Chapter 69
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
Beloa first came here a year ago.
She was the kind of guest who had come because she had no way to meet men, rather than because she wanted to get married.
But because the conditions she asked for were rather absurd, I remember her being added to the impossible-marriage list.
“Are you…… ready?”
Beloa asked back.
I answered calmly.
“Ms. Beloa, I can contact you if someone like that turns up. But I did tell you it would be almost impossible, didn’t I.”
“…….”
“And you still put your name on the impossible-marriage list knowing that.”
I continued my calm, measured explanation. Glancing at Ms. Kim, I saw her cover her head with her bag and crawl under the desk.
‘Ugh, that’s so unfair.’
‘B-Boss. Fighting.’
That exchange passed between them in an instant, just through their eyes.
“Then…… do I have to spend this year alone too?”
Her softly whispered voice trembled faintly.
No, it wasn’t just her voice that trembled.
Kuuuuung!
The entire building shook!
“M-Ms. Beloa! Ms. Beloa?! Wait a second! Please calm down!”
“So Father really was a liar.”
“Ms. Beloa!”
“He said if I just studied, men would come running on their own. I’m in grad school now and no one is coming to find me. What is this.”
Beloa mumbled with her head hanging low, as if reciting a spell. She had caused trouble like this the last time she came too.
I hurriedly grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
“Snap out of it! Snap out of it!”
“I-I’m shaking! I-I’m falling!”
Ms. Kim, already following earthquake evacuation procedures, shouted when she saw the things around her falling under the desk.
“Ms. Beloa! Even if it’s hard, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible!”
Kuuung.
The tremors shaking the building gradually began to subside. Tears welled in Beloa’s eyes as she slowly lifted her head, which had been bowed as if to the ground.
“Really……?”
“It’s not impossible. So if you look hard enough, maybe there’ll be someone?”
“Sniff, I hate books now. I want to date. I want the Northern Grand Duke to look at me sharply, or some fresh-faced younger guy to call me ‘noona,’ or to be held in the warm, cozy arms of an older man and feel secure. Ah, I’m lonely. Boss, could you hold my hand just once?”
“…….”
Kuguuguuguung.
It looked like she was about to shake the place again, so I hurriedly held her.
“So warm…… I’m holding someone’s hand for the first time in a year.”
For the record, I’d held her hand a year ago too.
Beloa was the type to say everything she had to say in a small, timid voice.
What’s more, true to the name Infinite Library, she had learned romance from books, so what she wanted was rather hard to pin down.
[A man who can save her.]
That was Beloa’s requirement. In order to save her, there had to be a threat Beloa herself couldn’t handle.
And he had to be stronger than Beloa.
With prerequisites like that, how in the world was anyone supposed to save her?
A year ago, after compromise upon compromise, we’d settled on the impossible-marriage list—basically, someone stronger than her.
“You know better than anyone how hard it is to find someone stronger than you, Ms. Beloa.”
Beloa pressed her lips together tightly.
The dark circles under her eyes seemed to have sunk a little lower.
If I were to compare her, she was the sun.
Her brilliant talent was dazzling, so from afar she was truly beautiful.
But she was so hot that no one could stand near her.
That was why she shone so brightly, yet at the same time, she was lonely.
The office fell quiet.
Afraid Beloa would start crying if I left her alone, I hurriedly changed the subject.
“B-but why did you suddenly come out of the library?”
“Ah, well…… it’s not exactly good news-.”
* * *
Day 2.
What Reichen saw when he revisited Hwayeong Flower Shop was a peculiar sight.
“How is it? Is it good? It’s good, right?!”
It was Kim Dajung talking to the flowers while watering them. Sometimes like a close friend, sometimes like a daughter caring for her parents, and sometimes like an older sister scolding a disobedient child.
A woman who believed flowers had a will of their own.
One more trait of Kim Dajung was added to Reichen’s mental list.
“I’m here.”
“Oh my?! You startled me!”
Kim Dajung, flustered, hurriedly hid the watering can behind her in embarrassment.
Hiding it wouldn’t change anything, but she still wanted to hide something, anything.
“S-so when there aren’t many customers, I sometimes fool around like this.”
“I see.”
Reichen answered flatly and held out the bundle of gifts in his hands.
Inside were cosmetics, perfume, stuffed dolls, and more.
A variety of expensive items were packed inside.
“I didn’t know what would be good, so I bought what the clerk recommended. This is in return for yesterday’s gift.”
“Wow, but that flower didn’t even cost 5,000 won.”
“It’s fine.”
“What do you mean, fine! I want to give you something in return somehow……. Ah! If you don’t mind, would you like to go look around the botanical garden nearby after work today?”
“All right.”
Being seen in a good light was a positive sign.
Reichen nodded and headed to the café next door.
* * *
Day 3.
Reichen’s lab in the Magic Tower.
He watered the Plinea in the pot by the window while skimming through a book.
“Half a cup of water a day. Six hours of sunlight. Any more and the roots will rot. It needs to be aired out once every two days, and kept in warm air.”
It was hard to deny that it was a fussy plant. Even so, Reichen was faithfully managing it.
As he followed the words with his eyes, he came to Plinea’s flower meaning.
Plinea’s flower meaning: protected love.
Protecting love was so intricate and difficult that it had to be handled like a lover.
Personally, Reichen couldn’t accept that.
'People and plants are clearly different.'
Even if he tried to be flexible, they were different in every respect, so it was hard to accept.
So, as always.
He simply followed what was written in the book.
There was no deeper meaning to growing Plinea.
Bzzt!
His phone vibrated.
Mages didn’t like machines, so it felt awkward, but he couldn’t deny that it was convenient.
- Kim Dajung: Expensive coffee beans are coming in tomorrow!
- Kim Dajung: Would you like to come have a cup?
'Was she trying to win me over? Or just trying to become more likable?'
A woman named Kim Dajung was difficult even for his sharp mind to gauge.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that they stood on opposite extremes.
But—.
- Reichen: Understood.
What was the problem with that?
* * *
Day 4.
- Reichen: Something urgent came up, so I can’t make it.
- Reichen: I’m sorry.
After sending the text, Reichen turned his eyes back to his teacher lying in the sickbed.
Firm hands, an unbent back, and a wall of mana that had dominated the space.
Everything was gone, and what remained in this room was an old man whose breathing was the only thing still strong.
Gellerwind, once called a towering figure in academia, had achieved countless advancements on the Rajesta Continent, but
now, the only one at his side was his chief disciple, Reichen.
“Reichen-.”
His voice was like a leaf devoid of moisture, ready to crumble at any moment. His gaunt joints were like frail branches.
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Become a better person.”
He gently held Gellerwind’s hand. Fearing it might break, he was so worried that he could barely feel its warmth.
“Become someone better than me.”
“Could there be anyone greater than you on this continent, Teacher?”
“To call it great…… the path I walked was far too shabby, wasn’t it.”
A faint smile.
Reichen couldn’t bear to face the look of someone seeming to wrap everything up in resignation, and his gaze fell downward.
“The man who devoted himself to magic was an unbearably selfish person.”
“…….”
“I abandoned my wife and neglected my child. I devoted myself only to magic.”
“The number of people you saved has gone past four digits, Teacher, and many people now live comfortably thanks to the magic you developed.”
“Hah…….”
Teaching a disciple who doesn’t understand is always the teacher’s job.
“Reichen, become a better person than your teacher.”
“I—!”
“Become a good person, not a magician.”
He felt as though something were caught in his throat. After realizing the difference between the two, Reichen swallowed his words again and again until—.
“Yes.”
That was all he could answer.
* * *
Day 5.
“How is it? The coffee tastes good, right?”
“……Yes.”
“Hehe! It’s pretty expensive beans.”
Expensive beans, huh.
The brewing method was wrong too, and the value of the beans fell far short of the luxury drinks he had in the Magic Tower.
Even so, he calmly agreed.
Because he wanted something.
Just then, a customer entered the flower shop, and Kim Dajung hurried over to them.
“Ah, did you come to look at flowers?”
She served coffee, welcomed the flower-shop customer, and chatted excitedly.
Yet she didn’t even think to wipe the trace of coffee grounds from her own cheek.
A woman who didn’t know how to take care of herself.
Another trait of Kim Dajung was added to Reichen’s mental list.
A moment later, Kim Dajung returned, sat across from him, and smiled.
“Oh right, how’s the flower? Have you already killed it and are you just pretending to take care of it?”
“It’s not dead yet.”
Looking steadily at Kim Dajung, who was smiling playfully, Reichen reached out and wiped the coffee grounds from her cheek.
It didn’t mean anything in particular.
He just did it because he thought it was dirty.
“Ah.”
Kim Dajung’s cheeks flushed faintly red.
She brushed at her cheeks, looking embarrassed, and gave an awkward laugh.
“Something was on it. Haha, I guess I showed you an embarrassing side of myself.”
'Was she trying to win me over?'
Watching her smile, Reichen took another sip of coffee.
She was definitely a woman who laughed easily.
* * *
Day 6.
Gellerwind’s condition suddenly worsened starting at lunchtime.
His disciple Reichen had spent the entire day sitting guard beside his sickbed.
Other magicians from the Magic Tower came to visit, and archmages of the same rank as Gellerwind also showed up.
And then evening came.
There was an uproar outside the hospital room.
“Are you kidding me?! He’s an archmage! Gellerwind, the archmage who upheld legitimacy and our principles! And you want to use medical equipment brought over from the 6th Floor on him right now?”
“Shouldn’t we save him first? I heard that if he’s treated regularly with this, he can survive at least another month.”
“Even if inter-floor exchanges have become more active after the war! Wrong is wrong! The great archmage who led the way in preserving the tradition of magic more than anyone else, reduced in his twilight years to relying on machines to cling to life? This is an insult to the entire Magic Society!”
The magicians’ argument could be heard from outside.
The medical equipment from the 6th Floor Cyber City.
Reichen was conflicted inwardly as well.
Because in his younger days, Gellerwind had been more front and center than anyone in opposing machines and innovation.
'Still.'
The moment he rose from his seat, hoping his teacher might live even a little longer,
Thump!
Gellerwind, lying in the sickbed, grabbed Reichen’s hand.
And he shook his head with all his strength.
“……I will comply.”
After stepping out of the hospital room, Reichen stripped as much emotion as possible from his voice and conveyed the decision with his usual coolness.
“Teacher has refused treatment.”
* * *
Day 7.
Reichen, who had nursed him day and night without a wink of sleep, returned to his room.
He had barely gotten past the dangerous point.
But who knew how many more times that could hold…….
The room was tidied up.
He checked the phone placed on the desk.
- Kim Dajung: The weather is nice today.
- Kim Dajung: They say it’ll rain tomorrow.
-----Today-----
- Kim Dajung: If you’re coming today, bring an umbrella! Don’t forget it!
- Kim Dajung: By the way, is it raining there too?
- Kim Dajung: Oh, and I bought cake too!
- Kim Dajung: Plinea is growing well, right?
“…….”
He’d been so busy yesterday that he hadn’t even checked whether a message had come in.
Even though there’d been no reply, Reichen quickly moved his fingers and replied to the text sent today.
- Reichen: I’ll come today.
Because it was the day he had promised.
He had to get married as soon as possible.
The scenery his teacher had wanted to see.
He wanted to show him that even after closing his eyes and passing on, his disciple could live happily.
Whether that was true or false.
He turned his gaze to the window.
It was raining outside.
Soaked with rainwater, the Plinea had rotted and curled up gray.
It could no longer bloom.
“Haah.”
He let out a short sigh with his face in his hands.
* * *
Swoooosh.
It was raining.
Arriving at Hwayeong Flower Shop, Reichen handed over the flowerpot from under his umbrella.
“Wow! You made it bloom really well?”
The Plinea’s white flower, blooming in brilliant splendor.
“It looks like you’ve grown it even better than when I first gave it to you. I thought it would be a relief if it just didn’t die.”
“…….”
Kim Dajung smiled as she looked over the pot from side to side.
What was so fun about it?
Probably because she laughed so easily.
“I kept my promise.”
“Ah—.”
“Please marry me.”
As she listened to Reichen’s request to hold the ceremony as early as tomorrow,
Kim Dajung’s expression stiffened.
“Wait a minute.”
She carefully dug into the soil of the pot with her fingers, and then—.
She discovered the roots, rotten and mushy from soaking up too much rainwater.
It was a bizarre sight.
The flower was in full bloom, yet
the roots themselves were black and dead.
The sight almost looked like this proposal, with nothing left but its purpose.
Reichen suddenly had that thought.
“It’s dead……?”
To Kim Dajung’s startled question, Reichen answered calmly.
“Since it bloomed, you haven’t suffered any material loss.”
“…….”
“There shouldn’t be any problem reselling it as an ornamental artificial flower. I cast that much magic on it.”
At those words,
Kim Dajung, who had been staring at the flower, smiled awkwardly.
“Um, haha…… Mr. Reichen.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think we can go any further than this.”
Her lips trembled faintly.
Reichen felt something suddenly settle heavily at the sight of Kim Dajung’s expression.
“Did I hurt you?”
At the still-flat question—
“It’s okay.”
A woman who couldn’t lie.
Another trait of Kim Dajung was added to Reichen’s mental list.
* * *
Reichen returned to the Magic Tower and headed straight for his teacher’s room.
Creak, creak.
Creak, creak.
His teacher, sitting in a secondhand rocking chair, looked at least better than yesterday.
Gellerwind, who had been reading a book, asked softly the moment he saw his disciple.
“Did you fail?”
“……!”
The words he had been about to say went right back into his mouth. His efforts to find another woman burst like bubbles in an instant, and—
like a child caught lying, he told the truth.
“Yes, I couldn’t keep my promise.”
After that, Reichen stood there blankly. Gellerwind turned a page as if waiting for something, then—
“What kind of woman was she?”
he asked.
The information about her that had been taking shape in Reichen’s head lined up one by one.
“She was a meddlesome woman.”
“And?”
“She was a woman who didn’t know how to take care of herself.”
“Heh, and?”
“She was a woman who liked flowers.”
“A fine hobby. Anything else?”
“She was a woman who couldn’t lie.”
Even though he asked no further.
Reichen still added one more line.
“She was a woman who laughed easily.”
Too abstract and too concise to describe a person.
As if pointing the way for the confused Reichen, his teacher asked:
“What are you thinking about?”
“……Her smiling face came to mind.”
“Why?”
Why had it come to mind?
Why was he only now remembering the way she had smiled shyly at his touch?
“A little more.”
Just one more time.
That woman who laughed so easily—
“I should have made her smile.”
“…….”
“That’s what I thought.”