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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Lee Ha-eun, who was examined by the government agency, was revealed to be an ability user who had awakened a magic ability.
Well, anyone who saw her create fire at the kindergarten could have guessed that.
The problem was that the fact that she had awakened not only a magic ability but also an aura ability was not revealed.
‘Well, even when a government agency tests for abilities, they guess what kind of ability was awakened by only looking at the location where one’s energy is gathered. They don’t accurately distinguish between mana, aura, psychic power, spirit power, and so on.’
If she had been tested with the latest equipment at Korea’s Awakener Association, they would have found out, but with just the equipment available at the nearby community service center, they would only have been able to confirm that her energy was gathered in the heart.
Furthermore, not only were the properties of mana and aura similar, but since both were powers that gathered energy in the heart, it would have been even more difficult to distinguish between the two.
‘It’s a relief for Lee Ha-eun.’
Thanks to not being found out for having awakened multiple abilities, the government agency wouldn’t bother her for being the first multiple-ability user.
Well, that too was only a matter of time.
The current Lee Ha-eun was too young and probably didn’t understand most of the knowledge engraved in her head, but in the future, when she realizes the existence of aura within her and naively reveals it, the fact that she’s a multiple-ability awakener would become known.
‘That can’t happen.’
For her sake…
…And for my sake as well, that kind of thing mustn’t happen.
That was why….
“Ha-eun, the other energy in your body that isn’t mana isn’t strange. Got it?”
“Okay, I got it.”
“And the other knowledge among your knowledge that isn’t about magic isn’t strange either. Got it?”
“Okay, I got it.”
“And even though that energy and knowledge aren’t strange, you have to hide them from other people. Got it?”
“Okay, I got it.”
“Forget.”
“…Huh? Why were we doing this?”
Whenever I had the chance, I said that to Lee Ha-eun and imbued my voice with mana while I spoke.
After whispering what I wanted, I used word-command magic to make her forget the fact that I had whispered it to her.
Doing it once was meaningless, but if I repeated this enough times and engraved it into her subconscious, she would subconsciously follow my words.
Since it was merely a suggestion, it would automatically be undone when her level rose above my current level over time, but by the time her level rose that much, she too would understand how dangerous it was to reveal that she had awakened multiple abilities.
“Anyway, I’m so glad I get to go to the same elementary school as you, Geon-woo!”
“I know.”
Three years had already passed since I made her hide the fact that she had awakened multiple abilities.
We had also reached the age to enter elementary school.
Of course, since it wasn’t possible to have Awakener children educated with non-Awakener children, we ended up enrolling in an elementary school specialized for Awakeners.
So I also purposely pretended to be an aura ability awakener.
There was the fact that Lee Ha-eun kept pestering me to go to elementary school with her, and I also thought that it would be more efficient to enter an Awakener-specialized elementary school rather than a regular one.
In any case, while what you learned fundamentally was similar in both regular schools and Awakener-specialized schools, so it didn’t matter which one I went to, Awakener-specialized schools were generally rich in energies like mana, making it easier to increase internal energy and mana.
Above all, I had a few worries about sending Lee Ha-eun to school alone.
“Ah, that’s it over there, right? Our school….”
“Yeah. We came here last year for the entrance ceremony too.”
“I was holding my mom’s hand then, so I don’t really know….”
This child was so timid that I was worried that if I sent her to school alone, she wouldn’t be able to get along properly with other children.
Getting along with ordinary children of the same age at a place like kindergarten would be no problem, but….
“Yaaaaa… Take this!”
“Hiyah! Finishing move!”
Lee Ha-eun and I turned our heads in the direction where those voices came from.
There, children who looked like upperclassmen were fighting using their abilities.
…Yes, that would be it.
‘When children who haven’t yet properly learned morality, or even if they have, haven’t understood the reason why they must abide by it, gain power… they usually end up like that.’
They were bound to get drunk on said power and run wild like that.
As such, the teachers at the Awakener-specialized school were all Awakeners, or if not, they were strong enough to subdue such children.
But no matter how many teachers there were, could there be more of them than the children in the elementary school?
That meant that they couldn’t stop all the children from running wild one by one.
‘If I had sent Ha-eun here alone, she would have been intimidated by kids like that, and she wouldn’t be able to have a proper school life because of it.’
For that reason, I decided to enroll in the Awakener-specialized school with Lee Ha-eun.
‘Anyway….’
My sensitive senses felt a strange flow.
It was a flow as if… the mana around the school was being sucked into the school.
‘Was this the reason why Awakener-specialized schools were known to be generally rich in mana?’
I had also attended an Awakener-specialized high school before my regression.
I didn’t know about it back then, but I thought I knew now.
Awakener-specialized schools were artificially gathering the mana in the air to increase the mana concentration inside the school.
‘I should take some time to check where the center of this mana gathering is.’
There was a high probability that I would be able to find a device or a magic circle that gathered mana there.
Then, couldn’t I modify it in my own way and use it for myself?
It didn’t matter if I couldn’t find a device or a magic circle either.
The center where the mana gathered would have a higher concentration of mana than any other place in the school, so it would be a suitable place for enhancing my internal energy.
‘I originally came for Ha-eun’s sake, but it seems like I’ll also gain something here.’
As I was thinking that, a frightened Lee Ha-eun spoke to me.
“Let’s… Let’s go quickly. I’m scared of those people….”
I nodded at her words and headed to the classroom that had been assigned to us at the entrance ceremony.
For reference, Lee Ha-eun and I were assigned to the same class.
No, rather than saying we were assigned to the same class….
‘To be precise, there’s just one class per grade, so everyone of the same age ends up in the same class.’
If you awakened before the age of 8 like me or Lee Ha-eun, you would go to an Awakener-specialized elementary school, but if you awakened after that, you would attend an Awakener-specialized school starting from middle or high school, not elementary school.
In fact, that was what the pre-regression me had done.
The number of children who awakened before the age of 8 was not small if you looked at all of Korea, but the number of such children in this neighborhood alone was at most a little over 20, so they couldn’t divide them into multiple classes.
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Our homeroom teacher was this school’s principal.
I wondered if it was right for a principal to be in charge of a class, but that wasn’t my business.
At least, he was a perfect fit as a teacher for the unruly first-grade children.
“Class is starting.”
He said that and released his energy, binding us.
With this, he had imprinted the idea that ‘teachers are scary’ or ‘adults are scary’ into the children’s minds.
I wondered if parents would protest to the school about this, but I thought that it wasn’t a bad method, except for the fact that it was a bit coercive.
The teachers and parents were happy because the power-drunk children became docile, and the children benefited because they realized that there were many people stronger than them, and as such, they didn’t cause trouble by getting drunk on power.
Of course, this was probably a temporary measure that only worked when the children were in the lower grades.
That must be why the upperclassmen we saw when we came to school were causing a ruckus.
The time when the morning classes were finished came as I was having such thoughts.
‘…Even though it was the time when morning classes were over, we first-graders were told to go home right after eating lunch.’
So, it was the time when we were originally supposed to leave school and return home.
At that time, I headed to a certain place in the school.
Of course….
“Geon-woo, where are we going?”
With Lee Ha-eun, who was following me.
“We’re on a treasure hunt.”
“A treasure hunt? I want to do it too!”
At my words, Lee Ha-eun, who had been following me, said that with sparkling eyes.
I wonder…
I think the treasure I’m thinking of and the treasure you’re thinking of are completely different.
Even while thinking that, I did not stop Lee Ha-eun.
‘…There don’t seem to be any watchful eyes here….’
The teachers seemed to have work to do in the faculty office, or perhaps they were just too busy controlling the other children to pay any attention to us.
Actually, it didn’t matter if the teachers saw us.
It wasn’t like we were trying to do anything bad.
‘Let’s see….’
I traced the flow of mana.
The flow of mana I had felt when coming to school in the morning.
The flow of mana that was concentrating in one place in the school.
“Oh? Geon-woo, there’s a teacher over there.”
“Hm? Ah, you’re right.”
The place we arrived at by following the flow was, for some reason, where our homeroom teacher, the principal, was.
“Hm? Ho ho, it’s Ha-eun and Geon-woo.”
The principal saw us and, unlike during class, greeted us with a benevolent expression.
“How did you know to come here?”
“I was on a treasure hunt with Geon-woo!”
“Ho ho, is that so?”
At the principal’s question, Lee Ha-eun repeated the excuse I had given her.
I listened to their conversation and looked around.
‘…The mana is definitely gathering in this place. It’s the same right now too….’
It could be said to be the place with the highest mana concentration within the school.
…If I could train here….
I thought that, and then I asked the principal.
“Teacher, what is this place for?”
“This is a training room for the teachers.”
“A training room?”
For the teachers…?
Ah, I see.
‘So the teachers also know that the mana concentration here is high.’
That must be why they trained here.
Because a high mana concentration increases the efficiency of training.
“Then are we not allowed to come in here?”
As I was thinking that, Lee Ha-eun asked the principal that question.
Since it was a training room ‘for teachers,’ she seemed worried that they, as students, shouldn’t come here.
“You are allowed to come in, but you must not disturb the other teachers. Understand?”
“Yes!”
“And you have to be quiet in the training room. If you’re noisy, it will disturb the other teachers.”
“…(Yesss….)”
At the principal’s words, Lee Ha-eun answered in the smallest voice possible.
A voice so small that even I, who was right next to her, could barely hear it.
Perhaps finding Lee Ha-eun cute, the principal gave her a piece of candy, and Lee Ha-eun, who received it, shouted to me that she had found the treasure and that she had won.
I smiled while looking at her.
‘Thank you.’
Lee Ha-eun received the treasure that was the candy given by the principal.
In that case, did I fail to find a treasure myself?
No way.
‘This place itself is as good as treasure to me.’
I had been pondering about what to say to the principal to gain access to this place, but Lee Ha-eun had solved that for me.
So I couldn’t help but be grateful to her.
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T/N – So, Ha-eun will most likely be a heroine, huh? I feel iffy with these sorts of plots that have an MC who is an adult mentally being paired with a young partner as it feels too much like they are rearing a child bride. But since the MC’s intentions are more like a big brother being worried for his little sister, I’ll reserve my judgement for now.
Also, it seems that I was wrong about Ha-eun not encountering problems in my previous chapter comment. Still, my opinion still stands that an ordinary genius attracts a lot less attention than those with ‘sole’ in their titles. This applies to both the MC and to Ha-eun in pre-regression.
Lastly, man, gaslighting and mind manipulation using word-command magic… Even if it’s for her own good, it still feels kinda wrong. 😅 Also, smart of the MC to awaken aura. It’s similar enough to martial arts, and Ha-eun can secretly learn from him on the side.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
