Prologue Story

I had no idea how a child was supposed to write.

What I mean is, one day, I stumbled across an interesting post on the classroom bulletin board.

It was a poster for a writing contest aimed at elementary school students.

The competition, hosted by the city, allowed winners to advance to regional contests, and if they won there, to nationals.

However, none of that mattered to me.

What caught my attention was the competition’s categories.

The options were poetry, essays, and novels, and as soon as I saw them, I suddenly wanted to write a novel.

The guidelines didn’t specify any particular themes or genres.

Still, since it was a student contest, I doubted fantasy would be allowed.

Perhaps literary fiction or a sentimental romance would be acceptable.

In any case, it had to be something in the literary genre.

In my previous life, I was a writer specializing in fantasy novels, but that didn’t mean I was uninterested in other genres.

Believe it or not, I had dabbled in various fields.

I had written literature, romance, coming-of-age stories, and even healing novels.

A short while later, I submitted a novel to the contest.

It was a short coming-of-age story.

Even though it was a short story, it filled nearly 150 manuscript pages.

Interestingly, despite living in a 21st century where science and magic were so advanced, the contest required handwritten submissions.

Maybe it was because it was a competition for elementary school students.

So, I wrote and revised the novel on my computer first, then painstakingly transcribed it onto the manuscript paper.

On the cover page of the manuscript, I wrote my home address, phone number, school, grade, class, and name, as per the contest instructions.

Quite some time passed after I sent in my entry.

For a while, I was excited, dreaming about winning a prize or the prize money.

Surely, I wouldn’t fail to win something in an elementary school contest.

I even planned to spend the prize money as pocket money.

However, the results wouldn’t be announced until about a month after the submission deadline.

In the meantime, I was busy with magic training.

Eventually, I completely forgot I had submitted my novel to the contest.

The magic training was that rewarding.

Once I acknowledged my talent, I set my sights higher.

With every step forward, I found myself wanting to train more.

I thought I could do it, and with growing confidence, I challenged myself even further.

As a result, I seemed to be growing much faster.

I loved magic more and more.

Training had become much more enjoyable than before.

My master occasionally looked at me with a satisfied expression.

I, too, came to sincerely admire my master.

Around that time, an incident occurred.

Or rather, it might be more accurate to say that something I had anticipated finally happened.

One day, it was as if the incident just dropped among us.

In-ha pulled something out of her desk drawer.

It was a colorful and simple envelope adorned with a heart sticker.

The moment I saw it, I knew.

It was a love letter!

“What’s this?”

“Wow…”

It had been a long time since I’d seen a stereotypical love letter.

I fell into a moment of nostalgia.

Well, it made sense.

It was that age now.

A time when kids began to show interest in the opposite sex.

Already ten years old.

Considering In-ha’s appearance, it was surprising she hadn’t received one sooner.

This was only the beginning.

From now on, In-ha would probably be flooded with confessions.

Maybe not immediately, but eventually, for sure.

As I watched In-ha inspecting the love letter, I felt a sense of familiarity.

In my past life, I had seen quite a few “love letters.”

Of course, I wasn’t the recipient.

They were for my boyfriend in that life.

That guy, as much as I hated to admit it, was absurdly handsome.

He was too good-looking for someone like me.

Even compared to celebrities, he wasn’t lacking.

Naturally, he was extremely popular.

He received love letters regularly, birthday gifts on his birthday, chocolates on Valentine’s Day, candies on White Day, and an endless supply of snacks on Pepero Day.

Every holiday, he’d collect at least a bag full of gifts.

It was infuriatingly enviable.

And yet, In-ha’s beauty made that guy seem like nothing.

Her life was going to be quite eventful from now on.

“Eun-ha, why are you zoning out?”

“Oh, it’s just amazing. You’re already at that age.”

“What?”

Hyun-ho and In-ha looked at me curiously.

Smiling, I urged her, “Open the letter.”

“Okay…”

In-ha nodded, peeled off the sticker carefully, and stuck it to the side of her desk.

She pulled out the letter inside.

Hyun-ho tried to sneak a peek at the contents with a curious expression, but I stopped him.

In-ha gave me a puzzled look, then unfolded the letter and began reading it.

“…”

Silence fell.

I quickly realized that In-ha was feeling quite flustered.

At first glance, her expression seemed blank, but that face was clearly one of confusion.

Her eyes, slightly wider than usual, trembled faintly.

A moment later, she turned to me with a troubled look.

“Um, Eun-ha, what should I do with this?”

“You can do whatever you want.”

Whether to accept or reject it was up to In-ha.

But personally, I hoped she would reject it.

She was only in third grade, after all.

Dating was out of the question.

First love, if too early or too late, was never a good thing.

In-ha returned to her usual blank expression.

She folded the letter neatly, put it back into the envelope, and tucked it into her desk drawer.

That confession had only been possible because In-ha often left her desk drawer open.

Otherwise, the letter might have been slipped between the locker doors, placed on her desk or chair, or even handed over in person, despite the risk of embarrassment.

“I’ll reject it.”

In-ha stated her conclusion plainly.

At this age, curiosity about the opposite sex was certainly high.

But it was also a time when understanding the vague boundary between romantic love and other kinds of affection was difficult.

In-ha likely didn’t yet understand love as a romantic emotion.

I gave a wry smile.

Love was different for everyone.

But surely, few people experienced the kind of frustrating love I had.

Even now, I was still longing for someone I didn’t know when or how I could meet again.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I don’t even understand what it says, and I’m not interested.”

“I see.”

Would this doll-like, beautiful friend of mine ever fall madly in love with someone?

For some reason, my chest ached slightly.

At this rate, In-ha might never get married.

Whoever it was, if they turned out to be weird, I’d…!

While we were talking, the front door opened, and the homeroom teacher walked in.

It was still too early for the morning assembly.

The teacher’s gaze swept the classroom before settling on me.

She gestured for me to come over.

“Eun-ha, can you come with me for a moment?”

The other students’ eyes briefly turned to me.

I reflexively shrank my shoulders.

But soon, they returned to chatting among themselves as before.

“What’s this about? Why is she calling you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe you’re in trouble?”

“Eun-ha wouldn’t do anything to get in trouble.”

“True.”

“Hmm…”

Listening to Hyun-ho and In-ha’s conversation, I wondered too.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t recall doing anything wrong.

I quickly decided it must not be anything serious.

“It’s probably nothing. I’ll go check and let you know if it’s something important.”

“Okay.”

“Good luck!”

The two smiled and waved me off.

I smiled back, then followed the teacher out of the classroom.

She led me to the teachers’ office.

“This is what I wanted to talk about…”

The teacher sat down, pulled a brown envelope from her desk, and opened it.

Inside were several sheets of white paper.

The top sheet was a certificate.

The certificate read: Seoul Metropolitan Elementary School Writing Contest, Novel Category, Gold Prize.

Behind the certificate was a small white envelope containing the prize: a 50,000-won culture voucher.

Oh, right, I had entered the writing contest.

The results were due around this time, but I had completely forgotten about it.

Smiling with satisfaction, I accepted the certificate.

The teacher, looking a bit surprised, asked me, “Did you enter this contest?”

“Yes, I did. I’m really interested in writing.”

“I see. This contest is part of a national education initiative… Here’s the official letter. You’ve been chosen as Seoul’s representative in the novel category. Your submission even has a judges’ review.”
I nervously accepted the official document, curious about the judges’ comments.

“They said it’s going straight to the national competition. If you place at nationals, your work will be published in a magazine.”

Published in a magazine?

I cautiously asked, “Would my photo be published too?”

“Let me see… Yes, it seems like the photo will be included as well.”

“Hmmm…”

Rarely, I felt my pride flare up.

In my previous life, I had been a novelist.

Could my work really be so poor that it wouldn’t place in a national competition for elementary students?

No way.

A magazine with my face on it.

If I’d known, I might’ve written it in a more childlike manner.

But soon, my expression stiffened.

How would I even know how to write like a child?

And besides, my pride wouldn’t allow it.

I had a deep affection for writing.

Whenever I wrote, I always gave it my all and poured my heart into it.

Half-hearted writing was not an option for me.

After some hesitation, I decided to accept the situation.

It’s not like I’ll participate in competitions like this often, so it doesn’t really matter.

I don’t plan to become a novelist just yet, anyway.

“Alright. By the way, teacher, which magazine will it be published in? Is it one that kids read a lot?”

“No, not really. Are you embarrassed, Eun-ha?”

“A little…”

After answering, I looked up at the teacher.

She quickly understood the meaning behind my gaze.

“Well, you should head back to the classroom now.”

“Yes. Excuse me.”

I turned around.

A magazine… it still worried me.

But looking at the certificate made me feel ecstatic.

With a 50,000-won culture voucher, I could buy three or four novels.

As I walked down the hallway, I sat on the stairs for a moment to skim through the official document.

The content was mostly formal.

It congratulated me on receiving the award and mentioned that my work would be submitted to the national competition.

When I turned the page, I found the judges’ comments.

『The short story Sky Flower is a deeply emotional piece. It demonstrates an extraordinary writing skill for an elementary student.

Each word and sentence is imbued with emotion, and the delicate depiction of feelings resonates with the reader.

The calm and gentle flow of the story has the power to move and bring tears to people.』

The comments didn’t stop there.

Several judges had left their evaluations, and my short story had been unanimously selected for the gold prize in the novel category.

The aspects they praised were strikingly similar—emotional depth, and the beauty of the emotional descriptions.

That made sense.

It was the part I always focused on the most when writing.

Do you know what made me start writing novels?

One day, I cried after reading a novel, and I wondered, could I make someone cry with my writing?

That became my aspiration.

I wanted someone to cry like that after reading my story.

That wish had brought me here.

Some even called me a genius.

I smiled faintly.

Compared to elementary students, I suppose that might be true.

Right now, my primary focus is magic.

But writing has always been something uniquely special to me.

Even though this was just an elementary school competition, winning the gold prize made me incredibly happy.

Feeling overjoyed, I returned to the classroom.

Amid the noisy chatter of the other kids, I quietly shared the news with my friends.

“Really?!” Hyun-ho exclaimed, barely keeping his voice down.

In-ha’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Now that you mention it… You sent in a novel somewhere about a month ago, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I won the gold prize. There’s prize money too—a 50,000-won culture voucher.”

“Eun-ha, that’s amazing! Were you always that good at writing? I knew you read a lot of books, but…”

At Hyun-ho’s compliment, I chuckled awkwardly.

Oh, I should let Min-hee and Han-soo know too.

I opened my phone.

As I prepared to send a group text, the name “Yoon Shia” suddenly came to mind.

I hesitated for a moment.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t spent much time with Shia recently.

But Shia was, of course, still my friend.

I included Shia in the group text and sent it to everyone.

A short while later, Min-hee and Han-soo replied.

『Sender: Joo Min-hee

Really??!!!☉ㅁ☉;;;

Wow, Eun-ha. You’re amazing not just at magic… That’s so unfair!!

But congratulations!!』

『Sender: Park Han-soo

Honestly, isn’t that just obvious?』

I stared at Han-soo’s message for a moment.

What on earth does he think I am?

Ever since first grade, he’s always treated me like some kind of superhuman.

No, the real superhumans are you guys!

I sent Han-soo a slightly teasing reply.

In-ha snatched my phone midway and sent a sharp comment to Han-soo.

Han-soo immediately recognized it was In-ha and fired back.

The two of them bickered through texts.

It was adorably amusing.

Before class started, I got my phone back and glanced at the message log.

Shia’s reply hadn’t arrived yet.

Maybe Shia didn’t see the message, or perhaps he forgot his phone today.

In the end, Shia didn’t reply until the day’s classes were over.

That night, as I lay in bed fiddling with my phone, a sudden realization hit me.

Our group and Shia had grown distant.

I checked my message history.

The names that appeared most often were In-ha, then Min-hee, Hyun-ho, and Han-soo in almost equal measure.

Names like Senior Ji-hyun, Eun-hee unnie, teachers, parents, Yoo-jung unnie, and In-ho oppa scrolled by in sequence.

Shia was in the same third grade as us, just a few steps away.

But in the past six months, I had exchanged more messages with Yoo-jung unnie than with Shia.

My feelings grew complicated.

Had the distance crept up so slowly that I hadn’t noticed?

Or was it because it had been a long time since I’d drifted apart from a friend?

As I stared at my phone, the notification bar suddenly lit up.

A letter-shaped icon appeared.

I immediately pressed it.

A translucent text window popped up.

『Sender: Yoon Shia

Wow, that’s amazing ^^ As expected of Eun-ha…

Sorry for the late reply….』

I widened my eyes.

I thought Shia wouldn’t reply anymore.

As I read the message, I lowered my gaze.

If we had drifted apart, what was the reason?

Did it happen naturally?

Could it be that our personalities didn’t match, or that Shia found closer friends?

That sort of thing could happen, just as it had in my past life.

It was such an easy, natural thing to happen.

Or was it… because of talent?

I hesitated, then shut my mouth.

Closing my phone, I rolled onto my side and pulled the blanket up to cover my face.