Chapter 29: The Glass Bottle and the Smile.

“Now, come on-“

Seo Jin, who had been staring silently at the hand stretched out to him.
His hesitation wasn’t long.

Following the guidance of his former student, he stepped into the space movement magic circle.

An unfamiliar wave of magic power swept past his consciousness once.

The moment he recognized himself again,
Seo Jin was standing in a completely different place than before.

The scenery he saw was somewhere indoors.
The appearance of the neat wallpaper and furniture resembled an ordinary home.
But there was such an unusual lack of a sense of life that it looked more like a model house somewhere rather than a normal house.

The moment he was looking around, he felt a presence approaching suddenly.

“Teacher~”

A weight that was hanging on him before he could even turn around.
A soft touch tightly grabbed his arm.
Looking down, the beautiful light pink hair that was like blossoming cherry blossoms was scattered.
The silver eyes, which he was seeing again after several years, bent prettily.

A smiling girl who was just like the figure in his memory,
and Seo Jin, who couldn’t hide his various complicated emotions.

The two of them stared at each other blankly like that for a while.

“…Cynthia.”

The voice that contained the name of his former student was a little awkward.
The distance of the time they hadn’t been able to meet each other.
The complexion of the girl who noticed that hardened.

Cynthia shook her head as if she was complaining.

“I don’t like it when it’s awkward. Please call me like you used to…!”

At the words of her plea with an earnest expression and pleading eyes, Seo Jin hesitated for a moment and then answered again.

“……Okay, Cindy. It’s been a while.”

The girl smiled again only then.
She smiled clearly as if she had the whole world with just one word of endearment.
The attitude of the pure 아이 who had been fond of him hadn’t changed at all….

Seo Jin felt guilty.

The guilt about the lie that had tricked this kind of girl and unilaterally cut off their relationship.

In the past, he had rationalized that decision. He had said that it was an absolutely necessary thing, that it was a choice for them, because he couldn’t make them experience the pain of the same separation again, but….

No, whatever it was, it was an irreversible past now.

More than that, the present was even more important to Seo Jin, so he took his eyes off that guilt and carefully looked around again.

This place, this place he had arrived at even beyond the space movement spell… was somehow alien.

The lights were bright, but there weren’t any windows.
A subtly high humidity tickled the tip of his nose.

‘….Underground?’

As if she had read his question first, Cynthia added an explanation.

“This is a private property outside of the 15th district. It’s just the two of us with Teacher after a long time, so I didn’t want to be disturbed…. Do you not like the atmosphere? Should we go somewhere else?”

“…No. It’ll be fine.”

Certainly, the story they were going to share from now on was that important.
It was right to come to a place that avoided the eyes of others.

However, he only felt a strange feeling at the flow that seemed to have been prepared from the beginning.

In fact, everything about his reunion with her was full of questions.
There were so many things he wanted to hear, so many questions he had to ask.

But even that impatience temporarily lost its direction at her sudden actions.

“Please wait a moment!”

Leaving those words, the back of her suddenly disappearing somewhere.
Soon, he heard something clattering.

In a short while, Cynthia returned with a small tea table in her hands.
Coffee and scones, shortcakes that were giving off white steam.
After putting them down on the nearby table, she shyly said to Seo Jin.

“I made these myself, I practiced a lot. Please taste them too, Teacher.”

One teacup was held out in front of him.
Coffee that was emitting white steam.
A familiar scent brushed past the tip of his nose.

“You liked 17th district coffee beans the most, right? I only put half a spoon of sugar in it, like you always did. I’ve been practicing the way you often drank it in my own way, but I wonder what it’ll be like-“

Urged by the gaze that was staring at him intently, Seo Jin awkwardly raised the cup.

“….Yeah, it’s okay. It’s not bad.”

“Really? I’m glad…! To be honest, I personally prefer the sweeter side for drinks, but still, because Teacher likes black, I also-“

Letting out a sigh of relief, she subtly sat down on the seat next to the sofa. And she was gradually closing the distance. The action of naturally bringing her shoulder closer felt really just like before.

Seo Jin was feeling an even thicker sense of incongruity at that attitude.
It was a completely different appearance from the reunion they had imagined.
To be honest, he had thought that she would definitely be angry.
Because it was no different from him deceiving them. He thought it was an obligation to endure even if he was slapped or hit for asking if he had fun tricking people like this.
Rather, he thought it was a responsibility he should rightly bear.

But the 아이 he had met again didn’t show even a hint of criticism or resentment.

Even without any questions….
She was just approaching him familiarly, like back then when they had faced each other every day.

Seo Jin was feeling a sense of incongruity at that calm attitude instead.

The gaze that hadn’t left him for even a moment until now.
He could no longer know what kind of thoughts were contained in those mysterious silver eyes where a faint iridescence was rippling. It wasn’t easily understood.

So Seo Jin asked directly.

“Is it really Cynthia, you, who sent me the documents?”

At those words, the voice that had been chattering cheerfully about light stories until now stopped abruptly.
A silence that had come between the gazes facing each other.
The expressionless face where the usual smile had hardened felt somehow a little scary.

But that was only for a moment, Cynthia smiled brightly and answered again.

“That’s right. It was my gift to Teacher.”

Seo Jin was silent for a moment at that answer.

The word gift,
wasn’t an expression he couldn’t understand.

The truth related to the death of the most precious person was clearly something he needed.

It wasn’t a fact he wanted to know,
but even so, it was something he had to know.

But….
It was a matter where he didn’t even know how Cynthia had gotten that kind of information, or even what means she had used to find him in the first place.

All of them were questions that he had to untangle step by step from now on.

“You knew….. that I was alive?”

It was a situation where he felt sorry and ridiculous just for taking out questions like this… but even so, he had no choice but to ask.

In order to untangle the tangled thread, he had returned to the very first question.

“From when, how?”

Cynthia answered immediately while smiling brightly.

“From the beginning.”

“…..What?”

“I’ve always been watching over Teacher, you know.”

“What does that mean…?”

At the words he asked back with a hesitant look, Cynthia somehow became radiant and clapped her hands once. And she stood up from her seat with an excited air and disappeared somewhere again.

“I have something to show you! Just a moment!! Please wait just a moment~!”

He felt something bad from the back of her running out while leaving those words.

The sense of incongruity he had been feeling all along since he had reunited with her was gradually growing.

But the thoughts were only for a moment, and the worries were cut off by the presence that was returning right away.

Cynthia was approaching with something in her arms with a flushed face.

A round and fairly long cylindrical object.
There was a cloth cover on it, so only its shape was visible on the outside.

She had returned, holding that close like the most precious treasure in the world, and gently sat down next to Seo Jin again.

And she whispered in a lowered voice, like a secret prank.

“It’s my most cherished treasure….. I’m only showing it to Teacher specially…!”

Cynthia sparkled her eyes with an unknown sense of anticipation and carefully lifted up the cover of the object to show it.

“Tada~! What do you think?”

It was… a transparent glass bottle.
A container that was filled with an unidentified liquid, like something you would see in a laboratory.
They said that exhibits where the originals were preserved for a long time by soaking the corpses of dead animals and such in embalming fluid were called liquid-preserved specimens, and it was a similar object to that.

Seo Jin unconsciously looked inside in detail.

The appearance of something soaked and refracted in the light green transparent liquid was like….

His heart really shrank in surprise at that moment.

The shape soaked and refracted in the liquid wasn’t something like a dissected frog.

It was a part of the human body.
Someone’s right arm that had been raggedly cut off from above the elbow.

The shape that had been torn off with rough wounds, like the teeth marks of a wild beast…

was unfamiliar for a moment, but felt all too familiar at the same time….

He felt goosebumps rise on the back of his neck.

Seo Jin unconsciously stroked his prosthetic hand. At the cold texture of the alloy replacing his body and the unbelievable sight that was visible before his eyes, he forgot even to breathe and became blank for a moment.

He was only dazedly frozen.

In Seo Jin’s ear, there was a giggling sound that was heard as if whispering.

“Teacher, do you know?”

He couldn’t even bring himself to turn to the side.
Then a hand that was stroking his cheek forced him to match his gaze.

A brightly smiling face. The face of his former student who was looking at him seemed as pure as ever.

So he had been mistaken that nothing had changed until now.
The distortion that was positioned behind the beautiful silver eyes like jewels…

“The feeling of magic power permeating is subtly different between a dead person’s body and a living person’s body. It’s a conceptual action, so that happens even if a part of them is very far apart.”

“Do you know what that means?”

In front of his face, which had hardened palely,
Cynthia was hugging the glass bottle in her arms again, cherishing it so dearly.

“Even if they appear to be disconnected, they were always connected in essence.”

She was smiling with all her might while stroking Seo Jin’s part very lovingly.

“I was always with Teacher.”