Ch.4946 – Lilac

“Jaewang was looking for you, Yoon Si-hoo? You might want to avoid the hallways for a while.”

“Really? Thanks for letting me know.”

The rumor that Lee Ha-ru and Seo Yu-na had fought after midterms spread throughout the academy like wildfire.

The first-year Class C students’ complaints about Seo Yu-na grew day by day.

Eventually, pressured by his classmates, Ha-ru met with her privately as class president to give her a warning, but he never revealed what actually happened there.

It was clear a fistfight had occurred, but if that were officially acknowledged, both sets of parents would be immediately summoned—something Ha-ru feared.

Si-hoo wasn’t one to blindly believe rumors, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

He honestly wanted to avoid any contact with Seo Yu-na if possible.

“Are you Yoon Si-hoo?”

But Yu-na won the patience tug-of-war.

Trying to hide the fact that he’d been deliberately avoiding her, Si-hoo replied casually.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“You got first place, right?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Let’s go through the ‘Magic Records’ exam together from the beginning.”

But what came out of Seo Yu-na’s mouth was unexpected.

She wasn’t trying to mock him.

She genuinely wanted to review the exam questions with him.

So Si-hoo chose to lie, saying he’d left his test papers at home.

After all, discussing midterms with a complete stranger seemed ridiculous.

“That’s fine. I’ve memorized all the questions. You have too, right?”

But she didn’t give him an escape route.

This was Yoon Si-hoo and Seo Yu-na’s first meeting.

* * *

“This is the last one already. Objective question 18.”

“That was about choosing a magic circle with mana consumption greater than 110/3 but less than 290/7, right?”

“I ran out of time and couldn’t solve it. Which answer did you choose?”

“Number 1.”

“That’s correct! How did you figure it out?”

Yu-na grabbed Si-hoo’s shoulders excitedly.

Every time Si-hoo got right an answer that Yu-na had gotten wrong, she would wait for his explanation with this same enthusiasm.

This was the last day of their week-long routine during every break period.

She had visited Class A without fail, and Si-hoo couldn’t bring himself to dampen her enthusiasm.

“Normally, you’d need to find a magic circle with mana consumption in the low 40s. You don’t consider the late 30s.”

“Why not? Couldn’t it be 37, 38, or 39?”

“If you do prime factorization, the prime numbers become too large. The magic circles in options 1 through 5 couldn’t be that simple.”

“What’s prime factorization?”

“Well, it’s…”

*Ding dong dang dong*

The bell rang, signaling the start of Friday’s last class.

But today, Yu-na couldn’t return to her classroom.

She couldn’t bear to postpone learning about this “prime factorization” concept until next week.

On the other hand, she looked pitiful, fidgeting like a puppy, knowing she needed to hurry back before the teacher arrived.

“Why don’t you come to my house after school? I’ll teach you then.”

“Huh…?”

Yu-na froze in place at his casual invitation.

* * *

“Si-hoo, what’s this about? Bringing a friend home to study?”

“Well, she didn’t do so well on the midterms, so we’re reviewing together. I need to keep my first place for finals too…”

“Your name is Seo Yu-na? Where do you live?”

“I… I…”

“We’re about to start. Could you please leave us alone?”

“This kid, always so dramatic. Well, study hard.”

When the door closed, Si-hoo breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn’t exactly lying to his mother, but something still made him feel guilty.

Neither Si-hoo nor Yu-na had ever invited a friend over or been invited to someone’s house before.

Moreover, they were just first graders, at an age where acknowledging a friend of the opposite gender was still embarrassing, making the situation awkward.

“Thanks… for not telling her where I live.”

“My mom’s the weird one for asking so directly.”

“…”

“Is your seat uncomfortable?”

“No! Not at all.”

Yu-na waved her hands frantically.

There was nothing wrong with the cushion she was sitting on.

When she first entered Si-hoo’s room, she could somewhat understand what Ha-ru had said.

This single room was larger than her entire home.

Here, she didn’t need to fold blankets, clear away clutter, or set up a dinner table to study.

There was a bed and a desk large enough for someone to lie down on.

“Shall we start studying?”

“Yeah…”

“Should I explain prime factorization first?”

Prime factorization was something taught in middle school at other schools.

Si-hoo could handle such difficult concepts with ease.

He was different from Ha-ru and Kim Han-gyeol.

The knowledge Yoon Si-hoo had accumulated was like a towering mountain.

Yu-na’s mind was too overwhelmed to absorb Si-hoo’s explanation.

“Are you listening?”

“Yoon Si-hoo, do you really think about all this when taking midterms?”

It wasn’t entirely an innocent question.

Her brain simply couldn’t process what he was explaining.

Every time Yu-na felt the gap between them, she felt dizzy.

“No?”

But surprisingly, Si-hoo’s answer was negative.

“Actually, I guessed on question 18 too.”

“What?!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought you were explaining how you solved everything!”

“You guessed on questions 16 and 17 and got them right. I can get one right by guessing too.”

“And here I was thinking…!”

Yu-na’s eyes welled up with tears.

But she wasn’t sad.

Rather, finding the situation so absurd, she brushed away her tears and let out a small laugh.

“I almost thought you were a machine, not a person!”

From crying to laughing now.

Si-hoo was bewildered by her unusual reaction, but also found her humanity endearing, and the corners of his mouth naturally turned upward.

In Si-hoo’s judgment, Yu-na had a pretty smile, and her red hair was attractive too.

She was the type who would be popular regardless of gender, which made Si-hoo unable to understand why she was being ostracized by her classmates.

If anything, he felt disappointed that today would be their last conversation.

“Thanks to your help, I think I’ll do well on the finals too.”

I wish we could talk a little longer.

Si-hoo cautiously asked.

“Now that we’ve gone through the exam, are you heading home?”

“What? No way!”

Yu-na pulled out two more books and another stack of test papers from her bag.

“Basic Runes! This is next, right? I’m counting on you.”

She naturally urged Si-hoo to start, saying there was still much to do.

What a relief.

“Sure, I’m counting on you too.”

* * *

“Ugh…”

“Are you awake? If you’re dizzy, you can rest more, or you can leave early without reporting. The homeroom teacher gave permission.”

Seo Yu-na’s vision showed translucent bugs crawling on the white ceiling.

After rubbing her eyes once more, the bugs disappeared completely, and she realized she had woken up in the infirmary.

It felt like she had simultaneously had a bad dream and a good dream, but she couldn’t remember the details.

“I can just go?”

“Yes, thank you for taking care of me.”

She gathered her backpack and coat, thanked the nurse, and checked the time.

[14:50]

It was late enough that most students had already gone home.

“Cough, cough.”

A sudden cough made her heart sink, fearing a recurrence of the nightmare of drinking an unknown potion, but fortunately, she didn’t taste anything more bitter than medicine.

As she moistened her dry lips with her tongue, the memory of when she collapsed came back, making her face flush hot.

[Seo Yu-na. Can you hear me?]

[I’m going to put my finger in your mouth. Don’t bite down if it hurts, okay?]

When something probed inside her mouth, she felt scared first.

It was like the fear of unknown medical devices poking around when you close your eyes at the dentist.

But soon, a mysterious energy spread throughout her body, and Yu-na’s pain subsided considerably.

‘It felt like all the pain was just a dream.’

[Just bear with it a little longer. You’ll be fine.]

‘What was that…?’

The hand stroking her face was as warm and comforting as her mother’s… and she missed it.

She shook her head to clear these stray thoughts.

‘I’m probably dizzy because I haven’t been eating enough. I should at least eat more lunch from now on.’

Crossing the school garden, Yu-na stood still in front of a lilac flower bed that someone had carefully planted along the school building.

These were flowers that first-year students had planted with their parents during the entrance ceremony.

In this same spot, Yu-na had planted a flower last year.

She had written a wish to successfully graduate from the academy and planted it carefully with her brother.

But lilacs release their intense fragrance in spring, then disappear as winter approaches after summer ends.

And their place would be taken by the wishes of next year’s first-graders.

When you become accustomed to daily life and settle in, it’s easy to forget your original purpose.

That’s why Yu-na now disliked the pungent-smelling lilacs.

“You! Are you crazy?!”

A sudden shout was enough to wake Yu-na from her reverie.

A faint light leaked from the building across the flower bed.

She was drawn into the building as if entranced.

Perhaps she was intoxicated by the lilac scent.

Curiosity, and a small deviation.

Having already missed one class, she walked without hesitation.

Yu-na witnessed the secretary leaving the room with a deeply furrowed brow.

‘Was she scolded by someone important at the academy?’

But there was still someone in the room.

[It’s been a while since such an outstanding talent entered the academy, ho ho!]

A room within a room structure.

Yu-na pressed herself against one wall, listening to what was being said inside.

The original room had been divided by a non-soundproof partition, so the voices reached Yu-na’s ears unfiltered.

[Student, why did your friend need magic anesthesia? What kind of medicine did she take?]

[She unknowingly drank a potion.]

“…!”

It was NoName’s voice.

‘Why is NoName here?’

[Potion…? You mean the kind military mages drink?]

[You sound just like Professor Cheon. Yes, that’s right.]

[Ah…]

‘What’s a military mage?’

Unfortunately, Yu-na couldn’t understand all the words with her limited knowledge.

The conversation paused there.

Yu-na tried to calm her racing heart, afraid she might have been discovered.

[NoName, you too… work hard at school.]

‘I’ll be caught at this rate! Where can I hide…?’

Yu-na squeezed her small body between stacks of empty tangerine boxes kept for recycling.

Soon, the counseling room door opened, and a stern-looking man came out, fumbling for cigarettes in his pocket.

Yu-na finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Terminal illness… how unfortunate.”

But the middle-aged gentleman’s casual mutter,

“Terminal illness…?”

Was enough to trigger her buried trauma once again.