[The fifth round ends like this! Olivia Kim’s magical strike!]
[Isn’t this quite difficult? Seviron Academy’s wall to the top eight is high again this year! The dark horse from Sejong Mirinae Academy, Olivia Kim, has completely sunk Seviron Academy after a bloody battle in the fifth round!]
[They said Busan was strong, but it seems that three have made it to the top eight from Sejong instead?]
[Yes, it’s certainly an astonishing turn of events. Additionally, two from Busan Aspen, and one each from Gangbuk Altair, Gyeonggi Rohert, and Incheon Heritage have also secured their spots in the rounds. We appreciate your continued viewership for the upcoming draw.]
“Oh my. Headmaster Ku is going to hear another lecture from the foundation.”
Professor Cheon, leaning back on the sofa and gazing at the horrific results, clicked his tongue.
“They lost without being able to do anything. It’s understandable since if Olivia can endure like that, there wouldn’t be much they could do. It seems they were too short on possible strategies.”
Sitting right next to him, I reflected on the match while popping corn into my mouth.
“Wasn’t Kim Young-woo the guy who advanced by defeating his opponent in the first round of the qualifiers? Why is he fighting so poorly?”
On the other hand, Adella, who had been suffering from menstrual cramps for the second day, spoke irritably.
Lying on a heated electric blanket with a pillow beneath her, she looked extremely comfortable.
“He tried too many different strategies early on and ended up with neither here nor there. He couldn’t land his spells, so he tried to rely on Aura, but when that didn’t work, he turned to magic again. He didn’t even go for a stamina-based approach.”
They say there’s always someone above those who run.
Kim Young-woo was indeed a skilled fighter who held his own against Altair in last year’s Academy Championship.
But the world of competition is exceedingly cold—just a slight difference in skill doesn’t allow for close matches.
“Well, then, it was a lack of determination.”
“Honestly, even if he had stuck to one thing, the result wouldn’t have changed much. There was still a notable gap in skill.”
On a leisurely weekend, the three of us sat around the TV together, enjoying the first round of the National Sports Arts Tournament.
“So today we’re just doing the top 16, and tomorrow it’s straight through from the top eight to the finals?”
“Yep.”
“Wow, that sounds incredibly tiring.”
“In my day, we finished the top 16 all in one day. We only had the qualifiers separately.”
Professor Cheon proudly brought up his past experiences.
“Wow, did you also participate in competitions back in the day, Father?”
“Of course. Thinking about it, kids these days have it so easy when it comes to fighting. They get breaks, and there are more types of fouls. In our day, we fought for 30 minutes straight without any breaks.”
“But you got eliminated in the top four, didn’t you?”
“The opponent was quite something… At least I didn’t get knocked out.”
“What do I need to search online to find it? I want to see it too.”
As the players’ interviews continued, I lay next to Adella, showing her the aged video.
“Wow, 2013? Did they have cameras back then?”
Adella was genuinely impressed by the approximately 40-year-old relic.
Professor Cheon cleared his throat from behind, but Adella was too absorbed to notice.
When Ham Choroong climbed onto the stage, a massive cheer erupted with a crackling sound.
She didn’t have the long hair we typically see but rather a medium length known as “beggar’s cut.”
With her dry hair, unadorned skin, and all sorts of physical debuffs, she couldn’t hide her cute impression.
“But when will Father come out?”
“He’s standing over there on the opposite side.”
“Huh? Ehhhh?”
Adella quickly turned her body to look at Professor Cheon.
She snatched my phone away and compared the two faces.
“Time is so cruel, isn’t it?”
Professor Cheon shrugged.
“I’m not exaggerating; I thought she was really an idol! Wow, amazing!”
“You should always wear sunscreen when you go out. UV rays are truly harmful to the skin.”
The match itself wasn’t particularly interesting.
Adella quickly skipped through just the highlight parts.
When two players have similar skills, the match can either be very thrilling or very dull; this one was clearly the latter.
“But is this person really that strong? From just this, I can’t tell.”
Adella asked with a puzzled expression.
Professor Cheon leaned forward, his expression serious.
“You may not believe it, but this young lady is a champion for the second, third, and fourth times. The National Sports Arts Tournament became an officially sponsored event by the Ministry of Culture largely thanks to Ham Choroong’s contributions!”
“Haha, yes…”
“Just listen to this. Back in our time, it was unfathomable to think about…”
Professor Cheon wasn’t usually talkative, but sometimes he would open up.
Adella switched to the next final video before her ears started bleeding.
[(2013) The 4th National Sports Arts Tournament High School Division Final: Ham Choroong vs. Ku Onyu]
“Oh? Isn’t this the headmaster of the academy my sister attends?”
“Yep.”
“Wow, what a small world. It’s amazing how everything is connected like this. This video seems a bit short, so it should be easy to watch.”
Compared to the 30-minute semifinal, the final was a mere 4 minutes and 30 seconds long.
But the intensity of the time was incomparable.
Adella held her breath as she watched the following extreme, no, brutally violent attacks.
It was standard practice to strangle the opponent; even if a shoulder got dislocated, they would pop the bones back in to continue.
Even though both women’s barrier shields shattered, the match didn’t end.
A foreign Aura clashed, and blood sprayed everywhere.
Skin ripped apart, and bloody fists swung mercilessly.
As the chaos ensued, it seemed that Ku Onyu was about to end the match by landing a punch on Ham Choroong’s face.
Boom—!
Ham Choroong slammed Ku Onyu’s head into the ground again, showcasing the majesty of the champion.
Adella clutched her stomach and shuddered.
“Ugh… at this level, isn’t she dead? Her forehead must be destroyed!”
“Back then, we did tend to fight a bit violently.”
Professor Cheon nodded, closing his eyes.
“It was indeed a romantic era, though it might feel somewhat bland now.”
“Eh?”
“Namya Room
“What’s it called again?”
Adella and Professor Chun looked at me with startled expressions simultaneously.
“Nobody died in a fight, nor were there any guts spilling or limbs severed. If it’s just this kind of abrasion, you can rest at the hospital for a few months—”
“You’re completely crazy, Sister!”
“Nameya, could you come to my study for a moment?”
“Why…?”
Professor Chun bit her lip tightly and went into her room with a serious expression.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Hurry up and go see Father for some mental training. Shoo shoo.”
Adella waved me away from the living room as if she was tired of it.
“Why do I have to listen to this at my age…?”
I trudged toward the study.
*
I barely managed to escape after listening to an hour-long lecture about how the hospital is not a respawn location.
[You should seriously consider watching UFC.]
I kicked Adella’s butt lightly as she lay sprawled on the couch watching a drama, feeling a bit annoyed with her.
“Ow!”
“Adella, change your clothes. We’re going outside.”
“Outside where? Why?”
“To the training hall. I’ll teach you how to use aura, so come on.”
“Really?”
Seeing the kids training after such a long time made me itch to join in.
I need to raise this kid diligently and turn her into my sparring partner as soon as possible.
We’ve both done consistent workouts every night, so our stamina should have improved compared to before.
On a slightly cloudy day, I went outside wearing the same workout gear as Adella.
“Why are you wearing the same thing as me?”
“I only have this tracksuit at home. If you didn’t like it, you should have worn something different.”
We walked to the Gaeponde Citizens Comprehensive Training Hall, which was about a bus stop’s distance, and checked in at the previously reserved facility.
It wasn’t as large as the training hall at Altear Academy, but it was still about the size of a tennis court.
Without a ceiling, it didn’t feel cramped at all.
Adella was stretching her long limbs.
“Anyway, we probably won’t be moving vigorously today. Right now, the priority is to open the aura heart.”
The aura heart is essentially a fictional concept.
In reality, it’s a concentration of capillaries known as the aura heart bundle that creates an area where mana naturally accumulates.
Historically, it was believed to be a real organ until Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius established anatomy.
Of course, even in the 21st century, there are still many who misunderstand it.
“What is aura?”
“What is aura, Teacher Nameya!”
Adella raised her hand energetically.
“No one knows.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. Because aura hasn’t been defined in itself up to now, it’s been hard to standardize the education system globally.”
This is evident historically as well.
“To put it bluntly, if an Aztec cannibal eats five people, it’s absurdly claimed that they could awaken their aura, and we have no choice but to accept it. It’s actually possible to awaken abilities that way.”
“Isn’t that a bit…?”
“Still, there have been several attempts to define it. Mana derivative probability overlapping substances, controllable artificial hormones, magical field conversion brainwave receptors. You probably don’t understand them by just hearing it, right?”
Her eyes were already losing focus.
If she’s like this before we even start, it will be problematic.
“Even if you don’t know all of that, aura is something that five-year-old kids can handle.”
Some call it talent.
That’s why Frost and Ji Hye could infuse their legs with aura and run quickly at the playground last year.
They’ve learned to handle aura naturally from a young age.
But I want to call it more a difference in temperament than talent.
It’s just that the temperament plays favorably within the norms set by humans, which is why it’s called talent.
To put it simply, if a world-class basketball player had been born in the 10th century Goryeo era, they wouldn’t have heard of anything other than the talent for physical strength.
Fortunately, you don’t need a specific temperament to use aura.
“Aura is a tool and a means of communication that can enforce the laws of the world with one’s own will.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ll explain it simply. You don’t need a strong will to use magic. It’s all about knowledge, body, and technique. If you have the right knowledge, a body suitable for managing mana, and learn how to manipulate mana on a circuit formula, that’s it. Just thinking that you want to cast a strong light spell won’t influence the magic. You need to inject more mana during the infusion phase.”
“I think I understand up to this point.”
“If magic moves the world based on absolute laws existing outside of it, aura, on the other hand, explores the dark regions within the world. We refer to this as the worldview; in Eastern culture, it is commonly called the mental world.”
“Ugh, I feel like I’m losing my mind for a moment!”
“Is this difficult?”
I sighed deeply.
“First, sit cross-legged.”
I sat behind Adella with my legs stretched outward.
I brought my hands together and placed them near her belly button.
“Ugh!”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s suddenly cold.”
“I’m going to infuse my aura into you, so try to feel how it flows. Closing your eyes would help.”
“Oh. I can feel it. It’s a bit warm, and shimmering starlight is spreading.”
“How does it spread?”
“It seems to gather when I breathe in and scatter when I breathe out?”
“That’s exactly the image. The reason aura feels that way is because when you think of your body, the imagery of breathing usually comes to mind. Now, do you want to hold your breath for a bit?”
“Okay.”
Her belly, which had moved back and forth, calms down.
“How is it?”
“It spreads through my whole body with every heartbeat. It rotates around me really fast.”
“Exactly, the way you manipulate it also changes with the imagery. I’ll hold your hand, so stand up with your eyes closed, and you can breathe now.”
“Haah.”
The world is generous to humans.
If physical laws exist as strict equals, then for humans, there are inequalities on the left and right…
It feels like a sensation given within the existing range.
“Next, we’re going to imagine a trampoline. It’s about infusing your legs with aura. Just think of a trampoline on the floor and try bouncing a bit.”
“Like this? Like this?”
Adella bounced on the spot.
At the same time, she infused her legs with aura in sync with her movements.
“Wait, I’m gathering starlight on my legs?”
“Yeah. I’m deliberately matching the rhythm as I support you. Try to imagine it with a bit more rhythm.”
“Okay!”
As if gravity was gradually weakening, Adella’s body lightened.
30cm, 40cm, 50cm.
When Adella’s body floated up to a height of 2 meters, I urged her to open her eyes.
“Wow, this actually works!”
For an average person, it would have been a height to be terrified of, but thanks to her experiences in the game, Adella was in a spirited mood.
As I withdrew the aura, her body returned to normal.
“Do you understand? This is what handling aura feels like. Now you need to learn to draw out the aura from your Aura Heart in your own way.”
“How?”
“Just do it skillfully, okay? The training hall is booked until tomorrow, so there’s no need to rush. Your talent is more than enough.”
“No, wait! You mean it’s booked until tomorrow? Did you plan on spending the night here, unni?”
“Why would I stay all night? I’m going home when it’s time for dinner.”
Enlightenment is something that is usually attained alone.
NaeMe stuck around with Adella for about 3 hours out of loyalty.
However, as soon as dinner time arrived, NaeMe dashed off, leaving Adella feeling deeply betrayed.
“Fine! Let’s just try this aura thing! Who else can have willpower like mine!”
Clenching her fists, Adella recalled the advice NaeMe had given her.
[Redefine your existence.]
NaeMe said that constructing a worldview must come first.
“What on earth is that worldview about? The only world I know is from movies and dramas.”
For two hours, even while sitting cross-legged and focusing on her breath and pulse, she saw no results.
Wondering if overexerting her body might change things, she ran around the training hall a hundred times and tried standing on her hands until she felt her head would burst.
“Why! Why isn’t this working! What the hell!”
The heat was rising, and she couldn’t even sleep.
If NaeMe came the next morning and she had failed, she couldn’t stand the thought of being laughed at.
“What do you think? Isn’t NaeMe unni completely irresponsible?”
“Absolutely! How could she abandon her only younger sister!”
At the suggestion to redefine herself, Adella spent the dawn hours playing both roles.
Eventually, exhausted, she sprawled out in the middle of the training hall.
“If I sleep on the cold floor, my mouth will get crooked… Ugh, I’m so tired.”
NaeMe’s aura felt like a warm starlight swirling around her body in a peculiar sensation.
‘You can hardly see any stars in Seoul…’
Adella reached her hand toward the sky.
The dim night was more than enough to evoke the girl’s emotions.
She gently closed her eyes and recalled her past.
In truth, Adella didn’t really have a proper past.
She was no different from someone who lost all their childhood memories due to amnesia.
What frightened Adella even more was something else.
‘What if it was a different Adella, not me…’
Adella had existed countless times in the world of Moera.
‘They must have all died one by one, just like me.’
And only the Adella who met NaeMe was selected as the sole representative and rescued to NaeMe’s private room with the algorithm of entity bfa41d67c7.
‘If it were another Adella instead of me, wouldn’t she act just like I do now?’
Even if NaeMe deleted the save file and rescued a different Adella, there would be hardly any difference compared to her now.
Then what makes me exist as me?
Adella gasped sharply.
It felt like a clue was about to appear, but in the end, she couldn’t find an answer.
Adella took a moment to step out of the training hall and walked through the empty park.
The black veil that had covered the sky was slowly regaining its blue light and vitality.
The reddish aura of life in the eastern sky was gradually expanding its domain.
Unlike the stars that couldn’t even be seen, the waning crescent moon was steadfastly holding its position.
However, what caught Adella’s eye that day was the twinkling Saetbyeol beside it.
Saetbyeol, or Venus.
A planet that doesn’t emit its own light but shines brighter than any star.
It is merely a being that reflects the light emitted by the sun.
Yet many people must have relied on that Saetbyeol as a companion since ancient times.
Suddenly, Adella felt a refreshing sensation in her head.
‘Even if I’m a fake, maybe it doesn’t really matter.’
The dawn scenes she had seen.
She still couldn’t forget the scenery she saw when she defeated the mid-boss and escaped from the eternal loop.
Even if all 18 years of memories are fake, she can gain real experiences for the next 18 years.
Always shining brightly like the sun, beside NaeMe, just like that Saetbyeol.
“What are you doing here? Have you already learned to handle aura?”
Startled by a familiar and alluring voice, Adella turned around.
NaeMe had come to find Adella early in the dawn.
In her hand was a tuna sandwich.
After being apart for just half a day, she felt a rush of joy.
“Wow, I worried for nothing.”
“Huh?”
“Aura, I mean. It’s still flowing well within your body, isn’t it?”
NaeMe pointed to Adella’s body.
A warm energy enveloped her entire body, and Adella smiled as she said, “Unni, I think I’ve decided on a name for my future use. It’s…”
