Newly Visible Things (2)
After I got back to my dorm room, I took a quick look around.
It was very different from Han Riae's room.
Then again, a dormitory room for someone from a famous family was bound to be on a different level.
Still, I didn't feel particularly disappointed. One way or another, this was going to be my home for the next four years.
The place had a spacious living room, a neat kitchen with no wasted corners, and, despite being a single room, three bedrooms, a bathroom, and even a veranda.
So this was what a prestigious school was like.
To think they gave a single cadet a room this large.
Every source of power here was mana-based. Just from the way I could feel mana in each individual tile, it looked like the entire place had been coated in it.
Even the appliances were made from mana gathered into specific patterns.
Seeing mana arrayed in such unusual configurations across every appliance felt strangely fresh.
I was still a layman, so I couldn't really make sense of it yet, but maybe after I learned more, I'd be able to understand those patterns.
What I liked most of all was the veranda. It was wide, clean, and filled with crisp air that seemed to wrap itself around me, making me feel oddly light.
Of course, it wasn't quite as pleasant as being held in that embrace from yesterday...
"Ah..."
Embarrassed by the thought, I sharply scolded myself for even having it.
In the end, the place itself was so good it left me honestly moved.
The room was spacious enough that it was almost too large for me to live in alone. Two or three people could have shared it without any trouble.
Each appliance was high quality, easy to use, and well-made.
And when I thought about all the amenities available through the dormitory—the pool, the gym, the sauna, the PC room, and so on—it only got more absurd. This place was so luxurious it was almost laughable.
It was hard to tell whether this was just a school dormitory or a three-star hotel.
Probably only Sielm Academy could pull off something like this.
The exterior was just as elaborate, clearly built with great care, and looked so refined it could easily put a top-class hotel to shame.
Even so, it seemed the best of the best from across the continent still found this lacking, because there were even better dorm buildings than this one.
Of course, those higher-end buildings could be assigned according to rank.
Cadets who came in with top-tier scores like Han Riae or Yoon Hwayeon could even be given a mansion on the academy grounds, or a penthouse on the top floor of a dorm building.
There were, naturally, people along the way here.
Some were walking with trembling steps, while others stopped in a bathroom for a moment just to catch their breath before coming on.
When I reached my room, relief washed over me, and I clutched the blue jacket I was wearing with both hands before throwing myself onto the sofa.
It wasn't as soft as the sofa at Han Riae's house, but still.
It was a good sofa with a pretty satisfying feel to it.
Lying back in a comfortable position, I sorted through everything that had happened to me so far.
I had woken up in an unfamiliar place with no memory, covered in scars, suffering from mana corrosion and human phobia.
I had then become Sielm's first special admissions student, under the pretext of research into mana corrosion.
On the day of the entrance ceremony, I panicked when surrounded by people, passed out twice because of Han Riae, had a nightmare that seemed connected to my past, got hugged by Han Riae, and received the jacket.
What mattered most of all was the strange familiarity I had felt in that nightmare and in the friendly match with Han Riae.
Leaving aside my complete lack of fighting skill now, the sparring had been carved clearly into my eyes, each movement strangely easy to absorb as I watched.
There had been a familiar scene for reasons I didn't understand, and pain I had felt inside that nightmare.
The former was a very profitable memory—one that had left me with clues about my lost memory and a good impression besides.
The latter was nothing but unpleasantness, pain, and a lingering sense of unease.
People said bad memories stayed longer than good ones, and maybe that was why the nightmare lingered more strongly in my mind.
For now, the only thing I could infer from those memories was...
I think I was being experimented on...
A cage of iron bars, with not a shred of light anywhere—only pitch-black darkness.
And through it came strangers, shining with light as they entered.
Those people had been injecting me with some kind of strange drug.
Even when I clenched my teeth and endured it, even when my teeth cracked, the pain was so terrible that I couldn't bear it any longer.
"Ugh..."
As I revisited the memory, that pain was still vivid and unmistakable.
...
"Ah..."
The message Han Riae had left yesterday had come through as an unread notification.
As I looked at it, feelings I had never experienced before surged up from deep inside me.
Up until a moment ago, I'd been weighed down by gloomy thoughts and feeling depressed.
But seeing the messages she had sent me filled my chest with warmth, and even my bleak mood seemed to soften and dissolve a little.
Thinking about Han Riae again made me remember the blue jacket I was wearing, and I hugged it tight once more.
I liked this thing so much—something with no household mana pattern, no device of any kind.
It wouldn't hurt anyone, and it certainly would never hurt me.
Han Riae had said I didn't have to give the jacket back, so by all rights it was now mine.
And yet my heart still wouldn't settle.
I should definitely repay her somehow later.
Holding onto that feeling, I thought about the future ahead of me.
For now, Sielm was a place perfectly suited to growth—a place focused solely on education and safe from dangers like dungeon explosions or tower formations.
There was no particular advantage to going outside.
Of course, if I needed a special artifact or rare materials, I'd have to take the risk and go out for them.
The ability I had to see mana, and mana corrosion that could absorb the mana around me, would surely be a huge help in my growth.
After all, I could directly see with my own eyes the direction of mana that others had to struggle and labor to understand.
On top of that, mana corrosion sensed objects around me much like a thermal imaging camera, making it an extremely useful ability.
I had two powers that ordinary cadets didn't possess.
Of course, perhaps the price for those abilities was that I had an incurable disease that could make me spit up blood and die at any moment, and human phobia that triggered seizures the moment I touched anyone other than a certain person.
At least the latter had been eased somewhat by Han Riae's blue jacket.
In practice, even though it was a little difficult, I hadn't had the same level of seizures or trembling as I had yesterday.
And even if I had only recovered a tiny fraction of my memory, it was still lacking, however stimulating it had been.
Why did it feel like I was being experimented on?
What kind of person had I been?
There was still so much I didn't know.
That was why I had to keep learning, keep waking up to the truth, and keep searching for the clues to my memory.
If I was going to become a special admissions student at the prestigious Sielm Academy, then I should be doing something with that chance.
I also wanted to repay the people who had been hurt because of my seizure.
With that mindset, I checked my Sielm uniform.
Just like the day I first saw it, it was a clean, well-kept outfit without any excessive ornamentation.
It was the kind of school uniform that looked a lot like the ones often shown online.
Feeling once again that I was a cadet of Sielm Academy, I brought the day to a close.
* * *
Time passed, and today was the meaningful day when the first lecture would begin.
The first day of class.
For some, it was a day to feel excitement alongside familiar friends; for others, it was an important day that would shape their everyday lives as they built new connections.
And for me...
It was obviously the latter.
I didn't have any memories, so I didn't exactly have anyone I could call familiar.
Besides, for me, forming connections was basically an ordeal from start to finish.
Because of that damn human phobia...
"Sigh..."
I let out a long breath and looked in the mirror.
The neat Sielm uniform, and the blue jacket worn over it.
Apparently Sielm was a place that valued cadet opinion, so there wasn't any strict rule about uniforms.
Still, wearing the basic uniform was proper etiquette.
After riding the gate and experiencing that alien sensation, I headed to the lobby.
The lecture started at nine, and the time now was seven.
I had left so early that there were hardly any people in the lobby.
Only a few cadets who had come for an early breakfast were around.
Thinking that was lucky, I boarded a shuttle bus arriving from a distance.
I had breakfast with a simple bowl of porridge.
I don't know who arranged it, but porridge had been delivered for breakfast.
I hadn't really been eating much anyway, so I only had a little and left the rest.
The bus was driven entirely by mana, without a human driver, and it felt awkward as all hell.
The learning district wasn't that far from the gate, so it didn't take long to arrive.
I was standing before the classroom door.
[Month of Spring]
Sielm generally named its classes after the four seasons and the days of the week.
For first-years, it was spring; after that came summer, autumn, and winter.
And along with those seasons, they took the names of Monday through Friday.
Apparently Saturday and Sunday were omitted to emphasize that the students' rest time would not be invaded.
And among all those many classes, I had been placed in the Month of Spring class, which was said to include numerous elites.
That probably had something to do with the prestige of the special admissions label.
The interior was the kind of tiered lecture hall you'd see in college movies. Since it was still so early, there were only a few people inside.
Those few were busy doing their own thing and didn't pay me any attention, so there was naturally no need to worry about a panic attack.
After glancing around, I took a seat in the far back corner.
There wasn't anyone I needed to worry about, and being in the corner gave me a sense of ease.
And so time passed.
Before long, the lecture hall had begun to fill with people.
I could feel a few glances passing over me, but I ignored them quietly and kept reading my book.
Soon it was almost time for class to begin.
With a click, a cadet came in through the back door while I was setting my book down.
Light yellow hair, mesmerizing crimson eyes, and the blue jacket that was every bit her trademark.
So... Han Riae is in Month of Spring too...
If Han Riae, a member of the Meliton family and one of the academy's top elites, hadn't been placed in Month of Spring, that would have been strange.
I naturally thought she'd go to Yoon Hwayeon's group instead.
But after briefly glancing toward Yoon Hwayeon, who was calling her over, she trudged over to me instead.
With a thud, she set the bag she was carrying down beside her and looked my way.
Maybe because I was a little tense at the sight of the mana flowing from Han Riae, orange heat haze seemed to rise faintly around her.
"Hey, Paran. Did you rest well yesterday? No aftereffects or anything?"
As she spoke, Han Riae reached out and patted my head.