“Can you use magic in the game? That’s super cool!”
“Hmm… It definitely seems like it’ll help with studying magic.”
“Do we have to study in the game too? Ugh, I don’t want to play a game like that… Oh, I’m going to go to my class now, see you at lunch!”
“Yes, sleepyhead Ji-hye!”
“I’m not a sleepyhead!”
Ji-hye went to Class B first, and I went into Class A with Seori and Yuna.
Since I walked at a slower pace than usual, I ended up getting to school much later than expected.
My desk partner, Yoon Si-hoo, was already quietly reading a book when I arrived. A true model student.
Even though I sat down, he didn’t even glance my way.
Everyone has their own preferences for friends, so there was no need to worry about it.
But as soon as I noticed Yuna following behind me, his eyes slowly rose above the book.
“Hey, Seo Yu-na!”
“Huh? Oh, why?”
“Are you okay?”
“Suddenly? I’m fine though?”
“Really? Thank goodness.”
Yuna answered nonchalantly, and upon confirming this, Si-hoo sulkily returned to his seat.
Just listening to this was awkward. Why did I even start a conversation?
After Teacher Jackie’s brief attendance check and roll call time, we had a short break before the first period started.
“But is that really hard?”
Yuna poked my back, asking.
“Yeah, I can’t just get strong alone. It seems like cooperation is fundamentally important.”
“Cooperation?”
“It means we have to work together.”
“Oooh… I see. So Na-me will help him?”
“Yeah, it seems that’s the case. If he doesn’t get stronger, he might just die.”
Even though it was Nightmare Difficulty, which was a few years too tough for Yuna, she was intrigued by the game’s story.
“Oh right, I need to bring the textbook for the first period!”
Yuna suddenly remembered the first-period subject and dashed to her locker.
As I was about to adjust my chair, Yoon Si-hoo awkwardly turned his head away.
“Were you listening to our conversation?”
“Uh… No? I wasn’t listening at all, really!”
“What? You definitely heard everything.”
“I didn’t!”
“Why are you getting mad? This is so awkward.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…”
“Wait, you don’t like…?”
Considering that Yoon Si-hoo was the only one among us in our class who took care of Seo Yu-na, and that he usually didn’t pay that much attention to other kids, my guess was confirmed.
“Do you like Seo Yu-na?”
“Whaaat? No way!”
Look how his lips are drying up and he’s licking his tongue. Definitely a yes.
As if I hit a nerve, Si-hoo panicked and pounded the desk.
At his age, it may not be a romantic liking, but he certainly has some friendly feelings toward her.
People who normally don’t talk much are often adept at reading others’ emotions. I was definitely one of those types.
Si-hoo vehemently denied it, but in my mind, his arrow was already aimed at Seo Yu-na.
By the way, I remembered I had something to ask Yoon Si-hoo just now.
“Yoon Si-hoo, do you go to an academy?”
“M-my academy? Why do you want to know?”
So you’re not going to tell me, huh?
“Then you should go around telling everyone you like Yuna.”
“Dude, I really don’t! I go… to a Taekwondo academy.”
“Perfect timing! Do you know what you learn at the Taekwondo academy?”
“Of course, you learn Taekwondo there. What else would you learn, English?”
“Uh? Well, yeah…”
That’s true, but…
I was sure there were places that teach various other things too, and that’s what I meant to say.
“Do they teach something like dagger techniques? Knife fighting, you know?”
“Dagger techniques? What on earth would you use that for…!”
“There’s a friend I need to teach. Should I go look for a dojo instead of an academy?”
“Ah… Anyway, I don’t know! So don’t ask more! And I don’t know what you’re up to, but don’t drag Yuna into it.”
“Come on, look at you already taking care of your future girlfriend.”
“@%##@ @!^@##!”
*
Si-hoo’s little tantrum ended as Yuna returned to her seat.
The first class was ‘Magic Injection.’
Last year’s subject was ‘Recording Magic,’ similar to how we call it ‘Magi,’ so the kids refer to this as ‘Majoo’ time.
I couldn’t help but wonder how they came up with such a lackluster name for a subject.
I remembered thinking the textbook names for first grade were ‘Autumn’ and ‘Winter’ were wrongly printed.
But Majoo time could easily be considered the most important subject for the 2nd-grade curriculum at Sephiron Academy.
Just the fact that it’s held every day with two classes a day proves that.
“Let’s start the class! Everyone, please turn to page 23 of your textbooks.”
Teacher Jackie’s cheerful voice echoed in the classroom.
Everyone flipping their pages made sounds all around.
Naturally, the textbooks were quite systematic, fitting for the Magic Kingdom, the Republic of Korea.
Instead of jumping straight into theory, the kids start each chapter with engaging experiential activities.
For example, when examining light magic, they compare how the mana affects the light when injected less versus when injected more, letting the kids discover the differences on their own.
After ensuring that everyone understands the theory clearly, they’ll introduce new experiments that boggle their minds.
Light magic is very intuitive. Injecting less mana produces less light, while injecting more mana results in a flood of light.
However, just as there are linear magic types, there are also non-linear ones.
Some magic has a maximum value at a specific point.
Vector (directional) magic, which I often used, is a prime example.
Magic that converts physical quantities so that an object designated around the caster reaches the initially set value cannot just rely on high mana input for success.
Which is why, when graphing mana efficiency, vector magic often forms a convex parabola.
Of course, no one would expect elementary school students to draw such a complicated graph—they’re only usually taught how to inject mana into the magic circle.
“I’m going to tell you about the first performance assessment for Magic Injection. Everyone, please listen closely!”
After about 30 minutes of teaching, Teacher Jackie stood in front of the blackboard to announce the much-anticipated performance assessment.
This was the time when even the playful Seori became serious.
“First, the performance assessment will be conducted in pairs. Once you’re paired up, I’ll give each of you five model magic circles. Just to refresh your memory on how to use the model magic circles, I’ll show you a demonstration right now.”
From a rectangular box, five palm-sized model magic circles were taken out.
Teacher Jackie picked one up and held it high for everyone to see. In the other hand, an empty box dangled.
“First, press the safety button in the center. And make sure the top of the box is facing the magic circle properly. Then, you can pour mana anywhere into the magic circle.”
Mana concentrated at the bottom.
Then, the magic circle began to emit a resonant ding sound and light.
BEEP-
An amazing sound effect came out of the empty box.
Teacher Jackie reminded us not to forget to press the center button again after using all the model magic circles before showing us the box.
“Can everyone see this number? This number indicates how effectively the magic was cast. It ranges from 0 to 10, so what does it mean if we get 0 or 1?”
“It means the magic didn’t cast properly!”
“It means the mana was injected incorrectly!”
“That’s right. It could mean the magic didn’t cast well or that the mana was misplaced. So from the next class, you’ll have a chance to experiment injecting mana into the five model magic circles.”
After neatly putting the model sets back in the box, Teacher Jackie opened another box and placed several identical products on the desk.
“Starting today until Friday, we’ll spend 20 minutes each day experimenting. Class A students will discuss what characteristics the magic circle has while injecting mana into the model with your partners. Then on Friday, during the last 6th period, you’ll write down the characteristics of the magic circle you’ve found on the paper the teacher will hand out and submit it for the performance assessment!”
The kids exchanged meaningful glances.
It was a performance assessment where they could take a boring magic class for a whole 20 minutes every day.
On the one hand, they harbored a fear of how difficult it must be to dedicate so much time to it, so they couldn’t cheer just yet.
I mulled over the model magic circles I had seen earlier.
It really felt like a lot of effort went into making sure no one could solve the performance assessment outside of school.
They intentionally didn’t reveal what kind of magic it was, just tossed the magic circles around so the kids couldn’t search for it on the internet.
As the model magic circles only revealed the results of the magical casting based on the brightness of light, they were definitely different in shape from the actual magic circles.
And since it was a performance assessment, there was no actual right or wrong regarding the report.
Friends who weren’t good at writing might find their future looking bleak.
Especially kids at this age would be utterly confused if there were no grading criteria, and I eagerly anticipated how they would get through this challenge.
“I’ll take questions about the performance assessment during the remaining time.”
“Teacher! So what should we write about?”
“You can write about what you learn from the textbook! You could mention that injecting a little mana at the center resulted in low efficiency, or that injecting a lot of mana on both sides increased the efficiency. Those were all things we tried last time, right?
Besides that, if you can, it’s also okay to analyze the runes or formulas that are part of the magic circles! Compare them with the other four magic circles, stating things like, ‘these runes have these characteristics,’ and ‘if this formula exists, it has these characteristics.’ The content is totally free! Do you understand?”
“Yes…”
“Discussion is between two people, but the grading will only be based on the report submitted at the end, so make sure to work hard, everyone! Got it?”
That’ll be hard. It’s training to figure out the magic circles through countless trial and error.
Of course, they won’t need to know every detail at this stage, but it’s a precursor to creating Dispel Magic, known as the Dispel Formula.
Practical and interesting at the same time.
The kids, upon hearing the performance assessment details, felt like blind people touching an elephant and already looked like they were at the end of their ropes.
But perhaps, if they kept fiddling with that elephant for several days, they’d eventually get a rough sense of it?
At least the elephant won’t report us for harassment.
