“That’s one strange ceiling.”
Once upon a time, it had climbed to number two on my bucket list of things I wanted to say before dying, but now it was an expression that had been said so many times that it was just tiresome.
“Are you awake?”
A familiar, gentle voice tickled my ears.
As I listened, my eyes began to feel heavy.
“Don’t fall back asleep now.”
“Professor Chun.”
“What is it?”
“Are you mad?”
“A little?”
“I see… I’ll try to repay you soon. But since I’m officially an academy student now, shouldn’t I get some kind of tax reduction?”
“I’m not talking about money.”
Professor Chun playfully tapped his thick, bandaged arm.
“I wish you’d take better care of your body.”
He looked at me with a bittersweet expression.
My body.
Honestly, I was still confused.
Is this truly ‘my body’?
The flesh is under the control of the mind, but the totality defined as the mind is, in essence, a part of the flesh as well.
What in the world can define ‘me’?
Memories from my past life? There were countless spells to manipulate memories.
Knowledge from my past life? Knowledge was no different from memories. In fact, considering physical abilities, my current body was far superior.
I’ve also changed quite a bit in terms of personality.
I might have experienced some things in my past life, which lessened the feeling of alienation, but the extreme loneliness and emptiness that sometimes visit me still make me gasp in horror.
Sometimes, it feels like my reality isn’t real at all, but an endless illusion created by someone with a terrible hobby.
It felt like the being known as NoName was moving automatically like a video game character, while I stood off to the side, a mere spectator.
I find myself doubting everything in the world—light, sound, smell, taste; none of it is what I truly feel.
“Discours de la méthode, page 34, line 21: ‘I think, therefore I am?’”
What can thinking do? I have no idea where I exist.
The more I think this way, the less I care about my body.
Only in relation to others can I exist as ‘me’.
If I ever found myself stranded on an uninhabited island, I’d be overwhelmed by the fear of losing control of my physical form to some obscure force.
Not being able to define what my true self is, I needed to quickly come up with something comforting to say to the professor.
“I’ll be careful next time.”
My expression didn’t reflect much confidence.
My vocabulary skills were a form of intelligence, so since I hadn’t conversed much, I lacked balance in this area.
To think that I was lying out of sheer desperation, claiming I successfully cast a five-circle spell after such a long time—something no one would believe of an eight-year-old!
“What a kind heart you have.”
“Huh?”
“There was a story about a baby that fell into a well, and everyone in the village turned a blind eye, but a passerby jumped in to save the baby. Mencius believed that humans are inherently good because of that one person, not the many villagers who ignored the situation. Isn’t it beautiful that there are still people like Na-me in this world?”
“Uh…”
“I’m proud of you. But next time something happens like that, make sure to contact me first. I’ll always be on your side, no matter where or when.”
“Yes… I’ll keep that in mind…”
Professor Chun truly was an unpredictable man.
But thanks to him, my complicated feelings were starting to untangle.
“Are you craving anything? It should be about time for a meal.”
“What time is it?”
“11 AM. You’ve been lying down for a solid 18 hours.”
“I really want to eat the Chateaubriand steak I missed yesterday.”
“Unfortunately, for now, just drink this potion. You didn’t finish the daily dosage yesterday, remember?”
Professor Chun chuckled as he pulled out a bunch of potion bottles from his bag.
“Ugh. Was this why you asked me?”
“If you don’t take it regularly, you won’t recover quickly. I can’t even imagine you getting sick too.”
When he put it that way, I had no choice but to drink it.
In the end, I chugged down two bottles right in front of Professor Chun.
My stomach felt bloated.
“Any discomfort while drinking the potion?”
“Yeah, I’ve gotten used to it. But… I think I’d prefer something solid. If I drink it like this, I have to go to the bathroom a lot.”
“I consulted with the professors from the nutrition department. I should get a definite answer in a few days.”
“That sounds great. I wish it were just tiny pills.”
“Don’t get your hopes too high though.”
At school, when the girls say they’re going to the bathroom, they all flock together, and it’s simply mortifying.
When I think about the time I inhaled a mana potion from a capsule, it was so much more convenient, but due to efficiency issues, I just can’t manage my daily dose.
“I heard you helped your friend’s mother. I may not know much about disease, but I heard it was an incurable one. Where did you learn that kind of magic?”
“Ah, well… I came across it while reading a paper from the Korean Neurological Society. I heard it’s already in the commercialization stage in the United States…?”
“Oh, really? But the five-circle spell ‘Akashic Records’ you cast is a magical engineering spell used for molecular printing, right?”
“What do you mean? The Akashic Records is far more than just some simple 3D printer. If you understand the molecular structure correctly, you can generate the same substance semi-permanently and, since it’s reversible magic, you can easily create reverse reactions. It can even act like a biomaterial that only engages with specific receptors, much like animal hormones. So, in theory, it’s an all-purpose magic…”
Noticing I had been rambling, I paused for a moment, gauging his reaction.
“You can keep going if you want.”
“Nah, I’m a bit embarrassed now.”
“But you look happy when you talk about magic, Na-me.”
I was worried I might turn red if I kept talking, so I steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Have you met Yuna?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t see my friend when I went home, but I did meet her two older brothers.”
“Two? Ah, so Yuna’s older brother must have come. He wasn’t there when I was around.”
“He just wanted to thank you. He specifically didn’t mention the magic you used. You would have done the same, right?”
“Thank you… It’s too much money for Yuna’s family to handle.”
“It does seem that way.”
“It’s not that I’m helping out of goodwill; I just believe Yuna will definitely become a remarkable magician, so I think of it as an investment… Not that I’m trying to offload it onto you, Professor! I’ll earn everything to repay it—”
“How are you planning to earn it?”
“Like before… through internet broadcasting…”
“Really?”
“Can you tell me how much I’ve earned?”
“Want to take a guess?”
“About 6 million…? No, 7? 8? Please tell me it’s not more!”
“Sadly, that’s incorrect.”
“Ten million…?”
“10 million and 810 thousand won.”
“No way! With the academy’s benefits, how could it possibly be over 10 million?!”
“I’ll have a better idea when I get home, but it seems like the tax rate got cut in half due to unauthorized use of public space.”
“Ten million… ten million…”
Professor Chun chuckled lightly.
To him, it may not have been a large sum, but having made up my mind to repay it, I took no compromises.
“I will repay it, no matter what. Even with interest!”
That meant I had to repay a principal amount of 10,930,000 won.
Suddenly, Shia’s promise flashed through my mind.
[V-tube applications for revenue occur quarterly, so at the end of March, they’ll send you your share of the appearances.]
Right.
I quickly turned on my phone to check the V-tube views.
There were a total of five videos that came up with her, and the view counts ranged from about 200,000 to 500,000.
But I had no clue how much revenue that would generate, so I entered a site that estimates earnings based on the link.
[Period Filter: +1,812,618 views / + $2,517 ~ $2,832]
About 5 to 5.5 million won.
Even after taxes and splitting with Shia, this gave me at least 2 million won.
Still, I was left with the grim reality that I needed to earn about another 9 million won.
But I wasn’t regularly broadcasting on Twish, and given that I had no content tailor-made for what viewers wanted, my subscriber count barely stayed in the four digits.
I hesitated for a moment.
Surely, if I utilized my talents and streamed League of Legends under the condition that I reached Challenger rank, I could attract viewers, but then I’d have anything but differentiation from other streams.
Moreover, I wasn’t used to checking chat while gaming, and above all, I didn’t want to keep playing League of Legends.
“How about trying Wagal instead?”
It definitely had more popularity than League of Legends.
But I had no idea what kind of fun could be pursued in Wagal broadcasts.
While it was undoubtedly an attractive choice with the environment for using magic, I’d have to consult Shia or someone about that later.
knock knock
“Yes, come in.”
The door to the inpatient room opened, revealing a man with a familiar yet strange face.
“Oh, it’s that young man from earlier. Came to say hi?”
“Yes, it’s good to see you again.”
“Then I’ll step out for a bit so you two can have your chat.”
“Where are you off to?”
“I’m just going to grab some abalone porridge. So if you’re hungry, please hang in there a bit.”
With a grunt, Professor Chun struggled to stand up, and the young man gave him a light nod.
Hmm, where have I seen that face before? He looked just like Yuna’s brother, Seo No-eul.
But unlike the 190 cm tall Seo No-eul, this guy was around 175 cm, which was fairly average.
“Hello. I’m Seo Maru, Yuna’s older brother.”
This is the eldest, huh…?
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
“Sorry for coming so suddenly. I asked my father to let me know when you woke up.”
“Oh… my father.”
Since Professor Chun was also my adoptive father, that still made sense. But being called that felt quite awkward.
“Can I sit here?”
“Sure, please sit comfortably.”
Seo Maru hadn’t come empty-handed to the inpatient room.
“I had no idea what kids are into these days.”
He carefully unwrapped the package he handed me.
“What is this…?”
What is it?
I couldn’t identify it.
It didn’t seem like just a simple doll.
A 30 cm long object shaped like a musical note, with cute little eyes and a mouth on its head.
“Actually, Dad recommended this, saying you’d probably like it. This is an otamatone, a musical instrument.”
“This is an instrument?”
I thought pianos, cellos, and bassoons were supposed to be instruments, ones that look grand.
I even wondered if I might be misunderstanding the term ‘instrument.’
“It’s a real instrument. Let me show you how to use it. Hold the head with one hand and the stick with the other. Then, if you flow a small amount of mana into it…”
Ahh~ Ahhh~
“…!!!”
A voice came out of the note!
Seo Maru smiled with satisfaction and showed me how to use it further.
“The sound changes depending on the properties of the mana. If you use water attribute mana, it’ll sound like a female soprano, and if you use earth attribute mana, you’ll get a male baritone voice. How about it? Want to try?”
“Yes, I want to try!”
This was genuinely the most fascinating object I had ever encountered in my life!
