༺ Mag Mell, The Island of Treasures (3) ༻
“Can you move aside please?”
“…Hah, there’s no end to these fucking bitches.”
“Hnn? What did you just…”
“Nothing. What’s your business with Br- Korin?”
Marie had a feeling that she heard something incredibly disrespectful just then but… decided not to say anything because it was such a soft whisper that she couldn’t make out anything with certainty.
On the other hand, he made her feel rather uncomfortable. It was hard to tell why, especially considering that he was a man, but… she had a feeling that he was her rival in love.
“What’s going on? What’s up?”
Drenched in sweat, Korin walked up to the boy who was blocking the road like a guardian deity and grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Please… I told you not to touch me with your sweat.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re all dudes.”
As beads of sweat flowed down his cheeks, Korin ran his fingers through Sihu’s hair.
“By the way, Senior Marie? What brings you here?”
“Mhmm…! Junior Korin!”
Not knowing where to look, Marie rolled her eyes but furtively stole several glances at his bare upper body.
“What are you looking at?”
That was when Park Sihu stood in the way to block her sight.
“Ughh…!”
He was being a nuisance. Why was this boy constantly in the way? Actually, Marie already knew the answer to that question.
“Sihu. Move aside a bit. That’s disrespectful when she bothered to come all the way here.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing important.”
“Huh? Little guy, why are you so aggressive today? Anyway, Senior? Did you have something to talk about?”
“Hnn? You see… N, no! Let’s talk about it later.”
A sharp glare pointing at Marie stopped her from saying anything. Naturally, it was Park Sihu who was glaring at her.
‘He’s not even planning to hide it…’
For now, she decided to postpone the plan and left the training rooms.
“Yo, Sihu! Should we let off some sweat as fellow brothers?!”
“Stop that shit. I told you it’s disgusting, didn’t I?”
“Apparently there’s a new sauna in the city as well. We can drop by and clean ourselves there.”
“…Sure.”
………
……
…
Even after that, Marie tried to approach Korin several times.
However, most of those attempts ended in failure before she could even talk to him, because of an intruder who always prevented the two of them from being by themselves.
“That guy’s weird! He’s so annoying!!”
“Yes yes. Calm down and have some of your steamed potatoes.”
Isabelle recommended a potato in an attempt to soothe her down. As if pouring out all of her stress on the salted potatoes, she munched through them at an unstoppable speed.
“What is wrong with him? That Park Sihu guy…!”
“Looking at how much you hate him, Marie, I can already tell he must be one interesting fellow.”
Marie’s best friend gave deep compliments to the boy called Park Sihu, who must be something else to earn the open hatred of a girl like Marie, who was like a friendly capybara to everyone.
“Listen to me, Isabelle! Park Sihu, that guy made a plan with Korin to go to Holy Panda!”
“Holy Panda? You mean that fine-dining restaurant that costs at least a gold coin per meal?”
Holy It was by far one of the best and most famous restaurants for a dating couple, that even appeared in the Monthly Merchelin Guide.
“So you’re saying two guys are going there by themselves?”
“Yes!”
That guy called Sihu was making it fairly obvious though. At this point, weren’t they a half-established couple already…?
“I haven’t heard about Korin dating Sihu though?”
“Dating? Haht! What kind of horrifying thing are you talking about? Boys can’t date other boys!”
“Ahh~. Southerners these days.”
Marie’s home was in the south and was a land of farmers who were responsible for feeding the entire continent.
By nature, farmers tended to be conservative and masculine. Homosexuality was difficult for them to understand.
And Marie was the Princess of the South. Even though she wasn’t the type to say bad things about anything, her deep-rooted preconception as a person from the South was revealed by her speech.
“Anyway, the fact of the matter is that Park Sihu is thoroughly defensive of Korin. Going to Holy huh? Hmm~. Maybe he’s going to give him a ring there?”
“Haht! Why do you keep saying something like that? Even if humans allow it, the gods won’t allow it!”
Unable to hold herself back anymore, Marie shot out of her seat.
“This won’t do! I will go there myself!”
“Nn? To Holy Panda? It’s based on reservations though. It will be hard to make a booking at the same time as them.”
“I can just book for a whole day and pay in advance! If that doesn’t work, I’ll just buy that restaurant!”
“…Marie.”
Isabelle was slightly frightened by the lengths her best friend was willing to go in terms of over-using money.
“Isabelle. You’re coming with me, right?”
“Huh?”
“They only take reservations for 2 people or above. So please come with me.”
“…Just keep in mind that others will see us in the same light as Park Sihu.”
Her criticism was buried by Marie’s enthusiastic shout.
***
The 3 Merchelin Star, a super exquisite fine-dining restaurant located at the center of the city, Holy was a high-class restaurant with no equal in Merkarva.
They provided the best service; the store was well-ornamented straight from the entrance and had the best chefs from around the world. Naturally, the staff members had elegance and class that suited their pride in their job.
“Wow~. It’s my first time coming to a restaurant like this.”
Isabelle was baffled by the fancy status of the store but on the other hand, Marie simply handed her mini-bag to one of the staff without looking too impressed.
“Mhmm. Not bad.”
Despite saying that, she thought otherwise.
It was way too extravagant. The needlessly fancy and expensive decorations all around the store were proof of the self-conceit of the owner who must have suddenly become rich.
Marie wasn’t interested enough to be irritated by the materialistic appearance of this restaurant. It was simply out of her interest.
For her, this restaurant just appeared like it was around a few meters ahead of the hundreds of other restaurants in this city. But… her unit of measurement was in kilometers and that was why she couldn’t be bothered to remark about this place.
The only thing in this place that could garner her irritation was the two boys that just entered this restaurant.
Marie was sitting on the 2nd floor, which she had booked out for the whole day, where she could gaze down at all the tables on the 1st floor including where the boys were.
“Look. Marie. I heard this place was famous for roasted beef.”
“Nn… Order whatever you want.”
Leaving aside her best friend who was excited by the menu of the super exquisite restaurant, Marie’s eyes were fixated on Korin and Sihu.
………
……
…
“Wow~. This is crazy expensive! And this place looks amazing.”
“Stop being a kid and just look at the menu.”
Korin was looking around with an agape mouth while Sihu opened the menu, looking indifferent as always.
“How much does this one cost?”
“Don’t worry about the individual prices. We have money.”
“That’s not my money though, it’s yours.”
“You helped out a lot bro, so some of it is yours.”
“Fufu. You little guy. Did you put honey on your mouth? That was very sweet of you to say that.”
“Stop saying nonsense. If you don’t feel like anything, I’ll just get a full course.”
“Yeah yeah, sure.”
Before long, the staff started bringing out a bunch of dishes to place on their table.
“Aiya~. This looks amazing.”
“You sound just like a kid.”
Despite saying that, Sihu watched over Korin’s exaggerated reaction with a faint smile.
“Wow. Look at this wine. Centuries-old? 30 silver coins a glass? Oh, my word! There is no way I’m not trying out this 300-dollar wine!”
“You’re embarrassing me. Can you just eat quietly?”
Korin created a fuss as he took a sip from his wine. It was an expensive wine that cost 30 silver coins for a single glass, and that seemed enough to put a wide smile on his lips.
“You should give it a shot too.”
After taking a sip, he handed the wine over. Sihu, who usually did not drink alcohol, said in a fluster with a straight look on his face.
“T, that’s dirty. You just touched it with your mouth.”
“We are all dudes. Don’t worry about it and just try. It’s absolutely incredible.”
“Mhmm…”
The boy received the glass from Korin after a gulp. Sihu rotated the wine glass a bit and laid his lips on the rim of the glass that Korin drank from.
Indeed, it was incredible.
In a lot of ways.
………
……
…
“Look at that! Look, look at his eyes! Look at that ‘I’m in love’ face that he’s making!”
“Hupp…!”
Isabelle and Marie, who were watching over their meal from the 2nd floor, showed contrasting reactions.
“This won’t do!”
“Marie?”
Clenching her fists, Marie glared at the immoral scene downstairs that the gods wouldn’t allow.
“I will ask him out tomorrow…!”
***
They arranged a date.
Technically it wasn’t a date but Korin helping her run some errands in the city, but the contents were clearly that of a date no matter how you saw it, that consisted of plans to have dinner together and watch a circus that recently visited the town.
“Huu… Clothes are fine; both my shoes and the necklace are new…”
Because of the apparent and aggressive contender, Marie was burning with fighting spirit.
“Good!”
The place they were going to meet at was one of the restaurants in the city, Cherry Black, an exquisite fine-dining restaurant that Marie had recently bought for herself. Everything was fully prepared.
Now, all she had to do was enjoy the traditional southern dishes that would be served there, which were incomparably better than Holy Panda’s, and have a fun time watching the circus that she invited to the city and—
The moment she left the campus, a strange feeling started to cover her body. Soon, the world around her started to change along with a surge of mana that directly attacked her skin.
“Huh?”
Everyone, ranging from the old guard who was bidding her farewell at the main gates of the campus to the peers who were talking to her, wondering where she was going— they all started to disappear from her sight. It was as if she was being transferred to a different dimension.
She immediately realized that this was some type of a large-scale magic barrier after instinctively readying herself for combat.
“Tch. You have good senses.”
There was another person in that gloomy world – Park Sihu was staring at her with a robe cast over him.
“Junior… Park Sihu?”
Marie was shocked and confused, but she quickly analyzed the barrier nonetheless.
Dimensional Detachment; Alternate Dimension-ification and Declaration of Unsurpassable Triangle. All three of those spells had been cast at once, putting it at the level of a grand spell.
Park Sihu had combined multiple spells to form a semi-grand spell, which should only be possible by the Lord of the Magic Tower. He was clearly not at the level of a mere student.
“Why… have you done this?”
“Because you’re a bit annoying.”
Hearing that, Marie pulled up more mana from within in preparation for a battle.
It was extremely rare for students from the Academy to try to kill each other, but this time her instincts were telling her that this would be a fight for life and death.
“Hmm… How am I annoying?”
“You know, Senior. I can somehow stop the other bitches but you… you get on my nerves a bit too much.”
Marie readied herself for battle as Park Sihu similarly pulled up mana from his endless source in response. The abundant supply of mana from the two of them filled the dimension as they both prepared themselves to dash in towards their foe.
“…”
“…”
There was no need for a conversation as the two of them unhesitatingly poured their explosive attacks toward their love rival.
………
……
…
Strong.
Marie was a Grade 1 mage and a pride of the Academy. She was a prodigy of magic, who was believed to be able to become a Unique-Grade mage in the future.
However, even Marie was unable to reach the inexplicable talent, Park Sihu. He should have used, and should be using a tremendous amount of mana to create and maintain the alternate dimension, and yet he was pouring out an incredible number of spells like a storm.
She could not perceive the depth of his magic. There was no end to his mana and no pause to his grand spells.
-Kwaaang!
A gushing torrent of flames erupted, breaking through her defense and sending her flying.
“Kuhuk…!”
The girl with water-colored hair rolled across the ground. Her dress that she had painstakingly put on was in tatters, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
❰Snowflake Spear❱
She pointed at Park Sihu the grand spell, which she prepared even at the cost of allowing an attack from him.
❰Shadow Restraint❱
However, black hands emerged immediately after her spell. Tens and hundreds of those ominous-looking hands shot out of every corner of the dimension and restrained the spear.
“It’s futile. I am invincible in this place.”
The beautiful-looking boy walked forward while showing off the overwhelming difference in power. He gazed down at Marie with a cold expression that contradicted his amiable appearance.
“Give up. He’s mine.”
“Ughh…!”
“He’s the only real one in this world… Do you think I’ll let NPCs like you have him?”
Trampling on the back of her hand, Park Sihu started showering her with contempt and incomprehensible words.
“Do you know what the problem is with this shit fucking world? There are too many bitches like you. You are all fake. You are all nothing but NPCs, and yet all of you try to steal him from me.”
Marie couldn’t understand what he was talking about but what she did understand was that this man… wasn’t in his right mind.
Power.
She needed more power – power that could let her escape from this predicament.
And she had something up her sleeve. There should be something that she hadn’t used yet.
“…Go.”
“What?”
“Doggoooo…! Bite…!”
-Kyaaooh!
Suddenly, a large silhouette emerged out of her shadows. It soon formed the shape of a crimson-red demonic dog that let out a high-pitched roar.
“What?!”
It was the sudden appearance of another foe. Park Sihu certainly wasn’t expecting a familiar to abruptly shoot out of her shadow, and ended up allowing its sharp teeth to bite into his neck.
The situation turned on its toe in the blink of an eye. Marie’s red eyes that were now glaring down at Park Sihu, who was being pressed down by the large dog, gleamed ominously in red.
“I don’t know who you are. I have no idea why you are doing this to me, nor am I interested.”
“Kuuk…! Y, you fucking…!”
“But Korin is mine! I’m having him for myself…!”
It was a massive reversal. Marie then declared at her junior who kept glaring at her with hatred in his eyes.
“Besides, a guy liking a guy…! That’s disgusting!”
“YOUUUUU…!”
…….
…
The dress that she had prepared with great effort was torn apart and the expensive pearl necklace was snapped in the heat of the battle. The heels that she wore to make herself look prettier were already thrown away.
Marie continued running. In tatters and bare feet, she raced across the night.
She had no idea why she was like this. Besides, she couldn’t even properly remember the dog called Doggo that had suddenly emerged out of her shadows.
Several lines of thought were confusing her mind… so she threw all of them away. Replacing all those concerns was a simple logic and a certain future.
Running forward like this, she was bound to meet that boy.
That was the sole reason she continued to run.
Her legs were in pain, but regardless, she continued running on bare feet.
It was too late to regret it, so she ran as fast as she could.
“Uht…!”
She saw the starry night sky above. Was she okay on time? Wasn’t she late? What if Korin already went back because she was too late?
Everything was going horrible. Her clothes were in a mess and she wasn’t punctual either. So… why was it, that there was still a smile on her face?
[I want Marie Dunareff to be happy.]
There was an unknown comment that floated up her mind whenever she thought of him. A fragment of her memories that she no longer remembered.
“Haht… Haaht! Haa!”
Gasping for breath, she took a deep breath in… and floated a smile of certainty.
If it’s Korin…
The Korin she knows…
…Will definitely still be there waiting for her.
“Haha. I feel so dumb.”
How was I so sure of that? Based on what and how?
Marie smiled after asking that to herself.
It was simple.
There was no logic behind it; no proof nor reason.
If it’s Korin,
That’s what he would be doing.
Because that was the type of person my Korin was.
“Senior?”
“Haa, haak… Haa!!”
Seeing Korin widen his eyes into large circles in doubt, Marie heaved a sigh of relief. She couldn’t feel her legs – they were shivering so hard that they threatened to snap and in the end…
“Senior?!”
Unable to keep herself standing, she landed on her date standing before her.
“Like, what is with all this? How did you hurt yourself so bad?”
“Hehe, hehe…”
She couldn’t reply – or rather, she didn’t. Instead, she simply smiled and buried her face in his warm embrace, which she had forgotten for a long time.
On that starry night, the girl laid her hands on the Sun. Although sparkling above them was the Moon, marking the end of her dream, she was sure that this was going to be a night marking the start of a bunch of things.
The youthful story of the boy and the girl…
[Well, the trial was over a long time ago, but it was so interesting that I watched it for far too long.]
Watching all that unfold, the Danann of Love and Youth stayed there enjoying the sentiments that he received from their dream of oblivion. Seeing what would come after this wouldn’t be nice of him – the story that would unravel from there onwards was going to be a legendary epic… or a romantic epic.
[Now, dash to the Ending of Love, young children! This world will surely last even after the ending!]
Marie Dunareff’s trial came to an end alongside the blessing of the god.
It was a perfect and undeniable defeat for Marie.
***
“So… You’re saying all three of them have failed?”
“That is certainly the case! It is all thanks to your immaculate skill.”
“Why… Why was it you of all people…”
“Because there is an abundance of love around you! It was natural that I took interest in you!”
“What have I done to deserve this…”
“Wahahahaha…! So what if you fail? I am already desperately looking forward to your future!”
The boy who completely defeated the girls let out a wild scream… while the Danann of Love gave a hearty laughter and commanded the beginning of the next trial.
“This is your next trial, young man!”
Suddenly, the surroundings started to change. The gloomy foggy island started to morph into a bright and sunny lake.
But what caught Korin’s eyes the most weren’t the plants, the forests, or the lake that was so clear that you could see the bottom of it but… the countless swans that were chained up at the center of the lake.
“Now. Here we have 150 swans. O young man embracing countless love…! Thy lovely girls are hidden among these swans!”
150 swans, and it appeared that Marie, Alicia, and Hua Ran had been transformed into similar swans.
“Thy job is to find thy lovely girls from this group!”
“…How?”
“With the power of love!”
“You freaking bastard!”
