Proof (1)
"Aish, seriously!" I burst out the moment I saw RAID FAILED flash across the screen.
Midori had been whining about being tired since the beginning, her sloppy controls finally costing us when she failed to dodge the boss's skill.
Normally she would have played it off with a joke, but for once Midori actually sounded genuinely sorry.
…Did something happen?
It wasn't just me who sensed something was off. Everyone was pretending to be casual while clearly worrying about her.
…Huh?
The worried atmosphere vanished in an instant, and the target naturally shifted to me.
It was Saturday. Yu Jihwan had asked for understanding because he had something to do over the weekend.
He said something about going to Gangwon Province for a part-time job….
…What the hell is wrong with them?
I had no idea why they were reacting so strangely. I simply repeated exactly what Yu Jihwan had told me, and they immediately went into overdrive. Here we go again. Ninety-five percent of the rapidly scrolling chat was meaningless sexual harassment, so I just let it slide. I was waiting for things to calm down with my hands off the keyboard when one line caught my eye.
Yu Jihwan with another girl? Well… If it had been before, maybe, but now I couldn't picture it at all. This was the same Yu Jihwan who came running like a loyal puppy even after Gong Haeseon made a move on him. He was like a big dog. There was no way he would abandon me. Even if he got a girlfriend, he was the kind of guy who would still come take care of me.
…Of course, it would be better if he didn't get one.
*
One week left until the first exam on Monday. Starting today, I had decided to prepare for the practical exam together with Min Soyeon.
The weekend fatigue hadn't completely gone away, but Academy classes were easy enough. And so the combat practice period arrived.
"S-see you in a bit!"
I gave a small wave to Gong Haeseon, who was clenching both fists and cutely cheering me on, then grabbed the practice materials and headed for a corner of the training ground.
What I had brought was a mana stone about the size of an ostrich egg. It was a common material found scattered inside Gates or easily harvested from beast corpses. Today's lesson would use one that glowed when infused with mana. It was weaker than the ones used in the actual exam, but more than enough for practice.
When I reached the corner of the training ground, I quietly approached the waiting Min Soyeon. She, who had been crouching, shot to her feet and suggested we start right away.
"…Show me first."
At Min Soyeon's request to see a demonstration, I held the mana stone in both hands and explained.
"It's really easy. You just release your mana…"
I only drew up a little mana, yet the stone shone brightly and lit up the surroundings.
"It glows like this."
Min Soyeon stared blankly at the transparent glow as if it were fascinating, then reached out her hand and said,
"…I'll try."
Her indifferent tone as she reached out made the corner of my mouth lift without thinking. Smiling faintly, I handed her the mana stone and added a quick explanation.
"The more mana you put in, the brighter it gets. If you put in way too much, it can even shatter."
In other words, the key was how well you could control the brightness. She gripped the mana stone, pursed her lips, and glared at it as if trying to draw up her mana.
"…Why isn't it working?"
After staring at it for a long time, she couldn't produce even a speck of light. Huh? That meant she couldn't draw up her mana at all. I bit my lip, watching her get frustrated, and felt a slight doubt.
Min Soyeon definitely knew how to handle mana. Quite skillfully, in fact, living up to her genius reputation. Yet she couldn't even light up a basic mana stone… Had the sensation changed and thrown her off?
"…It's okay, Soyeon. The feeling can be a little different. Let's try again."
I gently coaxed her into a second attempt, but once again she failed to make the mana stone glow.
…Was it really broken?
Wondering if that was the case, I asked to check it and took the stone back. The moment I channeled mana into it, the stone naturally emitted a bright light.
"…"
A subtle silence fell between us. At that moment, Min Soyeon, clearly upset that she had failed, bit her lip hard and shot me a sharp glare.
Ah, no… this isn't my fault…
Flustered by her piercing gaze, I quickly racked my brain for a solution.
Mana is like an organ in the body. For example, it's similar to the vocal cords in your throat. The sound changes depending on how you use the muscles and how you vocalize. In that sense, relying on sensation, mana and vocal cords are very alike.
Thinking along those lines, it seemed Min Soyeon simply didn't know the proper way to use her mana yet. If my guess was right, that was actually good news. I could teach her the same way my wife had once taught me how to handle mana.
"Soyeon, take this."
Having come up with a method, I immediately handed her the mana stone again. She took it obediently, apparently not wanting to lose the little contest even if she was frustrated. I reached out and firmly grasped the hand that was holding the stone.
"Hup!"
Her eyes widened as she looked at me.
"I'll teach you, so let's try it one more time."
I slowly drew up my mana and gently pushed it toward her. The hand I was guiding twitched.
…It's small.
The hand I held felt so small. I used to barely be able to hold her thumb, and now she had grown enough to handle mana… The feeling was deeply moving.
At that moment—
"S-stop it!"
Min Soyeon suddenly got angry and yanked her hand away.
"I-I get it already! Stop!"
"…Okay?"
As expected of my daughter, she seemed to have grasped the sensation immediately. She kept glancing at me, checking my reaction, then moved on to her third attempt.
"…I-it worked…"
She finally began to emit mana. Although the light was faint, with steady practice she would soon get the hang of it. After a brief moment of joy, Min Soyeon looked at me with a strange expression.
"Are you sure?"
When our eyes met, I smiled softly and spoke. She whipped her head away without answering.
We continued the repeated practice. Min Soyeon's adaptation was incredibly fast. By the end of the first period, she was able to produce a much brighter light than at the beginning.
The moment I set the mana stone down after the bell signaling break time rang—
"…J-Jihwan! Do you have a moment…?"
Gong Haeseon, who had approached at some point, spoke to me cautiously.
"Hm? What's up?"
"W-we tried practicing with the mana stones too… but the light won't come on…. Could you take a look?"
So that's what it was. She wanted help with the mana stone practice. It wasn't difficult. Since she had helped me before and it was break time, it wouldn't hurt to take a quick look. Having decided, I turned to Min Soyeon, who was sitting beside me.
"Soyeon, I'm going to help Haeseon and the others real quick."
She waved her hand dismissively with an indifferent expression, as if to say do whatever you want.
…That means go, right?
"…Then I'll be right back."
I followed Gong Haeseon and moved to a different spot.
"Ah, h-hello…?!"
"Ugh…"
Gong Haeseon's friends seemed awkward around me. They made awkward faces and fled to the bathroom, leaving just the two of us.
"Shall we try?"
"Y-yeah…"
I took the mana stone from Gong Haeseon and tested it. It worked perfectly. After watching her attempt, I quickly reached a conclusion. The problem was with Gong Haeseon herself. She said she had never properly used mana before. She had used it accidentally once or twice, so it wasn't a congenital issue. It seemed she was in the same boat as Min Soyeon—she simply didn't know how.
And as it happened, I knew exactly how to fix that problem.
"Um… First, can you hold this?"
"Y-yeah…"
Gong Haeseon took the mana stone somewhat timidly. Her face, the same color as her pink hair, kept stealing glances at me.
…Why is she acting like this?
"Haeseon, are you feeling okay?"
"Eh?! N-no…. Just do it quickly…"
…Is she nervous?
I casually dismissed her reaction and firmly took her hand.
"Okay, I'll show you the sensation, so you need to remember it."
"…O-okay…"
I shot up from my seat without thinking as I watched the two of them from afar. Yu Jihwan's calm and composed face clearly showed he had no idea what he was doing. Looking at that carefree expression, I even wondered if the real nine-tailed fox wasn't Gong Haeseon, but Yu Jihwan himself.
At that moment, Yu Jihwan released her hand and gave her some instructions. He was probably telling her to try drawing up her mana. But Gong Haeseon failed to light the stone again, and just as expected, Yu Jihwan grabbed her hand once more. I found myself pounding my chest without realizing it.
That idiot…! He's definitely doing it on purpose!!
Having learned from him, I knew. The method he taught was a forceful training that made you learn it whether you wanted to or not. Unless you had a mana disability, it was something you should be able to do easily. Yet that girl Gong Haeseon had already let him grab her hand not twice, but three times.
I couldn't go over there and say it outright, and watching Yu Jihwan waste his mana so stupidly was incredibly frustrating. As I fidgeted anxiously while staring at him, a friend's words suddenly floated through my mind.
I had told myself that would never happen, and that even if it did, Yu Jihwan would still take care of me until the end. But…
Watching him grab Gong Haeseon's hand again and again without even realizing he was being used, my thoughts began to change.