Prologue Story

The floor of the hallway was mostly made of marble or metal.

It seemed coated with magic power.

It was exactly as I’d seen before when I followed the student council president.

The windows were the same.

With reinforced glass and protective magic in place, they were unlikely to ever break.

The classroom we would be staying in was on the second floor of Building A for elementary students.

Just like the high school classroom I had seen last time, it had a metal door with a door lock that recognized passcodes, student ID, and identification cards.

As I looked around the school, I met Inha’s gaze, and we both giggled.

It looked exactly as we had seen on our previous tour, so instead of feeling disappointed, I found it amusing.

We stepped inside the classroom.

It was my first time actually going inside a classroom here.

Last time, we had only been able to enter a few mobile classrooms but hadn’t actually gone into a proper classroom.

The first thing I noticed upon entering was the blackboard, which, based on its appearance, seemed to be an electronic recognition board.

I walked around, looking closely at the classroom.

The classroom’s atmosphere was quite nice.

It was clean and organized, with flower pots and small trees placed along the windows and edges of the room.

However, it felt sturdier than I’d expected.

The entire room was coated in magic and filled with magical energy.

Even near each corner of the classroom, magic stones were embedded.

Perhaps these powered some kind of device in the classroom.

While walking around and carefully observing, I brushed my hand over a desk.

Though the desk was made of ordinary wood, it was also coated with magic.

The chair was black with a comfortable-looking backrest.

“The classroom is nice…”

“Yeah.”

We quietly looked around the bustling classroom before quickly securing seats by the window.

Sitting at the desk, I noticed a groove where a drawer should be.

Curious, I placed the orb part of my student ID in the groove, wondering if it might do something.

As soon as I did, a beep sounded, and the desk opened, rising up.

“Huh?”

“Wow!”

“What is that?”

In an instant, every eye in the classroom was on me.

Feeling overwhelmed by the attention, I reached into the open desk.

Inside… I found a textbook.

“Look! It’s a textbook!”

“I want to try too!”

“Hey, how did you do that?”

“If you put your student ID in the groove here…”

Oh dear, I felt embarrassed and burdened by all the attention.

Fortunately, once they heard my explanation, the other kids quickly looked away from me and found desks of their own to try.

Phew, thank goodness. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“How did you know that?”

“I just noticed the groove…”

It’s exactly the size of a student ID, after all.

Inha nodded and tried placing her own student ID on the closed desk.

I turned back to look into my open desk.

This could double as a storage locker, I thought happily.

Upon closer inspection, it even seemed to have a spatial expansion magic spell cast on it.

To test the desk’s features, I closed it without removing any textbooks.

A beep sounded, confirming that a student ID was also required to close it.

This time, I tried placing my student ID on the desk, hoping only the drawer would open.

Aha, only the drawer clicked open without the entire desk lifting.

Thinking of the textbook I saw earlier, I reached my hand into the drawer.

Immediately, something solid met my hand, and when I pulled it out, it was the exact textbook I had imagined.

“Oh? These kids are quick, aren’t they? They’ve already figured out the desk’s secret?”

Someone entered the classroom, her footsteps echoing.

Naturally, all the kids, myself included, looked up in her direction.

I blinked as I recognized her.

It was the woman who had guided us earlier.

‘Oh, so she really is a teacher.’

Inha and I had guessed right.

And now it seemed she was our homeroom teacher.

I took a closer look at her.

Was she in her early thirties? Her brown hair, worn down, matched well with her formal attire.

Smiling, she greeted us.

“Hello. My name is Lim Young-a, and I will be your homeroom teacher for 1st grade, Class 1. Nice to meet you all.”

The teacher gave a polite bow. We clapped out of habit.

“Now, I’ll take attendance… but first, everyone needs to close their desks.

Alright, I’ll show you how to do it.

Just place your student ID in the groove on the desk and think, ‘Close, desk.’”

Following her instructions, the kids put their student IDs into the grooves and closed their desks.

Next, she explained how to open just the drawer, emphasizing that it was all controlled by thought, just as I had done.

“Now, I’ll call roll.”

As the teacher called each name in turn, I took out a few textbooks from the drawer to skim through them, only to decide on one and start to put it in my student ID…

Then I stopped.

Oh, right.

The spatial pocket feature needed a certain level of magic power to work, so I wouldn’t be able to use it for a few more years.

I quietly let go of the idea.

As I sighed with a hint of regret, my name was called.

“Number 20, Yoo Eun-ha.”

“Yes.”

I raised my hand like the other kids and answered.

She nodded just as she had for everyone else.

After roll call, there wasn’t much else.

She went over tomorrow’s schedule—introducing the school and providing a brief overview of the lessons.

In the first semester, we’d focus on studying with textbooks, learning the basics of magic theory, and especially practicing meditation, feeling magic, and manipulating it.

Then, from the second semester, we’d add some hands-on experience with magical potions.

After a brief explanation about the classroom, she spent about twenty minutes on self-introductions and a Q&A session for curious students before dismissing us for the day.

As it was the entrance ceremony, it ended early.

I stood up with Inha.

For reference, only about seven of the kids, including me, were wearing uniforms.

“If you have your student ID, you can explore the school with your parents before heading home.”

“Yes!”

The kids eagerly rushed outside to where their parents were waiting.

We waited for the crowd to thin out before heading over to where our parents were, talking along the way.

“What do you want to do? Should we explore the school?”

“Hmm… Let me ask my mom.”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

We held hands and walked over to our mom and dad.

“It ended early.”

“Yes, so I’m glad.”

School classes can get a little tiring, can’t they?

When I said that and laughed, my mom playfully smacked my head, saying, “You rascal.”

“Well then, should we take a quick look around the school and then grab a meal in the shopping district?”

“Sounds good.”

“Yes!”

We left the elementary building, following the path beside the playground.

I brought up the school map using my student ID, and a semi-transparent window showed my location.

In fact, the student ID had a GPS function, too.

It seemed it worked not only in school but in other places as well.

And it was even connected to the internet and a school bank system.

This was so convenient.

I had been a bit disappointed about not having a cell phone, but this ID covered what I was missing.

Plus, I could load music onto it and link it with earphones.

“…Was all of that on there?”

“Yes. It’s written here, see?”

I pointed to a button on the semi-transparent window.

Really.

Inha nodded, looking like she was hearing about it for the first time.

Auntie Suna put a finger on her chin thoughtfully.

“Hmm, seeing Eun-ha handle this so well, I bet she’s good with computers?”

“She’s pretty good at home, too. She’s good at finding things.”

“Really?”

“She especially loves reading online novels.”

“Oh right, Eun-ha has always liked books, hasn’t she?”

I scratched my cheek as I listened to them talk about me.

Well… it is a hobby, after all.

“Yeah. She loves fantasy and adventure novels the most, so much so that I sometimes wonder if that’s why she’s so good with magic.”

…Ouch.

That hit close to home.

In fact, my adeptness with magic was probably because I’d always been fascinated with magical settings and wrote about them in novels in my past life.

My mom’s comment earned a laugh from Auntie Suna.

“Haha, that’s funny.”

“But there’s probably some truth to it, don’t you think?”

“Hmm… I suppose you’re right. Comparing her to our Inha, Eun-ha really does progress quickly.”

While our parents continued chatting, Inha and I walked a bit ahead.

Where do you want to go first?

Inha was curious if there was a store selling school uniforms.

“Well, of course. They must have one for our school uniforms, right? Do you want to buy one, Inha?”

“Yeah, I feel the same as you. Could I get one?”

“Oh no, I prefer Inha in casual clothes. Uniforms are so plain.”

“…”

“At least during 1st and 2nd grade, keep wearing casual clothes, okay?

I mean, Eun-ha looks cute in her uniform, but… Eun-ha, how about getting a new pair of shoes?”

Inha looked up at Auntie Suna, slightly disappointed, while she turned to me with a smile.

“Why?” I asked, tilting my head.

“You know the school allows freedom with shoes?

They value individuality, so I thought I’d get you a cute pair to go with your uniform.

How about a pair of short-heeled boots?

Black ones with laces to match the uniform.”

At her words, I looked down at my shoes.

I saw my white sneakers over my black stockings.

Well… that could be nice.

“Huh, Auntie would buy them…?”

Not Mom?

Mom thumped her chest proudly.

Not Auntie Suna, but Mom herself.

“It’s okay. Our families are one and the same, remember? Ahem!”

“…In other words, the sponsor?”

“Pff.”

“Where did you even learn that?”

Both Auntie and Uncle burst into laughter.

Dad shrugged his shoulders for a moment, while Mom grabbed my cheeks, embarrassed.

But really, it was true, wasn’t it?

“We’re practically family, and we don’t need to worry about money.

Your aunt is pretty capable, after all.”

“…True.”

Recently, Auntie Suna, a young and promising female magician, had climbed to the top 90 in the world magician rankings.

In South Korea, she ranked 3rd in skill.

A year ago, she left her organization and started working as a freelancer.

Because of her, I’d recently started considering freelancing in the future too.

“Still, shoes, huh?

Eun-ha, can you check the map for a shoe store?”

“Just a moment, let me see… I’ll start with the shopping district first…”

I stopped short while checking the map.

Black holes were marked all over the map.

Warp Holes… is that what they were?

About twenty such black holes were marked in our current area.

I saw that one of them was close to where we were, so I walked a bit faster.

“What? What’s there?”

“There’s a warp hole just ahead.”

I tapped the words “Warp Hole” twice with my finger.

Then an explanation appeared.

It was a spatial link passage (shortcut).

Each warp hole connected to all others in the school, so you only needed to think of your destination while moving through it.

Around ten to twenty people could pass through it at a time.

As I read this, a black circular area where people were disappearing appeared up ahead.

We headed toward it.

Mom murmured.

“As expected from Daehyun.”

I couldn’t help but agree.

Together, we stepped onto the black hole, picturing the shopping district.

The move was instantaneous.

We exited the warp hole, looking around the busy shopping district.

It was fairly crowded, mostly with upperclassmen in uniforms.

“Where’s the shoe store?”

“This way.”

In the end, I guided us.

I was the only one with a tool to check the school’s layout.

Inha had a student ID too, but she didn’t know how to use it yet.

Following the map’s directions, I walked quickly, with Inha and both parents following.

The map was relatively easy to read.

We arrived at the shoe store without any trouble.

And the moment we arrived, Mom, Auntie Suna, and I all pointed to the same pair of shoes.

“That one! It’s exactly what I imagined!”

For that reason, we picked out shoes in an instant.

Honestly, they were exactly as I’d pictured!

The fairly tall black boots reached up to mid-calf, with red laces tied in an X-shape.

They looked as if they had jumped straight out of my imagination.

The moment I saw them, I knew they were the one.

I changed into the shoes and spun in place like a child.

Wearing shoes that I liked made me feel happy.