Zandar lowered his eyes.
That's right.
Eric had a blood clotting disorder. Relying on his body's own healing ability alone, it was difficult for him to control the bleeding.
Along with that came the risk of infection.
A minor bump that others wouldn't think twice about could cause irreversible damage to his joints.
If he didn't receive medical treatment in time after getting injured, it could very well become life-threatening.
He couldn't take part in any risky sports, such as most ball games, skiing, horseback riding, and similar activities.
Zandar guessed that during the first fifteen years of his student's life, his family must have protected him extremely well.
That airtight protection had given Eric a rebellious streak.
Fortunately, his student knew where the line was.
Before Zandar could answer, Eric turned back around.
His cheeks were slightly flushed, a cooling patch was stuck to his forehead, and he hugged a pillow to his chest, leaving only his eyes exposed as he softly asked Zandar, "What about you? Did you argue with Great-Grandmaster?"
Zandar didn't answer.
Seeing that, Eric simply got up and sat cross-legged.
"Zandar, let's make a promise."
Zandar got up as well, sat beside the bed, and asked, "What kind of promise?"
Eric spoke as if to himself, "If you break our promise, I'll post my draft on the galactic net as a paper and put your full name at the end, so your academic reputation is completely ruined."
Zandar: "..."
'Eric's draft? As a paper?'
'And with his full name in the acknowledgments?'
Zandar felt dizzy.
He stood there for quite a while before recovering. After opening and closing his mouth several times, he asked, "Could we..."
'Use a different punishment?'
Eric refused without hesitation.
"No."
Zandar: "..."
'This is hell.'
Eric patted him on the shoulder and generously said, "If I break the promise, you can post your draft on the galactic net too and thank me by name. I don't mind."
Zandar didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Tell me what the promise is first."
"It's very simple." Eric shrugged. "If I can do it, then you definitely can too."
Zandar raised an eyebrow.
"If this is your way of provoking me... well... it's too clumsy."
"What provoking?" Eric complained first, then gave a light cough before solemnly saying, "I'll allow myself to make mistakes."
"I'll always protect my body and my soul."
"I'll always love myself and put my own feelings first."
A ripple passed through Zandar's eyes.
He understood what his student meant.
Seeing that he remained silent, Eric softened his tone.
"Zandar, you're uneasy."
"What are you worried about? That stellar computer?"
"Don't worry. Great-Grandmaster will definitely help you."
Zandar wanted to say no.
His teacher clearly regarded him as a villain, so how could he possibly help him?
How was he supposed to explain it?
Explain his ideas? His ambitions? To a fifteen-year-old boy who should still be in his first year of high school?
His student would only say, "Wow, that's amazing. Then what are you worried about?"
When he repeated his teacher's judgment and spoke of the worries he couldn't put into words, the boy would still naturally say, "Then ask Great-Grandmaster for help."
The boy had grown up surrounded by overflowing love and kindness.
Because of that, he had never truly been rejected.
His parents had long since paved the road ahead for him.
He could boldly learn through trial and error.
In his understanding, there was no way Zandar would be rejected by his own teacher.
If it had been a student younger than ten, perhaps when hearing someone complain about not having enough money, he would innocently, almost cruelly, tell them, "Then ask your parents for it."
Zandar couldn't explain any of this to his student.
He could only remain silent.
But Eric still refused to let it go.
"Great-Grandmaster let us stay the night. Doesn't that already show his attitude?"
Zandar sighed.
"Eric, Teacher likes you very much. I was only allowed to stay because of you."
Eric curled his lips.
"I'm the one who's just tagging along."
"Zandar, don't look at the process. Look at the result."
"If Great-Grandmaster let us stay, why keep worrying about the attitude he showed?"
"Zandar, if I needed your help, would you help me?"
Without thinking, Zandar replied, "Of course."
Eric tilted his head.
"Exactly. Then why are you so sure Great-Grandmaster won't help you?"
Soon, he changed the subject.
"Or did you do something that hurt yourself? Did you make Great-Grandmaster angry?"
Zandar finally understood.
No wonder the promise had mentioned both the body and the soul.
Without showing it, he asked in return,
"What? You think I'd imitate characters from science fiction and make a clone of myself?"
Eric folded his arms.
"I didn't say anything. But from the way you said that... were you already planning to? No wonder Great-Grandmaster got angry!"
Zandar: "...I wasn't."
Eric was even sharper than he had imagined and immediately began asking about the stellar computer.
After thinking for a moment, Zandar explained his experiment using the most obscure technical terms he could.
Eric's fever still hadn't gone down. His head was heavy, and before bed he had taken fever medicine that also made him sleepy.
In less than ten minutes, hugging his pillow, he fell onto the bed.
His voice was barely audible.
"So amazing... It will definitely help me find my way home..."
Zandar fell silent for a while before gently urging Eric to sleep.
Eric nodded first.
Then he suddenly opened his eyes, reached out, and grabbed the hem of Zandar's clothes.
"Let me see your wound."
Zandar looked steadily at his student for a while.
Then he did as asked, took off his shirt, and turned his back to him.
He waited and waited.
When he turned around again, his student had his eyes tightly shut, his head bobbing like a chick pecking at grain.
Zandar bit his lower lip hard, trying not to laugh.
What he hadn't expected was that Eric's obsession with seeing his wound would briefly overcome his drowsiness.
He opened his eyes wide, then closed them again.
After repeating that several times, he finally got a clear look at the wound on Zandar's back.
Eric couldn't even keep his eyes open anymore, yet he still refused to stop. Stubbornly, he continued asking, "Zandar, I can keep the promise. What about you?"
The scholar sighed helplessly.
"So can I."
Eric still wasn't satisfied.
"Swear it..."
Zandar laughed soundlessly.
"All right."
He sat beside the bed. Whether the other person could see him or not, he still raised his hand and swore an oath.
"From this day onward..."
"I'll allow myself to make mistakes."
"I'll always protect my body and my soul."
"I'll always love myself and put my own feelings first."
Eric's voice was almost impossible to hear.
"And the punishment..."
Zandar leaned over and tucked the blanket around him.
"If either of us breaks it..."
Not wanting to disturb his student, he deliberately lowered his voice.
"Then the other person will post their draft on the galactic net with their full name attached and ruin their academic reputation."
The next day, the two of them said goodbye to Teacher.
Eric didn't understand what it meant to stop while ahead.
Or perhaps he did. He simply preferred doing things his own way.
Before leaving, he packed up every dessert in Teacher's house and even said, "Great-Grandmaster, next time I want Basque cheesecake."
Teacher actually indulged him, nodding first before waving goodbye.
The stellar computer was officially delivered on schedule.
Zandar became more and more uneasy.
As time passed, that uneasiness only grew stronger.
Things were gradually moving beyond what he had expected.
To ease his emotions, he set aside time to keep Eric company.
The boy was at the age where he loved to play, and recently he had become obsessed with novels, so even his ideas were full of childish imagination.
He asked Zandar, "Can a game system be made?"
Not long afterward, the idea became reality.
The two of them both obtained what they called a "System."
They were linked to each other and could view and adjust each other's panels.
Zandar considered the two most practical functions to be the system inventory and the status panel.
With the panel, Eric could adjust his physical condition and try sports he had never dared to attempt before.
During that time, he discovered his student's uniqueness.
For a moment, he didn't know how to describe how he felt.
Was it more worry?
Or more joy?
He worried that after his own death, someone would take advantage of Eric.
He was glad that Eric trusted him enough.
If he gave the order, the creation that had troubled him for so long would very likely be destroyed.
Zandar thought about it for twenty-four system hours before finally deciding to keep the matter a secret.
But those two completely different emotions kept colliding inside his chest, making him increasingly restless.
He brought Eric to visit Teacher again.
Teacher casually sent Eric away, and the two of them once again broke into a fierce argument.
Halfway through, Eric appeared before them carrying Teacher's cat.
The boy asked in confusion, "What's wrong with becoming a god?"
"Doesn't that just prove Zandar is amazing?"
"Besides, don't gods die?"
"It's a machine. Can't it break down?"
"Zandar, it's your creation. Of course you have the right to deal with it."
Teacher and Zandar both wore blank expressions.
The cat in his arms struggled nonstop, so Eric simply let it go.
"All right, stop looking at me like that. I know this isn't something simple."
"We need to gather everyone we can."
"I remember... gods choose Emanators. Wouldn't that help a lot? Let's recruit them..."
Teacher's feelings were indescribably complicated.
"...I thought at least one of us would be normal."
Eric's eyes widened.
"Huh? I'm not normal?"
Zandar interrupted the pointless conversation.
"Our positions aren't the same as theirs..."
Eric smiled.
"Zandar, does that matter?"
"You give them an even greater problem to solve, and they help you deal with your creation. Everyone gets what they want, right?"
He spread his hands.
"As long as the result is what you want, as long as it gets done, isn't that enough?"
"Now then, shouldn't we give this organization a name?"
After thinking for a moment, Zandar said, "Genius Society?"
Eric looked hesitant.
"Uh, it feels kind of strange, but I can't think of a more suitable name."
He looked at the old man.
"Great-Grandmaster, do you want to join the Genius Society?"
The old man snorted and left with the cat in his arms.
Eric shrugged.
"Fine. Then I'll be the eighth member..."
After they returned home, Eric opened a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne and invited Zandar to drink with him.
He talked about the pain of his illness and spoke about his time at the rehabilitation center.
The endless injections and medicine.
His family had traveled everywhere for his sake, taking him to hospitals and temples all over the world.
There had been a time when he struggled with his own existence, convinced that he only brought pain to his parents.
Again and again, his parents told him, "You are our pride."
"It is our honor to be your parents."
"The luckiest thing in the world is having you."
Zandar listened quietly.
Eric's parents loved him very much and gave him an abundance of love.
Because of that, he knew how to love others, and he never hesitated to share that love.
He was always straightforward.
Always open.
Whenever he wanted something, he always said it immediately.
He would ask for it himself, fight for it himself, take it himself.
It wasn't that he had never been rejected.
He simply wasn't afraid of rejection.
If it didn't work the first time, there was a second.
If not the second, then the third.
If he kept trying, sooner or later he would succeed.
Zandar picked up his glass and took a sip of champagne.
Eric began talking about the most unusual temple he had ever visited.
At the entrance stood a warning sign with three large words: No Fortune Telling.
He couldn't understand it, so he went to ask one of the monks.
The man was gathering wheat stalks. Seeing that Eric was still young, he casually answered while continuing his work, "Fate is not in your palm. It is in your hands."
When Zandar heard this, he asked, "Did you understand it?"
Eric replied, "Not at the time."
Afterward, he read many books, trying to draw strength from them to overcome his fear of illness and death.
Until one day, he stopped praying to gods.
He asked Zandar, "Do you know... where the most effective temple in the world is?"
Zandar shook his head.
Eric placed a hand over his chest and smiled.
"My own body."
Those four words exploded in Zandar's ears.
His back trembled.
His pupils shook.
'Does Eric know?'
'How?'
'When did I slip up?'
Worry and joy surged into his heart at the same time.
With smiling eyes and a light tone, Eric said, "So there's no need to worship gods."
"You are the god within your own body."
Almost instinctively, Zandar copied Eric's movement and placed his own hand over his heart.
Eric leaned closer, tilted his head, and softly asked, 'So now..."
"...do you know who you should worship?"