I stared at the front of the stationery store and thought.
'Will customers really come after reading this newspaper?'
I checked the slushie dispenser and confirmed the beer candy stock. That was all set. Items brought from the antique street were also well arranged.
"Trembling..."
Who would be the first customer to read the newspaper? But no matter how much time passed, no one knocked on my stationery store's door.
"Mel, don't be too heartbroken."
I slumped down with a sullen face, and Dominic patted my shoulder.
"Tomorrow will come. There was an article today, but there's no way they'll come today…"
Dominic stopped talking and looked over the door. After a moment, I heard a rattling sound and the stationery store's door swung open.
"You're here."
With Dominic's words, I saw a blond head through the crack in the door.
"Is this the right place?" A familiar child began to walk closer.
"Mel! I'm here!"
It was the noble boy who made slushies! A lovely boy in a fancy academy uniform appeared in front of me with a golden robe.
"…You! You're finally here. Are you feeling well?"
I was relieved to see his plump, healthy face. I smiled and waved at him.
'By the way… what is his name again?'
Seeing my puzzled expression, the boy smiled happily and opened his mouth.
"It's me! At that time, Mel saved Shion! My body is completely fine!"
Thank goodness, you little boy! You introduce yourself! He ran to my side and looked at me with sparkling eyes. I chuckled at the little boy who clung to me like gum.
"I brought a friend too!"
"Friends?" I looked at the boy standing by the stationery store door. He looked bigger and more mature than his peers, and he seemed to be quite well educated. He looked wary of me and lowered his head.
"Hello."
"He's my friend Blush!"
"Carrot? Can a person's name be Blush?"
'Besides, you don't look like a blush anywhere…?'
The boy looked at me with suspicion and quietly gritted his teeth.
"…Not a blush, but a Carat. It's Carat."
Listening to their cute back-and-forth banter made me feel grounded again. The kids in front of me were academy kids. That meant they were valuable customers.
'Oh, this is impossible.'
I felt like a golden rope had fallen in front of me.
"Welcome, Shion, Hong… No, Carat!"
How to target children, step 1: The time has come to implement the "word-of-mouth strategy." I will dedicate my whole body to play! And after everyone plays, I have to do business by handing them beer candies in a chic, nonchalant way!
Carat's Suspicions Deepen
Carat stared at the woman who introduced herself as Mel. She looked lively on the outside, and after greeting them, she ushered herself and Prince Axion to the round table in front of the counter.
'Very, very suspicious.'
She was quite ordinary on the outside. Except for her unique and beautiful aristocratic appearance, her upright demeanor—even though she didn't seem to be particularly cared for—and her green-colored eyes full of loveliness.
'How could someone like a lady of noble family defeat the Red Cult Pirates? Was there a mistake?'
He turned his pointed gaze to his surroundings. So, aside from her beauty…
'I think the man sitting over there is more skilled than this woman.'
He just silently carried out the woman's words. Their eyes looked free, but they were quite serious.
"Dominic, hurry up and put the ball in."
"Yes, first-in, first-out, right?"
"That's right!"
The beautiful black-haired young man was silently doing everything the woman told him to do. 'Are you a slave? But treating such a powerful person as a slave? Is she a great woman who is so strong that she has exhausted all his energy?'
'No matter how you look at it, it's definitely questionable.'
He observed the woman with a sullen face.
Mel, who had come to the round table and looked down at the two children, spoke up vigorously.
"Carat, Shion. What do you like?"
"I… What about me…?"
Shion opened his mouth and looked at the items in the stationery store with sparkling eyes. The boy looked happy.
'Prince Axion… You've already completely fallen for her.'
That foolish prince had already completely fallen for her. 'No matter how you look at it, I think she used something like a love potion. No matter how simple he is, how could a prince be so completely captivated by a commoner?'
He hypothesized that Mel was a "dangerous and powerful witch" and began to follow up again.
"Mel, what does he have?"
"That's a bouncy ball."
"Huh, huh. What is a bouncy ball?"
The woman named Mel laughed wryly at the question and dropped a round ball on the floor. Then, the round ball bounced up from the floor.
With the sound of barrels, barrels, barrels. (This onomatopoeia is likely a mistranslation or a Korean sound effect. I've kept it as is, but if you have the original Korean, we might be able to find a better English equivalent like "boing, boing, boing" or "thump, thump, thump" depending on the intended sound of a bouncy ball.)
"It's amazing!"
"Ahem."
Carat coughed, trying to change his eyes from being wide to nonchalant. Because he was clearly different from the ordinary, naive little children. He infiltrated the academy with a purpose. Moreover, that woman was suspicious.
However, he couldn't stop his eyes from rolling slightly.
"What's this, Mel?"
"It's a bubble ride! I just wanted to experiment, and it worked!"
"Yes! Just experiment with me, Mel! I really like experiments!"
Experiments. A vicious imagination flashed through Carat's mind. 'That prince is also insane; he's spitting out whatever he can! Prince Axion was wandering around without thinking, but my keen self is different.'
Carat sensed the grotesque nature of the woman in the word "experiment."
'There must be something. She must be a dangerous woman.'
The hypothesis that the woman had come to uncover the dangerous secrets of the Academy was given more weight. He glared at Mel, not hiding his wary gaze.
She was smiling shamelessly at the look in his eyes. With a provocative look, as if to say, "You're bound to fall for me anyway."
'What kind of confidence is this?'
But Carat was confident. He had tremendous magical power. Magic power that wouldn't be defeated by that woman. Carat's mana and magical abilities were by far the best among his peers.
The Bubble Experiment
Shion, Mel, Carat, and Dominic — who was quietly arranging the items in the stationery store — all gathered on a small grassy field right in front of the stationery store. To be precise, it was in the front yard of the stationery store, near the bench.
With Axion and Carat in front of him, Mel stood tall. It looked serious, as if it were a duel.
Carat looked at the woman with wide eyes. He had to keep his eyes open to see what they would do.
"Are we starting now?"
"Hmph!"
Carat clenched his fists, like tiny bouncy balls, and glared at Mel.
"Come!"
He could feel Axion glancing at him strangely, but it didn't matter.
Mel held a small bottle in her hand. The transparent bottle had an open lid, and there was something like a small glass rod stuck inside. Carat squinted at the small bottle in the woman's hand.
She shook the opaque liquid in her hand, and then lifted the glass rod from the bottle. The glass rod was dripping with a clear, slippery-looking liquid.
'What are you going to do with that, Mel?'
"Whoa."
Mel pressed her lips to the stick and took a long breath, and bubbles bubbled from the end of the stick.
Axion looked at the bubble with a happy expression. The boy, who was a little younger in mental age than his peers, smiled brightly and popped the soap bubble that came in front of him.
Then something amazing happened.
The soap bubbles burst and magnolia blossoms bloomed in front of his eyes. Bright flowers spread out, seemingly from nowhere. Buried among the flowers, Axion opened his mouth in admiration and popped the bubbles endlessly.
"Huh, huh! What is this, Mel? It's so much fun!"
"Right?"
Mel smiled proudly. She looked dreamy and dazzling among the falling flowers. Before he knew it, flowers were beautifully scattered around them. It was like a masterpiece.
Carat opened his mouth without realizing it, taking in the beautiful scene.
"Carat, would you like to blow the soap bubble?"
"…Me?"
"Yes!"
For some reason, his heart began to swell like a round cloud. 'If you blow on the mysterious liquid in that vial, you'll be able to tell if it's dangerous magic or not, so I'll be sure of that!'
He grabbed the vial from Mel roughly.
"Okay, I'll do it for you."