“Then I’ll tell you.”

“Mm.”

“During the break, I got a strange offer.”

“A strange offer?”

Kim Jun’s story went back to summer vacation.

“Yes. I was on my way home after training when a man in a black suit approached me, said he was with a new guild, and asked if we could talk for a moment. I thought it was a scout offer and went along, but then he said something suspicious.”

“What did he say?”

“He asked if I didn’t want to raise my matching rate.”

“Matching rate?”

“Yes. He said he saw some special potential in me and poured out all these flashy words, promising that if I joined his guild, they would draw out my hidden potential. He said they could make my matching rate 90%, no matter which Esper I was paired with.”

Raise Kim Jun’s matching rate to 90%...?

“To be honest, if it had been a few months earlier, I might have been tempted. Even after the transfer, getting into the Academy was tough, and I felt like I’d hit a wall. Back then, if someone had told me that, I might have clung to it like a drowning man to a straw. But not now. I’ve found my goal as a Guide. So I turned him down.”

Confidence filled Kim Jun’s eyes — the upright gaze of someone running toward his dream.

“You did well. You shouldn’t go along with shady people like that.”

“Yes. But when I turned him down, his attitude changed completely, and he tried to kidnap me.”

“Kidnap you?”

“We were talking in the car, and when I said no and tried to get out, he locked the doors and just drove off.”

“What? That’s actually kidnapping.”

I’d thought maybe it was an exaggeration — but no, this was real kidnapping.

“Yes. They were complete conmen, part of a criminal organization. But Esper Do Hyeokjin came to help me.”

“Hyeokjin-hyung?”

“I guess he happened to be nearby. Running into an S-rank Esper in a situation like that was lucky. At first, I didn’t even realize it was him — he was wearing his hood so low I couldn’t see his face well.”

Do Hyeokjin was the type to feel the heat easily. And in midsummer, he was in a hoodie with the hood pulled down low? Too suspicious to be coincidence.

Still, I didn’t let it show and kept listening.

“That’s a relief.”

“It really was. And he said those guys might come after me again, so he even assigned me a bodyguard. I spent the whole break with an Esper from YL Guild, and they taught me a lot about training. I really owed them a lot.”

“You didn’t report it?”

“No. Esper Do Hyeokjin said he’d look into it himself and told me not to report it. He said if we reported it, the police would either ignore it or just make trouble, and they wouldn’t take responsibility anyway. And it could just make me more of a target.”

“That’s true enough.”

Do Hyeokjin had a point.

In reality, even if you reported an ability-user crime, the ordinary police could hardly do anything. Unless it was a major case, neither the Inspection Division nor the Ability-User Prosecution would step in.

But I had the feeling stopping Kim Jun from reporting wasn’t only about that.

“Anyway, on the first day of term, when Joo-sunbae walked me back to the dorm — that time when we were talking, not fighting, I mean —”

Kim Jun’s pupils suddenly trembled and his words faltered. Don’t tell me Seunghyuk resorted to... physical persuasion?

“A–anyway, he asked me about that kidnapper.”

“How did Seunghyuk know about it?”

“Esper Do Hyeokjin must have asked him for help while tracking the culprit. The two of them are supposed to be rivals, so I was surprised, but it seemed Joo-sunbae was also after the kidnapper. I guess they shared information.”

There was no way they’d have just happened to trade notes. More likely, Do Hyeokjin and Joo Seunghyuk were actually in close contact, working together to track the culprit.

“After that, he came by a few more times, asking if the kidnapper or anyone suspicious had tried to approach me. And he warned me — no, more like swore me to absolute secrecy — about it.”

So the reason Seunghyuk had been absent so much this semester... was because he was investigating that.

“Of course, that man was probably just a conman, but since Joo-sunbae is under investigation for something related to matching rates, I thought this might help. I’m sorry if it’s useless.”

“No, Jun-ah. Thank you for telling me.”

A suspicious man had approached Kim Jun with an offer to raise his matching rate. Seunghyuk and Do Hyeokjin were chasing that man. And now Seunghyuk was accused of manipulating matching rates.

There was no way this was just coincidence. Something was definitely there.

Vrrt.

Just then, Kim Jun’s phone vibrated. He checked the message.

“Ah, I think it’s almost our group’s turn.”

The Gate Halls used for the mock battle were five in total. Even if they were world-class facilities, there weren’t nearly enough for the entire student body to train at once, so it took time for everyone to cycle through.

“Let’s go.”

“Are you coming too, Sunbae?”

“Yeah. I’ve got business at KR Hall too.”

Park Geonwoo should still be there. He was on good terms with the reporters.

Even if their real target was me, the official reason they were here was to cover the mock battle.

At least formally, they’d be interviewing Park Geonwoo as well. They’d probably have questions about the Horaitron Gate, too.

“Sunbae, are you sure ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ you’re okay? I really think you should rest.”

“Don’t worry.”

I smiled as I said it — but in truth, I wasn’t okay at all.

The fever was spiking fast. Every breath felt like hot air, my head was dizzy, my vision was blurring, and my stomach churned so badly I thought I might collapse any moment.

All this from staying up just one night? Could a fever hit this hard?

Red Lotus Flame side effects.

Park Geonwoo’s words flashed through my mind. No — surely not. There was no way I’d actually gotten Red Lotus Flame side effects.

I pushed the thought out of my head. There was no way Seunghyuk had done anything harmful to me. It had to be just stress.

***

When we arrived at KR Hall, quite a few students were coming out after training. But their gazes were strange.

Some stared wide-eyed, startled, while others openly looked me over.

Was it because of the articles about Seunghyuk? Or because they’d seen me talking to reporters?

But the reaction was stronger than it had been in the auditorium earlier. While some students just passed by, quite a number fixed their eyes on me.

People had always sneaked glances at me, but never with this kind of blatant stare. And their expressions were more surprised than anything.

“Jun-ah, is there something on my face?”

“No. But you really don’t look well, Sunbae. I think you should go to the infirmary.”

So it was just because of my complexion?

“Lee Yeonsu!”

“Yeonsu!”

Across the way, Kang Inho and Jihee-noona came toward me.

“You two were together?”

It was a rare pairing, so I asked. Jihee-noona answered.

“Kang Inho was looking for you, so I told him to wait and I’d come with Jun.”

“Ah, sorry, Inho.”

I’d disappeared suddenly, so he must have been worried.

“It’s fine. But Yeonsu, why do you look so pale? Are you sick?”

“It’s nothing.”

Even Kang Inho, whose expression almost never changed, looked concerned. I must have been in worse shape than I thought.

“But Yeonsu...”

Jihee-noona’s expression suddenly turned serious — but not with worry. If anything, she looked startled, just like the other students had.

“Mm?”

“No matter what I say, don’t be surprised.”

With her looking like that all of a sudden, I couldn’t help feeling a jolt of fear.

“What is it? You’re scaring me.”

“It’s not something scary...”

“Then...?”

“I think you’ve manifested.”

“...”

It wasn’t shock so much as sheer absurdity.

“Noona, don’t joke.”

Manifesting, out of the blue? That was ridiculous. But her face was dead serious.

“I’m not joking. I can feel pheromones from you right now.”

“No way. Isn’t it just something that rubbed off on me?”

“No, it’s different from that. It’s definitely coming from you.”

She spoke without a moment’s hesitation. She wasn’t joking.

So she could really feel pheromones from me? Now that I thought about it, Park Geonwoo had also asked if I’d manifested.

Had he not been making excuses, but actually felt my pheromones? And was that why the students had been staring — because they were shocked to feel pheromones from a beta?

“You’re sure they’re Yeonsu’s pheromones?”

Beta Kang Inho double-checked with Jihee-noona.

“Yeah. Back in the auditorium, there was nothing. But now, they’re really strong. Looks like the manifestation’s just started.”

She put a hand to my forehead.

“You’ve got a fever, too. I think it’s manifestation fever.”

“Manifestation fever...”

So I really had manifested? This wasn’t the flu from exhaustion — it was manifestation fever?

In the original, Lee Yeonsu was a beta. And Joo Taehan had been a D-rank Guide. But now I’d manifested, and Joo Taehan had reawakened as an S-rank.

I didn’t know about the story — but a person’s traits and rank were supposed to be determined from birth.

So how had this happened?