Chapter Text
The university was loud.
Not only because of the large crowd going in and out of the gates, but also because of the imposing resonance surrounding the area.
Protective wards stretched the campus like veins of invisible light, woven deep into the stone pathways and towering buildings. Threads of magic thrummed extensively in the air; the steel entrance gates pulsed with intense resonance to ward off intruders, while detection sigils drifted high above the courtyards, disguised as decorative lanterns.
To most witches, the magical pressure blanketing the university faded naturally into the background.
To Soojin, however, it was punishing.
She stood several meters away from the main gates; her hood, which she stole from a nearby campus dorm, was pulled low enough to shadow her existence and expression, while her dark eyes scanned the crowd carefully.
As a Shade Witch, her magic was highly tied to emotion and sensory resonance. Though they were famous for many things, Shade Witches stood out from other classes due to their acute perception and emotional awareness.
Soojin gritted her teeth.
Too much noise.
The magic resonance pressed constantly against her sensitive senses: the emotions, spell residues, movements, intents, ward pressures---and those were not even the worst part.
Apart from the above, the university’s defenses were grueling. Even standing near the outer grounds made her instincts restless; her fingers twitched once beneath her sleeve when she felt the whirl of different magic resonance among the witches who passed by her before they stilled again.
Soojin clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Her mission for now was to blend into the crowd and see if any anomalies could happen during orientation day. Stand guard, in simpler terms. Certainly an easy task for anyone, really. Except that Soojin was a Shade Witch under contract, which technically meant she was not allowed anywhere near the campus unless ordered to.
Ironic, wasn't it?
A faint smirk crossed Soojin's features.
The council knew precisely what kind of witch she was, yet they had still placed her in the middle of a crowd. Not just any crowd, but one filled with oblivious human scholars and amateur witches who could barely manage the simplest spells. Some absentmindedly wove tiny charms while waiting in enrollment lines, their magic drifting through the air like loose threads.
Soojin's gaze lingered on them for a moment before sweeping across the area.
Just then, an isolated resonance brushed against her senses---powerful, transcendent, and unmistakably old. It carried the weight of centuries, reminiscent of an ancient witch.
Following the thread of magic, her eyes landed on a tall, brooding man weaving through the crowd. Despite his human appearance, an air of quiet authority followed him. His gaze flickered toward the fledglings practicing spells, and several of them immediately stiffened, hastily dismissing their magic beneath his scrutiny.
Soojin narrowed her eyes.
Telepathy.
Magic was not known in this era. Or perhaps a more accurate description was that magic never existed. It should not exist. It was but a fragment of the mind, a story, a piece of folklore, and an entertainment. It was a risk to humans and should remain hidden, regardless of whether the university caters to both humans and witches alike.
Her eyes followed the ancient witch before darting to a group of scholars, laughing loudly to make Soojin’s ears ache beneath her hidden glamour magic. One of them even nearly bumped into her shoulder!
Soojin shifted aside automatically before contact happened. Thankfully, the scholars never noticed. Attention would be irritating, as it would severely compromise her mission.
Her eyes briefly glanced at the university's dimensional letter sign: Neverland Academe. A scowl drew her features before she schooled them into blankness.
Universities controlled by the Veils, a Shade Witch faction, always felt suffocating: too clean, too controlled, too polished beneath layers of fake safety. Every hidden ward around the campus whispered the same thing: We are watching.
As with the obvious, Soojin despised places like these. However, apart from being under contract, her Shade faction--the Claws--also needed information from them.
Her gaze drifted briefly toward the enrollment buildings across the courtyard. Nothing unusual yet.
Suddenly, a startled yelp echoed across the courtyard as loose forms scattered everywhere beneath a sudden gust of wind, papers exploding into the air.
“Oh, come on!"
Soojin’s attention shifted automatically toward the voice.
A girl was crouched near the enrollment board, desperately trying to catch the runaway papers that flew from her hands before they disappeared beneath passing shoes. Soojin’s eyes quickly marked her: long dark hair, wrinkled uniform under a midnight blue cloak, one untied shoelace dragging against the pavement--she looked personally offended by life itself.
“Why is tuition this expensive…” the girl muttered under her breath while lunging after another paper. “Do they want scholars to survive or not?”
A nearby scholar handed one of the fallen forms back to her awkwardly.
“Th-Thank you.” The girl bowed so quickly she almost dropped the papers again.
Soojin stayed still, but a soft exhale released under her breath. Clumsy, she thought.
The girl stuffed the papers back into her folder with visible irritation before standing again, still muttering complaints quietly to herself.
Ordinary. Probably human.
Soojin looked away.
.
.
.
.
.
Then she froze.
All at once, the magical pressure vanished. Not completely, but just enough for Soojin to notice immediately. Her eyes quickly scanned the area in panic; the constant noise clawing against her senses softened abruptly into impossible stillness. The wards pressing against the edge of her instincts dimmed into quiet static. Even the emotional residue flooding the courtyard dulled into a distant background haze.
No magical pressure. No instinctive strain. No constant static grinding against Soojin's nerves.
Just…quiet.
Soojin stopped breathing. Impossible.
Slowly, carefully, she looked back toward the girl.
The silence remained.
The girl frowned down at her papers while counting them under her breath, completely unaware of the things happening around her.
For the first time in years, Soojin could hear herself think. The silence inside her mind was so foreign that it felt wrong, a hollow where something vital had always lived. Perplexity turned into terror.
A shade witch's magic was woven into their senses. It was their resonance, their identity. To lose either was akin to almost losing oneself.
Instinctively, her hand closed on her right wrist where a silver light should be pulsating with a burning sensation. Nothing. The absence struck harder than pain ever could.
Across the courtyard, the girl shoved another loose paper into her folder before finally exhaling dramatically toward the sky.
"I'm going to die broke.”
A laugh escaped from another nearby scholar, and the girl looked genuinely betrayed.
Soojin continued to stare at her in silence, thumb brushing over her wrist in search of the familiar pulse. There was nothing. The emptiness felt so strange that she knew, with certainty, that something was terribly wrong.
No, not wrong.
Absent.
Carefully--cautiously--Soojin tested it.
“…You’re odd.” A telepathic whisper. Soojin slipped it quietly across the courtyard toward the girl. It was just a simple probe, nothing more. Humans never reacted. They should never react. Telepathy was only among witches.
However, the girl froze mid-step, then slowly turned her head.
“…I’m sorry?” she muttered uncertainly while glancing around. Seeing that no one really spoke to her, she shrugged and quickly dashed to her orientation room, still clutching the papers tightly on her chest.
Soojin’s eyes narrowed. She tried to pull her pupils into narrow slits to sharpen her vision, but nothing happened; her magic refused to answer. The abnormal silence had already sent her reeling, and now even the simplest shift in her senses was failing her too.
What was happening?
Without warning, the magical pressure slammed fiercely back at her all at once with a drastic surge of resonance, strong enough to make her stagger against the nearby stone pillar. A ragged gasp tore from her throat as agony exploded behind her eyes. Even the wards surrounding the university flickered sharply overhead for one brief, startling second before stabilizing again.
Too loud! Everything was too loud again!
Every voice. Every footstep. Every heartbeat. They all rushed back at once, crashing together until Soojin thought her skull would split!
Scholars and witches nearby glanced up at the flickering wards in confusion. But after a brief pause, most simply continued on their way.
Soojin hissed through clenched teeth, one hand pressed against her temple as she forced herself to breathe evenly. The silence was gone now, but her mind was still racing, eyes flitting on the ground as the jarring sensation lingered.
For one moment, she had existed without the constant hum of magic in her mind, without the pressing needles of others' resonance into her own. Though it did bring her a moment’s respite, the thought, or even the feeling, of losing her resonance chilled her far more than the pain ever could.
As her magic settled back into its familiar rhythm, she immediately narrowed her pupils into dark slits, gaze locked onto the dark-haired girl across the courtyard, patient and unblinking, like a tiger fixing on prey.
She reached for the girl's resonance.
None.
Her hand quickly closed on her right wrist; the silver light now throbbed with a burning sensation.
“We lost you.”
The message cut through her mind with clinical precision. They must’ve noticed.
Soojin straightened, masking the lingering pain as she retreated from the university grounds. Even then, her eyes never left the dark-haired girl.
Across the courtyard, the girl blinked upward too before hugging her papers closer against her chest. Oblivious, unaware, and distracted.
Soojin’s lips pressed into a thin line. Through her slitted eyes, she could read a few words from the girl’s files.
She was a human. But she did not have any resonance around her, and yet, she reacted to her telepathy. Or so she assumed.
“Seo Soojin, report.”
Soojin’s eyes reverted to normal. The burning sensation in her wrist intensified. Her migraine had thankfully subsided somehow when she distanced herself from the university. The wards were extremely nauseating, and the dissonance had added to it.
She was only supposed to observe, blend in, and watch. She did not expect a sudden turn of events, one that could potentially threaten the realm.
“We may have an anomaly," she reported back. “A scholar registered as human. But…” Soojin trailed off. How was she supposed to explain what she felt? The silence, the non-resonance, and the telepathic reaction?
“She reacted to my probing. Mentally.”
“Did you get the name of the scholar?"
“Yes…” Soojin turned her back on the university. She could feel the urgent calling on her wrist. They need her there physically. “Yeh Shuhua.”