Course Registration (1)
Course Registration (1)
Outside, the wind still carried a sharp chill, but inside the study, warm sunlight slipped quietly through the window, heating the floor.
'So it begins...'
Eight years.
That's not a short time.
Proof of that stood before me. The little thing that used to be a white puffball had grown bit by bit, passed through girlhood, and now stood as a proper young woman.
She'd grown up healthy, without any major incidents or accidents. Soon, she'd attend the academy entrance ceremony and officially become a student of Arena Academy.
'Today must be the last time for this.'
The coffee she made for me every morning.
Oddly, she'd even melted her favorite chocolate into it. I rolled the last sip around in my mouth for a moment before swallowing.
"Woo-jin~"
Just as I emptied the cup, the study door cracked open and Baek Ha-na poked her head in.
When our eyes met, she smiled softly and walked over with her hands behind her back.
She reached me in an instant and held out the hand she'd been concealing.
"Tie my hair."
"...You're not a child."
I took the hair tie from her small palm.
She laughed soundlessly and turned around.
White hair that flowed down to her waist.
'It was basically dog fur in the beginning.'
Back when she refused to wash because she hated cold water in winter, her hair had been matted and tangled into a mess worse than a stray's coat.
Swish.
Now it was glossy and soft, like carefully woven silk.
"Mmm~"
As I gathered the loose strands, she started humming quietly to herself, clearly pleased.
I gathered her neatly smoothed hair and bound it tidily with the tie.
"Thanks."
She'd grown, but she was still smaller than me.
That Baek Ha-na turned around and smiled at me again.
I watched her for a moment, then bent down slightly.
"Huh...?"
A slightly dazed expression that matched the sound.
I moved my hand while looking into her wavering eyes.
"It was crooked."
"...Oh."
I straightened the collar of her jacket and stood back up.
Above her head, wolf ears that hadn't been there a moment ago had appeared.
The white nape of her neck, exposed by her tied-up hair, slowly reddened.
'...This is a problem.'
I hadn't meant to, but I'd just learned exactly how she felt about me.
Embarrassing, and yet just as deeply gratifying.
But it was the kind of feeling I hoped was only a fleeting illusion.
Leaving the girl staring silently at the floor, mouth shut, I sat down in the study chair.
"Go check if you've forgotten anything, then rest a bit before we leave."
"...I already packed everything."
She answered, then slowly circled the desk to stand in front of me. She turned my chair around without permission and sat down on my lap.
"Baek Ha-na."
"......."
She didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed the armrests and wiggled her hips a few times until her back was pressed fully against my chest.
Swish.
I felt the tail wedged between her back and my chest give a small twitch.
The girl who'd refused to respond when I called her name quietly tilted her head back to look up at me and slowly parted her tightly shut lips.
"...Once today's over, we won't see each other until the weekend. So I'm going to use up five days' worth of acting spoiled right now."
With that, she ducked her head and laid it quietly against my shoulder.
'Goddamn worthless body...'
If I truly cared for Baek Ha-na, I should have been firm in this moment.
But this wretched body refused to move the way I wanted, like it was broken.
As if it was telling me my plan—my thinking—was wrong.
"...Did I... make you... mad...?"
My body simply hadn't obeyed. But because I'd stayed silent so long, she'd apparently decided I was angry.
Ears half-folded down from their perked state, she glanced up at me. The sight was utterly pitiful.
"Baek Ha-na."
"...Yes."
Even her gently squirming tail went still.
I wrestled for a while with this shitty phenomenon where my mouth clamped shut every time I tried to say what I meant. Ultimately, I reached a compromise with my own flesh.
"...At home..."
"...At home?"
Her drooping ears perked back up.
"...Be careful inside the academy. Here, I'm a professor, and you're a student..."
"......."
The girl leaning against my shoulder sat up slightly and looked at me.
"Only inside the academy?"
"...For now."
The corners of her mouth curved upward a little.
She didn't ask any more questions. She closed her mouth and leaned her head back against my shoulder.
Swish, swish.
Then, just like last time, she wrapped her tail around one of my thighs.
Swish, swish.
Right up until we had to leave the house, she didn't get off my lap.
**
[ Grand Auditorium ]
Four months ago, this hall had been filled with equipment for the entrance exam. Now, instead of massive machines, it was packed with the new students who'd passed.
'I'm gonna throw up...'
Short stature. Brown bob-cut hair.
Round glasses and a gloomy impression.
Lee Na-young had been admitted through the special alchemy track. Surrounded by students who loomed like towering walls and weighed down by the heavy atmosphere, she barely managed to suppress the dry heaves.
Her timidity was on another level. If she hadn't taken the medications she'd prepared that morning, she would've had a seizure and passed out on the spot.
She was praying for the ceremony to end quickly so she could retreat to the dorm when it happened.
—Whoa...
—Insane.
A sudden stir rose from the back, and a few students who'd been standing like walls stepped aside.
Clutching her aching stomach, Lee Na-young turned her head.
"Wow..."
The admiration slipped out before she could stop it.
A cold-faced beauty with hair whiter than the first snowfall of winter had appeared.
'Ugh...'
Pretty and cool people draw admiration even from the same gender. Lee Na-young was no exception. She marveled at the sudden beauty's face.
But the moment the beauty stopped beside her, Lee Na-young had no choice but to lower her head.
The cause was the crowd's attention, which promptly shifted toward her.
—The Chairman and the professors are now entering.
The hall, which had grown somewhat noisy, fell silent in an instant.
Only then could Lee Na-young lift her head again.
'H-he's huge.'
The moment she saw Chairman Ahn Hyeon-do in person—someone she'd only encountered in photos and videos—his massive frame and bulging muscles made her shrink back.
[I trust you all know who I am, so I'll skip the introduction.]
Contrary to his appearance, Ahn Hyeon-do laughed heartily, almost like an old man, and continued.
[No point in rattling on. You'd all be bored anyway. I'll introduce the professors who will be in charge of you this year and then let you go quickly. Some of you might be surprised because they aren't the professors you expected. But once you've heard, your opinion will change. Save your complaints until after that.]
Ahn Hyeon-do called forward the three new professors who had replaced the ones who'd been dismissed.
[This is Professor Kang Han-na, who will be teaching Practical Combat Arts. And this is...]
The three professors returned to their places.
[And finally, Professor Baek Woo-jin, who will be in charge of the newly added Basic Riftology lecture this year.]
Lee Na-young and the other new students blinked at the empty space beside Ahn Hyeon-do.
Clack—
The sound of a dress shoe rang clearly, reaching everyone in the hall.
Clack. Clack.
With eerily uniform steps, Baek Woo-jin walked forward. As tall as Ahn Hyeon-do, he wore a black coat.
Unkempt hair and semi-transparent glasses that covered half his face.
It could have looked deeply comical. But not a single new student in that hall looked at Baek Woo-jin that way.
"Eep...!"
The pressure came on, creeping in without her noticing. Lee Na-young hiccupped and hastily covered her mouth with both hands.
【I am Baek Woo-jin.】
"...?"
The hands she'd pressed over her mouth to stop the hiccups lowered slowly.
【As the Chairman introduced, I'm the professor in charge of the Basic Riftology lecture. Basic Riftology is an elective liberal arts course and will mostly be conducted through theory. There will also be weekly assignments. Anyone who fails to complete them properly will be removed. So don't waste your time. Try to take the classes you actually need.】
Baek Woo-jin finished speaking and returned to his spot.
[The rest of you are already introduced, so I'll skip that. I sincerely welcome you all to Arena Academy. Now, dismissed!]
Ahn Hyeon-do's voice, thick with mana, jolted the students out of their daze.
'Huh...?'
Lee Na-young was among them. She had no memory of anything after Baek Woo-jin spoke his first word.
Leaving the slightly noisy new students behind, the professors descended from the stage. A middle-aged woman and man took their place at the podium.
[Young ladies, please follow me.]
[The young men, follow me.]
They were the dorm supervisors for the first-year dorms.
**
Following the supervisor to the first-year dorms, Lee Na-young waited impatiently for her turn.
'I wanna lie down fast...'
She desperately wanted to get out of her stiff uniform.
Her name was called soon after.
"Lee Na-young, Baek Ha-na."
Private rooms could only be used starting in second year. First-years were required to share a double.
As she walked up to the supervisor, Lee Na-young felt a flicker of curiosity about who her new roommate would be.
'Baek Ha-na... that's a cute name.'
It had a number-like ring to it, for some reason. It felt oddly familiar.
When she stood before the supervisor, she swallowed a gasp.
"If you lose this, you'll receive penalty points, so be careful."
"Yes."
"...Ah, y-yes, ma'am."
Lee Na-young took the card from the supervisor.
Then she followed the back of the white-haired beauty, who passed her, and climbed the stairs.
'Oh, what do I do... Sh-should I ask to switch rooms...'
Lee Na-young kept glancing furtively at Baek Ha-na's back, fidgeting nonstop with the card in her hand.
—Beep.
In no time at all, they'd reached their third-floor room.
Baek Ha-na opened the door, then turned and looked at Lee Na-young.
"Aren't you coming in?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah. I-I'm coming."
She'd been seriously considering asking to switch rooms, but that small bit of consideration from Baek Ha-na made her decide to think about it a little longer.
—Click.
The door shut, enclosing Baek Ha-na and Lee Na-young inside the dorm room.
'Wow... It's bigger than my living room.'
Even accounting for two people living together, the dorm room was excessively spacious.
"Which bed do you want to use?"
"Huh? O-oh, either one's fine with me."
"Same. I'll take this one, then."
Baek Ha-na walked over to the bed on the left and sat down.
Watching her, Lee Na-young crossed to the opposite side and carefully perched on the edge of her own bed.
'...Haaa.'
The softness of the mattress eased the tension in her heart a little.
'I can pick up my luggage after dinner... right?'
Lee Na-young stole a glance at Baek Ha-na across the room, then quietly flopped onto the bed.
"Haaah~"
She exhaled as if she were melting, then turned slightly to operate her smartwatch.
Unlike the returning students, new students had a one-week adjustment period.
Course registration was open starting now. But actual classes didn't begin until the following week. During that first week, new students could attend any lecture they were curious about, regardless of the enrollment limit, to get a feel for how classes worked.
As a result, registration usually happened over the weekend. But Lee Na-young was already thinking about the professor she'd seen in the hall today. She hurried into the registration menu and searched for his name.
'Baek... U... Jin...'
His lecture appeared clearly on the smartwatch screen.
There was just one problem.
'...?'
The class was already full.
Lee Na-young stared blankly for a moment, then let out a sigh.
'I should've registered on the way over...'
That young professor with the deep, ear-tickling voice was far more popular than she'd expected.
'I'll sleep until dinner...'
She'd been so nervous since morning that her sleep had been a wreck. She reached to set an alarm so she could rest her eyes when—
Thud!!
The heavy sound of something hitting the floor made Lee Na-young turn her head.
And there she saw it.
Her cold-faced, beautiful roommate.
"......."
Staring at the smartphone on the ground with hollow eyes.