Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Unreality (3)
Honestly, when Flame was completely engulfed by the Full-body Mirror, I was utterly shocked.
Shocked?
No, I think I had a million thoughts racing through my mind.
At first, I kept my distance, but as we continued to attend the same school, experience incidents, share secrets, it seemed Flame and I grew quite close.
When I saw Flame being swallowed by the Full-body Mirror, I…
Yes.
I despaired.
I felt so hopeless that I wanted to give up on everything.
It was like endlessly falling into a bottomless pit of helplessness.
Even the cheat item, the Bulbul Glasses, didn’t explain how to save Flame from the Full-body Mirror.
But then, the one that extended a hand of salvation was none other than the ‘Constellatio Project.’
[Baek Yu-seol, we want to assign you a special mission.]
T h i s w a s c o pi e d fro m ki n g m t l . o r g
[Jump into the Full-body Mirror and make Flame realize ‘reality.’]
‘What…’
As always, the Constellatio Project was quite unkind, skipping all detailed explanations.
To sum it up, the world inside the Full-body Mirror exists solely for Flame’s ‘happiness.’
A perfect world where any desire is fulfilled without pain, trials, worries, or effort, and everyone praises me.
But, as with any such world, once fully submerged in happiness, there’s no escaping back to reality.
True death.
A collapse of the mind, losing both body and identity completely.
‘So, I have to make her realize reality…’
Thus,
I fell into ‘Flame’s world.’
It was a familiar place.
The acrid smell of exhaust, the dull sky, the forest of gray buildings soaring high, and the noisy, busy modern people moving about.
My hometown, Earth.
For a while, I stood there, unable to move as if nailed to the spot.
The first thought that came to mind was to visit my house.
It was meaningless.
I had no family left, and I wasn’t even sure if this world was real or fake.
‘Pull yourself together, Baek Yu-seol.’
I had to resolve myself. Even though returning to my hometown made me weak, my task was clear.
To make the foolish Flame come to her senses. If my spirit weakened before that, what would I do?
With no strategy guide and no one to advise me, I somehow came up with a plan.
At first, I suddenly intervened in events to make Flame realize the unreality.
“You actually wanted this.”
Like a protagonist in a 90s action movie, I appeared wearing sunglasses, carrying a motorcycle on my shoulder, and tried to escape.
It failed.
It only made Flame more noticeable, making it worse than doing nothing.
And when I came to my senses again, a week had already passed.
Time Skip.
It’s a very convenient feature, but it’s also quite troublesome as I can’t know what happened during that time.
Fortunately, I met Flame straight away.
This time, she was singing.
-Now, take my hand and say yes!
There were countless cameras and a handsome host who looked famous.
Without a doubt.
After today, Flame would become incredibly famous.
“One more song!”
“One more song!”
“Encore! Encore!”
People chanted for an encore. At that moment, I accidentally made eye contact with Flame.
I shook my head.
I was ignored.
Having no other choice, I smashed the audio equipment directly…
-You, in the rainy street, left alone…
Flame ended up completing the song a cappella, receiving an even hotter reaction.
‘Dammit…’
I realized that my actions were pulling her deeper into the unreality.
I slammed the ground hard in frustration. The concrete cracked and formed a spiderweb pattern.
Then, I realized.
This is Earth.
A world where superpowers, magic, swords, and other species do not exist.
Yet, I still possessed superhuman abilities.
[Blink]
I could still use my most powerful magic.
…There seemed to be only one way left.
* * *
“Hey, hey, hey, Flame! Did you see? Did you see it?”
A week had passed since the street performance. I have no memory of that time, yet how quickly the days fly by.
I’m only nineteen, but time is such a mysterious thing.
“See what?”
As Flame, who was writing in her notebook, asked while scratching her ear, Han Choyeon excitedly shouted.
“Your YouTube video has surpassed ten million views! For a regular person’s video, it’s record-breaking! It’s still trending in communities, and the views are expected to rise even more!”
“Is that so? It’s not like I’m getting any money from it, so why are you so excited?”
“Don’t you know? Everyone who goes viral on Kim Baek-gwang’s YouTube ends up debuting as a singer! That famous Choi Gak-do appeared on ‘Are You a Singer?’ because of that video.”
“I’m not going to be a singer.”
That was the truth.
Singing was enjoyable, but making it her future goal was a different matter.
Singing was just a hobby.
She drew a firm line there.
Thi s w a s co p i ed from ki ngm t l.o r g
But still… anyway.
It felt good that people were interested in her singing and that the views were increasing.
“I bet if this momentum continues, a major agency will soon come looking for you.”
“That’s nonsense.”
“It’s true, though.”
Flame shook her head, but Han Choyeon’s words had some credibility. The video [#Real-time Trending Video] kept climbing the ranks and finally reached number one!
Although it was just a video featuring a regular person, its explosive impact was remarkable and was expected to become a massive topic…
Exactly four days later, in the morning.
When Flame arrived at school, she heard a fantasy-like story.
“Flame, look at this!”
“What?”
The video Han Choyeon showed had the tag [#Real-time Trending Video No. 1].
However, the title was something else.
[Modern Superhero? The Appearance of a Mysterious Superpowered Person!]
“A superhero? How childish…”
Flame, who didn’t particularly like superhero movies, thought it was a film advertisement and was about to brush it off, but something felt off.
The noise in the video was almost unbearable, the screen shook violently, was out of focus, and the blurred quality of the video caught her attention.
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r om k i n gm t l . o rg
And above all, the content of the video.
“What is this…”
In the video, a group of terrorists was shooting guns on the street. Given the background being South Korea, it was a shocking event, but not entirely impossible.
Anyone can get firearms.
But the boy in a school uniform who appeared then shattered all sense of reality.
“Is this… teleportation?”
Th i s wa s c op i e d fr o m ki n g m tl . o r g
The boy moved at the speed of light, wielding a lightsaber to destroy the terrorist group.
Wherever the boy looked, he was already there.
He wielded the lightsaber, deflecting bullets or cutting down terrorists, reminiscent of a Sword Master from a fantasy novel, and he was already being nicknamed ‘K-Sword Master.’
Despite the ridiculous nickname, the video was real.
It was real.
A superpowered person existed in reality.
“There’s not just one person who filmed this! All the real-time trending videos are of that person.”
“Show me more.”
Although they were videos of the same incident from different perspectives, Flame meticulously engraved each one into her mind.
‘Familiar.’
Although his face was masked, she could intuitively tell.
“That’s… our school uniform, right?”
Baek Yu-seol.
That boy was undoubtedly Baek Yu-seol.
* * *
The boys’ uniform at Samwol High School consists of navy pants, a white shirt, and a navy jacket.
Right.
A very common uniform you can see anywhere in South Korea. But could the netizens not figure out where the uniform came from?
“Did you hear? They say it’s our school.”
“Actually, it’s me.”
“Your physique is different.”
“I lose weight when in action and gain it back afterward.”
“Idiot.”
The fact that the ‘K-Sword Master’ in the video was a student at Samwol High School had already spread widely, bringing reporters and YouTubers from all over to find him, causing a huge commotion.
The boy, nicknamed ‘K-Sword Master’ or ‘K-Soma,’ didn’t stop at defeating terrorists once.
He traveled around the country, taking down criminals and solving various incidents, and in just a few days, he was already being called a real hero.
[Mysterious Superpowered Person, is he a high school student?]
[Understanding the principles of high-speed movement scientifically]
[What material is the lightsaber made of?]
[The relationship between Samwol High School and the boy?]
All the world’s issues were focused on Baek Yu-seol. Being the first superpowered person to appear globally, even the U.S. president mentioned him, and there were rumors that foreign secret organizations had infiltrated Korea to recruit him.
Of course, no one knows how much of it is true.
However…
There was one thing people misunderstood.
That the boy’s high-speed movement was not just a superpower, but ‘magic.’
Why?
Flame could deeply understand that fact.
The true identity of that ability was the magic ‘Blink.’
It was quite awkward, alien, and unpleasant.
Having unlearned knowledge constantly swirling in my head, like another person’s memories infiltrating me, was unsettling.
“What’s wrong, Flame?”
“Nothing.”
On the way home.
The school gate was noisy again.
A huge crowd had gathered. Reporters were probably here looking for the mysterious superpowered boy.
Having gotten used to it over the past few days, Flame tried to avoid them, but today was different.
“Fl-Flame… Look over there!”
“Huh?”
Han Choyeon, in a daze, pointed at something. Flame looked in that direction, thinking it was nothing special.
“…What the…?”
And she couldn’t help but be surprised.
A well-groomed man in his early thirties, dressed in a black suit that screamed luxury, was standing next to a slick foreign car.
Although she wasn’t interested in the entertainment industry, she couldn’t not know him.
The representative of ‘Daebak Entertainment,’ which produced the world’s top boy band, Gappa Boy Group, Kim Gapsu.
He had come directly to this school!
“Kyaaaah!”
“Please look this way!”
The invisible ‘K-Soma’ was overshadowed by the appearance of the father of a true world star. People, forgetting their original purpose, screamed and clicked their cameras at Kim Gapsu.
He seemed to enjoy the attention, standing there leisurely, then he turned his gaze upon seeing someone.
Their eyes met.
‘Huh.’
Feeling a proper connection, Flame tried to ignore him. But as if confirming her uneasy premonition, Kim Gapsu walked straight towards her.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea, and the quick-witted Han Choyeon had already stepped back, leaving just the two of them face to face.
“Hello? You’re Flame, right?”
“…Ah, yes.”
“I’d like to have a conversation with you, is that possible?”
She wanted to confidently say ‘no,’ but she couldn’t withstand the intense gazes from all around, so she nodded hurriedly.
Kim Gapsu, satisfied, smiled handsomely and guided her to the limousine.
“Then, shall we go somewhere quiet?”
* * *
Kim Gapsu took Flame to a high-end cafe in Cheongdam-dong.
He didn’t do something crazy like renting out the entire cafe. Instead, he let the place fill with ordinary people, likely for the ‘buzz’ it would generate on social media.
“I’ll get straight to the point. I want to groom you to be the next ‘Gappa Boy Group.'”
T h i s w a s co p i e d f r om k in g mtl. o rg
“Ah… yes…”
She really had nothing to say other than ‘ah’ and ‘yes.’
“You don’t seem very enthusiastic. I know. I’ve heard you’ve turned down many offers. So, I want to guarantee your academic and daily life.”
“What…?”
“You don’t want to give up your daily life, right? The life of a star is exhausting.”
As he tossed his hair in a seemingly cool but actually childish manner.
It was ridiculous, but Flame nodded along.
“I will respect all your daily life and relationships, and never interfere. Instead, you will experience the life of a star on the other side of your daily life.”
She had no idea what he was talking about.
T h i s w as c o p i e d f r o m k i n gm t l . or g
“And what’s in it for you, Mr. President?”
“Of course, there’s a benefit. If you like the life of a star, you might fully join us, right?”
“…Excuse me. Is this being broadcast live?”
“Huh? Haha, are you already conscious of the camera? Unfortunately, no. But I can’t stop the hot attention gathering around us.”
Why is he saying those lines if it’s not live? Flame held back her urge to snap at him. Are all stars like this, or is it just him?
“Here’s the contract. We will respect your school life and dual life as a trainee, and, as specified…”
T h i s w as c o p ie d f ro m ki n g m tl . or g
Without listening to Kim Gapsu’s words to the end, Flame stared at the contract.
All she had to do was write her name.
It’s Kim Gapsu.
The Kim Gapsu of Daebak Entertainment. One word from him, and an ordinary high school girl’s life ends, and a superstar’s life begins.
“Why now?”
“Because it’s the perfect timing, I rushed to find you.”
Currently, all the buzz and attention was focused on Baek Yu-seol, ‘K-Soma.’
“Do you know the concept of contagion of issues? When something explosively captures attention, another hot issue can transfer that attention.”
She didn’t know. Nor did she want to.
“I’m aiming for that. Kim Gapsu meeting and debuting the high school sensation, Flame… would be the next hot issue, right?”
Indeed, Kim Gapsu hadn’t come to her thoughtlessly.
He was sincere.
Sincerely thinking about turning her into a star.
She pondered and pondered, holding the pen.
‘Sign it, quickly.’
T h i s w a s c opie d f r o m k i n g m t l .or g
‘Reclaim your stolen popularity.’
Originally, her name should have been circulating on YouTube and social media, not Baek Yu-seol’s.
A real-life superhero?
Sure, he was amazing and globally sensational, but that’s it.
He hadn’t revealed his face and couldn’t appear officially.
Revealing her face and name, being pushed by the world’s top entertainment agency, no hero could stop the popularity of a true world star.
“Come on, Flame. Become a star with me.”
All she had to do was sign.
There was no need to hesitate.
He had promised to respect her daily life, one of her biggest concerns. Just by signing the contract, she would have the opportunity to sing her favorite songs freely in front of the world.
‘Become the world’s greatest star.’
Someone whispered.
Was it Kim Gapsu?
Or was it her own self?
She didn’t know.
But, her trembling hand reached the contract.
Tap!
The pen touched the edge of the contract, and as a dot was made.
‘Do not give up on yourself.’
Hearing the boy’s voice as if from somewhere, Flame snapped out of it and dropped the pen.
“…No. I’m not fit to be a singer. The attention is… burdensome.”
“What? But…”
T hi s wa s c o p i e d fr o m k i n g m t l . org
Startled, Kim Gapsu tried to say something, but Flame quickly stood up. If she listened any longer, she might really sign it.
Thus.
The world turned upside down.
‘Huh…?’
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f ro m k i ng m tl . o r g
Shattered glass and brick fragments scattered everywhere. The sound of explosions, the violently shaking view.
When she came to her senses, she was lying on the ground.
“Ugh…”
Her entire body was covered in dirt. Her school uniform was tattered from the concrete dust, and her limbs were bleeding profusely.
Lifting her head slightly to look at the wall, a huge hole gaped through it.
“What the heck happened…”
A bombing in broad daylight?
Cautiously, Flame walked out through the broken wall.
“Kyaaaah!”
“R-Run away!!”
Boom! Bang!
Screams.
The sound of things exploding and breaking.
Thump, thump.
Her heart pounded.
Whee-ooh! Whee-ooh!
A siren wailed somewhere. Now that she thought about it, she remembered studying it. It wasn’t just a siren; it was an air raid alarm.
This was it.
She should retreat and hide.
Or run away.
She knew well that further curiosity could shorten her lifespan.
Despite that, why couldn’t she retreat?
One step, one step, Flame slowly moved forward.
And finally, when she reached the middle of the road, she saw it.
-ROOOAAAR!!
A green-skinned monster, roughly the size of a small house, was wielding traffic lights with both hands and smashing the city.
‘…A monster?’
The boundary between reality and unreality blurred and shimmered like a mirage.
I know that thing.
‘Ogre.’
A monster that dwells in forests, with agile movements that defy its massive size, using trees for mobility, making it very dangerous.
How did she know?
Before solving that question, she locked eyes with the ogre.
Whirr! Whirr!
The sound of dozens of helicopters gathering echoed from the sky, but it was too late. Such things couldn’t stop it.
Thump, thump!
The ogre approached her.
She still couldn’t move her feet, standing there dazed.
Was she scared?
No, it wasn’t that.
It was just…
‘I just have to kill it, right?’
She didn’t feel the need to run away.
Flame did not run.
Extending her right hand, a staff appeared in it.
Its name was ‘Ego La Echoov.’
She didn’t know where she got this beautifully crescent-shaped staff or why she knew its name.
But does that matter?
With countless magical knowledge swirling in her mind, clamoring to be unleashed.
“Light.”
It was a simple gesture.
She just spun the staff once and struck it on the ground.
Flash-!!
A brilliant golden magic circle exploded, enveloping the ogre.
Thus, magic was revealed to the world for the first time.
She could feel it.
At this moment, everyone’s attention was on her.
And something…
Something irreversible had begun.
End of Chapter.
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