Lately, Rauné was very put out.
"..."
A spirit born artificially through the Seven Calamity Sbeungali, and also a mandrake.
That being—who Yu Ji-hyeok had named Rauné—was, in all sincerity, very, very put out.
The reason was simple.
For the past several days, its nest—its territory—had been trampled on without permission, one violation after another.
Not all spirits were like this, but some of them clung fiercely to their territories and reacted sharply to any intrusion.
And even spirits who didn't care about territory knew full well how serious a breach of manners it was to barge into another spirit's domain.
Even Belluna Hunt, who had once been worshipped as a god of an entire region, had bowed politely to Rauné as the territory's owner, apologized, and asked permission before entering. To spirits, territory carried weight that mattered enormously.
Repeatedly, no less!
Rauné was, in all sincerity, furious about it.
"......!!!"
Rauné's territory was Yu Ji-hyeok's dorm room.
To put it more precisely, wherever Yu Ji-hyeok stayed was Rauné's nest and her territory.
At least Belluna and the fire spirit had politely apologized and asked permission.
But the humans who'd come after them hadn't apologized, hadn't asked permission—they'd swanned around like the place was their own home. One of them had even commandeered Yu Ji-hyeok's bed.
Watching him sleep on the sofa after being thrown out of his own bed, Rauné felt every little root in its body trembling with rage.
If those people were still here, it would never have forgiven them.
Rauné jabbed its roots like little fists at the empty air where they'd been.
"..."
The slightly-tan woman with the soft yellow hair had been talking to Yu Ji-hyeok as if she were close to him, for some reason, on and on.
The yellow-haired woman had nagged Yu Ji-hyeok over every little thing, sounding annoyed.
The red-haired woman had practically lunged at him, suddenly grabbed his hand to shake it, and finally taken over his bed.
"..."
Rauné did not like any of it.
It was clearly those women's fault that Yu Ji-hyeok hadn't sunbathed with it.
More importantly, it had taken the trouble to coat him generously in its own spiritual essence so that no strange spirits or lowly wraiths would cling to him—so why on earth did people keep clinging to him instead?
Could it be that its essence drove off spirits while drawing in humans?
Rauné started seriously mulling this over as it set about cleaning its tank.
The one it slept on, the one it slept curled around, the one it used as a pillow, and finally the decorative spirit stones—it scrubbed each in turn, then polished the scale Yu Ji-hyeok had given it until it gleamed.
"......?"
The moment it sensed something strange, Rauné slung the scale around its neck and scurried out of the tank.
It shook the water off its body on the towel Yu Ji-hyeok kept laid out beneath the tank, then started looking around.
A voice was reaching it.
"......?"
It was the voice it'd been catching, here and there, for the past few days.
Rauné tilted its head; it focused every nerve it had on listening.
If anyone might know what this phenomenon was, it would be Sbeungali, its creator. But Rauné did not want to ask Sbeungali anything.
Setting aside his oddly grating manner and tone, Rauné had not forgotten that he had once tried to harm Yu Ji-hyeok.
The voice came again.
No, this time it wasn't a voice.
"......!"
It was Yu Ji-hyeok's essence!
She could feel Yu Ji-hyeok's essence!
And with it, the essence of the woman whose behavior had been so admirable that Rauné had taken her on as a disciple, and the essence of the woman who had silently poked at its cheek with a finger.
What on earth was going on? Rauné mulled it over, then nodded to itself as if to say, whatever, who cares.
It had no idea what any of this was, but whatever the reason, she could feel Yu Ji-hyeok's essence—and that was all that really mattered.
Rauné settled in with a small spirit stone hugged to its chest and leisurely savored the feel of Yu Ji-hyeok's essence. The coziness of it was like being tucked inside one of his pockets, and its roots melted into a long, loose sprawl.
"......!?"
Then a sudden, massive presence sent Rauné scrambling to its feet, startled.
Sparks burst from the empty air, and someone came stepping out of them.
"Hm."
It was the Smith of Yado.
He had weapons slung across his back, which he set down on the floor in a natural motion.
It was a problem that he'd suddenly entered Yu Ji-hyeok's room—her nest, her territory. But a far bigger problem followed right behind that one.
The sparks that had burst out when he appeared had caught fire on Rauné's leaves.
"~~~~~~!!!"
Rauné wailed Yu Ji-hyeok's name like a scream.
"Hm?"
Yu Ji-hyeok furrowed his brow and glanced around.
It had felt like someone had just called his name.
"What was that...?"
He tilted his head, wondering if he'd misheard.
Meanwhile, Lee Yu-na was looking around as if scanning the room too.
She seemed to have caught the same sense of wrongness he had.
What in the world is that? Just as he was about to focus his senses, someone poked his cheek with a finger. Jin Ye-seul.
"What is it, you two?"
"Oh, Ye-seul."
Yu Ji-hyeok answered like it was nothing.
"Just... it felt like someone called my name."
"Called your name?"
Jin Ye-seul scanned the room as she said it.
In the training room, there were only Yu Ji-hyeok, Jin Ye-seul, and Lee Yu-na.
When he nodded with a faintly unsettled expression, Jin Ye-seul mouthed her lips into a serious shape.
"...I didn't hear anything."
She muttered it as she looked over at Lee Yu-na.
Lee Yu-na nodded too.
"I heard it. I couldn't make out what it was saying, but... I'm pretty sure someone called Ji-hyeok's name."
"Hm."
Jin Ye-seul's expression turned uncertain.
She'd known for a while that both Yu Ji-hyeok and Lee Yu-na had exceptional perception abilities.
So whatever this was, she chalked it up to her simply not being able to feel it—and the conclusion left her in a faintly sour mood.
She vented that sourness by pressing her finger harder into Yu Ji-hyeok's cheek.
It was no longer a gentle poke but more of a hard prod into his cheek, and Yu Ji-hyeok jerked his head back.
"Aagh—! Hey, Ye-seul. What are you doing? You almost put a hole in my cheek!"
"Jealous."
"What?"
Yu Ji-hyeok rubbed his cheek with his palm, exasperated.
Jin Ye-seul held up both hands with only her index fingers extended and gave Yu Ji-hyeok a meaningful look. Watching them from the side, Lee Yu-na burst into giggles.
"The professor's going to scold us when she gets here. We're just goofing off."
"Well..." Jin Ye-seul replied flatly. "With the whole academy in chaos over the festival anyway, she'll probably let it slide."
Jin Ye-seul wasn't exaggerating.
In fact, thanks to the suddenly-decided festival, students and faculty and staff alike could be spotted in moods that bordered on giddy.
The word festival carried a kind of magic that loosened people up and lifted them somewhere off the ground.
The scale, of course, was small enough that comparing it to the founding anniversary was almost embarrassing. And unlike the anniversary, which stretched on for days, this was a one-day event. But a festival was a festival.
And there were only about ten days left until that festival opened.
In other words, only ten days remained on the grace period for the plan.
"..."
Yu Ji-hyeok was deep in thought about it when Jin Ye-seul and Lee Yu-na, beside him, started bickering.
"That person plays favorites with you in the first place, Yu-na."
"Aw... why do you keep saying that, Ye-seul..."
"It's true, isn't it? She pretty much treats me like I'm not even there."
"She doesn't, she really doesn't..."
Jin Ye-seul watched Lee Yu-na defend Professor Abel Grossman with something almost like delight. Lee Yu-na, for her part, hadn't picked up on the fact that Jin Ye-seul was teasing her, and was looking pretty frantic about it.
"Anyway, whatever. I'm just gonna take it easy today. Honestly, there's no real point in the three of us still sparring, and I'm kind of tired today."
Jin Ye-seul stretched languidly.
Yu Ji-hyeok nodded as if it were perfect timing.
"That's actually a great idea. Then I'm just gonna rest today too."
"Wha—Ji-hyeok, you too...!"
"Yu-na, isn't this good timing for you, too?"
Jin Ye-seul flicked her tongue over her lips before she asked.
"You borrowed a book at the library with me earlier. You looked like you were dying to read it—why not just read it now?"
"Huh?"
The moment Lee Yu-na looked tempted, Jin Ye-seul pressed her in a softer voice.
"Even if the professor shows up, what's she going to say if we tell her we were just taking a break? And when are you going to read it, anyway—back at the dorm later?"
"..."
Lee Yu-na fell silent.
She glanced at Yu Ji-hyeok for some reason, then quietly nodded.
"Th-then maybe... I will?"
She practically scampered over to her bag, then pulled out a thick book.
She plopped down right there and was instantly absorbed in reading.
Watching her, Yu Ji-hyeok found himself remembering something he'd let slip his mind: when it came to passion for learning, Lee Yu-na was second to no one—not even Han Su-yeong.
She'd entered the academy tied for top spot with Ivan, so her academic drive and the effort behind it really went without saying.
"Ji-hyeok."
Once she saw Lee Yu-na was absorbed in the book, Jin Ye-seul whispered his name.
She shook a sealed flask slightly toward him.
There was blood sloshing inside the flask.
"I did exactly what you told me to."
Jin Ye-seul flashed him a bright smile.
Yu Ji-hyeok had asked Jin Ye-seul to draw a little of Yoon Seul-hye's blood, and to pass along a few specific instructions to her at the same time. Honestly, asking her of all people had been awkward in more ways than one, and he'd agonized over it, but in the end she'd been the only person he could ask.
He took the flask of Yoon Seul-hye's blood from her.
"Thanks, Ye-seul."
"Aw, this is hardly worth a thank-you."
Jin Ye-seul was still smiling brightly.
For some reason, the sight of her sent a chill through Yu Ji-hyeok.
"...Hey, Ye-seul."
"Hm?"
"You didn't, um... do anything weird, did you?"
"Hm? Weird like what?"
Jin Ye-seul tilted her head as if she had no idea what he meant.
That alone told him for certain.
"Ye-seul, you remember I—"
"Ji-hyeok, you don't trust me?"
Jin Ye-seul cut him off before he could finish.
"I remember perfectly clearly that you promised you'd let her live."
She smiled brightly.
"So why on earth would I do anything to her? If something happened to her, you'd become a liar. And I don't want you to be a liar. ...Right?"
Yu Ji-hyeok slowly nodded.
"...Right. Sorry for saying anything. And thanks for handling this for me, even though it must have been a pain."
"Aw, Ji-hyeok, really. Stop—you're embarrassing me."
Jin Ye-seul laughed softly and cleared her throat.
"Anyway, I'm thirsty. You want anything to drink, Ji-hyeok? I'll grab something for you."
"Oh, you're thirsty? Then you sit and rest, Ye-seul. I'll go get them."
"Tsk!"
Jin Ye-seul made a sharp little sucking sound, like she was scolding a child.
The deliberately stern look on her face made Yu Ji-hyeok chuckle.
"Soda or coffee, then. Not Americano or black, though."
"Got it, soda or coffee... Yu-na, what about you?"
Lee Yu-na responded a beat late.
"Mm... orange juice for me."
"Got it. I'll be right back, so you two be good little kids and wait quietly, okay?"
Jin Ye-seul flashed a beaming smile and closed the door without a sound.
Once she was gone, an inexplicable awkwardness settled over Yu Ji-hyeok, and he edged closer to Lee Yu-na.
"Yu-na, what are you reading that's so fun?"
"Synesthetic Responses in Human Perception and the Understanding Thereof."
Lee Yu-na rattled off the title.
Yu Ji-hyeok pulled a perplexed face.
"...That's fun?"
"I've barely started it, but it's interesting."
Lee Yu-na smiled and gave him a quick rundown of the book she was reading.
"My perception ability's been... growing a bit lately, I think. I figured I might get a few hints out of this, so I picked it up. Turns out it's really interesting and fun."
"What's it about?"
"In simple terms... it's about how people with developed perception abilities lose the boundaries between their senses."
She tapped her own eye lightly, then her ear, nose, and mouth in order.
"For example, when we look at an object with our eyes, we just pick up simple things like color, texture, size, shape. But people with sharp sensory perception can apparently feel smell, touch, sound, even taste while they're just looking at a color."
"Oh, really? Then can you do that too, Yu-na?"
"I'm not really wired this way, so..."
Lee Yu-na shook her head with a silent laugh.
She flipped a few more pages, then nodded.
"Oh, there's this too. Some people can apparently see human emotions with their eyes? Some perceive them as flowers, food, vehicles, all sorts of things, but most perceive them as colors."
"Colors?"
"Mm."
Lee Yu-na nodded and tapped the book with her finger.
"There are individual differences, but generally: orange for vitality and elation, yellow for patience and suspicion, green for stability and calm, blue for melancholy and contempt, and red for strong emotions like anger or desire."
"...Hm?"
For a moment, Yu Ji-hyeok felt like he'd just heard something he couldn't dismiss lightly.
Red was... what now?
"They also all agreed that the depth and lightness of the color shifts with the intensity of the emotion... wow, that's so fascinating. Right?"
"Y-yeah... yeah, it is."
A suspicion struck Yu Ji-hyeok, and he nodded uneasily.
Nah, no way. Couldn't be. He kept nodding for no real reason, telling himself that.
Bzzzt.
"Oh."
Yu Ji-hyeok immediately opened his phone.
There was only one person who'd be texting him at this particular time.
Hellooo!
To my beloved customer (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و ♡
The items you requested are finally ready!
(´ ワ `)
"Since you also had a special request, I'll come bring them to you right away~
Take care of yourself!
٩(๑>∀<๑)۶ buh-bye!
p.s) You're going to want to be excited! o ('▽')/☆ﾟ'
"..."
A text packed with emoticons that he could no longer make heads or tails of.
It was from Evangelline Loengreen.
It seemed the artifacts he'd commissioned were all ready.
Jin Ye-seul walked toward the vending machine looking no different than usual.
"..."
In the middle of it, she suddenly drew a blood-stained metal needle from inside her clothes.
She stared at it intently for a moment, then snapped the needle in two without a word and muttered:
"Not yet."
Not yet.
After adding that, she rolled the broken shards of the needle around in her palm.
When it had been reduced to a small metal ball, she flicked it away with her finger and hummed a tune.
It was the melody of a song that could be called Yoon Seul-hye's signature track—the song she'd hummed as she drew her blood.
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