I’m hungry.

Well, to be precise, I’m not really hungry.

You might think that’s ridiculous, but it’s the feeling I have.

I eat lunch at the academy, and maybe because of that, I practically skip breakfast and dinner, yet I don’t feel any hunger.

It’s almost as if I could survive without lunch.

However, since I used to make sure to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner no matter how busy I was, I guess it’s more of a mental hunger I’m feeling…

Today, I picked up my breakfast.

I had divided a macaron into twenty pieces, ate one for dinner last night and was going to have another for breakfast today, leaving me with 18 pieces.

Eighteen. How infuriating.

According to credible information from the CIA, a high school girl’s combat power is equivalent to that of two special forces soldiers, and when three high school girls team up, they can take on a tank.

But I am not an ordinary high school girl.

Having mastered Goryeo martial arts and being able to emit flames from my body, my combat power is at least three times that of a high school girl.

In other words, I can face a tank all by myself.

Don’t you think a piece of macaron that’s 1/20 of a whole is a bit insufficient to fuel a tank?

THUMP, I shoveled a macaron piece, no bigger than a crumb, into my mouth, calmly savoring its sweetness until it completely melted away. Then, I put on my uniform and stepped out, deciding that I would shop on my way back today.

Once at school, I found the class president, who had come in early, sweeping the classroom floor yet again.

She jumped a bit when I walked through the door.

Looks like she’s really shy.

But today, unlike yesterday, I didn’t have any reason to visit the staff room, so I just sat down at my desk. Then the class president nervously approached to greet me.

“Ah, hello?”

“Hello.”

Seeing her muster the courage to greet me despite her shyness made me smile, which made her face turn bright red.

The shy class president is cute.

With her face still flushed, she quietly continued sweeping the floor around me.

…Watching her work so hard, it felt really wrong to just sit there doing nothing.

I got up, pulled out a broom from the cleaning supply closet, and joined her in sweeping the floor.

Was something good happening?

The class president was subtly smiling the entire time we were cleaning.

Once we finished, it seemed like students gradually started to trickle in.

For some odd reason, a few students I had never spoken to greeted me.

What’s going on? Did my aura of being a social outcast vanish because I became friends with Sylvia?

I wondered this while subtly nodding my head to accept their greetings.

“Scarlet, good morning.”

I ignored Yoon Si-woo’s greeting.

We were in history class.

The history teacher looked like a total battle-scarred veteran.

He had a large scar running across his face, both arms were prosthetic, and one of his legs was too.

Honestly, it seemed like he’d be more suited to teach monster-hunting techniques than history.

However, contrary to his appearance, he didn’t shout during his lectures.

Instead, he taught in a calm voice, almost as if he didn’t care if the students fell asleep.

DING DONG In academy history classes, they usually provide explanations about the world.

I had read the material closely before, but hearing it in class was excruciatingly dull.

All this stuff about when witches appeared and whatnot…

It was clear that the students were equally bored, their minds visibly wandering.

The teacher seemed to sense this as he paused writing with the chalk, sighed, and said,

“I know it’s tedious, this kind of class. Grades on history tests don’t matter at all for becoming a hero anyway, so it’s understandable if you aren’t interested. I won’t force you to focus on this class.”

With that, he glanced around the room and pointed to a boy sitting at the front.

“Hey, you there, do you know why the symbol of the academy is a shield?”

“Uh, yes! I believe it means to stand up front and fight!”

The teacher nodded in approval.

“Correct. A shield has meaning only when it’s at the front. If it’s at the back, it becomes useless. So just like that shield, you all should step up and fight. I’m sure your ‘Hero’s Mindset’ teacher taught you that, and they’re quite passionate since they just joined the faculty recently.”

A few students chuckled.

They must have been thinking about that enthusiastic teacher who filled two hours of class from the very first lesson.

That cute lady teacher who kept repeating, “You all get it, right?”

This teacher was a total opposite in both looks and atmosphere.

“In reality, I think history lessons aren’t that different from the ‘Hero’s Mindset’ subject. If you read your textbooks, you’ll see that during crucial moments, the noble sacrifices of someone made it possible for us to be here now. Simply put, this history subject exists for you to contemplate those sacrifices.”

Hearing the word “sacrifice” coming from a teacher with prosthetic limbs really drove the point home.

Maybe it wasn’t just me; the other students were also listening closely to what he had to say.

“What I want you to learn from this class is just one thing.”

The teacher paused briefly before continuing.

“Don’t think of sacrifice as something incredibly grand.”

When the students looked puzzled, the teacher continued.

“I don’t mean to belittle the esteemed heroes in your textbooks. They certainly did things worthy of respect, which allows us to enjoy our classes in peace now.”

The teacher opened the textbook.

“However, don’t think that only extraordinary people can act heroically. They are just like you. To be able to throw yourself into danger without hesitation, remind yourself that sacrifice is not a grand act, but rather a natural one. As long as you keep that in mind, you can sleep or daydream during my class, and I won’t mind.”

After saying that, the teacher cleared his throat.

“Wow, I’ve gone on for too long. After all, your ‘Hero’s Mindset’ teacher will explain a lot more about this, so learn the rest from them. Let’s get back to the class.”

The teacher resumed his soft-spoken lecture.

Now students were focused, showing a different visage, while others appeared deep in thought about what the teacher had just said.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t help but think that Sylvia was pretty.

Other than that, I wasn’t concerned with anything else.

“Oh, I want dessert.”

Sylvia said that with a hint of longing after finishing her meal.

Like the saying goes, just being friends with Sylvia for three days allowed me to read her thoughts to some extent.

That statement was purely about her craving for dessert.

She didn’t specifically ask me to get anything, but I couldn’t let this perfect opportunity slip by!

“I’ll get macarons.”

I said this to Sylvia and nearly sprang into action, racing toward the snack bar almost like a reflex.

With a flawless movement, I jumped up and dashed to the snack bar without even a few seconds’ delay.

Ah, have I tapped into the essence of friendship?

When I returned with the macarons and handed them to Sylvia, she accepted them with a slightly dazed expression.

“Uh, um… thank you?”

How does it feel to have what you wanted automatically delivered without even asking!?

If I keep this up, I could become an irreplaceable friend of Sylvia’s!

Hee hee, I’m too lazy to walk to the snack bar anymore. I’d be a goner without Scarlet!

That devilish thought crossed my mind as I chuckled quietly, but Yoon Si-woo and the class president were staring at me.

Oh no! Did they possibly notice?

I quickly masked my expression, worried that they’d catch my forbidden desires.

Their expressions turned ambiguous.

It was time to go home—the moment of reckoning.

On my way back, I stopped by a discount mart near my house.

I needed to find something that could be called food with the remaining living expenses of 7,000 gold.

The meat section.

There was no need to even look.

With the current funds I have, meat was out of the question.

It might taste good if I bought some, but it would be my final meal.

Seafood? Absolutely not.

They have less quantity than meat but are more expensive.

I passed through other food sections until I reached the aisle with flour products.

Logically speaking, buying instant noodles or those snacks called “human feed” would be high in calories…

But strangely, I didn’t feel like those would satisfy my calorie needs.

What I wanted was simply a mental fullness, just the feeling of eating something.

As I contemplated this, I suddenly spotted something in the vegetable section.

[Lowest Price! 300 grams of bean sprouts for just 1,000 gold!]

At that moment, I felt something akin to destiny.

This is it.

Now, I couldn’t think of anything else.

Bean sprouts have a shelf life of about four days before they spoil.

So, if I only eat bean sprouts until my next stipend arrives…

Astonishingly, it fit perfectly with my remaining 7,000 gold!

It felt as if this number had been planned from the beginning, making me wonder if these sprouts were set aside for someone like me.

Like a priest touched by revelation, I grabbed the bean sprouts, paid, and returned home.

Upon arriving home, I stood in front of the gas stove first.

I filled a pot with water and placed it on the stove.

I lit the gas and awaited the water to boil.

Once the water boils, I’ll blanch the bean sprouts.

I wanted to stir-fry them, but surprisingly, I had no ingredients to do so.

No cooking oil, not even simple seasonings like salt or sugar.

Of course, the refrigerator was completely empty.

It’s as if no one had lived here for ages.

To survive like this, I would’ve had to be a VIP of delivery apps or lived on takeout, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I guess I’d just moved into this room right after I took over this body.

As I pondered this, the water started boiling.

I rinsed the bean sprouts and dropped them into the pot.

Normally, you’d remove the root parts for a better texture, but right now, I couldn’t afford to waste any part of them.

I didn’t blanch them for long.

Just enough to soften them slightly while still keeping their crunch.

300 grams of lightly blanched bean sprouts.

This precious amount was going to sustain me for the next four days.

I scooped out a small portion, less than a tenth, and placed the remainder in the refrigerator.

Today, I had to eat sparingly.

Since I wouldn’t be going to school for the weekend, I had to manage all three meals at home.

Resisting the urge to stuff my mouth, I picked up just one bean sprout and indulged in its crunchiness.

I felt the fibrous texture as I chewed slowly.

As I chewed, I sensed a faint sweetness.

I wished I could chew it forever, but bean sprouts aren’t gum.

I felt a tinge of regret as I swallowed the remnants of the chewed sprouts and took another one.

As I continued this routine, I soon realized I had finished the portion I had set aside.

After chewing slowly, I found myself filled with a sense of fullness.

I topped off my meal with a piece of macaron that I had divided into twenty.

A satisfying meal brought a wave of happiness over me.

This is bliss.