Olivia's Jealous Return
Olivia had returned.
Well, more precisely, Olivia's lectures had returned.
No idea what she was thinking, but the announcement for resuming classes went up at 5 a.m.
I wondered what could be so urgent that my smartwatch had to buzz at the crack of dawn, only to find it was just a single line: Understanding Heteromorphic Races lectures resuming.
Does this woman not sleep?
What possessed her to send something like that at this ungodly hour?
Thanks to her, my mood was foul right from the morning after that wakeup call.
Maybe it showed on my face, because the moment Ji-ah ran into me at breakfast, she said,
"Um... Do-jun? Is something wrong?"
"Huh?"
"Your face looks so sour..."
"Oh, this? Just didn't get enough sleep."
"I see. I was worried something serious had come up."
"If we're talking worries, yeah, I've got one."
"Huh?"
I summoned Thousand Changes.
Ji-ah, who had been walking shoulder-to-shoulder with me, instantly put some distance between us.
"That thing..."
"I wish you'd get more used to Thousand Changes, Ji-ah."
"No way!"
Ji-ah freaked out and bolted.
We're gonna meet up in the classroom anyway—what's the point of running?
I followed her to the lecture hall.
Ji-ah was waiting obediently inside.
I naturally took the seat next to her.
"Come to think of it, this class is almost over, huh."
"Yeah. Time flew by before we knew it."
"I have no clue what I even learned in this class."
"Ah... it did get kinda tough starting midway."
Kinda?
This was officially an introductory magic course.
If this is "kinda tough," the future of magic looks bleak.
Speaking of which, mages are called madosa, so why is this class called magic studies instead of something like madology?
"Ji-ah. Just hit me—something feels off all of a sudden."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"People who use magic are called madosa."
"Right. Yeah."
"So why's this class called magic studies? Shouldn't it be madology or something?"
"Oh, I guess you could see it that way. It might feel weird, but magic studies and mado are different concepts."
"What does that even mean?"
Ji-ah was about to explain when Instructor Nephrian walked in.
She pulled out her writing tools and focused on him.
...You're still using that pen, huh.
The lecture, far beyond my comprehension, came to an end before I knew it.
For the past few days, he'd been talking about the influence of magic on scientific technology. I had no idea what magic and science had to do with each other.
The first day was somewhat understandable, but with the content dragging on endlessly, I couldn't keep up at all.
All I could do was listen with one ear and let it go out the other.
After the lecture wrapped up, I headed to the cadet cafeteria.
Latynia hadn't been showing up lately, so I figured it'd just be me and Ji-ah eating as usual—until someone set their tray down at our table.
I looked up to see Latynia standing there with an awkward expression.
"Hello. It's been a while since we've seen each other here."
"Hey, Latynia."
Latynia gave Ji-ah a sharp once-over, then sat down like it was no big deal.
Does she have some grudge against Ji-ah...? Oh!
She's still hung up on that conversation from before.
Can't blame her—it was pretty embarrassing. If it were me, I wouldn't even be able to make eye contact.
Just like Latynia right now.
And she must be jealous of Ji-ah, too.
"Latynia? Were you busy with something? It's been so long since you joined us."
"Nothing much."
Latynia cut her off curtly.
The vibe screamed don't talk to me.
Ji-ah couldn't bring herself to say more to Latynia and leaned toward me instead.
She whispered softly in my ear,
"Latynia's... acting different, don't you think?"
"Yeah. Must be puberty."
I whispered back the same way.
Latynia was staring daggers at us.
"I can hear everything, you know?"
"Guess she heard that. What now?"
"It's fine. She's Latynia—that's just how she is."
"Hey! I said I can hear you!"
I could practically see Latynia's insides boiling.
One more push, and she'd explode.
Time for me to step in and liven things up.
"Latynia, why so mad? Aren't we close?"
"Close how?"
"What do you mean? Princess and her guard, obviously."
"And yet you're the one glued to her!"
"What, jealous?"
I pulled my chair closer to Latynia and leaned in.
I could feel her tense up as I got near.
Just like with Ji-ah, I whispered in her ear,
"Is this what you wanted?"
"Eek!"
Latynia jolted in surprise, her body trembling.
Ji-ah watched with obvious envy in her eyes.
Ji-ah, you just got the same treatment...
"What's wrong? Isn't this what you wanted, Latynia?"
"I-It's just... people are staring, Do-jun."
"Their stares matter more than me?"
"That's... ahhh..."
Latynia hung her head low.
See? Easy.
I leaned back with a satisfied grin.
"Told you. That's just Latynia being Latynia."
"No, I don't think it's a Latynia problem."
"Then what?"
"Anyone would react the same if you did that to them."
"Really?"
I leaned toward Ji-ah again.
And blew a soft puff of air into her ear.
"Hoo."
"Eek!"
Ji-ah shuddered and bowed her head.
The stares from around us stung.
Objectively speaking, our table now had two girls with their heads down and me—the culprit—sitting there awkwardly.
My karma, I guess...
"Ji-ah? Latynia?"
""...""
The two stayed silent, heads bowed.
And just like that, our lunchtime sank into awkward silence.
"Well, I'll head back to my seat then."
"Yeah."
Ji-ah was the first to escape the weird atmosphere.
Latynia and I were trapped in the bizarre silence that followed us out of the cafeteria, suffering in mutual agony.
She finally broke it.
"Um, Do-jun."
"Yeah."
"How far have you gone with Ji-ah?"
"How far...? Well,"
If Latynia's memories were intact, she'd know Ji-ah and I were dating.
Asking that while knowing...?
"We've done everything but one thing."
"Ah, I see."
For some reason, Latynia looked relieved at my answer.
She must think we haven't gone all the way yet.
Misunderstanding, but it works in my favor, so I'll let it slide.
The moment the next lecture time hit, Olivia stormed in with a stiff expression.
If you didn't know her, you'd think it was her usual face—but now I could read her emotions just from that look.
She was definitely in a bad mood.
Olivia scanned the room from the podium, then launched into the lecture like nothing was wrong.
"No explanation at all, huh."
"Witches gonna witch."
"True... even when she announced the early end with a month left in the semester, it felt off."
"She's got her reasons. No way she'd just drop the class on a whim."
As I defended Olivia with her voice as background noise, the background suddenly cut off.
Looking at the podium, Olivia was staring right at us.
"You there. Quiet during lectures."
"Yes, sorry."
Other cadets were chatting too, but she singled us out.
The room went dead silent in an instant.
She'd never called anyone out for talking before—what gives?
Couldn't argue though; she wasn't wrong.
In the end, we sat through three straight hours without a break, quietly enduring it.
"Cadet Shin Do-jun, stay behind."
As the lecture ended and Latynia and I tried to leave, Olivia stopped me.
She stared out the window silently until everyone else filed out, then turned to me.
Her face was still full of displeasure.
"Cadet Shin Do-jun. Tell the truth, and I won't hurt you."
"Tell me what this is about first."
"Don't you have something to say to me?"
"Oh! Right, I did learn something new about Thousand Changes..."
Olivia slammed the podium.
It should've been terrifying, but it felt more like a kid throwing a tantrum.
Her hand had dug right into the wood.
Moments later, the podium shattered and collapsed.
...Okay, scary. A little. Very little.
"I've helped you cadets a lot, right?"
"Yeah."
"And yet you..."
Olivia trailed off, taking a deep breath.
I tensed up instinctively.
What did I do wrong?
Was it not telling her when Dean Han Myeong-sin found the underground workshop and asked about Olivia?
Or ditching her and dumping everything on her during that three-way meeting in the dean's office?
Yeah... I screwed up.
"Sorry..."
"While I'm dragging my feet to resume a lecture I already ended once by force, you're over there flirting with the girl next to you!"
"Huh?"
"With my eyes wide open watching, you lean in shoulder-to-shoulder and whisper like you're showing off!"
"What?"
"Staring right at you, and you seduce the cadet next to you!"
"Hold on, Olivia. Calm down a bit."
Olivia kept ranting after that—"I trusted you, and you betrayed me!" or "What was that back then?"—throwing a full-blown fit.
I did betray her, sure, but "that back then" had me stumped.
Still, the vibe said I had to apologize.
"Sorry, Olivia."
"Hmph. Good."
With that one word, her anger evaporated.
No clue what just happened, but crisis averted.
Do witches have some special thing going on?
I'll look into it later.
"That all you wanted to say?"
"Yeah. Done."
...She kept me here just for that?
Ridiculous, but it's Olivia. Figures.
That personality isn't going anywhere.
Conveniently, I had stuff to tell her about Thousand Changes too. Might as well now.
"Mind if we talk about Thousand Changes then?"
"Oh! Right, that. I remembered something too."
Olivia rummaged through her robes.
After a while, she gave up, like she couldn't find it.
"I had notes prepared, but they're gone. Did you figure something out?"
"Yeah. A pretty important clue."
"Perfect timing—I have research results too, but not on me. Let's go over them together."
Olivia cleared her throat and composed herself.
"Cadet Shin Do-jun. Follow me."
"Yes, Instructor."
Her acting skills were top-tier, as always.
At this point, isn't she wasting her talent?
I trailed after her, lost in idle thoughts.