A Small Change
A Small Change
"Good heavens. I came running the second my lecture ended because you said you wanted to have lunch together for once, and instead of filling this old man's stomach, you're grilling me about this and that."
Yoon Do-sik sat across from me, irritation written all over his face.
"Considering that, you ate quite a lot."
"Ahem. 'Ate quite a lot,' he says."
Empty plates sat on the table.
They had held food from the student cafeteria, prepared and delivered right away.
"A damn good-looking bastard like you, and not a shred of a sense of humor."
"No, it's just that you're painfully unfunny."
"My kids laugh at my jokes just fine."
My patience had run out for this worthless conversation, so I grabbed the umbrella I'd set aside and got to my feet.
"Going already?"
"I've listened to your idle chatter for a full two hours."
"What? It's been that long already?"
"Ha-ha, actually, it's been a little over two hours."
Yoon Do-sik, who hadn't noticed the passage of time at all, hurriedly checked his smartwatch, while Jaden chuckled and began clearing the plates.
"I almost stood up my own students."
"Are you leaving too, Professor Yoon?"
"I should. I don't have a lecture, but I promised to check on the kids' experiments. Burp... ahh, that was a good meal."
"Ha-ha, no problem. Give me a shout before you clock out."
"Right, right. See you later."
He sidled up next to me naturally and gestured with his chin.
"Aren't you going?"
"Be grateful you're a non-combat class."
"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden."
"......Tsk."
Slightly annoyed that I couldn't slam him into the floor like the others, I left the lab with him and climbed into the elevator.
"About that student you asked after last year."
"Lee Na-young."
"Right. That friend. Do you know how flabbergasted I was when you suddenly told me to recommend a kid I had in someone else's class to be a scholarship student?"
"...Get to the point."
Maybe it was because I'd listened to two hours of pointless chatter, but my nerves were stretched to their limit. If anyone else had been babbling next to me, I would have taken action immediately.
"I guess you really do need to be good-looking. Given that an ugly mug like you managed to get into a relationship."
"Research funding cut."
"Heh-heh, Professor Baek. You want me to get on my knees?"
Ding─
The elevator doors opened, and the man who'd been acting like he really would kneel hurriedly followed me out.
"Good afternoon, sirs!"
"Have a pleasant afternoon, sirs!"
Greetings came from assistants and professors forcing their exhaustion-weary faces into the brightest expressions they could manage. I waved them off just enough to pass and exited the main building.
"They're practically a cult."
"......Please shut your mouth."
They say people grow more taciturn with age, so why were all the people around me loudmouths like Ha-na?
Tap.
"Come to think of it, you use an umbrella? Someone at your level could just walk around crisp and dry with a mana barrier."
"...Yoon Do-sik."
"Ahem."
Walking through the still-stubborn winter drizzle, the two of us tread the path in silence for a while.
"About that Lee Na-young."
Right as we reached the fork in the path, he picked up the conversation he'd left hanging earlier.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to try teaching her properly."
"Wouldn't it be proper to ask the person herself about something like that?"
"True. My mistake."
Did he fully understand? He gave a single nod.
"So. When should I clear my schedule this time?"
I considered what Yoon Do-sik meant for just a moment. I found the answer easily enough.
The Grade Evaluation.
"Keep it open from mid-June."
"That early?"
"This time I have to handle two grades. And I'm planning to scale it up more than last year."
"Scale it up? Heh-heh, I like it. I'll clear everything from mid-June on."
He was volunteering to be ground into dust, so I had no reason to refuse.
"Then I'll count on you."
With no further business, he vanished without a backward glance onto the lane leading to the Alchemy Workshop building.
Drip, plink.
"Haah......."
Savoring the stillness that returned, I walked toward the house accompanied by the small rhythm of raindrops striking my umbrella.
-I'm baaack!!
The moment I opened the front door, another calamity's noise greeted me.
I put the umbrella away and moved to change shoes.
-Pyaaang~!!
Right when I'd slipped on my slippers, a tiny calamity in unfamiliar clothes came flying at my shoulder.
Smack-smack!!
Then she impertinently struck my cheeks with her minuscule hands.
I'd tried to correct that habit more than a few times, but that one behavior never changed. Maybe because it was her own way of expressing how glad she was to see me.
"You're back."
"I am."
The woman who had come to my side naturally took my coat and draped it over her arm.
"Lee Ye-sol's work?"
"Yes. She said ordering custom pieces had its limits, so recently she started sewing things herself."
The little calamity wore white fluffy wolf pajamas modeled after Baek Ha-na. Apparently having pummeled my cheeks enough, she shifted from my shoulder with a flutter of tiny wings and landed on Claire's hand.
-Waaaang~!!
Then she spread her two tiny hands like a wild beast and bounced in place.
-Scaawy!!
She ought to work on her pronunciation.
Every time I left her in Lee Ye-sol's care for a day and came back, the fairy returned brimming with strange new things. I wasn't exactly thrilled about it.
"S-she's frightening, isn't she......."
But the sight of Claire desperately holding back the corners of her mouth as she played along with the fairy's little performance — that was something I could easily endure.
"Miss Ha-na will be back soon. Shall we practice a bit more so we can show her then?"
-Aang!!
"Pfft......."
Eventually Claire lost the fight against her laughter and turned her head away, her shoulders trembling faintly.
-Pii?
I scooped the little creature off Claire's hand.
"A cup of coffee, please."
"Of course......."
Leaving her behind, still struggling to compose herself, I headed to the study with the fairy.
"Sit quietly and draw."
-Dwaaaw!!
I placed a tiny quill pen and a sheet of paper on the desk — scaled for the fairy's size, likely something Lee Ye-sol had acquired somewhere. The creature plopped down in front of them without hesitation and began scrawling lines as she pleased.
"Here."
Claire returned with the requested teacup of coffee and set it down quietly in front of me. Then, wearing a faint smile, she fixed her eyes on the fairy, who was scribbling furiously.
"Ah......."
Something seemed to occur to her, and the smile vanished from her lips.
"This child won't be in Count Rave's painting either, will she......?"
Le Coléon's painting and the auction items still hadn't arrived due to the special measures being taken.
The little one had indeed been there in that place too, but Oberon's protection had not permitted Le Coléon to see the fairy.
"There will be opportunities anytime. Don't let it trouble you too much."
"Yes. Opportunities a-......."
Her expression almost softened, but then her eyes flew wide open and she clamped her mouth shut.
Wh-oosh—
A deepening blush spread across her fair nape and both cheeks.
"O-opportunities are p-p-plentiful, aren't they-y...?"
Seeing her visibly flustered, I searched my memories and, like before, found the reason without much trouble.
The wedding.
"Th-that, pro-... ah, M-Mr. Woo-jin......?"
Claire stammered as if we'd stepped back into last summer. I gave no answer, merely fixing my gaze on her face.
Her face turned an even deeper shade of red in response.
"...The d-date hasn't been decided yet, but I believe I will have to be away for about two days to attend the Clergy General Assembly."
"It's likely to require a bit more time than that."
If their records held true, this year's Clergy General Assembly would be held in Italy. Factoring in travel time, at least five full days would be needed.
"...Korea was selected as the host country this year, so two days will suffice."
Korea.
A variable had emerged from a place I'd never considered.
"We'll talk again once the schedule is set."
"...Yes."
That exchange marked the end of the conversation, and a slightly awkward silence settled in.
-We're back.
-Pardon the intrusion!!
The children, finished with their lectures, had come to the house to train with Claire.
-Oh my, who's this little cutie?
-Pfft, she's imitating Baek Ha-na, isn't she? Kikik.
-She's adorable.......
A brief commotion arose while they changed clothes.
Then, as usual, the children went outside, letting the winter rain soak them as they began sparring with Claire.
'The Clergy General Assembly.'
The official starting point when the Evil God's followers began showing themselves in earnest, alongside the Demon God Bullets.
Exploiting the gap left by the absence of each temple's main forces, bombing attacks using Demon God Bullets would occur at temples around the world.
'And that starting point is Korea, of all places.'
I couldn't say for certain that it would happen.
Even if the attacks did occur, they posed no issue whatsoever to my plans.
'Still.......'
On the desk sat the small sheet of paper and the quill pen.
I put the drawing — indistinguishable from scribbles, showing no improvement at all, and apparently meant to be me and Claire — into a desk drawer.
"It can't hurt to have them owe me a debt."