Chapter 17
"...We have to sleep here?"
I looked at the giant tent spread across the academy grounds and asked Baek Eun-seong. The Baek Ha-mins were running around excitedly, but I was not.
Why sleep outside, in a tent of all things, when there's a perfectly fine house? Do you know how much rent I pay? Do you know how hard I worked to furnish my studio apartment?!
Baek Eun-seong was also staring at the tent with a displeased expression.
The strict teacher explained that since we were outsiders, an alarm system would go off if we remained inside the academy after a certain time.
When I asked if the issue wouldn't be resolved after twelve hours and if we couldn't just go home and meet again in the morning, they said they had to monitor the situation because they were at fault.
Wait, so you made a mistake and now you're making people sleep on the streets? Shouldn't you be treating us better precisely because it's your fault?
The tent on the grounds was for dungeon use, so it looked large and sturdy, but neither I nor Baek Eun-seong could relax our expressions.
"If there's anything you need, please let us..."
"Pillows."
These guys were trying to pass off some shoddy pillows made from slime. I grabbed the strict teacher, who was trying to subtly slip away, and demanded they bring proper fluffy pillows—whether made of Kashio feathers or Nurba feathers.
"You're going to keep an eye on Baek Eun-seong and Baek Ha-min, right?"
At my words, one of the teachers behind the strict teacher brightened up.
That guy must have taken this job out of an inferiority complex toward the Baekwoo Guild. No wonder he'd been glaring at Baek Eun-seong with such hostility.
"Of course. I'll report it immediately even if I find the slightest flaw."
I nodded at his eager declaration while sneering inwardly. Sorry, but you won't have time to find any flaws.
"Wow, we're supposed to sleep without a mattress?"
"Is it just me, or is it hot?"
"No, just because it's spring doesn't mean it's automatically warm. What if it gets cold at night?"
"Are they not going to feed us?"
"Is this a blanket? It's non-woven fabric. Give us something proper?"
"They're not even giving us pajamas?"
The strict teacher, who had been running around frantically at my demands, finally left with slumped shoulders only after becoming completely exhausted. In the meantime, I signaled Baek Eun-seong, but like me who had been tormenting the teachers, he also seemed extremely busy.
"I'm sleeping on the left!"
"That's my spot!"
"It's my spot! You fake!"
"I'm not fake! I'm the real one!"
Baek Eun-seong watched the grumbling Baek Ha-mins for a while before approaching me with a somewhat tired face. I had slipped out of the tent to avoid the commotion and used a viewing pass to check Baek Ha-min's information.
[Awakener: Baek?Ha?min?]
Age: 7
Skill: Vegetation
Status Effect: Mirror, Mirror, Who's More Real? (S)
Duration: 10:21:57...]
"Hey. Do you know what 'Mirror, Mirror' is?"
"...It's the curse effect cast by the artifact called the Mirror of S."
Just hearing the name reminded me of the stepmother from Snow White. Not knowing if this world also had the Snow White fairy tale, I held my tongue and glared at Baek Eun-seong, who had been wearing a strange expression for a while now, as I asked.
"How do we break it?"
"We have to shatter the mirror."
I let out a hollow laugh at the immediate answer. I knew it—he'd been acting suspiciously all day.
"Hey, Baek Eun-seong."
"Yes."
"You did this, right? Today's incident."
At my question, Baek Eun-seong's shoulders flinched for a moment before he whipped his head around to avoid my gaze.
"Before you go and confess that you're the culprit, tell me everything you know."
I'd thought it was strange how he'd been sticking so closely to the fake Baek Ha-min since earlier, and I was right. Yeah, the way they were throwing tantrums seemed a bit off.
Baek Eun-seong hesitated slightly before obediently opening his mouth.
"I thought Hunter Seong Do-hyeon would already know everything. Thank you for pretending not to know."
Sorry, but I wasn't pretending—I genuinely didn't know. Even for me, unless it was the exact moment someone used an artifact, I couldn't tell what they'd used.
But there was no need to tell him that. I waited for him to continue with a shameless expression.
The artifact called the 'Mirror of S' was said to imitate a specific person in order to fulfill the caster's desire. If the desire was fulfilled, it would naturally disappear, but otherwise, the mirror had to be directly shattered and destroyed.
Shattering the mirror meant hurting the fake Baek Ha-min. Even if it was a fake, he didn't want to hurt his nephew, so that was why he was quietly enduring it even when the academy was being so irresponsible about it.
...And I got caught up in it.
"Compensate me properly."
I'd use the compensation to buy materials to return to my original world. Clicking my tongue, I looked at the two still-grumbling Baek Ha-mins and asked Baek Eun-seong.
"So, to fulfill your desire, you split Baek Ha-min into two? Why would you do that?"
"...Because Ha-min could have gotten hurt."
At the answer given in a low voice, I sighed and shrugged as if to say, do whatever you want.
"I don't know if it's just my imagination, but my back feels like it's going to burst from being sandwiched between the Baek family whales. Compensate me for that yourself."
At my words, Baek Eun-seong clamped his mouth shut again.
Seeing that he neither denied nor confirmed it, he seemed to at least know that Baek Ji-seong was behind this.
Thank goodness he has that much sense. It would be too naive for him to insist, 'My brother would never do such a thing!' considering how much Baek Eun-seong has suffered.
"Uncle!"
Unexpectedly, flower petals burst out from behind Baek Eun-seong, whose complexion had darkened. Soon, one Baek Ha-min dashed out of the tent and ran toward me, while the other one clung to Baek Eun-seong.
"Uncle, I'm hungry."
Right. It's about time to be hungry. A short while later, I demanded food from the teacher who had returned with pajamas and a face full of complaints.
"Ah... the cafeteria is closed right now. We can provide you with ingredients, but..."
When I suggested going grocery shopping myself, I was told no. They said they had to monitor the situation because they didn't know what might happen after coming into contact with the fake Baek Ha-min. Instead, they offered to do the shopping themselves, wearing such odd smiles that I wanted to punch them in the face.
I glared at the teachers and then reached my hand out to Baek Eun-seong.
"Card."
Like a well-trained puppy, Baek Eun-seong placed the card in my hand.
A moment later, Baek Eun-seong frowned deeply the moment he saw the ingredients the teachers—returning with a shopping basket—handed over. Inside the box were nothing but emergency rations like instant rice, canned food, and dried seaweed. They had prepared a mountain of it, seemingly aware of Baek Ha-min's appetite, but still.
That's just too much, even for a bachelor's diet. They expect us to eat this poorly?
I was also scowling just as much when the figures of the teachers in my field of vision suddenly blurred.
"Then please enjoy your meal."
"We'll be back after our meeting~"
Were they spatial-type hunters? They vanished into thin air in a flash. A hollow laugh burst out of me as I stared at the empty space they left behind.
Wait, didn't they just say they'd keep their eyes on us every second?
I suspected the Association was using this opportunity to throw their weight around. Hearing the laughter erupting in the distance, my suspicion soon turned into certainty.
These bastards. They entrusted the world's peace to guilds because they lacked power, yet they have the nerve to pull this kind of power trip.
Furious to the top of my head, I considered unleashing the 'Seong Do-hyeon' sealed inside me, but sighed at the growling sound coming from Baek Ha-min's stomach. I'd put off dealing with those guys later and fill the kids' stomachs first.
"Baek Ha-min, try making some wood for firewood."
At my words, the Baek Ha-mins placed their hands on the ground and quickly grew full-grown trees. I wondered how to split them, but there was no need.
Craaack—!!
That was because my hand was an axe. I gathered the wood that split easily with a single gesture, stacking them in a lattice pattern, and held my hand out to Baek Eun-seong, who was tidying up the leaves.
"...I already gave you the card."
"Not that. Can you make flint?"
With a slightly bewildered face, Baek Eun-seong handed me two stones. I crouched in front of the wood and struck the stones together—tick, tick—until sparks began to fly. I watched the wood catch fire and then called Asil, ordering him to catch the teachers.
Nodding, Asil returned before long, dragging in the two teachers who had disappeared earlier, claiming they had a meeting.
'...This actually works?'
I thought he was only good for finding paths, but he could be used as a sack, track targets, and even capture people. Since this was the case, I needed to research whether my other skills had hidden uses I didn't know about.
'First, let's educate these idiots.'
I held out Baek Eun-seong's card to one of the teachers, who was looking around with a bewildered expression.
"You said to let you know if there's anything we need. A pot."
"You should have said so earlier. We need to go into our meeting now..."
"Go to your meeting if you want to get sued by the Baekwoo Guild."
I pointed at the Baek Ha-mins who were jumping around like monkeys by the fire, and Baek Eun-seong who was standing firmly behind them. The teachers flinched at my words, and even after they brought a new pot, I relentlessly worked them to the bone.
Buy salt. Buy sesame oil. Buy sesame seeds.... When I kept giving orders and they started getting fired up to argue back, I stared them down with a defiant look that dared them to try. The teacher averted his gaze and quietly disappeared.
"Is there anything else you'd like to order?"
"Plastic gloves."
"......"
"What."
I glared at the ground without a word, then, leaving the vanished teachers behind, I signaled to the Baek Ha-mins.
"Put as much as you're going to eat into the pot."
At my words, the Baek Ha-mins, who shoved two boxes of instant rice into the pot without hesitation, continued to stoke the firewood with excited faces, as if they had never been fighting.
A short while later, when the steaming rice was ready, I handed plastic gloves to Baek Eun-seong.
"Why...?"
At his questioning look, I silently pointed at the Baek Ha-mins. Because these brats insisted on eating rice balls when they could have just scooped it up, we had to make rice balls.
If this were my house, I would have made them do it themselves... but with such an excellent worker available, did I really need to touch the hot rice myself?
No.
Still, it seemed too much for him alone to form all the rice balls for two Baek Ha-mins. I sat next to him, crushing seaweed, when the real Baek Ha-min ran over and clung to my leg.
"Uncle, ah~"
Baek Eun-seong faithfully put the rice ball he had been forming into the wide-open mouth of the real Baek Ha-min. No, he tried to.
"What the hell?!"
A sudden wall of earth sprang up, and the rice ball I'd painstakingly made almost got dirt on it! I shot Baek Eun-seong a fierce glare, my face twisted in indignation. Baek Ha-min also looked bewildered.
"Uncle, what's wrong?"
Baek Eun-seong stared at me with a face that showed he was surprised by his own reflexive use of power, then took off his plastic gloves and whispered to Baek Ha-min. Not that it mattered, since I could hear everything anyway.
"What did Uncle tell you to do first before eating outside?"
"Poison test..."
At Baek Ha-min's quiet answer, I finally slammed down the seaweed I had been crushing with a loud thud. I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Hey."
"...What is it."
"I didn't put anything in here. You saw the whole thing yourself, didn't you?"
Why was I working so hard to make food in the first place? I glared at Baek Eun-seong with an expression three times fiercer than before.