Cheer Up, Butt-Man!
The silence in the infirmary was oppressively heavy. The thick book hitting the floor sent ripples through the air, and Bora's eyes flickered with pure shock. Through her glasses, the scene unfolding before her was both bizarre and strangely mystical.
There I was, lying face-down on the bed, desperately rubbing my own butt. From the spot my hands touched, blue smoke swirled and a golden-haired spirit girl popped out with a playful grin.
"Gangjin... your mana circuit was in your butt?"
Bora couldn't even finish her sentence.
"Eek!" I let out a high-pitched, girlish scream and yanked the white blanket over my head. But it was already too late. My shameful secret as a butt awakener had been permanently burned into the vice president's retinas in real time.
"Puhahaha!" Jinny burst into roaring laughter, clearly enjoying the cruel situation. "Hey, look at the vice president's face! She's completely lost it!"
"Jinny! Please... please just shut up...!"
Jinny's hearty laughter echoed off the infirmary ceiling. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear, but Bora recovered her composure faster than I expected. She picked up the fallen book, pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, and took a step closer to my bed.
"Gangjin, take the blanket off for a second."
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that even if it kills me!"
"I'm not joking."
Bora's eyes filled with genuine concern as she spoke in a serious tone. "I saw everything just now."
Jinny emerging from my butt. The fact that the S-class freshman who'd topped the entrance exams had awakened in his butt. Bora's words were like a confirmation shot, hammering the reality of the situation into me twice over.
"Can't you keep it a secret from the others? If people find out that the top incoming student awakened in his butt..."
Before I could finish, Bora took my hand and said, "You can't even walk properly right now. Your mana circuit is twisted, so stay still. I'll treat you."
Treat me...? Even in this absurd situation, Bora's kind attitude chipped away at my defenses.
"No, a pain patch should do it!"
"This isn't something a patch can fix." Bora put her hands on her hips with a motherly expression and frowned at me. "If you keep this up, you'll come down with a fever and be bedridden tonight."
There was an undeniable firmness in Bora's voice. Faced with a resolve that contrasted sharply with her usual quiet demeanor, I finally admitted defeat and cautiously lifted the blanket.
Bora lightly shook out both hands, loosening her fingers. A faint white mana began to rise from the tips of all ten fingers. She traced around my butt with her fingertips, gently probing. Then a flow of mana started pouring out from her.
"It was back in my first year of middle school... The kid sitting next to me cut his hand on a piece of paper," Bora said as she stroked my butt. "When I asked if he was okay and touched his hand, the wound just closed up."
Her hand, which had been exploring my butt, stopped at a certain spot as if it had found something.
"That's when I realized it. Oh, I'm a healer-type ability user."
Bora's ten fingers moved gracefully around my butt. Her touch was precise and gentle, like a pianist playing an invisible keyboard.
"Before entering high school, I received a detailed examination from a national institution, and the results clearly stated it."
"Detailed examination...? You mean the aptitude test?"
Was she talking about the test I'd taken before becoming a high school student? Bora smiled softly at my question.
"It's a little different from that test. I awakened my ability back in my first year of middle school."
Her fingers gently gliding over my butt were incredibly delicate.
"Heo Jun, the author of the Donguibogam."
"Whoa, isn't he an incredibly famous person?" Heo Jun, a mid-Joseon dynasty medical scholar who made enormous contributions to the development of Korean medicine.
"My rank is A. I never imagined something like this would dwell in my fingers."
I tried to picture how Bora, who had awakened the power of the Donguibogam, would perform her healing. Since it was based on traditional medicine, would it involve needles?
"So do you use mana to create something like acupuncture needles?" I asked out of pure curiosity.
"According to historical records, Heo Jun's specialty was medicine rather than acupuncture, but..."
From the tips of Bora's fingers, dazzling white mana needles poured out and sank into my skin.
"It seems this ability is shaped more by the 'image' people commonly associate with it rather than strict historical facts."
The burning pain vanished, replaced by a refreshing, cooling sensation.
"Whoa! Look at her skill! The mana circuit is opening up smoothly!" Even Jinny, who was usually prickly, grew quiet in admiration of Bora's ability.
With the pain subsiding, I felt a bit more at ease and asked cautiously, "Image...?"
"Yeah. When I went for my early examination, I met kids with all sorts of abilities..." Bora organized her thoughts and shared what she'd felt about powers. "Do you know Isaac Newton?"
"Of course! The guy who discovered gravity."
"There was a friend with that ability. The real Newton in history was just a physicist, but..." She lifted her hand from my butt and continued her explanation. "This friend could manipulate gravity in a small area. It was so fascinating that it stuck in my memory."
"Wow, is that really possible?" I marveled at the unbelievable ability.
"It's a plausible story," Jinny agreed, floating lazily near the window. "We're nothing more than roots. The fruits are created by people's imagination."
"Are you the fairy from the lamp in Aladdin, Miss Spirit?"
"That's right. The one who grants three wishes? That's me."
Bora's eyes sparkled as she looked at Jinny. "Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful! I've only heard about cases where abilities manifest as fully formed personalities like this..."
Jinny seemed to puff up with pride at Bora's reaction, looking rather smug. "You can praise me more if you want. Go ahead and stare all you like."
I found smug Jinny a little hard to watch. Time to change the subject. "By the way, Bora, why did you come to the infirmary? Are you hurt somewhere?"
"No, I'm not sick... I just came to see the school nurse. I'm a huge fan."
A fan? What kind of person was the school nurse to have fans?
"You're a fan of the school nurse?" My question made Bora look slightly surprised.
"You... are you seriously asking because you don't know? She's been on so many TV documentaries. She's an S-class awakener, the pinnacle of healers."
Ah, I thought I'd heard of her. The incredibly renowned Korean physician I'd caught by chance while flipping channels... Was that her? And she was working as a school nurse at our academy?
"There's a paper the teacher wrote called Modern Interpretation of Advanced Mana Meridians. I found it absolutely fascinating."
Bora's expression turned reverent, as if she were speaking of a sacred being. Wait a second. A first-year high school student casually talking about reading academic papers?
"The combination of the teacher's Nightingale ability and her thigh awakening is truly awe-inspiring."
"Thigh...?"
"That powerful mana from her thighs is an object of reverence for healers around the world."
As Bora's eyes sparkled while talking about the school nurse, I could have sworn she glanced at my butt for a moment.
"No matter where your awakening is, what matters is how you use that power."
Bora smiled brightly, alternating her gaze between my face and my butt. "That goes for you too, Gangjin. So what if it's a butt?"
"But still..."
Bora's calm consolation sent a strange thrill through me. She had identified her ability early, trained it, decided on a healer path, and was even studying it academically. Even though we were classmates, I found myself genuinely respecting Bora.
So this is how far ahead geniuses who awaken early can get. The thought made me bow my head involuntarily.
"The mana should flow smoothly now."
When Bora relaxed her body, the pain disappeared like a lie.
"Thank you, Bora. I'll definitely repay this favor."
"It's nothing. I just did my duty as vice president by helping the class president."
After fixing my clothes and returning to the classroom, break time was already over. Still, thanks to Bora, I managed to get through sixth and seventh period without any issues. The screams that had accompanied every time I sat down had vanished, so I could finally focus on the words on the blackboard.
When school ended and I left through the main gate, I spotted a familiar silhouette under the streetlight where the sunset stretched long shadows. It was Chaeyeon.
"Hey, Baek Gangjin." The moment she spotted me, she awkwardly turned her head and kicked at the ground with the toe of her sneaker. "How's your body...? I heard you went to the infirmary."
"Ah, yeah. Our class vice president took a look at me, so I feel a lot better now."
"Took a look at what...? Your butt?"
I felt a bit embarrassed that my butt had been exposed, but surprisingly, no one had mocked my 'S-class' butt so far.
"Somehow, our vice president ended up finding out..."
Chaeyeon let out a small snort of laughter. "Nothing bad happened, right?"
"Yeah. It was better than I expected?"
We started walking home side by side under the orange sunset. After walking in silence for a while, Chaeyeon stopped, looked down at the ground, and spoke in a tiny voice.
"...Sorry."
"Huh?"
"Yesterday... I kicked you way too hard."
I never expected an apology to come from Chaeyeon.
"I didn't realize I would hit you that hard. When I saw Jinny shatter into pieces and disappear... I was actually a little, just a tiny bit, scared."
Chaeyeon rambled on, looking like she didn't know what to do with herself, then looked at me. "...Did it hurt a lot?"
Her voice was filled with sincere remorse instead of her usual sharp arrogance. Whether from the sunset or from shyness, her ears had turned bright red. Looking at them, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"No, thanks to you I'm still alive. If you hadn't helped, I'd probably be wrapped in spider silk and hanging from a tree in the forest right now."
I lightly patted my butt with my hand. "And I'm tougher than I look."
Chaeyeon gave an exasperated laugh at my bravado. "Pfft... You're so weird."
"What?"
"Just... starting with the butt awakening, and then to use your ability you have to rub your butt..."
"Hey, it's not like I chose for it to be this way!"
Chaeyeon, who had been grinning, finally exploded with laughter. I, who had been the one getting teased, laughed along with her.
"Still, don't come to the dojo today," Chaeyeon said, her face still lit with lingering amusement. "Your butt isn't in good shape. If you push yourself and something worse happens, it'll be a problem for me too."
Even with Bora's healing, my injured butt needed rest.
"Just go home and rest today. Got it?"
"Okay. I'll listen to you."
We had reached the fork in the road leading home. It was the point where our paths split.
"See you tomorrow."
I waved goodbye to Chaeyeon, who apologized one last time, and we parted ways. My shadow stretched long under the dim sunset.
Suddenly, a strange emotion welled up in my chest. The shameful butt awakening that I thought I had to bear alone. But now I had friends who shared that secret. Sure, one of them had mercilessly kicked my butt, and the other had examined it thoroughly while scolding me... but strangely, I didn't mind at all.
Instead, where the throbbing pain had been, it felt like a pleasant warmth remained. The most embarrassing awakening of my life might not be the huge problem I had feared.
I started walking home with lighter steps. For some reason, Jinny felt a little warmer than usual inside my butt today.
...Still, summoning Jinny in front of a lot of people is probably going to stay embarrassing for a while.