I Became a Troublemaker at the Academy

Ding!

[Player ‘Kim Baram’s unique ability has activated.]

[You have awakened the wind attribute. 800VP has been acquired.]

‘Green… A leaf…? No way?’

Reading the notification window, Kim Baram turned to Ko Joo-yeon with a puzzled expression. 

‘Did she somehow hint at my attribute?’ 

But in the story, she was never described as someone who could identify others’ magic attributes.

Ko Joo-yeon had already looked away from him. She was now staring intently at her own ring, lost in thought.

‘Was it just a coincidence? Anyway, it’s fitting that Kim Baram has the wind attribute. As an extra, it wasn’t mentioned, but having an attribute is good enough.’

Magic attributes were essentially a matter of luck in the story. There were far more attribute-less players than those with attributes. While all the main characters had magic attributes, having one generally meant more power and versatility in the future, making it a real stroke of luck.

Kim Baram shifted his gaze from the ring to Han Suyeon. She was staring intently at the ring on his right ring finger with a look of disbelief. When she noticed him looking at her, she quickly turned away again.

Ding!

[Player ‘Kim Baram’s unique ability has activated.]

[You have gained the favorability of the protagonist ‘Han Suyeon.’ You receive 200VP. Han Suyeon’s favorability towards Kim Baram is now ‘Interest.’]

[The protagonist Han Suyeon is now paying attention to you. You receive 500VP.]

Han Suyeon! Hooray! VP, hooray!

He inwardly grinned at the sudden messages. 

Han Suyeon appeared to be paying a lot of attention to him because his behavior differed significantly from previous regressions. 

Kim Baram’s unique ability, , had also indicated that Han Suyeon was watching him.

Looking down at Han Suyeon’s hand, he saw that her ring was glowing with the same fiery red as her hair.

As expected, Han Suyeon had the fire attribute.

“To effectively use your magic attribute, it’s important to visualize an ‘image.’ Cadets with a magic attribute should think of an image corresponding to their attribute when using their magic since it might help.”

Watching the cadets, Cha Joo-Hyuk glanced at the rings of Ko Joo-yeon, Han Suyeon, and Kim Baram. He showed a brief surprised expression before resuming his usual stoic demeanor and continued the lesson.

“Since it looks like everyone can feel their magic, let’s move on to the next part. Now, we’ll cover how to train your magic and basic usage. To train your magic, you’ll need to convert the mana in the air into your magic power using a magic breathing technique…”

***

Han Suyeon glanced back at Kim Baram, who was listening to the lesson with his chin propped up.

‘He’s distracting me…’

From the entrance ceremony to the first class yesterday, the deranged behavior of Kim Baram, who had been completely different until now, was too distracting for Han Suyeon.

“If you can already handle your magic, today’s lesson is pointless. Such cadets can leave the classroom for personal training.”

As Cha Joo-Hyuk spoke, Han Suyeon, who had been preoccupied with Kim Baram, started to rise from her seat to go train. However, she then glanced at Kim Baram and sat back down.

‘I need to confirm this.’

In the first regression, which felt like ages ago, she didn’t remember much, but she clearly recalled one incident from today’s magic lesson: Kim Baram would be the only one unable to sense magic.

She still vividly remembered Kim Baram’s dejected face. He blushed and hung his head low as the other cadets laughed at him for failing to sense magic.

‘If it’s the same as back then, then everything before was just a coincidence…’

Contrary to her thoughts, Han Suyeon found herself secretly hoping for a different outcome as she observed the deranged behavior of Kim Baram. 

Even though it was just one person’s transformation, this change instilled a glimmer of hope in her, who was worn out and disheartened by the repetitive, bleak outcomes of each regression. It made her think that perhaps this regression could be different.

As she continued to stare intently at Kim Baram, he appeared to sense her gaze and turned to look at her. Their eyes met briefly before Han Suyeon quickly looked away.

‘That surprised me…’

As she calmed her racing heart, Lee Do-Hyeok spoke to her in his annoying voice. 

Already aware of his personal feelings and fluctuating desires, she coldly rebuffed him out of the growing burden and discomfort she felt.

After receiving the magic circulation rings handed out by Cha Joo-Hyuk and sitting back down, she noticed that Ko Joo-yeon had moved to sit next to Kim Baram and stared at him.

‘Joo-yeon…?’

Ko Joo-yeon was a special person to Han Suyeon as well. Despite being quiet and unreadable, she was a reliable colleague and friend who had always been by her side. 

Seeing Ko Joo-yeon show interest in someone else was rare. It made Han Suyeon even more curious and hopeful about Kim Baram.

However, her hopes seemed dashed as Kim Baram appeared unable to sense any magic. 

Watching him struggle while holding the ring with both hands in an attempt to feel the magic, Han Suyeon felt a wave of disappointment and her heart sank.

‘It was just a coincidence. Don’t be disappointed, Han Suyeon. It’s just like any other day.’

Han Suyeon bit her lip, and trying to regain her composure, she reassured herself, but the rising disappointment made her heart feel heavy. 

Just as she was about to lower her gaze in resignation, something unexpected happened.

Kim Baram spoke with Ko Joo-yeon, and suddenly, a green light emanated from the ring on his right ring finger.

‘Wind attribute…’

Unable to believe it, Han Suyeon stared intently at Kim Baram’s ring until their eyes met again, causing her to quickly turn away. 

The disappointment that had settled deep in her heart vanished. It was replaced by a growing interest in Kim Baram.

Holding her fast-beating heart, Han Suyeon resolved to watch Kim Baram more closely.

‘The clan Kim Baram joining is probably ‘Dungeon Slayers,’ right?’

***

Ding!

[You have acquired the skill [D].]

[You have acquired the skill [F].]

“This is a big deal…”

As Cha Joo-Hyuk’s magic lesson ended, he softly muttered to himself.

Magic breathing technique…

In the novel, the breathing technique was a method used for steadily growing one’s magic power. It required continuous practice. 

Just as physical training was necessary to increase strength, agility, and stamina, consistent training with the magic breathing technique was essential for enhancing magic power. 

Excluding external factors like elixirs, gear, skills, and unique abilities, the magic breathing technique was a crucial component for increasing magic power.

Especially, high-class characters in the story each used their own unique magic breathing techniques to efficiently raise their magic stats. 

The technique they learned in today’s class, which had just been registered as a skill, was the ‘Basic Breathing Technique.’ It was personally devised by the Fist King Ma Dong-Cheol for the academy cadets.

Although the basic breathing technique developed magic power slowly, it allowed for stable growth without side effects. That’s not all, it had the advantage of being replaceable with other techniques later without restrictions.

‘The problem is that my accumulation rate seems way too slow.’

During the class, Kim Baram learned the basic breathing technique from Cha Joo-Hyuk and tried using it, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. His magic stat remained fixed at 1 in the status window.

‘I thought it would increase at least a little since my magic stat is so low.’

For reference, Han Suyeon had raised her magic stat to a fairly high level just using this breathing technique in her second and early rounds. 

Of course, if this Han Suyeon were from the later rounds, she would likely be training her magic with a more advanced breathing technique.

‘For now, there’s no way to obtain a higher-level magic breathing technique, so I’ll just have to keep at it… Besides, I also have the skill. The problem is that since the dice rolls are random, I can’t be sure it will increase my magic stat.’

While it was difficult to feel magic power at first, he started to get a sense of what it felt like to use magic to strengthen his body. 

Even though his magic stat and proficiency were low, he managed to acquire the skill, albeit at a low level, which allowed him to use magic to enhance his body or gear.

However, his magic power was so minuscule that it only gave him a slight boost. It was similar to drinking an energy drink. Moreover, using it for just a little while made him physically feel a bit better but left him mentally exhausted.

As he lay on the desk while holding his throbbing head, Ko Joo-yeon lightly tugged at his shoulder.

“Class is over. The deal.”

“…”

He began to understand why Ko Joo-yeon had sat next to him.

‘I’m not going anywhere, girl.’

From the crossbody bag next to his chair, he took out the new macaron set from Dolce Rne. He had transferred it from his inventory to the bag this morning.

“Here you go.”

When he handed the macaron set to Ko Joo-yeon, her usually unfocused eyes brightened as she carefully received the set. 

She opened the box and examined the contents, and her eyes widened in surprise as she spoke.

“The colors… are pretty. Thank you.”

After closing the box, she hugged it tightly with both hands and looked at Kim Baram with eyes filled with gratitude.

He didn’t expect it to have this much of an effect… He needed to stock up on more desserts to keep winning her over.

“You’re welcome. It was a promise.”

He put on his kindest expression as he spoke to Ko Joo-yeon, while secretly planning to keep her on his side.

Ding!

[Player ‘Kim Baram’s unique ability has activated.]

[You have gained the favorability of the character ‘Ko Joo-yeon.’ You receive Ko Joo-yeon favorability towards Kim Baram is now ‘Friendly.’]

‘Is it supposed to be this easy?’

Hearing the notification sound in his ear, he checked the system message to see that Ko Joo-yeon’s favor had changed from ‘Interest’ to ‘Friendly.’

Meanwhile, Ko Joo-yeon carefully placed the macaron box into her bag, then hugged her bag tightly as if it were a treasure and spoke again.

“Lunch. Together.”

***

Since childhood, Ko Joo-yeon had seen the world in a different way than others.

A world covered in shades of gray.

She first realized something was strange during kindergarten art class.

To her, everything, whether red or blue, appeared only in shades of gray.

Even her own appearance.

Perhaps it was from that time that Ko Joo-yeon began to speak less and her expression faded. Even her eyes lost their spark.

As she lived a dull life in a world full of gray, she accidentally discovered new colors on TV that were not gray.

The people radiating these vivid colors on TV were players named ‘Han Si-hyuk’ and ‘Jung Se-Bin.

Seeing them, Ko Joo-yeon’s heart started to race, and life slowly returned to her eyes.

“Pretty…”

Ko Joo-yeon whispered softly as she gazed at the people on TV.

The first colors she saw as a child were truly beautiful.

As time passed and Ko Joo-yeon awakened as a player and grew, she learned something important.

It was that very few players had their own unique colors.

However, even among those few, none had colors as vibrant and large as the first two people she had seen.

They only emitted small or faint colors.

She thought to herself.

If she became a strong player like those two, perhaps she could have a radiant and beautiful color as well.

From that moment, Ko Joo-yeon started training hard to become stronger.

The only times when her usually unfocused eyes possessed any liveliness were during training to become a strong player. Or occasionally after intense training when she ate sweet, gray desserts.

After awakening as a player and training diligently every day without missing a single day, she was now seventeen years old and saw someone at the academy who shone more brightly and vividly than anyone else.

It was on the day of the entrance ceremony.

A seemingly ordinary male student sat in front of her.

However, in Ko Joo-yeon’s eyes, he possessed a color more brighter and vibrant than anyone else.

Unconsciously captivated by that color and light, Ko Joo-yeon stared intently at the boy sitting in front of her.

Thump!

“I want it…”

She merely wanted to have that brilliant color possessed by the boy.

After that, a pretty female student, who was said to be the daughter of the players with the bright colors on TV, entered the auditorium.

But the girl she saw for a brief moment had only a faint color compared to the boy in front. It was like a firefly’s light compared to the sun.

Ko Joo-yeon lost interest in the girl and focused again on the brilliantly shining boy.

She worried that the dazzling light might vanish as quickly as those of the first two.

When the entrance ceremony began, something unexpected happened during the entrance exam.

The boy she had been staring.

When he stood on the stage during the ceremony, his color began to spread around.

The color he emitted reached the pretty female student on the stage, the big guy with short hair, the principal, and even her.

Ko Joo-yeon stared blankly at her hand, which had regained its color.

Before long, her hand returned to gray. 

However, as if the afterglow of the color remained, her hand felt warm, and Ko Joo-yeon’s heart began to beat faster than ever since she was born.