I Became a Troublemaker at the Academy

Whoooosh!

“Whoaaaaa!!”

As Kim Baram sped down the hill, using Aegis as a sled, the accelerating speed startled him, causing him to let out an involuntary scream.

Thud!

“Oof, ugh…”

Shortly afterward, Aegis collided with a snowbank at the bottom of the hill with a solid thump. 

Unable to withstand the momentum, Kim Baram was flung off and rolled several times in the snow.

“Haha… I almost died just now.”

Thankfully, the entire area was covered in soft, powdery snow, so the impact wasn’t too bad. 

Lying flat on his back in the snow, Kim Baram let out a sigh of relief. Just then, a shadow loomed over his face.

When he looked up, he saw Han Suyeon staring down at him with a somewhat exasperated expression, while Ko Jooyeon stood next to her, her eyes sparkling more than usual.

‘Why is Ko Jooyeon looking at me like that?’

The reason became clear when he heard her next words.

“I want to try that too.”

Ko Jooyeon pointed her finger at Aegis, which was still stuck in the snowbank, with her small, slender finger. 

Judging by how long her sentence was — one of the longest things she’d ever said — it seemed like she really wanted to ride Aegis like a sled.

***

However, Ko Jooyeon’s wish didn’t come true. In fact, they didn’t even have time to retrieve Aegis from where it was lodged in the snow.

“I found you.”

A harsh voice echoed from the top of the hill where Kim Baram had just come from.

Hearing the voice, Kim Baram immediately stood up and turned toward the source of the sound.

Standing at the top of the hill were three figures, a man and two others, all watching them with a faint air of hostility.

‘Just as I expected, Lee Dohyeok’s team is the last one standing.’

The three figures were from Team 1, led by Lee Dohyeok. At the center was Lee Dohyeok himself, annoyingly good-looking as always. 

On either side of him stood a female cadet shivering slightly, holding her arms for warmth, and a male cadet who looked somewhat timid.

The woman was Lee Jiha, and the man was Ryu Sungmin — both followers of Lee Dohyeok.

Lee Jiha was almost a background character, barely mentioned in the main storyline. But Ryu Sungmin, who wore a blue armband, just so happened to be another different story.

‘He has quite the notorious record.’

And that record was none other than killing Han Suyeon in the fifth timeline.

Ryu Sungmin.

Later, he would be expelled from the academy due to a ‘certain incident’ and become a villain. Although, at that time, he had been much weaker than Han Suyeon, he managed to assassinate her using his strange, unique ability.

As a side note, Ryu Sungmin was the one who first gave Han Suyeon the nickname ‘Easy Catch Han’ after her careless death.

In any case, Ryu Sungmin’s unique ability was called [Mirage].

It allowed him to create illusions, not physical clones, but illusions that could deceive his opponents. While it wasn’t a directly offensive ability, it had proven to be highly effective in battles where deception was key.

In the story, Ryu Sungmin often used illusions that looked exactly like him to trick his opponents, and then ambushed them from behind.

In a scenario like the one right now, where the defenders only needed to avoid the attackers, it was an overwhelmingly advantageous ability.

‘I can already tell this is going to be a tricky situation…’

Meanwhile, Han Suyeon glanced briefly at the members of Team 1, then alternated her gaze between Kim Baram, who had a troubled expression on his face, and Ko Jooyeon, who looked disappointed that she wouldn’t get to ride the sled. Finally, she spoke up.

“I’ll handle the attack alone. Kim Baram, you’ll have a hard time dealing with those two on your own. Jooyeon, help Kim Baram to keep those two in check.”

At Han Suyeon’s request, Ko Jooyeon gave a small nod.

‘Does she have a plan to capture Ryu Sungmin?’

In the original story, Han Suyeon’s method of dealing with Ryu Sungmin after he became a villain wasn’t a good fit for the current situation. 

Back then, Han Suyeon had used her fire attribute magic to incinerate everything around her, killing Ryu Sungmin without even needing to locate him. 

But this battlefield was far more open, and the current rules of the hide-and-seek game meant that severely injuring another cadet would lead to immediate disqualification.

So, the method Han Suyeon used to capture the villain Ryu Sungmin couldn’t be used here… not even close.

Kim Baram glanced at Han Suyeon, her usual stoic expression unchanged. 

Despite her blank face, the contrast of her red hair swirling in the snowstorm and her fiery red eyes momentarily captivated him.

‘Come to think of it, as someone who’s been an avid reader of ‘Infinite Regression Player’ for seven years, I’m actually teaming up with Han Suyeon… everything about this kinda feels surreal.’

At that moment, Kim Baram felt an inexplicable confidence that Han Suyeon would be able to pull this off. 

As a reader, he had always cheered for her, knowing she was a strong person who never gave up, no matter how many failures or setbacks she faced.

Gently placing his hand on her shoulder, Kim Baram spoke in a short but deeply trusting voice.

“I believe in you, Han Suyeon.”

“Yeah.”

In response to Kim Baram’s trust, Han Suyeon, who usually maintained a stoic expression on her face, glanced at him and gave a faint smile.

Just then, Lee Dohyeok, who had been watching them from afar, suddenly rushed in their direction at high speed.

“Ko Jooyeon, let’s go. If we get first place, I’ll let you ride the sled on our way out.”

Upon hearing his offer, Ko Jooyeon’s eyes lit up with excitement. 

Clearly eager to ride the sled, she nodded more vigorously than before, and her competitive spirit ignited.

With that, Ko Jooyeon and Kim Baram dashed in the opposite direction, away from Lee Dohyeok and Lee Jiha, who were following them at a slower pace.

***

‘It’s not just Kim Baram who’s changed. Jooyeon has too, and so has this entire situation. This round is completely different from all the previous ones.’

Han Suyeon tried to calm her heart, which was pounding faster than usual. Although she didn’t show it outwardly, she was both bewildered and thrilled by the changes occurring in this 1,000th life, a stark contrast to the hundreds of rounds she had experienced before in the past.

‘For now, let’s stay calm and focus on winning first place.’

As much as she was curious about the reasons behind these changes, the prize at stake was too valuable to dwell on her questions at the moment. 

For someone like Han Suyeon, who prioritized her growth above all else, the first-place reward offered by the White Flower Guild was something she couldn’t afford to miss.

Furthermore, she already knew exactly what to obtain, having been a member of the White Flower Guild in past rounds and having visited their second-tier storage multiple times.

‘Of course, the challenge is defeating Lee Dohyeok’s team first.’

Had she been on the same team as Lee Dohyeok, victory would have come easily, but for some reason, Han Suyeon didn’t want to team up with him.

Interestingly, as the rounds progressed, Han Suyeon had become increasingly rational and pragmatic in her decisions, so this was an unusual occurrence. 

Despite that, she found herself wanting to team up with the transformed Kim Baram and the more expressive Ko Jooyeon. For the first time in a long while, she acted on her feelings rather than pure logic.

And, as if to meet her expectations, Kim Baram had demonstrated incredible skill, causing her to feel with more certainty that he had become a completely different person.

‘Even though Kim Baram has changed a lot in this round, Lee Dohyeok won’t be an easy opponent.’

At the moment, Lee Dohyeok’s physical abilities surpassed her own, making him a formidable adversary. For Han Suyeon to secure first place, she needed Kim Baram and Ko Jooyeon to hold out as long as possible while she quickly took down Ryu Sungmin.

Though Han Suyeon had confidently declared that she would handle Ryu Sungmin alone, she still hadn’t figured out how to counter his unique ability, [Mirage].

Of course, while she hadn’t yet fully solved the problem, she had a faint idea of how to break through it.

To find that solution, Han Suyeon recalled a past conversation she had once had with her mentor.

“Suyeon, most people here only use their internal energy… No, their mana, to strengthen their bodies or cast spells. Even Ma Dongcheol only knows how to use a bit of mana.”

“What do you mean by that, Sister Yuha?”

“The uses of internal energy… no, mana, are limitless. Once you become proficient in handling mana, you can do things like detect hidden presences or sense your opponent’s movements, even applying pressure on others with just your presence. And…”

[You can also communicate telepathically, without even opening your mouth, just like this.]

“Wow… That’s amazing, Sister! If I train hard, will I be able to do that too?”

At Han Suyeon’s question, her mentor had smiled wryly.

“Of course, you can. But even though I’ve taught this to others in the guild, including you, for some reason, people here struggle to understand anything unless it’s in the form of a ‘skill.’ If you had been my disciple before you awakened your mana, things might have been different. But now, it might be difficult for you unless you truly grasp the essence of mana.”

Though frustrated by her mentor’s cryptic words and the implication that it would be challenging, Han Suyeon had responded with determination, furrowing her brow.

“Just watch. I’ll understand this ‘essence of mana’ and surprise you.”

But despite that conversation, even now, in her 1,000th life, Han Suyeon had yet to grasp the essence of mana.

No, to be more precise, it was possible that she hadn’t even been interested in mastering it in the first place, let alone had given up on the idea entirely.

Rather than struggling with something so complex, Han Suyeon had thought it was easier and more convenient to focus on the visible growth of her stats — something straightforward and tangible.

‘Perhaps… That’s the difference between Yuha and me.’

Her mentor, Yuha, was overwhelmingly strong.

Even though, over the course of dozens of resets, the gap in their stats displayed on her status window had steadily closed, the difference in their actual skills had never narrowed.

But despite this, her mentor never spoon-fed her all the answers. Even when the apocalypse loomed on the horizon, all she would say was, “If you don’t realize it on your own, it won’t mean anything.”

And now, in her 1,000th life, which was vastly different from any before, Han Suyeon found herself reflecting on the past.

Had the path she had been walking, repeating it endlessly because she believed it to be the right one, truly been the correct answer?

Could she, like Kim Baram — who had accomplished something she once thought impossible — rise above her limits and change?

Slap!

Caught up in a storm of thoughts, Han Suyeon slapped both of her cheeks with her hands to clear her mind.

‘That’s not what’s important right now.’

First, she needed to locate Ryu Sungmin.

That was the most important task for her and the first step toward the change she longed for.

Above all else, she must do everything in her power to understand the essence of magic.

Even after 999 resets, this concept was still incomprehensible to her. However, Han Suyeon resolved not to rush and decided to take slow, deliberate steps forward.

She started by standing still, closing her eyes, and focusing on the mana flowing through her body. The heat of her fire attribute mana surged within her, burning brightly.

As she observed the magic within, Han Suyeon slowly extended her awareness outward, attempting to project her mana beyond her body and bring it under her control. 

While she was accustomed to sensing the magic inside her, consciously spreading it outward and controlling it felt unfamiliar.

But rather than feeling discouraged, Han Suyeon found the new sensation intriguing and exciting, immersing herself even deeper into the process.

One meter, two meters, five meters, twenty meters…

Whether it was her innate talent for mana control or the culmination of hundreds of deaths and experiences that had finally allowed her to bloom, Han Suyeon’s controlled magic began spreading outward from her body, and soon, the pace of its expansion quickened.

Before long, her magic reached Kim Baram, who was running, and Lee Dohyeok, who was chasing him.

Even with her eyes closed, Han Suyeon could feel how well Kim Baram and Ko Jooyeon were doing as they evaded Lee Dohyeok and Lee Jiha.

Suddenly, as she sensed the situation through her magic, a small laugh escaped her lips.

Why had she not done something so simple before now?

Having awakened this new sense, Han Suyeon’s eyes shot open, as realization dawned on her.

Instead of looking at the hill where Ryu Sungmin was visibly standing, she stared intently into the snow-covered forest with a deep smile on her face and softly muttered, “I found you.”