The Dragon and an Uncomfortable Dinner
Unconfirmed information.
Well. Ha-yan never did tell me what that part was, right up to the end.
Rhea, who had only been listening until then, suddenly wore the look of someone who had figured something out the moment she heard Ha-yan's words. So there really was some other piece of information that only women seemed to know.
I had already handed Ha-yan full authority over the matter, which meant I was supposed to spend the day like any other ordinary day.
But I had already finished the mountain of company work that had piled up, and unlike Ha-yan—who was busily running around with the homunculi at the firm—I suddenly found myself with nothing but free time on my hands.
So… was I just supposed to enjoy some personal free time of my own?
"Here. This is the educational curriculum for the three students that Miss Ha-yan asked me to give to you, Master."
"…You're telling me to do this? All of this?"
"Who else is there? It's painfully obvious you've got nothing better to do, so just do what you're told. Before we ship you off to our house and make you help my mom with the chores."
The exact same voice and tone as Ha-yan's burst out of Rhea's mouth as she held out the documents, and I flinched back in momentary shock.
Apparently my startled face was exactly what she wanted, because Rhea beamed at me and then returned to her own voice.
"…is what Miss Ha-yan instructed me to convey with absolute certainty."
"Did she also tell you to do the voice impression?"
"No. She didn't say anything of the sort. I simply took personal initiative based on the word 'certainly.'"
Rhea shrugged as she answered.
I wasn't exactly thrilled with that little performance of hers, but Ha-yan had specifically ordered her to make sure the message stuck, so I had nothing to say about it. I just frowned a little and started flipping through the documents Rhea had handed me.
Page after page, the more I read, the clearer it became just how high Ha-yan's expectations were when it came to teaching these kids—kids who had suddenly been dropped into Korea and were now struggling through experiences they had never once faced in their lives.
After a quick scan, I looked up at Rhea.
"We're finishing all of this during summer break?"
"She said they need to know at least this much so they won't run into any major problems once school starts again and they're among the other first-years."
"At this rate, aren't we basically turning them into Koreans?"
Having confirmed Ha-yan's educational plan for the trio, I couldn't help but click my tongue at her sheer thoroughness and meticulous planning once again.
It covered every last bit of education from before high school, plus whatever was currently popular among high schoolers, and even the proper mindset a mage needed when living among ordinary kids. It was enough material to practically turn the three of them into full-fledged Koreans.
I looked a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume and spoke to Rhea.
"I don't have to do all of this myself, right? Please tell me I don't."
Thankfully, Rhea shook her head.
"Miss Ha-yan said it would be more than enough if you simply showed the three students the various marts and convenience facilities nearby, along with the things a mage absolutely must remember when living among people who know nothing about magic. She figured that alone would eat up a full week easily enough. And besides, Master, you'll need to start preparing with Miss Ha-yan about two days before the meeting as well, won't you?"
"Yeah, that makes sense. So… starting today, then?"
"That part is entirely up to you, Master—her words. Ah, and she mentioned she'll be using a few of the mana stones that contain your mana for making magical tools."
"As long as it's not something that could drive a wedge between us, tell her she can use every last one of them if she wants."
"…Understood. Then I'll take my leave."
Rhea made a face that clearly said she was about to get goosebumps and fled the room at top speed.
I stretched, stood up, and casually walked out of the house, heading toward the officetel building where the trio was staying.
With a single teleport, of course.
"So this goes… like this?"
"No, you've got it completely backwards. You have to turn it this way."
"Ugh. I-I'm hopeless at this kind of thing. I've got the hands of a destroyer, you know."
"You only got that nickname because your magic sometimes blows things up. Silvi? Can you pass me that screwdriver next to you?"
"Y-yeah, here, Lily."
"Thanks."
Tools were scattered all over the room, and the three of them—Teave, Lily, and Silvi—were hard at work assembling some kind of boards and sticks with screws and screwdrivers.
The room they were currently grunting and sweating in was Teave's.
I had no idea where they had bought all this stuff, but they were helping each other out, wearing 3M gloves, breathing in the smell of metal and tools they had never touched before in their lives, and experiencing the power of honest labor for the very first time.
After struggling for a long while, Lily finally realized things weren't going her way. True to her usual personality she didn't throw a full tantrum, but she still let out a heavy sigh and flopped backward onto the floor.
"Uuuugh~~!!! Haaah. This is exhausting. If I'd known it was going to be this hard, I would've just bought the finished products."
"Can't be helped. If we want to get what we want within the set budget, we have to cut costs wherever we can with stuff like this."
"I-I think it's fun even though it's my first time. Making furniture with my own hands feels really interesting and amazing. It's kind of like doing alchemy."
Teave nodded in agreement with Silvi and continued.
"And that enormous mart, too. It's famous for ready-to-assemble furniture, but there wasn't anything like it where I live. My parents also only ever wanted solid wood furniture."
"Ugh, same here. My mom and dad always insisted that anything made by non-mages was useless and only bought expensive stuff from the Magic Department."
"W-we just… made everything ourselves and used it…"
Their faces were full of nothing but curiosity toward these completely new experiences.
When Lee Ha-yan had introduced them to the house, she had given them a list of things to accomplish over the week—essentially a quest—and it went like this:
Basic home appliances were already provided in the house, but clothing for daily life, daily necessities, and any furniture they personally wanted had to be purchased within a limited budget.
They were to ask their assigned homunculi about where and how to obtain things.
However, the help would only consist of knowledge; all physical labor had to be done by themselves.
Those were the rules.
Ha-yan had already figured out that these kids had grown up living lives no different from "chaebol" in ordinary society, and that they were not particularly familiar with Korean culture—or with living without magic and money.
Before starting any cultural lessons or magic classes, she wanted them to bury those old habits deep down for the time being. Otherwise they would struggle badly not only in magic class but even in the everyday life of ordinary Korean high school students.
And the three of them, being fairly open-minded and quick to pick up on her intentions, had decided to adapt to their current situation as quickly as possible.
"Haaah. Didn't they say this was supposed to be the easiest, most straightforward difficulty level? So why are we struggling this much?"
Lily muttered grumpily while staring at her red, swollen hands.
But even she knew just how comfortably she had lived until now. That was why she was giving it her all in this situation without any real complaints.
And after some more time had passed—
"If we tighten this last one… it's done!"
"Whoa… we made this? This simple wardrobe and bookshelf?"
"Th-the desk turned out pretty well too. The helpers did assist with the harder parts, though…"
After roughly half a day of grunting and struggling, they had finally managed to assemble the furniture they had bought from the giant warehouse furniture store.
Their clothes and hair were a complete mess of box dust and sweat, but they felt pretty good thanks to the sense of accomplishment they were experiencing for the first time.
Teave carefully inspected the furniture to make sure it was solid, just in case. If anything broke after they put their belongings on it, the work that followed would be far worse than what they had already done.
Once he finished checking the last piece, Teave began gathering the boxes scattered around and spoke to the other two, who were sprawled out on the floor.
"Let's clean up first. We should at least tidy up if we want to eat dinner. I'll throw something together for dinner, so just eat that."
"Huh? You know how to cook, Teave?"
"Not really cook, exactly. I used to make simple pasta at home sometimes. That was basically the only dish my dad and I knew how to make."
Teave stacked the boxes neatly as he spoke.
"We've got a lot to do starting tomorrow. We have to go to the mart nearby and buy daily necessities, and we also have to study the culture related to Korean high schoolers. There's so much, so how about we just eat something simple at home today and rest instead of going out?"
"That works for me. I'm so tired today I don't even have the energy to leave the house."
"Y-yeah. M-me too. It's been so long since I did anything without other helpers that my whole body is aching."
Unlike Teave, who as a guy had done various physical activities, Lily and Silvi had apparently been raised as complete princesses at home. Even this much activity had completely drained their stamina.
Teave gave them a bitter smile.
"Alright. Let's clean up first. What would Siu think if he saw us like this? We did work hard, but if we've completely collapsed just from assembling some furniture…"
"Nah. I'm not mad or anything. I figure you guys worked pretty hard. I'm not that harsh of a person, you know?"
"…Huh?"
At the completely unexpected voice that suddenly entered his eardrums, Teave lifted his head from where it had been lowered toward the floor.
The two girls who had been lying on the floor blankly staring at the ceiling also jumped up in shock.
Cha Siu, who had teleported into the room as naturally as breathing, finished assessing the situation at a glance and spoke to the three of them.
"Just tidy up your hair real quick, everyone. I'm buying you something delicious."
"""…Yes…"""
They really, really didn't want to go… and at the same time they really, really wanted to go.
The three of them simply decided to accept this ironic situation as it was.