Greenhouse (1)
“Did you miss me?”
Kim Chae-min laughed brightly.
“You didn’t want to see me? You wanted to see me, didn’t you? You wanted to see me!”
“Oh, yes… I missed you.”
It was a face I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Grand Mage Kim Chae-min smiled brightly with a shiny face. He smiled so well that it was almost annoying.
Doesn’t he look like he’s doing really well for someone who’s been so secluded?
“What the heck! You’re so soulless! Say it with a little more soul.”
It would be a lie to say that I’m not happy, but I don’t think that means I have any obligation to be happy the way you want me to be.
But that is a precious archmage. Even for hunters, it is as rare as ginseng to meet an archmage in one’s life.
And unpaid volunteers… .
No, what. It’s not like Hong Seok-young actually used Kim Chae-min for free in exchange for my runes, but he paid Kim Chae-min exactly the minimum wage. And when Kim Chae-min couldn’t even show his face because of the territory, he put her on unpaid leave. In these areas, it’s a law that must be strictly observed.
“Oh. I really missed you. There were moments when I felt sad because Mr. Kim wasn’t around.”
“… I don’t think so?”
“It’s true.”
“Still soulless.”
“It’s a mistake.”
“… … .”
Kim Chae-min looked at me with suspicious eyes.
What can I do if you doubt me? What do you expect from your coworkers? And those words were sincere. I can think of a few moments when it would have been easier if Kim Chae-min was there. For example, during the Bangi-dong dungeon… .
But I’m an adult. I can easily overlook such regrets.
How can people live as they please? If circumstances arise, they can take a break for a few months, leaving the work to other colleagues. That’s how everyone lives, helping each other. Of course, I can’t take a break like that.
Even that is part of human life.
“… I’ll move on for now.”
“Should we just let it go?”
“Are you just admitting that you don’t have a soul?”
“No. I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”
Kim Chae-min looked at me with a sullen face and then burst into laughter. It was a clear voice that I hadn’t heard in a long time. Think about what kind of laughter you’ve heard so far.
At best, all I could do was watch Woo I-rok and Hong Seok-young giggle. Add to that the fact that Gamble was quietly laughing, and Kim Chae-min was laughing loudly without looking around… .
‘Ahaha! Shall I tell you a funny story? Nothing on the ark works as well as I thought!’
I felt sick when I thought of that face, which I couldn’t tell if it was a monster or a human.
Kim Chae-min avoided all those annoying things by enjoying unpaid vacation without permission. Honestly, that was the thing I didn’t like the most. If you’re a coworker, shouldn’t you share the pain?
“But if you think about it, the fact that you had moments where you missed me when I wasn’t around doesn’t mean you missed me, right?”
“You said you missed me.”
“It wasn’t that you were uncomfortable because there wasn’t a convenient archmage?”
“How could you say such an insolent thing to the Archmage?”
Kim Chae-min snorted, but said nothing more.
Instead, Kim Chae-min grabbed my arm and started walking.
“It’s unfair if you think I was just playing around!”
“I didn’t say I was playing.”
“You can tell just by looking at it.”
“How dare you think such disrespectful thoughts towards the Archmage. I am not that kind of person.”
Kim Chae-min walked along the path she was led to and looked around.
The development of modern horsepower engineering has made construction speeds incredibly fast. To be honest, I think it is more due to the triumph of modern capitalism that has already been seen rather than scientific influence, but in any case, the three containers that were once located in the middle of a barren field of reeds have now become a decent one-story building.
A building. A school, to be exact.
So, this is the building of the Hunter Training Demonstration School. It is also the predecessor of the educational institution that would later be called Hunter Academy.
There were three containers used as classrooms, and the school is made up of three buildings. The main building, which has classrooms for classes. The dormitory where students stay. The principal’s office and the dormitory where teachers stay.
The number of students is still small, and the number of teachers is about the same, so the building itself is not that big. However, it is exactly the same as the first floor of the Hunter Academy Building 1. If the number of students increases later, we will expand here. For now, we have only built the essential facilities for Imiseon to use right away. Thanks to this, the playground, which is surprisingly large compared to the size of the building, stands out.
“Do you know how much trouble I had to put the runes that you gave me here?”
The Archmage is a being who lies without even washing his mouth.
“What trouble did you have? I did everything and got it over with.”
It was just a design that was handed over from an existing blueprint. It was a design that a verified expert had painstakingly created. There was no room for modification.
“… … That! I can’t deny it.”
Kim Chae-min stuck out her lips.
“Just give in once.”
“Because it is a law that merits must be clearly shared.”
“Really, I can’t say anything because you only say the right thing.”
Although she was grumbling, Kim Chae-min wasn’t really annoyed. Rather, her voice sounded excited and curious about what would happen next.
And I’m the kind of person who gets anxious when someone is happy for no reason.
Hunters are hunters, but especially when magicians are having fun like that, bad things always happen.
“But I wasn’t really playing.”
“I told you, Mr. Kim, I didn’t say that he was playing.”
“I haven’t shown this to anyone yet! Not even this hunter!”
Kim Chae-min’s face becomes even more shiny. What on earth is it? What on earth could possibly excite a great wizard like this?
Yim Ji-seon headed to the back of the building where the principal’s office and teachers’ office were temporarily named Building 2. There were still endless fields of reeds around the school.
“… … .”
I squinted my eyes.
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Inside the reed field, a little way from the school, there is a small… log cabin.
It is small in size. Like the school building, it is on the first floor and has a simple rectangular shape. The windows are small, but looking at the overall appearance, it looks more like a warehouse than something built for people to live in.
But if it really was a warehouse, Kim Chae-min wouldn’t be showing it off so proudly.
Vines cover the gnarled logs. The leaves look familiar. Kim Chae-min’s magic.
Even if it weren’t for the roses covering the roof, I couldn’t help but know what it was.
“…is this the area?”
Kim Chae-min smiled brightly and nodded.
“yes!”
“Why are you showing it to me?”
“Why would you do that?”
Kim Chae-min asked me back instead.
I told you something bad was going to happen.
“no.”
“Of course, yes?”
“No matter what.”
“No… . Teacher Woo, you’ve become more determined in the time I haven’t seen you.”
“If you like it, you like it. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. If you say it properly, then your life will go smoothly.”
But Kim Chae-min was still holding my arm.
“The principal couldn’t come today.”
“What does that matter?”
“So, I have to see the teacher at least.”
Kim Chae-min let go of the hand that was holding her arm. Right hand. Kim Chae-min’s dominant hand.
“…What?”
He opened his right hand wide and reached out to me again. A magical power of bright pink and refreshing lime green gently wrapped around me and then disappeared.
“My greatest masterpiece!”
* * *
“Honestly, I think this could go down in history as one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. Maybe I could even be evaluated as a better magician than Noah Michel. How about it? Isn’t it thrilling?”
“What does Mr. Kim’s achievement have to do with me?”
“Don’t be so blunt. We have to take down Noah Michelle. Wouldn’t it be better for me to be more famous than Michelle?”
“That’s your career, sir, and it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the ark.”
“Is that really true?”
Kim Chae-min smiled sinisterly.
Making statements that raise expectations like this only increases the possibility that the work will turn out to be nothing special. I’ve seen this a lot. This is usually what scammers do.
He looked at Kim Chae-min with a suspicious look. Just because he’s a great wizard doesn’t mean he can’t be scammed. No, in this case, is it the great wizard who commits fraud? That wasn’t something that didn’t happen.
Despite my lukewarm gaze, Kim Chae-min hummed a song with a happy face.
“Security is set to the highest level. Only those I authorize can enter.”
Kim Chae-min glanced at me.
“That’s a one-time thing, so if you want to come again, you have to come with me.”
“Ah yes….”
“If someone comes in without permission, it will explode.”
“Oh, yes… Yes?”
“I’ll warn the kids too. They’re good kids, so I don’t think they’ll come in on their own.”
“Wait a minute, it’s going to explode?”
Kim Chae-min looked back with a strange face.
“Don’t worry. I’ve triple-layered defensive magic to prevent damage to the school, and the reeds are also protected from fire. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.”
“That’s not what I meant… No, that’s fine. Let’s just go in quickly.”
Yes. As Kim Chae-min said, he must have had some kind of idea. If he had simply called me to show off the realm he had created.
I have to tell Hong Seok-young to cut it off.
… Is it a waste to cut down the Archmage for just this reason? Well, I have Han Tae-kyung with me too.
We need to watch closely to make sure they don’t teach the kids strange things.
Kim Chae-min slowly opened the door to the log cabin.
It is a plain door with no special features. However, the door, as well as all the materials that make up this house, are intricately entangled with magic. It is delicate like a spider web and complex like a net. And Kim Chae-min’s magic fits perfectly into the empty space like a key.
It is not a lie that it explodes when an unauthorized person enters. Kim Chae-min’s warm magic, like the spring breeze of May, stands firm.
The cold magic that was sweeping over me was halted by the magic of Kim Chae-min that was hovering around me. The sharp wind became quiet. Kim Chae-min looked back at me and smiled.
“Come on in.”
“…Excuse me.”
The interior had a surprisingly comfortable atmosphere. The windows were not large, but they were filled with warm sunlight. It was a scientifically absurd space, but I didn’t think much about it. After all, that’s what magic is all about.
The tip of my nose was filled with the fresh scent of grass. In fact, all kinds of plants were growing there. There were colorful roses, of course, but also many unfamiliar flowers and plants.
But more than anything else, there was something that caught my eye.
“how is it?”
Kim Chae-min couldn’t hide her laughter.
In the middle of the area, on a rough wooden table, there was a glass case like an ornament. It seemed to be used as a small greenhouse, and there were flowers growing inside.
“this….”
I approached the table as if possessed.
Inside the glass case, a blue flower was growing. It was much larger than the ones I had seen in the dungeon, but it was spreading magical energy like pollen… A blue flower.
Small flowers like baby’s breath hang abundantly. The weight of the flowers, which are lush compared to the stems, makes them bow their heads, similar to the reeds surrounding this house.
I gulped. Before I could continue speaking, Kim Chae-min spoke clearly.
“It’s magic grass.”
Fantasy, contemporary,
