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On a lazy afternoon during a sunny day, Principal Malea looked at the scenery outside the window while doing nothing.

Today too, the students of Cheongyeon Private Magic Academy should be engrossed in their classes, and teachers too should be busy working hard in passing their knowledge.

The peace was abruptly broken by the knock she heard on her office’s door. Malea sighed and turned her head helplessly. Out of nowhere, a piece of cloth wrapped around her face and hid it from anyone prying eyes.

“Come on in.”

The door opened, from the other side of the door, a professor walked in. His expression told her that he was nervous for some reason.

“Excuse me, Principal. Student Yoo Seodam said he wants to meet you…”

Originally, words of an ordinary student would have never reached Malea’s room. However, Yoo Seodam was special. He had a powerful presence that couldn’t be handled lightly by students and teachers alike.

“…it can’t be helped. Please tell him he can’t.”

“I understand.”

After the teacher left, Malea touched her lips bitterly. Her fingers slowly began to scatter. It was the side effect of forcibly prolonging her lifespan. She did it just to meet one person.

Suddenly, a memory from the distant past came to Malea’s mind. It was a memory from a time when a young wizard named Malea was taken to a place called ‘Tutorial Tower’.

‘Do you believe in me?’

How did I reply back then? As she scoured through her memories, Malea couldn’t help but burst into laughter without realizing it.

‘No?’

‘Kid who are you? In any case, all you have to do is follow this oppa.’

‘I don’t call people I don’t know oppa, Ahjussi.’

‘Hey kid, if you keep doing that, you’ll die.’

Most of their conversations were pointless bickering. Fighting each other with chopsticks to eat extra pieces of meat, pushing each other out to sleep on a flatter place, or even fighting for their lives over a piece of candy. At that time, she didn’t value her time with him very much.

But, after seeing him once again, she realized that she couldn’t get those happy little moments back ever again.

The current Yoo Seodam wasn’t the Yoo Seodam she knew from Tutorial tower. She was certain that he had yet to experience it. And because of the ‘Time Paradox’ she couldn’t share her memories with him.

She couldn’t say anything to him. She can’t ask him whether he remembered what happened back then? But every time she tried to say those words, her heart throbbed over and over again painfully. As if this ‘world’ was trying to keep all of it inside her.

“…..”

So, she had no choice but to relieve those memories alone.

‘It’s not there. Let’s go to the right.’

‘Why? The one on the left is prettier, isn’t it?’

‘Really? But you said the same thing for the right one earlier!’

‘Eh? Me? When?’

He was a mysterious man who knew everything. He had always carried a journal with him, but he never explained what it was to her. All that time, Malea had always wondered why he knew everything? And why, amongst all the people in the tutorial tower, did he choose to stick with her.

As time passed while she kept pondering about it, she realized something. The reason why they met back then was because the future and the past overlapped with each other.

And then she remembered their very last day on the tutorial tower. She had asked him, perhaps while crying. ‘Ahjussi, will we ever see each other again?’

Unlike her, Yoo Seodam didn’t cry. He smiled, but for some reason, he had a guilty expression on his face while answering her question.

‘Yes, we can meet again.’

And Malea believed it. That was why she kept delaying her death.

Currently, her hand had already disappeared. Her ankle too, had disappeared. She also didn’t have a face, but it has been several years since her face had disappeared. She had endured and persevered for a very long time just to meet Yoo Seodam for one last time. However, her limit was swiftly approaching.

‘In the end, even after meeting him again, I will be leaving without saying anything.’

Because of the ‘Time Paradox’, her own existence will disappear the moment she shares her memories with him. The ‘Time Paradox’ was just that powerful. But, it’s fine. In exchange for Malea’s ‘existence’, she had handed him the journal.

Perhaps in the future…. The girl, ‘Malea’, from the past would be able to spend a happy time again with Yoo Seodam. It would be a never-ending loop. She could be happy forever.

Isn’t that enough?

With that thought, Malea closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep while reminiscing about the happy days in the past.

However, she couldn’t do it.

-Wait! Wait a minute, student… Khhhhhhhhh!

-Get out of the way.

-Professor, should I clean them all?

-Yeah, throw them through the ceiling!

Pabaabak!

With the sound of something shaking the building, the hallway became completely silent. Then the principal’s office door burst open.

“Yoo Seodam.”

“Yes, that’s me.”

A bizarre way of speaking that was a mixture of slander and respect. Malea smiled. Eventually, he couldn’t contain his curiosity and came to this place.

Yoo Seodam frowned as if he didn’t like it, but he still confidently came closer to her.

Then he reaches out to her veil.

Malea didn’t want to let him see her missing face, she could prevent it from happening, but… She didn’t want to. She could see Yoo Seodam’s face harden the moment he saw her face.

“You, what is this…”

<This is the price of overcoming probabilities by force. Her existence itself is disappearing. But it’s still amazing…>

“Crazy… But whatever it is, try to do something!”

As if he was talking to someone else, Yoo Seodam muttered and stroked Malea’s cheek.

‘Ah?’

Then, to Malea’s surprise, the sensation of her face, which she had forgotten a long time ago, came back to her. Malea unknowingly raised her hand to touch her face. However, another surprise struck her once again because her hand had also returned. For the umpteenth time in a very short time, she was surprised again as she could feel her ‘face’ on his fingertips.

The face, the very feature that defines one’s existence, had returned.

“I’m sorry, it is only temporary. I can’t help you because you have lived for far too long.”

“I see.”

He was still a very mysterious man. Even if she asked him what magic he used to temporarily fix her, she was certain he wouldn’t give her an answer, just like back then.

“The remaining time… is probably less than half an hour.”

Yoo Seodam looked into her eyes. It was a face that told her that he really didn’t remember anything about what they had gone through in the past. Malea was a little bit disappointed, but it didn’t matter much at the moment.

30 minutes.

It was a long time for some, and a short time for some.

If someone was told that they only had 30 minutes left to live, they would say that they were unhappy, but at this moment, Malea felt blissful.

Like a midsummer night’s dream, dreaming a sweet dream that seemed impossible, for that to come true just when her life was about to end… Wouldn’t it be the happiest ‘last’ in the world?

So Malea smiled. In order to not miss the dream in front of her, to not waste even a minute or one second, she looked at him.

Even at her very last moment, the smile never left her face.

* * *

Inside Area B of Library of the White Witch, Yekaterina hummed as she flipped through a pile of books on her lap.

Spellbooks, spellbooks, and more spellbooks! There was no other place as comfortable as this place for her. She was happy whenever she came to this place.

Yekaterina’s pace picked up matching the rhythm from the automatically playing piano. Even though it had been ten days since Yoo Seodam went for his mission, Yekaterina was still energetic as she felt she still had a lot of energy left on her body.

“Today, shall I read this?”

Magic had become ‘everything’ for Yekaterina. However, like any other students, there will always be a limit to their development. Every time that happens, many scholars fall to their knees in despair, but not Yekaterina. Afterall, she didn’t have to walk the same road as other scholars.

The reason was simple; the place she is currently at, the Library of the White Witch, was a place full of the knowledge of a witch who had developed their magic to the extreme. Although it was impossible for her normal brain to comprehend everything in the library, Yekaterina had written a separate book which consisted of ‘human-only magic’.

“Ummm…”

A satisfied voice leaked from her mouth. With a rocking chair embracing her, and a book of new magic on her hand, she was fully prepared to enjoy her leisure time.

Yekaterina lifted her legs and read the book. When she was young, she couldn’t eat that much, affecting her growth. She was short and sometimes her legs couldn’t touch the floor, but that could be easily solved by lowering her chair with her thoughts.

Still, lately, she had been eating quite well partly because Ye Sa-hye had been forcefully feeding her, so she felt like she’s a little taller. Her body was also fuller than before.

Within a short period of time, she managed to complete ten spell books, and the moment she picked up the eleventh spell book,

‘…..’

Something warm touched her heart. It was the very same feeling when Yoo Seodam, someone her soul resided in, had returned to ‘this world’.

Yekaterina’s face brightened. She immediately returned to reality and opened her eyes. Wave of dizziness assaulted her for a moment, but she didn’t waste any time to feel it. She jumped up from her sofa before running towards the doors and yanked it open.

“Long time no see.”

“Ah… Seodam-nim!”

As if he was hastily doing something with his smartphone, he looked at the screen for a moment before putting it back in his pocket. Yekaterina knew what Yoo Seodam had done. He must have texted his acquaintances and let them know that he had returned.

“Let’s go in. I have something to tell you.”

“Is that so?”

Yekaterina nodded before giving Yoo Seodam a questioning look. A story to tell as soon as he returned? She wondered what it was.

As Yoo Seodam sat on the sofa, Yekaterina quickly brewed an expensive coffee for him before following Yoo Seodam to sit down.

Yoo Seodam then placed three books on the table.

“Yekaterina, you know that I am the master of your soul, right?”

“Ah yes…”

“By any chance, did you feel the side effects?”

Yekaterina’s face hardened. His question had been spot on.

These days, Yoo Seodam’s feeling were continuously conveyed to her and had assimilated with her. Her own thoughts had also been conveyed to Yoo Seodam. As the frequency got worse and worse, it was likely that sooner or later the existence of ‘Yekaterina’ would completely become a part of Yoo Seodam. And when that happens, will Yekaterina’s ego remain?

“I want to give you complete freedom.”

“Yes?”

“This book contains an essay about ‘soul’. I brought it from another world. It is very precious because it was written by a very great person who even beat up ghosts with her bare hands.”

A magic that didn’t exist on Earth! The moment Yekaterina’s eyes about to twinkle with curiosity, she could hear Yoo Seodam’s voice once again.

“With this, let us search for a way to separate our souls.”

Yekaterina, who had stretched her hand to reach the book, suddenly froze. She could see Yoo Seodam smiling as if he was satisfied with her reaction.

“I want to give you complete privacy. Oh, don’t worry about the White Witch’s library. It will be difficult to open the next library without your help… But anyway, I will make copies of as many books as you want to read and take them out-“

“I don’t want to.”

“For you… huh?”

Yekaterina raised her head and threw a cold gaze towards Yoo Seodam.

“No, why, that, it’s not harmful to you either…”

“Why did you assume that it was not harmful to me?”

Yoo Seodam clearly could not understand her reason. He had told her that he would return her soul, and yet she refused it.

So, Yekaterina told him,

“I….I just don’t like it.”

And then silence descended between them.

Yekaterina bit her lip and put one of her hands on her chest. She thought that maybe, for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t understand. She was happy that she had a mysterious connection with the person she cares most about and would always know that he was alive.

She never wanted to lose this sense of being connected to him. She didn’t want it to be cut off. The Library of White Witch? She didn’t really care about that. She only wanted the fact that they were connected.

However, Yekaterina chose to not explain that part. With eyes filled with various emotions, she looked at Yoo Seodam, who was bewildered.

He was really a foolish man.

Yekaterina took a deep breath and reached out for the book. As the pages went by, a rough idea entered her head. The ability to instantly scan text was a basic skill for a magician.

“…it has a lot of good content.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It was very detailed. In particular, about the soul.”

And then, Yekaterina dropped the book. She half-slammed it and repeated what she had just said.

“It’s very, very detailed.”

“….?”

“It is detailed. Don’t you know? There are countless ways to stop the ‘assimilation’ that is happening to us right now. Without even having to separate the soul.”

“Uh…!”

Then Yekaterina said with a soft smile.

“You saved me. You can find it through this book. How to explain what is happening to us now, and how to solve it.”

In the end, Yoo Seodam could only smile and nod at her words. He still couldn’t understand her decision. However, he wasn’t the type to force someone to do something they didn’t like.

And just like that, the three books found their way to Yekaterina’s arms.

As for Yoo Seodam, he wouldn’t know what the three books about ‘soul’ means for Yekaterina, a witch as well as a genius magician.