There were quite a few incidents on the day of the presentation, but anyway, the classes at Stella Academy proceeded as usual.

"Professor Maizen Tyren is not feeling well, so I ended up taking over the class."

Alchemy professor Maizen Tyren was not able to appear, so another alchemy professor had to substitute.

‘I wonder how it will turn out. Maizen fully awakened in the eighth episode and caused a rampage in the academy, causing great damage.’

‘Did my influence cause that episode to be pushed forward? I hope at least it's manageable.’*

Alterisha hadn’t come to the academy either. She was probably being happily tormented by the Alchemist and dwarf Alchemists by now.

On the other hand, Baek Yu-Seol was at ease.

From the beginning, it was said that he was a co-author, but it was all thanks to the fact that Alterisha publicly stated that she had done it alone.

"The general public wouldn't know, and only the people that should know would know."

Not only because it becomes bothersome, but the main reason was that his attention should never be diverted.

He was a worthless alchemist, after all. All focus and attention should be solely on Alterisha.

Anyway, thanks to such efforts, there were hardly any circulating rumors related to him in the public.

It was all thanks to the fact that the name "Alterisha" was plastered all over the headlines of every newspaper.

"Hey, have you heard? There's Assistant Alterisha, right? She's the author of the Delta Augmentation Formula, right? I heard she solved that long-standing problem."

"Yeah, I also heard it. It was a 300-year-old unresolved mystery."

"But I heard there's also a co-author?"

"They deliberately kept the identity undisclosed. I wonder why."

"Well, it’s probably because they must be extremely ugly, right?"

"Ahaha, no way!"

Like that, he could quietly spend his days at the academy as usual.

"That's it for today's class."

After the alchemy class taught by an unknown professor ended, he walked out of the classroom, and some students hesitated and approached him.

"Um... You're Baek Yu-Seol, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Although he was usually treated as invisible, why were they pretending to know him?

"Well, if you're hungry, would you like to have lunch together?"

The fact that he had a friendship with Assistant Alterisha had already spread throughout the department. There were even false rumors circulating that they were secretly dating.

So, that was it.

They wanted to get closer to him because he was close to Assistant Alterisha.

While it could be seen as clever on their part to think of it since Alterisha wasn’t currently at the academy, for him, it was just annoying and bothersome.

"Sorry, I already have plans."

"Oh, really? Well, can't be helped then."

The nameless students left with disappointed expressions. They probably thought he was lying, but he did have a prior engagement.

It was his club activity.

As he walked out of the classroom, Eisel hesitated and approached him.

"Um... Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Th-that's great."

Eisel seemed quite unfamiliar, as if the activity of exploring good restaurants itself was awkward. It seemed like they were making a big decision, although there wasn't really anything significant about it.

Eisel and Baek Yu-Seol headed to the shoe lockers for their outing. As they each opened their lockers to take out the shoes, he felt a sense of unease.

[Sensibility]

Immediately, without hesitation, he teleported towards Eisel and…

"Ah!"

He grabbed hold of her and pulled her back.

Then, Eisel’s locker opened, and a flour bomb exploded!

Boom!!

"Oops...?"

Eisel, who narrowly escaped the flour bomb's wrath, widened her eyes in surprise. But, Baek Yu-Seol didn't have the energy to pay attention to that.

Unfortunately, another person passing by ended up getting hit by the flour bomb.

He turned his gaze towards Baek Yu-Seol. He had a bold physique that could rival a wrestling athlete and a closely shaved head.

Due to his rough appearance, his name was "Poong Harang."

He clearly remembered that he was in the same class as him, a first-year Class S student.

"Um... hey, I'm sorry."

However, he didn't accept Baek Yu-Seol’s apology and instead turned his head in the opposite direction. Over there, three girls were gathered around a girl with a rolled bun hairstyle.

They all looked startled upon catching Poong Harang’s gaze.

"... Did you find pleasure in doing this?"

"Yes, yes? Wh-what are you suddenly talking about?"

It was such an unexpected and out-of-the-blue remark that both the girls and he could only be taken aback.

Poong Harang shot them a cold glance.

"If you thought you could torment a superior and confident woman by simply burying her in flour... shouldn't that bring you some enjoyment? Otherwise, you'd feel pitiful and miserable yourself."

"W-what's that supposed to mean...?!"

He checked the name tag of the girl with the rolled bun
hairstyle, and she was in Class B.

‘Ah, come to think of it, such a thing did happen.’

Eisel’s episodes of being ostracized were repeatedly mentioned in the early parts of the story. He hadn’t personally witnessed it within the story. After all, the protagonist was Edna.

He never expected to indirectly experience it like this.

The girls, who were met with Poong Harang’s fierce gaze, seemed frozen in place, and trembled as if they were having seizures.

"I-I don't know! I did it because you told me to!"

Then, one person betrayed the group and ran away, while the rest followed suit and fled one by one.
Meanwhile, the girl with curly hair couldn’t manage to escape, and was compelled to brace Poong Harang’s gaze alone.

Wasn’t that embarrassing?

Poong Harang didn't seem to have any intention of threatening anymore and turned his attention back to the flour, flicking it away.

Then he glanced at Baek Yu-Seol and spoke.

"... You."

"Huh?"

"You have sharp reflexes."

After saying that, Poong Harang coolly headed outside with flour-stained clothes.

He hadn't seen much of him in the original game, but he seemed more imposing than Mayuseong himself.

Eisel and Baek Yu-Seol stood there for a while.

"... Sh-should we go?"

"Yeah. Mayuseong is waiting."

That was how... after various twists and turns, they were able to start their first club activity.

As they stepped outside, Mayuseong was leaning against a street lamp, either memorizing runic letters or reading a notebook. Even his appearance seemed like something straight out of a masterpiece, causing passing female students to linger around and steal glances at him.

He noticed them, closed his notebook, and approached with a smile.

"You're here. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Since lunchtime isn't that long, I don't plan on going far."

In the first place, even just Arcanium was incredibly vast, and there were a considerable number of restaurants, so one could find a good place to eat no matter what.

"So... what's on the menu?"

"Pizza. Do you guys like it?"

"Yeah, I enjoy it."

"Uh, I... well, I'll eat it."

He didn’t know anything else, but he knew that Eisel liked pizza.

In fact, if one chose the option to become close to Eisel as a player, he could raise affinity by giving her favorite food as a gift, and pizza was at the top of that list.

"Alright, then, shall we go to a pizza place?"

While walking along the street with Mayuseong, an interesting phenomenon occurred.

"Hey, isn't that person Mayuseong?"

"Wow... look at that charisma."

"I thought he was a model."

Before enrolling in Stella as a prodigious mage of the century, Mayuseong had already gained prominence in the middle school academy.

Thanks to numerous media appearances, he was quite famous.

He had a towering height that was hard to believe for a high school student, a warm and friendly impression, and a handsome face to top it off.

Since most of the students in Arcanium were prodigies, it was impossible not to know about the famous Mayuseong in the magical world.

Eisel, too, was quite famous. In a not-so-positive way.

"And next to him... is the daughter of the traitor Morph."

"She may be pretty, but she's still the child of trash."

Fortunately, the good thing was that Eisel herself didn't pay much attention to those glances.

"Stupid people. It's pitiful to see them being swayed by baseless rumors."

He wondered what expression those gossipers would make when they eventually learned the truth.

"It's this way."

Still, Baek Yu-Seol didn't want to see Eisel being insulted, so he guided her properly to the pizza place.

"What would you like to eat?"

"I'm fine with whatever you're having."

"I'll have what you're having then."

"That's fine."

As soon as they arrived at the pizza place, Baek Yu-Seol quickly scanned the menu and placed the order. It was a mixed pizza with lots of cheese and something called a rolling pizza, but Eisel didn't understand any of it.

She had a slightly nervous expression.

'Pizza...'

She had heard a lot about it. It was a food she really wanted to try.

But, she never had the opportunity.

Pizza was an expensive dish that cost more than 15,000 credits, which was almost like a week's worth of food for Eisel.

In the past, Eisel wanted to eat it badly, so she tried preparing the ingredients like cheese, bell peppers, and even the dough herself.

However, she failed miserably, and ended up making a mess, which made her eyes filled with tears.

She couldn't even bear to waste the ingredients, so she reluctantly forced herself to eat it, but at that moment, she truly wanted to cry.

Seeing Eisel eagerly waiting with anticipation, Baek Yu-Seol smirked and grabbed a plate of pickles.

In his memo, he had written down a note that recorded, "When eating pizza, you should drink the pickle juice first."

"Here, you can have this."

"This...?"

What was it?

She had never seen this food before.

Although she didn't ask, she ventured a guess by herself.

‘Is it an appetizer?’

‘When you order steak, they usually serve bread and soup first…’

She hesitated as she touched the pickle plate.

‘How do you eat this...?’