Chapter 121: The Magic Tower (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 121: The Magic Tower (2)
The Magic Tower is composed of five departments in total.
Elemental, Conceptual, Alchemy, Spirit, and Summoning.
I transferred into the Elemental Department. Of course, I have an aptitude for Summoning as well, but my main focus is, and always has been, Elemental Magic.
“My name is Kang Hyun-woo.”
The class wasn't very large. There were about twenty students, and only three of them were men.
Perhaps because of the skewed gender ratio, most of the girls stared at me with an intensity that was frankly uncomfortable.
'Looks like students from other departments are mixed in.'
It made sense. With departments like Conceptual or Spirit having single-digit student numbers per year, it would be impossible to assign separate classes for each.
“...Is that seriously it?”
“I'm twenty-one.”
“...Hobbies?”
“I don't really have any.”
Professor Lee Chaewon stared at me. Her face might as well have had "boring" written all over it.
“...Does anyone have any questions for him?”
But it seemed she wasn't ready to give up just yet.
“I do.”
The moment Professor Lee Chaewon asked, a girl shot her hand into the air.
She had striking light brown hair and deep black eyes. With her hair flowing down to her waist, she had the overall look of a rich man's daughter.
“Hyun-woo, was it?”
In other words, she looked like trouble.
“Is it true you got in through your connection to Professor Choi Young-ok?”
The corners of her eyes curved into a delicate smile. She was undeniably a beauty you wouldn't come across easily, but her personality didn't seem to measure up to even half of her looks.
A fair number of students seemed to agree with her, as no one tried to stop her. Even Professor Lee Chaewon was watching the situation unfold with a look of keen interest.
'They said this place was full of oddballs.'
I just didn't realize that applied to the students, too.
'Still, for a mere student to bring up Grandma Choi Young-ok... does that mean she comes from a family powerful enough to take on the Seongbuk Choi family?'
Of course, she might have just assumed my connection to them wasn't that deep. Either way, I didn't care. I had no intention of playing along with her in the first place.
Vwooom—
My mana circle, its output limited to the 2nd Circle, began to thrum violently. The magic that instantly spread out began to dominate the entire classroom.
“?!”
A look of bewilderment flashed across the girl's face. She belatedly tried to summon her own magic, but she failed repeatedly.
The outcome of a battle between mages depends on who can dominate the space first. There was no way a mere 1st Circle mage could use magic within my domain.
The same went for the other students. Not just the ones who had sided with her, but nearly everyone, save for a select few, seemed crushed by my presence, struggling to even lift their heads.
It might have been a bit much, but if I wanted to avoid future annoyances, I had to establish dominance right here and now, whether they liked it or not.
VWOOOM!!
“That's enough.”
Clap!
Just as I was about to increase my magic output, Professor Lee Chaewon clapped her hands once. In an instant, my magic that had dominated the space dissipated.
She had seized control from me.
Of course, I could have resisted if I wanted to. But to do so while limiting my magic would have required considerable effort.
I didn't feel the need to go that far, so I willingly relinquished control.
“Alright, everyone see that? Hyun-woo is not a mage so lacking that you have any room to complain. Especially you, Seoah. If you come bothering me again like last time, you'll get a demerit.”
“...I'm sorry.”
Only then did the girl called Seoah take her seat. She looked pale.
It wasn't an aura that a pampered young lady could handle. If I had unleashed my killing intent, she might have actually fainted.
“And you, Hyun-woo! How could you use force against these delicate girls! Apologize, quickly!”
“What?”
Tsk!
“...Sorry.”
Professor Lee Chaewon finally gave a satisfied smile.
I suddenly wanted to change classes. I felt like it would have been much easier if Professor Shin Minha was my homeroom teacher.
“Go ahead and sit wherever you like. There are plenty of empty seats.”
The classroom was set up like a lecture hall in an American university.
I walked up the tiered steps. I could see faint traces of fear in some of the eyes that followed me.
Of course, not everyone looked at me that way. Proving this place was full of oddballs, a new wave of attention, even more intense than before, washed over me.
Since most of them were female students, I didn't feel too bad about it.
I headed toward the back and sat in an empty seat.
“Hic?!”
“Hm?”
Hearing a familiar sound right next to me, I turned my head. An unexpected person was staring at me with a terrified expression.
“You're...”
Her small frame, fluffy hair, and overwhelmingly large chest... it was Marna Hircus's granddaughter.
I knew she attended the Magic Tower, but I never imagined she was a first-year. And in the same class, no less. What were the odds?
“We meet again.”
I casually offered a handshake.
“I-I'm Lumina Hircus...”
I took her dainty hand. It was small and soft, but trembling slightly.
'If I'd known she was here, I would've just backed down.'
I had unintentionally done something terrible to my client's precious granddaughter.
“I'm sorry. If I knew you were here, Ms. Lumina, I wouldn't have done something so aggressive. I must have startled you.”
“I-It's okay...”
Thankfully, it seemed my restraint had paid off.
“Can I call you Lumina?”
After a moment's hesitation, she slowly nodded. But she seemed uncomfortable talking to me any further and turned her head away.
I wondered if it was because of what just happened, but she'd seemed strangely wary of me when I visited her shop last time, too. To be precise, it started after she read my fortune and fainted.
I wanted to ask what on earth she saw during my reading that made her pass out, but Lumina seemed to avoid any mention of that day.
'We're not close. It would be rude to keep prying.'
Lumina and I were just a shopkeeper and a customer, not close enough for me to suddenly act familiar with her.
Of course, now we were classmates, which made us a little closer, but I wasn't so desperate for friends that I'd force myself on someone who was clearly uncomfortable around me.
Soon after, Professor Lee Chaewon finished her announcements and left the classroom. The moment she was gone, someone approached me.
“Hey.”
Black hair and black eyes. He was shorter than me, but overall, he was a handsome, likable guy.
“I'm Son Jinho. Same age as you.”
He appeared with a friendly smile and offered me a handshake.
'Son Jinho... I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere.'
I was pretty sure the name Son Jinho was on the list of people to watch out for that Choi Hyena gave me.
“It's nothing much, but as you can see, there are only four guys in this class, including you. Let's get along.”
“Uh, sure.”
As if that was all he came to say, Son Jinho left. A moment later, I remembered who he was.
He had to be Son Jinho, the second son of the Cheonseong Group, ranked 10th in the business world.
'I never imagined I'd be making friends with the son of a chaebol.'
Perhaps because Son Jinho had broken the ice, several other students approached me, showing their interest.
“Hey, hey, what's your relationship with Professor Choi?”
“Is it true you've only been learning magic for less than half a year?”
“You can't be self-taught, right? Are you some kind of secret weapon from the Seongbuk Choi family?”
“What kind of magic do you like? It's got to be the fire element, right? If you're interested, I'm researching a spell right now. Want to work on it together?”
To be honest, I was a little flustered. This was the first time I'd ever been surrounded by more than ten girls my age.
'They're all around the early 1st Circle, I see.'
Their ages were more varied than I expected, ranging from twenty to as old as twenty-four. And most of them were pretty. It was a natural result, since magic purges a certain amount of waste from the body.
“Hello.”
An uninvited guest crashed my little paradise. It was the girl who had picked a fight with me during introductions. Her name was Seoah, I think?
“Hyun-woo, could we talk alone for a moment?”
The girls who had been taking turns asking me questions all fell silent, glancing nervously at her.
I was starting to get a vague picture of the power dynamic in Class 1-A.
“What is it?”
“...I wanted to personally apologize for what happened earlier.”
My blunt question made her smiling expression falter slightly. It was a sign she was trying to maintain at least a minimum of dignity.
“It's fine. Besides, class is about to start.”
“...Right. Then I'll come back later.”
It'll be useless even if you do.
I watched her retreat, struggling to maintain her composure, before looking away. Her name was also on Choi Hyena's list of people to watch out for.
Han Seoah, a member of the Jinryu Han Family, one of the three great magic noble families. And not from a branch family, but a direct descendant—the youngest daughter of the current family head.
'She's also the Tower Lord's only younger sister.'
The reason I didn't recognize her sooner was because she had light brown hair, not the dark hair characteristic of the Jinryu Han family.
Besides, for the younger sister of the so-called genius of the century, the Tower Lord, to be barely at the end of the 1st Circle at the age of twenty...
'Then again, if the Tower Lord's talent was hereditary, the Jinryu Han family wouldn't be just one of the three great magic noble families; they'd reign as an unrivaled dynasty.'
It was a common enough occurrence, so I lost interest.
The Tower Lord was enough of a headache; I had no desire to get involved with another figure from a great magic family. Especially not one who held more animosity than goodwill toward me. In any case, as long as I had the Seongbuk Choi family as a shield, it would be useless for Han Seoah to try and crush me with her authority.
The girls who had gathered around me glanced at Han Seoah one by one before eventually leaving.
That was a nice, brief moment of happiness. I swallowed a sigh and opened my textbook.
The morning at the Magic Tower consisted of common subjects that all departments were required to take.
A moment later, a professor entered the classroom, and I listened to the lecture. As expected, it was a pathetic display compared to Iris's lessons.
But as the old saying goes, you can learn something even from a beggar on the street.
The first class was on the Theory of Arcana. It was a subject that delved deep into the source and theory of magic, teaching the fundamental principles and advanced concepts of traditional magic.
It was a subject Iris had also taught me, but I found the different perspective quite interesting.
Of course, since it was the first day of the semester, the class proceeded in a relatively mundane fashion—reading the textbook and memorizing what was written on the blackboard.
The morning passed in the blink of an eye.
When lunchtime came, the students began to file out of the classroom. Not knowing where the cafeteria was, I was in a bit of a bind.
I was about to ask Son Jinho to go with me, but he also seemed to be wary of Han Seoah, as he hurried out of the classroom with the other male students.
“...Um, Hyun-woo?”
“Yeah?”
“C-Can I ask... why you're following me?”
“You can speak casually. We're classmates, aren't we?”
“...Okay.”
“It's nothing much. It's my first day, so I don't know where the cafeteria is. Could you show me the way?”
I chose Lumina as my guide because I figured she didn't have any friends, just like me. She had gone to the restroom alone all morning and spent her breaks reading her textbook by herself.
Besides, as Marna Hircus's granddaughter, she had no reason to be intimidated by Han Seoah.
A 1st Grade Alchemist wasn't someone even a great magic family could treat carelessly.
After a moment's thought, Lumina nodded.
The number of stares and the amount of attention we drew on the way to the cafeteria was immense. No one had ever seen a male and female student walking together at the Magic Tower before, so for the students living in this closed-off society, we must have been prime gossip material.
I felt bad for Lumina, but rumors without clear evidence tend to die down in a day or two.
Besides, my only concern right now was the cafeteria menu.
What in the world did these proud, wealthy mages eat?
I headed to the cafeteria with the expectation that it wouldn't be just ordinary student fare. My steps felt strangely light the whole way there.
“...I contacted you dozens of times to eat together.”
When I arrived at the Magic Tower's cafeteria, Ambrosia Hall, I ran into an unexpected ambush.
“And you ignored every single one, only to show up on your first day to eat with another girl.”
Lumina and I came face-to-face with Choi Hyena in the middle of the cafeteria. She looked like she was about to murder someone.
“I'd like an explanation.”
I could practically hear the sound of popcorn crunching from the sidelines.