episode_0068

68

By the time I came to my senses, the day was already ending.

The flood of students had poured out hours ago.

Maybe it was just today, but it seems there aren’t any grueling training sessions right before dismissal that could leave someone injured.

Lying on a soft bed instead of a chair, I let out a sigh as I half-opened my heavy eyelids.

Being around kids is exhausting.

I never felt this way when I only had to deal with Lee Hayoon and Lee Jiyoon.

“Teacher, which high school did you graduate from?”

“Teacher, how much is your salary?”

“Teacher, why are you wearing a school uniform? What’s a health committee member?”

“Teacher, what if you get hurt in, you know, an embarrassing place?”

“Teacher, are you an MBTI T-type?”

“Teacher, teacher…”

Even if you called it a barrage of questions, the variety was limited.

But when one patient dragged along a few perfectly healthy friends and they all bombarded me with similar questions, it felt like I was developing a neurosis.

On top of that, most of the students who visited the infirmary today were second and third-years.

So, absurdly enough, girls who were barely 21 or 22 years old not only used honorifics with me but also tried to act like my noona.

Of course, none were as extreme as Lee Hayoon, who once tried to feed me side dishes herself.

It was more like… their behavior subtly treated me like a younger brother.

Well, whatever.

If they were at least pretty, I might’ve humored them while scheming how to knock them onto the bed.

Unfortunately, the girls chattering in the infirmary were, at best, B or C-rank heroes in my memory—nothing more than average-looking girls you’d commonly see on the street.

Not a single one was on the level of Lee Jiyoon or Han Sua, let alone an A-rank prospective hero.

…Ah.

If I had to stretch it, there was Baek Seoyeon.

But sadly, she’s on the villain side.

It’s better to stay as far away from her as possible rather than getting tangled up in her mess.

Just like how I handled Yozora before she noticed my real tastes.

If I bide my time until Yozora abandons Han Sua,

I can just scoop her up and raise her to my liking.

“You don’t want to be abandoned by your friend again, right? Then you’d better listen to Seo Woojin…”

Something like that.

On the other hand, part of me also wants to break Han Sua’s spirit and train her myself.

How…? Is there a way?

Maybe find something to blackmail her with.

I didn’t get any useful intel before the regression, but Yozora, who’s busy scheming to ruin Han Sua right now, might know something.

Later, when I have time, I’ll perfectly play the role of Yozora’s ideal man, then casually show interest in Han Sua…

She might let slip some useful information, pretending it was a slip of the tongue.

Lost in thought, I unknowingly let my eyelids droop shut—

“……?”

Tap.

A light sound echoed from my forehead.

Forcing my eyes open, what greeted me was a pair of well-sized breasts swaying downward as their owner bent over.

And a jet-black ponytail spilling over her shoulder, brushing against my cheek.

“…Ah. Hayoon-noona.”

“Why are you sleeping? I came here for treatment.”

Before I even saw her face, her voice gave her away. Haaah— Hayoon exhaled, pulling her fingers back from where she’d been about to flick my forehead, then playfully grinned as she stuffed her hands into her pockets.

Ponytail.

Not a particularly unique hairstyle, but after seeing it for days, I’d grown so familiar with its length that I could identify her at a glance.

…This is seriously perverted.

But seeing Hayoon giggle, she seemed happy I recognized her.

Or maybe she just likes being alone with me.

Or maybe she just likes smiling.

“I wasn’t sleeping. Just lying down.”

“Nostalgic… I used to do that all the time in high school too…”

“It’s not an excuse…”

“You didn’t hear me knock, and you didn’t hear me open the door either?”

“…….”

Did I really doze off for a second?

Embarrassed, I averted my gaze. Eit— With a light grunt, the bed creaked slightly.

The scent of body wash wafting from her was refreshing—she must’ve just showered.

Mixed in was the smell of shampoo, identical to the one lingering in my hair after I had sex with Jiyoon a few days ago.

So she uses the same bath products at home and the academy.

Not useful information, so I quickly forgot it, smoothing out my wrinkled white coat as I got up from the bed.

If I stayed lying down with Hayoon and another student walked in, I’d be dealing with headaches for days.

I didn’t need more stress on top of how tired I already was.

“…Anyway, where are you hurt? You look fine on the outside.”

“I’m not hurt… Just wanted to show you something?”

“Show me something?”

Instead of answering, Hayoon busily tapped away at her phone.

A moment later, she handed it to me, gesturing for me to take a look.

What does she want to show me?

Indifferently accepting the phone, my eyes landed on what looked like a chatroom.

The blunt, crude language typical of the men from my old company was absent, so it was probably a girls-only group chat.

…Something about it felt eerie.

Or maybe it was the excessive use of “ㅠㅠ.”

Or the flood of single-character spam.

Or the way they seemed to be pointlessly fawning over something.

Staring at my first-ever glimpse of a girls’ chatroom, I slowly scrolled up.

And then—

I saw it.

A photo of me, likely taken secretly, plastered right in the middle of the chat.

“…….”

So all the appearance ratings I skimmed past earlier were…

“…….”

“So fucking hot” and the like were probably just them messing around.

Setting aside the exaggerated fangirling and nonsense, the general consensus was…

…Well…

A lot of them thought I looked better than expected.

My face twisted at the embarrassing compliments, and Hayoon, who’d been busy observing me from the bed, burst into laughter.

“Woojin-ah. Feels good getting praised by noona, huh?”

“No. Not really.”

“Aigoo, liar. Your lips twitched.”

“They didn’t.”

“Just admit it. Do you really have to win against noona this badly?”

“…….”

Her finger poked at the corner of my mouth, which I’d been forcing down.

She tugged it upward lightly, flashing a bright smile before I could react.

Even as I swatted at her wrist, she didn’t stop, so I gave up and let her have her way. Still grinning, she asked:

“You free later?”

“I’ve got plenty of time. Why?”

“Lately, Jiyoon keeps telling me to go on dates with you whenever we eat, so I thought we could try one before my part-time shift.”

“…Ah.”

“Thinking about it, I don’t think we’ve ever properly gone on a date… Seems like a good idea.”

“…….”

So she’s been subtly feeding ideas to her sister behind my back.

The reason’s obvious.

The better my relationship with Hayoon gets, the more depraved our “practice” sessions will become under that excuse.

…She probably thinks she’s doing a great job pretending to be normal,

but from this angle, Lee Jiyoon seems even crazier than Yozora drowning in alcohol.

“Wouldn’t a photo be enough? What do you think?”

“What about your part-time job?”

“If I’m a little late, the boss will let it slide!”

“…….”

Casually pushing the responsibility onto her boss, Hayoon plopped down on the chair in front of me.

Finally freed from the forced smile, I rubbed my lips and nodded.

“Should we go to a karaoke room, then?”

“Ah. Karaoke? Now that you mention it, it’s been a while…”

For Lee Jiyoon, who’d already betrayed and corrupted her sister beyond repair—

What kind of photo should I send?

Pondering the composition and situation…

DEFEAT.

The red letters flashed as the game ended.

Jiyoon, her headset hanging around her neck, slumped down in her chair with a heavy sigh.

She’d been playing other games lately, and her skills had noticeably rusted.

FPS games were the kind where even two days off could ruin you…

There was only one way to fix this.

Grinding.

Jiyoon sighed deeply and queued up again.

Judging by the reddening sky outside, she’d been losing nonstop for nearly six hours now…

She’d recover the lost points eventually—

Buzz.

“…?”

Her phone, plugged into the charger by the bed, vibrated once.

Who could it be?

A game ad?

She’d turned off all those notifications.

Or maybe an academy group chat.

Like the ones she’d been added to at the start of every semester in middle and high school, only to mute them immediately.

Better turn it off before the notifications got annoying.

Decision made, Jiyoon wheeled her chair toward the bed.

And then—

“…….”

Under the name Seo Woojin,

a single line of text:

[Photo sent.]

…A photo? Out of nowhere?

That was her first thought.

Woojin had initiated chats plenty of times, but he’d never once sent a photo.

Same with emojis.

What kind of photo would he suddenly send?

Did he mean to send it to her sister and mess up?

“Uuugh…”

No idea, but now she was curious.

What if he was trying to impress her sister and accidentally sent a dick pic?

Hayoon and Jiyoon were just one letter apart.

That would be the absolute worst-case scenario…

…No, wait. Her sister was into that kind of thing, so maybe she’d love it?

As Jiyoon’s imagination ran wild over a single line of text—

The phone vibrated again.

“Huh?”

Above the [Photo sent.] message,

an identical block of text appeared.

[Photo sent.]

[Photo sent.]

This bizarre,

never-before-seen sight fueled her imagination further—

“…….”

She decided to check her sister’s photo first.

“……What.”

But contrary to her worries, it was nothing.

Just a photo of Woojin and her sister in a coin karaoke room.

The only thing that stuck out was—

The same karaoke room she’d gone to with Woojin before.

…And the exact same booth they’d sat in.

Her sister was sitting there with him now.

“…….”

Woojin must’ve chosen that spot on purpose.

She wasn’t naive enough to think it was a coincidence.

…And,

why he’d picked that spot,

she could guess the reason.

[There. Happy now? Handle it yourself, virgin. Don’t backseat me.]

[K.]

After leaving a half-hearted reply to her sister’s text, Jiyoon exited the chat and glared at the red [1] next to Woojin’s name.

Dark thoughts spiraled endlessly.

Unlike her sister’s photo of just holding a mic,

maybe Woojin had sent a picture of him and her sister going at it.

Or maybe a shot of her sister giving him head.

In other words, if she didn’t look, it’d be fine.

If she didn’t look, future conversations with her sister wouldn’t be awkward.

Everything would just stay her own filthy delusion.

That’s what her brain said.

But her fingers had other ideas.

“…Huh?”

Woojin’s photo was also nothing special.

Just a shot of the two of them in the karaoke room.

She even checked the corners for hidden condoms, but there were none.

“…Then why did he send this?”

Was it proof that he was doing well with her sister, just like she taught him?

A verification shot?

Something like that, probably.

Like how her sister had sent a photo looking a little smug.

Kinda anticlimactic.

Huuuh— She exhaled through her nose and scrutinized the photo again.

Then, in her chat with Woojin,

a new file appeared: [Voice 001.m4a], just over two minutes long.

“…….”

She pressed [Save.]

Turned the volume all the way up.

A match had started without her noticing, so she just closed the game.

Yanked out the annoying charger and flopped onto the bed.

Held the phone to her ear,

and pressed play.

“……?”

But contrary to expectations, all that came through the speaker was karaoke backing tracks.

With just a faint static buzz mixed in.

The melody line sounded familiar, but…

Since the recording started mid-song, she couldn’t tell what it was.

Maybe a song they’d played last time she went to karaoke with Woojin?

Humming along experimentally, it seemed about right.

…So.

Why did he send this?

Jiyoon’s confusion only resolved near the end of the recording.

– Haaah… Ha…

– Woojin-ah, just a quick… Mmm…

– Chup…

“…….”

Two minutes of silence.

A brief moment of her sister’s voice.

Then, silence again.

It was nothing.

Just the sound of her sister kissing her boyfriend.

It was nothing.

Really.

It was nothing.