The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

The text message from Lee Ye-Eun was like this.

It was the content that Shin Woo-Seok was going to visit me with the things I had asked for.

After class, I headed straight to where Shin Woo-Seok was waiting.

When I said that a person from the clan had come to visit me, Han Soo-Young said that she understood and meekly let me go.

In the case of Jin Ye-Seul, Evangeline, who she clearly harbored hostility towards, visited her, saying that she had something to consult, and Choi Hyun-Woo headed to the sparring grounds, saying that he would train with Ahn Do-Hoon as always.

As I opened the door and entered, Shin Woo-Seok, who was standing upright as always, bowed politely to me.

“These are the things you asked for, Young Master.”

Shin Woo-Seok was holding a trunk as huge as the one he had brought last time.

He even had an icebox in his other hand.

“I might have made a foolish mistake, so please check it out even if it’s annoying.”

“It’s annoying. I never really thought, even in my dreams, that it would be ready this fast.”

As I approached, he began to explain one by one, pointing his hand to the inside of the trunk and the icebox.

The inside of the trunk and icebox contained exactly what I had asked for, without a single thing missing.

“I thought it would take at least a month, but….”

When I muttered like that, he replied as if it were natural.

“Whose order is it, how dare I delay so much?”

I said to such him with all my heart.

”Thank you. You did a great job.”

”I’m flattered, Young Master.”

Shin Woo-Seok, who replied like that, hesitated for a moment and then said to me.

“Um, Young Master. If it’s not rude, may I ask you a favor?”

“A favor?”

”Yes.”

“Yes, tell me.”

“If my guess is correct, I think these will be processed into something or used as materials, but is my guess correct?”

”Well… you can see it that way?”

“Then would it be all right if I assisted by your side for a while?”

Shin Woo-Seok looked at me, saying so.

”I have some knowledge of magic, as well as alchemy. I’ve also put my feet into the production of artifacts, though only a little. I’m sure it’ll help, Young Master.”

“Umm….”

Certainly, Shin Woo-Seok was a man who could be said to be the closest aide of that extremely strict Lee Ye-Eun, who she kept by her side.

Of course, he couldn’t have been incompetent, and if you listen to what he said in a passing way, he certainly had quite excellent skills as a wizard and an alchemist.

The materials I requested were materials that clearly needed special processing, so it was only natural for him to think this way.

However, if I had to argue, what I needed now was not a wizard, an alchemist, or an artifact maker.

“Shin Woo-Seok-ssi, excuse me, but do you know how to cook?”

“Are you talking about cooking?”

”Yes.”

Shin Woo-Seok answered the random and weird question without being too flustered.

“For now, I’ve got a license, but… I can’t say with confidence that I’m that good.”

“That’s enough.”

* * *

Lee Yu-Na was currently hospitalized in a healing room inside the academy.

In this world, Mana Marks was an incurable disease that was known to have no specific cure method and that one had to endure on their own.

Since there was no point in going to the hospital, I had been told by Professor Grossman that Lee Yu-Na was just recovering her physical strength in the healing room.

I headed to the healing room where Lee Yu-Na was hospitalized with Shin Woo-Seok.

At least she was assigned a single room, perhaps because of Professor Grossman’s consideration.

Meanwhile, we could see Professor Abel Grossman standing in front of Lee Yu-Na’s ward as if guarding it, and talking on the phone.

“… yes, Yong-Hoon. There has always been a lot of trouble. I’ve said many times, but your safety is the top priority, so don’t ever act rashly.”

Perhaps spotting us, she loosened her posture and muttered quietly.

”Um. Yes. I’ll call you later. I always say, but be careful, and be careful again. I’m always sorry and thankful to you.”

While I was thinking about who this Yong-Hoon person she was talking on the phone with was, a memory flashed by.

Yoon Yong-Hoon.

I met him before, a disciple of Professor Grossman and the upperclassman who was my senior brother.

The name of the upperclassman who had told me he was leaving for Urea was Yoon Yong-Hoon.

”What’s the matter?”

”Hello, professor.”

I greeted her and said.

“Yu-Na, she’s inside, right? I came here to visit her.”

”Visit?”

”Yes. and….”

I approached her as if I had something to say.

Professor Grossman pushed her head toward me without any particular caution.

“… I know how to cure Yu-Na’s condition.”

“… what?”

Professor Grossman stared at me with a startled look.

After staring at me like that for a long time, she quietly opened her mouth.

“Are you joking now?”

”No way.”

“Then you really know how to cure Yu-Na’s condition, that is, Mana Marks? The disease known as an incurable disease?”

”Yes.”

“…….”

She stared at me silently.

Her eyes, which had always hung down powerlessly, as if unmotivated, contained a light that could not be expressed now.

I understand for now.”

She said so and knocked on the door.

“Yu-Na, can I come in? Ji-Hyuk has come to visit you.”

Then there was the sound of something rustling inside.

After a while, the permission to come in was given, and at that, we opened the door and went inside.

”Hello.”

“Yes, hello.”

Lee Yu-Na, who was lying on the bed, half raised herself and waved at me.

Her complexion was paler than I had thought.

“Uh, that person there….”

“My acquaintance. That, he is a trustworthy person who assists the Clan Head by the side the most.”

Shin Woo-Seok bowed slightly to Lee Yu-Na.

”I look forward to working with you, Young Master’s close friend. My name is Shin Woo-Seok.”

“Ah, yes. My name is Lee Yu-Na....”

Lee Yu-Na bowed to him in an awkward posture.

Then she quietly asked me again, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed.

“… young master?”

”Yes?”

“No, that, well. That… I didn’t think much of it, but Ji-Hyuk, you were really a young master.”

“What are you talking about again all of a sudden?”

I asked her, bursting out laughing.

“Rather, how’s your body? Are you okay?”

“Uh, well.”

Lee Yu-Na muttered quietly and raised her right arm.

Then she rolled up the sleeves of her baggy patient gown and showed me the arm, which was pale to the point of being white and thin.

Her arm was filled with tattoo-like geometric patterns that occurred due to Mana Marks.

“Now I have to worry about what to do for a living.”

“Yu-Na.”

”I’m sorry, professor.”

Lee Yu-Na muttered so and smiled helplessly at Grossman.

“Even if I raise my mana a little, mana marks appear like this. The pain that seems like it’s tearing the blood vessels doesn’t go away at all either.”

“Yu-Na, I don’t know if this will be any consolation, but it took me three years to be barely able to calm it down. You have much more potential than me....”

”It means it takes at least three years.”

She murmured quietly.

“Unlike with the other kids, if I can’t use mana, I’m just a normal person. Plus, 3 years....”

I can’t go to the academy anymore.

Lee Yu-Na lowered her raised arm.

Professor Grossman looked at her as if it were regrettable and said.

“Yu-Na, as I said before, if you want….”

”That’s too much trouble for the professor. I’m really fine.”

Lee Yu-Na looked at her with a smile.

It was not difficult for me to be able to notice that Lee Yu-Na’s expression was rigid.

“I just have to work hard after three years. It’s not like heroes and hunters only have to come out of the academy.”

Lee Yu-Na, who had said that much, quietly shut her mouth.

Then she muttered in a low voice.

“… this is an incurable disease, right?”

”That’s what I know.”

Professor Grossman glanced at me, saying so.

Thinking it was time, I fixed my posture, looked at her, and said.

“Hey, Yu-Na.”

”Uh, ah. Yes. Ji-Hyuk. I’m sorry, you came all the way here to visit me, but I subdued the atmosphere for no reason.”

Looking at her with a faint smile, I said.

“Your disease, I can fix it.”

“… uh?”

Her eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it.

“So, will you trust me just once?”

Lee Yu-Na looked at me blankly at my words.

And after a while, she asked me in a trembling voice.

”Really…?”

“Would I lie to you about something like this?”

”No, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I mean, this is an incurable disease....”

“So trying wouldn’t hurt, right?”

After saying so, I stared at Lee Yu-Na.

Her thin body seemed to have lost more weight in the meantime.

Her lips were dry and cracked roughly.

For some reason, every time I see her, I think of my sister, Ji-Na, that child.

Maybe it was because their names were similar and they resembled each other in many ways.

Though, of course, my sister was better in everything from personality to appearance and height.

”That’s what I mean. Yu-Na, will you trust me just one more time?”

Perhaps it was because she remembered that child that I let out a small smile as if to reassure her.

Fortunately, my actions to reassure her seemed to have had quite an effect on her.

Lee Yu-Na, who was staring blankly at me, nodded silently.

“… yes.”

”Good.”

I clapped.

Then, Shin Woo-Seok opened the trunk and icebox, and began taking out the things he had brought separately.

Starting with simple cooking utensils, it was things like plates, dressings, seasonings, and tableware.

Grossman and Lee Yu-Na gave a look of what the hell was going on, looking at Shin Woo-Seok, who suddenly took out things as if he were setting up housekeeping

I smiled at such Lee Yu-Na and said.

”Too skinny. You’re really going to collapse.”

“Oh, not to that extent, though….”

“It’s a good chance. You can gain weight and cure the disease.”

”Yes?”

I quietly got up from my chair and pointed with a hand gesture to the trunk and icebox filled with things.

“You have to eat all of that to cure your disease.”

Hearing those words, Lee Yu-Na’s expression turned pale in a different sense.

I looked at Shin Woo-Seok, telling her that I would go out for a while and make a call.

“You must be very embarrassed, but I look forward to your kind cooperation. Shin Woo-Seok-ssi.”

”Yes. Don’t worry, Young Master. I have experience cooking and eating monster parts during my Hunter days, so I will use that experience to make it plausible.”

He said so in a trustworthy voice as usual.

Meanwhile, Professor Grossman muttered quietly to me as I was about to walk out the door.

”Let’s talk after everything is over.”

Without saying a word, I nodded and walked out.

Then I carefully closed the door and answered the phone that had been ringing for a while.

“I’m sorry, it was a situation where I couldn’t receive it right away.”

― Yes, no. I know well that the time is ambiguous right now.

The owner of the call was Lee Ye-Eun.

I walked a short distance from the door and fixed the phone.

”But what’s the matter, all of a sudden?”

— … are we on the phone only when there’s something special going on?

She muttered, as if a bit upset.

I looked around, laughing as if embarrassed.

”It’s not like that, Clan Head.”

No.

Muttering like that, I immediately changed my words.

”Sister.”

― Hmm... cunning.

”What?”

― Look at you not calling me sister until the end. It isn’t a thing you’ve done once or twice to make people anxious while gently calling them sister?

”I haven’t been in a relationship many times, though.”

― Really? I don’t think so? Umm, well... it doesn’t matter.

Because the last one is important.

Muttering so, she said.

― Rather, today is the start. I’m calling to tell you this.

“… it’s very fast? Are the preparations properly done?”

― I know. I was worried about that too, but surprisingly, other people seemed to think it was pretty important. I heard that some people said that they would come in person.

“Hmm….”

― We are also done with the preparations. Soon, everyone will start the work at once.

It seemed that Lee Myung-Joon, Evangeline, and Lee Ye-Eun had moved quite breathlessly to wipe out the bases of Big Watch that Jin Ye-Seul found out a few days ago.

Even so, I never expected that the preparations would already be finished like this... as I was thinking like that, a question came to my mind.

“Then why did you send Shin Woo-Seok-ssi to me….”

― Because there is the most dangerous guy there.

Lee Ye-Eun said so.

― For a while, he’ll serve you by your side, Ji-Hyuk. I ordered him to stick by your side for a while, just in case.

“…….”

I thought it was somewhat strange that he was trying to stick by my side, which was unlike him.

As I was nodding, Lee Ye-Eun muttered quietly.

― There was also something a little unexpected. If you think about it, it was natural, though.

“Unexpected?”

― Yes. Who would put a spoon on the table that I had worked so hard to make without any business ethics?

As if it were no big deal, Lee Ye-Eun muttered like that.

― You must have understood me roughly because you are a person who understands my intentions well. It’ll be fine if you trust me and leave it to me.

”Ah… yes.”

I nodded.

At her words where there was something quite unsettling, I heard Svengali sigh.

― I’m not one to stand still even after someone takes something that belongs to me away.

[It’s sudden, but do you know phytoncide?]

Hearing Lee Ye-Eun’s words, Svengali muttered like that.

[The smell of the forest you smell when you take a forest bath is phytoncide. But what this is, simply put, is an insecticide. Trees emit it and kill the microbes that spread around. Other trees and plants, of course. In a word, it means that plants spray pesticides to monopolize the surrounding nutrients and territory.]

Svengali, who had said that, added a word as if he had given up now.

[Just know. There is no harm in knowing this piece of knowledge.]

“…….”

I knew well that there was some kind of strange air current flowing.

Jin Ye-Seul did so in class earlier, and recently Han-Soo-Young did so as well.

Plus, when I recalled the fact that Jin Ye-Seul and Lee Ye-Eun had a subtle war of nerves when we had the meeting, I naturally opened my mouth to change the topic.

“Oh, come to think of it, I received the things you sent me well.”

― Right, I forgot to ask that. Did we miss anything?

”No way. It was perfect.”

― Hmm, I’m glad that’s the case.

Lee Ye-Eun said in a voice that seemed to brag to the fullest extent.

― There’s no one to trust but Sister, right?

”Yes, that’s right. Thank you so much, Sister.”

— … cough.

Saying so, I asked her what I suddenly wondered.

“By the way, Sister, how much did it cost to get all of them?”

— Yes? Why all of a sudden?

“Because, since it’s an expense that came out because of me, of course, I have to cover it.”

— You don’t have to, though. I didn’t touch the public money because I deducted it from the amount I could afford moderately. It’s not going to be a problem, so you really don’t have to worry about it.

”It’s because my heart is not at ease. Sister, since it’s a request, can you please let me know?”

― Euheuheum….

Lee Ye-Eun cleared her throat heavily, as if she were trying to hold back something.

Meanwhile, I heard the sound of tongue clicking.

It was Svengali.

[Now you do not have any pride.]

As I was about to raise my energy to cover his mouth, I had no choice but to stop what I was doing at Lee Ye-Eun’s words that I heard at the moment.

― Wait a minute, let me see… oh, here it is. Yes… A total of 18.2 billion and 75 million won.

“… how much?”

For a moment, I felt as if my brain had stopped moving.

Lee Ye-Eun told such me once again.

― 18.2 billion 75 million won.

Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

I felt my pores shrink and my groin began to ache.

I asked again, feeling the chill as if someone had put ice on my back.

“Bil, billion…? It cost 18.2 billion, 75 million won...?”

― Yes, but you don’t have to worry. Ji-Hyuk, if you circulate the things like the stocks and shares that were turned over to you by lots at first, you’ll be able to quickly cover….

Lee Ye-Eun was talking like that.

I heard a falling sound from right behind me.

When I hurriedly turned my head and looked, there was Lee Yu-Na, sitting slumped on the floor.

“Uh, uhhhh….”

She was looking up at me with an appearance like her whole body had lost its strength.

And I swear, I’ve never seen anyone so pale in complexion as she was now.

“h, how much…?”

18.2.

18.2.

Her body staggered backward for a moment as she muttered blankly like that.

“Uhh, hey! Lee Yu-Na! Hey!”

“1, 18.2 billion… billion....”

With those words as the last, she lost consciousness, and I had to rush to catch her body.

And if I were to give my honest thoughts, I wanted to pass out next to her too.