Ch.7470 – The Way to School

A chaotic morning.

Thanks to staying up late last night, I missed my alarm and woke up late.

I barely managed to tame my messy hair with a brush and hurriedly changed into my school uniform.

“Professor Cheon, are you going somewhere today?”

“Ah, I’m planning to stop by the school to meet some professor colleagues. Want me to drop you off at the academy?”

“I’m meeting my friends to go together. Just up ahead.”

“Haha, alright then. The weather’s still chilly, so be careful not to catch a cold!”

We parted ways as I went to the first floor and he headed to the basement in the elevator.

Outside, the weather was definitely gloomy with strong winds and dark clouds hanging overhead.

Many students besides me were chattering loudly as they headed to school.

“Hey Name! Did you wait long?”

Han Seo-ri waved her hand as she ran toward me.

“Hi Seo-ri.”

“No, no! It’s ‘Hey Seo-ri!’ like this!”

She brought her right hand to her head and then stretched her arm high into the sky.

If she had brought her left hand to her stomach, it would have been a perfect Nazi salute, but fortunately, Nazi Germany didn’t exist in this world.

Ji-hye, who came running shortly after, also greeted me.

“Don’t run ahead like that…! Hi Name, did you have a good weekend?”

“Hi Ji-hye. Yeah, I’m just a bit tired from staying up late yesterday.”

“Really? I overslept today too, and my dad woke me up when he was leaving for work. I got scolded though…”

“Hmm, scolded? Just for oversleeping?”

Seo-ri’s eyes widened. Ji-hye pouted her lips, expressing her sense of injustice.

“My dad is pretty strict… Don’t you think scolding for that is too much?”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t know since I’ve never overslept.”

“What are you talking about! Seo-ri, you’re always late because you oversleep!”

“But I came out early today!”

“Ack!”

Seo-ri tickled Ji-hye’s neck and ran away.

Ji-hye put down her backpack and chased after her, determined to get revenge.

“Hey hey hey! Using aura while running is cheating! Aaahhh!”

“If I catch you, I’ll tickle you back. No mercy!”

Where do they get all that energy from? Growing children can’t control their strength and run around everywhere.

I guess I’ll carry Ji-hye’s backpack to the main gate for now.

The routine of Ji-hye coming through the back gate of the apartment complex to meet Seo-ri first, and then joining me, had continued unchanged for two weeks.

Judging by Seo-ri’s laughter, she must have been caught by Ji-hye.

“Ahh! Just the neck… just the neck! Not the armpits!”

“No way. More, more.”

“Ji-hye, stop… stop…! Name, help! Save me!”

“Oh right, my backpack!”

“I brought it here.”

“Aww thank you so much! I feel so bad… should I carry yours to school?”

“No need to go that far.”

“Am I invisible here? That’s so mean!”

After passing through the main gate, we walked along the main road.

Since all cars ran on electricity, a world without exhaust fumes was pleasant.

While Seo-ri and Ji-hye continued to bicker, I couldn’t stop thinking about Adella.

It was much more likely that Adella would become stronger than Jin Chronicle than me destroying 108 ice pillars.

But with so little time until the boss battle, was training her really the right path?

I wouldn’t know until I tried.

“Huh? What’s up, Name?”

Seo-ri asked as she noticed me stopping near the bus stop.

“I’m supposed to walk to school with another classmate. Do you want to wait and all go together?”

“Are they coming by bus?”

“Yeah, they’ll be here soon.”

“Then let’s wait! We still have plenty of time.”

“Who are we waiting for? Someone from your class?”

“I thought we were your only close friends, Name!”

Just as I was about to answer them, the bus arrived and people poured out.

Since this was a stop with a subway station, it took quite a while for everyone to get off.

And I’m not sure if this should even be called a bus…

It was an articulated bus with two carriages connected by two gateways, capable of easily accommodating over 100 people.

After a while, a red-haired girl squeezed out between a pot-bellied office worker and a long-haired high school boy, finally setting foot on the ground.

She looked around, checked her clothes, and retied her shoelaces.

“Good morning, Yu-na.”

“Huh? Oh, NoName!”

A girl who always gave off a gloomy vibe like today’s weather due to her family circumstances.

Today, a smile didn’t leave her expression.

“Hehe, hi! It’s been a while since I took the bus at this time, and I nearly died because it was so crowded. If it’s going to be like this, I’d rather just walk to school.”

Yu-na said with a short sigh.

“What, Seo Yu-na?”

“Oh, so it’s Yu-na. Hi…?”

Seo-ri and Ji-hye looked back and forth between Yu-na and me with awkward expressions.

An uncomfortable atmosphere flowed between the four of us.

Since we couldn’t be late for school, I had no choice but to push everyone along.

“Seo Yu-na, didn’t you dislike Name?”

“When did I ever say that? I really like Name.”

“Are you feeling okay? You collapsed and went to the nurse’s office last week…”

“Yeah, Name treated me so I’m all better now.”

Seo Yu-na answered curtly while subtly emphasizing her friendship with me.

She suddenly grabbed my right hand and interlocked our fingers.

Not to be outdone, Han Seo-ri grabbed my left wrist.

Before the atmosphere could get worse, I changed the subject.

“What did you do over the weekend, Yu-na? Is your mother doing better?”

“Yeah, I went on a picnic with my family after such a long time! The weather was so sunny yesterday, and mom really enjoyed it. Did you go straight home after being discharged, Name?”

“Something like that.”

“Discharged? Were you hurt somewhere?”

“It’s nothing. Just cut my wrist a bit.”

“Let me see! Don’t tell me it’s the left one? It shouldn’t be the left… I grabbed your wrist hard earlier!”

“Here, look. It’s all healed, I told you.”

I showed Seo-ri my wrist, which was completely healed without a trace of injury.

This is the advancement of modern medical magic, you fools.

“You should be more careful…! Deep wounds can leave marks later. My dad has lots of scars on his back and arms because of that.”

“That’s right, Ji-hye, you said your father is a detective, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, having a detective dad must make even mild scolding scary. Does he use judo techniques to take you down when he scolds you?”

“He doesn’t do that… He only scolds verbally. Though he has used judo techniques on me before.”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Leaving Seo-ri and Ji-hye momentarily buffering, I checked Yu-na’s complexion.

I didn’t notice earlier, but while her mouth was smiling, the corners of her eyes were drooping.

“Are you feeling bad?”

“No, I’m just a bit worried… Did it really not hurt back then?”

“If I complained about this level of pain, I’d never become an adult. I heard combat mages fight even with holes in their stomachs.”

“Huh? Is that what combat mages do? First time I’ve heard that.”

“Is it not?”

In my time, everyone fought like madmen.

Seems like they don’t do that here.

“Anyway, from today on, the four of us will walk to school together. Everyone got that?”

“Do we have to? I just want to walk with Name.”

“What are you saying? Name was walking with us first. You just came and butted in.”

“Name and I decided to be best friends from now on.”

“Who decided that?”

“Everyone stop arguing and let’s just walk. You can fight while walking, can’t you?”

Why do we keep stopping every now and then?

Ji-hye tried anxiously to mediate, but I signaled that there was no need.

“Why…?”

“People become close by fighting, you know.”

Especially at a young age.

Later when they become friends, they probably won’t even remember what they fought about.

That’s how Hiasen and I became friends.

In most cases, I was the one beating up Hiasen, though.

“Do you even know what Name likes?”

“O-Of course I do! Do YOU know what her hobbies are?”

“Let’s guess then. By what Name did yesterday.”

“Fine. I’ll go first. Name! Name!”

Yu-na asked me with expectant eyes.

“You practiced the otamatone yesterday, right? You said you’d play it for me later at school.”

“I did that the day before yesterday, but not yesterday.”

“Whyyy…?”

“I played too much at the hospital.”

Seo-ri barely managed to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

“My name is Han Seo-ri THE Nostradamus! I can know exactly what Name did yesterday!”

“Isn’t Nostradamus someone who knows the future, not the past…?”

“Ji-hye, shush! Ahem, anyway, hmmmm… I got it! Name studied magic yesterday!”

“Hey, what kind of hobby is that? That’s cheating. If you’re going to say it like that, I can guess correctly too.”

“It would be a hobby for Name, right? Right? Say it’s right, NoName!”

Seo-ri is sharper than I expected.

“But I didn’t study yesterday. I usually would have, though.”

“No way… Then what did you do yesterday?”

“I played a VR game.”

“Game? VR? You mean capsule games?”

“Yeah.”

“You play games too? Wow, I’m seeing you in a new light. That’s so cool.”

Yu-na was more surprised than Seo-ri, of course.

“What game is it?”

“Do you know World of Arsheria?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s the game Kim Han-gyeol plays. I know because he’s always talking about it. Don’t you need a capsule to play that?”

“Yeah. Why, do you want to play?”

“No… capsules are expensive…”

Yu-na walked dejectedly like a withered reed.

“Is she still trying to copy Name?”

“Yu-na is really persistent… Even after getting in trouble last week for taking the wrong medicine…”