episode_0033

Last weekend, there were many happenings that truly couldn’t be explained in just a few words.

Nevertheless, Monday arrived. It was truly a terrible, wretched law of the world.

For some reason, whenever this time came, it felt like my eyes were closing 1.5 times more and my legs were exerting twice as much force, a delusion that wasn’t quite a delusion.

I furrowed my brow, suppressing a yawn that threatened to escape, and blinked my eyes.

Still, I managed to reach the Academy’s main building somehow, but for students, the agonizing time was only just beginning.

Among the Academy’s classes, about half were theoretical lessons helpful to mages, and the other half were not.

Right now, it was the latter. Unfortunately.

The possibility of connecting awakened individuals with non-combat professions?

I’m not going to get a job in some cold storage warehouse, am I? Besides, if I don’t contribute to awakened society after inheriting this outstanding ice magic, my Teacher-nim will beat me to death.

Likewise, Cheon Soyul won’t be scouted by places like Korea Electric Power Corporation either.

If I had my way, I’d just lie down and make up for my lack of sleep. If only the Pikachu sitting next to me wasn’t a symbol of diligence and exemplary behavior, I would have done just that.

Even if I just tried to lower my posture slightly, she’d uncannily notice and pinch my thigh.

In the end, I was half-forced to focus on class. I swear I’ll definitely repay this trivial grudge in bed…

About ten minutes later, the bell signaling the end of class rang out.

“…Phew, finally.”

I beamed and stretched.

It was lunchtime.

Turning my head slightly to check beside me, Cheon Soyul was still taking notes. Was there even anything to write down?

It didn’t matter. I immediately slipped both arms under Cheon Soyul’s armpits and yanked her up. Like pulling a radish.

“Huh….”

Cheon Soyul, who had inadvertently dropped her mechanical pencil, tilted her head back and glared at me with dissatisfaction.

“What is this?”

“Let’s go eat.”

“Later.”

“No, now.”

“Excuse me, why are you deciding when I eat…?”

Putting aside the meaningless bickering, I dragged Cheon Soyul along as we moved.

Of course, Cheon Soyul didn’t resist much after the first few words. She was easily pulled along.

That was when we were heading to the student cafeteria on the first floor.

Just as we turned down the corridor and were about to step onto the central staircase.

“…Ah.”

“Oh.”

We ran into Baek Ayun, who was trudging along with slumped shoulders.

In that brief moment, my gaze and hers intertwined with countless complexities.

“…Um, Ayun.”

It wasn’t me or Baek Ayun who spoke first. It was Cheon Soyul, behind me, who didn’t know how awkward and difficult this situation was.

Her expression wasn’t entirely comfortable either as she spoke, but that was probably unrelated to why I was standing awkwardly.

My rough guess was that the two girls’ last meeting (?) hadn’t been very peaceful.

Specifically, during the first ranking match after the start of the semester, that legendary 100% versus 0% confrontation…

According to Baek Ayun’s testimony, Cheon Soyul ignored her greeting and just unleashed the anti-monster annihilation magic ‘Heaven’s Punishment’ on her.

Naturally, it was upsetting for Baek Ayun, and it would be quite embarrassing from Cheon Soyul’s perspective too.

She did it because she was feeling very down, but frankly, it was no different from taking out her anger on someone, wasn’t it?

Given Cheon Soyul’s personality, even if she had forgotten for a moment, having met like this, she would definitely want to address it at some point.

“Ayun, um, last time I…”

Cheon Soyul, with a very apologetic expression, tentatively tried to speak.

And if nothing else were amiss, there would be no reason for Baek Ayun not to accept the apology.

“S-Sorry.”

“…Huh?”

Unfortunately, however, the situation wasn’t so simple this time.

At Baek Ayun’s sudden apology, Cheon Soyul froze with a surprised expression.

And Baek Ayun, after glancing at me once, immediately made a tearful face as if she had a guilty conscience, and scampered up the stairs.

“I’m sooooo sorry…!”

With a gradual, escalating shout, she vanished in a flash.

‘…Hmm.’

I glanced at Cheon Soyul’s face, feeling inexplicably like someone who had committed a crime.

As if speechless, her lips just twitched open and closed, unable to form words.

Such an expression on Cheon Soyul’s face was truly rare, but I couldn’t even think of it as a valuable sight and merely scratched my cheek.

And around then, Cheon Soyul stiffly turned back to me with a bewildered expression.

“Why…?”

“…Um.”

“Why, why is she running away…? No, of course I might have overdone it a bit back then, but is Ayun avoiding me now?”

“…”

“Ugh? Did I do something else wrong? Did I make her angry? Upset her? I-I don’t know. What else did I do without realizing it…?!”

Cheon Soyul, who had been panicking and holding her temples, suddenly gasped and stopped in her tracks.

She turned to me, pale with thought, and I, too, met her gaze with a serious expression.

Did she, by any chance, figure out the truth?

“The other day, I wrote a few posts on E-ta saying that melee classes are inferior to magic classes. Could it be because of that?”

“…”

It wasn’t.

More importantly, she actually wrote such posts. What internet privacy, truly befitting someone from an awakened noble family of mages.

I suppressed a hollow laugh that threatened to escape and spoke softly.

“I… I don’t think that’s it…”

“R-Right? That was quite a stretch.”

At my words, Cheon Soyul placed a hand on her chest and let out a soft sigh, seemingly relieved inwardly.

Then she began to ponder alone, tilting her head, ‘Then what was it…?’

I secretly wiped away cold sweat. In times like these, changing the subject was the best method.

“…If she has something to say, she’ll come find us later. How about we just go eat first?”

“Hmm.”

Cheon Soyul grumbled, sounding quite displeased, but she didn’t refuse my suggestion.

“Alright, let’s eat first and then think about it.”

She nodded, and I let out a chuckle, lightly teasing her.

“You really should’ve been gentler. The kid was completely intimidated.”

“…”

“Breaking news: Academy valedictorian crushes the only promising sprout of the martial arts class!”

“…Be quiet…”

Slightly deflated, she trailed behind me with sluggish steps.

Good, very natural. I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

Ding!

“?”

“?”

Cheon Soyul and I, without a word, both displayed question marks and, with identical movements, took out our smartphones to check them.

Soon, Cheon Soyul’s head tilted sideways.

“It’s not mine?”

“…”

I pressed my lips together.

Of course, if it wasn’t hers, the source of the vibration had to be my smartphone.

[Kiddo]

…But the moment I checked the sender’s name, I instinctively had to put my smartphone back.

‘Kiddo’ was the nickname of Baek Ayun, who had just fled the scene.

This was a message she sent at this very moment, at this very timing. Even if I didn’t know the exact content, it was clear what she would be referring to.

It had to be about last weekend, not any other time.

“Hmm.”

I very naturally put my smartphone back into my pocket and started walking again.

Carefully, one step, two steps. One stair, two stairs, three stairs, four stairs…

“Hey, what is it?”

“Gah.”

And immediately after, Cheon Soyul grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, stopping my escape.

There was no denying that my behavior was extremely suspicious.

And there was even less reason for Cheon Soyul not to notice such blatant odd behavior.

She squinted her eyes suspiciously and glared at the side of my face.

“You know what? Your earlobes twitch slightly whenever you lie, you know.”

“…I was wrong.”

“I think I’ll have to find out what you did wrong now. Would it be rude if I asked to see your smartphone?”

Of course, I wanted to answer, ‘Yes, it would be extremely rude,’ but that was difficult to do.

If I had known this would happen, I would have kept my mouth shut. Why did I have to be so annoyingly sarcastic?

“Give it here.”

Cheon Soyul wiggled her outstretched palm at me, and I miserably pressed my lips together.

I knew that if I flat-out refused, claiming privacy, she’d back down, given her personality, but…

It wasn’t such a big problem that I had to keep it hidden forever.

First, I placed my hand on her outstretched palm instead. Plop.

“…?”

Cheon Soyul’s eyebrows subtly twitched for a moment.

Soon, as if understanding my intention to wait a moment, she docilely nodded and began to mold my hand like clay.

And with my other hand, I operated my smartphone to check the message Baek Ayun had sent.

After a quick scroll, I concluded that, as expected, I couldn’t just show this to her.

It wasn’t a problem for Cheon Soyul to look at my smartphone, but this was a slightly different case.

I couldn’t just arbitrarily reveal private content that involved Baek Ayun as well, could I?

It was just a simple apology for what happened the day before, and a request to wait until she could visit in person soon, but…

Anyway, it would be better if I told her myself.

I turned to Cheon Soyul, who was in the middle of trying to do origami with my five fingers.

“Alright, I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Cheon Soyul nodded and replied.

Even then, she didn’t let go of my hand.

…Anyway, I continued speaking.

“A message just came in a moment ago.”

“Yes.”

“And it was from Baek Ayun.”

“Wow, that’s quite a coincidence.”

Cheon Soyul’s reaction was bland. In other words, she reacted as if she had already roughly expected it, a look of understanding.

Well, given the timing, it was only natural.

“…Phew.”

I swallowed a short groan. From now on, yes. I had to choose my words carefully from now on.

Just as I was painstakingly choosing my first words with a very serious demeanor.

Cheon Soyul lightly stepped on my foot and whispered in my ear.

“Did you lay hands on her?”

“…”

A soft voice.

But chilling.

I, speechless, avoided her gaze, and then Cheon Soyul took a deep breath as if suppressing a deep surge of anger rising from within her.

She twitched her fist and clenched it tight. Golden sparks extending from her forehead repeatedly slapped against my cheek.

Cheon Soyul then seemed to compose herself, muttering to herself, ‘This is my karma, my karma…’ as she took a step back from me.

Her movement was as if she reluctantly retreated, fearing she might hit me if she maintained the distance.

Cheon Soyul, pressing hard on her brows, finally parted her lips.

“…Right. So you were messing around with Ayun last weekend. I see. I have no right to interfere with your womanizing, so I won’t say any more…”

“Sunbae!!!”

And then, Ryu Seeun, who had suddenly burst out, yelled at me.

Not just Cheon Soyul, who had been speaking, but I too flinched in surprise and turned to look at her.

Ryu Seeun, who looked up at me from the bottom of the stairs, paused for a moment upon seeing Cheon Soyul, then ground her teeth as if it no longer mattered.

She, clutching her pelvis as if by habit now, shrieked at me.

“Remember this! Uh, yesterday I was too confused and just left, but no matter how much Sunbae takes my body, he still can’t reach my heart!”

“??”

“…Ugh, so please treat me a little more gently from now on, hmph!”

She said her piece and then left. The very same person who had tried to forcibly take my body and heart just two days ago was now acting like the wronged party.

I was speechless, my lips twitching. Ha, really. Seriously.

She got hit like that and still hasn’t come to her senses…

“You lecherous bastard.”

“Cough.”

And then Cheon Soyul lashed out like lightning, grabbing me by my collar and pulling me towards her.

Because I had been momentarily distracted, I could only hang limply, dragged along.

‘Wow, what force.’

Then, Cheon Soyul, with dead eyes like a rotten pollack, began to shake me back and forth.

“Whatdidyoudoovertheweekendwhatdidyoudo tomaketherebetwopeopleyoucharmednotjustonehowisthatpossibleIdon’treallyknowHyunjin.”

“…”

I was wrong.

Your voice is too scary.

But I really didn’t know it would become a ‘buy one get one free’ situation, either?

Please save me.

“Ah, Cheon Soyul student, Lee Hyunjin student.”

The rope of salvation, truly, descended from a completely unexpected place.

Turning my head at the sudden voice, I saw a staff member.

Cheon Soyul and I blinked simultaneously.

And the staff member, who had seemed slightly flustered by our strange posture (?), soon calmly continued speaking.

“The, the Dean has called for the two students.”

…It was truly the appearance of an unexpected person.