Beginning (1)
"...Miss."
"........"
"Miss..."
".........."
"Miss!!!"
"Eek!"
I woke up to a voice thick with complaint.
That voice was...
"Miss, it's already 8:30. You're not thinking of giving up on life at Sielm already, are you?"
"W-what?! Kail! You should've woken me sooner!"
It was the voice of Kairiel, Han Riae's personal bodyguard and secretary.
"I have been waking you since 7:00."
And she had been trying to rouse Han Riae, who could sleep until noon if left alone.
"U... since 7:00..."
I was a lunatic. It was the first day of lectures, and there I was oversleeping like this.
She said she'd been calling from 7:00, and I still hadn't gotten up. Even I thought I was pathetic.
"And Lim Paran has already arrived in the lecture hall and is studying mana-related material."
"What?! "
Even Paran, whom I had planned to go with, was already in the lecture hall.
"Is he hurt or anything?"
"You should be worrying about yourself instead of him. You've already wasted two minutes."
"Aaagh!"
The moment she said that, Han Riae panicked and hurriedly finished getting ready.
Sielm's facilities were decent enough.
I didn't especially want to live in a house, and since a dormitory had a certain romance to it, I had chosen the penthouse at the very top.
My written score had fallen short of Yoon Hwayeon's, but I had gotten full marks on the practical and earned the grades needed to choose the penthouse.
I had ranked second in the entrance exam.
First place had gone to Yoon Hwayeon.
It wasn't as nice as my family home, but it was livable enough, so I had slept there without much complaint.
But I had overslept, so now I had no choice but to sprint to the lecture hall in a frenzy.
Normally I used the bus often, partly to look around and partly to kill time.
But it was slower than running at full speed through mana circulation, and I was short on time, so I had no choice but to run.
Usually I was liable to burn through too much mana and collapse from exhaustion, but even with that weakness, I had one good advantage: I could produce a strong burst of output in an instant.
So in a situation like this, that explosive output was a godsend.
And since I had already learned how to control it skillfully at the intermediate academy, I didn't have to worry about collapsing unless I got too worked up.
I reached Sielm's lobby at full speed, headed for the lecture hall, and the moment I opened the door, Yoon Hwayeon saw me and waved.
At that instant, my eyes caught a tiny blue figure seated in the corner.
He was quietly reading a book, that -looking thing somehow making him seem even smaller than before.
The moment I spotted Lim Paran, I sent a look of refusal toward Yoon Hwayeon and moved over to Paran's side.
Just like before, he still had that blue, boyish face, but I remembered that the he was wearing was the one I had given him last time.
Once that thought crossed my mind, I couldn't help wondering how cute it was.
In a way, wasn't this like couple wear for the two of us?
The instant I saw Paran, I nearly hugged him right there in public.
I barely managed to hold back that impulse.
"Hi, Paran. Did you rest well yesterday? Nothing left over from the aftermath, right?"
As I said that, I slowly stroked his blue hair.
No, seriously, how could it be this soft...
I looked down at Paran with ease and kept on stroking his head.
* * *
Even after Han Riae arrived in the lecture hall, she kept stroking my hair for several minutes.
Each time she did, the trembling reaction in my body, the one I'd been holding back in that crowded lecture hall, faded away.
I quietly waited for class to begin and organized the history of this world in my head.
Basically, this continent was called Velospia.
I had read that it was clearly different from the world preserved only in ancient records.
Three hundred years ago, in the old world, people had used something called electricity and something called oil to run machines, make food, and live their daily lives.
The continent had even been split into many separate regions, and each region had had its own country, living according to its own methods.
I had seen many documents saying that wars had broken out between those countries, and that they had killed other human beings.
Right now everyone was too busy fighting monsters and beasts, so fighting among humans was nothing but a disaster.
As different peoples with their own distinct cultures accepted one another, they developed a common continental language for smoother communication and created mana-based tools to replace electricity, which had become difficult to maintain.
The continent was divided into eastern, western, southern, and northern regions, each filled with the cultures of the countries that had originally existed there.
Because of that, the customs and traditions of the old nations had soaked into each region almost unchanged.
Here in the east, where Sielm was located now, a great deal of the old East Asian culture remained visible.
And there were many people who took their names from the old Republic of Korea.
I was no exception. Even I had the name Paran, and the surname Lim, didn't I?
Of course, it had been taken from the few memories I had left...
While I was quietly thinking that,
"Paran, are you uncomfortable? Your face looks..."
"Huh...?"
A voice cut off my thoughts from beside me.
Since I had been frowning a little in thought, I must have looked uneasy.
"No, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."
"I see...?"
Han Riae still seemed troubled by the sight of me, so after rummaging through her bag for a moment, she took something out and handed it to me.
"...Do you want some chocolate?"
She held out her hand to me hesitantly.
In her palm was a small, square chocolate.
Even the packaging looked luxurious, with expensive branding at a glance.
But wasn't this absurdly pricey...?
"...Thank you."
My pronunciation came out a little awkward because I was so flustered.
I took the chocolate carefully. I had been planning to keep it for later rather than eat it right away, but the look she gave me made me freeze.
Her eyes were fixed on the chocolate in my hand, anxious and somehow a little disappointed, as if she were waiting for something.
Uh...
It was a gift, after all. I figured it would be awkward to stuff it into my pocket immediately, so I carefully opened the wrapper and put it in my mouth.
A sweet milky flavor spread across my tongue, and the distinct aroma of cacao lingered behind it.
"It's sweet..."
Since I liked sweets, I could only savor it slowly to appreciate the luxurious taste even more.
I nibbled at it quietly, then turned my eyes toward Han Riae.
The moment I calmly held the chocolate in my mouth, the anxious look on Han Riae's face brightened in an instant.
It was such a dramatic change that even from afar it would have been obvious.
"Is it good?"
"Yes, it's good..."
Perhaps because she was in a better mood, Han Riae asked brightly about mine.
Looking around quietly, I could feel the many gazes pouring our way.
It was as if they were witnessing a miracle they themselves could never achieve, with their own eyes...
Seeing those expressions, I really did feel that Han Riae's behavior was unusual.
Well, to be fair, it would be strange for people to see the Han Riae known as the Ice Fortress being this kind to someone like me, who was small and looked fragile.
Perhaps sensing the stares aimed at me, Yoon Hwayeon turned her body and looked over here, blinking in disbelief. She looked so shocked she was simply standing there with her mouth open.
Han Riae had a strong image as someone untouchable by ordinary people.
But she was far too warm and gentle to deserve the name Ice Fortress.
She wasn't a cold person who ignored other people's opinions.
She wasn't someone to fear simply because she was aloof.
She was someone who could face her own mistakes head-on and ask for apology and forgiveness.
To me, who knew that all too well, those stares felt incredibly unfamiliar.
She's a really kind person...
And yet...
"I brought it because Paran likes sweets, but what do you think?"
"It's sweet... and soft... and really, really de-licious."
"Oh, really? Then I should buy a lot more..."
Why on earth had she left her close friend Yoon Hwayeon alone and come sit beside me?
Why had she so boldly sat down next to me, then reacted to every little thing I did and worried over me?
Why had she remembered that I liked sweet things, gone out of her way to buy expensive chocolate, watched my reaction anxiously, and then, when I said it was good, lit up and said she should buy more...?
I truly didn't understand.
I hadn't even done anything that big for her.
Maybe if I got to know her better, I'd understand why she acted like this.
But two days wasn't nearly enough to judge someone by.
- Click.
While I was lost in thought, the front door of the lecture hall opened.
I could feel a powerful mana presence, so I knew a professor was arriving.
It was rare even for a superhuman to carry mana like that.
Thanks to my mana erosion state, it was easy for me to detect the mana around me.
Honestly, this illness had given me more than a few considerations from others, but I always felt guilty and tried to refuse them.
Because I couldn't help but be far more familiar with mana than other people, I had conditions that were far better than theirs.
I had tried telling Han Riae that I wasn't in pain because of the illness, but she still looked at me with eyes dripping concern.
Anyway, thanks to the sound from the front, the gazes that had been fixed on me shifted toward the front of the lecture hall.
Her steps, as she walked lightly forward, were as weightless as if she were stepping on clouds.
She was wearing a black robe, but there was still plenty that stood out.
Even beneath the robe, her feminine curves were faintly visible.
She was a woman whose eyes stood out like multicolored stained glass.
The moment she appeared in the lecture hall, even the faintest whisper vanished.
The presence she gave off all by herself was no ordinary thing.
After walking a certain distance, she stopped in front of the lectern and, after looking over the lecture hall once, opened her mouth.
"Ahem... it's nice to meet you."
Her voice was low, but something about it felt awkward.
It was as if she were forcing her voice deeper than normal...
"Ah... right, I can't do this after all..."
Unlike the heavy tone from a moment ago, a clear little voice reached us this time.
"A~h, hello. I'm Han Seohwa, the professor in charge of the Wolchun class! I'm also the one teaching Basic Magic Circle, and the new professor here at Sielm for the 173rd generation~"
Her bright, clean voice, utterly opposite from the heavy atmosphere a moment ago, rang through the lecture hall.
