Ah. Did I get caught?
“If you stay there like that, you’ll interfere with the teleportation magic circle, so come over here.”
Phew. Guess not.
But was Rossi also an imperial fanboy?
Actually, Rossi and I weren’t that close. We’d run into each other a few times in class and occasionally borrowed notes from each other, but we’d rapidly gotten closer because of the glasses incident last time. Which family was he from again….
While I was pondering where Rossi was from, Professor Mahoff approached and herded the kids to one place.
“I’ll construct the teleportation magic circle, so come this way.”
I quickly adjusted my glasses and squeezed into the gaps between the club members, when Professor Mahoff briefly tilted his head muttering, then whispered to Cedric.
Cedric listened while scanning over us, then nodded with a smile as if it was nothing serious.
“Then let’s depart!”
Professor Mahoff infused mana into the construction circle, and instantly I felt my body floating up.
“Ugh…!”
With my vision already blurry from the glasses and even feeling like I was defying gravity, I staggered slightly. Just then, someone grabbed my waist.
“Be careful. If you get sucked into space-time alone, no one can save you.”
“Hyak!”
At the terrifying words that no one could save me, I tightly grabbed the hand of whoever was holding my waist and squeezed my eyes shut.
And instantly, I felt tremendous pressure applied to my body. The teleportation had begun.
“It’s not your first or second away match, so what are you going to do if you’re still like this?”
“S-sorry….”
I barely answered while sobbing at the voice I heard from behind. The sensation of group teleportation I was feeling for the first time was strange.
When I used teleportation, I always used the premium service accompanied by one mage per person.
‘I-is this… commoner life…?!’
Of course, teleportation magic itself was already a service only nobles or the wealthy could use, but to me it was commoner level.
The commoner experience I was suddenly feeling was brief. With a whoosh, my vision brightened and instantly we were standing between completely different buildings.
After some slight dizziness, I realized the identity of the person who had been holding my waist from behind was Cedric and was shocked to the point of fainting.
“Hyaaa. C-Crown Prince Cedric-sunbaenim. I’m so sorry.”
When I apologized in a drawling, clumsy speech pattern like Rossi would do, Cedric said it was fine and patted my head.
“The glasses suit you quite well. Cute.”
“Huh?”
“Welcome to Roswell! Crown Prince Cedric, Your Highness! It’s an honor to host you again this year!”
People who looked like Roswell officials surrounded Cedric. In that gap, I quickly slipped out and looked around.
It was definitely different from the Imperial Academy. It didn’t have antique or splendid charm, but it was a place overflowing with quaint and historical atmosphere.
Even while being guided by people, I walked with my head down, hugging only my suitcase, afraid someone might talk to me. Walking a bit further, I could see the glass greenhouse where the chess friendship match would be held.
There were more female students over there, and I quickly scanned through them.
Surely the female lead had long black hair. Like all romance fantasies, she would have a plain but very pretty face. I couldn’t remember her name now, but if I heard it, I’d remember.
“Um, are those all of Roswell’s chess club members?”
When I asked a club member next to me, she shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know either.
“This is my first time participating too, so I’m not sure.”
‘In the end, I have no choice but to go directly.’
While the friendship match officials were talking, I stealthily approached among Roswell’s students. And then. A strangely sparkling blue light briefly brushed past my side.
“……?”
Thinking it might be light reflected off someone’s brooch, I quickly turned my head. I saw one woman with long black hair turning the corner of the corridor over there.
‘W-wait. That, that person… I think I know them?!’
At the strange feeling that flashed by for a moment, I ran toward that direction.
“E-excuse me! Wait a moment!”
When I turned the corner, the long-haired woman was running down the corridor with her hair swishing. I know. There was a strange girl who ran like that in my memories. Definitely.
“Hey! Ju Shinyoung!”
I think that’s Ju Shinyoung?!
Ju Shinyoung, my part-time job colleague who fried french fries and stacked burgers with me! That damn crazy colleague who taught me about this novel!
“Ju Shinyoung! Stop right there! You’re Ju Shinyoung, right?!”
Ju Shinyoung passed through the corridor winding at a speed unbelievable for a human. I kept following the swishing hair turning corners and corners.
“Ju Shinyoung! Ju Shinyoung! Hey!”
The Roswell people around looked at me strangely, but I kept passing through them quickly.
“Tors, Ju Shinyoung!”
Tors is the name of the fast food restaurant where I worked hard part-time. Also known as Tors Burger.
But if she could run that well, why did she make me do all the heavy lifting when we were working part-time?! This bitch!
How many boxes of french fries and tomatoes had I carried for her until now? Running and running so fast until my breath was choking and the sky turned yellow.
Ju Shinyoung slipped right into some dark building. When I tried to follow her in, I heard people shouting from behind that I shouldn’t go in.
“…You can’t!”
“That place is…!”
I can!
With the mindset that I absolutely must catch Ju Shinyoung, I didn’t slow down and kicked open the door to that place. And.
– Thwack!
“Kyaaaak!”
Why… is a pillar… here….
– Thud.
I thus gloriously collapsed after hitting my head on a stone pillar. People gathered around me murmuring.
“Ju Shinyoung…. Ju Shinyoung….”
And I lost consciousness.
* * *
When I opened my eyes in a completely white place, I had an intuition.
Ah. I died.
Crazy. In a setting where someone like Morgan Freeman would come out any moment saying ‘You’re dead,’ I thought of Cesare.
“Damn… I died without even getting to kiss Cesare once….”
I thought it was strange that even in this situation Cesare came to mind, but didn’t they say people originally die yearning most for what they couldn’t achieve in life?
“This damn Addiction is so persistent! It won’t release me even in death!”
I was banging my head on the white floor. If it was going to be like this, I should have at least confessed. Should have at least headbutted a kiss.
Whether I die rebelling or die like this, it’s the same! Huh?
As I was banging my head like that, a large shadow fell in front of me.
“Lionel.”
“…J-Ju Shinyoung? What are you! Were you also possessed here?”
Ju Shinyoung was standing in front of me. But she wasn’t wearing South Korean clothes, instead wearing something like a long white skirt, looking just like a goddess.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Did you also die hitting your head on a wall?”
Then Ju Shinyoung burst into laughter and patted me.
“You still don’t think about yourself.”
“Me…?”
“Lionel. You idiot. That’s why I told you to read it carefully when I asked you to.”
Her voice sounded somehow foreign. It was a strange feeling. She was clearly speaking with her mouth, but it felt sacred as if the sound was resonating in my heart.
“Don’t look for the female lead.”
“What?!”
“There originally was no female lead.”
“Huh…?”
“The original was like a guidebook for you, you fool. What do you do when I gave you all the hints and you still didn’t read it!”
“Did I know I’d be possessed?! If I’d known this would happen, I would have read it all and even written a thesis!”
“Anyway, there’s no time, Lionel. Do you remember the origin of the artifact?”
I angrily shouted but Ju Shinyoung immediately changed the subject as if there was no time. With a strange feeling, I just shook my head slightly. It was definitely Ju Shinyoung in front of me, but it didn’t seem like Ju Shinyoung.
“Th-the artifact? It’s an ancient relic passed down from the Age of Prosperity.”
“The artifact will appear soon, so don’t be impatient.”
Ju Shinyoung placed her hand on my forehead.
“You have to find it yourself.”
“What?”
“…Be careful of Cesare Yanox.”
Soon, a bright light began to envelop me.
“Sorry. I used too much power summoning you here. See you again next time.”
“Ju Shinyoung!”
And again my body fell into distant darkness.
* * *
Cedric looked at Professor Mahoff and the collapsed Lionel with a troubled face.
“So the one I felt with different mana than usual earlier was Mr. Mellans.”
“I recognized him right away because the disguise was too shoddy.”
The problem wasn’t that Lionel had secretly snuck into Roswell. The problem, if there was one, was that Lionel ran around Roswell like crazy and then ran to the Jushin Saint and Tors Shrine.
And while shouting “Oh Jushin!”
“Then where would Miss Lucy be?”
Mahoff rubbed his forehead as if troubled.
“She’s probably still at the Imperial Academy. Miss Lucy is timid yet has a surprisingly bold side, even when playing chess.”
“Why on earth did Mr. Mellans come to Roswell?”
“I don’t know.”
“…Ugh. Ju Shinyoung…!”
Lionel, with a large bump on his forehead, groaned while repeatedly calling for Jushin.
“He keeps looking for Jushin, could Lionel-hubaenim have possibly received some kind of revelation?”
“That’s also possible. Come to think of it, Heiss mentioned a while ago that the Holy Emperor secretly gave some instructions….”
