The Final Exam Celebration (2)
On Tuesday afternoon, while Lee Ho-yeon was at the magic expo, Elise finished her regular academy classes and got ready to head home.
He never showed up after all.
Elise flicked a glance at Ho-yeon's empty seat, wondering why incidents seemed to erupt wherever that man went. She didn't know the first thing about this so-called field trip, but apparently he had gotten caught up in a terrorist attack at the magic expo he'd attended with Professor Lim Sol.
Don't tell me Ho-yeon is the mastermind behind all this?
The thought crossed her mind — that was how often he had been turning up in the news.
Tsk.
Elise snorted at her own ridiculous speculation and shook her head hard. There was no way.
They said it was stopped completely, so he shouldn't have been hurt.
News of the terrorist attack had spread across the internet and even to the foreign press within a matter of hours. Terrorism was a serious matter, of course, but Demon attacks happened several times a day around the world. It was not the kind of story that should have gone international that fast. What had actually made it an issue was the magic Professor Lim Sol had used to stop it.
Put simply... it was the kind of magic that made you swear you would never, ever step out of line in her class.
There had been other coverage too — calls to reevaluate Professor Lim Sol, official statements from the Magic Society — but none of it mattered much to Elise, so she hadn't bothered looking any of it up.
What mattered to her was Ho-yeon.
She had a reason he could not afford to get hurt. Her mana circuits had finally narrowed again. It was time for another Mana Massage. She needed his help.
"When would be a good time..."
Elise was going over her schedule when someone called out from behind her.
"Excuse me, Miss Elise?"
She turned her head and found a familiar face.
"It's been a while. I came by about the Final Exam Celebration."
"...The Final Exam Celebration? Ah, Secretary-sunbae."
Only then did it click. The upperclassman standing in front of her was the student council secretary. It had been so long since Elise had last set foot in the student council office that she had almost failed to place her.
"Yep, yep. This is the proposal — could you take a look? The publicity department is technically part of the student council, so..."
Elise checked the documents, and her first thought was that this looked like a pain.
Student Council Final Exam Celebration Plan!
Just looking at it, the whole thing reeked of hassle. A lot of people would be there, too. It was completely at odds with Elise's preference for peace and quiet. If this had been some important formal party, she would have gritted her teeth and gone. But it wasn't...
Wait. She said publicity department. Doesn't that mean Ho-yeon will be there?
Elise had been about to decline politely when Ho-yeon's existence surfaced in her mind. A guy like him would never skip a social gathering like this.
"It looks more complicated than it is, but first-years don't really have to..."
"Will Ho-yeon be participating?"
Elise asked the secretary while still looking over the papers.
"Huh? Oh, of course Ho-yeon will be there. Anyway, the first-years..."
"Then I'll do it."
If Ho-yeon was going, then so was she. Elise signed the document without another moment's hesitation.
"Uh... huh?"
"I said I'll do it, sunbae."
She held the papers out to the blinking secretary. The secretary was startled for a second, then smiled as she took the documents, relieved the task was done.
"Thanks. You and Ho-yeon must be pretty close, huh?"
"...Ah, it's not like that."
"The second I said Ho-yeon was participating, you signed without even thinking about it. That's nice. At least the underclassmen get along. The seniors' camaraderie is in shambles, so you kids better do better than us."
"..."
Elise couldn't even protest as the secretary drifted off, casually dragging the student council's walking disgrace of a vice president on her way out.
Come to think of it... why had she signed based solely on whether Ho-yeon was attending?
Fortunately, the question did not linger long. She arrived at her conclusion soon enough.
"...Because I need to talk to him about the massage."
She also needed to talk about Centaur. There was more than one or two things to discuss.
Mhm.
Of course, these were all things she could have said over the phone or by text. Elise simply refused to look the truth in the eye.
"The massage, Centaur, the business... Yeah. These are things you have to discuss in person."
She just kept repeating the same words to herself.
Wednesday morning.
I saw the Nam sisters off at the front door.
"I'll head out first, Ho-yeon."
"Oppa! See you later!"
"Yeah, yeah. See you later."
The reason I had sent the Nam sisters off first was because I needed to talk to Scarlet about the move. Scarlet had come home late last night from whatever she had been doing, and it wasn't until this morning that she finally brought up the house.
And then she dropped a bombshell.
"...Twenty million dollars?"
"Yes. You told me to find a good deal, didn't you?"
"I did say that. Yeah..."
Just how good of a deal had she found? The only places I had ever lived were a townhouse, a studio apartment, and the academy dorm. Being told I was suddenly moving into a twenty-million-dollar house did not feel real at all.
"I found the best house in the area. Land around the academy has always been expensive."
"That's true, but... still. Twenty million dollars."
"Surely you're not saying the money is too much for a house where Lady Liliana and Miss Nam Da-eun will be living?"
Scarlet's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth. She was pretending to be shocked.
"Of course not. I just — haah. Fine. Do whatever you want."
Judging by that smug little grin, she had definitely pulled something. She just kept talking in circles and hiding it to the bitter end.
"You didn't spend the money on anything weird, right?"
I asked just in case, but Scarlet shook her head firmly.
"Absolutely not. I actually got it for far below market value. Even if you only live there a few years and sell, the capital gains will be enormous."
"Well. If that's the case."
Honestly, if it had been my own money I would have been pissed, but it wasn't. I had originally intended to give Da-eun the entire thirty million we had taken from the Buyer Guild. She had absolutely refused to take it, though, so I had had no choice but to accept it myself. If it was being spent on a house for them, I couldn't call it a waste.
"...Why are you smiling."
"I wasn't smi— pfft. I wasn't."
That smile of hers was the only thing that made me uneasy.
"I don't need to go check it out myself?"
"No. Don't worry about it."
The fact that she wouldn't even give me the address was a little concerning... but this wasn't a house I would be living in alone. She would have found something nice. It would just be a little extravagant, that was all.
She wouldn't have gone and bought something like a ten-million-dollar authentic porcelain vase, right?
I would actually get mad if she did.
"Alright. I'm heading out. Keep Liliana company."
Liliana had locked herself in her room, insisting she needed to stream even harder before the move.
We're going to be here another week anyway. What's the rush with her?
I said goodbye to Scarlet and left the dorm.
After arriving at the academy, I headed for first-year Class A. This place was always bustling.
"Think we can bring drinks to the celebration...?"
"Wanna hang out with me?"
Cadets were clustered in their usual groups, talking about the celebration. Seeing how far the conversation had spread, it really must have been a well-known event. Which meant there would be just as much work to do.
The thought of it brought a fresh wave of annoyance, but I swallowed it down and walked over naturally to Lucy and Rumi, who were already sitting down.
"Hello, Ho-yeon."
"Lee Ho-yeon, you really are built different. After something like that, you'd think you'd get hurt at least once."
"What are you even talking about."
I sat down between Lucy and Rumi with a greeting, and Lucy looked at me like I was some kind of curiosity.
"The news said it was a massive-scale terrorist attack... Of course, I also saw the professor take care of it in an instant."
Lucy gave a slight shiver, apparently recalling Lim Sol's magic. Well, I had been shocked too. I could only imagine how everyone else had felt. I had checked the news on the way over — something about the Magic Society extending an invitation. I wondered how that would turn out.
"I'm just glad you weren't hurt... Ho-yeon."
"Thanks, Rumi."
I made small talk with the Lucy-Rumi twins until class started. We covered what we had done yesterday, and at the end it came around to whether I was free today. I averted my eyes, deliberately ignoring the desire radiating from Lucy's gaze as she asked that last question.
"...I have to stop by the student council today."
"The student council?"
"Yeah. Because of the Final Exam Celebration."
"Ah, right. I got a message. It said to participate unless you have a good reason not to."
"I'm part of the student council too. They called me in to actually do some work."
"That's amazing, Ho-yeon..."
"Tsk. Fine. We'll skip today! Oh, by the way, finals start right after the celebration. What are we gonna do."
Rumi looked up at me from my side, her eyes sparkling, while Lucy spun her pen with a look of annoyance.
"It's already that time? Guess I need to start studying for finals."
Time really flew. Or was it dragging? Every single day was packed. There was just too much to do.
"But Ho-yeon... you're good at studying."
"Seriously. How do you get good grades when all you ever do is mess around?"
"You've gotta stay ahead of it. Stay ahead."
I prepped for class under the twins' envious stares. The truth was my grades came from a perk, but in the name of the perfect lie, I had reached the realm of deceiving even myself.
I simply decided I was a genius.
That way I could lie without my conscience so much as flinching!
"Then... could you tutor us too? In the club room."
"That's a great idea! Not today, but starting tomorrow?"
The perverted twins invited me with motives that were obvious to anyone looking.
"You two aren't going to study... Well. If I don't have any plans, I'll teach you."
Of course, I didn't turn them down.
"Whoa, it's a celebrity! A celebrity!"
"...Keep it down."
Lim Sol frowned at Min Yeji, who was gawking at her in amazement.
"A-young, did you see Sol's magic? She just floated up into the sky, went flash, and all the Demons melted."
"Don't drag A-young into this."
"I saw it. It was pretty cool, actually. Why? It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
Lim Sol sighed at her teasing friends, but a part of her was grateful. Even after seeing that kind of power, they still treated her the same as always. But even though they supported her just the same, she didn't feel the flutter she had felt from Ho-yeon.
...I've got it bad.
Slurp—
While Lim Sol sucked down her coffee to clear her head, Min Yeji moved on to her next target and started teasing Baek A-young.
"I mean, there are professors who fall for cadets. Right?"
"I-I'm not a professor, I'm the school nurse, so it doesn't count? Nurses are staff. Staff."
"Sol. Sol. Look at A-young talking. Hey? Look."
"Ah, sorry. I was zoning out. What?"
Lim Sol had been nodding along vaguely, thinking about Ho-yeon, and only snapped back at Min Yeji's words.
"She says the school nurse isn't a professor. So it's fine if she likes a cadet...!"
Kyah kyah—
Min Yeji mercilessly teased Baek A-young, who ducked her head with a bright red face and sipped her drink. This was always how the conversation went when the three of them got together. Min Yeji teasing A-young, and Lim Sol telling Min Yeji to knock it off.
But today was different.
"...If two people like each other, do the other conditions really matter?"
Lim Sol sucked on her coffee as if it were nothing. But the moment those words left her mouth, the table fell silent.
The two women who had known Lim Sol for a long time understood. This was not a woman who gave answers like that. Not answers that... feminine.
"...Sol?"
"A-a rival..."
Min Yeji stared at Lim Sol in disbelief, and Baek A-young nearly spit out her drink.
"Please don't look at me like that. It's just my opinion."
Lim Sol stated her position in self-defense, but there was no way Min Yeji was going to let that slide.
"L-Lee Ho-yeon. That bastard. He's trying to steal all my friends..."
Min Yeji squeezed her eyes shut as if she were grieving, but the corners of her mouth were turned up. Something interesting had happened, and she was delighted.
"Nobody's been stolen yet... calm down."
"Ah. Yet..."
Baek A-young's jaw dropped, her soul seeming to leave her body at Lim Sol's words. Because that was Lim Sol confirming that she, too, was a rival.
"Sol. Say it clearly. Why did you say that!"
"Haah..."
Min Yeji latched onto Lim Sol like a lion that had found its prey, and Lim Sol let out a hollow laugh as she looked at Baek A-young, who was still sitting there with her mouth hanging open.
If it was going to come out someday anyway, getting caught a little early might not be so bad.