Why Did I Have to Enroll

In Changeling, 'change' means exactly what everyone knows - 'to transform' or 'to switch'.

As for 'ling', when attached to nouns or adjectives, it generally indicates 'something younger or smaller than ~'.

It's analogous to how in Korean, the suffix '-aji' is added to nouns like 'cow' and 'dog' to form words like 'songaji' (calf) and 'gangaji' (puppy) to indicate baby animals.

Therefore― the word changeling means 'a switched child'.

It's a well-known term in Europe, and while there are several theories...

The most prevalent theory is that it originated from parents who would complain nonsensically that 'fairies must have switched our beautiful baby with an ugly one' when their child was born unattractive, sickly, or looked suspiciously unlike the parents.

And apparently, this wasn't so different in other cultures, or even in other dimensions.

"It's really too much, how dare they insult both the innocent children and our fairy folk at the same time."

Saturday morning.

Seated at a table in Ronica's back alley café where he had previously brought Ban Yu-won, Ketra complained.

Ban Yu-won took a sip of his drink and replied with a smile.

"So you're saying the term was created when other races learned about the fairy folk's abilities and started spreading lies about fairies switching babies?"

"Of course it's a lie. We fairy folk are superior to other races in both appearance and ability. Why would we switch with children from inferior races? But the term 'changeling' became so famous that the word itself gained power. That's why our fairy folk's inherent power came to be called changeling. Isn't it awful?"

"That's harsh, but senior, your way of talking isn't much better."

As Ban Yu-won responded incredulously, Ketra giggled and waved his hand dismissively.

"I wasn't dissing humans just now. Actually, humans are quite attractive on average compared to other newly emerged races. Especially you, junior Ban Yu-won... ahem."

So stop unnecessarily getting in my face like that.

The problem with these social butterflies is that they have no sense of personal space, regardless of gender.

Ban Yu-won felt slightly uncomfortable dealing with Ketra, as he had grown accustomed to an introverted mindset after spending time with friends who were, compared to him, all introverts rather than social butterflies since enrolling in Union Academy.

"Junior Ban Yu-won, what do you think women passing by think when they see two handsome guys like us together? They must be dying to come talk to―"

"They probably think we're Union Academy students. Maybe they're wondering if getting close to us could be their ticket to success?"

"You're really dry, aren't you?"

Hmph, Ban Yu-won snorted.

While he had never lacked popularity, he couldn't forget the time in 9th grade when it was accidentally revealed that his family was wealthy, leading to an unnaturally increased number of girls approaching him.

It's a bitter memory that the paranoia he developed from that experience prevented him from having any proper relationships throughout high school.

Maybe his ridiculous attempt to pick up people abroad was because he thought it would be easier to talk to foreigners who knew nothing about him... no, was that just nonsense after all?

"What's wrong with a bit of calculation involved? It's also a man's duty to transform women into their lovely selves. If you can ignite their inner truth with one passionate night..."

"Senior, please don't tell me you invited me out just to pick up women on the street?"

"Well, we'll save that for next time. If we team up, we could charm every woman in this city."

"There won't be a next time."

The second coming of Ban Supernova will never happen again.

Moreover, his team members wouldn't welcome it.

Luciel, despite claiming to be Ban Yu-won's slave and whatnot, would look dejected if he seemed involved with other women (though she never blamed him for it - which made it even more burdensome).

Dokgo-yeon tends to view male-female relationships negatively.

And finally, Light has the mindset of a traditional maiden who would curse one-night stands and purely physical relationships as filthy.

'...Wait, could it be that our team is full of nothing but troublesome people?'

While Ban Yu-won had belatedly realized this, he had yet to realize that his own personality was no less troublesome.

Meanwhile, the fourth-year senior who had realized this fact a bit earlier smiled warmly at the first-year junior who had given up on black coffee and was drinking milk tea instead.

Along with the rather inconsiderate thought that it might be his role to make a man out of this kid.

"Let's talk about that later. More importantly, has your curiosity about the fairy folk's power been satisfied?"

"Yes, somewhat."

Ban Yu-won had asked Ketra, who had called him out to express gratitude, for detailed information about the fairy folk's power.

Not only could he devise countermeasures by learning about it in detail, but he might also be able to recreate it with his own power.

Although Ketra wasn't usually the type to talk about race-specific powers, since he had clearly received help from him this time, he explained about the power, 'changeling', without much resistance.

"It's a power that can switch things from small objects to large existences and concepts. But it usually requires a medium, and you need to create conditions as similar as possible to increase the success rate, right?"

"That's right. Switching liquids with liquids like we did in the student cafeteria yesterday has a high success rate, but to switch memories, common sense, or perception― for example, to make someone perceive me as Ban Yu-won, we'd need to match our conditions beforehand. Race, appearance, height, spiritual caliber, abilities, even clothing if possible."

Even just to change perception, not actually switching the existence of Ban Yu-won and Ketra, these many conditions are needed.

To put it bluntly, it's impossible.

"But why did you specifically ask about that part? It's a concept that's hard to come up with even for our races who wield this power."

"It overlaps with some magic theory I've been researching lately. Honestly, it was a fascinating topic."

Of course.

That was a lie.

"I enjoyed it too. It's always fun talking with clever folks like you. You should join the student council too. Not just Mira, but we also have a really pretty student council president!"

"Uh..."

Though he really hated to say this at such timing.

Ban Yu-won finished his milk tea cleanly, pretending to be a bit shy, and asked his senior who was still misunderstanding him.

"I'd like to hear more details about Senior Mira. Mainly about your relationship with her."

"Ah, junior. I'm telling you there's really nothing to worry about!"

As expected, Ketra grinned and patted his shoulder.

"There's zero chance, absolutely zero, that Mira and I will develop in that direction. Alright, I'll spend our remaining time feeding you all the information you need to win Mira over."

After finishing her words, Ketra checked her watch, downed her coffee in one go, and stood up.

"Since it's boring to just sit around, let's change locations. Should we start by getting you some fashion that might work on Mira?"

"Fashion?"

"Let's go."

After leaving the cafe, Ketra took Ban Yu-won to none other than a high-end clothing store in the department store.

Ban Yu-won didn't want to go to such places with another guy, but he endured it thinking it was all for gathering information.

Though he already knew this, Ketra's fashion sense was in some ways better than Ban Yu-won's, who had developed his sense by being forcibly dragged around by his sister every holiday.

He filtered out half of all the clothing and accessories Ketra recommended right there, tried on the remaining half, filtered out another 20% of those, and purchased everything else.

"Junior... you must be rich?"

"Ah, I'll take this too! ...More importantly, please tell me about your first meeting with Senior Mira."

"It probably won't mean much. Hmm, but I get wanting to know everything about someone you like. Alright."

While doing quite the impressive shopping, he steadily extracted information about Mira from Ketra.

How Mira, who entered the academy as one of the few fairy folk freshmen that could be counted on one hand, caught many people's attention with both her appearance and abilities.

How the rude men from the Special Class tried to make her their woman with crude approaches, but were stopped by student council members including Ketra, which led to her joining the student council.

How she excelled in magic skills but was especially talented in alchemy, quickly catching the attention of Professor Campanella, who was in charge of the Artifact Creation Department.

How her team, formed around her, met with total defeat in the tower several times, until finally, after strict evaluation, she gained solo exploration rights and began climbing the tower rapidly, now reaching 'the same level as Ketra'.

How her standards for people were too high, making it hard to find suitable friends, and even in the student council, she only associated with Ketra, who was of the same race.

How despite being perfect in terms of ability, she strangely had no connection with constellations, and was quite anxious about it at one point.

That she liked playing mischievous pranks despite her cool appearance, loved extremely spicy food, disliked vulgar speech, despised those who didn't make an effort, and had great ambition for improvement.

'Is this for real.'

Ban Yu-won, completely transformed by Ketra's hands from how he looked before entering the department store and now possessing an air of modern nobility, made an expression unsuited to his clothes as he was struck with amazement.

'No matter how I look at it, she's fallen for Senior Ketra, but at the same time...'

Being about 90% certain of his hypothesis, Ban Yu-won asked again.

"How are things these days?"

"I told you I don't know what she's up to these days. We do meet regularly though. Like I said earlier, there's definitely no romantic relationship―"

"Ketra?"

At the voice calling Ketra's name, both of them turned their heads.

The girl with hair as brilliant as gold was eye-catching enough to spot instantly even among the countless people on Ronica's main street.

For some reason, she looked a bit rushed and somewhat distressed.

"Mira? What's up, were you looking for us?"

"Us... ah."

As if finally realizing Ketra was with someone else at the word 'us,' Mira turned her gaze to Ban Yu-won, opened her eyes wide in surprise, then slightly furrowed her brow.

As her rushed breathing calmed down, the two approached her.

"Are you okay? What's wrong? We were just about to go get dinner, want to join us?"

"No... no, it's fine. So it was like this after all."

Mira, who had strongly denied, closed her eyes tightly and opened them again.

As if something inside might overflow if she wasn't careful, she repeatedly pursed and unpursed her lips several times before.

"Freshman, they've dressed you up nicely."

She said, complimenting Ban Yu-won's appearance as if reluctantly.

"Right? How is it, isn't he your type? I always knew Ban Yu-won junior had good qualities, but he looks perfect in whatever clothes―"

"I get it, he's definitely my type. Must be of royal blood, right?"

"Actually, I thought so too."

Royal blood my foot.

What exactly did she understand?

Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes as he faced her.

"...Hah."

Meeting his eyes, Mira showed a slightly surprised expression, then eventually twisted one corner of her lips into a smile and turned her gaze away from him.

"Ketra, I'll be going."

"Huh? What about the thing you rushed here for...?"

"―I'm sorry, goodbye."

Touching her student ID, Mira vanished from that spot.

"What's with her? Has she lost it from exam stress?"

Ketra blinked in surprise at her sudden appearance and disappearance, looking to Ban Yu-won for silent agreement.

But instead, Ban Yu-won took out the talisman he had prepared and handed it to Ketra.

"Huh? What's this?"

"Since I can't do changeling stuff, I'll just say it straight."

Severance (斷切). Dispel (解呪).

Protection (保護). Reversal (反轉).

That which he had completed by pouring all his spiritual energy into these four concepts.

Pushing it into the hands of this man who was similar to Mira in race, ability, appearance, and even soul caliber, Ban Yu-won said firmly.

"Senior, you've noticed it too, right? Use this right now. ...This is my final 'request.'"

With this.

At last, Ban Yu-won had perfectly resolved this situation.

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