Magic with Professor Lim Sol! (4)

Professor Lim Sol.

If I was being honest, our first meeting hadn't been a pleasant one. Thinking back on it, I was the one who'd been owed an apology.

It had been a simple accident. One of Professor Lim Sol's personal belongings had gotten mixed in with the magical tools meant for practical training, and I'd nearly been badly hurt. Fortunately I had Mana Sensitivity, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I walked away unharmed.

If something like that happened now, I'd raise hell all the way up to the chairman. But back then I still hadn't adapted to this world, so even though I was angry, I didn't want to make a scene.

Professor Lim Sol had come to apologize in person. My anger hadn't fully subsided, of course — though honestly, she was so beautiful that I let it slide.

That encounter became the start of our relationship.

And of course, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it wasn't just wholesome academic exchange in the name of advancing the world's magic. She researched my magic, and in the process did all sorts of filthy things to me — an utterly inappropriate relationship between a professor and her student.

These days, somehow, she seemed to like me even more than I liked her... but anyway.

We'd always kept things comfortable between us, and lately the two of us had grown even closer.

At some point, Professor Lim Sol had started calling me her disciple.

In the beginning she'd clearly called me Lee Ho-yeon, or just Ho-yeon.

I'd figured it was her way of keeping a certain distance — the proper distance between a professor and her student. Get too close and it could become a scandal, and from her position the whole thing might turn awkward.

So I played along, calling her Master, over and over.

But then...

Watching Lim Sol look down on the Demons from the sky with those ice-cold eyes, I realized I'd been wrong.

The enormous magic circles spread across the heavens were magnificent, like gods looking down upon the vast exhibition grounds.

And the body of their master, Lim Sol, began to slowly rise.

"...What the hell."

The words slipped out of me before I could stop them.

An angel? A spirit?

Wreathed in azure mana, Lim Sol floated into the sky. She looked like something that shouldn't exist in this world — a unicorn, a dragon, some creature out of myth.

BOOM— RUMBLE—

The entire exhibition grounds were trembling. It was the mana Lim Sol commanded.

Even for Lim Sol, could she really use magic of this scale alone? And in such a short time?

The surroundings were still in chaos. People who hadn't noticed Lim Sol looking down from the air, and the Demons themselves. Explosions erupted across the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exhibition grounds. People fled. Demons chased after them.

The Demons plundered magical tools and smashed magic circles to pieces.

What they wanted was chaos and terror — the malice that bloomed from them. That was Pandemic's goal: to summon something unknown called the Demon King.

But even those invaders couldn't keep ignoring this dense mana forever.

HUMMMM—

Dozens of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enormous magic circles hung in the sky. They began to slowly rotate, emitting light.

The Demons on the ground started noticing something was wrong, one by one. Anyone would be startled with something like that hanging in the sky above them.

"Wh-what is that. Stop it! We have to stop it!"

"Grk, block it. B-block it."

In that brief moment when the Demons who still had their reason and those who'd lost it were milling about in confusion—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Four enormous pillars of light crashed down around Lim Sol, and the figure who opened her eyes at their center...

Calling her an angel descended from heaven to smite evil wouldn't have been enough.

Then, slowly, light began to form within the rotating magic circles.

Pure white light descended upon every corner of the exhibition grounds.

Genius mage Lim Sol. This was the moment she gave it her all.

The lights that seemed to strike indiscriminately targeted only the Demons with perfect precision. Most of the low-level Demons were swept away by the first pillars of light, and some of the higher-level ones tried to resist — but it was useless.

The power was so immense I wasn't even sure my Rune Barrier could withstand it.

"Y-you fucking bitch...!"

Among them, the Demon who seemed to be the leader of this terrorist attack spat curses as he drew up his mana. He had the appearance of a middle-aged man.

Just from the way he blocked Lim Sol's light while simultaneously wielding mana, his combat power wasn't weak. Even if I fought him seriously, I couldn't guarantee a win. They'd dispatched a heavyweight to account for variables, given how many mages were gathered here.

The middle-aged Demon produced a sphere of murky light and hurled it at Lim Sol. Absorbing the surrounding light as it went, the accelerating mana sphere shot toward her in a straight line.

"Professor!"

For something created in such a short time, it was an incredibly powerful spell. But contrary to my worries, Lim Sol was utterly calm.

She simply raised one hand and caught the mana sphere as if it were a casual game of catch.

CRACK—!

People far away might not have seen it, but I could see it clearly. The way Lim Sol clenched her teeth. And the words she quietly muttered.

"Irritating."

CRUNCH!

Having reverse-engineered the mana sphere right in her hand, Lim Sol muttered as she looked at the Demons.

"Irritating. Irritating. Irritating. Irritating. Irritating. Irritating. Irritating. Irritating...! I'm irritated. Trash. You trash who can't even crawl to my feet. Starfish. Magic? Why? For what? For what possible reason? Die. Die. You trash. Die.... Drop dead."

Seeing his full-power mana sphere stopped by a single hand, the middle-aged Demon lost all will to fight. He stared at Lim Sol with a vacant expression before being swallowed by the light and vanishing.

BOOM! CRASH! RUMBLE!

"Gyaaah!"

"Grk, grrrr!"

Even after the leader Demon died, the lights falling from the sky didn't stop. Not until every last Demon hiding in the exhibition grounds was gone.

The Demons who were — no, who had been — in the exhibition grounds had all been reduced to ash. Literally swallowed by light, not a trace remaining.

Mages, spectators, ordinary people — all of them watched the spectacle with their mouths hanging open.

There was a woman weeping over the lover she'd lost. Someone else cheered tactlessly at the wondrous spectacle. Another person's eyes went wide as they watched the Demon that had been about to kill them get swallowed by the light. Some stood frozen in place like statues, mouths hanging open. Among the mages, there were those who shed tears of awe.

These were high-level mages who understood just how extraordinary what Lim Sol had just accomplished truly was. I was naturally one of them.

"So that's the genius mage Lim Sol...."

"Magnificent magic... khh. To think I'd witness something like this in my lifetime."

Some of the mages offered their impressions as they gazed at her.

"P-pictures. Take pictures! Hurry!"

The journalists who'd come to cover the magic exhibition started snapping photos. Tomorrow — no, within a few hours — Lim Sol's photo would be on every headline. Cheap titles like that.

Lim Sol paid no attention to anyone else. She gathered her mana and descended from the sky. The most efficient way to find Demons had been to go up and observe from above, so now it was time to come down.

Descending from the sky, she dusted herself off with a few light pats and looked at me with a slightly awkward smile.

"Did you see all that?"

"...Yes."

"...Did you hear all of it, too?"

"Uh... yes."

I swallowed hard.

How should I put this. It felt like a distance had opened up between me and the professor. Like I couldn't treat her as casually as before.

Because now I knew she was a true powerhouse.

She wasn't that airheaded professor who sucked my cock whenever she got the chance. The person standing in front of me was Lim Sol, a genuine mage ranked among the very best in the world.

"...Professor."

Still, there was one thing I understood. That she'd gotten that angry for my sake.

"Um, that was amazing. Truly."

I was genuinely, deeply grateful that she'd gotten so angry for my sake. Of course, it had also been a little frightening. Anyone who saw someone that consumed by rage, cursing like that, would be scared and tense. That wasn't a problem with me, specifically.

I'd tried my best to hide it, but Lim Sol seemed to have read my feelings just a little.

"Am I... making you uncomfortable?"

She said it with a self-deprecating smile, so I knew.

"No, no. I was just startled, that's all."

I protested quickly. I couldn't let her misunderstand.

But regardless of my intentions, Lim Sol kept going.

"It's fine. You can call me a monster. I'm used to it."

"Professor. Don't say things like that. How could you possibly be a monster?"

I'd been a little scared, that was all. I hadn't thought of her as a monster or anything like that.

...Okay, I did, actually.

In my defense, it wasn't negative in the slightest. I'd meant it as a compliment.

"Even so. I didn't want you, of all people, to see that."

"...Professor?"

Lim Sol let out a long sigh, then continued with that same self-deprecating smile.

"I keep a wall up, you know. A wall that protects my pride and lets me ignore what other people say. When that wall comes down, this is what happens. What you just saw is the real me."

I listened quietly.

"I know what I am. Ugly. Proof that I can't adapt to society. Someone who can't even bow her head. A monster who can't do anything but magic. That assessment isn't wrong."

"...."

"That's why I didn't want to show it to you."

"...Haa, Professor."

I let out a long sigh.

How was I supposed to get through to this person?

I'd suspected Professor Lim Sol had some kind of trauma. There'd been quite a few things about her that never quite added up. But... honestly, whatever she thought of herself wasn't my problem.

Her true self? So what. She was beautiful, as far as I could see. No matter what she did, it didn't change the person she was. Even if nobody else in the world understood her, I could.

I just had to find a way to say it so that she'd actually hear me.

"Professor. Don't think strange things like that. At the very least, I would never think of you that way."

"...Then what do you think of me?"

She met my eyes at the words I'd poured my heart into.

"Pardon?"

"Me. What do you think I am. Lim Sol, the socially maladjusted monster of a mage... what am I to you?"

"You're the professor, of course."

"...Yeah. Thanks."

Lim Sol turned her head with a faint smile.

That wasn't it.

She was smiling, but she wasn't smiling at all. Obviously something like that wasn't going to be enough. I was certain I couldn't just leave her like this, so I quickly pressed on.

"...To me, you're just a person named Lim Sol."

Lim Sol turned back to look at me. As if to say, go on, then. Try.

Shame, helplessness, self-loathing, embarrassment, guilt — all of it sat in those eyes. But there was still a single thread of hope left in them, and that was enough to make me hopeful too.

And so I poured out everything I'd been holding back.

"Someone who acts like a grown-up even though there's barely an age gap between us."

"...?"

Lim Sol furrowed her brow at my sudden shift. She clearly had no idea why I was doing this. But I didn't stop. I had to get out everything I'd been holding in all this time.

"And yet you love sweets like a little kid. You think you're the most special person in the world, you look down on every other mage, and you even dump important work on a student. A weird professor."

"What are you even—"

Just as Lim Sol was about to get angry, I delivered the line I'd prepared.

"But that side of you is cute."

"...W-what?"

Her eyes flew wide. The face that had been full of offense flooded with bewilderment instead.

"The way you beam when you eat chocolate. The way you light up when you finish a magic experiment. The way you whine every single day that other people don't understand you, and then teach a magic class with more sincerity than anyone alive. All of it is cute."

"What are you talking about. You, you really...!"

Lim Sol's eyes darted around in flustered panic.

"Someone who takes pride in being the world's greatest mage and feels the weight of it anyway. Someone who calls herself a monster and still wants to be held. A weak person. I like that Professor Lim Sol."

"S-stop. Please...."

Lim Sol glanced around to make sure no one was listening and thrust out a hand to cover my mouth. Her face had gone scarlet. She was that embarrassed.

"Kh, khh... pfft."

Seeing Professor Lim Sol this undone for the first time, I burst out laughing — a real one, for the first time in a while.

"Y-you. You wanna get in trouble for real? There's a limit to jokes, and this isn't even a joke, it's just offensive, and, that... uh...."

"Professor. What I'm trying to say is."

Lim Sol's face grew redder and redder. I caught the hand she'd been moving to cover my mouth and held it tight.

Her cold fingers felt like they were speaking for every lonely feeling she carried.

I met the eyes of a thoroughly flustered Lim Sol. The shame written all over her face and the tears welling in her eyes told me she was pretty mortified.

Holding back a laugh, I went on.

"Don't push yourself so hard. I don't care what kind of weird things you do, Professor. That's just you being Lim Sol."

Lim Sol, the socially maladjusted woman who'd never known anything but magic her whole life. I couldn't say for certain whether I could break through the trauma she'd built up all these years.

But I believed in the distance we'd created between us, and in everything we'd shared across it.

And fortunately, it seemed my play had worked. Because that devastated expression on Lim Sol's face had begun, little by little, to change.