EDM 6

“Ibelonoia, I apologize if I made you uncomfortable back then.”

“I wasn’t uncomfortable.”

“…”

“I just felt a bit bad.”

He was just being petty because it was annoying how he just stared at him blankly, but now it’s come back to bite him like this.

Why did I create this situation by getting into some kind of power struggle that was so unlike me? Kafka let out a deep sigh and was about to scratch the back of his head when he stopped his hand. It was because of the gauze that hadn’t been removed yet.

“I guess I was dizzy back then and wasn’t thinking straight.”

“…”

“Anyway, if it made you feel bad, I’m sorry.”

“Hey!”

Just as he was trying to wrap things up nicely, Aisha shouted from behind him. At the same time, his calf was kicked and the impact made his knees buckle. His body instantly lost balance and stumbled forward, almost falling completely. Fortunately, Soren, who was standing in front of him, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, preventing him from rolling around ridiculously in front of all the students.

“Thank y—”

Soren didn’t even listen to his thanks and pulled his arm to help Kafka stand up. It was a kind gesture in its own way, but the slight flaw was that he didn’t control his strength, almost causing Kafka to fall backward. Watching Kafka barely regain his balance, Soren snorted as if he found him pathetic.

“Idiot.”

“…”

He had nothing to say. Kafka quietly turned his head to look at Aisha. As expected, her face was red as if it might burst, and she was gritting her teeth. It seemed less like she was embarrassed by Kafka’s existence and more like she was furious to the tips of her hair.

At Kafka, who was making unnecessary apologies after she had fought for his honor. And at Soren, who was calling her twin brother an idiot.

“I don’t care anymore!”

Aisha threw her broken sword on the ground and strode toward the girls’ dormitory. Soren crossed his arms and watched Aisha’s retreating figure before shifting his gaze to Kafka, who was left standing alone.

“Now even your sister will call you an idiot.”

After finishing his words, he made a bored expression and walked in the opposite direction from Aisha. It was toward the boys’ dormitory. The spectators began murmuring as if they were disappointed by the hastily concluded duel. Kafka stared blankly in the direction Soren had gone for a moment, then came to his senses and hurriedly ran toward the girls’ dormitory.

* * *

That day, Aisha wouldn’t open her door, so he had to return to his dormitory without being able to talk to her. Therefore, they could only reconcile after Aisha came knocking on Kafka’s door with a sullen expression. It was five days later, after receiving disciplinary action for causing a disturbance on campus.

“Idiot!”

Aisha, sitting in front of the tea table, immediately started with insults. Since he was in a position where he’d have nothing to say even with ten mouths, Kafka quietly accepted his sister’s anger without complaint.

“What does that make me if you apologize there?”

“There were so many people, so I thought it would be better to wrap things up quickly…”

While explaining his honest feelings, Kafka offered Aisha plenty of sweets like chocolate and jellies. During the disciplinary period, food other than dry bread was prohibited, so she must be craving snacks quite a bit by now.

“I was wrong to kick your leg back then. I was just so angry.”

“No. I deserved to be hit.”

“Right, you bastard! Even knowing that I’m getting called a troublemaker because of you…”

Aisha’s voice rose again as her anger seemed to boil up once more. Kafka quickly appeased Aisha’s anger by offering her a box of Mrs. Julie’s jelly beans, which he had been saving. Mrs. Julie’s jelly beans were the siblings’ favorite snack.

“Is your disciplinary action ending today?”

“Yeah. Originally it should have been a month, but the professors convinced the principal, so it ended after five days.”

It seemed that both Soren and Aisha were valuable talents who could use aura, so the swordsmanship professors had pulled some strings. Aisha said she had no energy after eating only dry bread for five days and stuffed her mouth full of jelly beans.

“What about Ibelonoia?”

“Ibelonoia? You mean Soren?”

“…You’ve become close enough to call each other by name?”

Kafka’s eyes widened slightly. He had been anxious that his intervention might have caused the story to conclude differently from the webtoon, but it seemed the story had been progressing steadily out of sight.

“During the disciplinary period, he and I were punished by having to clean the cabin together…”

Aisha paused and finished chewing and swallowing her jelly beans. Meanwhile, Kafka poured the well-steeped tea and placed it in front of Aisha.

“While cleaning and talking about various things, he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy.”

So she wanted to try being friends with him. After finishing her simple explanation, Aisha held her teacup and glanced at Kafka. She seemed worried that he might be hurt by her declaration to befriend Soren.

“Really? That’s great.”

However, Kafka smiled very brightly. He had been losing sleep over the past few days, worried that the story might go wrong and Aisha and Soren’s relationship might sour. In the midst of all that, to hear that they had worked things out on their own and decided to get along well—what better news could there be!

‘Though there are still some things that bother me.’

It seems this world basically follows the webtoon’s development after all.

Kafka put a period on the conviction he had been dragging out and took a sip of tea. Unlike millenka grass, the fragrance of quality tea leaves pleasantly filled his nostrils.

Now that it was established fact that this was the world inside a webtoon, what he, as a foreign element, needed to do was extremely simple. No longer interfere between Soren and Aisha. Live quietly like a dead mouse and not interfere with the story’s development. As one member of this world’s population, just watch the show and enjoy the benefits.

Compared to saving the world, it was truly as easy as eating cold porridge. With hope that he could be liberated from his troublesome fate, Kafka felt his heart swell with emotion.

* * *

The rainy season, which had started earlier than usual, showed no signs of ending anytime soon.

The sky had been overcast for over two weeks already. Some days brought torrential downpours all day long, while others had drizzle that started and stopped intermittently. Either way, outdoor activities were impossible, so the expressions of students who had reached the peak of boredom grew more sullen by the day.

‘It’s cold…’

Sitting on the emergency stairs smoking millenka herb, the chill seeped through his robe into his body. He had been avoiding the emergency stairs for the past few days to avoid encountering Soren, but unbearable pain had forced him to take the risk.

How were Soren and Aisha building their friendship?

Recently, rumors had been circulating that the two were sticking together even after school. Because of this, gossipmongers were grinning with anticipation, expecting to hear “romantic news.” However, to Kafka, who knew the webtoon’s development, this was just another boring story.

The two becoming lovers would happen in their 9th year, just before graduation. Even considering that the development was somewhat faster than the webtoon, it wasn’t time yet. Therefore, they were surely just accompanying each other for swordsmanship training and aura research, with absolutely no ulterior motives.

Kafka watched the smoke rising from the tip of his millenka cigarette with a troubled expression.

Aisha was both Kafka’s family and practically his only friend. Given her personality, she wouldn’t ignore Kafka just because she got a boyfriend, but as her relationship with Soren deepened, their growing apart would be inevitable. Thinking about it already made him feel a bit lonely as if he were sending Aisha away to a distant place.

‘But I can’t follow them around everywhere either.’

I’m not going to destroy the world just because I’m lonely. Kafka blew out the smoke and suppressed his sad feelings. When he thought about it, it wasn’t really something to be upset about. Wasn’t sibling affection bound to gradually fade as they met new people and built their own boundaries?

In the first place, considering a normal sibling relationship, it was a miracle that they had stuck together this long at their age. Whether it was because of the special nature of being twins, or because of their ambiguous position in the household, he couldn’t tell.

I just hope they don’t catch cold training in the rain. Looking at the pouring rain, he suddenly felt worried. If others heard this, they would snort at who was worrying about whom. Unlike Kafka, who despite being in the magic department couldn’t use waterproof magic and needed an umbrella, Aisha could handle basic magic even though she was in the swordsmanship department.

Most importantly, Soren was by Aisha’s side. A genius of the ages born with the qualities of both a sword master and a great mage.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t there a related episode?’

Until the middle of Part 1, Soren lives hiding the fact that he has talent in magic. It was because of Duke Ibelonoia’s orders. So while pretending to have no knowledge of magic, he comes to confess to Aisha that he can use magic after some incident… He couldn’t quite remember when or through what route that event occurred.

What was certain was that it was a situation where Aisha was very cold with hypothermia, and Soren cast a warming spell on her.

Hmm. While smoking millenka, Kafka slowly retraced his memories. In any case, it wasn’t now. If he cast a waterproofing spell, his body wouldn’t get wet, and therefore there would be no risk of hypothermia.

‘It can’t be helped since several years have passed since I regained my memories.’

His goal is to interfere with the development as little as possible, so there’s no need to try hard to remember.

Kafka stubbed out the finished millenka cigarette on his shoe heel as he always did. Extinguishing the cigarette by pressing it against his shoe heel rather than on walls or floors was one of his old habits.

It was a good method in many ways since it didn’t leave traces in conspicuous places. If he had to point out a flaw, it would be that it made his shoe soles messy, giving rise to false rumors that he was such a neglected child that they wouldn’t even buy him shoes.

A habitual sigh escaped him. There must have still been smoke in his lungs, as his breath took on a faint form and flowed out hazily. After putting the trash in his cigarette butt pocket, Kafka looked at the distant scenery for a moment. The sight of Rigel Forest shrouded in mist looked very dreary. Dreary enough to make one feel melancholy just by looking at it.