NOVEL NEXT Chapter 29.2
We received a club information brochure in front of the main entrance of the student union building.
Each of the clubs’ names, locations, and activities were briefly and neatly summarized.
“What kind of club do you guys want to join?”
I asked the two of them to change the topic of conversation.
“Something I’d enjoy doing as a hobby! Have you found anything...?”
Jihye answered while quickly flipping through the booklet.
Even though it was daytime, she appeared quite motivated.
Hyerin thought about her answer and then opened her mouth.
“I want to go somewhere there are mostly just girls.”
“Hmm. Hobbies and women...”
We put our brains to use and thought of what our first destination should be.
“There is an actual gambling club here?”
“Hmm... It doesn’t sound interesting.”
“Swordsmanship club? You will like this, Hyerin!”
“I’ll check it out later, thanks.”
“Hey guys, how about the cooking club?!”
“That sounds good. There must be a lot of women there, and it’s good as a hobby.”
“Let’s go to the cooking department.”
Our first destination had been decided.
We walked up to the third floor where the cooking department was located.
A delicious scent wafted through the hallway, stimulating my nostrils.
We opened the door to the room and found an unexpected person.
“Huh? It’s Ayoung.”
“Ah-young!”
“Uh, hello guys!”
Seong Ah-young greeted us while stirring a pot.
Earlier, Minho went back to the dormitory to spend time with her after their time spent apart...
What a shame.
She was cooking while consulting with a certain yellow-haired female student.
From the way she spoke, they seemed to be classmates.
She was already making friends in this other world.
She happened to be quite comfortable with just about anybody.
Anyway, we also went to one of the tables opposite hers and started our cooking club taster session.
The goal was to make a quick dinner.
Among the various recipes, I decided to try one that looked easy.
“Is this how you do it?”
“No-no! It’s better to use that knife instead of that knife. Huh? Hye-rin, what are you doing?!”
“No, but they told me to scoop up some salt here and put it in...?”
“Not with that spoon!”
Hyerin and I had very little cooking experience.
However, since Ji-hye was alone at home on Earth most of the time, she cooked quite skillfully.
To the extent that the senior in charge of us admired her abilities.
Eventually, the finished stew turned out to be edible.
Obviously, it would have been much more delicious if Jihye had made it alone.
Apparently, I’m more suited to being a cuisine connoisseur rather than a chef.
Ah-young joined the cooking club, and Ji-hye and Hye-rin decided they would look around some more before thinking about joining any of the clubs.
With different ideas in mind, we headed to some other clubs.
***
Afterwards, we toured the Magic Club and the Religion Club.
Magic in a world where magic existed was very different from what one would find on Earth, so it was amazing.
It was not a place to train one’s ability to deceive a lay audience, but a place to study how to make an audience happy with one’s magical display.
It was like a gag/parody of a club.
The religion club had a very solemn atmosphere.
Was it because this was a world where the existence of God could be proved with attributes?
Anyway, it wasn’t a place for me.
We wandered here and there for three or four hours but did not become particularly tired.
The sun went down and the night enveloped the vast skies.
Currently, we are making our way up to the roof.
The place we were visiting this time was the ‘Sorcery Club’, which was under the umbrella of the ‘Magic Research Club Alliance’.
Witchcraft was a science that dealt with astrology that predicted fates and curses that twisted destiny, and was classified as a subset of magic.
Since astrology began with observing the night sky, it seemed that the club for shamans was located on the roof of the student union building.
ᅳBe sure to come after 7 pm! A feast of stars will welcome you!
The brochure had read as the above.
It was a phrase that was written to stimulate students’ curiosity.
A senior in a dark robe led us to the centre of the rooftop.
“There is a magic circle imprinted on the floor that filters out the light from below the roof as much as possible. No matter what I do though, I can’t get rid of the magic light of the barrier itself...”
The ecliptic was protected by a transparent boundary like a hemispherical glass.
It was said that it was built to prevent magic bombardment during the era of the great wars of the past.
The senior student frowned for a moment, probably in disapproval of the light pollution.
We followed him to an open area.
Raising our heads, we saw—
“Wow, that’s crazy...”
“Pretty···.”
I shuddered at the beautiful and wonderful sight unfolding before my eyes.
Big and small stars were densely dotted about in the pitch-black night sky, and the blue and red moons were located in the centre of it all like a brilliant banquet of the celestials.
Various lights harmonised in the sky, arousing my emotions and causing waves in my heart.
“·······.”
It was like a vast life that pulsated, and it truly felt like I was in a new world.
I was certain that I would not be able to enjoy such a spectacle anywhere on earth.
The senior student seemed to be satisfied with our response.
“Once a semester, we go on a field trip outside the ecliptic as a club association. At that time, it would be much more dazzling than now, wouldn’t you think?”
He shared this and that information by the side, but none of it reached my ears.
If I had a camera in my hand right now, I might have been hitting the shutter button repeatedly while pointing it toward the night sky.
Or did one expect me to come up here, view this incredible sight, and not be thinking about taking pictures?
“It’s a shooting star...!”
I turned my head in the direction Jihye pointed toward.
In the distance, a sky-blue meteor cut through the jet-black sky, leaving a long trail in its wake.
Jihye suddenly closed her eyes, put her hands together, and began to pray.
“Are you making a wish?”
“Jihoo, you should make a wish quickly too! We have to finish it before the shooting star disappears!”
It’s just a wish...
I didn’t believe in such superstitions, but since there was no need to burn candles, I didn’t bother to go against what she said.
‘Please make me a harem king in this other world.’
I muttered a short but sweet request in my mind and then opened my eyes.
Fortunately, the meteor was still there.
Rather, it seemed to have grown a little bigger than before.
Soon after, Ji-hye also confirmed the existence of the shooting star in the sky and let out a sigh of relief.
“What did you wish for?”
“That’s a secret!”
Whether it was because of her jolly mood or because of the atmosphere, Jihye’s smiling face looked prettier than usual.
That was how we went about quietly looking at the night sky, the two moons, a cluster of stars, and a meteor.
“············Huh?!”
The senior’s shrill cry broke the peaceful silence.
“Meteor!? That celestial body wasn’t planned?!”
He left us bewildered and hurried off somewhere.
“What is it...? Why did he just do that?”
“Huh? Can’t a shooting star appear or something?”
“Mmmm...”
“...Could it be an ominous sign in this world?”
“That’s a possibility.”
We guessed the cause of his sudden departure, but there was no news from the senior who would tell us the correct answer.
In that moment, we witnessed something incredible…
The sky-blue meteor broke through the barrier of the ecliptic and collided with a certain mountain.
— — — — — —