[TS] Became a Peach Saint – Chapter 318

“Oh no, what’s going on? The curry tonkatsu is all sold out.”

“Ugh, my gosh.”

After pondering for a while, the curry tonkatsu meal ticket I pulled out sways pitifully.

“Seriously, why didn’t the guy managing the kiosk mark it as sold out?”

“Just give me the pork, ma’am.”

“The curry tonkatsu is 500 won more expensive, no refund?”

“Then give me a lot, please.”

Hearing my words, the lady laughs and scoops a heap of pork onto my tray.

“Eat a lot, Ga-eul. You need to grow big and strong.”

“Yes. I’ll eat well.”

This is Wisdom Academy, where adults enroll, not an elementary school, but in the eyes of the ladies, we’re all just kids.

Clink.

As I place my tray on an empty spot, eyes turn towards me.

It’s lunchtime, so the student cafeteria is packed.

“Looks delicious. Should Baekseol and Danpung eat too?”

“Yes!”

“It’s great!”

Ding!

I hand a grain of rice to Baekseol on my lap, who immediately starts plucking petals to eat.

Danpung, on the other hand, takes sunflower seeds from a bowl and stuffs them into his cheek pouches.

“Here, Danpung’s meal.”

“Peet.”

The two sit on my lap, munching away.

“I’ll eat too. Eat a lot.”

I place white rice on a lettuce leaf, top it with well-stir-fried pork, and finish with some ssamjang.

“Here goes.”

As I stuff the well-made pork wrap into my mouth, a wave of happiness hits me.

After chewing and swallowing a bit, I grab a green chili pepper to eat.

“Mmm!”

Wisdom Academy lives up to its name; all the ingredients are fresh.

Just as I’m enthusiastically making another wrap, a noisy voice comes from the next table.

“How am I supposed to eat this?”

“Ah, just eat it quickly!”

A man sitting at the table and two men and two women standing behind him are laughing among themselves.

While everyone is laughing, the seated man, seemingly unable to see well, stabs at the pork with a chopstick.

“Ugh… so disgusting.”

“This is the punishment.”

Frowning deeply, he tilts his head back as if looking at garbage, poking at the pork.

“It’s delicious though.”

Hearing my voice, all five pairs of eyes turn to me, widening in surprise.

The three men stare at me blankly, while the women glare daggers.

“Hey, were you talking to us?”

“No, I was talking to myself. It’s so yummy. Right?”

“It’s yummy!”

“It’s great!”

As I make another wrap, one of the women walks over to me.

“Whoosh. Wrap airplane.”

I bring the wrap to Danpung on my lap, who opens his tiny mouth.

“Peet!”

“Haha. Danpung, your face is too small to eat. I’ll eat it.”

“It’s great.”

I pet Danpung, who slowly wags his tail and goes back to stuffing sunflower seeds into his cheek pouches.

Meanwhile, the woman who approached me stares down at me.

“No wonder your face looks like that, eating this crap.”

Instantly, the noisy cafeteria students turn to look at me and the woman.

“Tch.”

“What’s that!”

At the short burst of laughter, the woman flares up and looks around urgently.

“Just keep it down. Do you also scratch your belly watching morning dramas like our house monkey?”

“You…! Damn it!”

The woman tries to reach under my tray.

Clearly planning to flip it.

Then, a thick hand reaches in and grabs the back of her neck.

Bang!

The rough hand slams her face onto the table.

“Ahhh!”

“He’s our supporter. Don’t mess with him.”

“Let go!!”

The familiar voice of the hand’s owner echoes as the woman screams.

“Oh? Daechul!”

Calling out to Shin Yong, someone else pops their head in.

“Yong is here too.”

“Chan Yong!”

“I’m here too, Ga-eul.”

“Did you just arrive, Noa!”

Thud, thud.

Kim Chan-yong and Noa place their meal trays next to me and sit down.

“Grrr…”

Meanwhile, the woman’s neck is being pressed so hard that the whites of her eyes start to show.

“Guh.”

She eventually faints.

Shin Yong, who seemed like an elite, has become quite fierce in the meantime.

“This is a precious place where trainees replenish their nutrients after finishing their training. Stop messing around and take this guy and get out.”

Shin Yong lightly tosses the unconscious woman, and she lands in front of her comrades’ feet.

Then he places his own meal tray on the empty spot.

“Wasn’t that a bit too harsh?”

“They’re spoiled kids, so they won’t come to their senses even if you do that.”

Kim Chan-yong points at the group with his thumb.

Even in this situation, they keep chattering, but he casually ignores them and wraps his lettuce wrap.

“How do you know they’re spoiled kids?”

Kim Chan-yong shrugs his shoulders.

“I’m from a well-off family too. There’s some boring and uninteresting backstory, but yeah.”

“Ah, I see.”

“To us, they seem weird, but they grew up eating good food and wearing nice clothes, so they act like that naturally. Because that’s the environment they were raised in.”

“To them, we probably seem weird.”

“That’s right.”

After finishing his words, Kim Chan-yong shoves a fist-sized lettuce wrap into his mouth in one bite.

“So, is the training over? Or is it just a break?”

“It’s over.”

This time, Shin Yong, sitting on my right, answers.

He’s glaring at his lettuce wrap as if it’s his sworn enemy while preparing it.

“Every day felt like hell.”

A tear rolls down Shin Yong’s eye as he lifts his lettuce wrap.

The kid has become quite strange.

“I wanted to eat real food, not just chicken breast.”

“Ah… You’ve been through a lot. Eat up.”

As I pat his back, he slowly nods while keeping his eyes fixed on his lettuce wrap.

“I’ve realized once again how precious the meals you make are.”

“Got it, got it. I’ll make something really delicious later, so just eat for now.”

“I’ll eat.”

Finally, Shin Yong carefully puts the pork lettuce wrap he meticulously prepared into his mouth.

Grrr…

A second tear rolls down.

I was used to it since I did it every day, but it seems it wasn’t the same for these guys.

Still, saying that might hurt their pride, so it’s probably better to keep my mouth shut.

“What on earth did you feed them to make them like this?”

“Eagle breast. It tasted rotten.”

Noa awkwardly laughs.

“You ate that?”

“Just caught anything with wings and grilled the breast.”

“Our PT teacher is a bit like that. You need proper nutrition.”

Kim Chan-yong, who was busy munching on his lettuce wrap, turns his gaze toward me.

“We got proper nutrition. We ate grass and some unknown fruits, and for the lacking vitamins, we consumed animal blood.”

“We’ll have to prepare a big feast later.”

“Awesome.”

I asked them to train a bit, and they turned the kids into survival experts.

I can’t help but sigh.

“By the way, Autumn.”

“Yeah?”

At the mention of preparing a big feast, Kim Chan-yong, who was grinning next to me, calls me again.

“Who is that PT teacher? He seems like the strongest person I’ve ever seen.”

“Didn’t he even tell you his name?”

Kim Chan-yong nods as he’s about to put the lettuce wrap in his mouth.

“Hercules.”

“Hercules? The Hercules I know?”

“Maybe. Could be a namesake.”

“Is that even a name that can have a namesake?”

I want to say yes, but honestly, I don’t know much either.

But whoever they are, it doesn’t really matter. They’re just a teacher and a friend.

What’s important is that they’re precious to me.

“Since we met at the tower, it’s probably the same, right?”

“Hmm…”

Kim Chan-yong, who was pondering, stuffs the lettuce wrap he was holding into his mouth.

“But what about our competition? Isn’t the date already past?”

Shin Yong, who had been quietly eating, suddenly tries to act sharp.

“Didn’t you check the device?”

We returned to the grass in front of the dormitory we first entered.

“So, you’re saying you ran straight to the restaurant?”

“Right.”

If conversations are like this, I wonder if they can talk normally with other people.

They mostly skip what’s in their head and just speak.

“What happened to your device?”

“It broke during training.”

The bracelet-shaped device issued to every Wisdom Academy cadet is a useful tool for communication, identification, card transactions, and more, serving as a student ID.

Especially since it’s made sturdy enough not to break during training, it’s also proof of how tough Hercules’ training was.

Looking around, other friends were also waving their empty wrists.

“We should go apply for a reissue.”

“I want to eat one more bowl before going.”

“I got a lot of meat. Here, eat this.”

Shin Yong nodded and immediately took the meat.

“Perfect timing. I need to go see Teacher Hwang too.”

“Why the professor?”

“Aren’t we friends?”

Looking around, my friends nodded in agreement.

“Friends share pain, right?”

“That’s our Supporter for you.”

“Are you broken?”

“You got a lot of meat for me.”

***

“Han Ga-eul! What on earth did you do to make the gym collapse?!”

“Teacher, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

*Grinding sound.*

The sound of Professor Hwang grinding his teeth echoed ominously in the professor’s office.

“Shin Yong, Kim Chan-yong, Noa! Why didn’t you stop her, why?!”

“Um… Sorry, Professor.”

“Teacher, teacher.”

“Call me once! Why!!”

“Ta-da!”

“Beep!”

Desperately holding out Danpung, Professor Hwang’s rage seemed to subside slightly.

“Did you succeed in summoning again?”

“Yep. This friend is called Danpung.”

“Beep.”

“It’s this small, and the gym collapsed?”

Professor Hwang, who had been examining Danpung, sat down and took out a sharp pencil and notebook.

Then he began sketching Danpung.

Thankfully, it seemed his scholarly side was showing.

*Click, click.*

“Can you tell me more about this friend?”

“Danpung is good at cracking seeds.”

“Beep.”

*Snap.*

The pencil lead he had just sharpened broke in an instant.

“He’s also good at cracking chestnuts.”

“Beep.”

Danpung nodded.

***

*Bang!*

As we stepped out following Professor Hwang’s dismissal, the office door slammed shut ominously.

“Why am I the one getting scolded?”

“We’re friends.”

“Right. That’s our Supporter for you.”

“Is this kid a bit off? Is it okay for the top student to be like this?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Professor Hwang this angry.”

“What on earth did we do to make him like that?”

The friends who rushed out were all talking over each other, each saying their own thing.

This must be what friends are like.

*Beep.*

Meanwhile, Noa’s eyes widened as she turned on her device.

“Time really hasn’t passed?”

“Yeah. After feeding you guys, we went to the gym to summon Danpung. It’s only been a day since then. Don’t ask me, I don’t know either.”

“Space magic is so fascinating…”

“Let me know if you want to go again.”

The trio, who had been talking over each other, simultaneously shook their heads.

“I want to eat pork belly.”

“We just ate.”

“I want to eat again.”

“I’ll make it for you later.”

“That’s our Supporter for you.”

Shin Yong patted his stomach.

Hercules’ training must have been tougher than expected.

“Is this kid really the top incoming student?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Pointing at Shin Yong with my thumb, Kim Chan-yong fiddled with his new device and answered.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to learn some minor magic to prepare for the competition.”

“Support magic?”

“Yeah. Basic spells like bolts are good for suppression.”

As I started walking,

The trio naturally steps in the same direction.

“Not practicing any more support magic?”

“Already practicing. Stuff like eyeball extraction.”

There’s a need to learn the necessary magic for supporting during the competition.

“Is that support magic?”

“Wouldn’t the spell name be Blind? Isn’t it just about making them unable to see?”

“That’s true.”

While walking down the hallway and chatting, we notice someone staring at us from the opposite direction.

At first, I thought it was just a glance, but they keep staring as they walk towards us.

“They’re glaring hard. Should I use Blind?”

“Hold on.”

Kim Chan-yong raises his arm to stop me.

Meanwhile, the person approaching stops right in front of us.

“You’re Han Ga-eul from Class J, first year, right?”

“Who are you? Why do you keep glaring?”

“Ah!”

The woman rummages through her pocket and pulls out a pair of glasses to wear.

“I just took out my contact lenses. My eyesight is bad, that’s why.”

Her furrowed brow relaxes as she explains.

“I’m Yoo Dona, a fourth-year in the Magic Department.”

“Is the department divided?”

I glance to the side and ask, and Kim Chan-yong nods.

“We’re first-year freshmen. We’re only taking general classes for now. We’ll be divided soon, right?”

“Ah, I see.”

The person who introduced herself as Yoo Dona keeps staring at me.

“So, what brings you here, senior?”

“I heard you handle space magic.”

“Um… yes, I do?”

Yoo Dona pulls out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to me.

“How about joining our club?”

I unfold the paper and the club name catches my eye first.

“Hourglass? What kind of club is this?”

“It’s a club that researches time travel.”

“Is it a humanities club?”

“That’s a humanities bias.”

Yoo Dona adjusts her glasses.

“Wouldn’t it be faster to find a time traveler from the future? Like a research club that goes into particle accelerators.”

“That’s a really cool idea! Right now, we’re researching bending time and safely embedding hibernation capsules in the permafrost of the Northern Hemisphere for a thousand years.”

“Waking up after dying is also a kind of time travel. How about building a house next to a black hole?”

“That’s awesome…! With the strong gravity distorting spacetime, a time-travel house would be complete. Time isn’t absolute, after all.”

There doesn’t seem to be any normal people in the academy.

I think I’m the most normal one here.

“Let’s not do this here. Let’s go to the club room and talk more.”

“I’m busy researching spinal damage at different angles when the back is folded the wrong way.”

“Oh! That’s an interesting topic. I’ll help you write the paper. I’m fine with being the second author.”

Yoo Dona suddenly links arms with me.

“Uh, uh…? Let go!”

“Let’s go quickly! You’ll like it once you see it.”

Yoo Dona pulls me along.

“No, it looks like eyeballs floating in formaldehyde. Why would I go?”

“Oh, have you been there before?”

“This is really dizzying.”

“Haha. Just kidding, let’s go. I feel like we really click.”

“When did we ever click?”

Shin Yong, who was watching us, shakes his head.

“Birds of a feather flock together.”

“Hey, stop talking nonsense and get this person off me.”

“I don’t even understand what you guys are talking about.”

—

Yoo Dona, fourth-year in the Magic Department

President of the Hourglass Club