38) Chapter 8. This Year for Sure! (1)
About a month passed, and school life flowed by quietly.
I still barely talked to my classmates, and even Soi and Chae‑yi spoke less with the kids around them. But judging from how they acted, neither of them seemed particularly bothered.
As for me… well.
Whether I liked it or not, I was used to this.
In this life, I’d been relatively popular, but in my previous one, I didn’t have many friends.
And after that incident, nothing else had happened.
My trauma hadn’t healed, but things had calmed down enough that I couldn’t complain.
Then June arrived, and the weather turned properly hot.
About a month and a half before summer vacation. Hot enough for summer uniforms, and the whole class felt sluggish.
Soi and Chae‑yi still claimed my left and right sides every day, and thanks to that, I came home drenched in sweat on both arms.
And then—
“Welcome home.”
“Huh? Mom?”
Auntie Yujin, who had barely been home during the day since the incident, was waiting for us.
“Ah, hello.”
Even Chae‑yi, who had gotten used to an empty house, snapped to attention.
“Welcome, Chae‑yi. Are you here to play?”
“Ah, yes.”
Auntie Yujin’s expression softened with a hint of apology.
“Sorry, dear. I actually have something I need to talk about with Soi and Rua today.”
“Oh—no, it’s fine! I came without calling first.”
Chae‑yi shook her head quickly.
“Well, I can’t just send you off. I bought some ice cream—have some before you go.”
“O‑okay. Thank you…”
Chae‑yi’s face flushed.
Maybe because Auntie Yujin remembered she liked ice cream.
Then again, what kid our age doesn’t like ice cream?
Chae‑yi, who had been glued to my side, finally peeled away. Auntie Yujin chuckled at the sight.
*
After cooling off with ice cream in the air‑conditioned living room, Chae‑yi politely said goodbye and headed home.
Auntie Yujin offered her a ride, but Chae‑yi quickly declined.
She’d stayed for almost an hour, so honestly, it wasn’t much different from usual.
Then only three of us remained: me, Soi, and Auntie Yujin.
We sat at the dining table, and she sat across from us.
“There are two things I want to talk about today.”
Her expression was serious.
“First, I want to hear about your school life. How is it? Are you doing okay?”
Our homeroom teacher was still on leave, and things with the other kids were awkward.
Even Soi—who had been popular since elementary school—and Chae‑yi—who slowly built friendships over time—had lost most of their classmates.
But Soi smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yeah. It’s fun.”
My face warmed.
Strictly speaking, I should’ve felt guilty, considering what we’d been doing at school…
Not that it was that weird. Probably.
But Soi had been clinging to me more and more naturally. And Chae‑yi too.
“I see. Hmm…”
Auntie Yujin looked at me.
I nodded quickly.
“I‑it’s fun.”
It was true. Thanks to Soi and Chae‑yi, I was building memories at school.
They knew I felt awkward around the other kids, so they spent lunch breaks with me somewhere outside the classroom.
We’d definitely have plenty to talk about when we grew up.
“That’s good. I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”
“N‑no, really, it’s fine…”
She fiddled with her water glass, then nodded.
“I’ve thought about it a lot, and I think it’s best for you to learn how to use your ability.”
“…Huh?”
“You’ll learn properly in high school at the academy, but learning early won’t hurt. Same for you, Soi.”
“Ooh.”
Soi’s eyes sparkled.
“I want to!”
“M‑me too…”
I was scared.
My ability was telekinesis.
But not the simple kind where objects float on their own. It felt like using an invisible hand—complete with touch, warmth, cold, and pain.
The witch, Seo Arin, had said her power was great because she endured all that pain.
Thinking about it, I could understand why the original Seo Rua’s ability was weak, and why her personality turned out so twisted.
Using this power offensively meant enduring that pain.
And if she’d met the witch before… and been bullied because of it… her personality turning sharp was almost inevitable.
“Don’t worry. I’m not planning anything intense. I’m not trying to train your powers. I just want you two to use them naturally and understand them so you don’t get hurt later.”
Only then did I realize.
Children with powers were placed with superpowered families to prevent them from losing control.
Kids who grew up knowing powers were normal caused fewer accidents. And having a stable family helped too.
But I wasn’t just living normally—I’d already been through two major incidents.
This was probably to prevent me from losing control in the middle of class because of trauma.
When Soi and I nodded, Auntie Yujin smiled and stood.
“Then, shall we go?”
*
Heroes preferred houses over apartments for a simple reason:
They liked having space underground for facilities.
Their job involved fighting with their powers. The Association had training rooms, but having a private one at home wasn’t bad.
“We’ll start with something simple.”
She led us to a corner of the training room—
And what we saw looked more like a gym than a superpower facility.
“Uh… Mom?”
Even Soi sensed something was wrong.
“If you ever need to use your powers, it’ll be in situations where physical strength alone won’t be enough, right?”
She smiled.
“So first, before training your abilities, we’ll train your bodies. You’ll have to do this at the academy anyway, so it’s good to start early.”
“Uh…”
Soi looked like she wanted to run.
She was athletic, sure.
But that was from being energetic and playing a lot—not from actual workouts.
Running on a treadmill or lifting weights was a different story.
And I was worse.
I’d followed Soi around enough to get used to running, but I’d never liked exercise—not in my past life, not in this one.
“…Homework.”
“Hm?”
Auntie Yujin tilted her head.
“We… have homework…”
I fidgeted.
It wasn’t a lie. We did have some. Not much, but still.
“Oh! Right! We have homework! And we need to review today’s lesson!”
The review part was a lie. We always just lazed around after finishing homework.
Neither of us had ever been top students. We hovered around average. And since Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun never pressured us, we never tried to improve.
…And of course, she saw right through us.
She smiled.
“Then 30 minutes. Just 30. That’s plenty of time for homework afterward, right?”
“Uh…”
“Thirty minutes is fine…”
We exchanged looks, then nodded.
She grinned.
I didn’t know this because I’d never exercised seriously before—
But thirty minutes was more than enough to turn someone who never worked out into dried fish.
I realized that five minutes after starting.