LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 101
While Ha-ru was sleeping, I decided to watch ‘Frozen 4’ alone with Yuna.
“Will Ha-ru be okay…?”
Even while watching the movie, Yuna was worried about Ha-ru, who had just undergone treatment, and covered her with the blanket up to her neck.
“She’ll be fine. It looks like she didn’t take too much medicine after all.”
“Was Ha-ru really taking medicine to make her smarter?”
“Accelerated thinking doesn’t automatically mean getting smarter or studying better, you know.”
“Really?”
Ha-ru had her accelerated thinking focused on her occipital lobe.
Well, it did make it easier to understand the structure of magic circles, but being able to see them well was just one part; interpreting them was the realm of the frontal lobe.
It’s likely that her brain was so overused that it led to problems with her optic nerve, which ultimately resulted in Ha-ru becoming totally color blind.
“But it seems Ha-ru’s mother wanted her to study better.”
“That’s just mean! Ha-ru’s eyes got hurt because of that…”
“Maybe that wasn’t such a big problem.”
“My mom is a really good person, so I’m glad. But are you really going to tell Ha-ru everything?”
“That’s something I’m a bit concerned about.”
Above all, Ha-ru was still very young.
She still had a lot of affection for her mother, and academically, she was quite prideful, like Yuna.
If it turned out that her mother had been persistently pressuring her to take illegal drugs, which caused her to injure her eyes, what good would that do for her?
I still didn’t know.
“Why not ask Ha-ru’s sister first?”
“She has a sister?”
“Yeah, but Ha-ru would probably hate it if you talked about her sister.”
Hmm…
If it was something she took to achieve high academic performance at the academy, there was no reason her sister wouldn’t have taken it too.
Reaching out to her later through Ha-ru was also a good idea.
“But doesn’t it feel kind of proud?”
“Why?”
Yuna grinned from ear to ear.
“That just means I’m way smarter than Ha-ru! I took the exam without any of that kind of medicine!”
“Yeah, you’re amazing.”
“Ah! Why can’t you just acknowledge it…! Just say I’m right!”
“Aren’t you going to watch the movie?”
“Nah, the movie’s not that interesting. I’d rather just eat snacks and chat with you.”
From the looks of it, the movie seemed more interesting than I expected. It was about a girl named Lesha, the daughter of Queen Elsa, who had only learned ice magic since birth, unexpectedly coming across fire magic, leading to an exciting story.
Even Yuna, who liked princesses, had a varied taste.
“You’re not sleepy, right?”
“Yeah! I’m still wide awake!”
“What should I do? I’m already tired.”
“You can’t…! Na-me, you were secretly sleeping earlier, remember? If you fall asleep now, I’ll be mad at you.”
“Sigh-”
“I really will be mad! Are you going to make me mad?”
Even if the alchemist had used magic with a wand, it was still a considerable amount for a 5th circle spell.
I hoped she would understand that the consumption of energy was significant, but this energetic child seemed tireless.
I couldn’t just lay her down next to Ha-ru, and I thought it was time to show Yuna an example as she kept fidgeting with my limbs.
“How about I tell you a scary story?”
“A…a scary story…? If I hear a scary one, I really can’t sleep!”
“Shh! You’ll wake Ha-ru.”
“I don’t want to! I absolutely won’t listen!”
“Then I guess I have to tell it even more.”
I immediately moved behind Yuna and sat her on my lap.
Scary stories were always better told up close for the proper effect.
I wrapped my arms around Yuna’s waist, making sure she couldn’t escape.
Realizing I wasn’t going to give up, Yuna spoke in a small voice.
“Make sure it’s not too scary…”
Yuna pulled the blanket tight over her head.
“This is something that actually happened to me last week. Listen carefully.
You know how in Seoul, it can be noisy even at night? I was jolted awake by the sound of a car horn. I checked the time, and it was exactly 4:44 AM. I went to the kitchen to get some water, and there was something strange?”
“Why specifically 4:44…? What was it?”
“Sneakers. The sneakers that should have been by the entrance were on the dining table.
I thought that was weird and tried to turn on the light, but suddenly someone covered my mouth from behind, like this!”
“Mm! Mmm!”
I mimed covering Yuna’s mouth. She jumped and flailed her arms. She was cute.
“Hey, from now on, eat all the food in the refrigerator. A mysterious voice I couldn’t tell if it was a ghost or a robber said that to me. When I opened the fridge, there were apples, pears, and even radishes. So I had to force myself to eat the fruit without even peeling it. And just when I was about to eat the radish, something suddenly choked me.”
“Mmm!”
“My airway was slowly getting blocked, and I couldn’t breathe. I asked it why it was doing this to me. Then it said this: ‘Radishes taste bad, so don’t eat them!’ When the radish heard that, it got upset saying, ‘Why don’t you eat me?'”
I removed my hand from Yuna’s mouth. A droplet of something – was it spit? – stretched between my palm and her lips before breaking.
“Thump. Is that the end…? There’s nothing more?”
Yuna tilted her head, trembling with fear but confused at the oddly anticlimactic ending.
“Yep. The radish was sad, so that’s why it’s a scary story.”
“……”
“That was really scary, you know.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? It wasn’t scary at all!”
“Heh.”
“Na-me has turned weird!”
Apparently, Yuna’s reaction wasn’t as satisfying as I thought.
Hiccup-
“Eeep!”
Suddenly, a hiccup sound came from beside us, nearly causing both Yuna and me to jump out of our seats.
I looked over to see Ha-ru peeking at us, still sound asleep.
“When did you wake up?”
*
Ha-ru said she had been awake since I started the scary story.
“It was fun!”
“Is this really what you think is fun? Ha-ru, are you losing your mind?”
“It’s a sad story about the radish. So it’s a scary story, heehee. Na-me, you’re a genius.”
Ha-ru giggled. Seeing her bright expression relieved me a bit.
“See, Yuna? She said it was fun.”
“What if a scary story isn’t scary but fun? What am I supposed to do then?”
“But you were drooling in fear.”
“Ah… that’s not true?”
“Then what is this on my hand, if not drool?”
“Ugh…”
I decided to let up on teasing Yuna for the moment and check on Ha-ru now that she was awake.
“Can you see colors fine now?”
“Yep! I can see that red light over there really well.”
She pointed to a scene from the movie being shown by the projector.
The protagonist Lesha was awakening and setting ice on fire. It wasn’t some gas hydrate; the supernatural powers defied the laws of physics, earning spontaneous applause. The title of the strongest in the world seems to be yours.
“Thank goodness. Since you absorbed a lot of aura at once, you might feel tired, but you can sleep again if you want.”
I used diagnostic magic to check Ha-ru’s condition, and there didn’t appear to be any additional issues.
Our bodies have an inherent ability to return to optimal conditions, so with the artificial engraving technique broken, Ha-ru’s body would also return to normal.
Ha-ru shook her head.
“Is my vision okay now?”
“Yep. There was never really a problem to begin with.”
“Really…? I thought I might never be able to see again…”
Ha-ru was still observing her surroundings with a sense of wonder.
When she asked me how I did it, I had no choice but to remain silent.
Instead, I thought it was important to advise Ha-ru about the medicine, so I flipped the question to her.
“Ha-ru, the medicine your mother gave you. Is there any left?”
“No. Whatever mom had is all gone. The little that was left, my sister probably threw away.”
“That’s really harmful medicine, so if you see anything like it, don’t take it. You promise?”
“Yeah… but wasn’t it just a supplement?”
“It depends on who takes it. It could be poisonous. Your mother probably didn’t know and gave it to you.”
“But I’m so happy I got to see my mom again… thank you… and I’m sorry I yelled earlier…”
Ha-ru said this to Yuna in a small voice.
“Seo Yu-na.”
“What?”
“Your hair… looks pretty now that I see it again…”
It seemed she unexpectedly complimented Yuna, perhaps because she liked her vividly colored hair.
“Oh, uh… thanks.”
Of course, Yuna looked quite surprised.
But judging by the way she kept fiddling with her hair, it didn’t seem like she disliked it too much.
“Oh right, Yuna, you said you wanted to try playing this, right?”
Yuna called me to the bathroom earlier not because Ha-ru had woken up.
She was asking if she could also play the otamatone I had mentioned before.
The conversation had taken a different turn, and I had forgotten, so just as the movie was almost over, I decided to share it with Yuna.
I took out the otamatone from the bottom drawer of the desk.
“Wow! That’s so cool!”
She rushed at me, eager to touch it.
I was already thinking of letting her play it, but the more she acted like that, the more I wanted to keep it away.
“Wow! Isn’t this the otamatone? It was super popular on TikTok before!”
Ha-ru seemed to know about the instrument too. I was the only one behind the times?
“Na-me, then play a piece for us!”
“Just wait a moment. Can I film this?”
Yuna kept pressing me, and Ha-ru even took out her phone and pointed the camera at me.
How many camera lenses does she have? One, two… five? At this point, it’s creepy.
“Alright.”
“What about posting it on TikTok?”
“Then just make sure my face doesn’t show.”
“Okay, just wait a sec. Alright, ready? On three, two, one.”
*
Na-me played Pagannini’s Caprice No. 24 for her friends.
Normally, she preferred slower tempo classical pieces, but children generally favored fast and technically complex pieces, so that was her choice.
The fast arpeggios alternated between low and high notes in Caprice No. 24, which was sure to excite even those not well-versed in music.
As Na-me finished her selection, Yuna eagerly tried to play as well, but she soon got disappointed as it didn’t sound as impressive as Na-me’s.
Knock, knock-
When the pajama party of the three girls was in full swing, Professor Chun knocked and peeked in.
“Hey kids, having fun?”
““Yes!””
The two girls happily sitting next to Na-me responded brightly. You couldn’t shake off the feeling of their increased intimacy, as they were stuck to each other like glue.
“I’m really sorry to interrupt your fun, but I just got a call from next door saying it’s a bit noisy. Since it’s nighttime, could you play a little quieter?”
“Yuna, did you hear that? Let’s play quietly now.”
“Why me…? Na-me, you were playing too, remember!”
“When did I? I don’t remember that.”
Despite Yuna’s protests, Na-me acted clueless and cut her off.
“It’s true! Na-me started it all!”
“The friends will quietly entertain themselves. Professor Chun, have a good night then.”
“Mmm…!”
Seeing Na-me not only covering Yuna’s mouth but also completely wrapping her up in the blanket brought a smile to Professor Chun’s face.
In moments like these, Na-me was still just a regular child.