That night, while Yeowoo was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, a message arrived.
[Yu Huina : I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll really treat you properly. Without those girls. Just the two of us.]
Yu Huina was probably stressed out in more ways than one.
Two girls who had not been part of the plan had tagged along, and then, because she had not had enough money in her account, she had even ended up being treated by a younger boy.
…And even I had to admit that Yeowoo and Sia had gone a little too far today.
[Lee Hyunwoo : It’s okay. I’ll apologize on their behalf for how rude they were. You must’ve had a hard time, so get some rest.]
[Yu Huina : Um, but.]
[Lee Hyunwoo : ??What?]
After hesitating for quite a while, Yu Huina sent another message.
[Yu Huina : Never mind.]
***
The third quiz was over.
Compared with the previous quiz, there were no major changes in the scores, and the top twenty remained more or less the same.
There were only about two or three weeks left until vacation.
The pressure of exams was gone, and now that the students had been freed from the tests that had been weighing them down, their expressions looked considerably more relaxed.
“Hyunwoo. I have something to confess to you.”
After our integrated-subject class ended, Sia approached me during the short break with an extremely flushed expression.
Yeowoo pretended not to look, but she was glaring intensely at us from the corner of her eye.
“Hm? What is it?”
“You see, actually, I…….”
“Actually, you whaaat~?”
Yeowoo slammed her hand down on the desk and approached us.
Sia looked startled and turned her eyes away from me.
But something felt strange.
It was almost as though she had been waiting for Yeowoo to come over, because the corners of her lips were twitching.
“If you start saying something, you should finish it. What were you going to tell our Hyunwoo?”
“Ah, well. Actually…….”
Grinning, Sia looked back and forth between Yeowoo and me before making her confession.
“I formed my First Circle.”
“Hm?”
“Huh? W-What did you say?”
“I said I formed my First Circle!”
Ohhh.
Not bad.
Honestly, I had thought Yeowoo would get there first.
I smiled at Sia proudly.
“Congratulations, sis.”
“Hehe. Thanks, Hyunwoo~”
“W-Wait…… How?”
“I attained enlightenment. By coincidence.”
Sia looked uncomfortable.
She clearly did not want to explain exactly how she had attained that enlightenment, but Yeowoo linked arms with her and began pestering her.
“H-How? How did you attain enlightenment? Hm? Hm?”
“Ah. It’s not really a memory I want to think about….”
“Please. Tell me. I feel like I’m so close to grasping something, but I just can’t quite get it.”
Yeowoo seemed quite shocked, staring with her mouth hanging open as she repeatedly urged Sia to tell her.
I chuckled and examined the Circle around my navel.
One ring was firmly fixed in place.
Beside it, another faint ring was beginning to take shape.
I was almost ready to enter the early stage of the Second Circle.
If things continued at this pace, two rings would be coiled around my navel without much trouble before vacation began.
With a relaxed expression, I immersed myself in a medical textbook.
I had become quite proficient with the First Circle spell, Hild, so I would eventually need to create a spell specifically for the Second Circle as well.
For my Second Circle spell, I was thinking of taking a slightly different approach from the First Circle.
Rather than direct healing, I was considering something closer to a blessing-type spell.
Something that restored vitality, improved one's condition, or made the target feel more energetic.
Things like that.
Ignoring Yeowoo and Sia's squabbling with one ear, I focused on reading.
***
“Haaah. That’s why I’m going crazy these days. There isn’t a single kid I really like, and peak season is coming up soon, so I feel like we need to get the shoot done quickly… Haaah.”
Son Euna wet her throat with beer as she listened attentively to her friend and former colleague, Jeong Iyun.
Jeong Iyun had once worked as a Hero before changing career paths and was now the CEO of a clothing business.
More precisely, she was the head of Clack Kids, a company specializing in children's clothing.
After listening to Jeong Iyun complain for quite some time, Son Euna offered both comfort and a possible solution.
“If you really can’t find anyone, how about using foreign models? Where was it again? Ukraine? Aren’t people from there really pretty with great figures?”
“No. Parents are incredibly picky these days. If we use Western kids, people might complain that the fit doesn’t match Korean body types.”
“Ah…… Really?”
“Of course. We used to use foreign models a lot, but these days…….”
Jeong Iyun launched into a long lecture.
The main point was that the advantages foreign models had once brought were long gone, and these days the primary customer base was much more willing to spend money when the models were Korean.
At the very least, they had to be East Asian.
The problem, however, was that finding suitable Korean models was difficult.
They could use foreign models of the same race, but that option was being pushed all the way to the bottom of the list.
Even among the same race, appearances differed noticeably depending on nationality.
At that point, Son Euna tilted her head and picked up some food with her fork.
“Are there really that few potential models in Korea? There seem to be…… plenty of pretty and handsome kids.”
Hyunwoo and Yeowoo naturally came to mind.
Those little kids who stood out even at the Academy.
Yoon Sia and Yu Huina also briefly crossed her mind.
Come to think of it, there really did seem to be an unusually large number of pretty and handsome kids at the Academy…?
“Of course there are. No, there are plenty. But most kids like that are already under contract with other companies, so we can’t recruit them.”
Jeong Iyun let out another sigh deep enough to make the ground sink.
“Hmm. What kind of kids are you looking for?”
“A boy and a girl. For the boy, maybe five to eight years old? For the girl, around eleven to fourteen.”
“Hm? Why? Don’t male and female models usually get paired with someone around the same age?”
“This time, the concept is an older sister with her little brother. Something like that. The concept itself is already finalized, but we don’t have anyone to shoot it with. Sob.”
“Oh dear….”
“I’ve only been talking about myself. Euna, how have you been lately?”
“I’ve been…….”
Meeting again after such a long time, Son Euna and Jeong Iyun laughed together and caught up with each other.
But since they were at a bar, confident men occasionally approached them.
“Did you two come here alone?”
“…Yes.”
“If you’re bored, how about joining us? We’ve got a really funny friend. And there’s a handsome guy too.”
“I didn’t say you could sit down.”
“Come on. Don’t be like that.”
Son Euna chuckled and politely declined.
“We really only came here to drink. Sorry.”
“We came here to drink too. Drink, talk, you know…….”
“We’re married women with kids. Please leave.”
“Yes, ma’am. Enjoy your drinks.”
After the man walked away, Son Euna and Jeong Iyun both burst into giggles without either of them needing to start.
“You’re twenty-seven and already have a kid? That was quick~”
“And what about you?”
The two continued chatting animatedly for quite some time before eventually returning to the topic of models.
“By the way, want me to recommend some models?”
“Models? You?”
“Hey. I may not look it, but I’m the Deputy Guild Master of South Korea’s number one guild.”
“Ahhh. Right. You are, aren’t you? This bronze spoon failed to recognize a gold spoon. My apologies!”
The drunken Jeong Iyun laughed as she replied.
Seeing was better than hearing a hundred times.
Son Euna picked up her phone and showed her a photo of Lee Hyunwoo.
“What do you think of this kid? Doesn’t he meet the requirements you mentioned for the male model?”
“……Oh?”
Jeong Iyun examined Hyunwoo with the eyes of a CEO.
Fair skin.
The innocent smile unique to a young child.
And looks so handsome that it was hard to believe he was merely a little boy.
“Do you have any other photos?”
“Yeah. Swipe through them.”
Jeong Iyun checked photographs of the child taken from different angles and nodded in satisfaction.
“Not bad. If he looks this good even in casual phone pictures, hmm…….”
“There are girls too. I’ll show you.”
Jeong Iyun looked at Lee Yeowoo and Yoon Sia, then shook her head.
“They have good faces, but they’re too young. Don’t you have anyone one or two years older than these girls?”
“Hmm…… Then how about this one? She’s the girl who received an award with that boy recently.”
“An award? What kind?”
“Ah. Just, you know. Some exemplary-child award or something like that.”
Son Euna chuckled and showed her the photo.
Red hair.
A pretty face with an aloof look.
Unlike Lee Yeowoo and Yoon Sia, there was already the faintest trace of a young woman's air about her.
“Oh. She’s perfect! Can I meet these kids in person? I’d like to see them before deciding.”
“Hmm…… For free?”
“All right. Your big sis will treat you properly soon. Happy?”
Son Euna silently nodded with a grin.
***
Time raced by, and before anyone knew it, the day the students had been eagerly awaiting had arrived.
Vacation.
Once the simple closing ceremony ended, most students would either return to their hometowns or spend a quiet vacation resting at the Academy.
“During these forty days of vacation, don’t cause any trouble. I hope to see all of you again safe, healthy, and cheerful.”
“Yes!”
“Oh, and one more thing. Once the second semester begins, students from the Technology Department will be transferring into our class. They’ll be students from the Technology Department who specialize in combat, so make sure to welcome them.”
“Huh? Teacher, then during specialized-subject classes, will they go take Technology Department classes?”
“No. Most of them will be assigned to the Martial Arts Department side.”
At Kim Jongseok's answer, the Martial Arts Department students began murmuring among themselves.
However, with vacation right around the corner, none of them seemed particularly concerned.
“All right. Pay attention. The closing ceremony is starting now.”
At the homeroom teacher's words, the television turned on.
On the screen, the principal began solemnly reading a speech marking the end of the first semester.
“Now then, all of you should…….”
The principal's unbearably boring speech finally ended, and vacation began.
Our homeroom teacher smiled at us.
“Then I’ll see you in two months. Good work.”
As if they had all been waiting for those words, the students noisily rushed out of the classroom.
I packed my schoolbag and left the classroom with Yeowoo and Sia.
“Ugh I won’t get to see you or Hyunwoo for forty days. That’s disappointing.”
“Take care until then. Don’t get sick or anything.”
Yeowoo said that while linking arms with Sia.
Considering that these two had been locked in a cold war for quite some time, their relationship had improved by leaps and bounds.
The biggest reason was probably that Yeowoo had recently formed her First Circle around her navel.
Sia had revealed that the source of her enlightenment had been anger, and not long afterward, Yeowoo had formed her own Circle.
So Sia had contributed at least a little to Yeowoo's enlightenment.
“You too, sis.”
I blankly watched them for a moment, then gently rubbed my navel with one hand.
They were not perfect yet, but there were now two Circles connected side by side around my navel.
One was clear and distinct.
The other was faint, but unmistakably there.
By the time vacation ended and the second semester began, that faint Circle would become distinct as well.
Smiling, I walked out of the Academy.
Just outside the main gate, cars belonging to students' parents were lined up waiting.
“Kids! Over here!”
Mother spotted us among the crowd and waved brightly.
Yeowoo and I ran over as fast as we could and threw ourselves into her arms.
“Mom~!”
Mother hugged us tightly and rubbed her cheeks against ours.
It reminded me of when I was younger, so I did not resist.
She used to rub her cheeks against us like this back then too.
The difference was that I was now a year older, eight years old, and despite having once lost interest in magic, I had somehow become a Second Circle magician.
And now, I had reached a point where I could at least improve Father's condition a little.
A complete cure was still impossible.
But I should at least be able to lessen some of the Dark Magic that had spread through him like a virus.
I pressed my lips together and thought of Father, who was probably still lying in a hospital bed even now.
Losing my family once was enough.
I will never lose my family again.
“Hello!”
“…Hm?”
Sia approached and bowed politely to Mother.
“My name is Yoon Sia! I’m friends with Hyunwoo and Yeowoo!”
“Ah…… Is that so? Nice to meet you.”
Mother accepted Sia's greeting with an awkward expression.
But that was all.
“All right, kids. Let’s go. Mom will buy you something delicious.”
Yeowoo excitedly climbed into the car.
I, however, tilted my head and looked at Mother.
“Hm? What is it?”
“Nothing.”
Before getting into the car, I walked over to Sia.
“When are your parents coming?”
“Soon? I don’t know. I think I’ll have to call them to find out.”
“Okay. See you after vacation.”
“Yeah. Bye.”
I climbed into the car as well.
Until the very end, Sia politely bowed to Mother.
“Then, goodbye.”
“……All right. You be careful on your way home too, Sia.”
“Yes~!”
I stared blankly at them for a moment and suddenly wondered whether Mother had always been this cold toward people.
She hadn’t.
Why is she acting like that?
I shook my head and changed my train of thought.
Well, no one can be kind all the time.
Everyone has times when they are sensitive.
More importantly, I thought about Father.
I wanted to get there quickly and use my Healing Magic to improve his condition, even if only a little.
I spread both hands and cast Hild in each palm.
Faint sparks bloomed, followed by pale blue light.
I could now control Hild perfectly.
Its strength.
Its precision.
Even the most effective method depending on the situation.
Yeowoo quietly watched me from beside me, then spoke.
“You’re going to treat Dad, right?”
I nodded and answered.
“Yeah.”