Chapter 140
The next day, Yoon Haul visited the library.
The book that Han Siha had told her not to mention was now completely in his possession.
As a result, it was overdue.
“Student, didn’t you return the book you borrowed two weeks ago? It’s due today.”
The librarian, who recognized Yoon Haul, approached her.
Yoon Haul was a frequent visitor to the library, practically living there, so the librarian knew her well.
She had borrowed countless books but had never once returned a book late, making her a model patron.
It was hard not to think well of her.
However, today was different.
“Uh… um…”
Yoon Haul hesitated, her lips moving without words.
Should I tell her? Should I not?
She would probably think I’m crazy.
Yoon Haul clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut.
“I… I ate it!”
“Excuse me?”
“The book… it… uh… tore, and… after it tore, I… ate it…”
“You’re saying… you ate the book, Haul?”
What is she talking about?
The librarian stared at Yoon Haul in stunned silence.
“Well, it was tasty!”
Yoon Haul said this and then nervously swallowed, avoiding the librarian’s gaze.
Of course, this excuse didn’t fly.
“I’m glad it was tasty.”
“Uh, yes. Thank you.”
“We only had one copy of that book. Did you lose it?”
The librarian chuckled at Yoon Haul’s ridiculous excuse, finding it oddly charming.
“Uh… yeah, something like that.”
The book was still intact, but she couldn’t return it.
There was always a chance that a dark mage could come across it in the library, just like she did, so leaving it with Han Siha was the safest option.
Unaware of these details, the librarian clicked her tongue and spoke.
“I’ll let you off the hook this time. But next time, if you lose a book, just say so.”
“Yes… yes. I’m sorry!”
Normally, she would charge a fee for the lost book, but she decided to make an exception.
Yoon Haul bowed her head, apologizing profusely.
The librarian accepted her apology with a smile, muttering to herself in mild annoyance.
“I guess I’ll have to order a new one. What a hassle.”
Yoon Haul’s heart sank.
Now that she thought about it, taking the book was meaningless if the librarian simply reordered it.
She needed to stop her.
Yoon Haul quickly cried out.
“No! You shouldn’t reorder it!”
“What?”
“I… I read it, and… the content was so… bad that I just had to eat it….”
“What?”
“Anyway! The book really isn’t worth reordering. It doesn’t even have a title, and no one would read it… it was tasty, sure, but definitely not a book worth keeping in the library.”
“….”
“You shouldn’t keep it in the library—maybe drizzle some dressing on it and eat it instead. That would be a better use.”
Yoon Haul bit her lower lip without realizing it.
‘Where did Han Siha go?’
If she could catch him, she wouldn’t let him off easily.
Yoon Haul’s ears turned bright red with embarrassment.
The librarian scratched her head, thoroughly confused.
“Well, okay… what kind of book would make you say all that?”
The librarian had always thought of Yoon Haul as a smart, if slightly eccentric, girl. Now, she seemed to have lost her mind.
After checking the acquisition list, the librarian added.
“Well, it’s out of print anyway. Even if I wanted to reorder it, I couldn’t.”
“I… I’m sorry! Goodbye!”
Yoon Haul had done everything she could to keep the book hidden.
Now, she wanted nothing more than to escape the library as quickly as possible.
She probably wouldn’t be able to show her face there for a while.
But she still had one more thing she needed to do.
“Um… you wouldn’t happen to know who wrote that book, would you?”
Yoon Haul shut her eyes tight and asked the question she needed to ask.
The book’s author was listed as “unknown,” but the librarian, who managed all the books in the academy, might know something.
“The author?”
The librarian seemed taken aback by Yoon Haul’s sudden question, her voice trailing off.
“The author isn’t known, but I believe it was donated through a private contribution. I keep records of those.”
“Oh! Do you remember who donated it?”
“Who donated it?”
The librarian tilted her head, puzzled.
The girl who had never been late with a book before was now overdue, making up strange excuses.
The librarian didn’t understand why Yoon Haul was acting so oddly, but she couldn’t ignore the request from such a good student.
She pulled out the donation list and started comparing names.
It hadn’t been donated all that long ago.
“Oh, it was part of a batch of books donated last year on February 12th.”
“Can you tell me the name of the donor?”
Even though the book’s author was unknown, sharing the donor’s name didn’t seem like a big deal.
The academy’s top donors were publicly acknowledged every year, so there was no reason to keep it a secret.
The librarian spoke with a hesitant expression.
“It says here it was donated by the Willow family. They sent a total of 124 books that year, including this one. They’ve always been very generous.”
“The Willow family? Thank you!”
Yoon Haul wasn’t sure if the donor was connected to the author, but it couldn’t hurt to find out.
She made a mental note to tell Han Siha everything she’d learned.
Tap, tap, tap.
With her task complete, Yoon Haul quickly hurried out of the library.
“Phew… phew.”
She couldn’t bear to stay in the library any longer.
“That was so embarrassing.”
Leaning against a window, Yoon Haul pressed her cool hands against her flushed cheeks.
“The Willow family’s donation… The author is unknown, but if the book was so rare that it’s out of print, maybe the donor knew who the author was… or maybe I’m overthinking it? But where have I heard of the Willow family before? The name sounds familiar… I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere.”
Yoon Haul pondered for a moment before deciding to leave the thinking to Han Siha.
“I’ll ask him when I see him.”
For now, she had to buy some treats for Joy, who was waiting for her at home.
The little kitten had already settled in so well in just one day that Yoon Haul couldn’t help but smile whenever she thought of it.
She could already imagine Joy poking her head out, eagerly waiting for her to return.
“She’s just too cute…”
Yoon Haul covered her mouth to stifle her laughter as she thought about Joy’s bright, curious eyes.
“I’d better get going.”
Knowing someone was waiting for her made Yoon Haul happy.
She quickly forgot her embarrassment and hummed a tune as she walked down the hallway.
That’s when she spotted a familiar face.
“Oh, Natalie?”
With her shoulder-length golden hair and striking blue eyes, Natalie was a sight to behold.
They weren’t particularly close, not being in the same department, but everyone in their year knew who Natalie was.
Both of them were well-known figures at Ardel Academy.
Yoon Haul called out to her cheerfully.
“Natalie, long time no see!”
Natalie turned her head in surprise, her eyes widening.
But instead of greeting Yoon Haul with her usual bright smile, she just awkwardly waved her hand, almost creaking as she did so.
“N-Natalie?”
“Y-Yeah….”
“Are you okay?”
Something was definitely off.
* * *
‘Natalie’s been looking really exhausted lately.’
‘She looked half-dead. I seriously thought she was a zombie.’
The campus darling, the walking ray of sunshine, was gone.
Yoon Haul had heard from others that Natalie wasn’t doing well, but seeing her in person confirmed how serious it was.
“What’s going on with you?”
I gave her shoulder a light tap, and she finally lifted her head. I had called out to her when we crossed paths in the hallway, thinking of what Yoon Haul had mentioned, but she hadn’t even noticed me until I was right in front of her.
Her tired eyes blinked slowly.
Finally, Natalie managed a weak smile.
“Oh, Han Siha.”
“You don’t look so great.”
She was shuffling her feet as she walked, her shoulders slumped, and she looked utterly exhausted.
“I’m just a little tired.”
“You look more than a little tired. You’re about to collapse. What have you been doing?”
“I’ve been learning a lot… trying to earn some extra credits for later…”
Natalie replied, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
She nearly collapsed to the side, so I grabbed her just in time. From the way she was wobbling, it wouldn’t have been surprising if she fell asleep while walking.
“Every day, new notices are posted on the bulletin board.”
“Yeah, I know. I applied for something recently too.”
“So… I’ve been applying for everything….”
She swayed as she spoke.
At this rate, she was going to wear herself out.
I guided the unsteady Natalie over to a nearby bench and sat her down.
“With all the money you have, why are you working so much?”
Natalie’s family wasn’t an old and storied noble house, but they were well-known for being wealthy.
Even if I wasn’t sure how successful their business ventures were, their wealth was enough to be widely recognized within the academy. That meant they weren’t just rich—they were *rich*.
A girl who grew up with everything she could ever want suddenly trying to work every internship she could find was strange.
And doing it until she was half-dead from exhaustion? That was even stranger.
Natalie gave me a faint smile as she continued.
“Everyone’s working so hard… I felt like I should be doing something too.”
“But you don’t need to push yourself to the point of collapsing.”
Between Professor Ernst’s research lab and assisting Han Si-hyuk, I was also ridiculously busy.
But I still made sure to take care of my health!
“You don’t realize it now, but you’re not going to bounce back like you used to as you get older. If you keep pushing yourself like this, it’ll catch up with you.”
“Huh?”
“You’re only holding up because you’re sixteen. Just wait a few more years….”
I stopped mid-sentence.
Oh. They’ll still be young even after a few more years.
I had momentarily forgotten that this bright, sunny girl was only sixteen.
Hmm.
I probably shouldn’t be the one to give advice.
Shaking my head, I added.
“Anyway, don’t overdo it. Take care of yourself while you work.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“So where are you working these days?”
Natalie pointed to a notice on the board nearby.
“I’ve been doing this since last week!”
“Recruitment for Life Water Bottling Process Workers”
“It’s related to potions, so they said it would be beneficial if I want to study herbology later.”
Natalie had always been interested in herbology.
Not every mage focuses on combat, and given Natalie’s gentle nature, potion-making seemed like a good fit for her, so I nodded in understanding.
The life water bottling process was, in simple terms, a basic labor task where they split and bottle life water for healing potions.
To put it more bluntly…
“So, it’s a water bottling factory.”
“Yes! They said if I work there for more than six months, I’ll get to do other things too.”
“So, you’ll be bottling water for six months.”
“I-Is that what it is?”
They called it “life water bottling,” but it was basically just a water bottling factory!
I wasn’t sure why working there would earn her extra credits in herbology, but whatever.
As I carefully examined the notice Natalie had pointed out, something caught my eye.
There’s something off about the pay.
“It’s 1 silver a day for 10 hours of work?”
“Yes, that’s what it says.”
“1 silver?”
1 silver was about 10,000 Korean won.
So that’s 10,000 won for 10 hours of work. Which means the hourly wage is… 1,000 won?
Is that right?
“What the hell.”
She’s practically killing herself for this?
Even for an internship, this was downright exploitation.
I clenched my teeth in anger.
“Do they not even pay minimum wage?”
“Huh?”
“These bastards are scumbags.”
Natalie, who had been watching me nervously, tilted her head in confusion.
“Is something wrong?”
“Something’s very wrong. Don’t do this. Those guys are nothing but thieves.”
“I’ve been working under similar conditions this whole time….”
“Then you’ve only been dealing with thieves.”
“Really?”
It was bad enough that they were exploiting the talents of the magic department under these conditions.
But it seemed like bright, naive kids like Natalie were applying without knowing any better.
It’s one thing to exploit interns by paying them peanuts, but 1,000 won an hour? That’s outrageous.
Having been on the receiving end of similar treatment before, I was even more furious.
Sure, companies often dump all sorts of grunt work on interns under the guise of “training,” but this was outright exploitation.
Preying on clueless sixteen-year-olds like this… these guys are unbelievable.
“This looks way too familiar, and that’s why it pisses me off even more.”
“Umm…”
I had initially planned to just tell Natalie to quit and tear down the notice, but I changed my mind.
“How do I sign up for this?”
I copied down the address of the office listed on the notice.
Natalie looked at me with growing unease, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“Umm… Han Siha? You’re not planning to cause any trouble… right?”
“Of course not.”
“Really?”
“We’ll see. I’ll figure it out when I get there.”
“…!”
TL Note: Rate us on NOVEL UPDATES