101) Chapter 16. I’m Glad (3)

“You again, what are you supposed to be?”

Seo Arin spoke as if her mood had suddenly plummeted.

I honestly don’t know what she thinks of herself. Judging by how she acts, it seems like she believes she looks pretty impressive.

And in truth, you couldn’t really call her ugly from the outside. No—she was the kind of beauty some people might even fall for at first sight.

Maybe there are even a few people who know exactly what she’s like and still like her anyway.

But to my eyes, she never looks good.

That kind of thing isn’t impressive.

She’s just someone completely absorbed in herself—an extreme narcissist.

If she really believed everything in the world was insignificant and beneath her, then she’d be able to brush off trivial comments from others easily.

But she can’t. She was never someone with the capacity for that in the first place.

“W‑wait, wait a second…!”

I shouted.

Seo Arin, who had been turning toward the girl, looked back at me.

“Hm?”

“W‑what were you trying to do?”

“Well, when someone acts like that, you can’t just ignore them forever, can you?”

She smiled in a chilling way.

“When someone who isn’t even that great pretends they’re something special, shouldn’t you teach them their place?”

“N‑no.”

I quickly shook my head. I forced strength into my legs and stood up somehow.

“T‑there’s no t‑time. This place might collapse… or someone else might come.”

“Hm? Did you tell anyone you were coming here? They wouldn’t just let you go if you did.”

“N‑no, I didn’t tell anyone, but…”

“Aha, I see.”

She smiled.

“Right. If someone suddenly disappears, they’ll come looking. There’s nowhere else to go, after all.”

She tilted her head slightly, thinking for a moment.

“But no, I still don’t want to just leave her. Because kids like that—if you leave them alone, they’ll think I backed off because I got scared.”

She let out a small sigh.

“My daughter must not have lived long enough to know this, but there are sooo many people in this world who don’t know their place. If you don’t tell them with words, they never learn.”

“T‑then just leave her alone. Ignore her or not, she’s weak anyway…”

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why should I? I have strength.”

I stared at her, and she spoke with a genuinely puzzled expression.

“If you already have the strength to crush someone, why wouldn’t you? It’s not even that hard. Just smack them around a few times, twist them here and there, and they’ll behave. Why wouldn’t you do that? I never understood that.”

“Kh!?”

“N‑no!”

I screamed when I saw the girl’s body lift slightly off the ground.

I reached out, but I couldn’t muster any real strength. Maybe because I had sprinted all the way from the bottom of the mountain to the top—my hand barely brushed against Seo Arin.

“If you have no strength, of course you should bow your head and hide. If you glare back and get killed, then what? But if you do have strength, why would you leave someone like that alone?”

“N‑no…”

A lot of thoughts ran through my head.

People might hate me. Having at least a few friends is better than having none. Having a family that loves me is a happy thing.

But would Seo Arin ever understand if I said any of that?

“Aaagh!?”

The girl screamed. The kids around her turned pale. No one knew what to do. If this continued, she would definitely get seriously hurt—

Or die.

If they stepped in, they’d end up just like her.

Seo Arin’s expression didn’t change at all as she twisted the girl’s body. No guilt, no pleasure—nothing. As if she truly believed she was doing the right thing.

“I‑I… I!”

My jaw trembled as I forced the words out.

“I, I…!”

“Hm? You what? What is it you want to say, my daughter?”

She looked like she already knew, but she still wanted to hear it from me.

“I…”

I, what?

Should I say I’ll go with her? Should I call her Mom? Should I run into her arms?

But before I could say any of that, a wave of intense rejection surged up inside me.

I felt like throwing up.

“Uh… uuh…”

I forced my mouth to move.

I was about to speak a title I had never used in this world—

“Heh… hehe…”

A laugh rang out.

At first, I thought it was Seo Arin. She was the only one who could possibly laugh in this situation.

But the voice didn’t come from her.

“Hehe… hahaha!”

It came from the girl with the twin‑tails.

It wasn’t the laugh of someone who had lost their mind. It was the laugh of someone who genuinely found something funny.

Her face was drenched in sweat, her hair stuck to her skin, and her complexion was pale—as if she was terrified.

But she was smiling.

“You’re… not that strong, huh?”

“What?”

Seo Arin blinked in confusion.

Ah.

Right. I finally remembered.

The academy I attend is an academy for superhumans.

That girl is a superhuman too.

And her ability—

“I’m pretty tough.”

The girl said,

“Looks like your strength doesn’t work on me.”

Creak.

A sound came from her body. A sound so wrong it made my skin crawl.

But nothing broke. Her arms and legs were twisted at dangerous angles, but they didn’t snap.

It must hurt terribly. Even if your body is durable, being grabbed and twisted still hurts.

But she still smiled and provoked Seo Arin.

…Why?

Because Seo Arin was tormenting me.

Because she was trying to force me to do something I desperately didn’t want to do.

Just calling her Mom.

Just going into her arms.

That was all. If I did that, everyone here would be safe. But I couldn’t do it.

“So—aaagh!?”

“…”

The girl tried to provoke her again, but screamed involuntarily.

Her body was still intact, but her voice was filled with unbearable pain.

“You sure talk big.”

Seo Arin said.

“For someone who can’t do anything—”

“S‑stop!”

I shouted without thinking.

Crack—my hand suddenly hurt so much I nearly collapsed.

I couldn’t even scream. Was it broken? I clenched my fist instinctively—no, it wasn’t.

What broke was my invisible hand.

I still had no strength, but I had moved on impulse and struck Seo Arin.

Stumble.

Seo Arin’s foot slipped. She staggered forward half a step, but didn’t fall.

Then she looked at me.

Her wide‑open eyes looked eerie.

“You.”

She called me.

But I couldn’t answer.

A cold hand gripped my throat. I struggled, trying to pry it off, but there was nothing to grab.

Seo Arin’s ability.

I swung my arm, but invisible hands around her blocked me from hitting her directly.

If it were me, just getting hit like that would knock me out from the pain.

What on earth is wrong with this woman?

“This won’t do.”

She said.

My feet dragged across the ground. My heels lifted into the air.

“I tried talking nicely because you’re my daughter. You know, that touching reunion stuff. You can’t accept your mom yet, but eventually you do, and you become a happy family.”

“Ugh…”

“But I don’t know what’s wrong with you. Even when I speak so kindly, you don’t understand.”

“I… I…”

“Hey!”

Someone else interrupted her.

“What are you doing!? Stop!”

The girl screamed, almost convulsing from the pain.

“Hey, what are you all doing!? Just standing there watching!? At the start of the semester you all bragged about your parents being famous heroes, but now you’re just watching!?”

“…”

The kids looked between her and us, uncomfortable.

But still—normally, minors aren’t supposed to experience ‘real combat.’

“Aren’t you ashamed in front of the instructor!?”

Her words snapped them awake.

Then—

“Y‑yeah!”

A boy shouted, stepping forward.

“What are you doing at a school, Auntie!”

“…Auntie?”

Seo Arin’s gaze snapped toward him.

“Auntie! Yeah! If you’ve got a kid our age, you’re an Auntie!”

The girl screamed desperately.

“Y‑yeah! Let her go! Let So-eun go too!”

A girl shouted.

And soon, the shouts spread.

Voices overlapped, making it hard to distinguish them, but one word stood out clearly—Auntie.

Apparently, that was something Seo Arin absolutely hated hearing.

“…Fine. If you all want to die that badly—”

But before she could finish—

Fwoosh.

Flames burst before my eyes.

“Hot!?”

Even in this situation, I let out a ridiculous sound and rolled on the ground.

Seo Arin’s grip on me vanished.

Thud.

Someone landed beside me and grabbed my arm, dragging me backward.

I rubbed my eyes and finally saw who it was.

“…Chae‑yi?”

“You.”

Chae‑yi glared at me with a terrifying expression.

“We’re talking about this when we get down.”

“…”

I couldn’t say anything.

Has Chae‑yi ever been this angry at me…

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Pub: 06 May 2026 10:19 UTC

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