Merlin woke up to a ruckus that was very unusual to his and Nora's apartment's living room. Since he had been too exhausted to head out for the celebration Janeth had wanted so badly to have, it seemed like she had brought it to them instead.
"Oh. He's awake!" Janeth hooted as soon as she saw Merlin, her eyes gleaming the brightest he had ever seen them, and unlike how her hair was always packed into a ponytail at the gym, it fell over her shoulders smoothly. Merlin almost flushed at the sight. It was not the first time he had seen her hair down—she always had it that way when she wasn't gyming—perhaps it was because he had just woken up.
Nora turned to him. "Are you fine now?"
He nodded, then asked, "What are you guys doing?"
It had been without his notice—the whole gathering. After all, he had been feeling so sleepy that he could not really remember what had happened after he had defeated the Necromancer. And the few memories he could gather together were somewhat hazy.
He could recall Chima giving him a piggyback ride out of the Dungeon, and… oh, yeah… the examinees being divided into two sections, those who had cleared their allocated Dungeons, and those who hadn't. Apparently, some had even run out as soon as they had stepped into their Dungeons. Merlin wouldn't blame them; if it had not been for Singularity Mage, they too would have probably done the same after the first trap.
What was more surprising, though, was those who had cleared their Dungeons. They must have been born with nerves of steel, considering they didn't have what he had.
He couldn't remember how many parties there were to have cleared their respective Dungeons, but he was well aware that those who had failed to clear theirs were of a far larger number. Perhaps it was the hope he had gotten from that which had made him sink into himself then and miss everything Ms. Jung had said.
Now, though, his mind was back to speed, and he could clearly see that Sunny didn't want to be here.
Merlin was thankful that the man was not dressed in his shaman attire again. The only time he had seen Sunny dressed in something else was when they had boxing lessons, and that was because he couldn't box with robes. Janeth had said Sunny liked to be all in with whatever gimmick he was moving with at a certain time, and Merlin had confirmed that over the course of time he had spent with the man.
"What?" Sunny shrugged, noticing Merlin's stare. "I tried to stop her. It's not my fault."
Merlin was sure Sunny had tried. He had probably not just tried hard enough.
"I don't really get why you're against us having a bit of fun, Sunny. Why are you such a killjoy?" Janeth sneered at her childhood friend.
Sunny picked up a piece of beef jerky on the table they were seated cross-legged around, tearing it apart in a rather languid manner.
"Well, for one, they just had an exam today—a practical one, in fact." He shook his head, waving his beef jerky at Janeth. "Do I have to explain to you that they would be exhausted? Look at that boy standing over there. He looks so pale, it's as though he's going to drop dead any moment."
Merlin… The name's Merlin… Merlin sighed.
Janeth glanced at him and tapped on the floor beside her. "Then don't just stand there. Come sit. That way you won't drop dead. And even if you fall it would be on my lap. Concussion is a serious thing, you know that, right?"
Merlin blinked owlishly. That offer was so tempting he didn't realize that he had moved from where he was standing until he was seated beside Janeth.
Goodness, how would he look to the eyes of everyone else?
"So? How did it go? Think you'll pass?" Sunny started as Janeth arranged what she had brought for the occasion on the table, which was basically just soju, beef jerkies, some packs of popcorn and chips, beer, and more soju.
Had she really not taken into consideration what Sunny had said earlier during the day? Nora had had to get juice and water from the fridge for her and Merlin. Sunny couldn't even look to be bothered. It seemed that as long as it was indoors, he didn't mind. The problem came when they were where people could see them.
"How did your job go? Make any money?" Nora answered with a question of her own. It didn't sound hostile, but her narrowed eyes flashing Sunny's way made it seem like she was being, well, hostile.
"What? I just asked a normal question." Sunny was taken aback.
"I did too."
"Oh, no. You do not get to play that card with me, young miss. It's obvious yours was anything but 'normal'."
"And how would you know that?" Nora raised a brow.
"Because I know you do not want the answer to that question," Sunny replied. "But since I'm in a good mood, kind of, I'll tell you. Yes, I did make some money."
Merlin was shocked. Sunny was surely a quack. Certainly his employer should have figured that out as soon as he'd gotten there, no?
"Did you really exorcise a spirit?" Merlin asked, interested.
"No, of course I didn't exorcise a spirit, Merlin. I'm a fake, remember? I just pretended to."
"Pretended to how?" continued Merlin.
Sunny raised a brow at him. "You're not expecting me to tell you my business secret, are you?"
Merlin jerked back slightly. That was not a business secret, that was his way of crime. But now that he thought about it, yes, no one would tell another of their method of crime. He really wanted to know though.
"Wow," Nora quipped. "You weren't lying when you said you had maximum self awareness."
Sunny took another bite of his beef jerky. "I don't see any point in lying, so I don't do it." Everyone raised their brows at him. "At least when it doesn't concern my job."
He's calling fraud his job now? Merlin sighed. It was then that he noticed that Janeth was feeding him an expectant stare, like a child waiting for their parents to unwrap the new toy they had just bought. He couldn't help but sigh one more time.
"I'm not going to say we'll pass, " Merlin began, using Sunny's question as a gateway to enter into the topic of their exam once again, "but we cleared our allocated Dungeon, and the number of parties that cleared the Dungeons weren't exactly much."
Janeth's eyes beamed. "Parties?" she asked.
"How many were able to clear the Dungeons?" Sunny asked a question of his.
"Yes. We were divided into parties of four each," replied Merlin to Janeth. He didn't know the answer to Sunny's question as he had been groggy, so he glanced at Nora to do the honors.
"Sixty parties cleared the Dungeons—I think," she said. "I'm not sure. I was also exhausted, so I wasn't really focusing on Ms. Jung's words either."
"Ms. Jung?" Sunny asked.
"She was our instructor," answered Merlin.
"I see." Sunny nodded. "Well, since you cleared your Dungeon, then you must be high up on the list of those that will be granted admission. Good job."
Those words actually warmed Merlin's heart to a great extent. But the ones he really wanted to hear them from were his parents. Nora had sent them a text as soon as they had left Prestige Academy's grounds, but they were yet to reply, at least before Merlin had fallen asleep.
He would ask Nora after, but if she had heard back from them she would have told him by now. They were probably just still busy.
However, Merlin wasn't quite sure if they were high up on the admission list. They had barely managed to clear the Dungeon, their time capping at fifty minutes. If they had been held back by some unprecedented circumstance he'd had no idea about, they would have undoubtedly failed. He had no idea of how long it had taken the rest of the parties, but the close call with theirs wasn't particularly promising. He would just keep his fingers crossed.
At this point, Janeth's eyes were already burning deep into the side of his cheek. It seemed that this was the real reason why she had motioned for him to come sit down beside her, not the possibility of him dropping dead. Merlin, however, couldn't even be sad about that, as well as the fact that this wasn't what he had intended when he had told her he would fill her in on all that had happened. If anything, it was amusing. Her fascination with magic and all was basically the same as his. They were compatible—at least to some extent.
He chuckled softly. It seemed like he would have to make do with this current setting as their 'date'.
"So, this was what happened…" He cleared his throat and began, and as soon as he said those words, Janeth's ears perked up like those of a rabbit. She was all in for the storytime.
Merlin's explanation of how his party had cleared the Dungeon left Sunny and Nora wearing different expressions from what they had worn at the start.
He had excluded the fact that he had used Singularity Mage to figure things out, so as to avoid slipping up about the System, and had fed them the same lie that he had fed Chima and Kim Minji. But that was not what had grabbed their attention from all he had said.
"You can do what?!" Janeth blinked rapidly. "Can you repeat that? I'm not sure I heard you correctly."
Oh, you did… And you saw me too…
Merlin licked his lips. "I can cancel out magic," he repeated. "You saw me do it, Janeth. Back at the gym, remember?"
Janeth blinked, lost for words. What had she been thinking he had been doing back then? He had thought it was obvious, but it seemed like when someone didn't expect something to exist, even if they were looking at it straight in its eyes, they would subconsciously think of it as something else.
"Bullshit," said Sunny. "You're pulling our legs."
For some reason, Merlin felt offended. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"Something like anti-magic doesn't exist. And, forgive me to say, you're a Deficient Mage."
Merlin frowned. "How would you know that?"
"That you're a Deficient Mage?"
"No. That anti-magic doesn't exist. You don't concern yourself with magic in the first place. And, like I said, Janeth saw me do it."
And besides, shouldn't the fact that he was a Deficient Mage be even a bigger reason for them to believe that he could actually cancel out spells? It had been this way with Chima as well. A Deficient Mage was a Mage who couldn't cast spells, and anti-magic was the bane of magic. It was plausible, wasn't it?
"First of all, Janeth being infatuated with magic doesn't mean that she knows anything about it. You could have been doing any other thing."
"Hey!" Janeth scowled.
"Secondly, I don't need to concern myself with magic to doubt that anti-magic exists," Sunny continued. "It's like saying someone who's not interested in bikes should have no business disbelieving that bikes can fly." Nora tilted her head at him. "What? It's a good comparison."
Honestly, Sunny was right. If Merlin had not done all that against the Necromancer, Chima and Kim Minji wouldn't have believed him as well. They had been staring at him like he was some sort of special figure after they had left the Dungeon, but he had just been too exhausted to have their time. Thankfully, they had been too, because they had left him alone.
One thing bothered him though, and it was that Ms. Jung had not made any comments on what had transpired in the Dungeon. There was no way she hadn't watched them; and even if she hadn't, he was sure some staff had. He had been scared that they would have hurled him to some sort of lab as soon as he'd walked out of the Dungeon, but, no, he had walked out of the Academy without even a glance his way.
Had he been thinking too much into it? Nora had been confused as well. But there was nothing they could do to get the answers they needed. They would just have to wait until it came to them. Right now, convincing Sunny came first, and it hurt that he couldn't just deconstruct a spell to do that. Nora's was still beyond his capabilities. He had no idea why he wanted to do that so badly, though.
"I'm serious," Merlin said, prompting Sunny's gaze to change slightly. "Why would I lie? That was how we were able to clear the Dungeon."
"Prove it then," said Sunny. "Cast a spell, young miss, let's have Merlin cancel it."
"Don't tell me what to do," growled Nora.
"I can't," replied Merlin. "I can't cancel all the spells yet. Nora's spells are too strong for me."
Usually, anyone else's sister would have stood up for their brother here, supporting him and giving his claim—which was the truth, actually—credibility. Nora, though, always waited for him to ask her first. When she needed to be silent, she wouldn't be. But when she needed to open her lips, she would keep them shut. Merlin sighed. He would have to convince Sunny on his own.
Which didn't take that long, surprisingly…
"You're weird," said Sunny. "How can you have such an ability? I'm baffled, honestly."
Merlin blinked owlishly. "You believe me?"
"Now, I do."
"Why?"
"Your question makes no sense. You wanted me to believe you, and I do now." He threw another piece of beef jerky in his mouth and chewed. "Also… This only makes your situation far better. Anti-magic? You're definitely getting into that school."
Nora sighed exasperatedly. "There you go again. What makes you say that?"
She had also said the same thing to Merlin when he had received the System, so it wasn't like she disbelieved it, but it seemed like she derived some kind of joy in picking on Sunny's words.
"Do I have to say we should look at it from a positive point of view again?" started Sunny. "Isn't it obvious? This world is run by magic. The Academy has no reason to send away their most prized Mage."
"Their most prized Mage?" Merlin almost blushed. He felt really important, and he didn't feel like that too often.
"Yeah. I guess I'm going to have to say it." Sunny sighed. "Let's look at it from a positive point of view. The cataclysm and everything about it dwells on the background of magic. You…" He gestured at Merlin… "have the power to cancel that magic. Basically, you're the bane of the cataclysm itself. They have no reason to alienate you. What if one day the cataclysm returns? The destruction will be a lot less with you around."
"There's also the possibility that they could just throw him in a lab and dissect him," argued Nora, definitely not believing that such would be the case, but continuing on regardless. "Grass isn't always greener on the other side."
"This grass is," replied Sunny. "They let you lot walk out of the Academy without any query, right?" Merlin nodded. "Exactly. If they wanted to throw you in a lab, you would be there already. They're not stupid. What if they dissect you and end up killing you with nothing to gain from it? Then they've just thrown the only known person in the world that can fight toe to toe with the cataclysm itself away. I think they'll give you the admission you so desperately want so that they can watch you closely and train you instead.
"And, besides, let's look at it from a political and economical perspective as well." Sunny gestured in the air like he was citing a headline. "The only person in the world with the power to cancel magic graduates from Prestige Academy. They could shoot up to first in the Magic Academy rankings. Don't you get it, Merlin? Magic is the pinnacle of humanity, and yet, you stand above magic itself." He sighed and grabbed a bottle of water. "All this talk made me thirsty. I haven't talked like this in years. You guys are bad influences."
Merlin didn't know what to say. But one thing was certain, he had never met anyone who gave better advice than Sunny. What he said always made sense.
"I'm going to be bothering you a lot," Merlin blurted out without thinking. Sunny almost choked on his water.
"Bothering me? What for?" Sunny asked.
"I don't know," lied Merlin. "But I feel like I will. I'm just letting you know now, so you won't be surprised when it starts."
"Hey, man. Our business doesn't go past boxing and meditation training, okay? For every bother you will pay. I like money. Just letting you know now."
Merlin only gave a half smile as a reply. Janeth, on the other hand, was still…confused? There was really no reason for her to be. Unlike Sunny, she had seen him do it. Merlin felt like something else was up with her.
"Janeth?" Merlin began. "Why are you—"
She immediately popped open a bottle of soju and gulped it halfway down before Sunny could react, leaving him dazed.
"You darn brat!" Sunny snarled. "You can't even withstand a shot! Have you lost it?!"
"Magic isn't the ultimate weapon?!" Janeth wailed, burping. "I hate this."
Merlin blinked owlishly. That was a weird reason for her to be down. Why did she love magic so much? Well, it wasn't like he was one to talk. And he would have asked, but Sunny had been right about her alcohol tolerance, because a second later she was drunk, and a few seconds after that Nora had taken her to the toilet to vomit, and then minutes later, Sunny had had to take her home on his back.
The night had gone from calm to hectic in a jiffy.