The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

"A wooden person, a black dragon, and now a little kid?"

Choi Hyun-woo muttered as if he couldn't believe it.

That made two of us.

"What're you going to turn into next? Could you give me a little advance notice, just me?"

"…"

"You're not going to turn into a girl, are you? If you did, Ji-hyeok… hmm, somehow I feel like you'd be the kind of cute that begs to get pinched."

"Shut your mouth while I'm asking nicely, Hyun-woo."

"Tsk, you can't go around cursing at your older brother."

He cracked up and burst out laughing.

"Hey, Ji-hyeok, want some candy? Want hyung to unwrap it for you?"

"…You keep this up, and I really am going to kill you."

Choi Hyun-woo burst out into another fit of laughter at my warning, packed with every ounce of rage I could muster, as if he couldn't take it anymore.

I glared at him, fuming, and he waved a hand in apology, cackling as he choked out, "S-sorry… I just—with that face, that voice, you saying you're going to kill me with a straight face—pfff!"

"…"

Watching him shake with the effort of holding in his laughter, I realized that anything I said was only going to make it worse for me.

Then Han Su-yeong, sitting beside me, wet her lips with her tongue and said, "S-so, Ji-hyeok, let's go over what you just said."

…Right after I drank the potion at Minerva's request, I'd turned into a child, and almost on cue Lee Ye-eun had walked into the room.

While she was finding me clothes to wear, the other kids had shown up too, and that was how I'd ended up like this—standing in front of everyone, explaining what had happened.

I'd exchanged thanks and shared information with Evangelline Loengreen.

In the middle of that, she'd handed over the potions, and even though I hadn't wanted to drink one, I'd promised to grant Minerva a favor, so I'd ended up drinking it anyway.

Han Su-yeong nodded at my summary and said, "So basically, we should be thanking Evangelline?"

"What are you even talking about? Su-yeong, not you too."

"I'll ask her later. I have to learn it—transformation magic."

Han Su-yeong was muttering this firm resolution to herself when Jin Ye-seul, sitting nearby, asked, "Then why'd the two of you have to be alone for it? It sounds like something we wouldn't have minded hearing."

"That's…"

I hesitated for a moment, then decided there was no need to hide it and nodded.

"I asked Miss Evangelline for something on the side, actually."

"Asked her for what?"

"To make me artifacts. Using my scales."

For some reason, every gaze in the room turned to me.

Normally it wouldn't have bothered me, but maybe because I was in a child's body, I tensed up completely.

A cold sweat broke out on me.

"Well—you know. You've all been put through a lot because of me. And dragon scales are good material, so I figured I'd ask. And there were some scales I'd used for other things too… um. And."

I had no intention of doing it, but I started rambling like a kid making excuses.

The more I talked, the more nervous I got, somehow.

"Because of me, the clan head took a pretty serious… financial hit, right? So I was thinking of selling the leftovers to make up some of it. I just felt weird saying it ahead of time, so I was going to keep it under wraps until things were settled."

I glanced cautiously at everyone as I finished, and Han Su-yeong suddenly reached over and started stroking my head.

When I looked up to see what she was doing, she was petting me like I was a puppy and cooing at me in a nasally voice you'd use with a small child.

"Mm, I see. Our Ji-hyeok's a good boy, a good boy."

"…"

"Ah, what a sweetheart. How did you turn out so good? You wanted to get presents for your noona and your hyungs? Did you?"

She giggled as she kept stroking my head, and I batted her hand away to make her stop.

Han Su-yeong just looked at me with eyes that said she found me even cuter for it.

"Hey, Su-yeong. How many times do I have to say it? My body got younger, my mind didn't regress—!"

I was mid-sentence when someone slipped their hands under my armpits and lifted me clean off the ground.

Long, slender fingers then traced over me like they were playing an instrument as I was turned around to face the other way.

A pair of amethyst eyes stared straight into mine.

It was Jin Ye-seul.

"…"

"…"

She gazed at me without a word.

I'd always thought she was a little creepy, but maybe because my body had shrunk, I felt like a frog frozen in front of a snake—completely unable to move.

After what felt like ages of her silently studying every inch of me, Jin Ye-seul slowly sat me down on her lap.

Ending up perched there facing her, with her fingers playing with my cheek, I heard her mutter as if it surprised her, "Strange."

"What is?"

"I really hate kids. They're loud, stubborn, selfish, and they're sly with it too, so they wear you out. I genuinely can't stand them."

Jin Ye-seul murmured the words in an indifferent voice.

That was when I suddenly remembered that as a child she'd crushed a grown man's head—a former Hunter's, no less—with her bare hands; that she'd broken Jin Ye-jeong's arm for ruining a doll; and that she'd ripped out her younger brother's fingernails for touching a notebook she liked.

Before I knew it, my body had started trembling.

Jin Ye-seul looked at me and gave my cheek another squeeze.

"Why are you this cute, though."

She tilted her head as if she found it strange and kept squishing my cheek.

Now the hand that had been supporting my back came up too, and both of her hands were cradling my face.

When I grabbed her wrist to make her stop, Jin Ye-seul took a firm hold of my face and locked eyes with me.

I caught sight of something stirring quietly in those eyes, and I tightened my grip on her wrist immediately.

"Hey, Jin Ye-seul. Knock it off."

"…'Hey' to your noona? What a bad boy."

You need to be punished.

Jin Ye-seul murmured in a dreamy voice and pried my hand off her face.

Then she made a move to scoop me up and hug me, and almost on instinct I bolted out of her grasp.

When I came back to my senses, I'd apparently used the World Tree's Branch to escape.

Watching me catch my breath, Jin Ye-seul pursed her lips in disappointment.

Then someone held something out to my face, and I jolted in surprise and yanked my head to the side.

"Ah, sorry. Did I scare you…?"

Lee Yu-na raised her hands as if to calm me.

When I realized she was holding a handkerchief in the other, I finally let myself relax.

"Looks like your stamina took a hit along with your body getting younger. I've never seen you out of breath like this before, Ji-hyeok."

She wiped the sweat from my forehead with a practiced hand.

Then she took my hand naturally, led me over to a chair, and helped me sit down on it.

"Want something to drink?"

"Uh… no. I'm fine."

"Okay, then just say so whenever you're thirsty, all right?"

Lee Yu-na smiled, and—noticing I was uncomfortable—she gave me a bit of space as she spoke.

She was so practiced at this that I remembered she'd helped the nuns look after the younger kids at the orphanage.

"Anyway, Ji-hyeok. How long does this form last?"

Choi Hyun-woo's question came as if he'd been waiting for things to settle a bit, and I nodded.

"Probably half a day to a full day? I got a neutralizer too, so I can go back whenever I want…"

I remembered my promise to Minerva and let the sentence trail off.

She'd asked me to stay this way until the effects of the potion wore off naturally.

"By the way, what could the two of them have been doing, leaving together?"

"Yeah, do you know, Ji-hyeok?"

Choi Hyun-woo chimed in with Han Su-yeong.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure either."

The truth was, I had a pretty good idea what was going on.

…I just somehow, childishly, didn't feel like explaining it to them.

Minerva had whispered something to Lee Ye-eun, said something to the effect of "I'm counting on you," and disappeared, while Lee Ye-eun had been pulled away to meet a sudden urgent guest, looking nearly on the verge of tears as she went.

Lee Ye-eun being busy was nothing new, so I'd let that go—but I had no clue what Minerva was thinking.

Then a careful knock came at the door.

"Pardon me."

The person who came in was the woman who'd recently been brought on as one of Lee Ye-eun's close aides.

Incidentally, she was also the one who'd quickly brought me clothes that fit my new size.

"You have a visitor, young master."

"For me?"

"Yes."

She looked late twenties at the oldest, and was bowing toward me with the most formal speech.

She went on in a soft, quiet voice.

"This is a visitor who came to see the clan head as well. They've finished their business with her and are now waiting for you."

"Could you tell me who it is?"

"The former Orhe Academy professor Alice Blesbuck, and a man she introduced as her attendant."

Alice Blesbuck.

And the man who was her "attendant" had to be Kath Ryle.

"Did they say what it's about?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know the details either… they just asked me to say it was urgent. The clan head approved it as well."

She carefully tucked her loose brown hair back into place and added, "She said it would be enough to tell you it's for the after-incident clean-up."

Only one thing came to mind at that.

Natalia Milited.

She'd clearly come all this way for something tied to her.

I nodded, got up from my seat, and carefully climbed down from the chair.

"Let's go right now."

"Yes, I'll show you the way."

I followed her out.

Then I shot a glare at the kids who were getting up to follow me and said, "You stay here."

"Huh, why?"

"…Because."

Han Su-yeong let out something like a yelp of disappointment at that, but it wasn't important.

I shut the door right behind me.

"D-did you see him toddle out just now?"

The moment the door closed, Han Su-yeong whispered, her voice positively buzzing.

Jin Ye-seul nodded and answered, "We teased him too much. He's sulking."

"Aaah, what do I do… he'd definitely get mad if we asked to take pictures, right?"

"Just mad? He'd say he's going to kill you, like he told me before."

Choi Hyun-woo said it while choking back a laugh.

Han Su-yeong let out a small, giddy sigh.

"I'm really studying transformation magic for real now…"

"Come to think of it, there was supposed to be one that ages you up, too, and one that changes your sex."

Han Su-yeong mumbled at Choi Hyun-woo's words in the same dreamy voice.

"I want to see those… but he'd never drink one for me, would he…?"

"What if you slipped it into his food or drink?"

"Hey, Ye-seul. That's a crime…"

While the three of them murmured back and forth, Lee Yu-na sat in her chair, lost in thought.

She was calmly going back over what the younger Yu Ji-hyeok had just shown them.

'Definitely…'

The way he kept overly aware of his surroundings, tense, watching everyone's faces.

The way he flinched and put up his guard the moment he made eye contact with someone older—someone you might call an adult.

The way he startled and pulled away when something came near his face.

She'd sometimes seen kids like that at the orphanage.

"…"

Children who'd been abused at home.

They'd sometimes act exactly like that.

But Lee Yu-na quickly shook her head.

'No way.'

He's just acting that way because his body got smaller, like he said.

He hadn't said a single word about his mind being affected—if anything, he'd flat-out denied it.

Lee Yu-na nodded to herself, thinking that.

Pushing aside the inexplicable unease that lingered.

"Oh my, would you look at that."

Alice Blesbuck's eyes simply sparkled as she murmured the words at the sight of me.

Kath Ryle just looked at me with a small flicker of surprise.

"Well then, I'll take my leave."

"Yes, thank you for your help, Miss Seo-ryeong."

The two of us had chatted on the way over and gotten fairly friendly, so I gave her a proper goodbye.

She gave me a small smile and closed the door without a sound.

"So—I hear you were looking for me."

I climbed up onto a chair and looked at Alice Blesbuck.

For some reason, she was looking at me with a slightly envious expression and muttered sulkily, "Ryle never once looked like that."

"Ahem."

Kath Ryle cleared his throat as if to tell her to cut the useless talk.

Alice Blesbuck stuck her tongue out at me playfully, then pulled several photos from her coat and handed them over.

I gave a brief assessment when I looked at them.

"Looking at photos like this in this body really doesn't feel right."

"Right? Anyone who didn't know better would think I was up to no good."

Alice laughed and chimed in.

The photos showed Natalia Milited bound up as tightly as a wild beast.

I went through several of them in order and murmured, "You can really see her getting weaker as it goes."

"Yeah. For the procedure, we had to drain her excess power first. So we only gave her water and kept making her breathe an incense that disrupts mana. We also injected her with various drugs."

She said the chilling thing in such an even voice, then passed me one final photo.

"And this is from yesterday."

"This is…"

This one had been taken in a different space from the earlier ones.

In the photo, a girl sat in a chair with her eyes wide open.

Shackles bound her wrists, her ankles, and her neck.

"Mother's new look."

Alice Blesbuck smiled silently as she spoke.

As though mocking her.

"Her body as a True Ancestor, her power, her abilities, her years, her name… everything stripped away."

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