The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

I woke up in a very soft bed.

It was refreshing.
Perhaps because I slept well without stress or worries for the first time in a long time, I literally felt like my body was going to fly away.
When I checked the time, it was much earlier than the time I intended to wake up.

“Whoa.”

I got up from my seat and immediately took a shower and changed clothes.
Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Soo-Young.
There was still quite a bit of time left until the meeting time with the two of them, so I sat down at my desk and picked up a pen.

‘How far did I go?’

I took out my cell phone and turned on the settings book.
Because of what happened a few days ago, I felt the need to properly organize such information once.

Of course, I didn’t forget to replace proper nouns such as people’s names and place names with words that only I could recognize, in case anyone read them later.

After organizing to some extent, I wrote down the part about the Thunder Lord’s Hammer and gently put the pen down.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I remembered what had happened yesterday.

“Haha… .”

I fiddled with my phone again.
It wasn’t hard to create a status window in the air, but my mana was so low that just maintaining it was a burden.

‘I should just attack the dungeon and raise my mana.’

Thinking like that, I checked the notification windows of the quest that happened yesterday again.

[Quest complete!]

[You have acquired a large amount of contribution to the ‘Thunder Lord’s Hammer’ guild!]
[Contribution points can be consumed to fulfill the requirements of the guild.]

[Lee Myung-Joon’s fixed favorability has increased!]

[Additional rewards will be obtained!]
[* You will be paid differently depending on how many confessions you received and how you obtained them.]
[As a result of the judgment, it was counted as an S rank!]
[‘Designated Confirmation Acquisition Right – Arts’ has been acquired!]

It was an item that I never expected
So, it was an item that was even more delightful.

[Designated Confirmation Acquisition Right ― Arts (Consumable, Bonded, Rare)]

[You can acquire a definite art of a specified opponent. After one use, it will be consumed and disappear.
― Can only be used against opponents with a fixed favorability.
― It can be used only with the consent of the other party.
― If the acquired art is a growth-type art, it will be created with the lowest rank.
― In the case of arts that require specific conditions, the selection is not possible.]

In fact, the acquisition right itself was surprisingly not a rare item to gain in the game.
However, it was a different story in the case of acquisition rights that had a condition that you had to specify an opponent to obtain it definitively.
Because in most cases, the items that came out were useless.
As a person with poor status in many ways, I can say that this is the best item in my current situation.

‘Well, the question is, who do I use this on?’

There were three people who have a fixed favorability: Choi Hyun-Woo, Han Soo-Young, and Lee Myung-Joon.
To be honest, if you only look at their abilities, Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Soo-Young would be overwhelming, but it was the case of two people who had finished growing up to the end.
In the current situation, Lee Myung-Joon might be the better choice……. .

‘Should I wait a little longer?’

There is no limit on the period of use, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to spend a little more time thinking about it.
Above all, I know that it takes a certain amount of time and process to acquire, so it would be better to do it on a separate date later.

“Ah.”

Meanwhile, the alarm started ringing.
I got up, turning off the alarm I had set for my original wake-up time.
I thought I should go and wait first since I woke up early anyway.

As I was getting dressed and ready to go, I saw Mandragora staring at me from the glass again.
Normally, I would have just ignored him, but I was talking to him with a smile without realizing it because I was in a good mood.

“Aren’t you bored when you’re always like that?”

Nod.

At the moment, I had no choice but to pause.
I thought I saw something wrong, so I turned around and headed towards the desk.

“You didn’t just… answer my question, did you?”

At my question, Mandragora stared at me from the water.
When I saw that guy who had a insincere face that looked like he was in a cheap cartoon, I wondered what I was talking about for a moment.

Then, the guy nodded once more.

“Really?”

He nodded again.
I had no choice but to pull out a chair and sit in front of him.

“… Aren’t you uncomfortable living in the water?”

These were the words that I finally came up with while thinking about what to say when I faced him.
It was because it was the first time I had ever talked to the roots of a plant, let alone a human being.

He nodded at my question.
I wondered if he could do anything other than nodding his head, so I deliberately asked him a question that he would deny.

“Is it okay if I eat you?”

This time, he shook his head quickly.
Perhaps it was my imagination but it seemed that his expression had hardened a bit.

“I never really expected this…… .”

I didn’t expect to communicate with Mandragora.
It was something I had never seen before, not even in the original story.

I looked at him slowly, as if scrutinizing him.
He was floating around in a very comfortable position and staring at me from the water.
Just in case, I took out my cell phone and looked through the settings book and used emotion, but all that came out was the information I knew.

‘… If I go to an alchemy club this time, I’ll ask.’

Whether it was my professor, Alice Blesbuck, or Cass Lyle, both of them would have known more in detail than I did.

“I’m sorry, but I have an appointment today. Look at the house by yourself.”

I stood up with the words because I was embarrassed by the look of the guy staring at me.
Until I closed the door, he kept staring at me as if to see me off.

* * *

The three of us lined up to board the bus that would take us out of the academy.

It was an official permission to go out, so there was no problem.
If I had to pick a problem, it was that the employee who recognized me as I went out today as well as yesterday, looked at me with a slightly strange gaze.

There were quite a lot of people sitting on the bus beside us.
The number of faculty members inside the academy alone was close to 20,000.
There was no way that there were only a few people coming and going inside and outside.

“What are you guys buying today?”

After all, I was the one who had suggested it first and made the appointment.
I talked lightly with the two of them, taking the opportunity to deepen our friendship.

“Oh, a training band. The one I used before was already worn out, so I was going to buy a new one, but I’m taking this opportunity to buy a proper one. And last time in the dungeon, my sword completely broke.”

Choi Hyun-Woo, who was sitting right next to me, spoke with a friendly smile.

“I applied for a training sword, but… If I get a chance today, I’m thinking of getting a new sword.”

“Do you have any money?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? All three of us are very rich right now.”

Oh, that’s right.
At Choi Hyun-Woo’s words, I nodded my head.

Come to think of it, all three of us received the bounty together.
I looked at Han Soo-Young, who was sitting alone in the seat right in front of us.

“What about you?”

“I want to visit the bookstore. Interesting and good books in the library are already out of long-term loans. Rather than waiting, I’ll just buy it and read.”

“Hmm… .”

As someone who didn’t really like books, it was an incomprehensible option.
When I actually asked the question and gave a harsh response, Han Soo-Young asked in a slightly annoyed voice.

“What are you going to do then?”

“For me. This and that. Miscellaneous things.”

I muttered a list of things I needed to buy as if I were singing.

“I need to buy an electronic dictionary, abrasives and a set of maintenance tools, a notebook and a pen, some clothes, and, oh, I want to buy some cooking utensils. There are basic things like pots and frying pans, but there are no detailed things.”

“Do you know how to cook?”

“Only simple ones.”

To Han Soo-Young’s unexpected question, I answered indifferently.

“Since I was little, there were many times when I had to cook and eat. So it grew naturally.”

As I said that, I remembered my sister’s face.
And the faces of the man and woman who couldn’t be called parents.
As I felt my mood sinking for no apparent reason, Choi Hyun-Woo began to wriggle next to me.

“I’ve been sitting for a long time, so my body feels a little stiff. Ji-Hyuk, Soo-Young. Are you okay?”

“How long have you been sitting…… .”

“Uh, uh. I’m okay. You’re supposed to sit for a long time because of books.”

Han Soo-Young replied that way and turned her head to look out of her window.
As I looked at her face in the mirror, I saw that she had both eyes squeezed shut and was muttering something.
I didn’t mean it, but I could tell by the movement of her lips what she was saying.

‘Idiot, you idiot, why are you flapping your mouth there again…. .’

I leaned on my seat and looked out the window pretending not to know.
And as I looked at the trees that seemed to pass by every certain distance, I let out a small sigh.

“Ah.”

“What?”

I nodded my head at Choi Hyun-Woo’s question.

“I also want to buy a big fish tank.”

It was an unexpected situation, but no matter what the circumstances were, he was my roommate and I had to at least keep his bed warm and peaceful.

‘No.’

Should I call it a cohabitation plant, not a roommate?
Well, thinking about what to do, I stared blankly out the window.

I could vaguely hear Choi Hyun-Woo sighing slightly at the sight of me and Han Soo-Young.

* * *

This street that appears after passing through the academy was probably one of the most prosperous places in this country.
It was mentioned several times in the original story, and there was a reason enough to just think about it.

‘Because the Academy is right in front of it.’

However, as in any downtown area, prosperous places have more problems than that.
In fact, it was also a gathering place for so-called quests, where various large and small problems took place.

‘I used to come here a lot, especially when I was on my way.’

I looked around with a new gaze.
Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Soo-Young, who quickly focused their attention on the surrounding area, were not much different from me.

‘But the two of them are really crazy…… .’

Like Choi Hyun-Woo, Han Soo-Young was not the type of person who was particularly interested in decorating.
Both were dressed in plain casual clothes, which students would wear appropriately.
The problem was that the hangers were so good that they looked like celebrities.

“…… .”

And I remembered the fact that I had to stand next to those two.
Feeling uneasy for nothing, I took one more step away from the two of them.
Whether they knew how I felt or not, the two came closer to me as I moved.

“So where do you want to go from here?”

When asked by Han Soo-Young, Choi Hyun-Woo still answered casually, regardless of the surrounding gaze.

“Let’s just walk around first. You can go in where you see it on the way.”

“Once it’s decided, let’s move on. Standing in the middle of the road is a nuisance.”

I stood in front of the group and walked with a fairly familiar gait.
I don’t know the detailed geography, but I have a setting book.
I moved the map openly in the air, but no one, including Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Su-Young, even seemed to notice it.
I checked that the direction I was facing was correct and immediately erased the screen.

‘Let’s go to the weapon shop first.’

On the map that appeared on the screen, a brief description of each road was written.
Each of them had the names of Iron Street, Paper Street, Medicine Street, Bag Street, and Tableware Street.

It was a really monotonous name, but the meaning they conveyed was clear.
It meant that the streets were lined with stores each selling weapons, books, medicines, alchemy materials, other trinkets, and food.
Fortunately, this was not much different from the original story.
And the first place we headed was the Iron Street.
Here, I thought we could buy Choi Hyun-Woo’s wristband, a new sword, and an abrasive and maintenance set for my dagger.

“Wow…… .”

Choi Hyun-Woo looked around with sparkling eyes.
He was as excited as a child, and Han Soo-Young stared at him as if she couldn’t understand him.

As I looked at the two of them, something suddenly flashed in my eyes.
As soon as I turned my head to look at him, I realized that I wasn’t wrong.

I muttered to myself without realizing it.

“That person… ?”