episode_0143

Ryu Seeun gave a small wave with her finger as a greeting. I gave a reluctant nod, accepting her greeting.

So… this was pretty much the first time I’d seen her since the Cheongsong Festival, right?

Probably. It seemed we hadn’t met since I rescued Ryu Jinseong from the academy’s main building basement and fought with those black mages.

Ryu Seeun and I sat on the bench, maintaining silence with our mouths shut.

By the way, Cheon Soyul had left earlier, complaining about aching limbs. As a bonus, she told Ryu Seeun to ‘play with this kid well.’

But there was a problem. This Ryu Seeun, she wouldn’t even think of opening her mouth.

‘Why is she so quiet?’

Well, I was just as unable to open my mouth, but still.

If you think about it, wasn’t she the one secretly watching me from afar?

Then she should naturally be the one to start talking, shouldn’t she? I thought so and shot a glare at Ryu Seeun, but she subtly avoided my gaze.

Huh?

“…Hey, why are you avoiding my eyes?”

“…I wasn’t?”

“I saw you avoiding them.”

“Ah, I told you I wasn’t, didn’t I?”

“…”

“…”

Ryu Seeun sweated profusely and turned her head away.

With a chillingly nonchalant expression, I immediately snapped my fingers. *Click!*

“…!? Aaaah!!”

Twisting and rising, tree branches wrapped around Ryu Seeun’s entire body like tentacles, lifting her into the air.

I wonder how it feels to be hit with a skill that was originally your own.

“Your skill at talking back has improved since I last saw you, Seeun.”

I slowly stood up and walked over to stand in front of her, still bound in the air.

“Th-That’s not it?!”

Ryu Seeun frantically waved her hands, trying to retort something. But I moved the branches again, shutting her mouth as well.

“…!” “…?!!”

Ryu Seeun’s eyes widened. And she looked at me with a pitiful expression, as if begging me to just release this, but I had no intention of doing so.

It was truly baffling, but whenever I saw Ryu Seeun, a sadistic urge would always well up within me.

I poked her chest with my index finger while she was defenseless, and said,

“From now on, explain in detail why you were secretly watching me.”

“…!” “…!!”

“Are you saying you won’t speak? What a pity… Then I’ll have no choice but to torture you.”

“…!!?”

Ryu Seeun wore an unjustly aggrieved expression, as if screaming, ‘How can I speak if you don’t release the branches!’

I pretended not to see. It wasn’t that I didn’t know that and didn’t release the branches.

Right now, I just wanted to play around with Ryu Seeun.

I skillfully moved the branches, giving her a rollercoaster ride and letting her experience a Gyro Drop.

There’s no other senior who cares for their junior quite like this. I genuinely thought so, and finally, I tossed Ryu Seeun high into the air, then caught her snugly in my arms just as she was about to fall.

“…Hmph! Eek!”

Ryu Seeun, comfortably held in my arms, slowly opened her tightly closed eyes with a dazed expression.

She must have secretly thought she was going to fall.

No matter what, I wouldn’t hurt her. The thought that she didn’t trust me filled me with indignation, but I decided to let it slide this once.

I gently set Ryu Seeun down, then spoke in a much lighter tone.

“So, why were you doing that?”

“Ah… Um.”

Ryu Seeun rolled her eyes around and subtly tucked her hair behind her ear.

I thought she wouldn’t answer again, but she soon fidgeted with her hands and parted her lips.

“Just, because.”

“…?”

And what she said was ‘just because’. I furrowed my brow, wondering if she wanted to be subjected to the ‘tentacle play’ again, and Ryu Seeun, reading my expression, frantically waved her hands.

“N-No, really! It’s just, I just happened to see you while passing by… You hadn’t been around for the past few days, and I was curious where you’d been, and, well.”

Ryu Seeun, who had been continuously intertwining her fingers and rolling her eyes, soon sighed deeply and looked up at me with a loose, unguarded expression.

“…It’s just, really just that. I was watching because I wanted to see you.”

“…”

“I’m sorry if watching you secretly made you uncomfortable, Senior-nim. Hehe.”

“Uh…”

I couldn’t hide my momentary bewilderment and let out a dazed sound.

The Ryu Seeun I remembered was basically an ‘impudent junior-nim,’ after all.

‘Why did she become so submissive?’

Come to think of it, I do remember her looking at me with a very flushed face during our last meeting, when I dealt with the black mages…

Was that the problem? Is that what it was?

Anyway, it was an incredibly unfamiliar attitude. Why did the girl who used to snap back all the time, like a pure cat, turn into a tail-wagging dog?

As an experiment, I quietly placed my hand on top of Ryu Seeun’s head.

Then Ryu Seeun rubbed her head against my palm, smiling brightly as if pleased.

I froze with a shocked expression, cracking audibly.

I kept my mouth shut for a moment, then suddenly stood up and shouted at her.

“Who are you?!”

“Hehe, eh, what?”

“What did you do to my junior?! You fake!”

“Eh? Huh??”

***

There was a brief happening, but of course, since Ryu Seeun was indeed the real Ryu Seeun, there was no further commotion.

Lee Hyunjin, who had been yelling by himself for a moment, accepted the situation, then pressed his hand to his forehead.

“I’m screwed.”

“Huh? Why?”

Ryu Seeun reacted to his muttering and tilted her head in confusion.

What did he mean by ‘screwed’?

It was, needless to say, Lee Hyunjin’s silent scream upon realizing that too many women had developed romantic feelings for him.

“…It’s nothing.”

Lee Hyunjin didn’t bother to share that worry with Ryu Seeun. Aside from anything else, it’s not like he could tell the person herself, ‘I’m worried because too many women like me,’ could he?

Having no choice, Lee Hyunjin stood up from the bench again and extended his hand to Ryu Seeun.

“Senior-nim?”

Ryu Seeun tilted her head at his sudden gesture, and Lee Hyunjin spoke briefly.

“You haven’t had lunch yet, right?”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

“Let’s go get something to eat, then.”

Ryu Seeun, who had blinked for a moment, soon understood his meaning and perked up her ears.

She sprang up from her seat, her expression suddenly brightening considerably.

“It’s a date! Let’s go quickly!”

“No, we’re just getting food.”

Lee Hyunjin immediately retorted, but Ryu Seeun didn’t back down this time. She grinned confidently and extended a finger.

“You say that, but the ending will be drinks, a motel, the bathroom, and then *that* kind of thing on the bed, won’t it! I know everything!”

“…What?”

Lee Hyunjin frowned deeply and glared at Ryu Seeun.

But this girl…

‘How did she know?’

*Tsk*. Lee Hyunjin clicked his tongue and stroked his chin.

It was a sharper observation than he expected.

***

Although it wasn’t officially a date, Lee Hyunjin and Ryu Seeun had spent a day that looked like one in every way, and now they were drinking.

In a way, it could be called a natural and obvious conclusion to a date.

During their first ‘experience’, Ryu Seeun had unilaterally forced him to drink, but in any case, that could also be seen as a kind of tradition.

To rekindle memories, the two had lunch at the same snack bar as their first ‘date,’ spent the following hours at a manga cafe, and then naturally headed to a motel as if following a current.

“…Why do you drink so well, you. Ugh.”

“You’re just weak, Senior-nim, hehe.”

For the record, Lee Hyunjin lost the drinking contest. He had thought himself a decent drinker, but Ryu Seeun was a little stronger.

She felt similar to Hong Yeonhwa, or maybe a bit stronger? That kind of feeling.

In any case, Lee Hyunjin was quite drunk, which meant that the right to choose their destination had been given to Ryu Seeun.

Lee Hyunjin just stumbled along, clutching his head, trailing behind Ryu Seeun.

Lee Hyunjin didn’t know. That on Ryu Seeun’s lips, as he followed her, there was a subtly thrilling smile.

“Two people. Not for a few hours, but for overnight stay.”

*Clunk!*

Because of this, Lee Hyunjin didn’t know. Where on earth Ryu Seeun had brought him, as much as they had been out in the city.

Only after the card key was inserted and the room lit up could Lee Hyunjin lift his head.

“…”

And he fell silent. Lee Hyunjin, who had been scanning the room left and right for a while, soon turned to Ryu Seeun and asked curtly,

“Hey.”

“Yes, Senior-nim.”

“What is this?”

“Hehe.”

Ryu Seeun didn’t answer the question. She just scratched her cheek and playfully tapped her head with her fist, pretending to be cute.

Lee Hyunjin let out a short, exasperated breath and immediately grabbed the top of her head firmly.

“Aargh! Ow! D-Don’t you think it’ll still be fun?! I, I brought you here thinking Senior-nim would like it?!”

Ryu Seeun, whose head was caught, made a tearful face and threw a tantrum. Lee Hyunjin gritted his teeth, determinedly twisting Ryu Seeun’s head so that she would see the state of the room for herself.

“You look at it yourself, you brat.”

“Yes, yes!”

“In what part of this room can I find ‘fun’?”

Lee Hyunjin growled, and Ryu Seeun smiled awkwardly and shut her mouth.

Of course, the motel Ryu Seeun had brought Lee Hyunjin to was certainly not an ordinary place.

Red-themed wallpaper coloring the entire room, a brutal-looking bed, ropes hanging on the wall, floggers, and other whips…

Lee Hyunjin looked at one side of the room and grimaced fiercely. What’s that over there? A triangle pony?

“Do you really want to die…?”

“Ha, hahaha…”

Lee Hyunjin grabbed Ryu Seeun by the collar, and Ryu Seeun avoided his gaze, chuckling lightly.

“Uh, if you ask in what part you can find fun, well, that would be…”

And Ryu Seeun, racking her brain, with difficulty squeezed out an answer to Lee Hyunjin’s question.

She winked and pointed at Lee Hyunjin cutely with both hands.

“The part where you can whip the butt of a pretty girl like me?”

“…”

All expression vanished from Lee Hyunjin’s face. At his reaction, Ryu Seeun shivered, her face flushed as if thrilled even more…

*Clank!*

Lee Hyunjin, without a word, reached out and grabbed the flogger from the wall.

Ryu Seeun’s heartbeat gradually began to quicken. *Thump, thump, thump!*

“Alright.”

Lee Hyunjin muttered lowly.

“You’re going to get a beating today, Seeun.”

“…!”

Ryu Seeun collapsed on the spot, with the most thrilling expression she had ever worn.

A chilling voice slipped through Lee Hyunjin’s lips.

“Strip, you brat.”