Finding Lost Items
The day after the notice for the Magic Exchange Tournament went up, the Student Council sent over their first official request.
The moment I received the envelope, I tried to hand it straight back.
“No thanks.”
“You haven’t even looked inside.”
Selene lightly bonked my forehead with the envelope.
“It’s a lost-item request.”
“Send it to Lost and Found.”
“It’s not there either.”
“Then there’s no way to find it.”
Asking someone who couldn’t even see the future to track down a lost belonging… My prediction that the fortune-telling shop had closed only for the work to get dumped on the Student Council had been right on the money.
I sank into the sofa in the Student Council Room. Selene tore open the envelope and pulled out the request form inside.
“The student who submitted it searched for three days herself. She checked the dorms, the lecture halls, even the library.”
“There’s still nothing I can do.”
“You found the hidden spaces in the spire and the drainage passages with wind.”
“That’s because there were spaces there.”
“There’s a chance it fell into a gap this time too.”
Selene held out the request form.
Lost Item: Silver necklace
Features: Blue ribbon and small bell decoration
Estimated Lost Area: Between the Central Library and the East Greenhouse
A gift from her mother for enrollment.
Can never be obtained again.
I shut my mouth. Writing something like that made it almost impossible to refuse. Selene had clearly known that when she showed it to me.
“Please just take a look. Just once.”
The student sitting across from me on the sofa bowed her head. She was a girl with light brown hair and small wings. The rims of her eyes were a little red.
“It’s all right if you can’t find it. Really… just once…”
If I turned her down now, I’d be the bad dragon.
“Fine.”
I sighed and stood up.
“But I’m not finding it by looking into the future.”
“Yes!”
“And if I can’t find it, don’t go spreading weird rumors.”
“Yes!”
Her answers came far too quickly. That made me uneasy.
There were four of us on the search.
Me, the necklace’s owner, Selene tagging along as Student Council representative… and Erika, who had somehow heard about it and chased us down.
“Why are you following us?”
“Looked fun.”
“Finding a lost item?”
“You said you’re finding it with wind.”
The rumor had already spread. Just how bad was the soundproofing in the Student Council Room?
Erika raised a fist.
“If it’s stuck somewhere, I’ll dig it out for you.”
“By smashing things?”
“If I have to.”
“Even if you have to, please don’t.”
I started by confirming the path where the necklace had been lost. Out of the library, past the Central Fountain, through the East Corridor, and toward the greenhouse. It had been right before rain, so the wind had been strong, and she’d dropped some books and papers along the way.
“The necklace might have fallen then too.”
“I thought the same thing, so I searched the entire corridor.”
The student touched the thin mark still left on her neck—the trace of a broken chain.
We walked slowly from the front of the library. I took out my Yeouiju.
I had no way of knowing where the necklace was. But if it had a blue ribbon, it would react to the wind. The little bell would make a sound if it moved. The area was wide, but it was worth a try.
“I’m going to raise some wind,” I told the others. “I’ll move it little by little and watch for the ribbon or the sound of the bell.”
“You can find it with that?” Erika asked.
“No idea.”
“You sounded so confident a second ago.”
“I said it was worth a try. I never said I’d find it.”
Dodging responsibility was important.
I wrapped my hand around the Yeouiju and felt the air near the ground. I couldn’t blow too hard. The ribbon might fly even farther, and the skirts of any students walking by might flip up. That second possibility was genuinely dangerous.
I spread a thin current of wind along the floor. Dry leaves rustled and shifted. Dust from between the stones drew out in fine lines. Beneath the library steps. Between the flower beds. Along the edge of the fountain. Wherever the wind touched, light objects revealed themselves—a crumpled note, a candy wrapper, a lost feather ornament. No necklace.
When we reached the Central Fountain, I paused and peered into the water. There was a chance the wind had blown the necklace into the basin. Coins and metal fragments glittered on the bottom in the sunlight.
“Is it in there?” the girl asked, hope bright on her face.
“I’ll check.”
I brought the Yeouiju close to the water. I had no intention of lifting the whole thing the way I had with the lake. All I needed was to spin the fountain water thinly enough to bare the bottom.
The surface slowly parted. A small whirlpool formed in the center, drawing everything on the floor into one place: eight coins, three buttons, a small key, and a discarded candy stick. No necklace.
“Not here either.”
I returned the water to normal. Students who had been watching from the sidelines broke into applause.
“Why are you clapping?”
“You moved the water.”
“It’s just fountain water.”
“I’ve never seen anyone split it that cleanly.”
After lifting an entire lake, a fountain had felt like nothing. But this time not a single drop had splashed outside. In terms of precise control over a small area, it was actually better than before.
Selene picked up the gathered objects one by one.
“I’ll leave the coins with the Student Council and send the key to Lost and Found.”
“What about the candy stick?”
“Throw it out.”
Erika picked up the key.
“I wonder what this opens.”
“Erika.”
Selene held out her hand. Erika returned the key with a disappointed look.
We had come out to find one lost item and were only discovering more of them.
“I’ll take that feather ornament to Lost and Found too,” Selene said, scooping it up. Even in a moment like this, the Student Council President managed to create more work for herself.
When we reached the East Corridor, I stopped for a moment. One side of the corridor was an open structure supported only by pillars. On a rainy day, the wind would have driven hard all the way inside. A long drainage channel ran along the floor, covered at regular intervals by iron grates.
“This is where you dropped the papers?”
“Yes. Near that pillar.”
The student pointed to the third one. I gathered wind around it. Leaves spun. Dust rose from inside the drainage channel. No sound.
One step. Two steps. I moved slowly, repeating the same process. Erika yawned.
“Can’t we just open all the covers?”
“How many are there?”
“About ten.”
“Are you going to open them yourself?”
“Smashing them would be faster.”
“President, please hold Erika.”
Selene grabbed the edge of Erika’s cloak.
“Let go already.”
“Stay still.”
I focused again. As I passed the sixth cover, part of the wind was sucked down into the drainage channel. I felt a tiny resistance—the sensation of a scrap of cloth snagged in a gap and fluttering.
I gently pulled the wind back.
Tinkle.
A faint sound. Everyone froze.
“Did you hear that just now?”
When I asked, the girl clapped both hands over her mouth.
“That’s the necklace.”
I crouched in front of the cover. A sliver of blue showed through the gap below.
“Found it.”
Erika stepped forward at once.
“Move.”
“Don’t smash it.”
“Just a little.”
“I don’t trust that ‘just a little.’”
Selene pulled a small key from her belt.
“It’s a maintenance lock.”
The iron cover opened with almost insulting ease. Erika lowered her fist, looking disappointed.
Dry leaves had piled thickly inside the drainage channel. Caught among them was a blue ribbon. At the end of the ribbon hung a silver necklace and a small bell.
The student lifted the necklace with trembling hands.
“This is it.”
Her voice was already turning into tears.
“Thank you… truly.”
She clutched the necklace to her chest and bowed again and again. Then, without warning, she stepped in and threw both arms around me.
“Huh?”
I went rigid. I had gotten used to Lydia hugging me, but I had never expected a complete stranger to do the same. The girl quickly came to her senses and pulled away.
“I’m sorry. I was just so happy…”
“It’s fine.”
She had found her necklace, so I could understand. What I didn’t understand was why Erika and Selene’s gazes had suddenly turned a little cold.
The girl pulled a small bag of candy from her pocket and held it out to me.
“This is all I have, but please take it.”
“You don’t need to give me a reward.”
“I really want to.”
In the end I accepted the candy. Colorful wrappers sparkled in my palm. The first payment I had ever earned with an Azure Dragon’s power. I liked it far better than the single silver coin from Noel’s fortune-telling shop.
I unwrapped one and popped it into my mouth. Peach flavor. A little embarrassed, I touched the tip of one horn.
“I didn’t see the future. I just felt the ribbon catch on the wind.”
“Even so, I never would have found it without you, Cheongha.”
That much was true. This time it hadn’t been pure luck either. I had moved the wind with the precision I intended and found the necklace exactly where it was. Something tickled inside my chest. Being praised really didn’t feel bad at all.
Erika roughly ruffled my hair.
“Not bad.”
“You’re messing up my hair.”
“I thought all you could do was lift lakes, but you’re good at this kind of thing too.”
“Of course I am.”
I pushed her hand away and squared my shoulders.
“I just can’t control my strength well. That doesn’t mean I’m weak.”
Selene’s pen moved.
“Search ability utilizing fine air currents.”
“You can record this one.”
I gave permission with full confidence.
The next morning, a new stack of request forms had piled up in front of the Student Council.
Thirteen lost items. Two missing familiars. One book that had vanished from the library. And one request asking me to find a lost romantic feeling.
I tore the last form in half.
“Why?” Selene asked.
“That isn’t a lost item.”
“It says they lost it.”
“You can’t find a heart with wind.”
Selene looked down at the torn request with something like regret.
The fortune-telling shop might have closed… but my workload was only growing.