Ranker Who Lives Twice

Peek. Min Chae-young took the occasional glance behind the classroom. Although Sesha had told her not to mind what she was doing, she noticed that Sesha was extremely focused on something. Fwoosh! A magic circle floated at her fingers and a fire was created.

Min Chae-young subconsciously flinched at the fire, in case it would suddenly be directed at her. However, the orange flame continued to change from blue, white, yellow, black, and a bunch of other colors in Sesha's hands. It was so pretty that Chae-young unwittingly felt herself being pulled toward it.

Belatedly, Min Chae-young caught her mistake and shook her head from side to side, turning back to looking at the window again. 'It's so uncomfortable.' Usually, this classroom was a space of her own at night, but a stranger had suddenly burst in. Naturally, she couldn't help but be curious about what they were doing. Her own personal time had disappeared.

'…So uncomfortable.' When she was alive, Min Chae-young found it uncomfortable and difficult to speak to other people. Her biological mother blamed her poor fate on her daughter, and her stepfather looked at her with dirty eyes and beat her up on the nights he returned home drunk.

Growing up in such a family environment, Min Chae-young was always hurt somewhere, and she didn't want to show others her injured face, so she began to stay away from people. When she realized she also wanted to hang out with friends, it was too late. She couldn't approach them first, as she didn't know how to make friends, and she was being bullied at school, so she didn't have the opportunity.

From then, Min Chae-young started becoming scared just to have someone in the same space as her. No one knew when they might suddenly change and start to attack. The world was filled with fearful and harmful things she needed to avoid. Then, when she opened her eyes as a ghost, she was happy that she didn't have to live in fear anymore.

Min Chae-young's classmates, stepfather, and biological mother…were still all alive in this world. However, they couldn't recognize her presence any longer, nor could they interfere in her life. She was separated from the rest of the world like some isolated island.

Some people might think it lonely…but it tasted like freedom to Min Chae-young. At first, she skipped around everywhere in joy, and she even roamed around the school at night. But after some time, a certain thought occurred to her. She wanted to see someone: the boy who always greeted her early in the morning, the boy who continued to say hi even though she never said hi back…

'A friend…'

Yes. He was her friend—at least, to Min Chae-young.

'Would he remember me?' Min Chae-young didn't know how much time had passed since then. As a ghost, her sense of time was a lot different from people who were alive now. It seemed a lot of time had passed from the point in time when she died to when she turned into a ghost though.

The "day of the beginning," magic, and skills, were all alien to her. So her friend had probably forgotten about her at this point too. Unlike her, he worked hard in school, so he probably graduated, started college, got a job, and he might even have kids.

'Or maybe he's a grandfather…?'

Perhaps he didn't consider Min Chae-young a friend and put her in his past the moment he graduated. Whatever the case, it was almost impossible for him to find her. Even if he happened to want to visit his old high school, he would probably come in the day, but she woke up at night, so it was unlikely for them to meet. Even if she was lucky and they did meet, there was a chance he couldn't recognize her since she was a ghost.

'The most likely option is that I'll never see him again.' Min Chae-young didn't get her hopes high from the beginning. Still, there was a single reason why she continued to stay here waiting for him. '…Since it's a good memory.' Even if time passed and she wasn't able to maintain her ghost body, she wanted to cherish this memory forever.

'And if possible…' A small part of Min Chae-young continued to hope despite thinking it was impossible. 'I want to tell him no matter what.' There were words she wanted to say to him but wasn't able to.

So although Sesha's actions were a bit uncomfortable, she reminded Min Chae-young of that boy, so she didn't dislike her.

* * *

'Wow… This is really hard.' Sesha sweated the entire time she was researching the spell Kronos taught her. She was born with enormous potential to sense and control mana because she was born with dragon blood, but this spell was trickier than she thought. 'He said this is ancient magic that the Nephilim used in the golden ages… This is really beyond imagination.'

The Nephilim were an ancient race born between the first members of Malach and L'Infernal and humans, but they were known to have disappeared. Their massive size was reminiscent of giants, but they had wings on their backs.

The magic they used was entirely different from the magic of the dragons, so it was difficult to pick it up. However, after she fumbled around with it a bit, she could use the spell 'Nephilim's Spark' somewhat.

'I did spend an entire fortnight working on this, after all.'

It had already been two weeks since Sesha came to visit Min Chae-young at night. At first, Min Chae-young didn't seem to care that much because she didn't think Sesha would give up soon, but she was starting to seem affected.

'Yesterday, she seemed a bit upset when I was later than normal.'

Min Chae-young seemed to think she was keeping a poker face, but Sesha could read all her expressions. It was amusing watching all her actions and faces. She was so pure that Sesha thought her soul couldn't be any clearer.

Sesha didn't understand why such a person had gone through so much pain. 'If that had happened to me, I wouldn't have left anyone untouched.'

The show that was being filmed when she first met Min Chae-young was now being finished up. Producer Kim and the staff wondered why they had suddenly fainted in the middle of the night, but they didn't seem to think too much about it with Laplace's magic.

'That pervert bunny is still the same as ever too.'

Laplace was now best friends with the statues and dolls. He was busily dancing with them every night, and sometimes he seemed sad not to be able to stay at school longer.

『Kyahaha! Correct! You have to flex exactly at this position for my biceps to be shown clearer, and it's very cute this way. You try it too! One, two, one, two! Can the lighting team turn the lights brighter, and the music team play the piano faster? All right, everyone get sprayed with pop!』

Although Laplace's parties were a bit strange… Sesha had no intention of ever participating. 'But it's a bit weird.' Then, a question suddenly occurred to her. 'The reason why Laplace wasn't able to discover the strange phenomenon… Is it really because of Chae-young?'

Laplace said there were traces of something having cleaned the vestiges up. If they had managed to hide from him, it meant their actions were secretive… To accomplish such a thing, whoever did it had to be quite powerful.

Based on what Sesha observed of Min Chae-young, she wasn't someone to be able to do such a thing. The mysterious being behind all this needed to be at least a ghost with some divinity, but Min Chae-young couldn't even transform into a common poltergeist.

'Is there something about Chae-young that even she doesn't know about? Or…!' Just when Sesha was about to speculate deeper, she jumped at the sudden voice.

「This is magic?」Min Chae-young was slightly bent over, looking at the Nephilim Spark in Sesha's hands. Sesha couldn't tell if it was because of the fire, but her face seemed red. Was it difficult for her to start a conversation after pretending not to notice her all this time? Chae-young had an expressionless face, but she seemed to be taking peeks at how Sesha was reacting.

'S-So cute!' Sesha had to contain her laughter that was threatening to come out. For some reason, Chae-young reminded her of her youngest aunt, Ye-eun, who was now about a hundred days old. She knew if she said that though, the door that had barely opened would be shut again. Sesha nodded without looking at Chae-young, so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable. "Yep, it is."

「Are you a magician?」

"Something similar."

To be exact, Sesha wasn't a magician but a member of a magical race.

「Are you good at it?」

"Probably?"

「By how much?」

"I'm probably one of the strongest in the world?"

「…Don't lie. It's not good to lie.」Min Chae-young scolded Sesha. She hated lying the most in the world because her mother and stepfather had always lied to her.

However, Sesha cleared her throat and stood taller. "I'm serious!"

「What?」

"Do you know what players are?"

「…No.」

"There are these things called players, although it's pretty much nonexistent now. I was always in the top ten among them."

「…Really?」Chae-young seemed disbelieving.

"Really." Technically, since her family members were diving beings and not players, Sesha wasn't wrong. As if to prove her point, Sesha flicked her finger in the air, and the world around them changed. They were in a hot desert, a cold ice cap, and then on a sea that reflected the galaxy.

「Whoa…!」The beautiful scenes Min Chae-young used to see on television swept right in front of her. She couldn't believe this was real. No, she didn't mind even if this was an illusion. It was magical just to be able to experience this.

"Do you believe me now?"

「Yeah…!」Min Chae-young nodded like a possessed person, then saw Sesha beaming at her and she quickly spun around. Her flushed face indicated she realized how intense her reaction had been. She seemed to be embarrassed. Then, as if she suddenly thought of something, Chae-young glanced at Sesha and muttered quietly.「…too?」

"Hm?"

「Could I…do this too?」

Sesha grinned. "Of course. I'll teach you."

「…Really?」

"Yep."

「Why…?」Min Chae-young wanted to ask why Sesha was being so nice when they barely knew each other.

"Hm? Why?"

「You…have no reason to help me…」

"Why don't I have a reason? Is it strange to want to teach my friend something?"

Min Chae-young turned surprised.「A friend…?」

"Yeah. Aren't we friends? We have been together for two weeks."

Min Chae-young's pupils began to shake. What? Friends? Were they? They'd been together? Since when? Was she talking about how they were together in the same space for two weeks? Chae-young couldn't organize her thoughts because of the confusing information.

Min Chae-young was so cute and innocent that Sesha couldn't stop smiling. 'Is she really a year older than me? Why is she so naive?' Min Chae-young would've turned even redder if she knew what Sesha was thinking. Sesha grinned.

「T-Then…!」

"Yeah. Go on."

「I-If I learn this, can I… Him?」

"I didn't catch all of that. Can you repeat yourself?"

「I-If I learn this… Can I find him?」

Finally, now that Min Chae-young has opened her heart, Sesha smiled warmly. "Who do you want to find? Your first crush?"

「…N-Nothing like that!」Min Chae-young's face was on the verge of exploding now.

"Then?"

「A-A friend…」Min Chae-young fiddled her fingers. Her voice became smaller and was pitiful at this point. Sesha felt like she was becoming more like Park Yoo-min.

"And his name?"

「Son…!」

Just when Min Chae-young hesitantly spoke up, Laplace suddenly shouted and broke down the door to get into the classroom.『Little miss, get down!』

Sesha instinctively grabbed Min Chae-young's hand and pulled her deeper inside the classroom, looking out the window. Crash! Bright yellow lightning was suddenly falling from the dark sky. To be exact, it was falling exactly on the school. It wasn't a natural phenomenon at all.

「Ahhhhh!」

Oh right, there's something you must beware of when meeting our ghost friend.

What?

There are two, in fact. First, they say she's scared of thunder and lightning.

Min Chae-young shut her eyes tight and screamed. The lightning struck down the school building and broke the glass windows and walls. The desks were blown back by the aftershocks. It was a great impact that almost destroyed the building, but Sesha and Min Chae-young were fine thanks to the barrier Laplace created.

However, Min Chae-young was trembling. Sesha soothed her while shooting a sharp glance outside the window. She could see a man with long black hair standing in front of Laplace. His skin was very pale, and his narrowed eyes were reminiscent of a scorpion's.

"Finally found you." The man's gaze was fixed on Min Chae-young. "Star fragment."