[What if the teacher catches you!]
[Why? It’s not like you’re really smoking.]
[Still! But…]
Yuna couldn’t hide her anxiety at Na-me’s bold actions.
Although it was the principle of inhaling the potion and exhaling only the bitter parts as smoke, the scene looked too much like smoking a cigarette.
At first, Yuna was unsure, but when Na-me asserted that the principle was the same, a sense of guilt for overlooking her friend’s rebellion surged within her.
Maybe it was because it was hard to consume the potion that Na-me resorted to this, but a conflict arose in Yuna between understanding and conscience, which was making her insides burn black.
‘In the first place, we shouldn’t recklessly use magic on school grounds…!’
Na-me seemed to have truly developed a taste for it, as it became routine for her to go to the backyard every lunch.
Yuna imagined the worst case: if she were caught by another class’s teacher or an academy official, she could be expelled.
Originally, lunchtime was always Yuna’s study time.
She would quickly eat the school meal and return to class to review or memorize runes while staving off drowsiness.
But she couldn’t leave Na-me alone.
It was always Yuna’s job to keep watch so that Na-me wouldn’t get caught.
“Is it really okay to use magic like this?”
“It seems okay up to Circle 2. Considering I haven’t been caught so far. By the way, the last period is the Performance Assessment, right?”
Na-me said nonchalantly as she exhaled smoke.
Usually, Yuna thought of her as a pretty girl with few emotional expressions, but now she resembled the scary schoolyard bullies in the back alleys.
“Yeah, thanks to you, I think I can do well in this Performance Assessment.”
Yuna wasn’t returning empty-handed either.
Na-me had explained the model magic circle every time they were alone, and now she felt confident enough to draw the circle with her eyes closed.
“What’s your favorite fruit, Yuna?”
“Fruit? Out of the blue? Um… apple?”
“Apple. Right, what was the code for apple again?”
Na-me took her phone out of her pocket to search for something, then modified the engraved magic circle.
With a satisfied smile, she asked again, wielding her pen like a wand.
“Do you think this is similar to apple scent?”
As the heat and vaporization occurred from the pen, an whirring sound filled the air.
The acrid smoke once again burst out of Na-me’s mouth.
“Apple scent…?”
However, when that mist pricked Yuna’s nose, she could only show a bewildered expression at the sweet fragrance.
The bitter scent that burned her throat was nowhere to be found, leaving only the sweet apple scent behind.
“Ugh… the taste is the same. It was just the scent that changed.”
“What? How did you do that?”
“Does it smell good?”
“Yeah! It’s super sweet!”
“That’s a relief. I tried it because I thought you really hated me smoking this.”
“Did it… show clearly?”
Yuna asked in a voice that trailed off.
It was then that she remembered Na-me’s talent for reading people’s emotions.
Even when she had feigned jealousy and felt guilty for being a burden, Na-me acted like she could see right through her.
Na-me moved beside Yuna on the bench, taking her seat. Yuna instinctively avoided her gaze.
“Professor Chun said he could soon make pill-shaped potions too. I’ll only smoke it like this until then. It’s a hassle for you to follow me every time, right?”
Professor Chun had reportedly been vigorously pushing the food and nutrition professors. He was working on a prototype of the pill-shaped potion.
As Na-me ruffled Yuna’s hair and asked for her understanding, Yuna’s head swiftly turned back toward Na-me.
“No, it’s really not a hassle…! That’s not it… Ugh… why are the tears coming out…?”
Yuna rubbed her eyes, desperately trying to hide her tears.
Having also experienced the potion, she knew how ridiculous that liquid was.
The moment it touches her tongue, the burning and nausea would come pouring out. She couldn’t imagine consuming it nonchalantly like Na-me.
She thought Na-me wasn’t showing any signs of pain because she had grown accustomed to it.
But she realized that Na-me’s earlier comment about it being bearable on the bus was merely to reassure herself.
Saying it was okay as long as she ate the potion was just another way of saying life without it might as well be a death sentence.
‘Na-me probably doesn’t want to eat it either… why am I only thinking of myself?!’
As her thoughts continued to spiral, intertwined with self-loathing and compassion, tears began to flow uncontrollably from Yuna’s eyes.
“I’m not crying! I swear I’m not crying…”
Simultaneously, she felt ashamed for showing her tears to a friend of her age.
It was becoming unclear how many times she had cried in front of Na-me by now.
Before she knew it, Yuna found herself nestled in Na-me’s arms.
Today, the scent wafting off her body was the apple scent that Yuna loved the most.
Before getting lost in the sweetness, Yuna managed to pull herself together and wiped her tears away.
“I want to try it too. No, I will.”
“What? This?”
“Yeah. I’m going to try smoking it too. After all, it’s not a real cigarette, right?”
This wasn’t a rebellion; it was merely a covert operation to empathize with her friend’s pain, and she pressed Na-me for instructions on using the magic circle.
“Since it’s your first time, try it with 0.5 ohms. You know how to calculate the right amount now, right?”
“Yeah. I can manage on my own.”
She was already well-versed in harmonic means.
However, Yuna decided to be a bit greedy and chose to increase the coil’s resistance.
Since she was doing it, she figured she might as well produce more smoke than Na-me.
“Hey, if you do too much…!”
“Ugh…? Cough Whoa, this feels different than I thought… cough something’s weird.”
“Since it’s kind of a high concentration mana treatment, there might be a temporary feeling of euphoria. It’s not like it’ll make you addicted like magic essence, though.”
“Whoo, puff… look! There’s still smoke coming out of my mouth!”
Yuna busily puffed out her cheeks, as if she’d never cried, breathing heavily.
Seeing her cheerful demeanor, Na-me smiled gently and took back the potion flask.
“That’s enough for now. That wasn’t too bad, right?”
“Yeah. It feels a bit like eating peppermint candy. It tickles my throat.”
“What are you going to do now that your clothes are soaked in apple scent?”
“Isn’t it okay since it’s the same scent as you, Na-me?”
“You’ve gotten pretty bold all of a sudden, huh? But still, don’t smoke real cigarettes later. If you do, I’ll definitely tell your mother.”
“I’m never smoking!”
Yuna jumped up from the bench and shouted.
The idea of a model student smoking was something she could never fathom!
Meanwhile, Na-me was curious about how she could smoke so skillfully on her first try.
Huff-
Phew…
Na-me held the potion in one hand and put the other in her school uniform pocket.
Yuna stared intently at Na-me, who continued to puff.
With Na-me staring back after receiving an ongoing barrage of glances, she said, “By the way, your eyes got all red from crying. Want me to blow some wind on you?”
“Huh? I’m really fine!”
“Really? Are you sure you can go back to class like this?”
“Am I that red…?”
Na-me tiptoed to thoroughly check her eyes.
Yuna instinctively averted her gaze as the distance between them became absurdly close.
Then Yuna’s face stiffened.
“What’s wrong?”
Following her gaze, Na-me turned around her neck.
There stood a boy, looking dazed while covering his mouth.
“Yoon Si-hoo…?”
A stunned voice slipped out from Yuna.
“What the heck is NoName doing to Yuna right now?”
“Uh… what did you see from the beginning?”
“Are you two seriously smoking?”
*
Yuna rushed over to stop Si-hoo as he tried to run away.
Despite her pleas that it was just a misunderstanding, Si-hoo still eyed them suspiciously.
When they returned, Teacher Jackie waved her hand and greeted them cheerfully.
“Hey kids, did you enjoy lunch? Wow, that sweet smell is lovely! Did you spray perfume?”
“Smoke…! Muffled!”
“Yes…! I sprayed apple-scented perfume!”
“Thanks to you, the classroom smells fantastic. Class will start soon, so let’s all get ready and take our seats!”
Nice blocking, Seo Yu-na.
Yuna quickly silenced what Si-hoo seemed about to blurt out, and they were able to return to their seats.
While Yuna went to her locker to grab her textbook, Si-hoo bluntly said to me.
“Can you lie to the teacher?”
“Since I added scent magic formations, can’t we consider this type of perfume too?”
“But it’s still smoking…”
“It’s not real tobacco unless it’s made from tobacco leaves. This is a potion.”
Since that was a valid point, there wasn’t much I could refute. It was the truth.
“Don’t keep teaching her bad things.”
“I just taught her about the performance assessment.”
“What sort of performance assessment is this!”
“If you don’t want to believe it, don’t.”
“What are you going to do if the teacher catches you?”
There are penalty regulations at Sephiron Academy, you know.
But I didn’t need grades urgently; I was just experimenting to see if I could use magic at an appropriate level without getting caught.
On a daily basis, I was increasing the mana usage for single-casting; testing whether I would get caught or not.
Finding a decent way to consume the potion this week was an excellent harvest for me too.
I felt like I wanted to reward Yuna, who sparked my idea, with 100 smiley stickers.
“Are you wanting to try smoking too?”
“No.”
“If that’s not it, do you prefer girls who don’t smoke? I used to think that way back in the day. For your information, Yuna promised me she wouldn’t smoke for life, so don’t worry.”
“No! That’s not it!”
“What are Na-me and Si-hoo talking about so fun? I want to hear too!”
Before I knew it, Han Seori had approached us, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“Seori, what are you doing? Don’t lean on my shoulder; it’s heavy!”
“I was just having a serious discussion about Yoon Si-hoo’s taste in women. Seori, listen to this…”
“Ah, seriously, NoName!”
“Si-hoo’s taste? Wow, I’m super curious!”
“Ahhhhhh, please!”
Ah, it’s so much fun teasing them.
Their reactions are just like when Hiasen was little.
