Chapter 8: The Hooligan and Unfairly Admitted Student (2)
Unlike the people in the school who spoke with a gentle intonation, whether they were a student or a teacher, the boy's tone sounded crude.
"What first year student struggling to not flunk drinks alcohol? Give me some of the remaining."
"There's really none left today, you rascal. A youth who came late took all of the lunch's lot."
Kleio sneaked a glance at the kitchen.
Outside of the kitchen backdoor, a boy with scruffy hair was being hit by the cafeteria lady with a tray.
"Ahjumma, I found talismans for you and even went to the black market in your stead – this is too much! Wasn't it all thanks to me that it went well with Thompson ahjussi[1]!"
"This punk really doesn't shy away from saying anything! And how much is the alcohol that you've drank away!"
"With how much the tuition is for this school, the school won't go bankrupt just because I drink some alcohol."
"It looks like this big mouth needs to be hit more before it shuts up."
"Ah–, ahjumma!"
'Is he an errand boy for the school?'
The number of students in the Royal Capital Defense Corps School was only 160 even if you combined the four grades, but there were just as many employees hired to look after the livelihood here.
There were a lot of things that required looking after, so it wouldn't be weird if there were, not only formal employees, but also kids who did light errands.
'Hmm, is it a bit weird?'
Seeing the situation, it seemed like the school kids hardly drank during the day. It seemed like the remaining alcohol was that kid's errand fee.
Originally, if you considered Kleio's life, then it was closer to that boy's, rather than that of a silver spoon.
It felt like he had broken the boy's anticipation for tasty alcohol, so Kleio felt a little awkward.
It was already time for the attendants to rest, so Kleio returned the utensils-filled tray to the lady, and separately held up the bottle containing the remaining alcohol.
"Ahjumoni[2]."
"Ah, did you finish eating?"
The lady who had just been thrashing the dirty boy, had on a kind face like she had never done that.
"Yes, it was delicious. Thank you. And I think I needlessly ordered too much, so there is alcohol remaining. Is it alright for me to return it?"
"Oh… It seems you've heard this hellion talking. It's alright, take it with you. It's your share."
"Ahjumma, he's saying that I can have it. Hi? You're giving that alcohol to me, right?"
"Uh… yeah."
"Thanks!"
"Don't step in here with your nasty feet covered in dirt! Get out!"
The boy, who was wearing boots covered in mud, dashed inside with an invisible speed. And then he snatched two water cups.
It wasn't noticeable when he was hunched over, but he was tall and his hands were large. Holding the two glass cups in one hand, and the alcohol bottle in the other, the guy called over to Kleio.
"It looks like you know your alcohol."
"What. Do you know me?"
"No, I don't. But let's drink the remaining together."
Kleio considered it a little, no, a lot.
He had absolutely no intention of drinking together with a young kid he didn't know at their first meeting, but…
'Mm.'
…The part of him that wanted to drink the just one more glass of the wine, which had gone up to room temperature so that the scent had changed, won.
"Let's go somewhere where there's no people."
"There's a lot of places like that in this school."
"…Okay."
Even if his goal was expulsion, wouldn't it be excessive if the loner, unfairly accepted student, and suicide aspirant became someone who drank on the streets in the middle of the day at seventeen years of age?
.
.
.
The further you went in, the denser the forest became. The trees that were as old as the age of the school cast a cool shade.
When they finally reached the middle of the forest, there was an empty site with four old stone steles embedded in four directions of north, south, east, and west.
In the middle of the four rocks, there was the debris of a broken building that only had one side left.
"Why are there ruins in the center of the school?"
"Are you really a student at this school? This is the 'Door of Mnemosyne'. The one people say is connected to another world, or such."
"This is that…"
'Door of Mnemosyne' was more like the ruins of a wall with columns and a doorframe, rather than a 'door'.
The limestone doorframe tinted with green moss and with the decorative reliefs fallen off, looked like remains over a thousand years old, even to Kleio's undiscerning eyes.
"I didn't know it would look this dilapidated."
"Even so, they say that magic beasts burst out of here a long, long time ago. So people don't come here much. Isn't it a perfect place to drink?"
The boy flopped down first. A bit apart from the boy, Kleio also sat down, leaning his back again a stone stele.
There was wasn't much of a need for words. The boy pored wine into a water cup and passed it over, and Kleio focused only on the alcohol.
The half-bottle of alcohol left was soon at the last glasses after two or so rounds. Getting tipsy, he felt like he was going to fly.
The boy who was now smiling wide introduced himself first.
"I'm Leo. You?"
"Me?"
'Does he not know who I am? Then again, I guess he could not know, if he's not a student."
Only then did Kleio start to examine the boy closely.
'If you look closely, it doesn't seem to be a bad face; it's just that his state is like this.'
The boy's messy blonde hair was rough, and there was dust stuck to the scruffy beard. It was to the point that even his jawline wasn't very visible. When he smiled, the rims of his eyes bent a lot so that the color of his eyes was indistinct.
"Well, I'm Lei."
"Oh, your name is similar to mine. Is that why you like alcohol, too?"
"Stop saying nonsense, and drink the remaining alcohol."
"This little thing looks like a nerd, so he's good at griping."
***
Kleio's expectation that he wouldn't see the boy again nicely went awry.
Kleio, who didn't go to class and only came to each lunch, always met Leo at the cafeteria. They soon became something like drinking buddies.
And then he was led by the driven boy to spend his time fly fishing at the brook inside the school (he was teased for being unable to catch even one fish) and watching bird catching.
It was a pastoral life that he had never enjoyed even when he really was a seventeen-year-old.
'Back then, my goal was to study and get to Seoul no matter what. My life was painful and tough.'
In the rural area, he was more or less on the side that studied well. Thanks to that, he didn't have friends, though he wasn't ostracized.
With his situation, it was hard for him to go to cram school, so he had studied with the professor's workbooks given by the teachers and school computer lectures.
He didn't have money, so he needed to use time, at least, to get to college.
A time he didn't want to go back to, even if he was told to.
It was only after he came to the world inside the manuscript, that Kleio could spend a peaceful seventeen-year-old's life without worrying about a career or money.
Of course, they also drank alcohol.
Leo, the commoner boy who didn't know 'Kleio'. The day drinking time that he spent with a kid with small talents was surprisingly fun.
The guy who carried around a pocket with all sorts of things for errands, a bird hunted with a slingshot, and fishing bait made from threading feathers, was talented and overflowing with sociability.
Today, Leo was playing with a small dagger, wherever he found it from. His talent in making light sparkle off the blade was wondrous.
Putting down a ceramic kettle holding wine, Kleio asked.
"What is that?"
"A small hand technique?"
"It's interesting."
Leo stared especially obviously at his face as if searching his expression, so Kleio glared back, wondering why he was being like that.
"Why are you staring like that?"
"I just thought you'd be more admiring, but your reaction was bland."
"What did you want? If you need a response, grab the little kids that run errands and show them."
"Uwah, I look like this and you think they'll approach me?"
"That's true. You should wash up a bit before you go around."
"It's annoying, I don't want to, I'll get washed when it rains, so why should I!"
"You think all sorts of things are annoying."
"Is that something someone who's so drenched in annoyance that he skips the school he pays tons of money for, should say?"
"Hey! That's not because it's annoying, I have innate lecture-phobia…"
"It's almost final exams, but if you keep on cutting lectures, isn't that expulsion?"
Maybe it was because he was an errand boy for the school, but he knew a lot about the school rules.
"If I get expelled, then I can lie around at home and it'd be great."
"Didn't you say you're in the magic class? Isn't it regretful?"
"What's regretful?"
"You were born with ether sensitivity that other people are upset over not having – aren't you interested in becoming successful?"
"Who cares? Lying around and drinking is the best life… If you pointlessly become a knight or mage or whatever, then you'll be dragged around by the country and have to work."
If you thought of the manuscript's contents from now on out, the period of war wasn't far. Even if it went with the original development, it was just 5 years later.
He didn't even know how the plot would change as it was newly written; if he went with the flow and stayed at this school, then he would be dragged to the battleground. It was because this school's students were all due for obligatory military service.
'Screw noblesse oblige. Rather than going to the army again, let's become a dropout.'
To him, who had served his military time, the military was someplace he could never go again.
He had no choice but to have his life's goal be being expelled as soon as possible and then returning to his family home that was said to be in Kolpos.
'I'm still his child, so would father kick me out? Or even if he kicked me out, if I have four hundred thousand dinar, then I'd be able to live somehow for the moment.'
According to what he had eventually found out, four hundred thousand dinar was worth a considerable worth of four hundred million won[3]. It was one of the things that Kleio, who was currently living carelessly, trusted in.
"Wow, you're really going all out… I like that attitude."
"So what if you like it."
"I copied the professors' dorm's alcohol storage key. I was going to share the joy with a friend I like, but if you don't like it…"
"Leo, you're really an amazing guy."
The two boys conspired together and completed that day's adventure by stealing into the professors' dorms.
Leo kept watch, and the small bodied Kleio slipped through a space between the door and stole two alcohol bottles.
When he took it out and looked at it, it was the 'wine from Budigala' that Behemoth had fussed about wanting.
The color and texture of the wine that looked expensive even at a glance was similar to Bordeaux wine. Even when they roughly poured it out into the wooden glasses that Leo had brought, it was incredibly aromatic.
***
Kleio Asel's easy and peaceful life collapsed into pieces within a week.
It hadn't been mentioned in the manuscript at all that an unofficial student newspaper was being published in the school.
Even if he had known that there was a newspaper, how would he have imagined that there was somebody who was watching the movements of the guy who was in last place in the entire school?
<The Hooligan and Unfairly Admitted Student – Arthur Riognan and Kleio Asel's School-wide Drinking Escapade by F.W.>
[1] Word used to address/refer to middle-aged men one is familiar with
[2] Polite way of saying ahjumma
[3] In other words, dinar p much = dollar
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