Prologue Story

I turned my head with a smile, lost in thought, and suddenly made eye contact with Inha.

As usual, Inha, with a cold expression, stared at me intently as if there was something she wanted to say.

I absentmindedly observed Inha’s magic power and marveled.

Wow, Inha can already manipulate magic.

Though expressionless, she clearly showed a hint of curiosity.

Normally, I would have taken a step back, afraid to speak despite wanting to get closer, but this time I smiled brightly at Inha and asked.

“What’s up, Inha?”

“……”

Inha stepped back slightly, looking a little surprised without answering.

Perhaps my words were sudden, as Auntie Suna turned toward me with a puzzled expression.

“Huh? What’s going on? Why Inha?”

“I don’t know, she just seemed like she wanted to ask something…”

“Oh my, can you feel that?”

“Just, kind of…?”

In my words, both Auntie Suna and Uncle Jungmin looked quite surprised.

When I asked why they reacted that way, they both glanced at Inha, who had turned her head, and said in unison.

“Well, she’s been mature ever since she was young, even though she’s clumsy in everyday life.”

“She never talks to strangers and has no social skills.”

“Also, her face doesn’t show much expression, which made us worried… she doesn’t seem to get close to Eunha either.”

“But you’re the first person who can recognize Inha’s expression.”

I widened my eyes at their surprising comments but soon nodded to myself.

Well, unlike me, a reincarnated soul, Inha is just a normal child, though she’s unusually quiet and cold.

It’s hard to believe she’s just an ordinary child, though.

Actually, maybe she’s not so ordinary.

Even her personality aside, being able to manipulate magic this early already gives a glimpse of her future potential.

It’s definitely a rare talent.

As for me? Well, I just happened to get a buff from the Pocket Dimension, so I’m only sensitive to magic flow, that’s all…

While scratching my cheek with that thought, Auntie Suna patted my head.

When I looked up, I saw her smiling kindly through her outstretched hand.

“I really hope you and Inha become close, just like me and Mirae.”

I swallowed a wry smile at Auntie Suna’s words.

To be honest, I also want to be close to Inha.

But it’s not easy to get close to someone just because you want to.

The more I want to be close to someone, the more I shrink back.

I’m even scared of talking to people.

I’m naturally timid, after all.

Yeah, I have this annoying personality where I can’t easily start conversations with others.

I don’t particularly like this part of myself.

And most importantly, if Inha has no desire to get close to me, all my worries would be for nothing.

Inha’s atmosphere is cold and hard to approach, not just for me, but for anyone.

I stared for a moment at Inha’s back, which had already turned away.

For now, just sitting quietly by her side is enough for me.

☆

Today is the long-awaited picnic day.

I was so excited about today’s picnic that I even skipped magic practice yesterday and went to bed early.

I packed snacks, drinks, a notebook, and writing utensils in my bag.

However, I couldn’t bring a camera, as my mom opposed it.

And it’s not like I have a phone at this age either!

Grumbling internally, I thought about learning Psychokinesis Magic next time.

That way, I could capture whatever scenes I wanted through magic!

…To be honest, I was really disappointed that I couldn’t take pictures.

After packing my lunch, I got on the kindergarten bus.

I forgot all about my grumbling and waved at my mom standing outside the window.

While she waved back, wishing me a good trip, I kept smiling brightly.

Today, I felt like I could fly from excitement.

The bus first headed to the kindergarten.

We would pick up more kids there and divide into different buses by class before heading to the picnic site together.

When we arrived at the kindergarten, I saw Yumi, who was already there.

Since Yumi lived in the nearby neighborhood, she didn’t need to take the bus and walked to kindergarten.

After getting off the bus, I greeted Yumi with a smile.

While waiting for the next bus to come and pick up the other kids, we chatted excitedly about today’s picnic inside the classroom.

The other kids were also buzzing with excitement, just like us.

When the teacher gave the signal to get back on the bus, we naturally sat next to each other.

Yumi took the window seat, and I sat on the outside.

We sat quietly, waiting for the bus to start.

Both Yumi and I felt comfortable together.

When a natural silence settled between us, there was no need to force awkward conversation.

We both liked books and had quiet personalities.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t talk, though.

We chatted a fair amount.

“Eunha, what snacks did you bring?”

“Uh… I brought chocolate, candy, potato chips, and corn chips. For drinks, I have barley tea.”

“I brought an orange as a snack. Do you want some later?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Like this.

Well… there were also times when we only said what was necessary.

In the meantime, the bus started moving.

I leaned back in my seat and kept glancing out the window at the fast-moving scenery.

There was something I wanted to see.

The Glass Botanical Garden was quite far away.

If it were the regular transportation system of the world I used to live in, it would probably take about three hours to get there.

But this wasn’t just any Earth; it was an Earth where magic was commonplace.

In the 21st century of my previous life, there were highways to drive fast over long distances.

There’s something similar here too, but it’s much faster than a mere highway.

It’s a road made of magic itself.

It’s commonly called a “Gate.”

As I eagerly peeked out the window, I secretly gathered magic and used Clairvoyance Magic.

As soon as I activated the magic, the surroundings became visible, as if I could see right through everything.

It felt like I was floating in midair.

I felt slightly dizzy, so I adjusted the magic flow.

The scenery outside the window gradually zoomed in and became clearer.

I could see the road in front of the bus, and a dark tunnel ahead.

It looked like a regular tunnel on the outside, but the darkness inside was different.

It wasn’t the darkness that came from an enclosed space, but something far deeper, like the vastness of space itself.

I widened my eyes as I looked at it.

That was the “Gate” I had wanted to see so much.

Just then, Yumi, who was also looking out the window, tugged at my sleeve.

“Eunha, look. It’s the Gate.”

I nodded, pretending to look out the window while scanning the outside view more thoroughly with Clairvoyance Magic.

It was truly fascinating.

‘So that’s the Gate…’

Before long, the bus entered the Gate.

The surroundings were filled with pitch-black darkness.

Yet, strangely, the signs and letters were still visible.

This was a rare opportunity for me to experience space-time magic firsthand.

The inside of the Gate felt like a universe full of stars and galaxies.

I could feel, and also see, a peculiar energy filling the surroundings.

I focused my magic vision and observed everything carefully.

While the Gate was based on space-time magic, I still didn’t know how it was created.

Gate Magic was one of the most difficult and energy-intensive space-time magics.

Its magic flow was incredibly complex.

But if I had to explain it in simple terms, a Gate was a space that compressed long distances into a single path, connecting different spaces.

It felt like a “road” that linked spaces by shortening the distance between them.

To create it, you would need several space-time magicians, dozens of high-quality magic stones, and several intricate magic circles.

It was a road of tremendous power.

Naturally, the Gate didn’t have just one entrance and exit.

There were dozens of paths inside the Gate, with signs pointing in various directions.

At some point, a glowing arrow began pointing the way to our destination.

All of this was clearly visible to me through my Clairvoyance Magic.

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

I nodded in agreement with Yumi’s words, completely absorbed in the cosmic-like path of space.

The foundation of my space-time magic was “barrier” magic.

The core of my barrier magic was to “construct” my own world and “sever” it from the outside or to “connect” the spaces between barriers.

For example, I create a barrier.

Since it’s my world, I can control everything inside it.

I can create flowers, build houses, summon storms, strike lightning, and even rewind time if I want.

And the world inside the barrier is completely cut off from the outside.

Even if someone uses magic outside, my barrier completely blocks it, as if the world were divided.

Barriers can also communicate with and allow movement between each other.

If I create two barriers, I can move an object back and forth between them at will.

It’s a simpler form of teleportation.

This is my ideal version of barrier magic, although I’m far from achieving it.

But since this is space-time magic, not just barrier magic, I also thought about “passages” as part of it.

I wrote in my notebook from the beginning that my space-time magic would be based on barriers and gates.

As I gazed at the Gate, I envisioned the kind of Gate I would create in the future.

A connecting passage, a severing passage.

The foundation would be either “connection” or “severance.”

But the first would probably be a “barrier,” the origin of that magic.

It was an ideal image of space-time magic I had imagined countless times since my previous life and even after being born again.

Also, considering that the Pocket Dimension I always used was a form of space manipulation, I was convinced that barrier magic suited me just as well as written magic.

The Gate didn’t last long.

Which was only natural, as the Gate was a spatial passage meant to shorten long distances.

Though I felt a bit disappointed, I was filled with a dream-like thought that one day I would create something like that myself.

Then, out of nowhere, a random thought popped into my head.

‘Come to think of it… I wonder what kind of magic Inha wants to create.’

It was an unexpected thought.

But once it came to mind, I became curious.

Since she seemed to already be able to control magic, maybe she would soon start accumulating it in her body.

What kind of magic would she want to create?

What kind of magic would she want to learn first?

These thoughts kept swirling in my mind.

The image of a girl with long black hair and a cold face appeared in my mind.

Because she was so beautiful, my heart would sometimes skip a beat when I looked at her.

So, in truth, even without my mom’s suggestion, I had always wanted to get closer to her.

Maybe that’s why I thought of her.

“Eunha, wasn’t the Gate beautiful?”

But I quickly snapped back to reality when Yumi asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts about Inha.

I smiled brightly and nodded.

“Yeah!”

After passing through the Gate, the bus soon arrived at our destination.

Still thinking about the magic of the Gate, I turned my attention to the scenery outside.

The bus sped along before stopping in front of a large building.