EDM 4

He looked up at Kafka, who was sitting on the half-landing above, with a hostile gaze. The jerk, who had been glaring at Kafka with a frown, turned back and came up the stairs, then held out his hand. It seemed he had a shred of conscience left.

“Thanks.”

“…”

To be honest, he wasn’t thankful at all, but he said it out of courtesy. Kafka took the jerk’s hand and got up, brushing the dirt and dust off his body. The jerk stared at him silently.

“Something to say?”

Kafka, who had been bending over to dust off his clothes under the intense gaze, looked up at him. The jerk made a small, almost imperceptible gesture with his chin.

“Blood.”

“What?”

“You’re bleeding.”

Hearing that, he felt a strange warmth near his neck. He ran his palm over it and realized that the back of his head was bleeding, probably from hitting it when he fell.

He was flustered as he looked at the blood on his hand, but the jerk turned and started down the stairs again. As if he thought he had done his part, he didn’t stop and disappeared over the landing. Kafka took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his head, clicking his tongue softly. Fine, I lost.

If someone bleeds and the jerk just walks away, I have to acknowledge it.

He felt that way, and he didn’t want to have a battle of wills with someone he didn’t even know. It didn’t seem like a big injury that would make him cry and cause a fuss. Kafka thought it was a good thing and walked out of the emergency stairs with a handkerchief pressed to the back of his head.

‘I’ll use this as an excuse to leave work early today.’

The thought of not having to see Daconeer made the pain subside and he felt a little better. He walked down the hallway, passing exactly seven windows, when he suddenly stopped. Kafka looked back, even though he knew there would be nothing there.

‘But that guy just now.’

Could it have been Soren?

Blonde hair, red eyes, sharp features. He hadn’t recognized him right away because he had only seen him in deformed 2D artwork, but if he were to meet Soren in person, he would probably look just like that jerk. The throbbing pain subsided for a moment and his mind started racing. In the early parts of the webtoon, Soren often went to the emergency stairs when he wanted to be alone…

‘But he wasn’t this much of a jerk.’

He was a bit prickly, but he wasn’t the kind of character who would leave someone who bumped into him, fell, and bled to go on his way. He hadn’t heard any rumors about a transfer student yet, so maybe it was just an extra who looked similar.

Kafka tilted his head as he stood there. As soon as he finished thinking, the pain he had forgotten for a moment came rushing back. He figured he should go to the infirmary first, so he hurried on his way again.

---

“Ugh, seriously!”

Aisha waved her hand in disgust at the Millenka smoke that filled the room. Kafka, who had been leaning against the headboard of the bed, closed the book he was reading and looked at his twin sister.

“Knock before you come in. What if I was undressing?”

“What’s the big deal? We were born together naked.”

Aisha approached, covering her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her robe. She grimaced at the incense burner on the bedside table, which was emitting the Millenka Herb scent she hated.

“I heard you hurt your head?”

Kafka silently watched Aisha plop down on the stool and touched the back of his head. The gauze that Nurse Isobel had put on felt rough against his fingertips.

“It’s just a little cut. She said it’ll heal in a couple of days.”

After examining the wound, Nurse Isobel gave him a simple treatment, some magical medicine, and prescribed that he rest quietly in bed for the day, just in case. Thanks to that, Kafka was able to leave work early without much argument and lock himself in his dorm room.

“How did you get hurt?”

“I bumped into someone and fell backward.”

“So, did you get an apology?”

Kafka immediately closed his mouth and avoided her gaze. Aisha, thinking he had let it go because he was too lazy as always, jumped up from her seat.

“Hey! You let him go without an apology after your head got busted?”

“He did help me up, though…”

“Of course he did! Who was it? I’m going to go bust his head open the same way.”

“It wasn’t a busted head, it was just a cut, and it was an accidental bump, so it was both our faults.”

So calm down and sit down. Kafka pointed to the stool with his index finger. Aisha sat back down with a disgruntled expression.

“So who was it?”

Rigel Academy was quite large, but it only allowed nobles to enroll, so everyone knew each other’s names for the most part. However, Kafka was so unsociable that he knew fewer faces than he didn’t.

“I don’t know.”

So he honestly answered that he didn’t know. Aisha narrowed her eyes as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Then at least tell me what he looked like.”

“Um… he looked fierce, blonde, and had red eyes.”

Was he about my height? His eyes met mine when I took his hand and got up, so he’s probably about the same.

Aisha listened to Kafka’s description, crossed her arms, and pondered for a moment. She frowned and tilted her head.

“There’s no one in the eighth grade with blonde hair and red eyes.”

“Then maybe he’s not in our grade.”

“Could he be an outsider?”

“He was wearing a uniform.”

Hmm. Aisha’s brow furrowed even deeper. Kafka covered the incense burner to put out the fire burning the Millenka leaves and said to Aisha.

“Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal, so don’t do anything unnecessary.”

Because he could barely use magic due to Eleanor Syndrome, Kafka was as good as an outcast in his family. They wouldn’t treat an outcast son well outside the house, so he was often preyed upon by mischievous peers.

The righteous Aisha couldn’t stand to see that. Whenever her brother was being bullied, she would rush to his defense and demand an apology. Thanks to that, an atmosphere was created in Rigel where no one would dare to touch Kafka for fear of Aisha.

Whenever Kafka told her to just ignore it, Aisha always replied like that. It was something he was both sorry for and grateful for as a sibling. If it weren’t for his sister, who stepped up to fight for him, he wouldn’t be able to walk around the academy in such good shape.

“What do you take me for, a thug?”

Anyway, I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt. Aisha said that and let out a sigh of relief. She seemed relieved to know that it wasn’t bullying.

“How’s your Aura training going?”

“Why all of a sudden?”

Aisha’s eyes widened at the sudden change of topic. After hesitating for a moment, she sighed and scratched the back of her head.

“It’s only been a few days since I awakened it.”

“Is it not going well?”

“I don’t know if it’s not going well… or if there’s no one to practice with.”

Tch. Aisha clicked her tongue. He had a rough idea of what she was talking about. Rigel was a prestigious magic school, so the skills of the swordsmanship and faculty were mediocre. Until Soren entered and Professor Manoha was appointed in the second semester.

So, as of now, there was no one who could be a sparring partner for Aisha, who had awakened her Aura. Kafka didn’t say anything, as it was a problem that time would solve. Aisha didn’t seem to expect anything in particular either, and changed the subject.

“Did you hear the rumor that a transfer student is coming?”

I wonder why the headmaster allowed a mid-term enrollment. At Aisha’s words, Kafka widened his eyes slightly in surprise. Of course, it was an act. As he had been anticipating Soren’s appearance, he only felt a sense of ‘what’s coming is coming’.

“I heard he arrived at the academy today.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. Someone saw him coming out of the headmaster’s office.”

So that jerk from earlier must have been Soren.

Kafka was lost in thought for a moment. He thought that he would have to burn Millenka somewhere other than the emergency stairs for a while.

In the webtoon, Soren often went to the emergency stairs to calm his anger whenever he was frustrated. After he became friends with Aisha, the frequency gradually decreased, but at least in the early days of his enrollment, he spent more time in the emergency stairs than in his room.

In other words, if he hung out in the emergency stairs, there was a high probability that he would run into Soren like today.

“What’s wrong?”

Aisha looked at Kafka with a puzzled expression as he suddenly fell into thought. Kafka shook his hand as if it was nothing and wrapped up his thoughts.

‘What good would come of running into the protagonist all the time?’

It’ll just create a connection and be utterly useless.

Anyway, it was a very difficult situation for Kafka. Until he could use his new hideout after the rainy season, he would have to endure the pain or go back to his dorm to burn Millenka, even if it was a hassle.

After that, he chatted with Aisha about this and that for a while. Most of it was light small talk. Because they were in different departments and the distance between the girls’ dormitory and the boys’ dormitory was far, they rarely saw each other even though they went to the same academy.

“It’s almost curfew.”

When curfew came, the dormitory doors were closed and going in and out was strictly prohibited. Aisha, who had been excitedly telling him stories about the love triangles of her classmates, got up from her seat and dusted off her skirt, saying she had to go.

“Are you going home for the upcoming vacation?”

Aisha asked before leaving the door. Kafka hesitated for a moment and shook his head. Aisha had a strangely lonely expression, but she didn’t particularly scold her brother. The Sonder family was like that.