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chapter 470
The fairy’s aura was piercing through my mental barrier and interfering with my mind…
‘… Come to think of it, my mental barrier gets breached surprisingly often, but let’s put that aside.’
Still, it wasn’t having a negative effect on me.
Or… was it?
Honestly, it’s a little ambiguous.
To cut to the chase—the fairies were trying to make my mental age younger.
‘The amount of fairy aura entering my body is small, so the effect is really slow, though.’
Visiting here regularly to receive this might not be a bad idea.
With that thought, I pushed the fairies away.
I couldn’t just stay like this forever.
“I should get going now, so can you do it next time?”
“When are you coming back?”
“You have to come back!”
After seeing the fairies pleading with me to return, I looked toward the witch.
She nodded as if to say it was fine.
“As I told you before, it’s okay to drop by even if I’m not home. Just let me know in advance.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
With the Bell Witch’s permission, I left her house.
“… I’ll never get used to this.”
The moment I stepped out, all the presences I had felt inside—the witch’s, and the fairies who had been massaging me—vanished completely.
That was because the Bell Witch’s house existed in a separate dimension, like a dungeon.
Unless I could somehow observe the inside of a dungeon from the outside—which I couldn’t—it was impossible to peer through.
‘Not that I plan on forcing my way to look inside, anyway.’
I got into the elevator.
Just as I was about to press the button for my floor—
Bzzz…
My smartphone vibrated in my pocket.
Someone was calling me.
I pressed the button for my floor anyway, then pulled out my phone to check the caller.
“… Elena?”
What could this be about?
I picked up the call.
“Hello?”
[Gunwoo? Have you had dinner yet?]
“Not yet. Why?”
[Then would you like to come eat at our place? We grilled some meat, but we made way too much.]
And behind Elena’s voice, I heard—
[Hey, Elena! This is way too much for just a couple of people! Even if we eat it for breakfast and dinner tomorrow, it’s still too much! Invite more people!]
That was Elliot, shouting at Elena.
…Just how much meat did they grill?
[You heard him, right?]
“Uh…”
At least I could tell they weren’t using “meat” as an excuse to lure me over—
They had genuinely cooked way too much.
Most likely they’d call the others too, like Ha-eun.
‘But seriously, what were they thinking, grilling that much meat?’
I pressed the button for the ground floor.
Anyway, my mom was at Shinsegyeo, and Sophia and Yeon Mirae were eating dinner at the Iron-Blood Guild.
“… Huh?”
When I arrived at Elena and Elliot’s place, I was greeted by a table completely covered in meat.
All of it already grilled.
“… That’s a lot of meat.”
“Right? It’s way too much, isn’t it?”
Elena, who opened the door, said that in agreement.
Meanwhile, Elliot was…
‘Washing dishes?’
He was scrubbing the grill he had used for the meat.
I asked Elena,
“What on earth was Elliot thinking, grilling this much?”
I wasn’t sure yet whether Elena or Elliot was at fault, but I had already decided Elliot was the culprit.
Not only was it far more likely that Elliot had caused the problem—if one of them had messed up, it was almost always Elliot—but the fact that he was voluntarily washing dishes was the biggest giveaway.
Clearly, he was trying to atone for his mistake.
“Haha… He said in class today he learned about ways to train magic.”
“Magic training?”
“Yes. That if you actively use magic in daily life, you get more accustomed to it. So he decided to try cooking meat with magic… and bought all that.”
If he had just bought it, fine. But—
“He went ahead and grilled it all, so now we can’t even store it in the fridge.”
“… Yeah, I can see that.”
I scanned the table.
It wasn’t just cuts meant for grilling; there were stew and soup cuts too.
It looked like Elliot had just bought every kind of meat from the supermarket display.
Ding-dong~.
“Oh, that must be the others. Excuse me for a second.”
Elena opened the front door.
“We’re here! You really are grilling meat, huh? The smell is everywhere.”
“Yeah, should we open a window for ventilation?”
“Not yet. Just keep the smell from spreading to the bedrooms. Open up after we finish and start cleaning.”
Ha-eun said that as she came inside.
Then she froze.
She hadn’t expected this much meat.
“… We have to eat all that?”
“Yes…”
“I can’t even imagine finishing it… You didn’t just invite me and Gunwoo, right?”
“Of course, I invited others too. But most either already ate or are eating with their families, so they can’t come.”
So the only ones who said yes were Kim Eun-yeon, Grandma Bok-ja, and Min Yerin.
“Min Yerin? She’s coming too?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No, just… She’s an idol. Wouldn’t her agency manage her meals and weight?”
Elena shook her head.
“If that were the case, she would’ve checked with her manager. But she decided right away when we spoke and asked me for the address, so I don’t think so.”
That made sense.
Since her “agency” was basically the Iron-Blood Guild, and they didn’t force things like that on guild members, Min Yerin probably wasn’t under strict management.
“Anyway, the meat will get cold. Should we start eating while we wait?”
Ha-eun was right.
So the three of us sat down and started eating before it got cold, and soon Elliot joined us after finishing the dishes.
Not long after, Kim Eun-yeon, Grandma Bok-ja, and Min Yerin arrived and joined the meal.
There were also some unexpected additions—
“Eat lots, Juyoung.”
“Okay, you too, Grandma.”
“… Juyoung, could you pass the ssamjang?”
“Ah, yes, senior!”
The association staff members assigned to Kim Eun-yeon and Grandma Bok-ja had tagged along too.
Apparently, they had been with them in the school’s alchemy lab and just came together.
Since Elena figured there was no way we could finish the meat otherwise, she invited them to sit and eat too.
With even the two staff members pitching in, it looked like we might just manage to finish it all.
“I’m stuffed…”
“Me too…”
“……”
Well… some people were clearly at their limit.
For the record, I was still fine.
Although—
‘Ah, I really want some soju.’
All this meat was making me crave alcohol.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.
The staff members muttered to each other:
“Senior, should I go buy some soju?”
“No way. We’re technically on duty. And except for us and your great-aunt, everyone here is underage.”
“… True.”
… Even the adults who could openly drink were restraining themselves, so of course I couldn’t.
The next day.
On my way to school, I saw several large trucks heading toward the gymnasium.
It wasn’t strange to see trucks go to the auditorium.
Since our school’s auditorium also doubled as a gym, one side stored plenty of sports equipment.
Some of that equipment was old, so replacing it wasn’t surprising.
But…
“Do you really need that many trucks?”
There were about ten of them heading in.
‘Is something going on today?’
It didn’t look like they were here to swap out old equipment.
So why were they here?
Annual falling technique training?
No, that was usually two months after the semester began.
The virtual reality test introduced last year?
That normally happened after the written exam.
‘I don’t get it…’
Since they were unloading at the gym, I figured I’d find out by the time gym class rolled around.
I dropped the thought and went toward my classroom, 2nd Year, Class 1.
On the way, I saw Ryu Amin walking toward the 1st Year, Class 1 classroom.
I didn’t bother stopping her.
She probably went there out of habit, only to remember she was in 2nd Year now. She’d be back soon.
When I opened our classroom door, I greeted the person already inside.
“Good morning.”
“Uuugh…”
“What the—why is there a zombie here?”
Not an actual zombie.
It was Jin Cheonha, groaning like the walking dead.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“… I was drawing talismans all night. I didn’t sleep.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
For him, talismans were his medium for using Taoist arts.
He could use them without talismans, but apparently drawing them beforehand made the spells faster and stronger.
…If he just used normal magic instead of this weird Taoist approach, it would be a lot quicker.
‘What on earth did Director Shin Haji see in his Taoist arts to call them innovative…?’
While I thought that, Jin Cheonha explained himself.
“I had a premonition that I’ll be using a lot of talismans today.”
“A premonition?”
“Yes.”
The instincts of an awakened one were usually reliable.
But for someone at Jin Cheonha’s level…
‘Not completely untrustworthy, but not exactly dependable either.’
Still, today I figured I could believe him.
After all, I’d seen those trucks heading to the gym earlier.
‘No idea what will happen that requires him to burn through talismans, though.’
I was sitting down when—
Clatter.
“… Hi, both of you.”
Ryu Amin entered, cheeks red.
Looked like she’d gone to the 1st Year class and run into some of the freshmen.
Not long after—
Clatter.
“… Hello, everyone…”
Kang Garam came in, also red-faced.
She too must’ve gone to the 1st Year classroom by mistake.
