I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 446

Why had 'another Baek Yuseol' suddenly appeared in this situation?

It was incomprehensible. He wanted to ask, to question aloud, but his lips felt as if they were bound by steel rods, refusing to move.

‘What the hell is this?’

Baek Yuseol had encountered ‘another Baek Yuseol’ once before, deep within his own psyche.

At the time, he had dismissed this other version of himself as simply another part of his subconscious. But now, he knew that wasn’t true.

The reason was clear.

This version of Baek Yuseol had lived an entirely different life.

He had never been to an internet café, never saved the Aether World, and had died without accomplishing anything.

In every way, he was a distinctly different person.

And as far as Baek Yuseol could remember:

‘You... were erased.’

That’s right.

In the strange subconscious world resembling an internet café, the other Baek Yuseol had helped him before disappearing entirely.

‘Yeah, I remember. But that wasn’t me. That was another Baek Yuseol. He and I are different.’

“Oh, there were plenty of us.”‘Plenty?’

“Yeah. There were many, but not anymore. The worlds where we died have been erased and merged into yours.”‘Merged? What are you talking about?’

“You wouldn’t understand yet. But know this: a few of us still exist with our consciousness intact, like me. And right now, I’ve come to help you.”‘Help me? Why?’

Baek Yuseol couldn’t °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° understand. He wasn’t in any danger at the moment. Nothing extraordinary had happened.

All he had done was cut through the ‘space’ in front of him.

“That’s the problem.”‘...’

“Cutting through space. Do you think that’s something you can do at your current level?”“What...?”

“That’s a level so far beyond you that only someone like Ha Taeryeong could even attempt it.”It was hard to believe. Was cutting through space truly such an impossible feat?

‘I didn’t even think much about it...!’

Baek Yuseol tried to refute the claim, but the words wouldn’t come.

“Damn it. My voice is fading. But listen closely. Your growth is exceeding its limits. In just two years, you’ve developed too quickly for your ‘narrative power’ to keep up. If this continues, your mind will collapse.”He wanted to ask what that meant, but he couldn’t.

“So... Damn, I’m running out of time. Baek Yuseol, listen to me carefully. Never use the insight you gained from cutting space anywhere else. Don’t think about it, don’t revisit it, and don’t try to use it again!”‘Wait, what...?’

“Remember my words! Someone is deliberately accelerating your growth. If you ever feel the need to use that power, make sure it’s never for—”Snap!

The voice of ‘another Baek Yuseol’ vanished abruptly.

“Huff!”

Regaining control over his body, Baek Yuseol collapsed to one knee, using his sword for support.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?!”

Finarette rushed to his side, helping him stand.

“Ugh...”

His head throbbed painfully.

“Y-your nose!”

Blood trickled from his eyes and nose as if his brain were about to explode.

“What the hell is happening?!”

“I think... I swung my sword too hard...”

“What?! How does swinging a sword too hard lead to this?! Hey, hey!”

Thud!

Before Finarette could say more, Baek Yuseol collapsed to the ground.

Panic-stricken, she bent down to support him, then looked up.

“Wha—”

The Gray Temple, which had seemed so distant moments ago, now loomed directly in front of them.

By cutting through space, Baek Yuseol had completely closed the distance.

“Well... That’s impressive...”

Despite collapsing after the swing, the feat of obliterating space itself was nothing short of extraordinary.

If he could achieve this at the age of eighteen, how much stronger would he become by twenty?

“...I don’t even want to think about it.”

That was a question for the future. For now, her immediate task was to get Baek Yuseol to the temple.

He was covered in blood and unconscious, but surely the temple could at least provide some treatment... or so she hoped.

***

Baek Yuseol had a dream.

He found himself as "Character Baek Yuseol," standing in a field with a sword in hand.

‘Huh?’

He raised his hand to inspect the blade.

It wasn’t a particularly rare item—just an upper-tier magic sword, good but not exceptional.

Ah, he remembered now.

It was the Terrifon Sword, something he had bought at a high price from the marketplace because he didn’t want to use up his better weapons outside of critical battles.

He lifted his gaze and looked straight ahead.

‘Wait... hold on.’

That’s when he realized something was wrong. He immediately raised his sword in a defensive stance.

Before him stood a colossal monster that could not be ignored.

[Wolf King of the Plains]

The massive wolf, the size of a house, glared at him with glowing red eyes.

This was a familiar monster.

Baek Yuseol had faced this boss years ago during his second or third year of playing the game.

He remembered how much trouble it had given him.

Its patterns were chaotic and hard to memorize.

And here, in this moment, Baek Yuseol as the character...

...would die.

Die dozens of times.

Thud!

“Gah...!”

When he regained his senses, the Wolf King’s massive claws had already pierced his abdomen.

The pain was so vivid, so real, that it was impossible to believe it was just a dream.

“...Huff!”

The next moment, everything reset.

Baek Yuseol was standing again, unscathed, with his sword raised. The Wolf King prowled cautiously, watching him.

‘Wait... what’s going on?’

The Wolf King charged again, and Baek Yuseol attempted to dodge with a blink-step. But his range was miscalculated.

‘What the... Damn it!’

Crunch!

The wolf caught him, and he died once more.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the same position as before.

Standing in the middle of the field.

Facing the Wolf King with a sword.

At the time, he remembered his younger self wondering: What was I even thinking back then?

But courage wasn’t necessary.

‘After all, I had infinite lives.’

If he died, he would just try again.

This time, he practiced dodging a specific pattern.

The next time, he studied the hitbox of an attack—whether he could walk through it, needed to run, or could counterattack during its cooldown.

And so, another life was spent.

And another.

This was Baek Yuseol’s method of growth.

Through countless deaths, he learned.

This was the secret of how a talentless, weak Baek Yuseol had become strong.

“...He became strong through countless deaths.”

He died again and again.

By the time his meaningless deaths numbered in the tens of thousands:

“Huff... Huff...!”

Baek Yuseol finally stood atop the corpse of the Wolf King, his sword embedded in its neck.

“Ah...”

He collapsed to his knees on the ground, running his hands over his body.

He couldn’t even remember how many times he had died.

Was it really necessary to lose so many lives just to defeat one Wolf King in the field?

What chilled him more was the question that suddenly entered his mind:

‘...Am I still the same Baek Yuseol as before?’

The Baek Yuseol who had died instantly in the first round, and the Baek Yuseol who had managed to withstand one attack in the second—these were different Baek Yuseols.

He knew this.

When the first Baek Yuseol failed, that world ended.

It was obliterated, and another began.

In the second iteration, another Baek Yuseol lived in a new world.

It wasn’t a simple time loop or repetition. Each time he failed, a world vanished entirely.

And yet...

‘Yet I...’

When he played Aether Online, what had he done?

He had died.

And died again.

He died out of curiosity.

He died to research mechanics.

He died because of quests.

He died to return to the village quickly.

Thousands? Tens of thousands?

No.

He had died millions of times.

Through countless deaths, he had grown stronger.

“...How many worlds did I push into ruin?”

[Welcome to Aether Online!]

That bright, flashy opening screen of the game came to mind.

It had been cruel, merciless, and relentless. If he hadn’t been under the protection of Yeonhongchunsamwol, his mind might have shattered completely.

And so, he was oddly grateful.

Even in this situation, Baek Yuseol remained calm, analyzing his reality with clarity.

‘It’s a stretch to blame myself for all of this.’

Every Baek Yuseol was a separate individual.

However, the hypothesis that the second Baek Yuseol inherited the memories of the first seemed undeniable.

The Baek Yuseols might have been separate entities, but each one helped the next through shared memories.

Baek Yuseol rubbed his forehead with one hand and thought carefully.

‘It’s still unclear why I had to experience this as a game. There’s so much I don’t know yet.’

A normal person might have broken under the weight of this realization, but Baek Yuseol was unfazed.

‘In a way, this just confirms my hypothesis.’

He had always wondered: Was Aether World just a game?

And if it was, did that mean this world was just another game?

Baek Yuseol valued everyone in this world.

From Fullaim and Hong Biyun to Eisel and every bond he had formed along the way.

But what if they were all part of a game?

If this reality was nothing more than code and numbers, would it all feel meaningless?

But now, after this experience, he was certain.

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“I really am living in reality.”

His heart sank in relief.

Witnessing countless versions of himself die should have overwhelmed him, but instead, it gave him the perspective to appreciate one thing:

Despite everything, the connections he cherished were real.

‘All the more reason to push forward.’

He opened his eyes.

“Wha— You’re awake already?!”

“We thought you’d be out for at least a month, considering the reaction in your brain!”

Two Darkling priests dressed in ceremonial robes stood before him. In the past, Baek Yuseol would have drawn his sword immediately. But not now.

He calmly sat up and spoke.

“Are you... priests of the Gray Moon Church?”

“Uh... Yeah, we are. You’re Baek Yuseol, right? You’re not going to randomly draw your sword, are you?”

“Of course not.”

Baek Yuseol stood and bowed deeply.

“I came because I heard you might be able to help me.”

“...Huh?”

The priests exchanged confused glances.

Baek Yuseol’s sudden display of respect caught them off guard.

“Please... help me find Scarlet.”

Even after making his request, Baek Yuseol remained in a deep bow.

His demeanor was so earnest that the priests were too startled to reprimand him for destroying the labyrinth earlier.

Instead, their planned admonishment faded as they saw the desperation in his posture.

“Well... Fixing the labyrinth doesn’t take that long anyway. Finding someone is more important.”

“Yeah. We’ve been in your shoes before, after all.”

“You’re looking for the Witch Queen, right?”

When Baek Yuseol lifted his head and nodded, the Darkling priests gave a resigned chuckle.

“Well, what do you know? Helping a mage from Stella Academy of all places...”

“Follow us. You’ve got some serious luck, kid.”

“Excuse me?”

One of the priests grinned, baring his darkened teeth.

“By chance, we’ve got someone here—a priest who helped uncover traces of Scarlet 400 years ago.”

Hearing this, a smile spread across Baek Yuseol’s face.

It seemed he had stumbled upon an invaluable lead in an entirely unexpected place.