The Calm Before the Storm
It was Thursday morning. The class representative was making her rounds, asking the students about their extracurricular activities. Aegis Academy was, at its core, still a school, so it surprisingly had a wide variety of clubs. Beyond the Cooking Club I had joined, there were strange ones like the Maju Research Club and the History Research Club. It was fascinating, mostly because the original novel never mentioned anything about club activities. That’s the hallmark of academy-genre stories: once the plot kicks in, the characters leave the academy behind. In The Academy’s Holy Swordsman, that transition happened particularly early. Once the story progressed, there was no time to leisurely enjoy club activities.
The class representative reached our row and asked Yoon Siwoo and Sylvia, who were sitting in front of me, if they had joined any clubs. Both of them shook their heads. It seemed they hadn't joined anything from the start. Since club activities were optional, quite a few students didn't participate. Honestly, what’s the point of a club you’re forced to join?
“Scarlet, did you join any clubs?”
At the class representative’s question, I nodded. Both she, and Yoon Siwoo and Sylvia—who had been glancing at me—looked surprised. Is it really that shocking for me to join a club?
“Could you tell me which one?”
“The Cooking Club.”
“The Cooking Club, I see... Alright.”
After hearing my answer, the class representative wore a thoughtful expression for a moment, scribbled something on the paper she was holding, nodded, and moved on to the other students' desks.
“Scarlet, you joined the Cooking Club?”
“...For now, yes.”
As soon as the class representative left, Sylvia turned her body to ask me. When I answered, she thought for a moment and then nodded.
“Come to think of it, you said the macarons you gave me were homemade. If I weren't so busy with family matters, I would have joined the same club as you. It’s a shame...”
My heart ached at the sight of Sylvia looking genuinely disappointed. But ache or not, Sylvia’s ears were twitching, so I took a macaron out of my bag and held it out. Sylvia took it, looking apologetic.
“Thank you... I feel like I’m always on the receiving end, and I want to give you something too...”
“Th-there’s no need for that. I’m just giving them because I want to...”
I shook my head rapidly, refusing firmly. Being friends with someone like me was more than enough. Receiving "friendship fees" from Sylvia? What even is that? A friendship-reversal world? As I was thinking that, I felt Yoon Siwoo’s gaze. He was looking at me with such a pitiful expression that it annoyed me. I glared at him once, and he flinched and lowered his eyes.
After school, with most students gone except for those enjoying their club activities, I sat in the vacant lot next to the gymnasium, where sparring took place, and stared blankly at the construction work. Whether it was supernatural ability or magic, construction materials were floating in the air, fitting together neatly and taking shape little by little. What was being built outside the gym looked more like a wall than a door. It didn't look like something you’d push to open or close, but rather something you’d raise and lower like a shutter. Either way, it looked incredibly sturdy. Even though they must have started construction yesterday, it looked like they had already made significant progress. It seemed like it would be finished by Monday, but I needed confirmation, so I approached the man who appeared to be the construction supervisor and asked.
It might have sounded like I was rushing him, but the man looked at me and answered with a smile, saying that even at a slow pace, it would be finished by tomorrow. Being a student at the Academy was convenient in times like these. Heroes were similar to soldiers in the original world, and people generally didn't say harsh things to those who risked their lives to fight for their protection. In a peculiar country where most men were obligated to serve in the military for several years for various reasons, there were some who didn't, but that was usually how it was.
As I stood there watching the construction after getting my answer, the supervisor, perhaps bored, started making small talk. He grumbled about how there was originally a different scheduled task, but the higher-ups suddenly changed the plans, forcing him to apologize to the other side. Seeing his face, I saw the reflection of my former boss from my previous life. It seems middle management is stressful everywhere. Drawing on that experience, I offered a few words of comfort, and he seemed so pleased that his eyes were filled with goodwill. After chatting for a while, I left, but not before asking him to make it sturdy. He laughed heartily and boasted that even a decent-sized Maju wouldn't be able to leave a scratch on it. That made me feel a little less worried.
I returned home, prepared to end the day, and lay down in bed. I closed my eyes and thought of the people I had met since coming here. They were people who wouldn't even have had names in the original work, just "Passerby B." But the people I faced in person were not beings that could be expressed in a few lines of text. Each and every one of them was just an ordinary person. They weren't disposable items meant to die just to advance the plot. Yet, the only thing I could do for them was to install a door. In the end, I, too, was just an ordinary character, not the protagonist. I didn't know what the result of my actions, which might change the future, would be. My hands trembled with anxiety. Unable to endure the overwhelming sense of helplessness, I eventually clasped my hands together. And then, I whispered softly in my heart.
Please, I beg of you, let us at least get through Monday safely...
Being nothing more than a single human, I had no choice but to pray to a god who might not even exist.
On Friday, after eating lunch and resting, I discovered a text message on my phone.
It was a text from Leonor. She had said she rented the kitchen every Friday to cook. I had no reason to refuse, so I replied that I would be there. It was my first time eating something other than bean sprouts for dinner since coming here. For the record, the 20-piece macaron slices didn't count as a meal. That’s not a meal... Eating only bean sprouts all the time could lead to mannerism, so it wouldn't be bad to eat something else occasionally as a breather. If bean sprouts were my committed partner, tonight’s dinner felt like a casual fling. If the bean sprouts I replenished in the fridge with the allowance I got from the suspicious old man found out, they would be sad, asking how I could do this to them, but as long as they didn't find out, there was no problem at all! I didn't know what it would be, but thinking of an affair partner that would fill my insides in a way bean sprouts never could, my stomach was already trembling with anticipation. End class quickly!
As soon as class ended, I headed to the cafeteria with a pounding heart. When I arrived, I saw Leonor waving her hand with a wide grin. I bowed to greet her and looked at her with full expectation. At my gaze, she took out a bunch of keys and shook them. The tag on the keys read "Kitchen Key." At the jingling sound of the keys hitting each other, I felt like I was already salivating. I was like a Pavlovian Evande...
“Wait a second, there’s still someone coming.”
Goo-goo, I’m baby Evande, I don’t know such things. Give me food quickly. I was muttering nonsense in my head while waiting, assuming it was another club member, when I saw someone enter the cafeteria. It was the class representative. Why are you here? I was flustered by the unexpected appearance, and the class representative approached and greeted Leonor.
“I’m Mei from Class 1-A, who applied for membership yesterday. I look forward to working with you.”
“Yeah. Looking forward to it. I heard someone else joined yesterday. I was going to make something delicious to celebrate, and since you’re in the same class, I called her too. Are you two close?”
Leonor asked me if I was close with the class representative. The class representative was trying to act like she wasn't, but she was listening intently to my answer. How could I say no here! When I nodded, the class representative’s face brightened. As I stared at her with a pitiful heart, she scratched her cheek, looking shy.
“Alright, I’ll hold a welcome party, so follow me.”
Leonor said with her signature smirk. Seeing that, the class representative looked a bit uneasy. The class representative probably met Leonor for the first time today, and it was natural to feel uneasy when someone who looked like a delinquent talked about a "welcome party." Besides, it’s a rule of thumb in academy stories that the class representative character is weak against the delinquent character.
“Oh, come to think of it, I didn't introduce myself to you. I’m Leonor Lionil from Class 2-B. I’m the Cooking Club president. Most of the other members are ghost members, so I’m glad you two joined. Let’s cook together on Fridays if you have time.”
Leonor introduced herself to the class representative as if she had forgotten. Hearing her name, the class representative’s eyes widened, and she scrutinized Leonor’s appearance before nodding as if she finally understood. It seemed the class representative also realized where Leonor’s appearance came from. As is often the case with heroines in academy stories, their families are often famous, and Leonor’s father was also a hero who made a name for himself in the world. And she completely resembled her father’s physical traits. The blonde tan was, believe it or not, genetic. Honestly, I didn't quite understand how that could be genetic, but there was an elf and an odd-eyed person in the class, so I decided to just let it slide.
Leonor opened the locked kitchen door with the key. It was a space where you could say almost every cooking utensil was provided. I was surprised, feeling like I was looking at a hotel kitchen, but the real deal was inside the refrigerator Leonor opened with a smile. The fridge was packed with all sorts of ingredients. It was on a different level from my house’s fridge, which only had macaron ingredients and bean sprouts. What was even more surprising was what Leonor said while looking at the fridge.
“Everything in here is leftover ingredients, so feel free to use them.”
W-what? I looked at Leonor with trembling eyes, and she smiled and said, “Worth paying 100,000 gold, right?” I nodded. 100 bean sprouts... You truly fulfilled your value......
“Since I’m cooking for the welcome, is there anything either of you wants to eat?”
When Leonor asked that, I turned to the class representative. And I made eye contact with the class representative, who had turned her head toward me.
“I’ll eat whatever Scarlet wants.”
Argh! I was going to say that! Attacked by the class representative’s "Let’s eat what you want" strike, I glared at the inside of the fridge with serious eyes. While I was in deep contemplation about the age-old, profound puzzle that many philosophers had pondered but for which no clear answer had yet been found: "What should I eat for dinner tonight?", I discovered a certain existence inside the fridge, revealing its fair skin and seducing me. I spat the name out of my mouth as if possessed.
“I’d like... fried chicken.”
It seemed the answer to that difficult puzzle had been found. Meat is always delicious, and among them, chicken is always right. To me, that was an answer infinitely close to the truth.
Hearing my answer, Leonor took the chicken out of the fridge.
“Fried chicken? Sounds good. Then, shall we make one per person, just to be generous?”
“Four.”
“Can you eat two by yourself? It’ll be tough, you know?”
To Leonor, who looked at me with eyes doubting if it was possible, I nodded with conviction and shouted inside. Four... no, four chickens! Possible! Totally possible! Feeling my will that would never bend, Leonor shook her head as if she couldn't help it and took out four chickens. The chicken, coated in batter, was fried in oil. As the beautiful sound tickled my ears, my mouth watered uncontrollably. Chicken is expensive food. Franchise chicken usually costs 16,000 won to 20,000 won per bird. There are people who ask why they charge so much for one chicken, but it was a food I loved enough to feel it was worth the price whenever I ate it. Of course, even that beloved chicken was something I only tore into occasionally after I grew up and started working.
The first chicken I ever ate was the 10,000 won whole chicken my father brought home on my birthday, sold in front of our house. That day, I cried and gave thanks for the fact that such delicious food existed in the world. Leonor drained the oil from the fried chicken with a strainer and put it on a plate. Two golden-fried chickens placed in front of me. I tore off the legs, of which there are only two per chicken, and put them in my mouth. The legs, which most people consider the tastiest part of the chicken. As I chewed, I could feel the salty skin and the moist meat filled with juices. Dad had one, I had one, and Mom couldn't eat the legs. If there had been three chicken legs, Mom could have shared them with us. That’s why my dream for a while when I was young was to be a scientist. The reason was that I wanted to create a chicken with about 100 legs. The reason it was 100 was because I learned that when divided by 3, 1 remains. The remaining one had to be given to Mom, who couldn't eat it that day.
After tearing off the legs and finishing the wings like a hawk, I ate the chicken diligently, and only the part called the breast meat remained. It tasted good when I put it in my mouth, but it felt lacking compared to other parts. Objectively, I think it’s the least tasty part of the chicken. Wouldn't someone who prefers chicken breast over chicken legs be a bit... unusual? After Dad disappeared and our family situation became a bit more difficult, days passed where I couldn't eat chicken even on my birthday. After eating only tasteless greens every day, when I inadvertently said I wanted to eat chicken, Mom bought a chicken at the market the next day and fried it for me herself. Even if it wasn't as good as the whole chicken Dad bought, it was still delicious. I tried to give Mom one of the legs since Dad was gone, but Mom said she liked the breast more than the legs, so I ate two legs by myself. I thought Mom didn't like the legs much, which was why she didn't eat them the first day we ate chicken.
Why was there so much dry breast meat? It was worth reasonably suspecting that chickens only did upper-body workouts, which was why their lower bodies were so soft but small in quantity. As I tried to put the breast meat for two chickens in my mouth and chew, my throat felt a bit choked. It wasn't until I entered middle school and went on a field trip that I learned almost no one liked breast meat. The chicken that a rich kid gave to the whole school to commemorate the field trip. I only realized it after seeing the kids fighting over the legs while leaving the breast meat behind. That evening, while sitting by the campfire, I thought of my mother, who had come to like that dryness for the sake of her child. My mother had given up on being an ordinary person because of me.
When I came to my senses, the two chickens had disappeared, leaving only bones. I wondered if I had awakened the magic that makes chicken disappear without me even knowing. The class representative and Leonor also seemed surprised by the miracle I had performed. Since I put the remaining bones into a large grinder in the corner of the kitchen to destroy the evidence, no one would ever know the terrifying fact that three female students had devoured four chickens. I thanked Leonor for making delicious food and said goodbye to the class representative, promising to meet again next Monday. Before parting, I gave 3,000 gold and received a piece of mana herb from Leonor. When I left the cafeteria, I saw the heavy wall built as a door slowly closing and blocking the gym entrance, as if the construction was almost finished. The closed gym looked as sturdy as a fortress that dangerous things couldn't invade, making me feel a bit more at ease.
When I returned home and lay on the bed, my hands were shaking a little less than yesterday. I clasped my hands and prayed earnestly again today. May that door protect us so that we can continue to have club activities like today. Praying like that, I spent the weekend. Saturday. Sunday. And, the morning of Monday dawned.