SRS 182
“A spirit that knows all wisdom?”
“Yeah. They say that if you walk down the upper corridor of the library, there is a low chance that a long full-length mirror will appear at the end of the hallway. They say if you look into it, a spirit will appear and answer your questions… hey, Yohan! Where are you going?”
“To study.”
He tried to listen to Sei’s story to the end to maintain at least a modicum of courtesy, but as expected, it was too much. To Yohan, the story Sei had told him sounded less like a legend and more like a teasing rumor meant to mock the students.
A mirror appearing at the end of a hallway with a low probability? A spirit that knows all wisdom appearing there?
Even if it were true, it was a somewhat ominous story. Not wanting to get caught up in a useless incident by taking an interest, he turned away coldly. Sei followed after him.
“Aren’t you interested?”
“There is no proof that the rumor is true. And even if it were true, a being with that much knowledge wouldn’t lend wisdom for free.”
“Well, I suppose so.”
As a student of Fantasiademia who had witnessed and experienced various phenomena firsthand, Sei didn’t object much. Perhaps because she wasn’t the type to particularly enjoy crises, she readily accepted the situation, lost interest, and followed Yohan into the library.
Yohan took out a few books to study from the library and picked out some papers recommended by his professors. He had decided on the reading order and was about to start reading when…
“Ah, come to think of it, I think Melek mentioned he was leaving tonight to find the spirit. That’ll be alright, right?”
“…….”
Yohan gritted his teeth.
Even though he wanted to pretend he hadn’t heard, his conscience wouldn’t allow it. Yohan closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
“…It probably won’t be alright.”
He had tried not to get involved, but to do so, he would have to stop the friend next door first.
In the end, Yohan couldn’t study for long in the library and slipped out. Rather than having his attention scattered and being unable to concentrate on his studies, it was wiser to quickly resolve the problematic situation and regain his focus.
With that in mind, Yohan immediately headed to Room 305 and knocked on the door.
“Melek. Melek.”
As he knocked and called out the student’s name, the door to Room 304 opened instead of Room 305, and three students poked their heads out one after another.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah.”
When trying to stop a friend, the more people involved, the more effective it is. Yohan quickly made up his mind. He recounted what he had heard from Sei. Suhyeok rolled up his sleeves.
“He still hasn’t learned his lesson even after causing trouble every time. Yohan, move aside. Do you think knocking like that will work?”
“What do you mean?”
Suhyeok reached out, grabbed Yohan, and moved him to the side for safety, then slammed his fist down on the door with all his might. Bang! The door shook from the banging.
“Melek! Melek! We know you bastard is here! Aren’t you coming out?”
As Suhyeok called out to Melek with the tone of someone demanding repayment from a person who had borrowed money and disappeared, students from other rooms noticed the commotion and opened their doors to see what was going on.
Yohan explained the situation to them as well.
“Melek again?”
“That bastard… I thought he was behaving lately.”
“So, Yohan, you want to stop Melek, right? We’ll help you.”
“Melek! Melek!”
Soon, there were more than ten voices calling out to Melek. As the voices grew loud enough to make one wonder if the dorm supervisor was about to appear, the door to Room 305 burst open. Melek could no longer bear it and he appeared wearing a sleep mask.
“You all swarmed in out of the blue, what is all this commotion?”
“I heard you were going to the library?”
“To find the truth behind the ghost story.”
“To cheat on the exam.”
“To give Yohan a hard time!”
“…….”
Hmm?
Yohan, who had been watching the situation from a distance, tilted his head slightly upon hearing these absurd reasons, but he didn’t try to find the speakers to ask.
Melek frowned as he listened to the nonsense flowing from his friends’ mouths.
“How did you know that?”
“I heard it.”
At this point, Yohan stepped forward to speak, and Melek’s gaze shifted to Yohan.
“Melek. I know you are pouring your heart and soul into developing a poison. But asking that spirit doesn’t guarantee your development will succeed.”
“How did you….”
“It’s obvious. You’ve been running wild lately, claiming you’re going to brew a potion to kill Professor Hegel.”
As Suhyeok clicked his tongue and threw his hands behind his head, Melek’s face flushed. The student who seemed to feel a momentary sense of shame, shook his head after noticing the dozen or so friends who had swarmed into his room.
“…Haa.”
Melek let out a sigh and roughly removed his sleep mask.
“Right, that’s right. I was planning to go to the library. But what’s so serious about that that everyone came to stop me? I’m just going to the library! I’m only going to verify the truth of the rumor! Aren’t you guys honestly curious too? Whether the spirit of the library really exists or not. What is the true nature of the rumor spreading right now?”
“…Hmm.”
“Hmm….”
“Ugh….”
As Melek began to persuade his friends, many of the students glanced nervously at Yohan. They started to waver. They were drawn to Melek’s story, as they also possessed curiosity, a desire for good grades, and a dislike of boredom. When he noticed this, Melek hurriedly listed more reasons why they needed to go to the library, causing the students’ eyes to change rapidly.
“Yohan.”
Suhyeok nudged Yohan with his elbow and whispered.
“What should we do? Should we send them all back? Or should we hit each of them to snap them out of it?”
“No.”
There was no need to resort to drastic measures right away. Instead, Yohan moved closer to Melek and grabbed his hand.
“Melek. If you go to the library in the middle of the night and get hurt, I’ll be worried about you.”
“Uh… uh? Wai-Wait…”
“And I’ll feel guilty for failing to protect you.”
“No, we don’t even share a room, and I’m not your responsibility, so what are you talking about…?”
“Then I’ll be too sad to study properly, and I might not be able to help our friends with their studies either.”
“…….”
“In the end, many of the student will suffer…. I wanted to help at least the ones in my majors once I finished my own studies.”
As Yohan spoke with a rather pitiful and bitter expression, the faces of the students in Divine Studies, Spirit Studies, and Herbology changed. With a heartbroken look, Yohan let go of Melek’s hand and turned his head away.
“But if you go to the library, I won’t have the presence of mind to help the other friends….”
“Hey, Melek! Say you’re not going right away!”
“Apologize! Apologize!”
“Cancel it! Is the library or Yohan more important!”
A fire of “Down with Melek” flared up, centered around the first-years taking the same major as Yohan. Students who had been hesitantly siding with Melek glanced around cautiously and joined in the chant of “Down with Melek.” The atmosphere reversed in an instant. Suhyeok was amazed by Yohan, who had seized control of the situation with just a few words.
“Yohan, you…”
He didn’t know whether to call him cunning or clever.
As Suhyeok was genuinely admiring his friend for making such excellent use of his position as the top student and his brain, Yohan blinked his eyes in confusion.
“What?”
“…You didn’t say that on purpose?”
“Huh?”
Ha.
Suhyeok laughed in disbelief. He glanced around and leaned close, hiding his mouth behind his hand.
“…I mean, you weren’t saying that with some scheming or ulterior motive, are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious.”
Yohan turned to look at Suhyeok with a look that seemed to say, “What are you talking about?” Suhyeok was once again impressed by Yohan, there wasn’t a single trace of cunning on his face.
“They say it is the sunlight that strips a traveler of his clothes…” 1Referring to the fable Aesop’s Fables often called “The North Wind and the Sun.” In the story, the Wind and the Sun compete to see who can make a traveler remove his coat. The Wind tries first by blowing harder and harder. But the stronger the wind gets, the tighter the traveler clings to his coat. Then the Sun simply shines warmly. Gradually, the traveler becomes comfortable enough to take the coat off willingly. ↓
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
Suhyeok muttered that sometimes innocent, pure truth and emotion dominate a situation.
Yohan was still waiting for Melek’s answer. After being pressured by his friends, Melek finally gave up and shouted angrily.
“Ah, I get it! I get it! Then we can just go during the day, not at night! You guys come too!”
“…Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Oh.”
At Melek’s words, his friends’ eyes lit up. Their gazes turned in unison toward Yohan. As he met the pairs of hopeful eyes, Yohan felt the powerful currents that were hard to resist and let out a sigh. This was the best he could do.
Just as Melek had conceded a step, Yohan decided to concede a step as well.
“Alright. Then let’s all go together.”
It was better to go as a group rather than sending a few people separately to be isolated in a crisis.
At least this way, if they got dragged into trouble, there’d be enough people involved that the professors might not immediately look at Yohan like “you again?”
However, just in case, Yohan made a request to Suhyeok.
“If something happens and the professors, the headmaster, the dorm supervisor, or the administrators come, please don’t forget that I tried to stop them until the very end and only reluctantly agreed.”
Suhyeok was once again impressed by Yohan’s quick decision to take on the role.
“Ten years is enough to change the landscape, but apparently half a year at Fantasiademia can change Yohan too.”
“……?”
A brief question crossed his mind, but it wasn’t important enough to dwell on.
Yohan dispersed his friends in the hallway, went back to his room, and then used the long break between his third-period lecture and his general education class the next day to gather the West Tower students again.
“You definitely said the upper floors of the library, right? Since our permitted area goes up to the second floor… maybe the upper floors are around the fourth?”
“It might be the top floor, the fifth.”
“Tsk… it is ambiguous. What do you want to do, Yohan?”
Suhyeok asked. Yohan calmly replied, stroking the divine beast he had brought with him just in case.
“It should be fine if we look around floor by floor. Let’s disperse when the break is over and meet again tomorrow.”
“Oh, good idea.”
And so, the West Tower students headed toward the library stairs. First floor, second floor…
After passing the section open to first-year students, the path leading to the third floor was blocked by a transparent barrier. Since this was to be expected, they were just discussing how to dismantle the barrier while avoiding the professors’ eyes.
-Coo coo
Pop.
The divine beast that jumped out of Yohan’s arms pecked the barrier a few times, and the obstacle vanished in an instant. Upon noticing that the wall had disappeared, the friends stared at Yohan with wide eyes.
“…W-what?”
“Yohan, did you order this?”
Awe and fear mingled in their eyes of different colors.
…I’ve never done that.
Yohan felt slightly wronged.
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