Chapter 55

“Thanks to you, my mother’s condition has improved significantly.”

[Ah~]

“She woke up early this morning. The person who could only move one finger can now grasp objects, you know?”

[Ah~ Ah~]

“I only heard this from No-Eul, so I don’t really understand how this happened… but I’m truly grateful. I’ll think of you as my lifelong benefactor.”

[Ahhh~ Aahhhhhh~ Ahp]

I hastily covered Otamatone’s mouth.

“I’m sorry… I’m just so amazed by this.”

It seemed like a serious atmosphere, and I felt embarrassed for disturbing it.

“Haha, no, I’m really glad you like it.”

“I didn’t have a chance to explain, but there should be a semi-permanent healing rune on her left arm. You saw it too, right?”

“Yeah, I heard about it roughly. I couldn’t see it because of the hospital gown.”

“It’s designed to operate on rechargeable mana, so you’ll need to inject at least 250kE to 300kE of mana each day. Of course, you can inject more, but overcharging decreases efficiency, so it’s important to do it consistently every day without skipping.”

“But how do you do that injection?”

“It’s the same way as infusing mana into the magic circle. However, I have the encryption key, so I’ll inscribe it on your palm now. I have two spare ones, so you can pass the same to No-Eul or Yuna. Can you put your palm here?”

“Like this?”

“Yes. The size isn’t noticeable, so don’t worry, it won’t be a problem in daily life.”

[Symmetric Key Transfer: Protocol ARIA]

Though it was unlikely to occur, including an encryption procedure for semi-permanent healing runes was essential to prevent destruction and runaway by third parties, even if it was a hassle.

“I’ve set the validity period of the healing rune to one year. Even in the late stages of multiple sclerosis, it should be fully cured within nine months, at most ten months. If you don’t inject mana for two weeks, it will disappear on its own, so you can just come to the hospital for a check-up around that time and leave it be.”

With that, everything I needed to do was complete.

“Thank you… Thank you… then really next year…”

“Yes, it may be hard to walk, but at least she’ll be able to stand on her own two feet.”

“Ugh… this is… hard to believe. Everyone at the hospital said it was an incurable disease… that I should give up, to let go now, to prepare myself mentally… I can never say thank you enough to you…”

Indeed, it was not an easy illness to cure.

Wasn’t the ‘Akashic Record’, which could only be used personally due to its uncommercialized nature, over ten million won just for the initial cost?

Also, factoring in the maintenance cost of a hundred thousand won per day, it wasn’t an easy task.

Of course, even this was relatively inexpensive considering it was for curing an almost incurable disease.

But compared to a situation filled with despair, having even a single strand of hope was a hundredfold, thousandfold better.

Surely, a day will come when Yuna’s family can smile again soon.

“It would be better to invest in a medical capsule at home without being stingy. I’ve heard that No-Eul is taking care of her all day. Nowadays, there are many affordable products, so even if your mother is alone at home, it will be convenient for managing bedsores or dermatitis.”

“Certainly, since we can save on medication costs going forward, it’ll free up some funds.”

“Yes, plus it would be good for your mother to practice moving around, even in virtual reality.”

“Got it. No-Eul and I just need to hang in there a bit longer. Oh right, Yuna must have woken up by now, should I call her? She was so adamant about wanting to stay by your side when she sent you home yesterday morning.”

“Haha, sure. If you give me her number, I’ll call her on my phone.”

“Yuna has such a good friend at the Academy. And… I heard what you said to No-Eul. Although it won’t be easy, we’ll make sure to take care of Yuna more moving forward. But at the Academy—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she makes plenty of good friends.”

“No. Just having a friend like Name is the greatest blessing more than having ten friends. Please keep being close to our Yuna.”

Semaaru left his house phone number on a post-it note for me.

A friend like me…

I reflected on his last words before he left.

No, after all, children need friends of the same age.

Having a narrow social contact during the critical period of developing social skills can be fatal.

Talking with someone like me wouldn’t be of any benefit.

“Is Professor Cheon still not here?”

He said he would bring abalone porridge, but I hadn’t heard anything from him.

Maybe he went all the way to the sea to catch abalone.

I turned on my phone and typed the phone number on the screen.

[Calling: 02-8XX-XXXX]

There were still places using landlines.

A long and tedious waiting sound followed.

When the song played and returned to the introduction for the second time, a hurried breath echoed in my ear.

[Hello?]

“Did you get home okay?”

[Who is this… Name?]

“Yep, it’s me.”

[Name! @#% @%#$&@@$!!!]

With a loud crash, Yuna’s incomprehensible alien language poured out.

I briefly covered the speaker to protect my eardrums and then took my hand away.

“You seem to have made it home fine.”

[Is Name okay now? With your wrist! And you overused magic yesterday and passed out…!]

“Don’t worry, I’m contacting you because I’m fine.”

[Waaah! I’m sorryyyy! Ugh… Are you really really okay?]

“I told you I’m fine. You came home late yesterday, right?”

[Huh, yeah… 3 AM? Or 4?]

“You must be tired. Make sure to rest well over the weekend.”

[No, I normally don’t even sleep past midnight, so I’m feeling great right now!]

“Since it’s your birthday, aren’t you bored being home alone?”

[No! I got the birthday present you gave me. Even if I just lie around doing nothing, I feel happy. Of course, I have to catch up on my studies…!]

“By the way, this number was given to me by your big brother. He also gave me a gift, do you know what an Otamatone is?”

[Yeah, that’s the instrument that’s popular in Tic Tac. I’ve heard the kids in class talk about it occasionally.]

“I thought I’d practice it since I’d be bored during my hospital stay. When we meet at school later, I’ll play for you.”

“Then you can come on Monday, right?”

“Actually, I could discharge right now, but I’m planning to stay one more day out of consideration for Professor Cheon.”

[Professor?]

“He’s my adoptive father.”

[Oh…! I can’t wait to see Name soon!]

“Then I’ll hang up for now.”

[Wait, wait a second!]

“Yeah?”

Yuna called out to me in a hasty tone. I turned my hand back to not put the phone down.

[We’re friends, right…?]

There was a hint of tears in her uncertain question.

[We’re friends, right? You said I was a friend yesterday, Name… ]

Until the last moment, Yuna couldn’t shake the worry of being abandoned.

[At school, I won’t be a bother. I won’t throw a fit to get you to teach me. Just me and—]

“What are you talking about?”

[…?]

“By the way, the ‘Magic Injection’ practical evaluation next week is in pairs, right? Let’s team up.”

[…! Hehe, okay! Let’s do it together!]

* * *

“I wanted steak, not abalone porridge.”

“If you eat meat on an empty stomach, you’ll have a problem. You like abalone porridge, don’t you?”

Professor Cheon took out the abalone porridge he brought and set it sequentially on the table.

He opened the plastic, checked the temperature, and heated it for another 30 seconds in the microwave since it had cooled a bit.

“I don’t eat radish salad.”

“Why? Wouldn’t it be bland if you only ate porridge?”

“I used to like it, but now I find it a bit…”

I wondered how I used to eat that back then.

Just having rice with kimchi was enough for a meal… if there was ramen soup, it was a bonus.

However, my taste, changed by years of living away, couldn’t be reverted.

I still preferred bread over rice and haricots verts over kimchi.

Still, the reason I liked abalone porridge was that abalone was an incredibly precious ingredient.

“Thanks for the meal.”

I sprinkled a pinch of sesame salt and a few drops of sesame oil into the steaming abalone porridge and mixed it well.

With my left hand, I stirred the porridge that was too hot with a spoon to let it cool down to an appropriate temperature while my right hand picked up some braised beef with chopsticks.

“Ugh, salty!”

But it was delicious!

“By the way, why did it take you so long to come?”

“Actually, I was delayed because I wanted to buy something for Name over there.”

“Something for you to buy? Oh… I think I know what it is.”

“I thought I hid it well, but did it smell?”

“A crepe. I smell strawberries too.”

“You’ve developed quite the sniffer, haven’t you? How’s that for consideration?”

He was truly a person overflowing with sensibility.

Even though I had certainly lived longer by age, I couldn’t dismiss the wisdom that came with experience.

Perhaps he was originally like this even in his youth.

If so, he would have surely made many women cry.

Sitting in this hospital room and having a cozy conversation felt just like a close father-daughter relationship.

It would have been really nice to have such a father in my past life.

“I’ll forgive you just this once, Professor.”

“Haha, I appreciate that.”

“If you mess up next time, it’ll be two of them.”

“Two of what?”

“Two crepes.”

“Don’t be greedy. Hurry and eat; your porridge will get cold.”

“Yes.”

The warm rice grains mixed well with the finely chopped abalones, delivering a satisfying texture to my tongue.

The saltiness of the braised beef neutralized the potential blandness of the porridge.

Including the braised egg, I personally dislike the yolk, so I left it out.

If considered picky about side dishes, it would be disappointing. I was a patient after all.

When experiencing mana exhaustion, there was no better restorative food than abalone porridge.

In fact, mana exhaustion is a symptom that ordinary people might never experience.

This is because it is common sense that a magic circle requiring more mana than the caster’s capacity would naturally decompose.

However, there were countless methods to circumvent this.

One could infuse and activate simultaneously or lower the entropy setting of the magic circle to below the caster’s bodily concentration to forcefully draw out all the mana within.

It was correct to avoid such practices as it was harmful to the aura heart, especially overloading the heart.

Even though I placed the runes in such a way that it would eat up less mana, I hadn’t expected it to be insufficient.

I guess using magic on Yuna at school was what caused the issue.

Even so, since I had painstakingly detailed all the complicated Akashic Records, I couldn’t afford to get rid of them just because of a mana shortage.

I needed to complete it at once by sacrificing all the mana not only in the aura heart but also dissolved in my blood.

The longer I delayed, the more the mana consumed during casting couldn’t be ignored.

Still, I was truly glad everything concluded successfully.

Right.

*Ding*

[Amount Due: 10,813,019 won]

I have no regrets.

“Silvia, Remilia, Klaus. If I could save you like this back then…”

I muttered names that I would never return to.

A bitter taste stuck to my mouth and wouldn’t leave.

If I wanted to enjoy the sweet crepe, I guess I’d better finish the porridge first.