The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

Click, click.

The sound of heeled shoes crossing the lecture hall floor rang out low and clear.

"So, to put it again — when mana circulates and activates inside the body, there are cases where the change becomes pronounced enough to be visible to the naked eye. And even when the change isn't outright obvious, someone with a sharp enough eye can often pick up on it… Of course, some creatures show no change at all, so you can't put too much faith in this."

Professor Abel Grossman carried on with the lesson in her usual languid tone and expression.

She never bothered to discipline students who slept or messed around in her class, so on any given day only about half of them actually listened. Yet today, for whatever reason, not a single student was asleep or off in their own world.

That didn't mean they were paying attention either.

Most of them looked thoroughly distracted, glancing at the clock over and over or watching her face for cues.

"For example… right, in the case of the Blue Frost Troll, when its mana flows smoothly and its power surges, sharp icicle-like frost forms around its brow and philtrum. On the other hand, with trolls that live in swamps, the moss on their backs changes color in such tiny gradations that it's difficult to even notice. Furthermore…."

In the middle of her lecture, she suddenly let out a long sigh.

Saying that, Abel Grossman gathered up her lecture materials with a few taps and addressed the startled students.

"There's that, um… that idol performance today, and plenty of other things to see, isn't there? I don't really see the point in holding morning classes on a day like this either… and above all, there's no point in keeping you all here when none of you are listening anyway."

With that, she waved her hand as if to say go on, get out of here.

Most of the students in the lecture hall scrambled up from their seats in a frenzy.

"Thank you, Professor!"

"I love you!"

Abel Grossman gave a slight smile and nodded leisurely, as if telling them to hurry up and leave.

While the students were stampeding out, she gestured to me to come closer, and I walked over to her.

"Yes, Professor? What is it?"

"…Hm. Have you been busy?"

Abel Grossman opened her mouth with a rare look of hesitation.

I shook my head and said I was fine. She nodded a few times and asked again.

"Then who are you planning to go around with? Yu-na and Ye-seul?"

"I'm going with them, sure, but I have other friends too."

She slowly nodded her head.

"Ah. Right. Among your friends… hm. There's the kids you were grouped with — Ivan Hunt and Han Su-yeong, Kim Yu-hyun and Lee Hyun-seong — and there's that boy, Choi Hyun-woo. Looks like I asked something unnecessary."

That was when I caught on to why she'd asked me this.

This recital and festival was technically a one-day event, but the very next day had been declared a temporary holiday, which meant it was effectively a two-day affair. And since it was meant to take the place of the Memorial Festival, the Academy had unusually opened its grounds to outsiders, and most students had reportedly invited their families or friends.

"…."

…And in this world, I didn't have a single family member I could call.

Knowing that, Abel Grossman had apparently been worrying about me in her own way.

"Yeah, I'm going to spend the day with my friends. We're meeting up right now, actually."

Hearing my reply, she nodded and told me to enjoy myself before sending me off. After saying goodbye to her, I deliberately walked at a leisurely pace on the way out.

Ivan was guaranteed to be in for a rough time thanks to Belluna.

As for Jin Ye-seul, since she'd called Jin Ye-jeong over as I'd asked, she'd be stuck with her sister for a while before things got busy. Twisted as she could be, deep down she did love her sister, and she'd enjoy herself in her own way.

When I'd quietly asked Lee Ye-eun, she'd said she planned to walk around with Kang Yeon-kyung this time and take a bit of a break. Maybe she'd grown fond of the fact that no one recognized her, because she'd added that she'd be changing her appearance again to enjoy the festival.

As for Kath Ryle, he'd be with Alice.

Though with the workload, he probably wouldn't get to actually relax or have fun.

Ahn Do-hun, well… I figured he'd been roped in by Ahn Ju-hyeok and was probably stuck spending the day with him half against his will.

And as for Han Su-yeong and Choi Hyun-woo….

"…."

The moment those two crossed my mind, I could feel my expression turn serious without meaning to.

The events of a few days ago came back to me, too.

Choi Hyun-woo, who'd come to find me that day and quietly started to talk.

Han Su-yeong, looking dispirited and clearly weighed down by something to anyone who saw her.

And Nam Hyun-hwa, who'd shown up out of nowhere as if she'd anticipated all of it, leaving me with words heavy with meaning.

I'd dimly understood for a while now that my existence and the events I'd caused had had a significant impact on their relationships. But paradoxically, the trouble between those three was something I couldn't intervene in — couldn't be allowed to intervene in.

All I could do was hope that the relationship between those three, which had veered off course from the original story long ago, would tie itself off properly.

They'd figure it out.

Muttering that under my breath, I picked up my pace.

The only thing I could do was trust them.

When I'd told him a few days ago that the day will come when everyone leans on you, those weren't words I'd thrown out on a whim. He really was someone our group couldn't do without — a pillar — and whether they realized it or not, everyone leaned on him psychologically.

And that everyone included me.

Above all, I had no doubt that Choi Hyun-woo would overcome this too, and that Han Su-yeong would use the same situation as a chance to grow even more.

Whatever anyone else might say, those two were the protagonists of the original work — the protagonists of this world, Clouds on the Horizon.

"Hoo."

The thought lightened my chest a little.

There was still some time until our meet-up, and I was idly turning over how to kill it when I spotted someone familiar.

"Hey? Hey, Lee Yu-na!"

It was Lee Yu-na.

Spotting me, she gave a small wave.

"The sister and the kids aren't coming?"

I asked as I walked up to her, and she nodded.

"Yeah. Sister's really busy… and bringing all the kids along would just be too much, you know."

Lee Yu-na gave a wry smile that said what can you do.

I nodded once more to show I understood, then grinned.

"Then I guess you're a loner like me?"

"Excuse me? Wh-what're you talking about? Who's a loner! For your information, I'm with you…!"

Lee Yu-na flared up to snap at me, then suddenly stumbled over her own words and trailed off.

As if trying to shake herself back to her senses, she gave her head a small shake — and for a second she looked like a puppy caught in the rain shaking itself dry.

"Yeah, fine, I'm a loner. So what?"

Lee Yu-na said it in a flat voice.

"Well, since two loners ran into each other, want to hang out, loner to loner? We've still got time before everyone meets up."

"Sure, why not. Loners can stick together."

And so the two of us started slowly walking down the row of food stalls.

The vendors were in the middle of getting set up for the festival, so a bustling, noisy energy buzzed all around us.

In the middle of it, Lee Yu-na asked, her face perfectly blank:

"Ji-hyeok."

"Yeah."

She paused to catch her breath.

"You think it'll be today?"

"Could blow up tomorrow, I guess."

I matched her blank expression with my answer.

"But I'm pretty sure it's today."

"…If you say so, then it is."

Rare for her, she muttered that with firm conviction in her voice.

A moment later, she asked again, this time with a slight tremor.

"Then is that part true too? You know, that…."

"Hm?"

"That I have to do something really important this time."

I nodded.

Now that everyone in our group had weapons forged from my scales, you could say we'd obtained the means to fight Milited — but it really was just the means.

The person whose ability was best suited to facing Milited was, without a doubt, Lee Yu-na, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the difficulty of the Milited fight depended on how well she performed.

I'd stressed that point over and over when everyone, her included, had gathered together.

When everyone else had nodded and accepted it, only Lee Yu-na herself had looked like she couldn't believe it.

But now….

"Yeah…."

She just nodded quietly in acceptance.

It seemed she had finally taken it in.

"Don't put too much weight on your shoulders, though. Look at you, you're so tense you're going to give yourself a cramp."

I poked her shoulder, and Lee Yu-na looked up at me with a face that was somehow both hardened and not.

I nodded at her, telling her it was fine.

"It'll be okay."

"Hm?"

"Everything'll work out."

"…."

She stared at me blankly with her mouth slightly open, then muttered in a sulky voice.

"…You're the one who put all the pressure on me, and now you're saying that?"

"Even if you slip up, I'll take responsibility."

"…."

Lee Yu-na pursed her lips with a sullen look that said she wasn't happy with that.

She whispered softly:

"There won't be a need."

"What?"

"I'm not going to slip up."

So you won't have to take responsibility or step in for me, either.

She said it with almost excessive firmness, then abruptly strode over to a nearby stall.

"Sir, two iced coffees, please!"

"Oh, sorry, miss. We're still setting up, try somewhere else."

"…."

Lee Yu-na pressed her lips together, and her face slowly turned red.

I didn't say a word.

She only managed to buy two slushies after going two stalls down.

"Here."

She held out a blue slushie to me.

I thanked her, took it gratefully, and immediately stuck the straw in my mouth.

An aggressively artificial lemon-soda flavor flooded my mouth, and I clicked my tongue. She slurped her red slushie and asked:

"Do you not like slushies?"

"No, no. I love ice cream, actually."

"Really? I haven't really seen you eat ice cream before, considering."

I thought about it for a moment, then figured what the hell.

"Old habit. You know those big tub ice creams? I used to carry one of those around and scoop it straight out of the container."

Her face made it clear she hadn't seen that one coming.

The expression was funny enough that I burst out laughing, and then for some reason she giggled along with me.

"Your tongue's bright blue!"

"That's from this."

I stuck my tongue out at her like a kid teasing.

She stuck hers out too, just a little. Her tongue had turned an alarming shade of red.

"Then mine must be all bright re—?!"

She cut herself off mid-sentence, and her tongue slowly slid back into her mouth.

Without a word, she grabbed the spoon-straw stuck in her slushie and gave it a few hard pokes.

"…We'll be late for the meet-up. Let's go."

A moment later she muttered that and quickly took the lead.

I didn't bother pointing out that we still had close to thirty minutes; I just quietly fell into step behind her.

"Yeon-kyung, come on, try it too."

"I'll pass, clan head. Unlike some people, I don't really like mages. I don't like the stuff they make, either."

Beside Lee Ye-eun, who had once again downed the potion to take on her adult form — apparently quite taken with it — Kang Yeon-kyung answered in a flat, indifferent voice. Lee Ye-eun let out a small hmm… of deliberation.

"This is an order from your clan head. Kang Yeon-kyung of the World Tree clan, turn into an adult form like mine right this instant."

"Oh wow… look at you posturing in a place like this."

At her answer, Lee Ye-eun burst into a peal of laughter.

Then, lightly sweeping her hair back, she said:

"This really is going to be trouble, though. I'm worried it'll become a habit. I never realized having nobody recognize you could feel this easy and nice."

"You're still pulling people's eyes either way, aren't you?"

Kang Yeon-kyung looked around with the same indifferent expression as before.

That wasn't wrong — adult-form Lee Ye-eun was so stunningly beautiful that even Kang Yeon-kyung had felt her heart catch for a second when she first saw her… and she had this indescribable pull that drew people's gaze.

Maybe it's because of the World Tree's aura.

Kang Yeon-kyung just brushed the thought aside.

She had so little of that power herself that calling her a member of the World Tree clan was almost embarrassing — honestly, she was no different from an ordinary person.

So even to her, the World Tree's power was practically an unknown.

"At least it's not the kind of attention that comes with being seen as the head of the World Tree."

Lee Ye-eun said it and started humming a small hmm, hmm to herself.

Wow, she really is in a good mood….

Kang Yeon-kyung nodded along at the rare sight of her friend like this.

The only times Lee Ye-eun showed this side of herself were before eating one of her favorite desserts, or when all her obligations were done and she had time to lazily spend with nothing on her mind, or when she'd talked with Yu Ji-hyeok on the phone, or when she'd met Yu Ji-hyeok in person.

"How are the preparations?"

"Going smoothly. To be precise, Mr. Woo-seok did all of it."

Lee Ye-eun's question had come out of nowhere, but Kang Yeon-kyung answered without missing a beat as if it were nothing.

"It was hard to move a lot of our own people all at once… so as a stopgap, he brought in people from under him. As you know, there are places that need more people too, so we couldn't pull from those either."

"Right… so how many?"

"About thirty, he said. Honestly, that's about the best we could do."

Lee Ye-eun nodded easily.

"Thirty… yeah. That should be enough. Like you said, we couldn't pull any more, and besides, it's not just us… hm?"

Mid-sentence, Lee Ye-eun came to a sudden stop.

Wondering what was up, Kang Yeon-kyung followed her gaze and let out a small ah.

"Isn't that the young master and Yu-na?"

Officially listed as Yu Ji-hyeok's sole attendant and aide, Lee Yu-na was someone Kang Yeon-kyung knew on a passing basis.

After all, Kang Yeon-kyung herself was in much the same position — Lee Ye-eun's aide, friend, and attendant all rolled into one.

"Wow, those two are really close, huh."

Watching them stick their tongues out at each other while eating slushies and share bites between them, Kang Yeon-kyung muttered without thinking. Then, suddenly aware of what she'd just said, she clamped her mouth shut and slid only her eyes over to check Lee Ye-eun's face.

"…."

Lee Ye-eun said nothing.

She'd only — just a little, the tiniest bit — knit her brows together.

Oh, no….

Kang Yeon-kyung felt her stomach tighten as genuine tension set in.

That expression was the one Lee Ye-eun wore when she was truly upset.

And seeing it on her in adult form, the pressure was on another level entirely.

"…Yeon-kyung."

"Y-yes…?"

Kang Yeon-kyung found herself slipping into formal speech without meaning to.

"Let's get slushies too."

The voice was so frigid she had no choice but to nod.

Choi Hyun-woo silently turned a small stone fragment over in his hand.

It was the item Yoon Seul-hye had given him.

"…."

She was supposed to feed it to Yu Ji-hyeok, or failing that, somehow get it onto his person. From what he'd heard, it was an order from Choi Jun-hyeong, and she'd added, trembling, that if she failed, he'd inflict pain on her beyond anything she could imagine.

That role now fell to him.

And it was also what Yu Ji-hyeok had wanted.

But….

Without the slightest change in expression, Choi Hyun-woo clenched the stone fragment hard in his fist.

It was the kind of grip that looked like it would crush whatever was in it, yet the thing in his palm didn't take so much as a scratch.

In the end, he carefully tucked it into his pocket and made to stand up.

There was still half an hour until the meet-up, but he figured he'd head over and wait.

That was when it happened.

"Um… are you, by any chance, Hyun-woo oppa…?"

At the voice that reached his ears, Choi Hyun-woo slowly lifted his head.

A girl he hadn't seen in a very long time was standing right in front of him.

"Hye-rin? What are you doing here?"

It was Lee Hye-rin, Lee Myung-jun's younger sister.

She was so completely unexpected that Choi Hyun-woo, rarely caught off guard, was visibly thrown.

But Lee Hye-rin just beamed up at him as if delighted.

"Oh, it really is you, oppa."

She let out a soft giggle and toyed with a strand of her hair as if making excuses.

"My, um, my brother said he had work nearby, so I came to hang out with Yuzuki…."

When her eyes met Choi Hyun-woo's, she startled and quickly looked away, fumbling her words.

"I, um, well…."

She was holding a grease-stained paper bag in one hand.

After flustering for a moment, she pressed her lips together as if making up her mind and reached into the bag.

"W-would you like some bungeoppang?"

The fish-shaped pastry in her small hand was trembling ever so slightly.

Choi Hyun-woo looked back and forth between the bungeoppang and her for a moment, then gently smiled.

"Don't mind if I do."

…Strangely, the weight that had been sitting on his chest felt a little lighter.

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