Preparation (1)
Preparation (1)
......April 28th.
The students sat before me, their faces rigid with tension.
I picked up my bag and addressed them.
"Relax your expressions. I have no intention of handing out last-minute assignments."
-Whew~!!
-Is this... a dream?
-Wait. So there's no summer break assignment either?
Seven students exhaled in relief. Among them were Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee.
"Of course, a project to complete during the break will be assigned separately, so there's no need to worry."
-Im Gyeong-su, that son of a... mmph!!
-Hey, hey, calm down!!
-I swear I'm going to break that bastard's shield at the Grade Evaluation.
Every seated student glared at the male student who had once been in the same group as Baek Ha-na, radiating murderous intent. I glanced at Baek Ha-na's profile as she turned her head, then stepped down from the podium.
"I'll be pulling for you to earn solid results at the Grade Evaluation."
-......?
-Huh? What?
-Did my hearing just break?
The students who had been glaring at Im Gyeong-su blinked, looking dazed. As I headed for the door, Claire, who had been waiting nearby, followed me out and addressed the students.
"The summer assignment will be uploaded to the professor's resource drive, so please make sure to check it."
After the concise announcement, she adjusted her stride and fell into step neatly beside me. Without a word, I quietly extended my hand toward her.
"Ahem."
Claire coughed softly and took my hand.
-They're seriously close.
-Right....
-At this point, Professor Baek's bare face intrigues me more than Lady Claire's....
Students and professors spilling out of the lecture hall after the break and class stole glances at Claire and me holding hands and buzzed among themselves. It was something we had done repeatedly for two weeks, yet the reaction remained heated.
Holding her gradually warming hand, I left the noisy annex and returned to the residence.
"Is coffee all right?"
"Please."
"Yes."
As she headed into the kitchen, I entered the study and took a seat.
Whoosh.
Through the gap of the half-open window, a gentle spring breeze carrying a hint of warmth brushed past my cheek.
Bathed in the bright sunlight, I quietly squeezed the hand that still carried Claire's warmth.
'I don't think I can last long at this rate.'
The day of the observer meeting.
That day, a change—no, a problem—arose in this body.
The moment I saw Baek Ha-na's smile as she sat at the desk, smiling bashfully, a little goofily, I caught myself thinking I wanted to make that smile mine. To make the girl wearing that kind of smile mine.
Fortunately, the commotion Claire made in the kitchen snapped me out of it, but the desire that had taken root did not vanish so easily.
A craving I had never once felt before.
A thought the man called Baek Woo-jin would never entertain.
Faint yet unpleasant. That kind of feeling.
That was when I understood.
The body had finally recovered enough to completely suppress the Void Energy. Until now, the seeping Power of Void had been offsetting Greed, but as the cracks in this body filled in, Void became thoroughly sealed away.
Because of that, the balance that had been so exquisitely maintained was gradually tilting toward Greed.
This change was something I had not anticipated, either.
But I knew the solution.
If I damage my soul by using the Authority of Emptiness on something beyond my current means to handle, the problem will resolve itself. This damned body is affected by the soul, so it will naturally break down, and the scale will balance itself again.
It might tilt a bit further toward Void, but unlike Greed, Void is unlikely to cause much trouble. I will simply observe everything even more dispassionately than I do now.
'I'll have to endure until summer somehow.'
If that proves too difficult, it'll be a little ahead of schedule, but I'll have no choice but to retrieve the artifact from that bastard Jaden.
Just as the remnant warmth on my hand began to fade.
"Professor."
Claire entered the study carrying a teacup. Watching her approach, I used mana to pull over the chair beside me.
Claire set the teacup down in front of me and seated herself in the chair I had moved. And once again, the warmth of her hand was added to mine.
I hold the hand of the woman others envy.
In full view of everyone.
Ostentation and exclusivity.
The fuel that eases the desire that has taken root.
"Regarding those who were dismissed...."
With one hand, she peered at the small screen of her smartphone and slowly began recounting the movements of the vermin who had been expelled from the Academy.
"...Beyond that, the professor's name is beginning to come up here and there... Professor?"
"I'm listening."
Whatever vermin who sought only to fill their own bellies do is not worth paying attention to. It was also expected that my name would start appearing outside. It is probably because some of the students removed from my lectures leaked the lecture and practical content to outsiders.
As such, I do not need to hear those stories.
"Continue."
"Yes. Next is...."
So I am not listening to the content of the report, only to her voice. That even-tempered, slightly cold, and thus all the clearer, voice.
"Lastly, the meeting scheduled for this afternoon—"
-Peep~
A chick-like chirp from behind cut Claire off.
Now that the weather had turned mild, the little rascal who had been out exploring had returned. That was the sole reason the window had been left open.
I gently released the hand I had been holding and spoke.
"I'll check the rest."
-Peep!
The little creature, tiny flower petals stuck messily all over its head from wherever it had been, perched on Claire's shoulder.
"Then...."
She set her smartphone down, picked up my empty teacup instead, and rose from her seat.
Quietly leaving the study, Claire paused for a moment.
"......Um."
Peeking only her blue eyes through the narrow crack of the door, she asked.
"What shall we do about dinner...."
I met her gaze, tinged with a hint of tension, and answered.
"Stew sounds good."
"...Yes!"
She replied in a more confident voice, quietly closed the door, and withdrew.
'Everyone has at least one thing they're bad at.'
Two months since she began learning to cook.
She was still clumsy at it.
**
Evening, after all classes and schedules had ended.
"Hey!! Come on, hurry up!!"
In front of the student cafeteria.
Idni bounced restlessly, her eye-catchingly pink hair fluttering in waves. At her side, Maria let out a short sigh and waved at the approaching Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee.
"The training grounds are closer to you than to us, so why are you always late?"
"You'd get hurt if you knew...."
"......?"
Idni blinked at Nam Seo-hee's cryptic answer.
"What are you doing? Let's get inside, hurry."
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
Maria, already arm in arm with Baek Ha-na, came over and nudged Idni's back, and the four entered the cafeteria and claimed a table.
"The two of you are seriously amazing."
"Whaaat?"
"Want to get hit?"
"......."
When Maria raised one hand, Idni flinched and hurriedly swallowed the food in her mouth.
"Good grief, eat some salad or something besides meat. Ha-na, you cut back on the chocolate, too."
"......."
"......."
At Maria's scolding, Baek Ha-na and Idni subtly averted their eyes.
"And Na-young—is she really all right?"
"...Yeah, she seemed fine."
Baek Ha-na answered Maria's question as she crunched on a chocolate bar. Then Idni, having finished off the last rib, chimed in.
"Hey, if you've got something good, tell us so we can try it too. What the hell did she eat that a kid groaning like a zombie suddenly got so lively overnight? And her face somehow looks more mature, too."
"Right. I was kind of shocked that a face with dark circles all the way down to her cheeks suddenly got its glow back."
Lee Na-young had abruptly regained her vitality one day as if she'd become a different person.
Of course, only the outside had changed; inside she was the same timid Lee Na-young.
"And she's been holed up in the practice room and coming back late ever since, right?"
"Well... yeah. She barely seems to sleep, either."
"What if she just suddenly goes—poof—and—"
Smack!!
"......?!"
Idni let out a silent scream at the blow to Maria's back.
"Even as a joke, mind your mouth a little. Why do you earn a beating every time you open it?"
"Maybe she enjoys getting hit."
"......Are you crazy?!"
At Nam Seo-hee's offhand remark, Idni's eyes blazed.
"You try getting hit, you bitch! Do you know how much her hands sting?! I really don't get why she's a priestess and not a holy knight!"
"You're exaggerating."
"How hard can Maria really hit."
"Y-you, you!!"
As Maria and Nam Seo-hee took turns piling on, Idni's face flushed as if about to burst, her mouth opening and closing.
"Ha-na!! You—you're on my side, right?"
"......Hm?"
Baek Ha-na looked up at Idni's call.
"No... never mind. Keep eating."
"'Kay."
Baek Ha-na nodded and resumed nibbling at the chocolate bar in both hands like a squirrel.
As dinner gradually wound down.
Clatter—!!
At the sound of a tray set down with almost excessive force, the heads of the three besides Baek Ha-na turned. The moment they confirmed the culprit's face, Nam Seo-hee's and Maria's eyes narrowed.
A female student with blazing red hair flowing down, Na Ju-hee, sat down glaring at Baek Ha-na.
It was a fairly intense stare, but Baek Ha-na showed no reaction and rose from her seat, stuffing the last remaining chocolate into her mouth.
The other three also rose to follow Baek Ha-na and left the cafeteria without any further incident.
"Ha-na."
"......?"
At Maria's call, Baek Ha-na, who had been about to stop by the shop, turned her head.
"Well, it's not that I don't know your skills, but I was thinking maybe you should start training a bit starting this week."
"I think so too."
Nam Seo-hee backed up Maria's words.
Baek Ha-na blinked a couple of times and spoke.
"...All of a sudden?"
"The Grade Evaluation is coming up."
"I'm fine with having bad grades, though?"
At Baek Ha-na's reply, Idni, who had been listening quietly, tilted her head.
"Can she even get bad grades?"
"Well, for Ha-na, even half-heartedly she'd be in the upper ranks."
"But why the sudden training?"
"Right."
When Baek Ha-na and Idni tilted their heads and asked simultaneously.
"Since we're doing it anyway, higher ranks would be nice, right? Besides, for you, Ha-na, the top seat is well within reach."
"Not interested."
Baek Ha-na's reaction was utterly flat.
The weekend was the only time she could see him, lean on him comfortably, and act spoiled. Trading that precious time just for the sake of claiming the top seat was unthinkable.
"Is that red-haired girl from earlier glaring at you because of that, too?"
"......Right. She's unrivaled in the ability-type class right now."
"I see. Though she seemed a bit overly hostile."
This time Nam Seo-hee answered Baek Ha-na's question.
"Well, her name's Na Ju-hee, and she's, uh, engaged to that Kang Seok-ho you spar with every day, Ha-na."
"Ahh...."
Baek Ha-na nodded with a look of partial understanding.
If you're beating her fiancé to a pulp every single day, hostility is inevitable.
Even in her own case, if someone tried to harm that person, she would want to tear them apart on the spot.
"Then, if we meet in the evaluation matches, I guess I can go easy on her."
She still couldn't forgive Kang Seok-ho, but Na Ju-hee's anger was something she fully sympathized with. At Baek Ha-na's answer, however, Maria's eyes grew languidly half-lidded.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You're really going to give up the top seat?"
"Yeah. I'm not really interested in things like elixirs or artifacts."
"Right. Is that so."
Maria shook her head with a deeply disappointed expression. Then, taking each step very slowly forward, she parted her lips to speak.
"If you're top seat, you're exempt from assignments."
Baek Ha-na's previously indifferent eyes flew wide open.
"Curfew extends to midnight, too."
Baek Ha-na's head tilted to the side.
"And during breaks, you can even receive personal tutoring from the professor of your choice."
Maria, now arm in arm with Baek Ha-na again, tilted her head diagonally and asked.
"Still not interested?"