episode_0071

71

It seems I’ve been completely mistaken about Han Sua all this time.

Lunchtime.

A restaurant filled with the pungent aroma of spicy kimchi stew.

Seated among rough-looking men, I nodded along to their conversation while turning things over in my head.

A confident stride?

An attitude that suggested she was used to ordering people around?

Acting easygoing on the surface, but with an underlying pettiness and selfishness?

Most of the data I’d compiled before was wrong.

I never saw that confident stride.

Far from bossing anyone around, she was completely withdrawn, barely able to speak.

Acting easygoing?

Her half-lidded, sleepy eyes,

her bare face,

her loosely tied ponytail—she might look laid-back,

but her behavior was no different from a total loser.

That subtle pettiness and selfishness?

Same thing. Back when I reviewed her past interviews, I could’ve sworn I sensed it, but now? Not at all.

The Han Sua I just met…

was basically just a socially awkward loser who couldn’t even talk to guys.

But then again, considering how her hero costume was a plain design with zero skin exposure, maybe that’s her real personality.

Which would mean one piece of my compiled intel was correct.

What the hell is going on here?

“A single drop of sweat shed in training saves a drop of blood in battle—”

“That’s why we’re lucky to have a healing-type Transcendent. With no proper laws back in our day, we naturally leaned into Spartan-style training—”

Either something happened while she was at the academy,

or Yozora’s been doing something weird around Han Sua.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything beyond what I’d already considered.

Just as I was wrapping up my thoughts, one of the burly men beside me clapped me on the shoulder—hard.

…Fuck, that hurt.

“You agree, right, Teacher Woojin?!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“Hah! You weren’t even listening!!”

“…Ahaha.”

“We were saying we should bring back the old training system—screw what the higher-ups think, we’ll be fine, right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

I haven’t even had a drink. Why are they like this?

Excessive friendliness is exhausting.

I didn’t show it, but the erratic, overfamiliar energy of middle-aged men trying to act young was seriously grating.

“Sparring. We shouldn’t just trade a few punches like kids—we should go all out, like real combat. Just like the old days. Especially with you here, Teacher Woojin.”

“How did you do it back then?”

“We fought until one of us was half-dead. I mean, we’re capturing villains later—gotta be ready. It’s not like they’ll just hold out their hands and let us cuff ’em.”

The gruff-voiced man laughed heartily, clasping his wrists together as if demonstrating.

Even if someone got beaten half to death and had to be carried back, I could fix them up in under five minutes.

Back at the “company,” that’s about how long treatments took.

Still, the idea didn’t appeal to me.

If a student got carried back after sparring, they’d obviously be the weaker one.

Unless it was Lee Hayoon—who still couldn’t control her strength—Lee Jiyoon and Han Sua would just obliterate their opponents and dump a mountain of work on me…

…No. Wait.

Now that I think about it, maybe those two would end up in the infirmary sometimes.

For example, if the other students were too weak and Jiyoon and Sua had to spar against each other.

In that case, I could lock the infirmary door under the pretext of patient care—for a long time.

Put that way, the idea wasn’t so bad.

After swallowing a bite of steaming soft tofu and pork over rice,

I pretended to deliberate, sweeping my gaze around before answering.

“Fine. But if anyone gets seriously hurt, treatment will take at least… ’30 minutes.’”

“That’s nothing. It’s not like we’re talking four or twelve weeks of recovery.”

I’d lied a little, but the muscleheads laughed uproariously like it was no big deal.

(Well, not uproariously, but whatever.)

Having successfully extricated myself from the conversation, I focused on my kimchi stew and started drafting a new plan.

Nothing elaborate.

Just…

figuring out how the hell to tame Han Sua.

Easygoing.

Confident.

Prickly.

I set aside the image of Han Sua I’d known and replaced it with a new one.

Only looked easygoing.

Far from confident… just a loser.

Couldn’t tell if she was prickly, but one thing was clear:

Her entire body was sensitive.

Lee Hayoon and Lee Jiyoon, being sisters, had similar erogenous zones.

Mainly the cervix—that general area.

From what I’d glimpsed pre-regression, Yozora was completely average.

No unusual erogenous zones.

Honestly, after she kept calling me a sadist, I lost interest in learning more—or getting closer.

But Han Sua, who’d visited the infirmary this morning…

Her whole body was an erogenous zone.

A fetishist, maybe?

Every spot most people would consider weirdly sensitive was oversensitive for her.

She’d climax from just a kiss,

from having her ears sucked,

from having her neck squeezed,

even from a light caress on her ass…

A total pervert.

And yet, absurdly, there wasn’t a single trace of her ever having touched herself.

Like she’d reached that age without knowing what “lewd” even meant.

…Like she didn’t know what masturbation was.

“…….”

That’s what made this tricky.

My original plan—forcing her into corruption through blackmail—felt unsatisfying now.

That kind of堕落 is only fun when the target has some kind of unwavering conviction to break.

Like breaking a lovesick lesbian until she becomes a bitch who only knows cock.

Or training a girl with a boyfriend until she moans her ex’s name in apology while cumming.

That’s when it’s fun.

But with someone like Han Sua—a blank, untouched canvas—there’s another option.

A chance to implant twisted sexual knowledge into her pristine mind.

There’s a reason the term “ex-boyfriend’s handiwork” exists.

“My ex taught me this is how you give a blowjob.”

“My ex taught me swallowing every drop is basic manners.”

“Thanks to my ex, I learned that being choked with a school tie and pounded raw feels better than vanilla sex.”

“My ex said bare looks prettier, so I thought all guys preferred it that way.”

A chance to stamp my tastes onto a woman’s life.

And not just any woman—

a future celebrity hero.

“…….”

Yeah.

Sounds great, but—

how?

My mind, which had been happily wandering in fantasyland, snapped back to reality.

During the entrance ceremony, and from how close she seemed with Yozora, she didn’t seem completely averse to people. But remembering how she struggled to talk to men just now…

Hmm.

So the first hurdle is getting close to Han Sua.

How the hell do I do that?

If she were a stray cat, I’d just stock up on treats or tuna.

What would work on Han Sua?

The immediate idea was to wait until she got hurt, then slowly build rapport during her infirmary visits.

Like some dime-a-dozen dating sim.

But the problem is there’s no telling how long that’d take.

By then, something beyond my control might happen.

Another guy might swoop in.

…Well then.

No choice.

If I can’t rely on fate,

I’ll just engineer a meeting.

The method doesn’t matter—

as long as it feels like destiny.

Making Friends.

Failure…

Having wasted the entire day, Han Sua walked down the hallway beside Yozora, who seemed inexplicably happier than yesterday.

Classes were generally easy.

Whether it was theory or practical, nothing was too hard.

Maybe because it was the first day? She wasn’t sure yet.

What was disappointing was the lack of chances to make friends.

She’d considered breaking the ice with her cute, cat-like lion ears and tail,

but everyone around her was male…

Showing them would’ve been embarrassing…

Ha.

Sua let out a small sigh.

A grinning face suddenly popped into her view.

“What’s wrong? Something happen?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just tired.”

It wasn’t nothing.

Unlike the other students, who’d enrolled to “become heroes,” she was here for a different reason.

But she kept a straight face and smiled back at Yozora.

“Speaking of, I heard you’re pretty strong? You didn’t stand out much during the practical exam, though.”

“Well… I just needed to pass. Ahaha…”

Yozora dodged the question with a laugh and strode ahead cheerfully.

Something Sua had noticed today—sometimes, Yozora’s pronunciation was oddly precise, like a news anchor’s.

She’d heard foreigners learning a language always nail the swears first, but she’d never heard of pronunciation sharpening in specific situations.

Well, it just meant Yozora was studying hard.

It was a shame her cute mispronunciations were disappearing, but Sua decided to cheer her on.

With that settled, the two left the academy together.

Sunlight glinted off the half-melted snow lining the streets.

Soon, they arrived at the crosswalk where they met every morning.

Now we’ll say goodbye and head home… Maybe I’ll check out that thing Yozora recommended. Just one.

It was porn, so it’d be awkward, but the premise seemed interesting enough for a quick skim.

As for the 19+ parts… She’d just gloss over them.

Lost in thought, Sua stood at the crosswalk when—

Buzz.

A vibration.

From Yozora’s direction.

Glancing over, she saw Yozora already holding her phone, eagerly checking something.

A gut feeling—Yozora had been waiting for this.

What?

Lottery results?

Do those come by text?

Well, whatever it was, Yozora’s rising smirk meant good news.

Should I congratulate her now…?

Or pretend not to notice and wait for her to bring it up…?

As Sua waffled, recalling romance manga for reference—

Click.

The crosswalk turned green.

A voice spoke up.

“Hey!”

“Hm?”

“Wanna hit up a bookstore? To buy manga?”

“…Manga?”

“Yeah! Manga! I wanna read what you’re into!”

Yozora bounced excitedly.

Sua hesitated at the idea of “going to a bookstore with a friend.”

Honestly, it was a little embarrassing…

But… why not?

They were both girls. Similar interests.

If she went home now, she’d just roll around on her bed like a clock hand anyway.

“Sure. Let’s go. But I’ve never actually bought a book myself, so…”

“I’ll find a nearby one! Gimme a sec…”

As Yozora tapped away on her Japanese phone, a notification popped up at the top of the screen.

Sua knew snooping was bad, but curiosity was human nature.

Her eyes flicked over before she could stop herself.

Yozora swiped the notification away too fast to read,

but Sua caught one word:

“Master.”

…Well, she is into porn.

Sua shrugged it off.