At the next science practice, Saeon went to the observation bench. The base where they had stood their last explanation came into view. Sodam and Dure came along the same hall.
In math, they had fixed the numbers on the labels. Saeon had listened to the end before moving a hand. Today, too, Saeon wanted to check their first observations together.
“Let's set out this explanation ourselves, too.”
Saeon opened the triangular folding board on the shelf. Last science practice's words turned to the back. The new side was still blank.
Floor 1 · Experiment Area
Observation Records · Explanation Display
A clear plastic observation container stood on a low base. Its top was open, with water remaining inside. A small display stand beside it was empty.
Teacher Gwak stood by the bench. There was no heating equipment. The wide hallway behind them stayed open for stepping back.
Sodam set the piece box farther onto the shelf. Dure opened the honey-colored notebook. Saeon started to move the container, then pulled back.
Today, they were placing an explanation, not the container. This display was for observations already recorded. Saeon left the container in its round base.
Two observation boards stood side by side. On the left were before-and-after pictures of the same container. The water level was lower in the after picture.
The right board listed the observation conditions. The container had stayed in the same place at normal classroom temperature. It had started with liquid water, without any ice.
The water hadn't been boiled or spilled. Nobody had wiped it away or poured it into another container. Saeon read to the record's end.
Beside it was an explanation of the observed change. Some liquid water at the surface had changed into water as a gas. The same change they had read about last time.
“Leave an explanation that fits this record.”
The teacher pointed to the empty display stand without touching the space for the answer. Dure opened a blank notebook page toward Saeon, too.
Saeon peered briefly over the water. It was still inside the container. Right now, the height wasn't changing before their eyes.
The name learned last time came straight to mind. But the line about no boiling caught Saeon's attention. That condition definitely belonged in the display words.
“It changes when it boils. That sounds more certain.”
Saeon tried writing on the folding board first.
Water changes into gas only when it boils.
Last time, Saeon had said it changed without boiling, too. Now Saeon looked down at only. With that word added, the explanation looked short and certain.
Saeon stood the folding board in front of the display stand. A finger-width gap remained between the two pictures. With the words beside the pictures, everything seemed finished.
Dull amber knots of light wrapped around both observation boards. Cream-colored eye-like gaps appeared inside the round shapes. A Tangle, made from a mistaken idea.
The bends in the left-hand strands showed clearly. On the right, they looked smooth as a neat frame. Neither the words nor the water levels were hidden.
The right board felt finished to Saeon. No strands touched the container or anyone's hands. While they waited, the knots didn't grow.
Quest
Must-Boil Tangle
Before-and-after records of the same unboiled water
Place an explanation that fits the observed change.
Reward: Skill Boost
Sodam adjusted the glasses. A fingertip stopped in front of Saeon's words.
“If you add only, what about this picture?”
Saeon stopped pushing the folding board. The after picture's water was lower than before. The record still said it hadn't been boiled.
If water changed only when boiled, where did this record fit?
Saeon lowered a hand to the shelf. Erasing the picture wouldn't work. Last time, Saeon had changed the height to fit a guess, then had to redraw it.
This time, Saeon wanted to keep the pictures. Saeon lined up their bottom corners. The difference in water levels showed even more clearly.
“This changed without boiling.”
Saeon turned the folding board inward. Trying to be brief had pushed one condition out. The words learned before needed a different place.
Dure opened the notebook beside it.
“Here. Don't write just the name yet.”
The fingertip passed the picture of lower water and stopped at the explanation about liquid changing to gas. Saeon read that line again.
“The lower water. And the changed state.”
Dure opened a hand between the two places. Saeon had almost stopped after checking only the lower level. The record also said what sort of change had happened.
Sodam started with the conditions.
“It started with water, no ice.”
A fingertip moved to the next line.
“No boiling. Nobody spilled or wiped it away.”
Saeon looked at the pictures while listening. Liquid water remained in the container. There was no place to turn this into a picture of melted ice.
Sodam started to pull back, then pointed to the explanation line, too.
“We aren't choosing just from the height. The state change is here.”
A thin cream-colored pin stretched from Sodam's fingertip. The smooth strand on the right board stopped. The hand stayed outside the board's edge.
As its shine stopped, the wrapped folds appeared. That neat-looking frame was part of the Tangle, too. Saeon pointed again to the change described inside it.
Saeon erased the folding board's first words. This time, the writing began with wasn't boiled. Beneath that went liquid water at the surface.
“Some liquid water changed into water as a gas.”
As Saeon wrote the explanation, a finger pointed to the container picture. Liquid water remained in the after picture, too. Saeon didn't write that all of it had changed.
“So my words about needing to boil don't fit.”
Saeon turned the folding board back beside the pictures. The recorded water levels hadn't been touched. The new words explained both pictures together.
Sodam's hand stopped before the display stand. Their eyes returned to the condition lines.
“Should we check once more? No, all the lines we checked are here.”
Sodam lined up the stand with the empty explanation space. Saeon watched the hand lower. That hand had stopped searching for more to check and chosen where to put the answer.
Dure swept a fingertip along the notebook page's edge. A finger pointed between the lower water picture and the corrected words.
“The record's unchanged. The state explanation fits, too.”
Dure looked at Saeon and added,
“If those two match, we're done.”
Saeon didn't peer into the container again. There was no need to wait for the water to drop further now. They could explain the before-and-after record already made.
Saeon stood the folding board on the display stand. Sodam left a gap so the record below stayed visible. Dure wrote their shared explanation in the notebook.
The last strands on both observation boards came loose. Cream-colored strands lay straight across each board. Away from the light, the water remained in its container.
The little result light at the front came on. Saeon showed the words to the teacher.
“I wrote that water changes only when it boils. That didn't fit this record.”
Saeon pointed to both the erased space and the new words.
“Water that wasn't boiled changed into gas at the surface, too.”
Sodam opened a hand before the conditions.
“It was at normal classroom temperature. Nobody spilled or wiped it away.”
Dure lifted the notebook a little.
“We kept the lower water and the changed state together.”
The teacher listened until all three had finished.
“Now that can go beside the pictures.”
Evaporation is liquid water changing into gas at its surface. Water in its gas state is water vapor. This change happens even when water isn't boiling.
Saeon added evaporation at the explanation's end. No gas shape went into the empty space. Water vapor itself was invisible.
Quest Clear
Observation records · Explanation of state change checked
Must-Boil Tangle · Unraveled
Skill Boost: “Hidden Water Vapor” — Evaporation
A small recess opened beside the display stand. Saeon bent down, keeping both hands outside. Inside lay a real little stone stair piece with three steps.
The small hollow above its top step was full of light. Just as it had been last time in the science area. There was still no stone filling it.
This time, the blue light filling the hollow flowed down. It followed the step edges to the underside of the piece. The stair piece stayed on the recess floor.
“The light's coming down here, too.”
Without reaching in, Saeon followed the light. The direction from that first math activity came back to mind. Light in both places was returning the same way.
“The piece hasn't moved.”
Dure pointed from outside the recess. Saeon looked again at the light returning beneath the piece. The stone stayed still.
No letters or patterns appeared. None of them took out a piece. When the cover closed, Saeon straightened.
Far away, the wide space before the door to the next floor came into view. The door was closed, and the space was empty. A familiar notice floated beside it.
Next Move-Up Challenge
End of Term · One Gate in Each Area
Condition: All three explain in their own words
Saeon turned toward the others. Today, too, all three had explained the same record. Saeon's words had changed where friends had pointed.
Dure closed the notebook, and Sodam picked up the piece box. Saeon copied the display words from the folding board and left them there. Then Saeon folded the empty board and stepped into the open hall.
All three were still walking on the same bottom floor. The light flowing down kept coming to mind. Maybe it connected to the top.
What was at the top?