Chapter 122: The Magic Tower (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: The Magic Tower (3)
The eyes of most of the students, professors, and staff in Ambrosia Hall were fixed on me.
To be precise, the attention was on Choi Hyena, me, and Lumina.
“I must have messaged you dozens of times asking to eat together, but you ignored every single one, only to show up on the first day with another girl to eat in the cafeteria. I’d like an explanation.”
Ignoring the stares and attention of hundreds of people, Choi Hyena glared at me, radiating pure killing intent. Her gaze occasionally shifted to Lumina, but I shielded her with my body.
“...What are you doing right now?”
But that seemed to be what set her off, as Choi Hyena’s face contorted in an instant. It was a clear-cut love triangle for all to see, and squeals erupted from the students surrounding us.
The reaction from a group of about ten girls, who appeared to be Choi Hyena’s followers, was particularly intense. They looked ready to kill me.
“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that, so calm down.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
Faced with her stubbornness, I had no choice but to take a step back. Behind me, Lumina was still trembling.
“You don’t know who this is?”
“...”
Choi Hyena examined Lumina more closely, and when she finally seemed to recognize her, her eyes trembled with unmistakable surprise.
“I didn’t ignore your texts; I really didn’t see them. It’s the first day, so I was all over the place. And Lumina was just showing me to the cafeteria.”
Choi Hyena said nothing. She glanced around for a moment, then suddenly walked toward Lumina. I worried she might slap her like in some TV drama, but that didn't seem to be her intention.
“I’m sorry, Miss Lumina. I misunderstood and caused you trouble.”
“N-No, it’s okay...”
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
“...Yes.”
“Thank you for that time. It was my first time getting my fortune told, so it was fascinating.”
After a brief conversation with Lumina, Choi Hyena released a wave of magic toward the onlookers. It was a silent warning to mind their own business and disappear.
It wasn't just students here; there were a few professors mixed in as well. It could have easily been seen as a disrespectful act, but that didn't apply to her.
Choi Hyena was the sole successor to the Seongbuk Choi family, one of the three great magic noble families. A mere professor wouldn't dare complain.
The crowd that had surrounded us soon dispersed.
As proud as mages were, they were also a pragmatic bunch who weighed their gains and losses.
Everyone here was an elite who had completed the training institute. They were smart enough to know how irrational it would be to challenge Choi Hyena over a matter of pride.
Once the incident was settled, Choi Hyena, Lumina, and I decided to have our meal together.
“Ah, so is Marna in a foreign country right now?”
“Yes, she said there was a patient in critical condition.”
Throughout the meal, Choi Hyena didn't just refuse to speak to me; she wouldn't even look at me. It seemed to be her way of punishing me for not answering her messages.
I knew trying to talk to her would be a losing battle, so I just ate in silence. The lunch menu today was steak. As expected, the meat was tender and juicy.
‘...But she has no problem talking to Choi Hyena, does she?’
Once the stares and attention from our surroundings vanished and Choi Hyena took the lead, Lumina brightened up and joined the conversation.
When I had spoken to her, she’d looked like a student getting shaken down by a thug. A bitter taste suddenly filled my mouth, as if I’d just had a glass of wine.
To make matters worse, the women at the next table were still glaring at me as if they wanted me dead. It was the group of Choi Hyena’s followers I’d noticed earlier.
The gaze of one girl with pigtails was particularly piercing. She stared at me as if I were her mortal enemy.
Whenever her eyes turned to Choi Hyena, however, they dripped with honey. It wasn't a look of respect. It was the same emotion I saw in Iris or Cheon Yeo-hwa when they looked at me.
‘I didn’t think there’d be an actual lesbian here. Is it because the Magic Tower is mostly female?’
It was intriguing, but not particularly strange in this day and age, so I ignored it and cut into my steak. As the victor who took Choi Hyena’s virginity, I was willing to show a certain degree of magnanimity.
‘Go ahead and glare all you want. Is that going to bring back her virginity?’
Thanks to that thought, my appetite returned. There was truly no sweeter seasoning than gloating.
*
Despite the commotion, my first lunch at the Magic Tower ended without further incident.
After parting ways with Lumina, I headed to Choi Hyena’s personal workshop with her.
One might wonder why a student, not a professor, would have a workshop, but apparently, scholarship students were provided with one along with their scholarship funds.
“...You said you had something to talk about?”
For the record, I was the one who suggested we talk alone. Seeing Choi Hyena’s behavior today, I felt it was time to move forward with my plan before it was too late.
“It’s not much, just about the pregnancy.”
“...”
Gulp. The moment the word “pregnancy” was uttered, the sound of a dry swallow echoed in the workshop where we were alone.
“I heard morning sickness can limit what you can eat. Today’s menu was steak. Are you feeling okay?”
“...I’m fine. Maybe because it’s still early, but I don’t have any morning sickness yet.”
“That’s a relief.”
She was trying her best to sound composed, but she kept avoiding my gaze, which was unusual for her, and her eyes were trembling.
“Have you told Grandma Choi Young-ok?”
“...Not yet. I was planning to tell her soon.”
“Right, well... I’m sure you have your reasons. Still, don’t you think it’s better to tell her before you start showing? The shock might be a little less severe that way.”
“...”
I watched the silent Choi Hyena for a moment before slowly approaching her.
“W-Wait...!”
“Stay still.”
I gently massaged the area around her pelvis and tailbone. It was a pregnancy massage I’d learned from watching NewTube.
“If you’re having a hard time, tell me anytime. There might not be much I can do, but it’s better than suffering in silence.”
I continued the massage for about ten minutes, then spent some time gently stroking her smooth stomach before leaving the workshop.
Until the very end, Choi Hyena seemed lost in thought.
I had no intention of simply toying with her. I just wanted to show her what happens when you tell a lie you can’t handle.
*
Choi Hyena stared blankly at the firmly shut workshop door.
A feeling of anxiety, one she had forgotten for a long time, seemed to be growing in a corner of her heart.
“...What do I do?”
She collapsed into a nearby chair as if her strength had given out. She tried to clear her complicated thoughts by circulating her magic, but her mind wouldn't connect, like a film that kept skipping.
Her vision went white, as if her brain had been paralyzed.
Only after chugging down cold water and focusing on meditation for a while was she able to form a coherent thought.
To find a solution, she retraced the steps that had led her to lie.
A few weeks ago, she had slept with Kang Hyun-woo due to an unforeseen accident in a disaster known as an Isolated Gate. For her, the sole successor of the Seongbuk Choi family who was supposed to protect her virginity until marriage, it was a fatal accident.
Of course, she didn't resent Kang Hyun-woo for it. If it weren't for him, she would have been a cold corpse buried in the snow by now.
That was why she had demanded an engagement with the premise of marriage. At a glance, it seemed like she was asking him to take responsibility, but in reality, it was essentially a reward.
If he married her, the successor of the Seongbuk Choi family, and became a member of the family, the immense profits from dozens of businesses and the web of power and honor spread throughout South Korea would all be his.
Besides, a promising and beautiful wife like herself was something any man with a proper sense of sexuality would welcome with open arms.
But he had said something completely absurd about having another woman and asked if she was okay with that.
She was angry, even resentful.
But at the same time, she was envious and jealous of this nameless woman of his.
And so, she had blurted out the ridiculous lie that she was pregnant.
“Why did I do that...”
From the moment she had uttered the fake pregnancy in front of Kang Hyun-woo until now, there hadn't been a single moment she didn't regret it.
No matter how she thought about it, it had been an incredibly impulsive statement.
There are lies one can handle and lies one cannot. Her lie clearly belonged to the latter category.
There was, in fact, one solution.
She could just tell him she had a miscarriage.
“Ugh...!”
But the mere thought of the word “miscarriage” made her stomach churn and a severe headache set in.
It was a classic precursor to magic shock.
She had never been pregnant, but the thought of a child between her and Kang Hyun-woo having to die without ever seeing the light of day was so shocking it was enough to make her magic circuits reverse their flow.
She unknowingly clutched her stomach and sank to the floor. It was truly ridiculous, as there was nothing there to protect.
But she couldn't help it.
“What should I do...?”
She clutched her head and agonized for a long time, but no clear solution came to mind.
Even when conducting magic research, she had never felt this lost. An unbearable pressure crushed down on her.
Watching Choi Hyena, the Wendigo let out a quiet sigh.
—How foolish.
Even the Wendigo, who knew nothing of human physiology, knew the solution to this problem.
Tell Kang Hyun-woo the truth and ask for forgiveness.
Choi Hyena knew this as well, but she lacked the courage to actually tell the truth and beg for his pardon.
The Wendigo felt frustrated by its foolish contractor, but at the same time, it watched the girl who was clumsy at everything with a sense of pity.
A contract with a spirit wasn't a simple paper agreement. It was a contract between beings connected soul to soul, a relationship where they faintly shared emotions.
Having glimpsed Choi Hyena’s emotions since the day of their contract, the Wendigo knew just how precarious a human she was.
Like a hedgehog with its spines raised, she was a soft, young, and fragile human on the inside—a weak person who could break at any moment.
Choi Hyena was so consumed by the thought that Kang Hyun-woo might coldly abandon her that she couldn't even entertain the idea of confessing everything and asking for forgiveness.
Of course, if the Wendigo gave her a little push, she might be able to do it. But if it did, Choi Hyena would never grow mentally.
The Wendigo quietly turned its gaze out the window.
The weather looked as if it could rain at any moment.
*
Afternoon arrived at the Magic Tower.
Unlike the morning, when everyone attended common classes in their respective groups, the afternoon was a time to sign up for and attend desired classes, much like a university.
For the record, I had signed up for a class called ‘Basics and Application of Summoning Magic.’ It was a course on the fundamental concepts of summoning magic and how to control summoned creatures.
I waited for the professor to arrive in a lecture hall, a place slightly different from a regular classroom.
There were quite a few other students taking the course besides me. And every single one of them was staring at me. A few furtive glances would have been one thing, but most of them were staring openly.
However, no one approached me to talk. The first-years had likely heard about my involvement with Han Seoah, and the others were probably wary because of Choi Hyena.
Feeling like an animal in a zoo cage, I considered releasing some of my magic as a warning, but I didn't want to cause any more trouble on the first day.
As I was passing the time by ignoring them, the classroom door opened, and someone I’d seen before walked in.
With short black hair and blue eyes, a listless gaze that seemed uninterested in anything in the world, she tapped the lectern and spoke.
“My name is Shin Minha, and I will be teaching the Basics and Application of Summoning Magic.”