IRHWSDD 38

Island of Wisdom (12)

Luke Na’s ears were almost ringing from Bolton’s booming, panicked voice, but she wasn’t intimidated by the loudness as she once might have been. That was probably because she had come to understand Bolton a little better.

“Do you really think my face is that pretty?”

Luke Na toyed with her own face and let out a soft chuckle. Even when he had been whining about wanting her to introduce him to Giselle, or repeating the same things over and over, it seemed her face wasn’t unpleasant to others’ eyes either.

“Y-Yeah. Pretty! Beautiful! Happy now?”

Bolton admitted it boldly, without trying to backtrack.

‘If I had a real older brother, would he act like Bolton?’

Luke Na, who hadn’t realized that a real older brother would never say such ticklish words to his sister, traced back her previous life for a moment. Kim Ha-yoon had had an older brother too—who died in a traffic accident.

Ha-yoon had lost her memories instead of her life in that accident and couldn’t recall even her family’s faces until the end. Every time she remembered that, she felt like something unrooted, wandering through the world.

She had thought countless times that it might have been better to die along with her family, but since the life she had purchased was far too costly, she had tried to continue it at all costs.

‘In the end, I just died from overwork and ended up in a world like this.’

And yet, she had adapted far too well.

At some point, she no longer bothered to check who the protagonist of the story was or what the original work had been. She had simply grown accustomed to her life in this world.

‘Ha-yoon’s life now feels like a dream. I must really like it here.’

Luke Na let out a small laugh.

At that moment, while Bolton watched her smile with a subtle expression, a familiar voice cut between them.

“The conversation between two guys seems a bit strange. What were you two doing outside?”

Martian approached, smiling gently but with eyes that held no amusement, shifting his gaze between Luke Na and Bolton. He had already returned.

‘The smell of blood.’

Luke Na held her breath for a moment. Seeing the slight swell of her small chest, he quickly sheathed the blood-dripping sword.

Bolton scratched his head while examining Martian.

“Usually, you’re so neat. What made you come back covered in blood?”

The blood splattered on Martian was probably from the traitorous alchemist, Fritz. Bolton briefly mourned his senior, who had become a traitor, despite the annoyance he had caused, because they had shared memories as human alchemists. Of course, attempting to poison their master was an unforgivable crime.

‘Ugh, men don’t shed tears for traitors.’

Bolton tensed his eyes to prevent any tears while gesturing at Martian’s bloodstained clothing.

“Looks like you handled it properly.”

“I took care of one, but one woman escaped. Fritz tried to complete his final alchemy, but due to the side effects of dark magic, his body ballooned and exploded.”

Martian, smiling out of habit, described the gruesome situation plainly and then fell silent.

Luke Na’s expression wasn’t good as she listened. Something was off.

Martian checked his reflection in a nearby building’s glass window and suddenly understood the situation.

‘He returned covered in blood and casually said the corpse exploded.’

Martian rubbed his forehead in discomfort. The blood on his gloves left faint marks, adding to the grim atmosphere, but there was no time to worry about that.

Bolton asked,

“Side effects of dark magic?”

“It seems he tried to mix forbidden magic with alchemy to transmute the Golden Elixir. Something went wrong, and the golden liquid turned to black smoke and entered Fritz’s body, making it balloon and explode. His soul may have been destroyed too.”

“The end… must have been horrifying.”

Bolton’s lips stretched in disbelief.

Martian glanced at Bolton’s face once more, now noticing that Bolton had removed his eyepatch and fitted the prosthetic eye. He opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again—saying something like, ‘You lost a senior, but you got a new eye,’ probably wouldn’t please Bolton.

So he returned to the main topic.

“You two were having quite an interesting conversation earlier. What were you talking about?”

“Talking with that idiot? Nothing special.”

Bolton said this with an expression that made it seem like nothing of importance had happened.

“Really? From your face, I thought you might have confessed to Luke Na.”

Confession? Luke Na’s eyes widened.

‘Who confessed to whom? Bolton confessed to me?’

She wondered if the diligent student even realized what he had said, or if he had such an open mind to assume a man could confess to another man.

Luke Na wasn’t the only one surprised. Bolton was equally flustered.

“What… what do you mean by guys confessing to each other!”

“…….”

“I’m not into that!”

Martian said nothing, simply staring. Bolton, nervously fiddling with his eyebrows, quietly admitted,

“It’s just that the idiot’s face looks girly. Handsome guys get called handsome, pretty guys get… prett—yeah, I said pretty, nothing more.”

“Is that so?”

Martian, staring straight at Bolton, then shifted his blue eyes to Luke Na’s face.

His gaze pierced her face in various spots, making her feel strangely ticklish, and she shyly lowered her head to avoid it.

“That’s right. Not wrong to say that.”

“……?”

“Pretty, indeed.”

A slightly strained voice had unexpectedly spoken. It sounded like he had both given up and restrained himself.

‘What did I just hear?’

Luke Na looked up sharply, wondering if he had gone mad from the intensity of the mission. Usually, men didn’t compliment each other like this. Receiving a compliment on her appearance from such a handsome man was extremely embarrassing.

Bolton was just as surprised.

“Crazy! Martian actually complimented another guy’s looks?”

Thinking this would make next week’s school newspaper headline, Bolton fussed and decided that Chad should also know, so he went off to find him.

“Just saying it looks like that… not sure if it’s really something surprising.”

Martian spoke with a nonchalant expression, then grabbed Luke Na’s wrist with an urgency that contradicted his face.

“Martian?”

His hand was incredibly hot. Luke Na wondered if he had overexerted himself fighting the Red Eagle.

“Finally, I feel alive.”

Martian’s expression gradually relaxed as he held her wrist. Luke Na looked down at the hand he held.

His grip wasn’t strong, but it carried a strange insistence that made it impossible to pull away.

“I was a bit exhausted from being exposed to dark magic earlier, but the energy radiating from you makes me feel at ease.”

“M-My energy…?”

Could he have sensed the holy power of the sacred sword? Luke Na’s eyes darted nervously through the air.

“Most holy power can’t be felt like this. Your latent divine power seems incredible.”

Perhaps her abilities had awakened due to this summoning; Luke Na radiated stronger holy energy than before.

Martian stared at her white wrist as if trying to pierce through her.

“Oh, that’s what you meant.”

“You should definitely visit the temple later. You’ll have a talent for it.”

Then Martian used all his patience to release her wrist. Once he touched her, he had found it hard to let go.

“All the problems we could solve are done. We should prepare to return.”

“Already?”

“If we linger here, you’ll miss a day of classes compared to our plan.”

Martian was far more diligent than expected. Even someone who might ace exams without studying seemed to attend every class faithfully, which was remarkable.

Luke Na walked alongside Martian toward the central tower where the cadets gathered. Occasionally their hands brushed, and each time Luke Na jumped back in surprise. Strangely, wherever they touched, she felt a ticklish sensation.

The Grand Sage, Kuran, lying in bed, received support from the alchemists and thanked Luke Na.

“Thank you for saving my life. I will not forget this favor. Should you need any elixir, say the word, and the Island of Wisdom will support you to the best of our ability.”

Kuran handed her a thin booklet—a catalog listing various types of elixirs.

‘What’s this?’

From wrinkle-reducing, whitening, and blemish-removing elixirs to hangover cures, weight loss, and concentration-boosting potions—many familiar from her previous life—everything was listed.

Even the muscle-growth elixir developed by Bolton was included.

The prices were astronomical. Recovery potions seemed almost like talent donations.

‘No wonder they’re so obsessed with experiments. The potential revenue is on par with a major pharmaceutical company.’

The sad truth was that the section marked “in development” included hair-growth potions.

Even with the Golden Elixir developed, it seemed not even the world’s greatest mages could find a solution for hair loss.

With such a tremendous ally, Luke Na walked toward the pier.