## Chapter 121 – 121. The Magic Tower (2)
#121. The Magic Tower (2)
The Magic Tower consists of five departments in total:
Elemental, Conceptual, Alchemy, Spirit, and Summoning.
I enrolled in the Elemental department. Of course, I have an aptitude for Summoning as well, but my main focus is still Elemental magic.
“I’m Kang Hyun-woo.”
There weren’t many students. Roughly around 20, and only 3 of them were guys.
Perhaps due to the skewed gender ratio, most of the girls stared at me intensely, making me uncomfortable.
‘Looks like there are students from other departments mixed in too.’
Actually, it was only natural. With departments like Conceptual or Spirit having only a handful of students per year, it wouldn’t be feasible to assign classes by department.
“…Is that really it?”
“I’m 21 years old.”
“…Hobbies?”
“Not really.”
Professor Lee Chae-won stared at me intently. It was as if her face said I was boring.
“…Anyone want to ask him anything?”
But she didn’t seem ready to give up here.
“Me!”
As soon as Professor Lee Chae-won asked, a girl raised her hand enthusiastically.
She had bright brown hair and deep black eyes. With her long hair that reached her waist, she looked like a rich family’s daughter overall.
“Hyun-woo, was it?”
In a word, she seemed hopeless.
“Is it true that you got in through Professor Choi Young-ok’s connections?”
The corners of her eyes curved beautifully. She was definitely a beauty you couldn’t easily find anywhere, but her personality didn’t seem to measure up to even half of that.
Quite a few kids seemed to agree with her, as no one tried to stop her. Even Professor Lee Chae-won was watching the situation with an amused look.
‘They said it was full of oddballs.’
I didn’t know that applied to the students too.
‘That aside, for a mere student to bring up Grandma Choi Young-ok, is she from a family great enough to handle the Seongbuk Choi clan?’
Of course, she might have been presuming that I had a deep relationship with the Seongbuk Choi clan, but either way, I wasn’t interested or concerned. I had no intention of associating with them in the first place.
Woo-oong-
The mana circle, with its output limited to the 2nd Circle, began to pulsate roughly. The mana that spread out in an instant began to dominate the entire classroom.
“?!”
A look of bewilderment flashed across the girl’s face. She belatedly tried to raise her mana, but only failed repeatedly.
The outcome of a battle between mages depends on who seizes control of the space first. There was no way a mere 1st Circle could use mana in my territory.
That went for the other students as well. Not only the ones who had agreed with her, but also, with the exception of a very few students, they seemed burdened just to lift their heads properly, overwhelmed by my aura.
It seemed a bit too much, but if I wanted to avoid troublesome situations in the future, I needed to establish dominance here, whether they liked it or not.
Woo-oong!!
“Stop.”
Clap!
Just as I was about to increase the output of my mana, Professor Lee Chae-won clapped her hands briefly. My mana, which had been dominating the space, scattered in an instant.
She had taken the initiative from me.
Of course, I could have resisted if I wanted to. But to do so in my current state, with my mana limited, I would have had to strain myself considerably.
I didn’t feel the need to go that far, so I readily handed over the initiative.
“Alright, everyone’s seen it, right? Hyun-woo isn’t a mage as lacking as you guys are complaining about. Especially you, Seo-ah. If you come to bother the teacher like last time, you’ll get demerits then, got it?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Only then did the girl called Seo-ah sit down. She didn’t look well.
She was clearly a young lady who had been raised well, and my aura was not something she could handle. If I had unleashed my killing intent, she might have actually fainted.
“And Hyun-woo! Even so, how can you use force against frail girls like that! Apologize quickly!”
“Huh?”
“Tsk!”
“…Sorry.”
Professor Lee Chae-won then smiled, seemingly satisfied.
I wanted to change classes now. It seemed like it would be more comfortable if Professor Shin Min-ha was the homeroom teacher.
“Take a seat wherever you want. There are plenty of empty seats anyway.”
The classroom was like a university lecture hall in America.
I went up the stairs. I could see faint fear in some of the gazes directed at me.
Of course, not everyone was like that. As expected of a place full of oddballs, even more burdensome attention was pouring in than before.
Most of them were female students, so I didn’t feel too bad.
I roughly went to the back and sat in an empty seat.
“Hiccup?!”
“Hmm?”
I turned my head at the familiar sound coming from right next to me. There, an unexpected person was looking at me with a terrified expression.
“You are…”
With her small stature, fluffy hair, and overwhelming chest, it was the granddaughter of Marna Hirkus.
I knew she attended the Magic Tower, but I never imagined she was a freshman. And to think she was in the same class, what a coincidence!
“It’s nice to see you again.”
I lightly offered a handshake.
“Lu, Lumina Hirkus…”
I grasped her dainty hand. It was small and soft. But it was trembling slightly.
‘If I had known this woman was here, I would have just kneeled.’
Unintentionally, I had done something terrible to the client’s precious granddaughter.
“I’m sorry. If I had known Ms. Lumina was here, I wouldn’t have done anything so rash just now. You must have been very surprised because of me, right?”
“I, It’s okay…”
Thankfully, it seemed like I had controlled my strength well.
“Can I call you Lumina?”
After a moment of hesitation, she slowly nodded. But she seemed uncomfortable talking to me any further, as she turned her head away.
I wondered if it was because of what had happened earlier, but even when I visited her store last time, she seemed to find me strangely difficult. To be precise, it had been like that ever since I had my fortune read and fainted.
I wanted to ask what she had seen in the process of reading my fortune that had caused her to faint, but Lumina seemed reluctant to even mention the incident itself.
‘It wouldn’t be polite to keep prying when we’re not even close.’
Lumina and I were just a store clerk and a customer, not close enough to suddenly act friendly.
Of course, we were now classmates in the same class, which was a slightly closer relationship, but I wasn’t desperate for friends enough to force myself on someone who found me difficult.
Before long, Professor Lee Chae-won, having said everything she needed to convey, left the classroom. As soon as she did, someone approached me.
“Hi?”
Black hair and black eyes. He was shorter than me, but overall, he was an attractive guy.
“I’m Son Jin-ho. I’m the same age as you.”
He appeared with a friendly smile and offered me a handshake.
‘Son Jin-ho… I’ve definitely heard that name somewhere.’
I was sure Choi Hye-na had mentioned the name Son Jin-ho on the list of people to watch out for.
“It’s nothing much, but as you can see, there are only 4 guys in the class, including you. Let’s get along.”
“Oh, sure.”
As if that was his only purpose, Son Jin-ho left just like that. It wasn’t long before I remembered who he was.
He was definitely Son Jin-ho, the second son of the Chunseong Group, ranked 10th in the business world.
‘I never imagined I’d befriend a son of a chaebol in my life.’
Perhaps because Son Jin-ho had made the first move, many students showed interest in me and approached me after that.
“Hey, what’s your relationship with Professor Choi?”
“Is it really true that you’ve only been learning magic for half a year?”
“Even so, self-study is a lie, right? Are you a secret weapon of the Seongbuk Choi clan or something?”
“What kind of magic do you like? It must be the element of fire, right? If you’re interested, I’m working on a magic spell these days, would you like to do it together?”
Honestly, I was a little flustered. It was the first time I had been surrounded by more than 10 girls my age.
‘Overall, they’re at the beginning of the 1st Circle.’
Their ages were more diverse than I thought. They ranged from 20 to as old as 24. And most of them were pretty. Mana would remove some of the waste products in the body, so it was a natural result.
“Hello.”
An uninvited guest invaded my paradise. It was the girl who had picked a fight with me during the self-introduction. Her name was Seo-ah, wasn’t it?
“Hyun-woo, can we talk alone for a moment?”
The girls who had been taking turns asking me questions all closed their mouths and looked at her.
I could vaguely see the power structure within Class A of the freshman year.
“What is it?”
“…I personally wanted to apologize for what happened earlier.”
Her smiling expression faltered slightly at my question. It meant she wanted to maintain at least a minimum of dignity.
“It’s okay. Besides, class is about to start soon.”
“…Okay, then I’ll come back later.”
It wouldn’t matter even if she came back.
I watched her retreat with a strained expression and turned my gaze away. Her name was also on the list of people to watch out for that Choi Hye-na had told me about.
Her name was Han Seo-ah, a member of the Jinryu Han clan (陳留漢家), one of the three great magical families. Not just a distant relative, but a direct descendant, the youngest daughter of the current head of the family.
‘She’s also the only younger sister of the Magic Tower Lord, who’s called the genius of the century.’
The reason I didn’t recognize Han Seo-ah quickly was because she had bright brown hair, not the dark hair that was one of the characteristics of the Jinryu Han clan.
Besides, for the younger sister of the Magic Tower Lord, who was called the genius of the century, to be only at the end of the 1st Circle at the age of 20…
‘Well, if the Magic Tower Lord’s talent was a hereditary trait passed down through the family, the Jinryu Han clan would have reigned as a unique family, not just one of the three great magical families.’
It was a common occurrence, so I lost interest.
The Magic Tower Lord alone was complicated enough, I didn’t want to get involved with another person from a magical family. Especially if they had hostility towards me rather than goodwill. Anyway, with the Seongbuk Choi clan as a shield, it wouldn’t matter even if Han Seo-ah tried to suppress me with her power.
The girls who had been gathered around me one by one looked at Han Seo-ah and then left.
I was happy for a moment, but I swallowed a sigh and opened my textbook.
The mornings at the Magic Tower consisted of common subjects that all departments were required to take.
A little later, I watched the professor who entered the classroom and listened to the lecture. As expected, it was a terrible level compared to Iris’s lectures.
But since ancient times, there has been something to learn even from a beggar on the street.
In the first class, I learned about the Theory of Arcana. It was a subject that deeply explored the source and theory of magic, learning the basic principles and advanced content of traditional magic.
I had learned it from Iris as well, but it was quite interesting to approach it from a different perspective.
Of course, perhaps because it was the first day after the opening, the class flowed relatively calmly in a normal direction, memorizing what was written on the blackboard while looking at the textbook.
The morning passed in the blink of an eye.
When it was lunchtime, the students left the classroom one by one. As someone who didn’t know the location of the cafeteria, I was a little embarrassed.
I was going to tell Son Jin-ho to go together, but he seemed to be in a position to watch Han Seo-ah’s every move, so he hurriedly left the classroom with the other male students.
“…Um, Mr. Hyun-woo?”
“What?”
“Um… I, can I ask why you’re following me?”
“Speak comfortably. We’re classmates.”
“…Yes.”
“It’s nothing much, but I don’t know the location of the cafeteria since it’s the first day. Can I ask you to guide me?”
The reason I chose Lumina as my guide was because I thought she didn’t have any friends either, just like me. All morning, she went to the bathroom alone, and during breaks, she spent her time looking at her textbook alone.
Besides, as the granddaughter of Marna Hirkus, there was no reason for her to be wary of Han Seo-ah.
A 1st-class alchemist was not someone you could treat carelessly just because they were from a magical family.
After a moment of hesitation, Lumina nodded.
The gazes and attention that poured on us as we went to the cafeteria were enormous. Since they had never seen a man and a woman walking together in the Magic Tower, it would be a good gossip topic for the students living in this closed-off place.
I felt sorry for Lumina, but rumors disappear in a day or two if there is no clear evidence.
Besides, my current interest was only in the cafeteria menu.
What on earth did those proud and wealthy mages eat?
I headed to the cafeteria with expectations that it wouldn’t be like a normal school cafeteria. My steps became strangely light as I went.
“…I’ve sent you dozens of messages asking you to have lunch with me.”
When I arrived at Ambrosia Hall, the Magic Tower’s cafeteria, I encountered an unexpected obstacle.
“To ignore all of that and come to eat school food with another woman from the first day.”
Lumina and I ran into Choi Hye-na in the middle of the cafeteria. She was making a face as if she was going to kill someone.
“I’d like to hear an explanation.”
I could hear the sound of people eating popcorn around me.
