"Mom, I'm off to school!" Jung Ji Yoon bade her mother goodbye while planting a kiss on her mother's cheek and waved her hand as she happily went out of the door. Meanwhile, her mother could only smile wryly at her daughter's behavior and similarly waved her hand as goodbye.

Normal high school girls would be rebellious and bored to death at such a daily routine of going to the school, but Ji Yoon was a different case. She was very glad to have such a normal and uneventful life. After all, her previous life was too bizzare and horrifyingly absurd that she could only be grateful and nothing else toward her current life.

As she stepped out of the door and proceeded to the gate, she found a very suspicious man standing there. Ji Yoon eyed him, making sure that he was not going to disrupt her day in any way. She carefully made her way to the gate and opened it before hurriedly closing it in fear that the man was some kind of criminal hoping to rob her house. Well, there was the other possibility that the man was targeting her but it escaped her mind for a second.

After that, she tried to ignore the man's presence but the man approached her without her permission. Ji Yoon unconsciously took a step back.

Seeing this, the man stopped his advance before bowing as a greeting to Ji Yoon. This action made her very perplexed.

"Uh, who are you? Have we met somewhere before?" She could only tilt her head as she felt that the man had a familiar aura, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, she just could not recall encountering someone like him.

The man only smiled and said, "We, of the Black Arts Academy, has been waiting for your coming of age. Jung Ji Yoon, you as a witch candidate has been selected to join the academy. Please accept this letter of invitation." The man then pulled out an envelope that likely contained the aforementioned letter from his chest pocket.

Hearing the things that could only be regarded as nonsense in normal society, Ji Yoon's mind went blank. To normal people, they would only treat the man as a crazy person who could not differentiate between reality and fantasy, however, to Ji Yoon, his words meant serious trouble.

Without a second thought, she shouted, "No way will I accept such an invitation!" and immediately rejected it at once.

This was no longer disrupting her day, but disrupting her entire peaceful life. She did not want anything to do with magic, forbidden arts or anything that had fantasy element in any way possible.

The scene where the Hunters relentlessly pursued her like mad dogs and the many sleepless nights that went without meals made her shudder as her face turned pale. Furthermore, when she had finally been captured by them, she suffered such a painful death that even now with her current life, she still had nightmares about it. 

She would not just wait in front of the gate now that her life was at stake. She no longer paid any attention to the man as she immediately turned her heels to run away. 

"Ah, miss, wait! Don't run away!" The man was caught in surprise as he was late in responding to Ji Yoon's fleeing. He hurriedly gave chase.

'Only an idiot will wait!' Ji Yoon secretly thought as she picked up her running pace.

She ran and ran, all the while turning at the junctions and places that were hard to find until she could not hear the man's footsteps anymore.She stopped at a secluded alleyway to catch her breath and turned her head around.

'Did I lose him?' Ji Yoon foolishly thought before turning her head back to the front. But what greeted her was, "Ah!" the tired face of the man who chased her. With the surprised shriek, her legs involuntarily gave out as she fell to the ground.

"Miss Jung Ji Yoon. Please do not run away. It is your fate to become a witch. Your parents already knew and had consented on this matter." The man spoke while helping Ji Yoon to get up.

"My parents did what?" She froze. Her parents did not say anything prior to this! Was she really bound to be a witch, persecuted and burnt on a stake yet again? No, she refused to accept such a thing! "Does that mean that I can't turn down this invitation or whatever? Even if I do accept, how does that benefit me in any way?" Ji Yoon asked warily. Depending on the man's answer, her fate of life and death could be decided.

"Technically speaking, you can turn down the offer to join the academy, however, your life could be put in a far more dangerous situation where you could not defend yourself. It would be better for the academy and for you if you were to accept." The man solemnly replied.

'I would still be hunted regardless of my choice?' Ji Yoon was not the smartest kid out there, but she could still see which option was better. 'If that's the case, it would be better to enter the academy and get some means of protection and I could learn some arts to defend myself... albeit them being forbidden." After she contemplated this much, despite her reluctance, she nodded her head heavily. After all, she had no other choice but to do so.

"All right, I will bring you to the academy immediately." The man also nodded in satisfaction and black smoke emerged and began to swirl in his hand.

Ji Yoon was not surprised; compared to the arts she saw and used back then, something of the man's caliber did not even make her twitch. She only had one question though, "What about my belongings?"

"The academy will send people to take care of it. Now, we shall be transfered to the academy grounds." As the man said that, the black smoke grew bigger as it engulfed both the man and Ji Yoon in darkness.

The next time she opened her eyes, a gigantic and gloomy-looking school building greeted her. Black clouds covered the sky; not a hint of the usual white fluffy clouds.

The man walked in front before he turned and faced Ji Yoon, "Welcome to the Black Arts Academy."