Summer break had arrived at Seoul Hero Academy.
Once again, I attended as a distinguished guest representing Black Cell, and delivered a substantial sponsorship contribution.
Black Cell being the money-making machine that it was, the donation turned out larger than most people expected.
The moment the attendees heard the figure, they broke into applause laced with genuine admiration.
The recipients themselves looked absolutely overjoyed.
Before long, I received the ceremonial sponsorship board from Dean Baek So-a and distributed them to the mutants one by one.
Clap clap clap clap!!!
Click!! Click!! Click!!!
"Th-thank you so much!"
"I'll make sure to become a great hero!!"
"Th-thank you for supporting my dream!!"
Technically, this was a donation made with someone else's money.
But seeing the mutants this happy made me feel genuinely proud all the same.
Then came the turn of Red Cat — Lee Se-ra.
The moment I stepped up in front of her, her tail went absolutely wild, swishing back and forth as she struggled to compose herself.
I offered her a few words of encouragement.
"I've had my eye on you for a while now, Se-ra. Keep up the good work."
"Th-thank you… thank you so much!"
With Red Cat, the sponsorship ceremony wrapped up without a hitch.
I made my way back to the VIP section.
I'd half-worried that Victory might cause some kind of trouble in the short time I was away.
Instead, she was watching me with eyes that practically sparkled.
"Was Maxwell even more amazing than Victory thought?"
Seeing her mistake Black Cell's imposing influence for mine left me momentarily sheepish.
Even the bodyguards cracked smiles at her adorable reaction.
With the sponsorship concluded, the break ceremony moved along briskly, and everyone erupted in cheers.
For me, however, there was still plenty left to do.
Shortly after, Dean Baek So-a's secretary came to find me.
"Mr. Maxwell, we'll be proceeding with the one-on-one meetings with the sponsored mutants now. Would you be ready to move?"
"Of course. Would it be all right if Victory stayed with me?"
"Ah… you mean the young girl with you."
Victory was only ten years old.
And she happened to be exactly the kind of ability user Dean Baek So-a had been eyeing with great interest.
The secretary, far from objecting, seemed almost pleased by the arrangement and gave her approval without hesitation.
"Technically it's a one-on-one meeting, but your security personnel are more than welcome to join as well."
"That's very considerate of you. Thank you."
"Not at all — if anything, we're the grateful ones."
Perhaps it was the effect of becoming one of Seoul Hero Academy's biggest benefactors.
The academy staff had become remarkably deferential.
In any case, I followed the secretary's lead and arrived at a rather lavishly appointed room.
As planned, the mutants who had received Black Cell's sponsorship entered one by one.
Naturally, every single one of them tensed up the moment they stood before me, stumbling over their words.
That was where Victory proved surprisingly useful.
"Hey, mister — what are you going to do with all that money?"
"Huh — wh-what?"
Perhaps it was the guileless question from a small white rabbit, but the mutants began opening up one by one, sharing their own dreams.
"I'm planning to use it for special training over the break!!"
"Ha ha ha… sounds like you won't have a single day off."
"Taking your family to a nice restaurant sounds wonderful."
"I'm planning to donate part of it to the Mutant Foundation fund, to share this joy!!"
Not a single one of them had any intention of wasting the money.
They were all Hero Academy students, after all — every last one of them, regardless of gender, seemed to be genuinely good-natured by nature.
I had no idea what the future held for any of them.
But I hoped this small gesture would go some way toward strengthening the forces of good.
The bright, hopeful one-on-one meetings continued, and at last only one person remained.
Creak…
"E-excuse me."
Finally. My main objective.
Red Cat — Lee Se-ra — stepped into the room.
******************
Back when Maxwell was still working at Black Cell.
Nearly every student at Hero Academy was cheering at the arrival of the long-awaited summer break.
Lee Se-ra, however, her cat ears and tail drooping low, could only sigh.
'…Do I have to go back there?'
Mutants, by their very nature, caused all manner of problems in society and were broadly shunned.
As a result, most mutants lived in poverty.
She was no exception — her family had very little.
The thought of returning to a hometown with no dreams and no hope was slowly suffocating her.
But this time, an unexpected opportunity had found its way to her.
"I-I've been selected to receive sponsorship from Black Cell?!"
"Congratulations, Se-ra."
A subsidiary of the mega-conglomerate that had swallowed the former North Korean capital.
Black Cell had extended a hand of salvation to Lee Se-ra.
It was a corporation famous for manufacturing spare lives.
Se-ra had placed enormous hope in this sponsorship.
And the amount turned out to be far beyond anything she had imagined.
'Th-thirty million won? Did they just say thirty million won?!'
These were mutants who worked in factories for less than minimum wage.
And yet a sum that would take two or three years of labor to scrape together had landed in her hands all at once.
With this much money, even with Seoul's outrageous cost of living, she could survive the entire break!
The other mutants, thinking along the same lines, were equally elated.
Afterward, everyone was informed that one-on-one meetings with the sponsor would follow.
As the last in line, Se-ra was outside, painting a bright picture of the future in her mind, when —
"Figures it'd be the mutants…"
"Seriously, everything just gets handed to them."
"Honestly, isn't this reverse discrimination?"
Fragments of conversation from nearby students drifted into her ears.
Under normal circumstances, she might have brushed them off.
But right now, every word landed like a bullet, punching straight through her skin.
"I barely got in here on my grades. And they just waltz in because they're mutants, then get handed that kind of money — it's honestly ridiculous."
"I know, right…"
"I'm all for looking out for mutants, but why does it feel like it's coming out of our share?"
"Hey, keep it down. Say the wrong thing and you'll just get labeled a bigot."
"That's exactly what makes it worse."
Some of the students currently enrolled at the academy couldn't hide the sense of deprivation this event had stirred in them.
And Se-ra found herself feeling as though the hope she'd barely managed to grasp had become something stolen — a privilege taken from someone else's share.
By the time the red cat's mood had soared to the sky and crashed back to earth, the time for her one-on-one meeting with the sponsor finally arrived.
She pushed open the door with trembling hands and stepped into a room that felt entirely at odds with who she was — lavish and gleaming.
Inside, a composed man in a crisp suit sat waiting on the sofa.
'The genius of the century — Maxwell Gray…'
A giant who had built an enormous standing through nothing but his own ability, without a single superpower to his name, was sitting right in front of her.
The more she compared herself to him, the smaller she felt. Her tail and ears drooped.
Still, she owed him her gratitude for the sponsorship.
She took a seat across from him.
That was when she noticed a small white rabbit bounding around beside the giant.
"Maxwell, is this the last sister?"
"That's right. Can you be patient just a little longer?"
"Yes!"
Maxwell gave the rabbit mutant girl a gentle smile and ruffled her hair.
The cold impression Se-ra had formed of him melted away in an instant.
And so her conversation with Maxwell — a man who harbored no prejudice against mutants — began.
"First of all, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Maxwell Gray. I'd like to offer my sincere congratulations on being selected as one of our sponsorship recipients."
"Oh — h-hello! My name is Lee Se-ra!"
Se-ra bowed repeatedly from her seat, but Maxwell showed no trace of authority as he continued.
"This sponsorship was prepared by Black Cell with the hope that Se-ra might be able to focus on her studies in a more stable environment. So please don't feel burdened by it, or as though you're obligated to repay anything."
The words themselves were entirely conventional, but his gentle manner and the warmth in his tone gradually eased the tension from her shoulders.
As the conversation went on, however, a question began to form in her mind — one she wanted to ask.
It was a question she had carried in her chest for as long as she could remember.
And the man before her was called the genius of the century.
She had a powerful, almost instinctive feeling that he could untangle this knot.
Remarkably, the opening came almost immediately.
"Is there anything you'd like to ask, Se-ra? I'll answer whatever I'm able to."
"Is that really all right?"
"Of course. Personal questions are fine too."
In a sense, it was as though an all-knowing sage had just offered to help with any question she had.
It might be an embarrassing question to ask.
But with a trembling heart, she opened her mouth.
"Am I… am I running away?"
Se-ra gently gripped her own cat ears.
"People around me say mutants only ever receive benefits. And I can't bring myself to deny it."
It was true — mutants received various forms of support from the state.
Thanks to that, she had been admitted to this Hero Academy despite very modest grades.
This sponsorship itself was another example of the same.
She gave a faint, self-deprecating smile.
"I train and study several times harder than everyone else to escape that prejudice… but in the end, I'm always in the same place. I get into arguments with my classmates all the time. So sometimes I find myself thinking…"
Se-ra paused for a moment, trying to read Maxwell's expression.
He was listening to her carefully.
She continued in a trembling voice.
"That maybe I'm just someone who keeps looking away from reality and draining everyone's goodwill… And beyond that — that I'll end up as someone who only ever received help because she was a mutant, and nothing more. What do you think, Maxwell?"
And so Se-ra laid bare the question she had carried in her heart.
She worried that showing this kind of weakness might disappoint him greatly.
But he simply closed his eyes with quiet composure and spoke.
"Your start was too late. The world is too vast. Geniuses operate on a different level. But as long as you're enjoying yourself, isn't that enough? People often say things like this when they're urging someone to give up. It's usually called escapism."
Maxwell turned his gaze toward the window. The blue sky settled into his eyes.
"But giving up without knowing reality, and pressing forward while knowing it full well — those are entirely different things. Which means escapism can also be seen as a form of expectation you hold for yourself. Se-ra — do you want to give up on yourself?"
"!!!!!"
"No, of course not. That's precisely why you've taken on this many injuries."
Escapism, after all, requires knowing reality in the first place.
No matter what truths, insights, or certainties the world throws at you — you simply believe in yourself and keep running.
If success is unrealistic, then you run from reality with everything you have.
And that isn't called escapism.
"We call that effort. At the very least… I won't doubt Se-ra's effort."
At Maxwell's final words, Se-ra drew in a breath without realizing it.
It felt as though something that had been squeezing her throat for a long, long time slowly, quietly released its grip.
She had spent so long doubting her own effort.
Was she just turning away from reality?
Was she clinging to a pointless attachment?
Was she nothing but a drain on other people's goodwill?
She had asked herself these questions over and over, countless times.
But Maxwell had called her struggle effort.
Drip.
"…I-I'm sorry."
Se-ra quickly wiped at the corner of her eye, but once the tears had broken through, they wouldn't stop easily.
Effort.
In a dark future, it was the soft, steady starlight she had used to illuminate herself.
*****************
The last official event at Hero Academy was over.
I hadn't expected Red Cat to cry in front of me.
But when the meeting ended, she seemed to shine even more brilliantly than before.
What I hadn't anticipated was Victory staring up at me with those sparkling eyes after sitting through the entire conversation with Se-ra.
And the bodyguards had started giving me looks I found rather hard to interpret.
It felt a little like I was being treated as something unusual, but I pushed that aside and picked up the briefcase — packed with everything I needed — for my meeting with Dean Baek So-a.