School Festival #6
School Festival #6
"The academy festival! It's starting!"
The moment some upperclassman I’d never seen before shouted those words, the festival finally kicked off. It was morning, but I was genuinely excited. They’d said there was going to be a superhuman field day and skill demonstrations.
"The first event is the Superhuman Field Day!"
I half-listened to the commentary while looking around. Pre-assigned spots were completely ignored. Everyone had formed their own groups and was facing the parade ground.
A group of cadets marched in.
"I’m curious to see how impressive the upperclassmen’s physical abilities are," Leona said, pulling something from her bag. It glinted silver—something wrapped in foil?
"Leona? What is that?"
"Gimbap. I made it. Here, take these wooden chopsticks and help yourself."
"What!?"
What on earth!
"Gimbap! When did you even make this!?"
"Early this morning."
She said it so nonchalantly, but this was huge!
"Holy crap, seriously! How does a noble lady end up making gimbap!?"
"Cooking is a basic life skill! Now, please try it! Lee Si-hoo, Woo Yu-ri, dig in!"
Hell yeah!
"Whoa!"
"Oh my god!"
ㅡSnap!
I split the wooden chopsticks and grabbed a piece of Leona's gimbap. It was tuna gimbap, packed with tuna and mayo...!
"Man... this is so good. I can't believe you made this."
"It's delicious. Thank you, Leona."
"Leona, you could seriously open your own gimbap shop."
"Heheh, right?"
While Yu-ri and Si-hoo happily chowed down, the food was so good I almost started crying.
"Here, I've got barley tea too."
I was already on the verge of weeping from sheer emotion, and then seeing Leona smile as she held out a thermos—I nearly ascended to heaven.
This is paradise.
"Leona. This is paradise. I think I'm losing my mind. I swear I'm going crazy because it's so delicious. Seriously, thank you...!"
"Fufufu, your over-the-top reactions are always top-tier."
"It's not an overreaction, it's pure fact!"
We shared Leona's homemade gimbap with friends while watching the field day.
ㅡWhoosh!
ㅡCrash!
Upperclassmen confident in their speed were running like absolute maniacs. Truly insane velocity. Were they speed-specialized? As cheers erupted everywhere, the relay race began.
After the superhuman race ended, there was a flying obstacle course, and then Superhuman Soccer even started... Wait, they called that soccer?
One muscle-bound upperclassman kicked the ball with all his might.
ㅡBoom!
"Hraaaap!"
At the goal, another upperclassman blocked it with a shield.
ㅡBang!
The ball exploded.
"More! Give me more!"
"I'll block them all!"
The muscular upperclassman kept kicking balls like crazy, hammering the shield. This wasn’t the soccer I knew.
"Hey, hey. Doesn't that look fun?"
"How does that look fun!?"
But the crowd was going wild for this pseudo-cult soccer.
"Whoa! Ooooh! Uwaaaah!"
"Too strong! His kicks are so strong!"
"The kicks! The kicks are too powerful! Uwaaaah!"
"All the balls are exppploding!"
Well, it was fun to watch.
ㅡFwoosh!
ㅡBang!
Once Superhuman Soccer ended, the Mage Class upperclassmen swarmed out and performed a magic battle demonstration. It was a rehearsed play with coordinated moves.
The sight of various spells clashing, canceling each other out, and vanishing was more beautiful than anything.
"The upperclassmen are pretty impressive. What do you think, Geun-cheol?"
"It's worth watching, but they seem a bit weaker than I expected. Still, I doubt that's their full strength."
Overall, their output felt a little lacking. Of course, they were having fun, so they'd be pulling their punches.
"I'm not so sure. I've heard that our year is said to be the strongest talent-wise?"
"Yeah. I heard that, too."
Yu-ri nodded at Leona's words.
"Really? So we’re stronger than the upperclassmen?"
"Honestly, I don't think I'd lose to an upperclassman. From what I hear, there aren't many students from powerful families higher up."
"Well, we do have an unusually concentrated group. Enough to have all sorts of weirdos."
Yu-ri crossed her legs as she said it.
"Hm."
Thinking about it, that's true. We really do have every kind of weirdo.
Leona goes without saying. Yu-ri is the daughter of a renowned martial family. Si-hoo's a special case, and even the Ryu siblings are the children of a major corporation.
And then there's me, Kim Geun-cheol, a man with a deeply buried past.
"So we're literally the overwhelming generation."
"Indeed. Even with just the individual Leona Kainus, calling it an overwhelming generation wouldn't be an exaggeration."
"Acknowledged!"
"'Acknowledged,' my ass! Leona, ever since you started hanging out with that bastard Kim Geun-cheol, you've gotten so full of yourself!"
"It's not being full of myself, it's just fact!"
Exactly!
We finished the gimbap and opened some snacks, and finally the first-year kids came out. The first act was none other than... Ma-O-Ha!
"Ma-O-Baek-Hae!"
Ma O-hun came shuffling in, adjusting his glasses while carrying a pack frame, and Park Ha-yul timidly followed behind him with a hunched back.
"Uh, h-hello..."
An awkward greeting. Nothing else followed; the two simply began their act. To put it plainly, Park Ha-yul climbed onto the frame Ma O-hun was carrying.
And then.
ㅡFlutter!
Ma O-hun spread his wings and soared upward.
"Waaaaaah!"
"Wings!"
"Ooooooh!"
An explosion of cheers.
ㅡBzzzt!
A round barrier formed around the airborne Ma O-hun, and simultaneously, the other Mage Class students down below began their uprising.
ㅡFwoosh!
ㅡShwack!
Magic attacks shot out instantly.
"Ohh. Those bastards are pretty good."
It looked like a demonstration of shooting Ma O-hun down. It was flashy and fun to watch. But Park Ha-yul's barrier was surprisingly sturdy. It deflected several attacks without breaking, and Ma O-hun even fired back with light bullets.
"Kim Geun-cheol? What are you staring at?"
"Ma O-hun's actually kinda good."
"Hmm... I suppose he is."
After that, all kinds of kids came out and demonstrated their skills. It was all worth watching, but honestly, I had an absolute blast.
"Leona. I had so much fun thanks to the gimbap you packed."
"Heh, I see it was a success. Would you like me to make more next time?"
She'll make even more!
"Yes! For real! You can do that!?"
"Of course! I can at least do that much! Call me next time and come over!"
"Woohoo!"
I'm going, no questions asked!
Is this Gimbap Heaven, or is it Leona Heaven!?
ㅡDing.
And as I was cheering, lunchtime began.
Let's eat and then keep going!
* * *
Well, it was lunchtime, but I'd already eaten so much. I wasn't even hungry. I figured we could just hit a café or something.
As I was thinking that and strolling around casually—
ㅡBrrrring.
I got a call.
"Hm? Who is it?"
"This is... Ryuna?"
"Gasp!"
First, answer!
"Ah, hello there. This is Kim Geun-cheol. Nunim? What can I do for you?"
"'Nunim'...!"
"No, wait, Leona! Don't glue yourself to me!"
Leona had latched right on!
"Ah, Geun-cheol? Are you free to talk?"
"Ah, yes. What's the matter?"
"Well, it's about our Cheon-hwi. He suddenly disappeared. Do you happen to know where he went?"
"Ryu disappeared?"
Where did that bastard go? I thought about it for maybe three seconds, but the places that bastard would go are painfully obvious.
"Ah, yes. I'll track him down and send him your way. Please sit tight."
"Fufufu, as expected, so dependable."
"Exactly. I'll talk to you later."
ㅡClack.
I hung up.
"That bastard! You said it was nothing, but you're treating her like royalty! You punk, you don't even act that way with me, but you talk to that woman like she's your commanding officer!"
"What on earth is this 'Nunim' title, Kim Geun-cheol!?"
And immediately, the two of them started spouting nonsense...!
"Oh, come on! Hey! Of course I call her Nunim and treat her with respect—she's an older sister! What's weird about that!?"
"But you don't do that to us!"
"That's because you're not my older sister, Leona!"
"Ah!!!"
Wait, did she react as if she just realized something?
"Anyway. I need to go find Ryu for a bit. Well, I mean, I was the one who dragged him into this mess to begin with. That's what she was talking about just now. So I should take responsibility."
"Hmm... is that so?"
"Yeah. And I'm not even hungry. After eating your gimbap, Leona, I don't want to ruin the aftertaste with anything else."
It was genuinely so delicious that nothing else sounds appealing.
"What? You don't want to eat anything else? Ha! So it was that good! I do have a knack for cooking, don't I! Ah, but do you even know where Ryu is?"
"Of course. Let's go. We're hunting down Ryu."
That bastard is a hundred percent hiding out somewhere around the campus store.
So my friends and I headed to the campus store.
"He's not here? Where'd that bastard go?"
I assumed he'd be at the store, but the guy's not here. That bastard... where'd he run off to? I grabbed some snacks and a cola and stuffed them into a plastic bag.
"Wait here and drink some coffee or something. I'll track down Ryu and be right back."
"Well, a canned coffee isn't a bad idea once in a while."
"Oh. The noble lady drinks canned coffee too?"
"Woo Yu-ri. Are you indirectly telling me you want to go eat jjamppong? Fine! Let's go together! No, let's go!"
"No, why are you so...!"
Yu-ri, messing with Leona over food is a dangerous game.
"But Geun-cheol. What's with the bag?"
"Bait for that bastard Ryu. I'm off."
I immediately set out to find Ryu. The places that bastard would be are limited.
* * *
An empty classroom, of course. When no one's watching, that punk Ryu has a habit of picking drinks from the vending machine at the front of the classroom.
Plus, he's absolutely guaranteed to be in a foul, sulking mood right now. He's not exactly the stage type. I'm the one who forced him onto that stage—of course he's nervous as hell.
"And my prediction was spot-on. Well, look who it is! If it isn't the world's greatest guitarist, Mister Dragon!"
"Gah!?"
When I walked into the empty classroom, Ryu yelped in panic, instantly crushing the cola can he was holding and hiding it in his fist.
"Y-you bastard...! Because of you, I...!"
"Heheh, you're clearly in a foul mood. Am I right?"
"Did you come here just to rub it in!? The whole family showed up—I can't even back out now...! You damn Taliban bastard!"
So Ryuna, Uncle Ryu Seong, Ryu's mom, and even his little sister came. I should say hello if I see them later.
"Hey, hey. Anyway, calm down and eat this."
ㅡRustle.
I immediately held out my plastic bag to Ryu. A bag stuffed with munchies.
"What is this?"
"A collection of your favorite junk food."
"Insanity! Even a dog wouldn't touch this filth! I've no idea what you're trying to foist on me!"
Ryu was talking crap with his usual straight face. I needed to put this bastard in his place. I pulled the bag back toward me.
"Oh? You want me to take it back, then?"
"Hand it over right now, you Taliban bastard!"
ㅡSnatch!
Ryu shot his hand out and violently snatched my bag!
"Hey! You said you didn't want it! Why are you taking it!? Could it be you actually wanted it?"
When I asked in a teasing tone, the guy sneered at me.
"Hah...! As if. This kind of low-grade junk is utterly useless to me. But you, you Taliban bastard, you enjoy this trash. The thought of a wretch like you eating this happily makes my blood boil. Therefore, it is only right and natural that I confiscate and dispose of it. Be advised, you Taliban bastard—you shall never again know the joy of eating!"
"The hell is this bastard on about...!"
ㅡSlam!
"Urk!"
Ryu shoved me out of the classroom and slammed the door shut. That bastard just wanted to eat it all by himself.
"Heheh, this dishonest little punk. Well, that should do it."
If he stuffs his face with snacks, his nerves will settle. Then he'll definitely be able to get on that stage. I sent a location report to Ryuna, then headed back to the campus store.
"Oh my, Kim Geun-cheol? Did you find Ryu?"
"Yeah. He was drinking a cola by himself in a classroom."
"How peculiar. Though not quite as peculiar as you, Kim Geun-cheol."
What do you mean, I'm peculiar.