I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy - Chapter 91

Hong Bi-Yeon and her group pressed deeper into the forest. Their progress was remarkable, from hunting wild beasts to forging contracts with divine beasts.

"I-I did it! I succeeded in forming a contract!"

Several of her faction members successfully formed contracts with 6-star familiars.

Amid the wave of excitement and cheerful chatter, Hong Bi-Yeon’s eyes fell upon someone.

Arshuang.

Ordinarily, celebrating a faction member’s success in forming a contract was an occasion for joy. Offering congratulations came naturally.

However, due to Arshuang's excessively low affinity with divine beasts, even expressing happiness felt almost sinful.

As time crept on, more and more students formed contracts. Before long, only Arshuang and Hong Bi-Yeon remained without one.

Amidst the storm of overwhelming emotions, Arshuang was struggling.

‘Why me?’

She couldn't make sense of it.

‘I gave it my all. Didn’t I?’

Why did the divine beasts gravitate toward those worthless fools who barely even tried?

‘Am I destined to fail?’

It felt as though the world itself had turned its back on her.

‘I'm always this  unlucky.’

Just as despair threatened to pull her under completely...

"Princess! It's the crimson mane eagle!"

"Isn’t that a 5-star divine beast?"

"Even a 5-star divine beast is enchanted by the princess."

Finally, a spark ignited in the gunpowder.

Wasn’t taming a 5-star divine beast supposed to be a daunting challenge? And yet, this one had willingly approached Hong Bi-Yeon.

But...

"I don’t want this one."

Hong Bi-Yeon pushed the 5-star divine beast aside as though it were unworthy of her attention.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Some students looked as though they might cry.

"P-Princess! It's a 5-star divine beast! In the history of Stella, there have hardly been any students who formed contracts with divine beasts of this grade in their first year!"

"Exactly! If we let this one go, we might never get another chance!"

Despite the rising protests, Hong Bi-Yeon stood her ground.

"No. I’ll find the familiar I truly want."

Arshuang let out a bitter laugh. Some people couldn’t even attract a glance from a 7-star divine beast. Meanwhile, others were dismissing 5-star divine beasts as if they were common pigeons.

It stung.

Jealousy surged through her like an unrelenting tide.

She had kept it buried all this time.

It had always been like this.

No matter what she did, it felt as if some unseen force delighted in mocking her struggles.

Magic, grades, appearance, status, and now familiars.

‘Are you suppressing me... just to feel superior?’

There was no other way to explain it.

Why did Hong Bi-Yeon always outshine her in everything?

It wasn't like that before.

Back then, even when casting magic, Hong Bi-Yeon had cared little for precision, relying solely on overwhelming bursts of destructive firepower.

‘But why did she start focusing on control after entering Stella? Why not just form a contract with any familiar?’

‘Is she trying to ridicule someone who can’t do the same?’

"I..."

Arshuang raised her head.

Hong Bi-Yeon had already moved on, calmly conversing with yet another divine beast.

"Let's go somewhere else."

And just like that… rejected again.

Thud!

As if the dam holding back her emotions had crumbled, resentment surged forth.

"Don't be ridiculous…"

Crash!

Crimson flames scattered in all directions, devouring everything in their path. Trees caught fire, the earth cracked apart, and the blaze swept over the tents without mercy.

"Don’t mock me!"

Arshuang drew a shaky breath, forcing herself upright. Her eyes burned with fury as she glared at Hong Bi-Yeon.

While the students retreated in horror, Hong Bi-Yeon remained calm. With elegant composure, she raised her pale hand and brushed away the crimson embers clinging to her silver hair.

Arshuang clenched her teeth and hissed through them, spitting out each word like venom. 

"Do you really think you've won?"

"What do you mean?"

"Arshuang! What’s wrong with you?!"

Something about her was clearly off. The realization dawned on the students all at once.

Arshuang’s eyes glowed red as her body began to twist and shift unnaturally.

Worst of all was the sinister energy that seeped from her form, chilling the air around her.

The students gasped, stumbling over each other as they backed away.

"That's... a sign of dark magic corruption..."

"Arshuang? No... That can’t be!"

"W-What should we do?!"

Even as panic spread, Hong Bi-Yeon held her ground. Her voice cut through the chaos, steady and resolute.

"Arshuang, don't do something you'll regret."

"Hah! Regret? Even now, you think you can suppress me with your status. Born as the princess of Adolevit and blessed by fire… it must feel so natural to stand above others."

Crack! Crackle!

Her arms swelled unnaturally, ballooning and shrinking in rapid succession. Flames licked at her hair, turning it into a living blaze.

"It must be nice. I envy you. Solving everything with talent alone. Do you have any idea what it feels like? I... I worked hard too. I shed tears of blood. But no matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t overcome this damned wall of reality! Do you even know what that’s like?"

At her emotional outcry, the whole area fell silent.

Crimson magic circles took form over Arshuang’s hands. Sinister flames roared to life above them.

The fire pulsed with an unnatural glow, sharp and wicked. Just imagining stepping closer to it sent a chill down the spine.

However…

Even as the malevolent flames crackled, Hong Bi-Yeon’s expression didn’t waver.

‘Dark magic corruption, huh?’

She saw no reason to panic.

The textbooks had covered this phenomenon… mages consumed by dark magic when sparks ignited the seeds of despair buried in their hearts.

And Hong Bi-Yeon was no stranger to textbooks. Once she learned something, it remained etched in her mind.

Following the manual was simple… overpower Arshuang with sheer firepower and neutralize the threat.

But Hong Bi-Yeon knew something more.

‘Dark magic corruption feeds on emotions. Rational dialogue is still possible in the early stages.’

Six months ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated to launch an attack.

Because that was what the manual instructed.

The senior mages wrote it.

And the words of senior mages were considered absolute.

They claimed emotions couldn’t be reasoned with and that corrupted mages were beyond saving.

But Hong Bi-Yeon didn’t follow their lead.

If corruption thrived on emotions, then perhaps it could be restrained by confronting those emotions.

What she didn’t realize was that this decision marked a profound transformation within her.

The girl who always obeyed instructions, who followed the rules without question, was now thinking for herself.

She knew.

She knew exactly what had caused this change.

She wanted to be like that boy, and so, even in this dangerous situation, instead of igniting flames, she took a step closer to Arshuang.

She chose words over fire.

Yet, speaking gently was never in Hong Bi-Yeon’s nature.

But perhaps she could shatter Arshuang’s emotions and rid her of this jealousy once and for all.

"You’re right, Arshuang."

"What?"

Hong Bi-Yeon’s unexpected words made Arshuang falter.

"Do you know what it means to live as the princess of Adolevit?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Arshuang could only stare, bewildered.

"If the Princess of Adolevit doesn’t become the queen, she dies. To survive, I have to kill my own sister. I learned that when I was just seven years old… the cruel truth is that to keep breathing, I must take the lives of my siblings."

"That…” 

“Your story? I've heard it before. You had a childhood where you were cherished and loved by everyone. I envied you for that."

A bitter chuckle escaped Hong Bi-Yeon’s lips. The irony of her words felt almost laughable.

"I was never loved or cherished by anyone. Not even by my own mother.”

Her voice was devoid of emotion, chilling enough to make even Arshuang’s dark magic falter.

"Do you know what I think when I wake up in the morning? ‘Ah, I’m still alive.’ That alone feels like a luxury. I tell myself I must live diligently today because tomorrow might be my last."

"Is that really the life you envy?"

‘I didn’t know… How could I? What it meant to live a royal life...’

‘But still, she’s royalty…’

"And about talent?"

Hong Bi-Yeon’s words rang hollow, as if she were reciting someone else’s tale.

"Since I was a child, I bathed in fire instead of water."

"What are you saying?"

"I swallowed fire instead of food and drank fire instead of water."

Her crimson eyes bore down on Arshuang, burning through her defenses. The intensity of her gaze was unbearable, yet Arshuang found herself unable to look away.

"Have you ever looked into a mirror and screamed in horror at the sight of your skin burned black… charred and melted until you looked more monstrous than any beast?"

‘I didn’t know.’

No one could imagine enduring such torment simply to wield fire magic.

"Do you know what it’s like to itch so badly from pus-filled burns but not be able to scratch because your skin would peel off?"

Arshuang flinched, taking a step back, but Hong Bi-Yeon pressed forward.

"Have you ever been so thirsty that you thought you’d die, yet drank so much fire that even water felt like molten blades tearing through your throat? Have you felt that?"

Arshuang's fingertips were trembling.

"Because of that, I still can’t taste anything properly. My taste buds were burned away."

‘It’s a lie. It has to be. No one could endure something like that.’

"Even now, whenever I use magic, I'm filled with overwhelming fear, constant nightmares, and the desire to collapse. I'm still afraid of fire."

The words carried a weight that no young girl should have borne.

‘Until now, I didn't know. I thought she could use magic just like everyone else, without a care in the world.’

She was Hong Bi-Yeon, hailed as the embodiment of fire, born under its blessing, cherished by the flames themselves.

‘That's the Hong Bi-Yeon they speak of. But in reality, she has pyrophobia?’

"N-No, it's a lie..." Arshuang shook her head and screamed in disbelief.

"Of course, it's a lie! Who would believe such a thing? It's impossible for someone to survive by doing that!"

No one could endure it.

Even if the flames didn’t consume their body, the agony would drive them to end their own life.

So those words had to be lies.

But Hong Bi-Yeon didn’t defend herself with words. Instead, she proved it.

Fwoosh!

A small flame bloomed at the tip of her index finger. She raised her chin slightly and parted her lips, revealing her red tongue.

Sizzle!

She pressed her burning index finger against her tongue.

"Wh-What are you doing?!"

The sound of searing flesh echoed, and Arshuang cried out in horror.

Hong Bi-Yeon closed her mouth, snuffing out the flame, then opened it again and stuck out her tongue.

There wasn’t a single burn. Not even a trace.

"H-How...?"

Arshuang’s voice trembled.

It defied logic.

Even the most skilled lightning mage could still be electrocuted by their own magic. A water mage could drown in their own currents. And fire mages? They could be burned by their own flames.

"Is this what you’d still call a blessing…?"

"A blessing? Does it still look like a blessing to you?"

Arshuang bit her lip. The words tasted bitter now, foolish and empty. Even through a blessing, how could something like that be possible?

There was only one explanation. Since a very young age, she had undergone intense training to increase her affinity for fire.

Hong Bi-Yeon had experienced that training to the limit of human endurance.

‘That's why. That's why she was loved by the fire-attribute divine beasts.’

‘That's why she’s exceptionally skilled in fire magic.’

‘Everything she is now came from that unbearable past.’

Arshuang’s legs gave out. She sank to the ground, gazing up at Hong Bi-Yeon with tear-filled eyes.

Jealousy?

Inferiority?

All those emotions had long since disappeared.

What right did she have to envy Hong Bi-Yeon?

She had never even considered the suffering behind someone else’s strength.

Only a sense of self-loathing swirled in her heart.

"So if you haven’t endured the same torment, don’t throw the word ‘effort’ at me so carelessly."

Tears started to trickle down from Arshuang's eyes.

Hong Bi-Yeon watched her in silence.

"Oh, Princess... I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

As Arshuang’s distorted features and body slowly returned to normal, the oppressive dark aura gradually faded.

She collapsed to her knees. The other students cautiously approached, their movements hesitant as they sensed the shift in atmosphere.

Hong Bi-Yeon remained unmoved.

Forgiveness wasn’t something she intended to offer so easily. Yet, she also knew that Arshuang was talented.

Her actions had been tainted by dark magic.

Arshuang was not at fault.

Still, Hong Bi-Yeon planned to make her remember this moment… deeply.

The guilt and shame would bind Arshuang, forging a loyalty that would not waver.

"Bring the care blanket."

At Hong Bi-Yeon’s command, the members of the faction busily rummaged through their belongings and took out a blanket.

It was an expensive magical item designed to gradually heal injuries and soothe mental distress.

Hong Bi-Yeon stepped forward and gently draped the blanket over Arshuang’s trembling shoulders.

Arshuang’s eyes widened, and her pupils quivered in disbelief.

"Since the corruption hasn't been completely purified, take some time to stabilize."

"Yes, Princess. A-And the punishment?"

Hong Bi-Yeon glanced at her briefly before replying with deliberate indifference. 

"I didn't have any intention to punish you. But if you want, I can do it anytime."

"Oh, no! I'm sorry..."

"You have a lot to be sorry about."

As if the earlier outburst had never happened, Arshuang bowed her head.

Meanwhile, Hong Bi-Yeon turned away, her expression cool and unreadable.

‘How could I have done something like that... to someone like her?’

The other students approached Arshuang cautiously and supported her unsteady frame.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Go over there and rest."

Exhaustion weighed heavily on Arshuang’s legs - likely the aftermath of wielding a power that wasn’t her own - but she forced herself upright.

As she slowly walked away...

A sudden, sharp, and ominous energy swept through the area. Familiar, yet unsettling.

"This is...!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Arshuang shoved the students aside and bolted back toward Hong Bi-Yeon, throwing the enchanted blanket to the ground.

"P-Princess! Get down!"

"What?"

Hong Bi-Yeon barely had time to turn, her expression puzzled—

Before Arshuang lunged and tackled her to the ground.

Crash!

The barrier guarding the fourth layer, just steps away, shattered into countless fragments.