Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Aaaaaaagh!

"Ugh... My head hurts."

Delilah opened her eyes while clutching her skull, which felt as though it might split apart.

'I drank way too much yesterday.'

That soju stuff was no joke.

She'd been delighted to finally find a drinking buddy, and since the alcohol percentage was low, she'd happily kept pouring drink after drink until she'd unknowingly exceeded her limit.

'This is why you're supposed to take it easy when drinking something for the first time.'

How many times had she said that already?

For someone who normally loved alcohol, drinking in moderation was always difficult.

'Huh?'

But when she sat up, she realized she was in bed.

'How did I get home?'

I'm insane.

I actually drank until I blacked out.

"You're awake?"

At that moment, a voice overflowing with exasperation came from beside her.

Turning her head, Delilah saw a beautiful woman with long, straight black hair standing there with her arms crossed. It was her roommate, Rosario.

"What, did you come pick me up?"

"As if."

Rosario let out a deep sigh before answering.

"You came back on some man's back."

"A man..."

Delilah frowned hard before asking,

"Black hair and handsome?"

"Yeah."

Sigh.

Delilah sighed and grabbed her forehead.

Getting blackout drunk in front of someone she'd just met. What kind of idiot does that?

"Miss Delilah, are you ever going to get married at this rate?"

"Worry about yourself."

"Oh? So you've already hooked yourself a man?"

"Hooked nothing... Urp."

Mid-sentence, Delilah hurriedly covered her mouth.

Something surged all the way up her throat, but she barely managed to swallow it back down(!).

"...I didn't throw up in front of Mr. Dante, did I?"

"How the hell would I know, idiot?"

Fair point. A perfect answer to a stupid question.

"Ugh, this hangover is killing me."

"Don't you have classes today?"

Nod, nod.

"Good grief. You're a disaster."

Rosario shook her head, and Delilah asked her,

"There's no magic that gets rid of hangovers, right?"

"Ask me two more times and that'll make a hundred. There isn't!"

"Tch."

A while later, her roommate left for work at the infirmary, and Delilah, now alone, stopped by her laboratory before going to class.

"Let's see, what's good for hangovers..."

She gathered together several medicinal ingredients said to help with hangovers and diligently ground them into a potion.

Gulp, gulp.

But the hangover didn't disappear easily.

'Still better than drinking nothing.'

Delilah made another potion. She intended to give it to Dante.

"I should apologize too..."

She was terribly embarrassed about making a fool of herself in front of someone she'd just met, but since she expected to see him often from now on, she decided she'd simply bribe him and make up for it.

*

I gagged through the lingering haze.

"Ugh."

Still, after taking a hangover cure, I definitely felt refreshed.

'I think yesterday was the most I've drunk since reincarnating.'

Delilah had looked perfectly fine, but at some point a switch suddenly flipped, and she'd started gleefully chugging soju.

As a bonus, I had to endure a long lecture about alchemy I couldn't understand.

"Next time she asks me to drink, I'm absolutely refusing."

Jingle.

Just then, someone opened the convenience store door and came inside.

It was a middle-aged man with a stern-looking face.

"Welcome."

I should've greeted him energetically, but my hangover made it impossible to muster my usual enthusiasm.

Nod.

The man coolly dipped his head once before looking around the interior.

Most first-time visitors to my store reacted like that, but this man was a little unusual.

He looked almost like someone considering buying out the entire convenience store.

"Are you looking for something?"

"...Nothing in particular. I'd just like to look around."

"Sure. Take your time, and ask if you have any questions."

Phew.

I sighed and dropped heavily into my seat.

Every time I breathed, the smell of alcohol practically poured out of me.

It felt as though I was getting drunk again off my own breath.

Meanwhile, the man only glanced over the shelves before carefully examining the tables where we'd been drinking yesterday.

'Ugh, just looking at those brings it all back.'

I quickly turned my gaze toward the scenery outside the window.

After some time had passed.

"You don't get many customers, do you?"

The man suddenly stabbed me right where it hurt.

"...No. I suppose it's because I only recently opened."

"Hmm."

At this point, he really did seem like he was here to buy out the place.

"Excuse me, but are you a member of the faculty?"

"Ah."

When I asked just in case, the man paused, then gave a small laugh and introduced himself.

"I teach ancient literature and ancient languages at the Academy."

Hmm. Somehow, I doubt he's popular.

Sorry, but with that stiff expression, his lectures looked like they'd be painfully boring.

"That sounds difficult just hearing about it."

"It's not something just anyone can teach."

I was about to answer when a sudden wave of nausea made me grimace.

At the same time, the man's expression changed.

Just as I was about to apologize.

"How much is this?"

The man hurriedly picked up a cup of ramen and asked in an awkward voice.

It was a little strange, but I couldn't forget my duty as the shopkeeper.

I was about to answer as kindly as possible─

But when I saw which cup ramen he'd picked, I frowned again.

It was an extremely spicy stir-fried noodle cup with a Scoville rating exceeding 3,000.

It was wildly popular among Koreans, but considering a chili pepper's Scoville rating was roughly half that, I hardly needed to explain how objectively spicy it was.

"I wouldn't really recommend that. It's extremely spicy."

Remembering yesterday, I decided to be completely honest this time.

But then.

"I'm good with spicy food, so it's fine. Besides, I like this."

What?

You've eaten Buldak cup noodles before?

There's no way.

'Hmm.'

After thinking it over, I quickly reached a conclusion.

'He's one of those people who's proud of his spice tolerance.'

Despite his stern appearance, he seemed more prideful than he looked.

"...You may regret it."

"I'll take this one."

But the man showed no intention of backing down.

Well, whatever.

Buldak had become popular overseas during the Korean Wave, so maybe it would actually suit his palate.

Besides, he said he was good with spicy food.

"Eighteen silver."

As soon as I finished the transaction, I decided to prepare it for him myself.

He claimed he ate it all the time, but one look at him told me he had no clue what to do.

* * *

"I'll do it for you this time, but next time you'll have to prepare it yourself."

"...I could do it myself, but if you're offering, I won't refuse."

Gunter shamelessly replied while glancing at the shopkeeper, who peeled back the lid of the product he'd purchased and poured hot water inside.

'What is this?'

The man's expression looked unusually serious.

'Is he wary of me?'

In reality, Dante was simply holding his breath so the smell of alcohol wouldn't escape, but Gunter had no way of knowing that.

'His expression was bad from the moment I came in.'

Even so, the store was far too ideal as a rendezvous point to abandon.

'There are fewer customers than expected, and they even have tables where people can sit and talk.'

Its openness bothered him somewhat, but a sound-blocking spell could handle that much.

The problem was the shopkeeper's reaction...

From what Gunter had heard, none of the Academy's previous shopkeepers had been ordinary people.

Which meant this man was likely no ordinary person either.

"I need to drain the water, so please wait a moment."

But looking at his smiling face as he spoke, perhaps that wasn't the case after all.

'I can't tell...'

He couldn't be certain.

One moment the man wore a friendly expression, and the next he frowned. It was impossible to read what he was thinking.

'Maybe it's an act.'

Still refusing to lower his guard, Gunter looked down at the covered 'cup ramen.'

'What even is this...?'

Truthfully, he hadn't intended to buy anything.

But the shopkeeper's gaze as he watched him was anything but ordinary.

It almost seemed to threaten, 'If you leave without buying anything, I'll definitely suspect you,' forcing him to grab something at random.

'I can't afford to be suspected.'

Because the Academy's security was so strict, he'd only been able to learn fragments about how it operated, and more than once he'd suffered because reality differed from what he'd studied.

Even today, he'd struggled to hide his surprise at the unfamiliar sight of a convenience store he'd never visited before.

Then─

-I wouldn't really recommend that.

The shopkeeper's words, as though testing him, made him even more tense.

So he'd lied and pretended it was something he ate regularly.

The only part that wasn't a lie was that he really was good with spicy food.

'I'll eat it without batting an eye.'

He was confidently thinking to himself when—

Trickle.

As the shopkeeper drained the water from the cup noodles, he suddenly asked,

"Are you acquainted with Professor Delilah?"

Gunter's expression stiffened for an instant.

Fortunately, his face was normally stern, so it wasn't especially noticeable.

'...Why is he suddenly asking that?'

Could this be another leading question?

Is he checking whether I'm really a professor?

Questions raced through his mind, but outwardly he answered calmly.

"I only know her by sight. She's the brown-haired woman with short hair who teaches alchemy, correct?"

"Ah, so you do know her. Did she come to work today?"

"I wouldn't know that."

That should be enough to convince him.

Sure enough.

After saying, "I see..." the shopkeeper asked no further questions.

Instead, he mixed the included sauce into the cup noodles and handed them over, speaking in a cautious voice.

"I'll say it one more time. You may regret this."

Hmph.

Even faced with a warning that sounded as though the man could see through everything, Gunter merely raised the corner of his mouth without blinking.

He knew that at times like this, confronting suspicion head-on and dispelling it would allow him to act even more boldly afterward.

He couldn't give up such a perfect rendezvous point.

'The darkest place is beneath the lamp.'

This place perfectly matched the conditions he'd been searching for.

Besides.

'How spicy could food possibly be?'

Instead of answering, Gunter smiled confidently and looked into the cup.

'!'

Even he couldn't help flinching at the sight of the bright-red sauce.

'Is this really safe to eat?'

But there was no turning back now.

If he backed out, all his lies so far would be exposed.

'I'll finish it in one bite!'

The moment Gunter stuffed a mouthful of crimson noodles into his mouth—

"Aaaaaaagh!"

His earlier confidence vanished as a deathly scream burst from his lips.