# 25
When Jin-ha narrowed his eyes as if gauging his reaction, the man smirked.
“If you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Yes, I don’t like it, so just stay put and enjoy the sunshine. They say people’s personalities deteriorate when they don’t get enough sunlight…”
As Jin-ha calmly explained why people need sunlight, the man’s leg landed with a thud on Jin-ha’s knee. Jin-ha gaped at the sight of the bare foot, slippers discarded, dangling on the right side of his thigh.
“The distance seemed just right for resting my leg.”
“Remove it.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I said remove it.”
“I said I don’t want to.”
The man bent one leg and pressed his bare foot firmly against Jin-ha’s thigh as he replied. Jin-ha irritably pushed the man’s knee away, but he didn’t budge.
This was the same man who had effortlessly lifted Jin-ha in the cave. With his large build and solid body, there was no way Jin-ha could overpower him. Jin-ha looked at him with irritation.
The man, pretending to read documents, caught Jin-ha’s eye through the papers and gave him a smiling glance.
“…You could just sit next to me.”
“Too late.”
“Are you saying I should just stay like this?”
“Yes. If you’re bored sitting still, why not massage my leg?”
“…”
Jin-ha took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to suppress his rising irritation.
This man is a troublesome client.
This man is a troublesome client.
This man is a troublesome client…
After repeating this to himself several times, his mind became generous enough that, while still uncomfortable, it wasn’t unbearably annoying. In fact, he thought that if the man would teach magic to six magicians in exchange for this, it might not be such a steep price.
Jin-ha stole a glance at the man’s face—the Tower’s master, whose nature was difficult to determine as either wicked or generous. The man was now focused on his documents. Though his expression was filled with boredom as he fixed his gaze on papers covered in elegant script, his reading speed was impressively fast. Legas’s praise was apparently not unfounded.
After instantly reading more than ten documents, the man’s expression suddenly turned serious. His eyelashes were long as he lowered his gaze in thought. Jin-ha felt strange realizing the man’s eyelashes were purple. Come to think of it, he’d heard that blonde people have blonde body hair too. So this man’s body hair might also be…
No, wait. What am I thinking now? Jin-ha turned his head away, flushing with embarrassment. He felt the man’s puzzled gaze on the back of his head. As Jin-ha pondered how to appear composed, his eyes fell on an oatmeal chocolate bar on the coffee table.
As soon as Jin-ha picked up the oatmeal chocolate bar and unwrapped it, the man tapped the back of his hand.
“Ah.”
Jin-ha didn’t respond but instead grabbed another oatmeal chocolate bar and tossed it toward the man’s face. The man blocked it with the documents and looked at Jin-ha with dissatisfied eyes.
“I said, ‘ah’.”
“I gave you one.”
“Don’t you know what ‘ah’ means?”
Do I look like I don’t know?
Jin-ha, who had been trying to ignore him to avoid revealing his flushed face, hesitated when he met the man’s eyes disguised with a smile. That was clearly the same expression as when he was counting numbers yesterday. It was truly unwelcome to be able to read the inner thoughts of someone he’d only just met.
Eventually, Jin-ha had no choice but to unwrap a new oatmeal chocolate bar and place it in the man’s mouth.
“There, satisfied?”
“Mm. Delicious.”
The man, having gotten what he wanted, now genuinely smiled.
Jin-ha froze momentarily, then irritably yanked the man’s ankle, which was still pressing against his thigh, to straighten it out. The man glanced at Jin-ha after this sudden outburst but soon returned his attention to the documents without much reaction.
“…”
Only after the man looked away did Jin-ha secretly exhale in relief.
That outburst had truly been a momentary impulse. He hadn’t intended to do it, but seeing the man’s smiling face had made his head feel hot. It was annoying to see him smiling contentedly after thoroughly embarrassing Jin-ha.
Jin-ha ignored the man’s body touching him and turned his attention elsewhere to cool his heated cheeks.
The sound of wind, bird calls, the cool breeze carrying the scent of trees, butterflies fluttering around, and small animals moving through the trees. All of it was both different from and similar to Earth.
A sudden gust of wind made the lace curtains sway, causing the faint sunlight filtering through them to flicker. Looking up at the sun beyond, Jin-ha found himself wondering when he had last spent time so leisurely. Recently, he had been too busy focusing on work to find any leisure.
“Actually, I thought, what’s the point of sunbathing anyway?”
The man spoke abruptly. When Jin-ha turned to look, he was scanning their surroundings, just as Jin-ha had done moments ago.
“But it’s more enjoyable than I expected.”
His soft laughter was refreshing. Jin-ha inadvertently lost himself staring at the man’s face with its fresh smile. His earlier efforts to divert his attention seemed futile.
He never would have expected such an expression on the face of this man who had always been irritable, provocative, and teasing. Jin-ha was about to speak without thinking when faced with this unexpected side of him.
“The meal is ready.”
Legas suddenly wedged himself into their conversation. Jin-ha pushed away the man’s leg and jumped to his feet. He couldn’t remember what he had been about to say, but he was certain it had been an impulsive moment.
‘If Legas hadn’t interrupted, what would I have said?’
As Jin-ha hurriedly turned toward Legas to hide his confusion, he accidentally kicked a basket on the floor. When he bent down to pick it up, he saw it contained crumpled documents and trash like leaves.
Several partially eaten oatmeal chocolate bars were rolling around.
“Why did you unwrap all these chocolate bars you weren’t going to eat and throw them in the trash?”
Jin-ha asked with a grimace. Even though oatmeal chocolate bars were manufactured products, they weren’t as common as they used to be. Wasn’t this an era when all food had become precious?
“They didn’t taste good.”
“But you just said it was delicious and ate it all.”
In response to Jin-ha’s accusation, the man merely shrugged his shoulders and quickly left.
* * *
The meal prepared by the Noon Moon Tower’s vice-master was quite excellent. From the appetizer onward, the impressive course was worthy of admiration. Though Jin-ha couldn’t understand why a magician would possess such culinary skills…
“The magical devices are terrible, but I liked the music. LP records, did you call them? I want more of those.”
“I’ve already prepared various selections. Shall I bring them all to your room?”
“No. Let’s listen to just two songs per day. Bring them personally at lunch.”
It sounded like he wanted to have lunch together every day. Jin-ha hesitated before nodding, and the man continued.
“And bring food too.”
“The oatmeal chocolate bars?”
“No. There must be a variety of other things. My chef seems interested in your food culture.”
“By chef, you mean…”
Jin-ha glanced at Legas, who was calmly smiling as he mixed milk into pancake mix for dessert.
“Um. Yes, understood.”
“And bring small magical devices too.”
“Didn’t you say they were crude?”
“The technology might be garbage, but the ideas could be interesting.”
Garbage? Did he have to phrase it like that?
Jin-ha’s momentary displeasure subsided when he saw Legas using his fingertips to magically operate kitchen equipment for washing dishes. The level of magic here was incomparable to Earth’s. Considering the awe he had felt when first entering the second floor of the magic tower, the difference in artifact quality was obvious.
Moreover, according to Legas, this man was an outstanding magician who had changed the landscape of the magical world with his newly invented magical theories.
In a land without a single proper magician, what could one expect when a skilled artifact creator who knew nothing of true magic made artifacts using only skills? Of course they would seem crude to a real magician.
“I’ll prepare them.”
Still, a person with character wouldn’t express it so bluntly.
An unparalleled genius. A magician with ambition who entered the Noon Moon Tower and claimed the position of Tower Master in just seven years. Why did such a figure have such a garbage personality? Or perhaps it was because he was a genius.
Jin-ha glanced at the man, trying to recall his actions in the forest where he had toyed with and manipulated Jin-ha, to rekindle his anger.
The beautiful magician was cutting meat with elegant knife skills that didn’t match his large build.
It was regrettable. If only his personality weren’t so trashy…
“By the way.”
The man who had started speaking tilted his head.
“Have you thought about it?”
“About what?”
“So you haven’t thought about it.”
“What are you referring to…”
The man’s fingertip tapped the table as he set down his fork.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Jin-ha, who had been listening blankly to the slow rhythm, jumped to his feet the moment he understood its meaning. The man’s eyes curved as if he had been waiting for this.
“Hunter Lee Jin-ha, what do you want to ask me?”
Jin-ha felt as if alpha pheromones he couldn’t even sense were washing over him. He swallowed hard.
This was the second time the man had asked the same question.
Although Jin-ha hadn’t guessed correctly before, he thought the strange punishment he received had ended it. But it seemed the man really had a question he wanted to hear from Jin-ha.
Perhaps yesterday wasn’t the beginning. Jin-ha desperately searched his memories.
“That is…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
