Ch.10Chapter 10

I got a phone. I couldn’t read the text, but I could still figure out what was for calls and what was the menu by looking at the icons.

As soon as I received it, the Professor took my phone and saved her number, which at least made it possible for me to answer calls.

“Look, when a call comes in, it’ll appear like this. This is my number, so remember it well, okay?”

“How do you read this?”

“…Professor. That’s what Ourr calls me every day.”

I stared at the letters quietly. Even if I couldn’t read them, I could at least remember their shapes. I guess this was the first step in learning to read.

I felt awkward asking the already busy Professor about everything, but now that I thought I could properly learn from someone, I felt a little excited.

Lying on the sofa, I held the phone tightly in both hands and stared endlessly at the screen. It was filled with strange letters that made me feel like I was in a foreign country. Well, anywhere outside Korea would be foreign, but still. Foreign land? Alien world? Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

“Oh, right. I should save Sera’s phone number too.”

I sat up abruptly. I pressed the contacts button with my finger, but that’s where I stopped.

Which button is for adding a new number?

“……”

The Professor was smiling as she headed toward the kitchen, but after hesitating for a moment, I urgently called out for help.

“…Professor!!”

The Professor came back with a wry smile, as if she couldn’t help it. Then she handed me a piece of paper.

Though it was too much to teach me properly, she seemed to have no problem giving me some light guidance as she wrote something diligently on the paper.

“First, this is the button to add a new number, and this is Sera’s number that Ourr told you before. And this… these are the numbers from 0 to 9, so try to memorize them well.”

“Yes. Got it.”

I nodded. I thought it wouldn’t take long to memorize ten numbers even if they were unfamiliar letters, so I engraved each character in my mind.

0, 1, 2, 3…

After staring at them for a while, I opened the keyboard and searched for those symbols. I spent time tapping, deleting, and repeating, then checking if they matched Sera’s number.

So this is Sera’s number. And the phone number system is somewhat similar yet different.

As I was thinking about that, another daunting moment approached.

“Pro-Professor! How do I type ‘Sera’?”

When I approached the Professor who was cooking in the kitchen and asked, she seemed to realize she’d forgotten something and took my phone. Since the Professor had taken the paper she’d given me earlier, I had no choice but to rely completely on her for the letters.

“Sorry, I only wrote down the number.”

The Professor smiled wryly and typed the letters in the field. I looked at those letters quietly and then looked back up at the Professor.

“Is this read as ‘Sera’?”

“That’s right. Se-ra.”

“Se-ra.”

I followed the Professor, reading each letter, and then pressed the save button below. I nodded. As soon as I got a phone, I filled it with two contacts.

Thinking about it, I realized I hadn’t exchanged contact information with Karen, whom I knew better, which made me tilt my head in confusion.

“Professor, where are you lecturing tomorrow?”

“I have one in the morning for first-year students.”

Morning, first-year students. I wasn’t sure exactly what department Karen was in, but since she was researching magic, I thought she might have signed up for lectures about Demon Gods. If I had known this would happen, I should have asked her at the entrance ceremony instead of worrying now.

For now, that was it for today. Since there was no way to suddenly find out someone’s contact information without knowing it, I decided to do what I could do now.

I went into the contacts.

Professor, Sera. I could tell them apart right away because they differed in the number of characters.

“…Se-ra.”

I deliberately read it aloud as part of my reading practice. The Professor was staring at me, which made me feel a bit self-conscious.

“…Pro-fes-sor.”

Only then did the Professor smile. It seemed she had been waiting for me to call her. Having overcome this small hurdle, I returned to the living room, leaving the cooking Professor behind.

Plopping down on the sofa, I held my phone and pressed Sera’s contact. I didn’t know much else, but at least the call and text buttons were clear enough to understand. When I pressed it firmly, the screen changed completely, and a connecting tone started to sound.

After confirming it was connecting, I flopped back onto the sofa. I quietly looked at the ceiling while listening to the ringing sound. It was the perfect environment for zoning out.

Click.

[Hello? Who is this?]

“Is this Sera?”

[…Yes, but who is this…?]

A voice tinged with wariness came through, probably because she was receiving a call from an unknown number. The gap between the smooth-talking Sera and the wary Sera seemed somehow funny to me, and I chuckled as I spoke.

“It’s me, Ourr.”

I introduced myself with a chuckle. Then, from the other end of the phone, there was silence as if she had just realized something. While I was giggling alone in the silence, an excited voice continued from the other end, as if she hadn’t expected me to call like this.

[Oh, I didn’t expect you to contact me like this! Is this Ourr’s number?]

“Yeah, the Professor bought it for me earlier.”

[Right. You said you were with the Professor… So? Are you calling to let me know you saved my number?]

“Mmm, that, and also to tell you to save my number? I know Sera’s number, but Sera doesn’t know mine.”

I conveyed what seemed obvious to me.

When I didn’t have a separate number, it was fine whatever I did because there was no contact information I could give. But if I had contact information and didn’t share it, it would be awkward to explain later when we met, and I wanted to avoid that situation.

Besides, I already had Sera’s number, so there was no reason to wait until next Tuesday.

[Hmm, so you’re saying you wanted to hear my voice that badly?]

“…No. I just called to give you my number. I’m going to hang up now.”

When I said that so firmly, an urgent voice came through.

[Wait! Are you really going to hang up like this?]

“Yeah, we don’t have anything to talk about anyway, right?”

[The Professor said before that you’re equipment.]

“Yeah.”

[So when can I borrow you?]

“…Huh?”

My mind went blank for a moment. I had been granted permission to become equipment and follow the Professor’s lectures diligently. But I had never thought about being lent to others because I was equipment.

My brain froze at Sera’s words, and I started to seriously consider what she said.

Right? If I’m equipment, can I be borrowed? But what do I do if I’m borrowed…? I thought I would just follow the Professor around, but should I ask the Professor about this?

After various thoughts, I concluded that I couldn’t decide on my own.

“I don’t know! I’ll ask the Professor and get back to you!”

I jumped up and ran back to the kitchen. The Professor was doing a fire show with a frying pan. It wasn’t a fire show from wok tossing, but more like a fire show using a ladle.

Does she have a flamethrower attached?

No, that’s not what I came to see.

“Professor, Professor.”

“Yes? Ourr, what’s wrong?”

When I called urgently, the Professor paused and looked at me. I slightly showed her the screen of the phone in my hand. After letting her know I was on a call with Sera, I carefully asked.

“Um, Sera is asking if she can borrow me since I’m equipment, is there a specific time for that?”

“Hmm, well, you’re definitely a student, so she can borrow you… but not when I have lectures. I need to introduce you each time, so…”

The Professor wore a serious expression as if thinking about her schedule. After wiping her hands on her apron, she took the phone from me.

“Sera, when do you want to borrow Ourr? Tomorrow? Well… I have a lecture for first-years in the morning, so come to my research lab after lunch in the afternoon and take her. But you must bring her back properly.”

It seemed Sera had persuaded the Professor well.

I thought this would allow me to study reading with Sera, as well as work on magic formulation to grow my body. As I grinned, the Professor looked at me and smiled wryly.

“Hello?”

[Ourr, I’ve made a reservation, so I’ll see you tomorrow?]

“Okay, I’ll hang up now?”

[Yes, good night!]

“Good night.”

I ended up saying good night before I knew it. We weren’t originally that kind of relationship, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was going along with Sera’s atmosphere.

I pressed the back button and turned off the phone screen. The Professor looked at me and asked quietly.

“Do you like Sera?”

“…Well, I think she’ll teach me how to read, and she said before that she’d help me with magic formulation…”

“I see. Tell me if anything difficult happens while you’re there.”

“I will.”

I nodded at the Professor’s words. Then the Professor smiled and patted my head firmly. I felt dizzy and staggered as my head was patted so vigorously that my vision shook.

And before I fell, I leaned against the Professor.

“Did you get dizzy?”

“…Yes.”

“I see.”

Without apologizing, the Professor just slightly embraced me. I wondered if the Professor was the type who gets lonely easily. They say people who get lonely often tend to hug others.

Of course, I’m not saying my knowledge is correct, but that’s just how I felt.

No matter how strong or smart the Professor was, she was alone, so I wondered if she was filling that void with me.

Still, since I couldn’t do without the Professor, I was willing to do this much if she needed me.

“Professor…”

“What is it?~”

When I carefully spoke up, the Professor responded gently, as if she thought I was going to act spoiled.

“Something’s burning.”

“Oh, what am I thinking!”

The Professor immediately let go of me and began putting all her effort into saving the burning food in the frying pan.