81) Chapter 14. No, That’s Not It? (2)

And then, it was sparring practice time again.

“Oh, your expression looks better.”

Instructor Justina smiled as she looked at my face.

“R‑Really?”

“Yeah. Much better than at the start of the semester. Looks like you’ve gained some confidence?”

“Hehe…”

It had been a while since I’d been complimented, so I scratched my head for no reason.

It was true.

Things were going much better than I expected.

Only one person had bullied me so far, and I’d been able to deal with him myself.

As for the class’s attitude… sure, some kids still didn’t seem to like me, but at least no one openly antagonized me. Some were cautious, some seemed to be reevaluating me. Compared to middle school, it was a huge improvement.

And Nam Jinwoo… well, we weren’t exactly close yet, but we weren’t on bad terms either. At least for now, there was no reason for anyone to “teach me a lesson.”

Most of all, it was incredibly satisfying to know there was someone even more of a loser than me. Not that I’d ever say that out loud.

So yeah, my expression probably did look better.

“Good. Then I don’t need to worry too much.”

Chae‑yi was staring at me from the side, but she often looked at me with expressions I couldn’t decipher, so I decided to ignore it.

…Still, she really had been worried. Well, she had told me to confront the kid who bullied me, so that made sense.

“Alright, who’s next today… Ah, right. You there, Discipline Committee. You’ve climbed up the ranks, haven’t you?”

Instructor Justina chuckled.

“Baek Hyeonji, step forward.”

“Yes.”

Hyeonji stepped out and stood in front of me.

“Uh, um… hi.”

For some reason, the way she just stood there staring at me made me awkward, so I waved a little and greeted her.

“……”

No response.

Huh? Is she ignoring me?

Is she still mad about this morning?

Just as I started to worry—

“…Hi.”

Hyeonji awkwardly greeted me with a face that clearly said she had no idea why she had to greet me separately.

Then her face turned slightly red.

The atmosphere suddenly felt embarrassing.

…I just said hello, that’s all?

Well, now that I think about it, I’ve never greeted anyone before sparring.

With Chae‑yi, we didn’t even get to spar before Instructor Justina stepped in.

Yeah… maybe I shouldn’t have greeted her.

My face warmed a little too.

“Alright. Formal greetings.”

Ah.

Right. Of course.

It was sparring, so we had to follow basic etiquette. It wasn’t some serious martial arts dojo, but without at least this much formality, things would eventually turn into emotional fights.

Well, in the original story, even with etiquette, it still turned into emotional fights.

Hyeonji and I bowed lightly to each other.

Then we straightened and took our stances.

I still held my hands out awkwardly. Martial arts didn’t matter much when superpowers were involved.

I’d imagined punching, or swinging an invisible sword like swordsmanship, but—

Gripping something made my “invisible hand” basically a visible one. Even if I trained hard with a real sword, unless I dedicated my whole life to it, I’d never reach the level of someone who trained seriously. And then a real swordsman would block all my attacks.

Punching was the same. If I awkwardly mimicked martial arts forms, I’d just look stiff and predictable. Anyone who knew martial arts could read my next move.

“……”

So, even though I hated it—

Even though just imagining it made me tremble—

The only style I could rely on was the Witch’s.

Grabbing anything and everything, moving it however I wanted.

Keeping my body as still as possible, preventing the opponent from moving freely.

“…Aren’t you coming?”

Hyeonji asked.

I didn’t bother answering. She didn’t seem to expect one anyway.

She charged toward me.

A wave of cold air burst out. Like stepping into a room with the AC blasting at minimum temperature all day.

If it were just cool, that’d be fine.

But I could feel the “center” of the cold.

The closer to Hyeonji’s body, the lower the temperature. Inside that zone, it probably wasn’t just “cold”—it was freezing.

I quickly swung my hand—

“Ah—cold!?”

I screamed without meaning to.

I saw the corner of Hyeonji’s lips twitch upward.

She wasn’t being overly serious.

But she wasn’t underestimating me either.

It felt more like she was hiding her “best.”

As if she was overestimating me a little, saving her full strength for the critical moment.

So what should I do?

The invisible hand that reached toward her recoiled instantly, like touching dry ice with bare skin.

The pain was extremely brief. It wasn’t a real hand—just feedback to tell me where it was.

If my real body’s sensations were warnings of danger, the invisible hand’s sensations were just indicators of presence.

So I could ignore it.

If I tried.

“Ugh!?”

Hyeonji was serious.

Not just “cool”—frost was forming on her face and uniform. Moisture in the air froze and scattered.

Ah, I’d seen this in a documentary. In very cold places, not only snow falls—moisture in the air freezes and sparkles.

It’s pretty, so they call it diamond dust.

She wasn’t punching.

She was swinging her hand at me, palm open, as if to grab me.

Or maybe telling me to “try grabbing her.”

Still, I had trained a bit, so I stepped back, back, back.

Her movements were awkward. As if something should’ve been in her hand.

Well, in the original story, she used an ice sword.

At normal temperatures, ice is fragile. It can’t match metal.

But at extremely low temperatures, ice becomes as hard as stone.

And if you get cut by something like that, the wound would be terrible. A deep cut combined with frostbite? Horrifying.

And the sword she swung changed shape constantly. Sometimes it wasn’t even sword‑shaped.

Hyeonji had trained since childhood to handle as many weapon forms as possible. Taught by her father, and refined by her own ideas.

“Hmph…!”

When I dodged again, her brows knit slightly.

A faintly disappointed expression.

The sparring continued. Instructor Justina must’ve thought I could keep up with Hyeonji.

Now I understood why.

To Instructor Justina, I needed to be someone who wins.

To give confidence to someone who lacked it, and to show kids who’d never lost that they could lose. That was probably her goal.

So she wanted me to at least land one hit on Hyeonji.

Did Hyeonji want that too?

Had she lived a life without ever losing?

No. Definitely not. She had probably lost badly.

To the world.

Because even her father—who should’ve been unbreakable—had fallen.

“…Hah.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

The cold felt like it was choking my throat. Even though she hadn’t touched me.

If her father was a hero, then she must’ve inherited his power.

…For just a moment, I wondered what the Witch would’ve done.

Probably something simple.

No matter what weapon Hyeonji’s father held. No matter how cold he was.

She would’ve ignored it and swung her hand.

It wasn’t a real hand anyway. And cold hurt less than fire.

So maybe Hyeonji wanted to win too? Maybe she was hiding her true power because she wanted to win at least once.

Our eyes met.

Her gaze was straight and unwavering.

…No.

…Hyeonji already apologized to me.

She never brought up the Witch in front of me.

That meant she didn’t see me as the Witch.

So this was just a fight between the two of us.

She must’ve watched many kids struggle against my ability. She must’ve thought and thought about how to fight me, how to counter me. Separate from any resentment.

“…Yeah.”

Then I couldn’t just keep running.

I stopped stepping back.

Hyeonji didn’t stop. She reached toward me—

Bang!

“Ghk!?”

The cold on my hand made me shudder.

It wasn’t just cold—it stung and hurt. But the pain was duller than I expected.

Much less than Soi’s blazing flames, or Chae‑yi’s ability's cutting.

“Heh.”

When I grinned, Hyeonji’s eyebrows twitched.

And the corner of her mouth twitched too.

As if she were smiling, just a little.

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Pub: 19 Apr 2026 09:59 UTC

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