༺ Tying Up Loose Ends (4) ༻
1.
“I want you to return to the modern world.”
Siwoo was left alone to talk with Albireo.
As soon as Deneb left the room, she declared as such with a resolute voice.
“Allow me to explain further. Please understand that the option proposed by Deneb, for you to become a guest and remain in the Gemini Household, is not a viable option for you.”
‘Has the warmth she had shown previously cooled down because of the mood change?’
Siwoo looked at her face, trying to process her change of attitude.
“Why?”
The entire conversation between him and the Countess had only lasted for thirty minutes, but his face already looked weary.
Albireo began to speak.
At the same time, Siwoo’s left eye noticed that the mana around them was stirred.
“When you went out with Odile tonight, what did you do?”
The world came to a standstill.
His left eye allowed him to perceive everything that happened in the surrounding in a slowed down motion.
As Albireo opened her mouth, the mana around her responded.
Her voice, breath, tone, pronunciation and pitch, assembled an incantation.
The air that she let out from her mouth harmonized with the surrounding mana, turning it into tiny black feathers.
Then, those feathers moved toward Siwoo.
At that moment, his left eye gleamed.
He instinctively raised his hand and swatted those feathers away.
There was a faint, almost invisible mana in his hand. It helped him effortlessly brush the feathers aside.
He had an instinctive understanding of the magic Albiero had employed, that was why he was able to dispel it pretty quickly.
Siwoo knew that there was only one self-essence magic that she would cast in that moment.
Poem of Confession.
He couldn’t let her know about everything that he had done with the twins.
“What?!”
That was the first time Siwoo had heard such bewilderment in Albireo’s voice.
She watched as the Poem of Confession she casted scattered into nothingness with wide eyes.
Though she witnessed it happen with her own eyes, she still found it hard to believe.
Her mastery of the spell surpassed the twins’ by a large margin.
It was supposed to be discreet and almost impossible to be dispelled.
Even if one were to close their ears and block all the incoming sound, it wouldn’t be enough to defend themselves from it.
However, not only did Siwoo manage to sense the discreet spell, he also skillfully dispersed its structure efficiently.
“How did you do that?”
“Um, I don’t know... I just...did...”
“I’m asking you again. How did you do that?”
What he had done was nullifying self-essence magic, not any other form of magic.
As someone walking in the path of magic, it was natural for her to be curious, as she hadn’t even considered that it was possible to attempt such a thing.
“I just swept away the magic formula I saw.”
“...You always amaze me. Are you telling me you can see my self-essence magic?”
“Yes. Since I recovered... I can see the flow of mana...”
Albireo fell into deep thought for a moment.
‘He could see the flow of mana?’
‘By observing the flow of mana, it could allow someone to dispel even self-essence magic?’
‘No, that isn’t possible.’
She concluded that he had misunderstood the nature of his own left eye.
But, she knew that he’d come to realize the truth soon.
At that moment, Albireo’s curiosity rose up, twisting and turning like an impulsive force.
For witches, curiosity was an innate and strong desire. It was the equivalent of a human’s desire to eat, sleep or sex.
However, she forcefully suppressed that impulse.
She knew that this wasn’t the time to have such thoughts.
“I’m sorry for using magic so suddenly. I just had a feeling that you hid something from me.”
“...”
Next to him were piles of empty bottles of alcohol scattered around.
He originally went down to the underground storage to drink the beer Odile had given him, but he ended up taking out various expensive-looking liquors with him. Currently, he was trying to compare their flavors one by one.
But, he found that all of them tasted disgustingly unpleasant and bitter.
For some reason, they went down his throat rather easily, though.
‘Maybe it’s because my heart feels hollow.’
He struggled to rise from the sofa.
‘Anyway, if I were to continue drinking here, mold would grow inside my heart.’
Thinking so, he decided to meet with a certain someone. He went to the gate and headed towards the academy.
Since he possessed a substantial amount of gold coins that could only be used within Gehenna, and the Geminis promised him generous support upon his return to the modern world, he felt like this expenditure wasn’t a waste of money.
As he traversed the hallways of the Trinity Academy, a place he hadn’t set foot in for a long time, he made his ways towards the teacher’s area to the east. There, he spotted a familiar face.
It was Takasho, who was swaggering around like an NPC.
“Ohh... OOOOHHHH!”
“Dude, you’re too loud.”
As soon as he found Siwoo, Takasho threw his broom aside and ran towards him while screaming before pulling him into a tight embrace.
The tremendous force he felt made Siwoo almost vomit out everything in his stomach.
“You fucker! You’re alive! You’re alive!”
“Oi, back off. You’re creeping me out.”
Takasho continued to welcome Siwoo with tears streaming down his face for a long while.
Since they couldn’t exactly chat in the hallway, they moved to a nearby bench and sat side by side.
“When you suddenly disappeared, I was worried. I thought something happened to you.”
“I heard that you often came to visit me. Thank you.”
“Fuck you, of course I’d come! You’re my friend and you were about to die! Though, I thought if I visited you too often, you’d get sick of seeing me. Anyway, what’s with the eyepatch? Are you trying to be Kakashi?”
“I have my reasons.”
“Oh yeah, the witch who treated you was a real beauty. Do you keep contact with her?”
“No, I don’t even know who she is. I really should visit and thank her at least.”
Takasho, who was initially talking cheerfully, noticed a subtle change in Siwoo’s behavior.
Since his body was fully healed, he figured that his dear friend should have been acting excited, but for some reason he was unusually gloomy.
Then, he noticed a strong scent of alcohol coming from Siwoo.
“What’s wrong?”
“You know...”
Siwoo told him everything.
From his experience with Amelia and the complicated emotions it brought.
To his conversation with Countess Gemini about what would happen if he were to return to the modern world.
This went on for almost an hour.
The funny thing was that he didn’t even shed a single tear during the conversation.
“Ugh, I don’t even know what to say, Man... That’s really rough...”
Takasho tapped his back lightly.
“So, at this point, is there even a reason you want to go back? I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to sound like I’m holding you back for my own selfish reasons, but can’t we just stay here in this world together?”
“Well, I should at least see my parents’ faces once. They must have been worried.”
His answer made Takasho, who was about to dissuade him from coming back, to be unable to do it.
“Anyway, what are you going to do about... Um... Professor Amelia...?”
“I just have to forget about it and live on. But, she still saved me and ran around everywhere because of it... Should I thank her for that? ...Fuck, I don’t know.”
“Just a simple thank you wouldn’t hurt. Besides, if what you said is true, you won’t be seeing each other anymore after this.”
“I don’t know about that... Honestly, I...”
In truth, Siwoo wanted to meet her and have a long talk with her.
He wanted to ask her the reason behind her actions and what was in her mind when she was doing all that.
The image of Amelia, sitting and crying in front of him, still remained ingrained in his mind.
But at the same time, he didn’t want to see her face.
The warm memories he had spent with her sharply contrasted with the cold expression she used to show him.
He couldn’t help but think that the smile she showed him was nothing but a lie.
Besides, the five years he suffered under her torment wasn’t the only problem that he had.
Everything about Gehenna was the cause of his confusion and the reason why he felt mentally tortured.
Siwoo lowered his head and exhaled the thick smoke from the cigarette Takasho gave him.
And just like before, there was no trace of tears flowing from his eyes as he mulled over his troubles.