Personnel changes are the easiest way to show that they are making reforms.
When the government changes, we can see through the news that various chairpersons and heads and deputy ministers of each government department are all replaced.
In the previous life, the nobles who lost the succession battle were all purged without exception.
It wasn’t just a political purge; physically, from the head of the household to the maid, all had their heads rolled, which is somewhat different from modern times.
Well, if we look at North Korea or Russia, it doesn’t seem to have changed much in the modern era either.
The sky was filled with thick dark clouds.
At this rate, there might be thunder and lightning soon—
Boom—!
As soon as I thought that, the gray sky lit up, and a thunderous roar awakened all things.
The downpour that had begun the previous night showed no signs of stopping.
Raindrops the size of hail fiercely beat against my arms and back, threatening to pierce through the yellow raincoat I was wearing.
Since I thought an umbrella would be useless on such a windy day, I had worn the raincoat, but I felt as though I shouldn’t have come out at all.
Since I’ve come this far, I can’t turn back now.
Passing through a backdrop that seemed like a scene where an unidentified murderer might bury a body in the back mountain, I entered the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s violent crimes investigation unit building.
Squeak squeak squeak squeak—
“…? ”
The strange noise created by the friction between the wet rain boots and the urethane floor caught the attention of those working in the first-floor lobby.
Squeak squeak—
Just ignore it. If I pay attention, I’ll lose.
“Hello? Why are you here, kid?”
A man who seemed to be a passing police officer asked.
“I came to see Detective Ma Beom-il. He’s in the Second Violent Crimes Investigation Division.”
“Oh, really? Just a moment, I’ll call him, so wait here, kid. By the way, what’s your relationship with him? Are you his daughter… Wait, aren’t you Na Meya?”
I was wrapped in my raincoat up to my head, so how did he recognize me right away?
Maybe because everyone here works in law enforcement, they had a really sharp sense of observation.
I quietly nodded and waited for Detective Ma Beom-il to come down.
Soon, a burly man came down the stairs, refusing to use the elevator.
He seemed to have grown a lot of coarse beard since the last time I saw him.
“Why are you here, Na Meya? Kids like you shouldn’t be here.”
It was raining heavily outside, so we couldn’t even take a walk.
We found a quiet hallway and leaned against the wall.
Detective Ma Beom-il gulped down a can of coffee and crushed the empty can in his hand.
I quietly sipped on a sweet rice drink beside him.
“Are you very busy?”
“I should be busy, but it feels more awkward because I’m this free. It’s been a while since I slacked off like this during work hours. How’s my daughter Ji Hye doing?”
“Umm, not really?”
“Yeah, she’s always had a quiet personality, so she’s never caused trouble… What?”
“I think she’s been struggling lately. I heard she’s moving soon?”
“Has Ji Hye told you that? Yeah… it just ended up that way.”
“Isn’t it strange? That the child you rescued from that capsule is in the same academy class as your daughter.”
“Isn’t it strange… Is there anything in this world that’s not strange?”
Detective Ma was only looking at the people passing by in the hallway and didn’t glance my way.
I could feel that he found it hard to face me.
“Na Meya.”
“Yes?”
“I’m really sorry. It might sound like an excuse, but at that time, I never imagined you would be locked up since the day you were born.”
“Oh, I can understand that perspective.”
“And—”
“Detective Ma, you didn’t do anything wrong. Everything you did to help back then was the best you could do.”
“Was it really the best? I couldn’t even keep my promise of visiting the orphanage often because I was too busy. Looking back, it feels like it’s all my fault.”
Is he feeling regret?
No, it seems like he has already entered a stage of resignation regarding this situation.
Seeing him knead his massive forearm like he was experiencing withdrawal from smoking was quite pitiful.
“Actually, I came to return the favor to you, Detective.”
“What favor? You don’t need to worry about that. Just finish your sweet rice drink and go back home. Did you come with your father?”
He took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his back pocket.
“So, are you just going to give up like this?”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you going to give up? If Ji Hye transfers schools, you might end up resenting the detective later.”
“A parent’s heart grows with time, and eventually, you come to understand everything.”
“What if not? Can you be certain? Then does that mean any rift in your relationship doesn’t matter?”
“…”
Neither of us could easily answer that.
As he said, Ji Hye might come to understand her father’s feelings as she becomes an adult.
But when that doesn’t happen, it’ll be incredibly difficult to mend a relationship that has already broken.
“Detective, do you know that I’m starting filming tomorrow?”
“Filming? What kind of filming?”
“There’s a show called the Genius Discovery Team.”
“Oh, I know that! You’re going to be on it?”
“I can’t find a reason why I wouldn’t be.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“But the filming schedule is longer than I thought. I thought it would be done in a day, but they say it might take two weeks.”
The PDs and writers from the Genius Discovery Team alone exceed twenty.
It didn’t even take 40 seconds for me to receive a reply from ZBS after I sent them an email to coordinate the filming schedule.
They seemed to have plans to feature me as a major centerpiece, violating the usual policy of introducing two or three children per episode, and even expressed the ambition to air it over two weeks, splitting it into two parts.
Having a longer screen time certainly benefits me.
I can finally share everything I didn’t have a chance to say in the previous competition broadcast.
“I heard through the grapevine that your job change is probably because of me.”
“Who said that? It’s not because of you, Na Meya. There are just a bunch of empty-headed fools hogging positions.”
“I believe that mistakes should be corrected. So, I have a plan for this broadcast; would you like to hear it?”
The people who rescued me from the capsule aren’t just Detective Ma Beom-il alone.
From Cheon Semin, who noticed my SOS report first, to the detectives and paramedics who heard this news and came to the abandoned house.
I didn’t forget my homeroom teacher, Ha Seon-hwa, who took good care of me in my first year.
In the broadcast, I plan to personally visit and express my gratitude to all of them.
If the treatment Detective Ma is receiving becomes known, even if there isn’t much that can be done about personnel shifts, it should at least prevent him from being reassigned to another region.
“But how do you know such detailed information?”
“A person with experience offered some help.”
“An experienced person? Who?”
“The one who was the district attorney until last month. Recently got fired because they made him look bad.”
I made a gesture as if to cut my neck with my finger.
That would be the idea of Cheon Jeong-ho, the district attorney who was just ousted by the political realm.
Well, the information was obtained through a half-threat by Professor Cheon.
—
“Are you really going to be on TV? Really? Wow, that’s amazing.”
Seoyuna asked with wide eyes.
Ma Ji-hye, who used to be the one-on-one sparring coach for me, had now joined Seori and Yuna as if it were the most natural thing.
The four of us were lying on the assembly hall floor, listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the academy gymnasium ceiling.
“So, what are you going to do there? I hope you show off your quick mental calculations.”
“I’m planning to approach the broadcast as a sort of talent show.”
“A talent show… what’s that?”
“Oh, you don’t know what a talent show is? It’s a bit hard to explain in words.”
It’s a talent show where humans demonstrate bizarre physical feats; in this world, since mana really exists, that idea doesn’t fully apply.
“I’m also curious. Just how strong are you, Na Meya? You never go all out when you’re watching our sparring.”
“Can you jump from one end of this assembly hall to the other in a single bound?”
“I can do that without using magic.”
“Oh really? You can do that? How?”
Seoyuna’s head twisted at a 90-degree angle.
The other two friends, taking a breath, mimicked her actions like chameleons.
“Then what about magic? Can you do meteor spells and stuff?”
“Why would I use such inefficient magic that wastes mana? Please don’t even think of using it later.”
“Then what should I use?”
“It’s best to just immobilize using something ordinary like a rope. Then freeze it, burn it, or electrocute it—”
“Ewww, that’s too cruel!”
“Hahaha, Ma Ji-hye, if you don’t take this seriously, Na Meya is going to turn you into an electric barbecue!”
“Well then, what’s the strongest first-circle magic? Can you let me know? No, no, no!”
Yuna pleaded fervently, squeezing my hand.
“Yuna, the truth is, there’s no definitive measure of strength. If you foolishly pack a ton of mana into Light, you could blind someone; would that mean that’s the strongest?”
“I don’t quite get it… but isn’t something strong if it hurts when you get hit?”
“The simpler the magic, the easier it is to counter. In the end, what’s important isn’t strength, but complexity. What matters is how difficult the principle is to execute.”
That’s probably why the unique magic I invented as a child feels so special.
While other unique magics were merely slight modifications of originally sealed tissues, the unique magic I named “Adella” is a spell inducing fatigue destruction from a specific impact through precise fatigue strength settings.
Seeing is believing; there’s nothing easier for children who don’t understand than experiences.
“Should I show you?”
“Yeah!”
“Follow me.”
Squeak squeak—
I grabbed a badminton racket that was lying around and went out to the front door of the assembly hall, where strong winds and rain were raging.
The entrance was somewhat elevated, so I wasn’t immediately hit by rain.
However, due to the wind, the raindrops were flying horizontally and made my clothes a bit wet.
I held the badminton racket backward and took a deep breath.
The children were watching me with trembling eyes.
I smiled at them and then focused back on the racket.
“How strong can I become in this life?”
It was absolutely impossible to regain the level from my previous life due to the difference in the concentration of ambient mana.
But I had reincarnated, and my Aura Heart was still immature.
Yet, I also had a bit of anxiety that stimulating it might awaken the destruction.
After all, the disasters sealed along with my personality and Aura Heart had followed me into this reincarnation.
“Am I becoming too docile these days? It’s just an inanimate object, after all.”
Why should I be scared?
I should just suppress it with a stronger force.
The world is always governed by the logic of power.
The wind blows from high pressure to low pressure, and heat moves from high temperature to low temperature.
In capitalism, money is like a magnet, freely pushing and pulling people around.
In the end, magic is the same.
The racket drew a large arc behind me.
A simple downward swing.
Even without a clear target, if the first hit of my unique magic is accurately set, I can perform a hit overlap even in the air.
I retrieved the racket and reached out again.
Sometimes, the racket firmly cut through the angry rain streaks, while other times, it accompanied the descent vertically, becoming a companion.
It screamed from the unused muscles throughout my body.
I forcibly endured the pain and forced my posture into shape with the Aura.
But my past life wasn’t always superior.
I realized that the world in this life, where mana exists, is composed of complex dimensions.
In other words, following the mana flow is the shortest distance.
“If I move along the mana flow with each hit…?”
The movement is much better.
They say magic goes against the laws of nature, but that’s a misunderstanding born from the contrast with Aura.
In the end, humans cannot go against the grand flow of nature, so they can only use it as much as possible.
Those who follow the principles of the heavens survive, while those who stubbornly resist it perish.
Maybe the hardship in my past life stemmed from trying to resist nature with a body that was no good.
“Everyone, cover your ears.”
While I may not be able to rank magics, I at least had the confidence that my magic is the best among first-circle unique magics.
Whuuuuuuuuuu—
[Unique Magic – Esteria Ryu First Style – Adella]
“…!”
Boom—!
A violent roar shook the earth.
A shockwave spread in concentric circles, blowing my hair around.
At that moment, a strong wind whipped towards the front of the assembly hall, creating the illusion that the raindrops that had been pouring down were evaporating entirely.
The red roof of the restaurant building, which had been hard to see due to the weather, came into sharp focus.
As soon as the magic circle disappeared, the raindrops filled the empty space, as if nothing had happened.
However, all the leaves that fell onto the concrete floor were pushed to the sides, making the path to the restaurant look like a small trail in the forest.
The weather was gloomy, but the clear starlight sparkled in the children’s eyes.
“So, how was that? Do you all want to try it? It’s not free.”
I forced a smile while endure my aching body.
Originally, a teacher shouldn’t look weak.
