System: There's Something Wrong With My System.-Chapter 51 - Like a Prologue

That night, Mikail performed several songs.

One was a piece he had written himself, soft, emotional, raw. The rest were viral hits, the kind everyone knew, but only he could make feel new. Each note, each word, resonated in the quiet air of the café, threading through the hearts of everyone listening.

By the time the café neared closing, the applause still hadn’t faded.

As Mikail stepped off the stage, he was immediately swarmed.

Not by monsters.

Not by Shadows.

But by fans, overwhelmingly female, overwhelmingly excited.

Phones were out. Voices rose in chorus:

"Can we get a picture?!"

"Sign this for me, please!"

"Wait! Just one more selfie!"

Mikail, ever polite, smiled and obliged. After all, it was his first time experiencing something like this. What harm could a few pictures and autographs do?

But that was the mistake.

He underestimated himself.

The problem wasn’t just that he was handsome, his features had subtly refined over time, sharpened by Mana, discipline, and intense training(fighting). The real issue was the combination:

A face sculpted like a top model.

A voice that could melt hearts.

A presence that couldn’t be ignored.

Mikail had unknowingly become the hottest man on the Internet. A living phenomenon.

And so, what began as a few polite fan requests turned into an ever-growing crowd.

The line didn’t shrink, it expanded.

At first, Mikail took it in stride, signing napkins, taking photos, laughing awkwardly when someone asked for his number (he didn’t give it). But as the minutes stretched into nearly an hour and the crowd only got thicker, reality caught up.

He was in trouble.

The café staff, recognizing the rising chaos, had to act fast. Two baristas and a very annoyed Melisa coordinated a small operation, disguising Mikail with a spare hoodie, guiding him through the kitchen exit, and smuggling him out the back like some kind of underground celebrity.

Even then, someone spotted him and tried to follow, phone camera in hand.

The chase was short. Lynn had "accidentally" spilled a mop bucket at just the right time.

Back in the alley, out of breath and slightly dazed, Mikail leaned against the wall and sighed.

"...What the hell just happened?"

From behind, Hugo’s voice echoed with a chuckle.

"Welcome to stardom, kid. Try not to die from it..."

He paused, grinning as he stepped closer. "...But I don’t think your problem’s over, kid."

Mikail blinked, still catching his breath. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Hugo didn’t answer right away. Instead, he flicked his gaze past Mikail, gesturing with a slight tilt of his head.

Mikail followed his glance and froze.

There she was.

Moona.

Standing a few feet away in the alley entrance, arms crossed tightly, lips pressed into a thin line, and eyes narrowed beneath furrowed brows.

Sulking.

"...Moona?"

She didn’t reply.

Mikail took a step forward. "...Are you okay, Moon?"

Still no answer. Her expression didn’t change, but the silence said more than words.

Mikail turned slightly toward Hugo, eyebrows raised.

Hugo didn’t speak. He just mouthed one word:

’Jealous’

Mikail stared at him, then back at Moona. "...Wait, seriously?"

That earned him a sharper glare from her.

He scratched the back of his head, clearly panicking now. "Uh... okay, so... the crowd thing? That wasn’t my fault, you know. I mean, I didn’t ask them to scream and line up and-"

"...And take selfies," Moona cut in, her tone flat.

"Okay, yeah, those too," Mikail admitted. "But come on, I didn’t even smile in most of them. I looked terrified"

She didn’t laugh. Just kept staring.

"...They were all girls," she muttered under her breath.

Mikail blinked. "What?"

"Nothing." Moona spun on her heel.

But before she could walk away, Mikail instinctively reached out and caught her wrist. Gently.

"Moona. Seriously. Don’t be mad"

She turned back halfway, not pulling away but not looking at him either.

"...I’m not mad," she said quietly. "I just-... I didn’t like how they looked at you. Like you were... theirs"

The alley fell silent again.

Mikail didn’t let go.

"...But I’m not theirs," he said. His voice was calm, honest. "I’m still here, right? With you"

That made her pause. Her fingers curled slightly in his grasp.

"...Idiot," she whispered.

Mikail smiled.

From behind them, Hugo pretended to gag dramatically. "Alright, alright, I’m leaving. I don’t have the stomach for romance right now. Call me if Shadows invade or if either of you proposes"

As he strolled off, Moona finally let out a soft laugh, barely audible.

"...Still an idiot," she muttered again.

But this time, her hand stayed in his.

--------

Far behind the scene, near the side of the alley, Melisa stepped out of the back door of the café, stretching her arms and letting the night air cool her flushed cheeks. She froze mid-stretch, eyes catching the small moment between Mikail and Moona.

Their hands.

Their expressions.

The vibe.

Melisa blinked.

"...Wha- did I miss an episode?" she muttered, her voice somewhere between disbelief and curiosity. "Are those two a thing now?"

Before she could finish processing it, a voice came from behind.

"What thing?"

Melisa jolted slightly as Lynn approached, her tone as calm and effortless as always, though her eyes scanned the scene with mild interest.

"And where did that bastard Hugo go again?"

"Vanished after pulling the classic ’I’m too cool for emotions’ move," Melisa replied absently, still watching Mikail and Moona. "But forget him for a second, seriously, did I blink and miss their whole romantic arc?"

Lynn followed her gaze, stopping beside her. For a moment, she was quiet, watching.

Then, softly, she said, "...It’s about time"

Melisa glanced at her, brow raised. "Wait, you saw it coming?"

"I’m the Harbinger of Water, Melisa," Lynn replied with a small smirk. "I notice the ripples before the splash"

"Ugh," Melisa groaned, rubbing her temples. "Was that a metaphor? That felt like a metaphor"

Lynn just hummed, eyes still fixed ahead.

"...Do you think he knows?" Melisa asked, more quietly now.

"Mikail?" Lynn replied, then shook her head. "No. He’s still too busy carrying the world to realize someone’s already offering to carry part of the burden for him"

Melisa’s expression shifted, the teasing fading to something gentler.

"...She’s gonna get hurt if he doesn’t figure it out"

"Yes," Lynn said simply. "But she’s also strong. Stronger than she looks"

Melisa glanced back at the scene one last time before sighing. "Love in the middle of Ragnarok. Great timing, huh?"

Lynn turned to leave, her voice drifting over her shoulder. "There’s never a perfect time for anything, Melisa. Only chances. The smart ones take them before the world ends"

Melisa blinked.

"...Wow. That’s deep"

"I know," Lynn called back. "Now, let’s go back. I want to borrow one of Grandma’s books. I thought only the grimoires from Valthavn could pique my interest... But it turns out Mikail’s grandmother has a whole library filled with research on Magic Theory, Applied Mana Constructs, and even Light Affinity Studies. Who is Mikaill’s grandmother really?"

Melisa raised an eyebrow as they walked. "Honestly? I’ve been wondering that too. She looks like a retired librarian but talks like someone who trained Archmages"

They exchanged a look. Then both muttered, at the same time:

"Suspicious"

--------

One Month Later

It had been a full month since the last breach.

No shadows.

No distortions.

No whispering from the veil.

Just a world too quiet.

Mikail should have felt relief. Most people did. The city had started moving forward. The streets were busy, the cafes, especially theirs were bustling.

But deep inside, Mikail couldn’t relax.

There was something about the silence that felt... wrong.

Like the breath before a scream.

So, he didn’t waste the calm. With his SP maxed out and no longer restricted by cost, Mikail maxed every combat-related skill in the system, swordsmanship, reflexes, Mana control, perception, resilience, even obscure things. Anything that might help him when things turned bad again.

And he didn’t stop there.

He trained.

Relentlessly.

First with Melisa and Moona, until sparring with them became practice in holding back rather than fighting.

Then Hugo. The Harbinger of Fire never held back, and yet, even he had to admit one day, after being knocked flat on his back during a spar:

"...Tch. If this were real, you would’ve burned right through me"

Mikail just offered a hand to help him up. "I still can’t touch your flames if you go full-force"

"Yeah," Hugo said with a grunt. "But you don’t need to. You cut through them"

But even as his physical power skyrocketed, Mikail noticed something else, his growth with light was... difficult. No amount of SP could max it instantly.

In short, brute force wasn’t enough.

And so Lynn stepped in.

Her mastery over water, the most fluid and adaptive of the Harbinger elements, made her uniquely suited to guiding others through their own flow.

"Light isn’t about domination," she told him one day, standing with him atop the rooftop under a bleeding sunset. "It’s about presence. Understanding. Acceptance. Even the brightest flame casts a shadow, but true light isn’t afraid of what it reveals"

Mikail frowned. "Then how do I grow it?"

"By not forcing it," she said gently. "You need to feel it. Accept it. Find your center"

They practiced together almost every day after that. Meditation, resonance exercises, combat training laced with elemental guidance. Lynn was strict but not cold. In her, Mikail found a teacher who didn’t just push him, but understood him.

Under her tutelage, Mikail began to understand that Light wasn’t just power. It was a truth. A burden. A choice.

And piece by piece... he was growing into it.

But that unease inside him never faded.

Each time he looked up at the sky, clear, cloudless, he could feel it.

Something was coming.

Something huge.

Something that would make everything so far... look like a prologue.

....

...

..

.