A circus elephant.

The thick ankle of the elephant, several times larger than a human’s, had a thin rope tied around it. It seemed obvious that if the elephant took just one step, the rope would break, and the stake connected to the rope would be pulled out like a rotten tooth.

But the elephant doesn’t try to break the rope or pull out the stake.

No, it can’t.

Since its childhood, the elephant has tirelessly tried to break free from the rope tied to its ankle. But when it was younger, it was truly weak, so the young elephant couldn’t break free.

Failure repeated itself.

Frustration was learned.

Despair became a habit.

And time passed.

Even though the elephant grew up and became an adult, large enough to break free whenever it wanted to, the rope tied to its ankle still seemed too strong.

.

.

.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Somewhere, the sound of something being struck rang in her ears like an auditory hallucination.

Shin Se-hee stared at what was happening in front of her, unable even to blink.

‘What the hell is going on here…?’

When Jin Yuha first stepped in, she desperately tried to figure out how to clean up the mess.

Should she run out and say she’ll go home now?

Should she lie down on the floor and beg with tears?

Should she grab her ankle and beg her to spare Jin Yuha, no matter what?

Those were the only thoughts that came to her mind, standing up against Shin Su-yeon.

Her head, once filled with anguish, turned white when Jin Yuha suddenly slapped her sister’s cheek.

Screech!!!

“Ah.”

At that sound, Shin Se-hee opened her mouth and wore a disheartened expression.

She thought that things had now gone too far to turn back.

Jin Yuha had not only defied her sister but had also earned her enmity.

Shin Se-hee imagined the future that lay ahead and—

Despaired.

Indeed, that was the case.

‘But what is this…?’

Shin Se-hee wondered if she was dreaming. But even after rubbing her eyes, what was happening before her was undeniably real.

Slam—!

Her sister.

Was getting hit.

Unilaterally.

‘What the hell is this…?’

Shin Su-yeon was an S-rank Hunter.

Of course, even if there were dozens of hunters above her, the title of S-rank was not to be taken lightly.

Due to her temperament, which disliked troublesome things, she rarely took the initiative, but once she did, a storm of magic would sweep the area, and her enemies would be wiped out in an instant.

That overwhelming scene was imprinted in Shin Se-hee’s mind like a brand.

She was a wall.

A genius with incomparable mana, much more than herself.

An insurmountable, unscalable sheer cliff.

If she was going to plan on how to confront her sister, the only options she could think of were to take the beating straightforwardly or hide to stay out of sight.

‘But why…?’

Why was her sister, who was supposed to be an S-rank Hunter, getting beaten like a dog by a mere student? The whole scene felt like a nasty joke to Shin Se-hee, and she even felt like scolding him for playing a prank on her sister.

Slam—!

“Kheug!”

As Jin Yuha kicked, Shin Su-yeon flew out with a dull sound.

The first possibility that Shin Se-hee considered to make sense of the current situation was that Jin Yuha had been hiding his incredible strength all this time.

But her eyes quickly denied that fact.

‘Jin Yuha’s movements are certainly amazing, but…’

They were definitely amazing.

For a man to keep up with Kang Do-hee’s speed.

Considering his potential for growth, she couldn’t even dare to guess how strong he could become in the future.

‘…That’s ultimately a story for the future. Right now, Kang Do-hee is faster.’

Jin Yuha had instructed her to analyze the specs of their party members, so Shin Se-hee had recorded their movements, analyzed them frame by frame, and quantified them.

And now, Jin Yuha’s movements seemed slower than his original speed.

‘Then, there’s no reason for Shin Su-yeon not to dodge.’

She then considered a second possibility.

‘Could it be that something happened to Shin Su-yeon, and she’s currently in a state where she can’t use her body properly…?’

At that moment, Jin Yuha spoke up.

“If you were that strong, you’d be the main story villain, not just a personal story one, you crazy b*tch.”

“Ugh!”

“Personal story villain means that Se-hee alone is enough to take you down.”

Slam!

‘…Main story? Personal story?’

Unfamiliar words from Jin Yuha’s mouth. But those words were soon erased from her mind.

What bothered her more was what he had said at the end.

‘What do you mean, me against my sister? There’s no way I can beat Shin Su-yeon!’

Shin Se-hee’s mind was refusing to accept what she was hearing, as if she had been told the earth was flat.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

But again, the sound of something being struck rang in her ears like an auditory hallucination.

“Hey, did you think I’d be scared if you showed off the mana you’ve painstakingly gathered, and talked back to me about the Shin family? You half-assed S-rank hunter.”

‘Half-assed S-rank Hunter? Magic Sword? No way.’

Shin Se-hee shook her head again, instinctively denying Jin Yuha’s words.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“All this time, you’ve been sucking up your cousin, your blood relative, your sister’s mana, and spending it lavishly, pretending to be an S-rank. Do you think you’re a real S-rank just because you’ve been acting like one?”

‘…Sucking up mana? Pretending to be an S-rank?’

Crack—!

“Without your mana, you’re getting beaten by a student like me. Are you still an S-rank?”

Crack—!

“Since Se-hee went to the Academy, you must have been worried sick. Why don’t you have your precious Shin Se-hee’s mana to suck up anymore? As soon as you heard that Se-hee had gone out, you rushed out like a madwoman, didn’t you, you crazy b*tch?!”

Crack—!

The world around Shin Se-hee, once so solid and unshakeable, now seemed to have cracks everywhere, as if it would collapse with just a nudge.

And for the first time, her eyes fell on her unfamiliar sister.

A woman who relentlessly pushed herself without a moment’s rest.

A woman who hurt her with an emotionless, expressionless face.

A woman who looked down on her as if she was insignificant.

A woman who always tried to take everything, as if it were hers to take, and control it all from above.

That woman.

That was Shin Su-yeon.

“You, you don’t know who I am?!”

“Yeah! F*ck! I’m Shin Su-yeon! Shin Su-yeon of the Shin family!!!”

“My family won’t let you get away with this!!!”

In a miserable state, she crawled on the floor like a worm, screaming and wailing.

Bringing up her name and the family’s name.

This was…

Truly…

A pathetically pitiful sight.

“Huh?”

Shin Se-hee opened her mouth and let out a ridiculous, hollow laugh.

Crack—!

At that moment, Jin Yuha whispered something to Shin Su-yeon.

And suddenly, Shin Su-yeon’s head turned, and their eyes met.

Clang—

With a sound like something completely breaking.

The solid world that enveloped Shin Se-hee’s mind shattered to pieces.

‘My sister… is afraid of me…?’

.

.

.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No.”

Shin Su-yeon, unable to accept that the magic absorption artifact was broken, curled up and trembled.

“Hmm, should I consider this good luck…?”

I had stepped in after concluding that I could handle it, knowing that she would be at her weakest when she first appeared.

‘This kid is weakest when she first shows up.’

Shin Se-hee’s personal story, “The Circus Elephant,” begins with Shin Su-yeon’s entrance.

Shin Su-yeon had been an S-rank Hunter abroad, consuming the mana sent by the Shin  family. But at some point, the quality of the mana they sent had dropped drastically.

The reason for this misfortune was none other than Shin Se-hee’s enrollment in the Academy, which meant that she could no longer receive high-quality mana.

So, Shin Su-yeon had appeared, targeting Se-hee’s outing day to extract her mana.

‘In the community, people were saying that if you just caught Shin Su-yeon at her first appearance, you could skip the personal story line, and here I am, doing just that.’

Of course, I don’t regret stepping in.

It was supposed to be a given that Se-hee would return to the family at this point. And upon returning home, a ten-episode long sweet potato episode awaited her. (sweet potato leave the mouth stuffy, so it’s frustrating eating them. So a sweet potato episode is a frustrating and painful story. It’s a popular Korean saying)

‘She would despair at realizing that she couldn’t escape the family even by running to the Academy, become mentally and physically exhausted from the gaslighting of her family and sister, and her mana would continue to be sucked away…’

Indeed, my intervention was a hundred times better.

However, I was feeling a bit ambiguous because I was wondering if this was okay.

After all, this process was supposed to happen gradually.

As Shin Se-hee attended Velvet Academy and met truly strong people, her perspective broadened. Returning to the family, she would feel a sense of dissonance.

As she endured the sweet potato episodes, the dissonance would intensify, and eventually, she would realize that she didn’t have to take this lying down.

So, the overall plot was about Shin Se-hee breaking free from her shell and taking sweet revenge on the family that had oppressed her.

‘I wonder how Se-hee will react.’

I glanced at her.

She looked at Shin Su-yeon with dazed eyes and then trudged towards me.

“Jin Yuha…”

Shin Se-hee called my name with a trembling voice.

“Um, first… just one thing. Just one thing first.”

“Go ahead and ask.”

Shin Se-hee looked at Shin Su-yeon and then turned away.

“Is Shin Su-yeon… weakened?”

She asked, her eyes pleading for me to say yes.

They were full of desperation.

But I shook my head.

“No.”

“Was she always… weak from the beginning?”

“Yeah.”

“Weaker than me…?”

I nodded, affirming her question.

Shin Se-hee bit her lip.

“Jin Yuha…”

She seemed to be holding back something. She closed her eyes.

Perhaps the memories of what she had endured were flashing through her mind.

“I actually have a lot of other things I want to say right now…”

She slowly opened her eyes.

“But before that.”

Suddenly, Shin Se-hee rushed towards me and hugged me.

“Just let me stay like this for a moment… please.”

‘Well, her mental state seems to have taken quite a hit.’

I slowly patted Shin Se-hee’s back as she buried her face in my shoulder and trembled.