“All done. How is it?”
“This is more than good enough. Your handwriting is fucking beautiful.”
“Try to date a little longer this time. What was your record so far—one month?”
“Shut up and hurry off to go flirt or whatever.”
“Ah, seriously, what the hell. You’re done with your business and now you—.”
Dohui chased Mina out. When she closed the science lab door and turned around, Iri and Dojin—who hadn’t been visible before—were standing there. Dohui broke into a wide grin.
“Immortal, what do you think? Pretty handwriting, right?”
“Yeah. But….”
“Hey. Who exactly is that Oh Mina kid?”
At Dojin’s question, Dohui tilted her head.
“She’s just my friend. Why? She’s really gentle and kind. She does have a bit of an otaku streak, though.”
“Otaku? What kind?”
“She likes comics, and her inner world is kinda submerged in the internet. But she’s nice. See? She even does favors like this. Didn’t pry at all.”
“She doesn’t have problems at home or some serious worries or anything like that, does she?”
“I don’t know much about that. Why?”
Dohui eyed him suspiciously. Dojin scratched his cheek, saying it was nothing.
“Just go eat your damn lunch already.”
“What’s going on with my friend? Tell me right now.”
Dohui tried to grab Dojin by the collar. Remembering how he’d once broken one of her bones while roughhousing with her as a kid, Dojin clasped his hands behind his back and smoothly dodged her grasp. Enraged, Dohui reached out again, and Dojin sidestepped just as easily. After repeating this a few times, Dohui started huffing and lifted a chair—at which point Iri intervened.
“Dohui. It seems your friend tried copying some sloppy spells she found online. It’s not dangerous right now, so there’s no need to interfere—but if anything happens to Mina later, could you contact us?”
“Ah…. Yes! When you say ‘something happening,’ you don’t mean like Mina getting into black magic and spreading curses at school, or summoning demons or anything, right?”
“That won’t happen.”
If the school became dangerous, the minor Wia would be in an uproar, running around begging every nearby divine spirit and minor god for help. Minor Wia inhabiting a location were an important indicator for measuring that place’s level of contamination.
“Now go eat your lunch.”
“Ah, okay. Immortal, then I’ll be going now. If you ever need me, just call me anytime!”
“Yeah. Bye.”
Dohui saluted energetically and left. Dojin lamented that he had no idea who she took after to be so hot-tempered, and Iri laughed.
The two left the classroom and headed for the location written in the letter. Plenty of students passed by, but none of them perceived Dojin or Iri. Then, suddenly, Iri stopped and grabbed a passing student.
“Hi, Minseok.”
“Huh? Oh—hi.”
“Could you deliver this letter to senior Yoo Jaeho in Class 3–1?”
“Yeah, sure.”
The student took the letter and immediately headed up to the third-year classroom.
Even as this conversation took place, none of the surrounding students sensed anything strange.
“What kind of technique is that? It’s unbelievable. If something like this was possible, we wouldn’t have needed to call Kim Dohui—we could’ve just asked any passing student.”
“It’s not a spell. It’s Taoist art.”
“Taoist arts must have thousands of different types, then.”
“Taoist arts are, in the end, a single flow.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll understand naturally someday.”
When they arrived at the meeting spot, the two set up a barrier so that no one except Yoo Jaeho could approach, and then waited for him.
***
Something unbelievable had happened. A confession letter—he’d never even dared imagine receiving something like that. Good heavens….
Ever since I got this bracelet, only good things have been happening.
Jaeho fiddled with the bracelet that had once been the red cat’s necklace. Ever since then, whenever he went home, the red bastard would trail after him meowing nonstop, but he never returned it. He’d worried that the original owner might show up looking for the necklace, but thankfully, no one ever did.
This bracelet was truly a mysterious item. When he wore it, it seemed to boost his intelligence. Solutions and answers to problems appeared clearly before his eyes—he just had to write them down. Back when his parents had brought him something claiming to be a ‘negative-ion bracelet’, it had only gotten in the way….
With this bracelet, it’s fine even if I date while I’m a senior!
Thrilled, Jaeho headed toward the place written in the letter.
With this, he didn’t even need to worry about the CSAT. He could study casually, date and hang out, take the exam with the bracelet’s power, get into a good university, mess around there too, and again rely on the bracelet for exams…….
Brimming with dreams, he arrived at the meeting spot. But no one was there.
Checking the time, it was still five minutes before they were supposed to meet.
Did I come too early?
Arriving earlier than the person who sent the letter—his pride stung a little, but it still felt better than making a girl wait, so he let it go.
Jaeho sat on an empty bench, swinging his legs as he waited.
Behind the bench, Dojin and Iri met each other’s gaze.
Jaeho was completely off guard, utterly devoid of caution. His heart, swollen with anticipation, thumped loudly enough that Dojin could hear it.
Dojin pulled out his fan and smoothly approached from behind Jaeho.
That was when—
“Aeaanng!”
Something crimson suddenly leapt in front of Jaeho.
“Wh-what the hell— you. Red bastard?”
Startled, Jaeho sprang to his feet. The Fire Cat bristled, tail standing straight up as it bared its teeth at Jaeho. It seemed it hadn’t been able to wait in the car as told.
“Shit, did you follow me all the way to school? This is mine. I’m never giving it back. Get lost!”
Clutching the bracelet, Jaeho staggered backward, away from the cat. A dark aura began to seep out from Jaeho’s body. His greed for the bracelet had revealed itself.
“Ah, that Fire Cat bastard, seriously…. Master, what do we do?”
“No choice. Knock him out now.”
“Yes!”
Thud.
Dojin smacked the back of Jaeho’s head with the fan. Jaeho collapsed instantly. Dojin caught him and laid him down on the bench, then immediately grabbed the Fire Cat by the scruff and shook it violently.
“Hey, are you a spy or something? Why are you interfering with us? Huh? I told you to wait in the car! Why are you getting in the way?!”
“Aeaanng. Ae-aek.”
“Shut up. Quiet. This is giving me a headache because of you!”
“Ae.”
“Master, what the hell is this thing saying?”
“It’s asking why you’re yelling at it when everything was going smoothly thanks to it.”
“Ha, this fucking cat isn’t even worth a single punch.”
Dojin swung the Fire Cat in a wide circle through the air like he was playing fire-mouse spinning. As the Fire Cat struggled and transformed into a blazing mass, it really did look like the game.
“Dojin, stop it. You’re being distracting.”
Dojin froze. Iri had crouched beside Yoo Jaeho’s head, resting a hand on his forehead. Dojin tossed the Fire Cat aside.
“What are you doing, touching that bastard’s forehead? Are you messing with me?”
“First, remove the ‘Deadlock Necklace’.”
“Yes. I’ll take it off, but don’t put your hand on him.”
Grumbling, Dojin retrieved the curio. The Fire Cat hurried back, yowling and pawing at his leg, demanding the necklace. Since the Fire Cat’s rental period wasn’t over yet, Dojin returned the item and quickly crouched beside Iri.
“If you absolutely have to touch his forehead like that, then teach me how. I’ll do it properly.”
“What?”
“Take your hand off already. Yeah?”
Dojin grabbed Iri’s pale hand and placed it on his own knee, then brought his own hand to Yoo Jaeho’s forehead instead.
“What do I do?”
“…….”
Iri blinked at Dojin several times, then smiled faintly.
“It’s not something you can do. But I understand how you feel, so…….”
Iri placed his hand on Dojin’s forehead. Dojin felt a warm energy spread across his brow. That same energy began to flow from his own hand resting on Yoo Jaeho’s forehead.
“You can remove your hand now.”
“Yes.”
When Dojin lifted his hand, something iridescent stretched long between his palm and Yoo Jaeho’s forehead—shimmering in five colors. It was a mass composed of Yoo Jaeho’s memories and emotions.
Dojin gasped in awe.
“This is my first time seeing a person’s memories and emotions, but I heard they’re supposed to be threads, right? Like a ball of yarn.”
“That’s right.”
“This doesn’t look like yarn—it looks like a marshmallow. A fucking huge marshmallow.”
The rainbow-colored marshmallow was clumped together, sticky and dense—a complete mass nearly sixty centimeters across. There should’ve been thin strands visible, but there was no trace of individual threads at all. It was just a single viscous lump.
“The threads are tangled too tightly. That’s why I was trying to extract it while he was off guard, but…….”
The Fire Cat let out an aeaanng, feigning innocence.
“So how are we supposed to find and remove just the threads connected to the curio now? There’s no thread form at all. You can’t even see any threads.”
Iri reached out and touched the marshmallow, trying to feel the boundaries of the threads with his fingertips—but felt nothing.
“The root part looks off. If we don’t do something fast, this guy’s going to get dragged off by a vengeful spirit.”
Just as Dojin said, a dark color was creeping up from the root of the memories—from Jaeho’s forehead. Human greed was truly terrifying.
Iri let out a small sigh.
“No helping it.”
Dojin wondered if he was giving up—but Iri was already unfastening the black thread bracelet he always wore.
Dojin blinked in confusion. After placing the bracelet on the bench, Iri lightly tapped the marshmallow with his fingertip.
In that instant, a brilliant light spread outward, and the sticky mass began to soften and loosen. The tangled clump was enveloped in light and neatly unraveled on its own, eventually transforming into tens of thousands of strands of rainbow-colored yarn.
Dojin’s mouth fell open with a long, breathless sound.
“Holy shit…. That bracelet wasn’t just for fashion—it was some kind of limiter? You take it off and become a Super Immortal or something?”
“A Super Immortal…?”
