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Chapter 17: A Warning From God

A/N: Special thanks to LiriosRojos01 for helping with Alberu's morning announcement :D

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When Cale returns to his room, Choi Han is nowhere to be seen. Did Choi Han wake up and return to his room...?

"Cale...?"

Paseton wakes from the sound of the door opening. He yawns and rubs his bleary eyes.

Cale blinks in surprise at the sight of him. Despite their previous day of drinking and eating, Paseton's skin looks absolutely perfect. Is it a perk of being part of the whale tribe?

"What time is it...? Where did you go? " Paseton's voice is deeper than usual since he just woke up.

"It's almost lunchtime. I went to get food. You should have some before you go, it's pretty good." Cale lifts the bag to show Paseton and places it down on the table. He starts unpacking it, and the delicious scent of soup fills the room. It wakes the sleeping children too, who are less energetic than usual due to winter being the perfect season to sleep in. They yawn and stretch their limbs, struggling to stay awake.

Cale smiles at the sight of the cute sleepyheads.

"Wake up and eat. Soup is nicer when it's hot."

He pauses for a moment to stare at the ruby ring on his pinky. Can he use the magical artifact to heat up soup? That would be pretty convenient.

"Mmkay..." Paseton stands up. He wraps the blanket around his shoulders since it's a little cold.

The children trudge off the bed and hop onto the table. They look at everything curiously. Paseton smiles and ladles smaller bowls of soup for the kids so they can eat it too. The kittens meow as thanks.

"Thank you, nice fishy!" Raon beams.

"F-fish..." Paseton mutters in shock.

"Yep! You and your sister smell like the ocean-scented soap!"

Hearing that he smells like the ocean makes Paseton feel a little better. He says, hesitantly, "Thanks...?"

"You're welcome!"

The fire in the fireplace is dying. Cale busies himself with stoking the fire by adding more firewood as everyone eats. He feels like a busy mother. For a magic academy, it's pretty inconvenient. Can't they just cast magic on the whole dorm building and warm it up? Or does that take too much energy to maintain?

He shakes his head in disappointment. Sometimes technology is better than magic. Having heaters will solve everything.

"It's delicious..." Pasetons mumbles. His expression is content as he holds a bowl of soup with both hands.

"Right?" Cale replies. "Beacrox is a good cook."

He's gotten used to praising Beacrox, whether Beacrox is around or not.

Cale opens the door to knock on the door of his neighbor, but Choi Han doesn't reply. Did he go back to sleep? Or maybe he left to train?

How unfortunate. He's missing out on good soup.

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Cale doesn't see Choi Han for the rest of the winter break. He's not sure what happened. Choi Han didn't answer the door when Cale tried asking him to go to the cafeteria together, or when Cale wanted to copy Choi Han's homework.

It's truly inconvenient to not have handphones in this world.

He spends some time in the student council room since he's too lazy to keep stoking the fire in his room. Unlike his room, the student council room is maintained with magic and it's always the perfect temperature.