David looked at Nathan intently.
Nathan asked,
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
David pointed at Nathan's cheek.
"Did someone hit you?"
Nathan tilted his head slightly before placing a hand on his cheek.
"Hmm... I don't know. I dreamed about a huge table filled with delicious meat today, but when I opened my mouth to eat it, I felt a sting on my cheek and woke up."
Stephen, who was sitting beside Nathan with his head resting on the palm of his hand as he listened to them, shifted his gaze toward the window and looked at the clear sky.
"...."
Nathan stared at Stephen for a long moment, narrowing his eyes.
Stephen could feel Nathan's gaze fixed on him, but he ignored it.
Nathan spoke.
"Stephen."
"Could it be... that you know why my cheek is like this?"
David also looked at Stephen in confusion.
Stephen slowly turned his gaze toward Nathan, looked at him for a moment, then calmly replied,
"I slapped you."
Nathan stared at Stephen in shock before suddenly jumping to his feet, slamming his hands on the desk in front of him, and shouting,
"Huh?! Whyyy?!"
David was startled by Nathan's sudden movement, but then he processed what Stephen had just said and looked at Stephen in bewilderment.
'Stephen slapped Nathan!!'
David shifted his gaze toward Nathan and looked at him with disgust.
'What did this idiot do to make someone as calm and patient as Stephen slap him?'
Nathan asked Stephen once again,
"Why?!"
Stephen lifted his head from his hand, looked at Nathan, and answered with a somewhat serious expression.
"Your saliva is disgusting."
Nathan looked at Stephen in confusion and began thinking.
'My saliva? All I did was bite the meat in my dream... Huh?! Was the meat Stephen?!'
David looked at Nathan with a sharp, accusatory gaze.
"Did you spit in his food?!"
Stephen and Nathan looked at David at the same time.
"...."
"...."
Then, all of a sudden, Nathan burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
Nathan placed a hand on David's shoulder and said,
"If I had actually done that, you probably would've seen my corpse today."
"And besides, do I really look like someone who spits in other people's food?"
David looked Nathan up and down from head to toe before confidently replying,
"Yes. In fact, you look even worse than that."
Nathan spoke in an aggrieved voice.
"Whaaat?! What bad thing have I even done so far? I've been very nice ever since I entered the academy."
David looked at Nathan with a disgusted expression.
"I don't see anything nice about you."
Nathan looked at him for a moment before smiling, shrugging his shoulders, and leaning back comfortably against his chair.
"Well, that's fine. I forgive those who are blind."
David glared at Nathan angrily.
"You're the blind one. Your entire family is blind."
Stephen looked at the two of them and couldn't help but think,
'They're so noisy.'
Stephen was extremely tired. The little sleep he had gotten last night wasn't enough, especially after sleeping less than usual for the past half month. His body had finally reached its limit for staying awake.
Stephen looked at the time and saw that class would begin in just one minute, completely ruining his idea of taking a short nap.
As soon as the clock struck exactly eight, Professor Logan entered the classroom.
One of Professor Logan's most well-known traits among the students was his absolute punctuality. He was never even a second early or late, and many students found dealing with him extremely difficult because he would punish them even for being a single second late.
Professor Logan began explaining today's lesson, which included various things that could be found inside dungeons, along with several strange incidents and other related topics.
All of the students listened attentively to what Professor Logan was saying, as they found these subjects fascinating.
To them, it felt like reading an exciting and captivating novel.
As for Stephen, who already knew all of these things, they weren't interesting to him. He rested his head on the palm of his hand and listened absentmindedly to Professor Logan.
Professor Logan's voice was calm and soothing, making Stephen grow drowsy as his eyelids slowly began to close.
The moment Stephen drifted into a light doze, his eyes suddenly snapped open, and he instinctively dodged the object that was about to strike his head.
"...."
Stephen was now standing beside his desk. He turned toward his attacker with the intent to kill, but the moment he realized it was Professor Logan, he immediately withdrew his killing intent. The entire action lasted no more than a single second.
However, Professor Logan had clearly sensed that powerful killing intent during that brief instant, and he looked at Stephen in confusion.
'That was... killing intent!'
'Not only did he dodge my attack, but he even released killing intent!'
Stephen looked at Professor Logan before interrupting his astonishment.
"I'm sorry for falling asleep, Professor. It won't happen again."
Professor Logan frowned as he looked at Stephen. After a brief silence, he finally spoke.
"Sit down."
Stephen nodded and took a step toward his seat before Professor Logan's voice stopped him once again.
"Meet me in my office after classes are over."
Stephen frowned upon hearing that and looked at Professor Logan. He had no choice but to answer,
"...Alright."
He then returned to his seat.
The classroom fell into complete silence as everyone stared at Stephen, but Professor Logan's voice broke the silence as he resumed the lesson, causing the students to turn their attention back to the front.
This time, Stephen listened carefully while doing his best not to fall asleep again. He also ignored Nathan's mocking glances.
After the class ended and the professor left, the students now had a full hour-long break before the second lesson.
Taking advantage of the break, Stephen quietly left the classroom. Naturally, Nathan and David followed him, ignoring the chatter spreading behind them.
The moment they stepped outside, Nathan looked at Stephen, smiled slyly, then turned toward David with an expression as though he were giving him advice.
"David, don't fall asleep during class. The professor might punish you."
David looked at Nathan in confusion, then glanced at Stephen and realized Nathan was mocking him.
David held back his laughter so hard that his lips were pressed into a straight line as he turned his face away.
Nathan continued, his expression full of schadenfreude.
"And don't slap your friend either. The world might pay you back for it one day."
"Pfft... Hahaha!"
David couldn't hold it in this time and burst into loud laughter.
That made Stephen stop walking and look at the two of them with annoyance.
After enduring their teasing as though it were nothing more than childish chatter, Stephen noticed a patch of black fur racing toward him at incredible speed.
It suddenly stopped about ten meters away from him.
Stephen looked at Byron in confusion. He didn't understand why Byron had stopped from such a distance.
Then suddenly...
Stephen felt a tremendous weight land on his head and body as something wrapped itself around him like an octopus.
Nathan, who had seen Byron, turned deathly pale. He jumped onto Stephen while grabbing his hair and shouted in a trembling voice,
"Aaa... S-Stephen... Run!! Ruuun!!"
Byron looked at Nathan as though he were the greatest nuisance he had ever encountered.
'That damned cat-phobic idiot again. Damn it... What rotten luck.'
Stephen was completely stunned by the sudden, bizarre situation. He still hadn't processed what was happening. Nathan was still clinging to him, pulling on his hair as his whole body trembled.
"Stephen, let's run! Run!! Hurry! Hurry!"
Byron snorted, shot Nathan an annoyed look, then turned around and walked away.
David was equally stunned by the scene before him. His mouth hung open in shock, his eyebrows raised high, giving him an expression that looked downright comical compared to his usual arrogant demeanor.
"Move! I'm telling you to run!"
Nathan continued repeating himself with a pale face, trembling as he clung to Stephen like an octopus while still pulling his hair.
Stephen finally snapped out of his shock. After noticing Byron leaving, he said to Nathan,
"...He's gone."
When Nathan heard that, he stopped urging Stephen to flee and slowly opened his eyes to make sure the cat had truly left. Once he confirmed it, he let out a long sigh of relief and finally released Stephen.
After climbing off him, Stephen looked at Nathan for a moment before turning his head away, covering his mouth with his hand as his shoulders began trembling.
Nathan looked at him in confusion.
"Huh?"
For the first time, Stephen couldn't hold back his laughter.
"Pfft... Hahaha..."
David, who was still in shock, heard Stephen laughing and muttered to himself,
"Did I never wake up? Was all of this just a dream?"
Stephen stopped laughing, put on a serious face, and looked at David.
"David, don't make fun of your friend. The world might return that mockery to you."
David stared at Stephen in astonishment before he couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
Nathan listened to the two of them, and before long, his face turned bright red with embarrassment.
"Stop it, both of you."