Unreal (4)

Ratatatatatatata!!

A helicopter crossed the skies of Incheon. The ground was half-destroyed and burning, and a monstrous creature was roaring fiercely.

-ROARRR!!

A shockwave burst out, shaking the helicopter, but the crew was not afraid.

They knew someone was protecting them.

Point. Deploying code magician.

The entity that fought the monsters was neither a fighter jet, tank, nor missile.

It was just an ordinary girl.

Descending slowly from the helicopter, a high school girl named Flame jumped out and swung her wand.

Flash!

Oh, that's real magic...

It's my first time seeing it in person, and it's incredible.

Amazing...

The clash of light and monster.

As spears of light poured from the magic circle engraved in the air, the monster resisted by spewing flames in all directions.

Whoa!

The helicopter hurriedly took evasive maneuvers, but Flame did not dodge. She stood still, creating a wall of light in front of her, and raised her wand high into the sky.

Flash!

A giant pillar of light penetrated the dark clouds and sliced through the monster's neck.

Thud...!!

Oh!

She did it!

Flame killed another monster!

The monsters had special barriers on their skin, making them immune to missiles and bullets, which made them very difficult to deal with. But for Flame, it seemed to be no problem at all.

The arrows of light she shot easily penetrated the monsters' skin, and no monster could withstand the blades of light.

"Hoo..."

Having successfully completed the hunt again, Flame turned around and smiled, waving towards the sky.

This was a fan service for the numerous drone cameras filming her from somewhere.

She couldn't hear it, but she could feel it.

The enthusiastic cheers of her fans.

I was the only wizard on Earth and their savior.

This treatment was well deserved.

Click! Click!

Rattle!

"Miss Flame! You've successfully hunted another monster! Can you share your thoughts?"

"Is it hard to balance your studies with your activities as a hero?"

"The principal of July High School has officially sent you words of encouragement. Could you respond to that?"
(I don't know what's july highschool, not in the mood to even recheck, just accept whatever it is)

On her way back by helicopter, numerous reporters were already gathered at the landing point, thrusting cameras and microphones towards her. Flame answered each of their questions one by one.

It was a bit tiring, but not difficult. Besides, it made the fans like her even more.

'Studying, huh...'

She didn't want to give it up, but in the end, she had to half-abandon it. As monsters began appearing all over the world, Flame had to travel around the globe.

Did her grades drop because of that?

Not at all.

[National First Place, Wizard Flame!]

["How did I manage to get first place with no time? I studied mainly from the textbooks."]

[Top universities around the world extending offers! What will her choice be?]

Despite studying the bare minimum, she ended up being the top in the country, and prestigious universities from around the world were reaching out to her.

Even if she didn't study, getting into a top university might not have been difficult.

Everything was going perfectly.

Everything she touched succeeded without fail.

Studying, dancing, singing, magic.

When Flame bought a lottery ticket, she immediately won first prize. When she donated with a light heart, it became a sensational topic, and people praised her as an angel. The clothes and accessories she wore became trends and gained explosive popularity worldwide.

The world was paying attention to me.

The world followed the direction I moved in and nodded in agreement to the direction I pointed.

I felt like I was at the center of the world.

This feeling of walking a smooth path without any obstacles, could others understand it?

I was happy.

And I thought... that I would continue to have a bright future just like now.

Miss Flame! Can you head out right away?

One day, while in class, Flame received a call and hurriedly left school.

Her schedule was managed under government initiative, so skipping school had become routine. However, she still managed to maintain minimal academic standards.

Recently, the appearance of monsters had become more frequent.

Monsters have appeared simultaneously in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, and Okinawa, Japan. We plan to handle the monster in Gangwon first, then move to Japan, but if we're delayed, we'll have no choice but to use missiles.

"Ah..."

Monsters appearing simultaneously?

That had never happened before.

'Missiles are not an option.'

Okinawa, Japan, was a famous tourist destination with a significant floating population. The suggestion to use missiles meant considering the city's destruction as a last resort. Missiles should be a last-ditch measure.

Moreover, it was uncertain whether the missiles would be able to effectively eliminate the monster, so time was of the essence.

"Please hurry."

Flame decided to have a sense of mission in her work. Without me, the people of Earth cannot be saved.

People are relying on me.

...But things didn't always go as planned.

Boom!

"Argh!"

Miss Flame! Are you alright?

"I-I'm fine!"

15 meters tall.

Red skin.

A single eye.

These were the characteristics of the second monster she encountered in Okinawa after defeating the one in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province.

Notably... it fired lasers from its eyes.

'It's too strong!'

After half a year of working as a wizard, Flame was starting to notice.

Her magic wasn't growing at all.

Well, it couldn't be helped.

'...I don't even know where or how I learned magic.'

The knowledge of magic suddenly imprinted itself in her mind, and she used it as if it were her own. But growing beyond this was impossible.

She objectively assessed her level as 'Stage 4'. The monsters that had appeared so far were at most Stage 2 or 3.

So far, they weren't difficult to handle...

Ziiiing! Boom!

"Ugh!"

Dodging the fiercely shooting laser, she ducked, and debris from the building behind her came crashing down.

'At least Stage 5...!'

This level of destructive power was not something she could easily produce.

Fortunately, the giant monster, unable to control its massive body properly, had poor mobility. However, the destructive power of the lasers emitted from its eye was so great that even fighter jets couldn't approach it.

'Can I... win this?'

Ziiiiiing-!

Thud!

With each glance of the giant's eye, traces of civilization crumbled one by one. Flame couldn't do anything in the meantime. The destructive power was at least two levels stronger than her own, and she couldn't withstand its attacks with any barrier she could currently deploy.

'What am I supposed to do...'

Clutching her staff tightly, Flame hesitated for a moment.

Whoosh!

A breeze lighter than a feather brushed past her ear, and before she realized it, a boy stood in front of her with his back to her.

It was a familiar back.

"Baek... Yuseol..."

He gazed at the giant and then turned to Flame.

"It was my mistake."

"Uh..."

"Because you brought happiness too quickly, the balance of the world was disrupted."

"What on earth are you talking about...?"

"...Just wait a moment."

Baek Yuseol drew out a small, short staff, unlike hers. As mana poured out, a pure white sword emerged.

"Wait, with just that...!"

But without listening to Flame's words, Baek Yuseol leapt into the sky. Teleporting between buildings, he quickly reached the giant.

Ziiiiiing!

The giant shot a laser at Baek Yuseol in the air, but it missed. He skillfully dodged the lasers, guiding them so they wouldn't hit the ground.

"Huh...?"

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Moving freely through the air, Baek Yuseol reached the giant's neck and deeply pierced the blue spot there with his sword.

Immediately after.

Roar...

The giant lost its strength and collapsed powerlessly to the ground.

Thud!!!

"Ugh!"

The impact of its fall was significant due to its immense size.

As Flame hurriedly put up a barrier and covered herself with her arms, she heard footsteps right beside her. Looking up quickly, she saw Baek Yuseol looking down at her with a troubled expression.

Despite just fighting a giant, he looked completely unscathed.

"H-how..."

Despite all her efforts and struggles, the monster she couldn't even face had been brought down with a single strike.

"You could have done it too."

He said this and glanced at the spot where the giant had fallen.

"Things will get harder from now on. More and stronger monsters will emerge."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"I mean exactly what I said."

Baek Yuseol was silent for a while after that.

Unlike before, he didn't disappear like the wind.

He was waiting.

Waiting for Flame to ask a question.

Her mind was in turmoil.

She had finally met Baek Yuseol, but she couldn't figure out what to ask.

'Who are you?'

'Are you another wizard?'

'Why are you wearing our school's uniform?'

Countless questions came and went. Finally, Flame asked this.

"...What happens now?"

He had said stronger monsters would appear in greater numbers. Modern scientific weapons couldn't stop them. Why? No one knew. The monsters' barriers were still unexplained by science.

"This world will be destroyed."

"W-what... Are there no other wizards? Like you, or like me..."

Can I even call myself a wizard? Flame hesitated slightly when referring to herself, but Baek Yuseol didn't seem to mind.

"There aren't any. It's just you and me."

"That can't be..."

Flame, staring blankly at the ground, slowly opened her mouth and asked.

"...Then, what should I do?"

Why did she ask him that?

Why did she think Baek Yuseol had a solution to this situation?

She didn't know.

But her 'instinct' told her. Asking Baek Yuseol would solve everything.

He hesitated for a long time.

Finally, he took a step and spoke.

"You have to choose death yourself."

Whoosh...

She tried to ask what he meant, but Baek Yuseol was already gone.

'I have to die...?'

Nonsense.

If I die, who will stop the monsters? How can I give up this happy life...

"Ah..."

Flame sat there for a long time, unable to move.

That night, Flame had a terrible nightmare. Horrible and dreadful, yet very realistic.

In the dream, Flame was a wanderer.

Swish-!!

Walking through the pouring rain, Flame traversed a destroyed city. Civilization was now just remnants. The once brilliant and noble human technologies had been destroyed by the monsters, and now it was normal to live hidden like rats just to survive.

Flame was no different.

She crossed the ruined city.

Probably to find a meal for the day, walking and walking.

In the dream, I hid behind a building.

A giant monster passed by the debris of a collapsed building.

I held my breath, waiting for the monster to pass.

There was no Flame, the center of the world, in this dream. In the dream, I was just prey for the monsters, nothing more, nothing less.

ROAR!

Screech!

Monsters were fighting to the death right next to me.

The sky was occupied by demons with wings, making it impossible to move freely, and the underground was filled with terrible poisonous gas, making it impossible to breathe.

If there was a living hell, this was it.

In the dream, while crawling quietly between buildings, I found something.

[December High School]
(TS: now its December: the hell are the talking about)

It was my destroyed alma mater.

Everyone had died. When the monsters took over the world, the school was the first to fall.

And above it.

Baek Yuseol was sitting.

Holding an umbrella, looking up at the rainy sky, he said.

"Because you became happy too quickly... the balance of the world was broken."

In the dream, I knew.

In the dream, I blamed myself.

"Uh..."

In the dream, I was crying.

"Because of me, because of me..." I cried and cried.

Endlessly.

(TS: boring A_S_S chapter, I didn't understand or even read this properly)