Chapter 289

The sand pillar that Name used as a stepping stone quietly crumbled, and the tumultuous mana calmed down.

The watching audience turned their attention to the scoreboard.

The match time had stopped at 28 minutes and 49 seconds.

More than half of that time was a game led solely by Name.

Parents who had participated in the competition every year could not be unaware.

They knew how overwhelming the four from Altear Academy had been over the past few years.

However, the position of the top predator was always subject to change.

A child named Odukjae, whom no one had ever heard of before, suddenly emerged and showcased an unattainable talent called triple casting, leaving a strong impression on the audience.

‘Now is the time for the late-blooming kids to start coming up.’

Principal Gu Onyu believed that even students who had been at the top for a long time could no longer be complacent.

He was someone who understood better than anyone that the top students in elementary and middle school were different, just as the top students in middle and high school were different—it was the natural order of the Academy.

‘But how will I face all these kids…?’

A deep sense of discomfort surged within him.

Whether they were children who had flaunted their innate talent since birth or those who had cultivated their abilities through diligent effort.

Name had trampled over all of them, regardless of who they were.

No matter how much that small fist swung, it left terrible craters throughout the training hall, and it displayed a brain that no one dared to rival, dismantling all kinds of magic, whether it was ten or twenty different types.

“I won…”

“Did you really win?”

“How could you do it all by yourself… eh?”

Name’s friends were understandably stunned.

“Name was right.”

Yoon Sihoo murmured quietly.

She had known from the start that Name was strong.

But the question of ‘how strong’ still remained ambiguous.

She had often said that the whole class could not even compare to her, but no one actually took that seriously.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Suddenly, Iharu screamed.

“What should I do! When we get back to the Academy, won’t Name kill me?”

Iharu’s eyes trembled relentlessly. She sensed the impending karma.

“I… I don’t know anything…!”

“Honestly, aren’t we a bit old for playing house? Hm hm.”

“It’s okay, Haru.”

Yuna patted her shoulder in comfort.

The former rival turned out to be the most reliable person here… In a touching act, Haru felt tears starting to well up, just as Yuna’s lips curved into a smile.

“If you faint all at once, it won’t hurt much.”

“Hey! You’re saying that like it’s nothing!”

The overwhelming emotions subsided, leaving behind the joy of victory.

Especially in the middle school division, which had to endure a humiliating defeat, the loudest cheers erupted.

“Wowwwww!”

“Noname! Noname! Noname! Noname! Noname!”

“This kid must be crazy! No… wowww!”

“Did you see Noname using magic? It was so fast!”

“By the end, what was it like watching a game?”

“Is his arm okay? I mean, how could he…?”

“I’ve never seen Joseon Yeon scream like that before.”

In that brief moment, so many battles unfolded that no one could quite remember how Name fought.

Still, just the fact that Name had won provided a reason for the Seviron Academy students to celebrate.

And immediately after the match ended, there was someone who hurried down to the training hall faster than anyone else.

A man crossing through a dark tunnel. The sound of his polished shoes echoed in increasingly shorter intervals.

“Excuse me, but this area is off-limits to outsiders! Could you please return to the audience seating?”

One of the competition organizers tried to intervene, but upon seeing the man’s face, he held back a breath.

He was around 180 centimeters tall, with neatly combed hair that was a mix of white and black, close to a gray hue.

For a moment, both kindness and intimidation could be felt in his stern expression, and then he introduced himself under the lights.

“I’m Name’s father. Could you make an exception?”

Professor Cheon Kyujin’s gaze remained fixed on the training hall beyond the shutter.

The troubled official expressed a flustered demeanor, managing to obtain permission from the operations headquarters via radio.

As the old iron door creaked open, the staff ventured to speak to him.

“I’m envious. Your daughter has become the star of this year’s competition.”

The Academy competition was an event closely watched by numerous clans in Korea and drew the attention of the world.

But Professor Cheon frowned as if he wasn’t pleased at all and continued to remain silent.

“Your daughter must be very upset that she got hurt.”

As the exchange time drew closer, the man took off his orange vest and set it down.

At this, Professor Cheon’s eyes flashed ominously.

“I will not let this matter go lightly. The competition committee that hastily passed a spell of nervous system interference without consideration, and the students casting them—all of them.”

“If they’ve made a mistake, then they should rightly be held accountable. I hope you have a good time.”

Name, enjoying the autumn sunlight, came into view.

The child wore a smile more innocent than ever before.

***

“But you weren’t very good at close combat, were you?”

Odukjae, sprawling on the floor, tried to suppress a laugh. Why does he look so unpleasant while smiling? I shouldn’t have talked to him.

“Actually, the only exercise I’ve ever done is weightlifting. And this is all just for show muscles. Hah… I seriously didn’t think we’d end up in an aura fight by the time we got on stage. Congratulations on your victory.”

“It was an excellent match.”

“Anyway, my back really hurts… I’m definitely not participating in anything like the competition next year. Preparing for the tournament meant I couldn’t eat takeout at all; it felt like there was no joy in life.”

“Well, that’s each to their own. I’ll be participating next year too, so if you change your mind, come along. But we’ll have to compete in high school to meet; will they let me?”

“Hahaha! You’re quite the odd little kid, aren’t you?”

He managed to stand without help from the medical staff and returned to Altear Academy’s lineup.

Bigger applause poured down on him than ever before, irrespective of whether it was Seviron or Altear.

“Name!”

A familiar voice that I heard every day.

I turned my head and smiled brightly in response.

“Yes, Professor Cheon.”

His expression was rather complex.

Would he start scolding me right away, or would he congratulate me on my victory?

But the workings of a person’s heart are not so easy to understand.

“When we get home later, let’s make something delicious to eat.”

“Yes? Why are we talking about food out of the blue? What, were you not Korean?”

“I just thought you’d be hungry.”

“Right, I’m really hungry. So please order something expensive.”

Professor Cheon nodded with a gentle smile.

Well, there’s still plenty of time to explain everything.

Given how small my body is, even a small amount of sleep medicine has a strong effect, and I had to resort to emergency treatment.

In truth, the most touching part of what Professor Cheon said was that I had a home to return to.

In the world I would live in going forward, there would be someone waiting for me.

So I had to muster up the strength to live on.

“Name, could you explain that magic and aura to me?”

Did I push myself too hard?

In the end, I ended up raising suspicions in front of Professor Cheon.

Professor Cheon only knew that I had developed the Unique Magic called Demon Lord’s Horn but had no idea about its essence.

In situations like this, I had to remain calm and answer as smoothly as possible.

“The Demon Lord’s Horn is something I researched with our company’s people. Could you share a bit of your mana with me?”

Professor Cheon extended his hand, and I placed mine over it.

[Cast: Circuit Reconstruction]

Two aura hearts formed a single cycle.

By the way, Professor Cheon’s mana capacity is really large. The systolic state of his aura heart seems to be five times mine.

[Simple Cast: Demon Lord’s Horn]

“Actually, casting with one’s hand ultimately sends electrical signals from the brain, right? So, we thought, if we could identify underutilized areas in our brains and connect them to new mana perception organs, wouldn’t anyone be able to double cast?”

I put both hands in my skirt pockets and closed my eyes.

[Cast: Light]

I cast the spell while leaving the color as a variable.

Suddenly, a horn popped out from my head and began to glow brightly and vividly in various colors: red, yellow, green, blue, purple… well, all sorts of colors.

“Wowwwww!”

“…!”

Suddenly, the sound of thunderous applause erupted, and the ground shook.

I had completely forgotten that we were in the middle of the training hall.

Since this magic wasn’t cast by my own mana, I couldn’t reverse it now either.

I hurriedly tried to cover the horn with both hands.

“Uuuuuuuu…”

A weak sound filled the air.

“What… what is it?”

I lowered my hands.

“Waaaaaaah!”

I raised my hands again.

“Ahhhhh…”

The overall atmosphere was too disappointingly direct, and I found myself in a difficult position.

“Maybe… people think what you’re doing is a ceremony. There’s no need to be embarrassed about it.”

“Who would do a ceremony like this…!”

A drone camera buzzed around me like a gnat.

“From now on, Name, the path you take will be the path that people will follow. So I hope you can always confidently voice your opinions, no matter what others say around you,” Professor Cheon said, patting my shoulder.

If that’s what you so desperately want, then I should comply.

As I glanced at the lens, I finally sighed deeply and spread my fingers into a V.

Since it had come to this, I would go all in.

***

Since Lee Jaehwan’s “Barrier of Redwood” magic was proven to be unauthorized, the organizing committee decided to penalize Altear Academy for the middle school first to third years with forfeits.

“Noname, your cost-performance is insane! You just took three victories at once!”

Editor Semaaru patted my head with pride.

“I have to go for an interview later, and my hair is going to be all messed up.”

“Oh, sorry…”

There were no surprises in the high school division.

With two grades consecutively losing, the Academy competition concluded with Seviron Academy’s victory by a score of 6 to 4.

Seviron received a half victory, while Altear faced a half defeat.

Seviron was still evaluated as not surpassing Altear in skill, while Altear’s record of seven consecutive wins was shattered by just one middle school student.

During the high school match, I, along with Lee Jaehwan who was the son of the green party’s representative, was summoned to the organizing committee.

“So what did they say? Did he admit to his mistakes?”

“No, it’s a bit complicated. That senior insists that he submitted everything without the sleep effect. So he claims that as long as the committee recorded everything properly, the magic cast within the training hall would be as it was registered, and he only wrote the circuitry as usual.”

“This already sounds like nonsense! He’s denying his own mistakes!”

“However, the original data actually submitted was indeed without that spell.”

“Really? So what’s going on then?”

“Perhaps someone made a mistake transferring the rune data, or… for now, the mood is that it was just the person in charge’s oversight. Even if mistakes occurred, casting it in violation of regulations means that the senior isn’t completely blameless either.”

“That’s a bit frustrating…”

“Oh, it’s my turn. Just wait here. Please turn on my live broadcast too. I saw a takoyaki stall right in front; could you buy just one? And an aid with green grapes at the booth beside it?”

“Hey! How much are you going to make me do?”

I stepped onto the stage and grabbed the microphone as if I were used to it.

On the other side, another interview was in progress, but reporters began to flock toward me.

While it seemed crowded below, I felt a bit guilty for monopolizing the wide table.

Yet today’s interview posed no worries.

I just had to mention “Demon Lord’s Horn.”

Just like this.

“As an 8-year-old participant, I consecutively defeated five third-year students in middle school! Noname participant, please share your thoughts!”

“Oh, I think I was able to perform comfortably thanks to the Demon Lord’s Horn.”

“Ooo…”

The reporters were initially intrigued.

“Participant Lee Minyoung projected his aura; could you share your thoughts on how you countered that at the time?”

“With the help of the Demon Lord’s Horn too.”

“Did you know that you set a new record by casting second-circle magic in just 1.32 seconds at this year’s Academy competition? Could you tell us about Noname’s ultra-fast casting secrets?”

“That’s also thanks to the Demon Lord’s Horn—”

“During the match, you used dismantling spells unusually often—”

“Demon Lord’s Horn—”

Most of the answers could simply be attributed to the benefits of the Demon Lord’s Horn, making it incredibly convenient.

Of course, nobody would take those claims at face value, but marketing is indeed frightening.

Repetitive assertions easily leave an imprint on people’s minds.

At this point, wouldn’t everyone be curious enough to try it at least once?

Our primary goal was to target the ‘Halloween special’ on October 31.

“Only 149,000 won for 24-hour use! Even for those who have not professionally learned magic, an instruction manual will be provided, so once you learn the basics, you can use it without any burden!”

I couldn’t bring myself to utter the embarrassing phrase that Baek Ho-chan insisted I say, “You too can become like Noname.”

I wanted to maintain at least a minimal pride. I didn’t want to become a monster swallowed by capitalism.