SRS 94

“I should head out first to make it to class.”

It was 20 minutes before the Herbology lecture began. Considering the travel time, it was time to move. Yohan rose from his bed and dressed. Thanks to the rest he took during the break, the exhaustion from using his spirit’s power had completely vanished.

“Will you be alright? Why don’t you wear your cloak?”

“The cloak?”

“The one made by the dwarf craftsman.”

“Ah.”

It had excellent defensive effects, but Yohan rarely wore it unless he was going out at night because he worried about its durability. Recalling the cloak from the back of his mind, Yohan looked toward the rack. The cloak hung there, still in perfect condition after a few uses.

“Why? Is it because of the monster attacks from the rifts?”

“…That could be a reason, but it’s not the only one.”

“What?”

As Yohan tilted his head at the cryptic remark, Mikael sighed, stood up, and walked to the rack. He personally took down the black cloak for Yohan and draped it over his shoulders.

“The news that you contracted a mid-level spirit has spread. Many things are likely to happen because of that.”

Mikael fastened the button at the neck of the cloak and looked Yohan in the eye with a warning. Since his gaze was serious and he didn’t seem like he was joking, Yohan listened attentively.

“What kind of things… for example?”

“Well… other students might become envious of you.”

“Ah.”

The example made sense. Currently, about sixty percent of the first-years pitied Yohan while viewing him as a kind friend; thirty percent saw him as a monster obsessed with grades; and the remaining ten percent were jealous of him.

Yohan was aware of the hostility from those few, but he hadn’t taken any action. Backstabbing remarks were nothing special, and they hadn’t caused him any direct harm.

To begin with, the jealousy of first-years was trivial compared to the envy Yohan had experienced in the past, so there was no reason to care.

“…That is possible. There are a few like that even now. But I don’t think they would do anything bad just because they are jealous.”

Yohan scratched his cheek and murmured awkwardly.

If the first-years had been truly malicious in their envy, they would have acted by now, but nothing had happened yet. When Yohan suggested he might be overthinking it, Mikael shrugged.

“That might be true for now, but you never know. Some of them might get so jealous they try to cast a curse on you.”

“I haven’t caused them any harm, would they really go that far?”

“For your information, two years ago, the top-ranked first-year was actually hit by a roommate’s curse and turned into a tree for a month.”

“…….”

Hearing the specific example, Yohan briefly debated whether to blame the student who cursed their roommate or be horrified at this incredible school for leaving a student as a tree for an entire month. He eventually adjusted his cloak.

“…I’ll be careful for now.”

He already knew how malicious a person could be. He also knew how far someone could go when blinded by jealousy, so he lowered his gaze with a heavy heart. Sensing the shift, Mikael took Yohan by the chin and tilted his head up.

Mikael blinked as their eyes met, then ruffled Yohan’s hair before stepping back.

“That was too much of a leap, and I spoke out of turn. Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s fine.”

“But watch yourself. The first-years will be noisy, but the ones you should be most wary of are the professors.”

“Right. I’m heading out.”

“See you at the general education lecture.”

After Mikael saw him off, Yohan left the dormitory and instinctively scanned his surroundings, muffling his footsteps. Mikael’s warning to beware of the professors more than the jealousy of the students was far more terrifying, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

Carefully.

Wary of everything, he used deserted paths to leave the dormitory area and head toward the lecture hall.

The unavoidable obstacle began at the stairs.

“Oh? It’s Yohan!”

“Where?”

“Over there! Yohan! I heard you contracted a mid-level spirit!”

“Show us the spirit!”

“Show us! Show us!”

He had managed to reach the building while avoiding people’s eyes, but he inevitably ran into classmates at the stairs leading to the second-floor classroom. Since there was only one staircase, it was an unavoidable ordeal.

Yohan swallowed dryly as he saw his friends rushing toward him. He had even pulled his hood up just in case, but perhaps that only drew more suspicion, as he was spotted the moment his foot hit the steps. He was wondering what to do…

Whoosh.

Someone approached from behind, grabbed Yohan’s arm, and pulled him back. The hands of the students coming down the stairs missed him by a hair’s breadth, grasping at empty air.

The person who was holding Yohan tightly then immediately kicked off the ground and jumped over a whole flight of stairs. It was an amazing physical demonstration.

“Wow.”

Yohan marveled at a sight his own physical abilities could never produce, then belatedly checked the face of the person who had helped him. Given that they were at the Herbology lecture building, he had a hunch, and as expected, it was Suhyeok.

“Suhyeok.”

When Yohan called his name with a look of welcome, Suhyeok put him down and started running toward the classroom as he spoke.

“Are you alright? I think I grabbed your arm a bit too hard!”

“I’m fine. Thank you for the help.”

Yohan kept up with his pace as best as he could, looking back and forth between the empty classrooms and his wristwatch.

There were still about five minutes left before the next class started.

Judging by how excited the other students were, staying in the hallway for five minutes would surely put him at the center of another unwanted scene. Yohan signaled to duck into an empty classroom, and Suhyeok quickly grabbed him, running until they claimed a vacant room.

Click.

Yohan engaged the latch to lock the door and pulled the window curtains shut.

He leaned against the wall, hiding his presence entirely as he listened to the sounds outside. He could hear the students who had followed late searching the hallway.

“What? Where did he go?”

“Hey, has anyone seen Yohan?”

“Did he run away? Damn… I saw Suhyeok taking him somewhere.”

The sound of footsteps grew distant, then close again. Yohan exchanged glances with Suhyeok, holding his breath and staring only at his watch.

Four minutes left…

Three minutes left…

As the time decreased…Clack! The locked classroom door shook.

“What? Why is this locked?”

“Isn’t it usually locked?”

“No way. I saw it open earlier.”

“…Then that means someone went in and locked it?”

“…He’s in here!”

Bang, bang, bang!

Soon, the sound of someone pounding on the door echoed everywhere.

“Yohan! You’re in there, right?”

“Hey, Yohan! Come on out, we won’t hurt you!”

“We just want to see the spirit!”

“We want to see it too!”

Even though Yohan hadn’t made a sound, the students took that silence as proof he was there and shouted loudly. Yohan closed his eyes and pressed his hand to his forehead. Seeing his friend like that, Suhyeok felt bad and raised his voice.

“Oh, just get lost, you punks! Leave Yohan alone so he can rest! Don’t you feel bad for him?”

Suhyeok got angry at the students causing the commotion on behalf of the exhausted Yohan. He argued back and forth with them for a bit, then, deciding it wasn’t working, he pulled back the curtains and opened the window to face them directly, venting his fury. Meanwhile, Yohan saw that there was less than a minute left until the start of the lecture and signaled to Suhyeok.

‘Let’s go.’

‘Now? They’re still right there.’

‘It’s fine. It’s Professor Will’s lecture.’

Professor Will was an elf who was strict about tardiness. Unless the students wanted to receive penalty points for poor attitude, it was time for them to head to their classrooms. As expected, the students who had been gathered outside hurried to their seats at the shout of someone saying class was starting.

“Let’s go too.”

Taking the chance, Yohan quickly opened the door and ran into the lecture hall.

“Oh! Yohan!”

The moment the students spotted Yohan and tried to get noisy again, the bell rang. Professor Will entered the room with one-second precision and scanned everyone.

Under the elf’s gentle yet chilling gaze, the noisy students immediately shut their mouths and prepared for class in a submissive manner.

“Is everyone here? Good. Let’s begin the lesson.”

Professor Will started the class in his usual manner. His voice explaining theory was so peaceful that Yohan let down his guard and focused on the lesson. However, in the middle of listening passionately, he was caught off guard.

“By the way, did Yohan not contract a mid-level water spirit? It is something to celebrate. It will be very helpful when manufacturing medicine, so try to maintain a friendly relationship with the spirit.”

It was because Professor Will suddenly brought up Yohan’s personal news in the middle of the lecture.

Flustered by the elf’s gaze, Yohan reflexively nodded his head and then rubbed his neck.

‘…How on earth did he know?’

Since Professor Will was an elf, Yohan knew he spent his time in the forest rather than the office when he had no classes. He couldn’t understand how the rumors could be fast enough to reach even that professor.

A short while later.

During the team project time overseen by Professor Will, Yohan was able to confirm the source of those fast-moving rumors.

“My neighbor did such an amazing thing, I couldn’t possibly not announce your achievement! So I used a transmission spell to tell everyone the news!”

There was no need to search for the culprit, thanks to Melek shouting proudly with a face that practically begged for praise.

As Yohan looked at his friend with a speechless expression, Suhyeok covered Melek’s loud mouth, dragged him away, and returned a moment later with a dejected-looking Melek.

Yohan was surprised to see Melek looking so gloomy after his complexion changed instantly, and he grabbed Suhyeok’s arm.

“What did you do?”

When he asked worriedly, the Hunter pulled a small potion bottle out of his pocket and shook it. It was a potion Yohan knew well.

The Potion for the Negative and Timid.

“…Oh my god.”

Suhyeok had fed his friend the potion.