I Hit the Back of the Tower Master’s Head - Chapter 22

Episode 22

The scene passed by. Ruth walked, holding the baby kitten. The street was covered in snow, flowers were blooming along the path, the summer sunlight was harsh, and the fallen leaves swept across the streets. A year later, it would be another shabby winter. Strangely, while everyone else shivered in the cold, Ruth didn’t seem to feel the chill.

Ruth named the kitten “Cuckoo.” No particular reason, just because it sometimes snored when it slept, making a sound like “cuckoo.”

At first, the other kids weren’t fond of the kitten, but as Cuckoo became gentle and clever, they slowly started to like it.

One day, a girl’s eyes lit up as she spoke.

“Do you think any of us could become a wizard?”

She said it with a glimmer of hope in her dark eyes.

“They say if you become a wizard, you can eat well and live well.”

“Yeah, if you catch the eye of a famous wizard, you could become their apprentice and live a good life!”

“Hey, snap out of it. Do you think wizards would even look at beggars like us?”

The conversation quickly became noisy. Ruth scratched his neck, feeling uncomfortable. A boy sitting next to him noticed and asked.

“Why aren’t you saying anything, Evan? Don’t you want to be a wizard?”

“I…”

It felt like something was choking him. His mouth opened without thinking.

“…I do want to be a wizard.”

A cold sensation spread from his heart.

“Well then, why don’t we go to Mellow?” someone suggested.

“What? Are you crazy? We have to stay in Philo, at least the nobles there throw us some food out of pity!”

“If we stay here, our lives will never change. Maybe, if we get along with some wizards in Mellow, we could at least get cleaning jobs at the tower?”

While they argued, a cold wind blew through. Ruth muttered under his breath.

“It’s going to snow.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, no. It can’t be.”

“Evan, you’re good at predicting when it’s going to snow.”

“Ugh, it’s so cold.”

Ruth felt the wind. It felt refreshing. But he couldn’t say that aloud because all the other kids were huddled together, shivering. Only Ruth, alone, stood there, feeling the cold. The kitten, tucked in his arms, meowed quietly.

That winter was particularly cold, and the idea of going to Mellow was completely forgotten. They didn’t have any money to pay for the teleport gate, and walking all the way to Mellow in this weather with no food was practically a death sentence.

“Let’s try again in the spring.”

When one kid suggested this, all the other kids smiled with their frozen hands. Ruth chewed on a stiff piece of bread, feeling it harder than usual.

A bad wind blew. Ruth looked up, and the kids asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m just not feeling well.”

Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering came from a distance. Ruth looked up, and a group of drunken men staggered toward them, the cold wind biting at their fingers.

“What’s this, a bunch of beggars?”

Evil intent flickered in their dark eyes. Suddenly, everything before him became blurry. The men laughed among themselves and reached out toward the kids like they were looking for something fun to play with. The kitten, Cuckoo, jumped out of Ruth’s arms and cried at them.

“Ugh, what’s this, a cat?”

The kitten was knocked away, and the kids were suddenly exposed to senseless violence. Ruth stared blankly at the dirty man who grabbed him by the collar. He couldn’t hear what the man was saying. His breath came out foggy, and he felt like his hands and heart were exposed to the cold wind. And then…

When he blinked, everything was over.

People were whispering, footsteps rushed by, screams filled the air, and fingers pointed. The men were trapped inside the ice.

The kids, trapped in the ice, their faces twisted.

Cuckoo, the kitten, was frozen to death at Ruth’s feet.

It felt like a dream. Ruth felt a cold, bitter chill running through his hand, shaking. It was cold, lonely, and sad. He was scared and terrified. The broken bodies of the dead didn’t bleed. He felt the urge to vomit, but there was nothing to throw up. The acid from his stomach rose, and when he looked up, he saw the eyes of the people.

Fear, disgust, and the faces of people who seemed to see something they couldn’t understand. Ruth laughed bitterly. He couldn’t believe that he had used such terrible magic.

Memories flow by.

They say Ruth was the first powerful wizard to freeze people to death at such a young age. Since there were no precedents, he wasn’t punished. Perhaps it was because his magic had only affected the beggar kids, the street thugs, and one street cat.

Ruth was temporarily sent to the Tower, where he was taught life ethics and basic magical training. Wizards whispered about him. Huge magical power, ice element, incredible talent… genius… and,

Monster.

All the words used to describe him. When the wizards looked at him, their eyes showed fear, discomfort, and envy from kids his age.

“He froze people to death.”

“They say he laughed while doing it?”

“I heard half the slum froze when he used his magic. Is that true?”

“He’s a monster, totally.”

There was little difference in the academy. Ruth was completely isolated, but he didn’t really want to fit in. Over time, Ruth became so good at reading disgust and fear that he grew disgusted with his own magic.

To Ruth, magic felt cold, sad, lonely, and terrifying. Every time he used magic, the cold rushed in. He remembered the people he killed with a single mistake. The cat that had licked his fingers and cried, frozen without even closing its eyes. The dead children, all with twisted faces.

“Hey, I heard you experimented with freezing people. Is that true?”

On a day he couldn’t hold it in, Ruth froze the hand of an academy student who provoked him.

“Don’t come near me, monster!”

Ruth, who lived with the cursed magic, was visited by an old man.

“You’re a kid acting like you own the world.”

The old man’s hand was colder than the frozen stream.

At the Tower, wizards who were over 40 could choose an apprentice. Some chose many, some chose only one talented person to pass everything on to, and others didn’t take apprentices at all and focused solely on their research.

The previous Tower Master, Jack Hayden, was 90 years old and had never tried to take an apprentice. He was a grumpy, bad-tempered ice magician. That was his nickname.

When Jack Hayden decided to take Ruth as an apprentice, the rumor that spread was simple: The crazy old Tower Master took in a soulless child as his apprentice.

“Don’t be afraid of your magic or power. Don’t get eaten alive.”

“Why are you listening to all this nonsense? Just ignore it, or crush them with your power.”

“Work harder! If you want to fully control your magic, improve!”

“Get stronger. Then no one can criticize or tear you down.”

Jack Hayden was even more antisocial than Ruth.

Ruth graduated early from the academy, with nothing more to learn, and went straight to the grumpy ice magician’s side to learn thoroughly and grow cold.

“If someone wants you to become a monster, do it. Don’t let anyone climb over you.”

Ruth lived by those words.

Jack Hayden was rough and violent, but to Ruth, he was truly a guide. Without him, Ruth might have gone mad. Even now, Ruth didn’t like his magic, but he chose not to reject it.

“When I die, you take my place as the Tower Master.”

Ruth had no interest in the Tower Master position. But if there was someone to succeed Jack Hayden, it would only be him. The Tower Master was chosen through the approval of the previous Tower Master and the majority of wizards in the Tower. If the majority didn’t agree, a new candidate would be chosen.

After Jack Hayden’s death, Ruth became the Tower Master at the age of 21. It wasn’t without opposition, but it was one of the few cases with little resistance in the Tower’s history. What the wizards saw in Ruth’s eyes was fear and awe.

He remembered his name: Evan Ruskanel.

He slowly opened his eyes. The things he had to do, the dark shadow that attacked him… memories surfaced, then sank again. After the headache subsided, he moved his body lightly. A wet towel fell onto the bed.

A person with lavender hair was sitting diagonally in a chair, staring out the window. Ruth cautiously sat up. As the blanket rustled, she lifted her head. Under her round, gentle eyes, her calm purple pupils created ripples.

He remembered what she had done when he had lost his memory.

She had been kind and dedicated. She came up to him, worried and taking care of him. Even his master had never been that worried about him.

A sense of relief washed over him as he looked into her purple eyes. She never feared or despised him.

Had he ever been with someone for so long?

Had he ever looked into someone’s eyes for so long?

[Did you sleep well?]

[You’re such a sleepyhead.]

[Do you know how many days have passed?]

[Wow! It’s been 5 days.]

She wrote frantically in her notebook. Her eyes were a little dark, probably from a restless night.

[Are you still in pain, Ruth? How’s your head?]

He reached out slowly, touching her pale cheek. She didn’t pull away or swat his hand away. She just held his cold hand, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

[Why? Does it hurt a lot?]

“…No.”

His throat tightened. When he coughed, she hurriedly got up and handed him some water. After drinking it, he realized he was hungry.