there was no reason to refuse free potions.

It would take forever to go back to the dorm and get one.

Jeong Gyeoul’s problem was internal; there were no visible external injuries.

After drinking an entire bottle, her damaged magic circuits, blood vessels, and muscles began to heal at an incredible rate.

At the same time, she felt an overwhelming surge of magic power.

“F***?”

“…What?”

“Ah, sorry…”

I expected my magic power to increase after breaking one layer of the seal and reaching B-Class, but…

The amount of magic power I felt far exceeded that level.

Over 300 magic circuits had opened.

‘At this level… can I be called A-Class?’

Jeong Gyeoul was startled and quickly focused.

She carefully examined the seal to avoid accidentally triggering it…

Only one layer remained.

‘…What the hell is this?’

The seal I thought I barely broke had two layers shattered.

I don’t know if it’s good or bad.

But I didn’t feel any aftereffects.

‘It’s… good, right?’

 

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