Is It Weird for a Guy to Apply to a Witch School?

In the end, the whole mess sorted itself out.

Ying Shiqian and Xia Li finally synced up, and I—watching from the sidelines—got a front-row seat to the chaos.

After all that arguing, it came down to kidnapp someone.

And the target? This year’s perfect-score genius.

Once that clicked, the rest started falling into place.

So this bakery was just a cover—churning out red velvet cakes as a disguise while quietly running a side gig of muscle-for-hire?

The cake was the hook, the special instructions in the notes were the real job, and the staff closed the deal face-to-face.

Thinking about it, my cashier gig didn’t exactly scream “big skill needed.” Guess it wasn’t the real cash cow here.

Who’d have guessed a random bakery was pulling double duty like this?

Did that mean every little shop around campus might be hiding something shady too?

That’s… kind of unsettling.

Tang Yihan, though, called it “standing out with unique services.” She said the manager’s grand plan was to make red velvet cake the bakery’s calling card—something that’d yell “top-tier service” the moment people caught wind of it.

With Ying Shiqian and the manager heading out, it was just me and Tang Yihan holding down the shop.

We didn’t get many walk-ins, but I still did my job like a champ. The pay was good, after all.

“Yuehan, ever thought about giving baking a try as an apprentice?” Tang Yihan asked out of nowhere. “I remember you seemed kind of into it during the interview.”

“Huh? Seriously?” I blinked, totally thrown.

I was into the idea—picking up a skill sounded awesome. But once I started, I saw Tang Yihan handled all the cakes, cookies, and bread solo. There wasn’t much for me to do.

She hadn’t offered to teach me either, and with no experience, I wasn’t about to dive in and screw things up.

No way I’d pass up a chance like this now, though.

“Yeah, you can give it a go. If it’s not your vibe, just ditch it,” she said, all laid-back.

“Awesome! I’d love to try,” I said, already hyped.

“Cool.” A little, relaxed smile crept onto Tang Yihan’s face. “If you’re serious about baking, we’ll start from scratch!”

“The basics? Like learning recipes?” I tagged along into the kitchen, buzzing with energy.

“Nah, not exactly!” She turned and pointed at a huge pile of stuff—trays, molds, and a bunch of odd tools I couldn’t even name.

“Uh?”

“That’s your job! Oh, yeah—you’re still a freshman, so no spells yet. Hand-wash it for now. If you don’t finish, no stress, but keep it clean. I’m not dealing with greasy junk,” she said, nudging me toward the sink.

I stood there, brain lagging. What happened to the “easy gig” feel?

How’d I go from cashier to dish-duty grunt in two seconds?

“Sorry about this. Ying Shiqian dipped, and we’re short-staffed. Just go with it, okay?” Tang Yihan gave me a rare pleading look—tough to turn that down.

“But I don’t have much experience…”

“I’ve got you—extra pay!” she interrupted me.

Well, she got me there.

“Experience isn’t something you’re born with, right?” I stammered, ”I’m all for new stuff. Dishes? Pfft, I’ve scrubbed things like this before. I’m on it!”

I flipped my mood fast. No grunt work’s too hard with cash involved—and if it is, they could just pay me more.

Tang Yihan paused, caught off guard by my quick switch, but seeing me so pumped seemed to settle her down.

“Yuehan, you’re a real trooper. Way better than Ying Shiqian—that girl treats dishwashing like it’s the end of the world. And she knows the cleaning spell but still won’t bother,” Tang Yihan said, sounding half-amazed, half-annoyed.

“Mm-hmm! Mm-hmm!” I nodded hard, scrubbing even faster to show I was worth it.

“Keep it up, Yuehan. If you do good, I’ll talk to the manager about snagging you a cleaning spellbook,” she said with a grin.

“Mm…” I nodded on reflex, then stopped cold. “Wait—what’s a spellbook?”

“What’s up with a spellbook? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it. Oh, right—you’re still a freshman, and school hasn’t started. The teachers haven’t gotten to that yet. It’s just a tool to cast spells. Easy as that,” Tang Yihan said, shrugging it off like it was nothing.

“For real? But my mental energy’s nowhere near strong enough for magic yet. Even with a spellbook, I couldn’t use it, could I?”

School was still weeks out, and who knew when they’d teach me magic? Was she just teasing me with this?

“Huh? You’re stressing over that? Controlling magic with mental energy is hardcore stuff—no beginner’s messing with that. Most Witch School kids can’t even handle it in their first three years. Don’t sweat it,” she said, waving away my worry.

“But spellbooks are different. Oh—have you activated your personal data yet?”

“You mean that profile thing that shows up after linking my student ID to my phone?” I asked, digging through my memory for what she might mean.

“Yeah,” she nodded. ”That’s the one! Wow, your orientation senior even told you about it? I didn’t hear a peep until class started and the teacher laid it all out. Anyway, it’s the info on your phone. There’s a part called ‘Spell Slots’ in there.”

“Is there?” I was curious.

I didn’t recall seeing that. I pulled out my phone to check—nothing.

“There’s nothing,” I muttered.

“For real?” Tang Yihan stepped closer, like she might peek at my screen, but I tilted it away. Bai Yu had told me not to flash this stuff around lightly.

“Uh… sorry, that’s private. I shouldn’t have poked my nose in,” she said, catching herself and stepping back with a quick apology. “If it’s not there, it’s probably because you haven’t unlocked your Spell Slots yet.”

“Spell Slots? What’s that got to do with spellbooks?” I asked, jumping at the chance to learn more.

“Everything! When you use a spellbook, your Spell Slots load up with the spell and all its info,” she said, slipping into full-on explainer mode.

“That sounds oddly familiar,” I said, still scrubbing dishes.

“Right? It’s like one of those games—pick up a skill book, boom, new move in your lineup,” she chuckled.

“I heard those games came after spellbooks. Word is a bunch of them jacked the whole spellbook idea for their systems.”

“No way,” I said, jaw dropping. I’d been thinking this felt game-like, and now it turns out the games stole from transcendence? That’s nuts.

“So… with a spellbook, you can skip the whole ‘mental energy controlling magic’ deal and just cast spells?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” she nodded.

“Got it.”