Chapter 95

“Ah… nooo…! I don’t want tooo!”

Haru’s sharp scream echoed through the door to Name’s room.

After a brief moment, silence returned.

As the door creaked open, Haru emerged with her lips pouted and a frown on her face.

“Why is it that I’m the only one who has to be a pig…! I wanted to be a bear or a cat too…”

“Well, that’s because you lost at rock-paper-scissors.”

“Do you want to switch with me now, Haru?”

“No… it’s fine… Name looks best in a cat pajamas anyway…”

In an effort to soothe her, Name grabbed Haru’s sleeve and said.

“Look, your pajamas have this attached. If you put your hand in here, you’ll have animal hands.”

“Even so, it’s just pig feet…”

“Haru, it’s okay. You’re cute enough.”

“What about me, Name? What about me!”

At Name’s compliment, Haru flapped her sleeves.

Yuna, wanting Name’s praise as well, began to pester her, but her wishes went unfulfilled.

Name spread a blanket in the living room and sat the two girls down.

“What do you want to do first? Jenga? Hally Gallie? Or Pirate Roulette?”

This was Name’s secret weapon to reconcile the two at odds.

The young girls seemed awkward, as if realizing they were in someone else’s house.

“Then let’s start with Jenga. Is that okay?”

“Yeah!”

“I like it.”

With everyone’s agreement, a tower of wooden blocks was built.

“How about the loser gets a slap?”

“Of course!”

“I hit pretty hard, so Name, you can’t just let it slide like when you play air games, okay? You’ll regret it.”

Name had no intention of losing easily. She pulled out the first block and placed it on top.

“Now it’s your turn, Haru.”

“Did you know? I heard a tip for playing Jenga; you need to find the center of gravity. See how this one is sticking out slightly? That’s because the block on top isn’t putting any pressure on it.”

Even though no one was listening carefully, Haru rambled on regardless.

Haru bravely reached for a Jenga block, but when it wouldn’t budge as easily as she thought, she showed her discomfort.

“If you’ve touched it once, you can’t take it back!”

Yuna quickly stopped Haru’s hand from moving to another block.

“What kind of rule is that?”

“That’s how it was originally! Is this your first time playing Jenga, Iharu?”

“Hey, hey, let’s not fight. Haru didn’t know, so let’s just let it slide this once. Is that okay?”

“Ugh… fine… okay.”

Name barely managed to calm the two, whose eyes were already sparking from the start.

After accumulating a sense of camaraderie unconsciously while playing the game, Name envisioned a beautiful scene where Haru would repent to Yuna.

“Ah!”

As the precarious tower began to wobble, Haru, who had pulled out a block, flinched and made a strange sound.

“Go ahead, hit me.”

Haru brushed her bangs back, revealing her pale forehead to everyone.

Seeing Name pretend to hit her lightly, Yuna spoke up.

“That’s not how you hit someone. Watch closely.”

Yuna’s fingers trembled from the pressure she unconsciously exerted.

The one more nervous than Haru was actually Name.

‘Please don’t hit too hard.’

“Ouch!”

However, Name’s hopes were shattered as Haru’s forehead turned red.

‘Please, Iharu, don’t get mad too! We came here to make up!’

“If you lose, just you wait…”

Name’s dreams had long since burst into bubbles.

* * *

“Chee…”

“Huuu…”

The two girls clutched their foreheads and growled at each other.

The score stood at 5 to 5 with 0 for Name.

Through all that, Name had somehow managed to avoid knocking over the tower even once.

The girls silently began to carefully rebuild the tower.

Yet the emotions contained within were anything but calm. The current situation felt like the eye of a storm.

In the subdued atmosphere, while they quietly continued the game, Haru raised a question.

“Doesn’t something seem off?”

“What now?”

Yuna replied with a shrug to Haru’s statement.

“How could Name not have gotten caught even once?”

Name, who was pulling out a block, flinched slightly.

Yuna tapped her chin, pondering the legitimate question.

With a smooth move, Name managed to pull out a block without toppling the tower.

Yet, the tower continued to wobble from side to side but never fell.

“It’s your turn, Yuna.”

“Wait a minute.”

Yuna stood up and moved behind Name.

She hadn’t realized while sitting, but from above, it was evident.

This tower, which should have collapsed, was wobbling continuously at an angle.

“What’s wrong?”

“Name, could you close your eyes for a moment?”

Yuna covered Name’s eyes with her hands.

Wobble—

Gradually, the tremors of the tower intensified.

Crash—

Eventually, the tower fell apart with a dull thud, prompting Yuna to shout.

“See, you were using Aura! Name, that’s cheating!”

“What? Really?”

Haru and Yuna, who had been slapped five times each, pressed Name for an explanation.

Could it be that Name left some extra Aura in an invisible state while pulling blocks, and then just passed her turn? That was impossible.

However, shocking words tumbled from Name’s mouth again.

“There was a rule in our area that allowed the use of Aura.”

In the lower part of the still standing tower, Name demonstrated her skill by pulling out three blocks from the second-to-bottom layer simultaneously.

Blocks from layers three to seven were all floating in midair.

Though Name boldly pushed ahead,

““That rule can’t exist!””

The girls, unable to accept this, spoke in unison and deemed her a cheater.

Ultimately, Name had no choice but to receive ten slaps, clutching her hot forehead as she glanced back and forth at the two giggling girls.

“Why are your hands so hot…”

* * *

Having spent too much time on Jenga, dinner time arrived quickly.

The savior for Name, who had fallen into the swamp of penalties after sealing off her Aura, was none other than Professor Cheon Kyujin.

“Isn’t it time for dinner?”

Arriving perfectly on time, Professor Cheon brought out chicken and served homemade beef tortillas, as well as strawberry canapés topped with cream cheese.

“Wow, it’s chicken!”

As the packaging was opened, the sweet, savory aroma of chicken seasoning wafted through the air.

The kids cheered for the chicken, even more than the expensive food they would have to buy outside.

“Do chaebols eat chicken too?”

“They eat it often, you know?”

Haru responded with a hint of sarcasm to Yuna’s question.

In reality, she loved chicken so much that she got it at least once a week.

With each bite, Yuna and Haru’s cheeks puffed up, with grayish bones popping out between their small lips.

In keeping with their age, Haru, who preferred TikTok over TV broadcasts, was busy watching creators’ dance videos on the tablet she brought.

“That older sister is really pretty. She dances so well.”

“I think Name will get even prettier when she grows up?”

“That’s a given, right? Still, I hope Name stays small forever.”

“I do too!”

After a long time, the two girls agreed.

Since there was nothing else they had in common except for Name, the topic of conversation naturally drifted back to her.

“Have you ever lifted Name?”

Yuna casually tossed out the question, piquing Haru’s curiosity.

“How?”

“Grab her under the armpits like this.”

“Ahh! Hey, that’s ticklish! But did you really lift her like that?”

“Yeah! She’s so light that it takes no effort at all.”

Yuna mentioned that she had once spun Name around.

“When did you get close to Name? You didn’t introduce yourself when she first came and just left.”

“That was… because we weren’t close then… so that could happen.”

“And there’s more. During group activities, you yelled at Yoon Shi-hoo and Name, right?”

“That was…”

Haru hit the nail on the head.

However, midway through, Professor Cheon came by to clear the empty plates, interrupting their conversation.

“Was dinner good?”

“Yes, it was delicious!”

“It was even better than what the chef at our house makes!”

“I’m glad everyone liked something I made for the first time. After we finish eating, let’s watch a movie; I even set up a projector in Name’s room. Have you picked a movie yet?”

“No! This is the first time I’m hearing it.”

“But where did Name go?”

No matter how much they looked around, they couldn’t see Name.

So absorbed was she in the video that Yuna and Haru hadn’t even noticed how long she had been gone.

They even checked the bathroom to wash their greasy hands, but couldn’t find Name there either.

The only place left was her bedroom.

“Can we go in there?”

“Maybe she’s tired and sleeping after waking up early today? Try going in quietly.”

“Open it gently, gently.”

“I know without you having to tell me.”

With Professor Cheon’s permission, Yuna carefully opened the door to Name’s room and stepped inside.

A dark room with no light coming in, a single window was completely covered by blackout curtains.

As she opened the door halfway, the light from the living room lamp illuminated one side of Name’s room.

At a glance, there was a large capsule that looked expensive.

On the opposite side, they could see Name’s bed.

Although it was relatively big for a young child, Name was curled up in a corner, sleeping like a shrimp.

“She must be sleeping…”

“What should we do?”

They felt a bit awkward that the host of the pajama party had fallen asleep first.

“Hmm…”

As Name twisted in her sleep without even covering herself with a blanket, the girls flinched in surprise.

Along with the sound of her swallowing saliva, Name mumbled through her lips.

“She must be sleep-talking. How cute…!”

“What’s she saying?”

Yuna, making sure her heels didn’t touch the ground, quietly approached Name and leaned in close.

“Eol… Las… Mbeun… Seu… Teure… Urheu…”

If a normal person had heard it, they would never understand Name’s sleep talk.

Yet, at that moment, Yuna and Haru exchanged glances, both struck by a sense of recognition.

The runes they had memorized like poetry during the past year at the Academy.

“El, Ras, Maben, Sutra, Arhen.”

It was a voice that they couldn’t help but be familiar with.

Ultimately, Haru couldn’t contain her laughter and covered her mouth, suppressing a giggle.

“She’s reciting runes in her sleep…!”

What kind of reaction would Name have if she knew this? Haru couldn’t wait to find out.

“Wow, is this really what it takes to be first place?”

“Seoyuna, you should really give up on being the top student. You can beat Yoon Si-hoo, but you’ll never beat Name, hehehe.”

Though it was a line that seemed vaguely familiar, Yuna didn’t feel bad at all about what Haru said.

They listened intently to Name’s sleep talk, wondering how far she could recite runes.

“Seureu…Seureu…”

Now, with one more syllable, it became five. Schiatris was the rune to control Lorentz symmetry in magical circles.

With Yuna’s ten fingers having all folded up, it meant she had spoken perhaps up to about the 20th rune.

And then Name’s lips fell silent.

“Should we wake her now?”

“Ah, I wanted to see more…!”

“Watching more would be rude to Name!”

“How about just five more minutes?”

While they debated when to wake the deeply sleeping girl, another round of sleep talk began.

“Reef… I’m sleepy… I want to sleep…”

She was already asleep yet said she wanted to sleep again.

“Crescerium… I’m so tired… but I can’t sleep…”

An unconscious tension held in Name’s hands tightened, crumpling the bed sheet beneath them.

“Yandelvirk… My head hurts… I don’t like it…”

Her voice became clearer and clearer, and Name’s head was becoming damp with cold sweat.

“It’s hard…”

“I feel… like I’m going to die…”

“Help me…”

“■■Please…”