Chapter 146
I looked at the dice Baron Samedi gave me and rolled it around. It was the same dice I had thrown at the Crossroads for the Contract of the Dead. It had markings from 0 to 5, and the color of the markings was a deep crimson as if they had been painted. Looking at the dice, I couldn't help but remember when I was at the Crossroads and somehow felt at ease.
[Roll the dice if you encounter a question you don’t know.]
Baron Samedi pointed at the dice with his index finger. His finger was thin and long, resembling a dry twig.
“Do I just mark according to the dice's markings?"
[Yes. Roll the dice, and mark according to the number that comes up.]
"So the dice will help me find the answer."
If I got stuck on a problem, I could roll the dice and mark the answer according to the number shown. Baron Samedi’s lucky dice would reveal the answer to me, and as a result, I could solve problems that I otherwise wouldn’t have known the answer to. If I had this, I could easily win my bet against Ha-Yeon and even aim for first place in school during the exams. Not only that, but I could aim for full marks on all the subjects.
Right then, Baron Samedi said with a mischievous expression, [Unfortunately, it doesn't have the function to find the correct answer. It's not a lucky dice. It's just a regular one.]
"Aha, then what can I do with this?"
[Rolling the dice is much more fun than just guessing! Additionally, you can play with the dice if you have any spare time.]
"So it's utterly useless."
My body trembled with betrayal. Baron Samedi pretended not to notice and continued speaking.
[By the way, if you roll the dice and get 0, you can just guess.]
"It seems like I’d be better off just guessing everything."
[Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s your exam and your score, right? It’s not connected to me in any way.]
"Wow. Can I just punch you in the chin with my trusty fist?" I said while looking at Baron Samedi and clenching my fist lightly.
However, Baron Samedi had already disappeared. In his place, a purple mist and the smell of a cigar lingered in the air. The mist and smoke rose into the sky and dispersed in the wind. It seemed like Baron Samedi's cigar smell had permeated my body.
"Ha..."
I sighed, trying to expel the frustration within me, and roughly stuffed the dice Baron Samedi had given me into my pocket. It probably wouldn't be much help anyway, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have it. As Baron Samedi had suggested, I planned to pass the extra time playing with the dice during the exam.
I went up to my classroom. As soon as I sat down, the bell rang, and it was lunchtime. The kids gathered and moved along toward the cafeteria.
I caught a glimpse of In-Ah. She was still asleep.
"..."
I hesitated, afraid of talking to her.
The atmosphere between us had been strangely awkward since the morning. I suddenly thought that it might be because Jun-Hyuk had disappeared. If he were here, he would have easily struck up a conversation and broken this awkward and tense atmosphere. I felt pathetic, seeing how the atmosphere had become so awkward with Jun-Hyuk’s absence.
I went to In-Ah's seat. I saw her sleeping soundly with her head on the desk. She had lost a lot of weight since I last saw her, and her overall appearance seemed thinner. I flicked her head with my finger to wake her up.
Smack!
"Ow!" In-Ah screamed and jolted up.
She rubbed her head and glared at me, her eyes still drowsy.
"It’s time for lunch."
In-Ah didn't respond to my words and blinked her eyes for a while. By the looks of it, she hadn’t fully made it back to reality yet. Gradually, her eyes focused on my face. She pushed back her messy hair and stood up from her seat.
“...Is it already lunchtime?"
A small smile appeared on her lips.
I nodded.
"You must be tired."
"Yeah... Lately, I just can't sleep..."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I’ve been studying, and my daily routine is a bit... Ugh. Headache," In-Ah said as she weakly walked down the stairs. I followed behind her.
Looking at her from behind, I could tell her body had become noticeably thinner. Her steps also seemed weaker. Suddenly, In-Ah turned her head and looked at me.
"Why did you hit me earlier? You could have just told me to wake up."
"Because it didn’t look like that would have been enough."
"I didn't sleep that deeply, you know? I was just taking a short nap."
"Yeah? But you were asleep all morning."
In-Ah pursed her lips, avoided eye contact, and started mumbling as if telling me to listen.
"You don’t lose one sentence, do you... You could have just said sorry..."
"I'm sorry."
"It's too late, idiot,” she said sharply and walked away.
After talking to her, it didn’t feel as awkward as I initially thought. Maybe I had mistaken the change in In-Ah's vibes this morning. I thought about bringing up ?Jun-Hyuk, but it didn't seem to be the right thing to do, so I gave up.
In-Ah had been under the influence of black magic and had no memory of the incident. She probably didn't even know that Jun-Hyuk was a Satanist and just thought he had gone missing. Bringing up Jun-Hyuk would only darken the atmosphere. There were many things to talk about without bringing up what happened—what we did during the school break, whether we were studying well for exams, if our bodies were fully recovered, and so on.
The conversation came to a halt as we walked across the field, away from the building.
"...Cigarettes," In-Ah muttered quietly to herself.
She sniffed the air as if trying to find the source of the smell, then frowned when she caught a whiff of my clothes. Disappointment was evident in her eyes as she looked up at me.
"You... smoked, didn't you?"
"No."
"No? What do you mean no? You’re practically oozing with the smell."
In-Ah shot a suspicious glance at me. I decided to smell my own clothes just in case. As expected, I couldn’t smell anything at all. And that’s how it should have been. I had never smoked before in my life.
"What do you mean... I can’t smell anything."
"Of course not. Smokers can’t notice their own smell."
"I'm not a smoker. This is a misunderstanding."
"Sticking to your lie till the end? You delinquent. I’m disappointed," In-Ah said, glancing at me and then taking a step back, distancing herself.
Every time I took a step closer, she took a step back. The distance between us didn’t seem to narrow.
"Hey, just listen to me."
"Shut up! You smoker."
"Hey, don't shout that out loud."
"Nope. I'll shout even louder."
Even when I tried to explain myself, In-Ah didn't seem to want to listen. I felt extremely embarrassed. It was unfair to be suspected like this when I'd never smoked in my life. I could feel the stares of the other kids walking to the restaurants directed toward us. Or, more accurately, toward me. My stomach started to churn...
"Fine, smoker or non-smoker, think what you will."
I wondered if it was necessary to explain at all since she wouldn't listen to me and I had done nothing wrong. Honestly, I was a little angry. So, I blurted out the words without much thought.
In-Ah had been teasing me with a smile, but she suddenly looked surprised. Although she had been keeping her distance from me, she closed the distance between us.
"...Are you sulking?"
"No."
"Wow. Oh no. You're totally sulking." In-Ah playfully smacked my body and teased me.
I purposely didn't look at her and just walked ahead. In-Ah happily smiled and started talking to me.
"So, you're saying you're not sulking?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll believe you this time."
"Not just this time, I really—"
"Okay, I get it. I believe you. What are you getting so angry for?"
In-Ah giggled. She looked at me with an innocent face.
"Thank goodness."
"All of a sudden?"
"When I saw you this morning, I thought it wasn't you. Well, what should I say..." In-Ah pursed her lips and hesitated.
In the meantime, the smile on her face was slowly disappearing. Judging from her expression, it looked like she was in deep thought. It felt like her expressionless face was getting engraved in my head.
"...No, it's nothing. Let's go eat! What's on the menu today?"
As we talked, we found ourselves in front of a restaurant. We went in, got our food, and ate. The food didn’t taste good.
***
Most of the morning and afternoon classes were replaced with self-study. By spending time studying and idling away time, school was over before I even knew it. As always, I was about to go home with In-Ah, but then I realized that starting today, I was supposed to live in the dormitory.
"Ah... the dormitory."
In-Ah nodded with a disappointed face after hearing the news.
"Right, you mentioned that you applied for it... Which building are you in?"
"Area C. I'll have to go and find out the room number."
"Ah, I see. Area C..."
She nodded slowly and smiled. The smile on her face was strange—her lips were smiling, but her eyes were not. She kept her gaze on the floor for a while, nodding her head before suddenly lifting it up.
The strange smile, which looked like it could have been a smile or a sniffle, disappeared, and a bright smile took its place on her face.
"If you’re in Area C, you must have a room for yourself, right? That’ll be lonely."
"...I don't think so."
I had the likes of Legba and Baron Samedi as friends. I probably wouldn’t ever feel lonely.
"Don't play tough. If you're lonely, call your big sister... I mean me. Don't cry alone."
"Who's crying? Don’t be lonely just because you’re going home alone."
"Ha, you’re worried for me? I have more friends than you do. I could just grab anyone and go back home together."
She had an undeniable argument.
In-Ah waved her hand, quickly stepped back, and soon made her way back home after she found friends to go with. It suddenly occurred to me that In-Ah was quite popular. It must be because she was friendly and had a good personality.
[You can say that she’s completely different from you,] Legba said jokingly.
I didn't respond and went straight to my dormitory in Area C.
As I was wandering around the entrance in front of the dormitory building, a woman in her forties approached and spoke to me. She was the dormitory supervisor. I listened to the rules of the dormitory from the supervisor and received the key to my room.
The Florence Academy dormitory was much larger than the room I used to live in. Thanks to the furniture, bedding, and dishes already provided, I didn't need to bring any additional belongings.
The room had been empty for a long time, so there was dust piled up here and there, but it was in much better shape than the underground chapel. At least there was no mold, and having a window was a relief for me. Although the atmosphere was a bit dark and gloomy, it was still better than the underground chapel.
Legba spoke up out of the blue as I looked around the room.
[How about hanging a picture on the wall?]
I let out a dry chuckle.
"What kind of picture would even go well here?"
[The walls feel too empty. At least the walls of the underground chapel didn't have that feeling of emptiness.]
"Of course. The walls of the underground chapel were covered in graffiti made of mold."
[That was mold? I thought it was a painting all this time.] Legba chuckled jokingly.
Knock, knock.
While I was in the midst of conversing with Legba, we heard a knock on the door. Legba suddenly fell silent.
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