The Mage Who Went to High School: Chapter 3
The air in the principal's office was heavy and stale. The scent of freshly brewed coffee, old paper, and a fine layer of dust grated on my unfamiliar senses. It reminded me of a mage's laboratory in my world, but instead of the smells of parchment, magical ink, and various reagents, this was a dry, artificial smell.
"So, let me hear it again, Tyler. What exactly happened?"
Ms. Han, the homeroom teacher, spoke calmly, but her voice had a steely firmness to it. She stood with her arms crossed, looking from one to the other of the three students standing in front of her desk. Tyler and his two buddies, all with their heads bowed in shame, and me, standing a little distance away, staring blankly out the window.
Tyler mumbled, "Well... I was just... you know, trying to say hi to the new kid..."
"With a chair?" Ms. Han shot back, her voice sharp. "When I opened the door, it didn't look like you were holding a bouquet of flowers."
Tyler's face flushed. He glared at me indignantly. "But he started it! I just grabbed his shoulder, and then my hand slipped...!"
"Your hand slipped?"
"Yeah! And then I threw a punch, but... it was like my fist moved in slow motion! Like I was punching through honey!"
Tyler desperately tried to explain the bizarre phenomenon he had experienced. But his explanation only drew laughter from the other teachers in the office. The gym teacher, sitting at a nearby desk, snickered.
"Tyler, are you making up fantasy stories now? What's next? Your fist shot a laser beam?"
"I'm telling the truth!" Tyler hit his chest in frustration, but no one believed him. Ms. Han also seemed to dismiss his words as a ridiculous excuse. But her gaze eventually settled on me.
"Arcane."
I slowly turned my head at her call. I was still expressionless, watching her quietly.
"Is what Tyler said true? That you started it?"
"No."
My answer was short and concise. It wasn't a lie. I had never started anything. I had merely ignored them.
"Then, what about Tyler grabbing your shoulder and throwing a punch?"
"That happened."
"And you were unharmed? Tyler's not a weak kid, you know."
Ms. Han's question wasn't just a simple fact check. She was testing my reaction. Her gaze was like a magical detection scroll, trying to pierce my very being. I realized that her "empathy," as I had come to understand it, was sharper than I had anticipated.
'Annoying.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly. I gave her the most ordinary and convincing answer I could think of.
"I dodged it."
"You dodged it? The other students said you just stood there without moving a single muscle."
"I dodged well."
Ms. Han's eyebrows twitched at my response. It was a clear non-answer, a silent pressure for her to stop asking questions. The other teachers in the office watched our subtle game of cat-and-mouse with interest.
Ms. Han stared at me for a moment, then sighed deeply. She couldn't very well interrogate a new student, especially one who was supposedly suffering from amnesia.
"...Alright. Tyler, Mark, and Jin. You three have after-school detention for a week. And Tyler, you're on bathroom duty. If this ever happens again, you're going straight to the dean's office."
"But, Ms. Han!"
"Don't talk back. And Arcane."
Her gaze returned to me.
"I'm sorry you got caught up in this on your first day. But from now on... I hope you'll try to be a little more flexible. And make an effort to get along with your classmates."
"...Alright."
The incident was closed for now. Tyler and his buddies stormed out of the office, and I followed them out into the hallway. Tyler intentionally bumped his shoulder against mine as he passed, a silent threat that said, 'This isn't over.'
I ignored it all and returned to the classroom. As I sat down at my desk, Kevin, looking worried, cautiously spoke to me.
"Dude, are you okay? What did the teacher say?"
"Nothing."
"Thank goodness. Tyler can be a real jerk... It's better to just avoid him from now on."
Kevin was genuinely worried about me. His pure goodwill was awkward, but I didn't hate it.
Next to me, Sora kept glancing at me. When our eyes met, she flinched and quickly looked away, but the intense curiosity in her eyes was unmistakable.
The commotion from the break continued through lunch. In the hallway leading to the cafeteria, students were still whispering about me.
"Is that the new kid? I heard he totally wiped the floor with Tyler."
"I heard he didn't even touch him. Just toyed with him."
"Seriously? How? Is he a really good fighter?"
All sorts of theories were flying around, but no one knew the truth. I tuned out the noise and followed Kevin into the cafeteria.
And there, I was hit with my second culture shock.
Hundreds of students lined up, each holding a rectangular plastic plate (a tray) to get their food. The giant pots steaming with food, the loud noise, and the mix of every possible food smell made the space more chaotic than any banquet hall I had ever seen.
"Hey, grab a tray and come this way."
Following Kevin's lead, I awkwardly picked up a tray. At the serving line, women in white uniforms handed out food with ladles and tongs, their movements almost robotic.
"Want more rice, student?"
"...No."
Rice, some unidentified soup, and a few side dishes were piled onto my tray. What caught my eye, in particular, was the cabbage dish (kimchi) coated in a fiery red sauce. I had never seen a plant with such an intense color. Was it poisonous?
"You're not eating your kimchi? It's really good."
Sora had approached me without me noticing. Her tray was piled high with kimchi.
"...It's my first time seeing it."
"Oh, right. You have amnesia. Then everything must be new to you. This is called kimchi. It's something every Korean person loves. You should try it."
Sora used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of kimchi and tried to place it on my tray. I instinctively stepped back.
"...It's okay."
"Come on, just try it."
In the end, a red, wet piece of cabbage landed on my tray. I stared at it for a moment, then followed Kevin and Sora to a table.
"Let's eat!"
With their strange chant, we began our meal. I took a spoonful of rice first. It was the same moving taste as last night. I closed my eyes for a moment to savor it.
"You should try the soup, too. The spinach 된장국 is really good today."
At Kevin's words, I took a spoonful of the soup. It was savory and salty. Not bad. I started to try the other side dishes one by one. The salty stir-fried anchovies, the sweet stir-fried fish cakes. All of them were flavors I had never tasted before, but they strangely suited my palate.
And then, the last challenge remained. The kimchi.
I hesitated for a moment, then picked up the piece of kimchi with my chopsticks. Sora, sitting across from me, was watching me with an expectant look. I took a deep breath, and with a great resolve, put the kimchi in my mouth.
The first taste was cool and crisp. But then, a powerful wave of spicy and sour flavor, as if to numb my tongue, hit me like a storm.
"...!"
My eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. It was the first time my poker face, which I had maintained for 500 years, had cracked. I tried desperately to control my expression, but the fire in my mouth was unbearable. I hurriedly grabbed my water cup and gulped down the water.
"Pfft! Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, that was too funny."
Sora couldn't hold back her laughter and held her stomach. Kevin was chuckling beside her.
"Is it spicy? Everyone's first time is like that."
I stared at them, trying to calm my burning tongue. But my expression showed more bewilderment than anger. To lose my composure over a mere food. It was something an Archmage should never do.
At lunch that day, I cleaned out every side dish except for the kimchi. I thought to myself that in order to adapt to this world, to find a way back, I might have to first conquer this red magic called 'kimchi'. It might be a more difficult task than dimensional shifting.
After lunch, the three of us headed to the dish return area. Throwing away leftover food and separating the trays and utensils was another new challenge for me. It was a day where everything was foreign, everything was confusing. But strangely, I didn't hate the chaos. It felt like my time, which had been frozen for 500 years, was slowly beginning to flow again with this loud and chaotic noise.