episode_0170

“Ahem.”

My Teacher-nim, Seol Hayeon, who had deliberately cleared her throat a couple of times, tried to act natural as she stood up.

Then she turned to me and made a delighted expression, as if she had just noticed me, saying, “Ah!”

“Disciple-nim! It’s been a long time! How many months has it been? I missed you so much.”

“……”

“……”

“……”

“Answer.”

“Ah, yes…”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering how to respond, when she, her expression like a biting winter wind, spoke coldly.

I had no choice but to nod and awkwardly clap my hands.

“Wow, what a coincidence, Teacher-nim. I never imagined I’d see you in a place like this. I’m very glad to see you too…”

“……”

“Is this good enough?”

“Hmmmm.”

Seol Hayeon rested her hand on her chin and looked at me for a moment, as if evaluating. I found it absurd, but I waited patiently.

Soon, a look of moderate satisfaction appeared on Seol Hayeon’s face.

“Hmm, well, this much is fine. Now, Disciple-nim, you never saw my appearance just now, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

Was that her goal? I thought it wasn’t surprising anymore, but if she was embarrassed, I could certainly forget it.

I muttered with a disgruntled voice but decided to play along.

“So, why are you really here? Could it be what I’m thinking?”

“What is Disciple-nim thinking?”

When I asked, unable to fathom why she was here, Seol Hayeon instead smiled playfully, as if curious about what I was thinking.

It made me a little embarrassed to say it, but I scratched my cheek and replied.

“Did you… come to see me?”

It might be a wrong guess. But I couldn’t think of anything else, and I knew that Seol Hayeon and my mother-in-law didn’t get along particularly well.

What other reason could she have to stay at the Cheon family mansion?

Perhaps she heard I was coming here and arrived in advance to wait.

I cautiously entertained that thought while observing Seol Hayeon’s reaction.

“…Heh.”

Soon, she let out a shallow, silly laugh. The pure smile on her face seemed to confirm that my prediction was spot on.

“What? It’s not like I missed Disciple-nim that much, or yearned for you, or was upset and bored and lonely because I hadn’t seen you for so long, and absolutely, definitely didn’t want to see you and kiss you again, you know?”

“I think there was something strange in the middle there, Teacher-nim.”

“No, there wasn’t.”

“Yes…”

Seol Hayeon-ssi, lightly dismissing my observation, placed her hands on her hips and exclaimed.

“Well! Ultimately, it’s not wrong to say I came here to see Disciple-nim. I have a few things I want to ask, and a few things I want to confirm.”

“Eh?”

I tilted my head, showing my confusion.

Things she wanted to ask and things she wanted to confirm?

“What are they?”

“What do you think they are, Disciple-nim?”

“You seem to enjoy Zen riddles today. Why do you keep asking back?”

“Oh ho, how impudent to your heavenly Teacher-nim.”

Seol Hayeon stood on her tiptoes and *smack*! hit the top of my head. It didn’t even tickle, but I politely put my hand up as if it hurt.

“Well, what I want to ask isn’t much. Just about the things that happened in Cheorwon, just a few personal curiosities.”

Anyway, Seol Hayeon cleared her throat again and entered explanation mode.

The moment she was about to bring up ‘the things she wanted to confirm’—

“Hey, Lee Hyunjin!”

A sharp, shrill voice rang out. Seol Hayeon and I both flinched simultaneously, as if we had been caught doing something wrong.

“I’ve been looking for you forever. Sister and Oppa are both waiting, what are you doing here… huh?”

I recognized the voice immediately, and sure enough, it was her.

Cheon Soyul approached with a displeased expression, then soon let out a blank sound.

It seemed she hadn’t noticed the suddenly small Seol Hayeon in time, as she had only been looking at my back.

She slightly slowed her brisk pace and lowered her hand.

“…Uh, um.”

“…”

It wasn’t just her who seemed quite flustered.

Seol Hayeon, too, seemed not to have expected to run into Cheon Soyul, rolling her eyes around as she often did when flustered.

‘What is this atmosphere?’

Stuck between the two girls, I had to frown and remain silent for a moment.

The crucial point was that these two had never met before.

A relationship without prior acquaintance. Yet, they were definitely aware of each other’s existence.

To Cheon Soyul, Seol Hayeon was her boyfriend’s teacher; to Seol Hayeon, Cheon Soyul was her disciple’s girlfriend.

Naturally, they had to be aware of each other’s existence.

“…Th-that, um.”

In the somehow awkward atmosphere, amidst the utterly bland air.

It was Cheon Soyul who broke the silence first.

First, a polite greeting.

“Greetings, Ice Empress Seol Hayeon-nim. I am Cheon Soyul, daughter of Manroe.”

It was incredibly awkward, yet she still adopted a proper posture and bowed deeply.

It was the polite demeanor one, as a member of awakened society, should show to a great mage.

However, Seol Hayeon’s reaction to receiving such a greeting was even more extreme. Her pupils trembled, and she hid herself behind me, as if she couldn’t possibly meet Cheon Soyul’s gaze.

“…Teacher-nim? Why are you acting like this?”

“I-I don’t know. Don’t ask.”

I asked, flustered, but only a small whisper came back from her.

She seemed to be desperately pleading not to be made to face Cheon Soyul.

I had no choice but to turn back to Cheon Soyul. She was also just blinking, her expression completely unable to comprehend the situation.

-Why, why is she like that?

-I don’t know either…

The only answer I could give to her unspoken question was ‘I don’t know.’

The atmosphere settled, fluttering down again.

But unlike before, it was an atmosphere and silence imbued more with confusion than awkwardness.

Still, we couldn’t just stand here in the middle of the flower garden forever, could we?

“Excuse me, Teacher-nim?”

I turned my body again and slightly bent my knees. Lowering myself to Seol Hayeon’s eye level, I took both her hands and asked.

“Have you eaten?”

“…No…”

“Then, shall we go eat together?”

“D-don’t treat me like a child…”

My hands were holding hers more like I was handling a puppy than a child, but Seol Hayeon just grumbled, whether she knew it or not.

Of course, I knew very well that she hated being treated like a child.

‘But she *is* a child.’

There was nothing to be done about the undeniable truth. To my eyes, the melted Seol Hayeon snowman was already close to being a child.

Strictly speaking, maybe a third-year middle schooler? That’s about how she looked.

Anyway.

“Alright, let’s go. First, let’s have a meal and then talk a bit.”

“Ah…! W-wait, Disciple-nim?”

I turned my body, still holding Seol Hayeon’s hand. She frantically tried to pull her hand back, but I wasn’t going to allow it.

I quickly approached Cheon Soyul and whispered softly into her ear.

“Soyul-ah, please guide us.”

“…Uh, uh? Okay.”

Was it the whisper that was the problem, or the gentle tone within it?

Cheon Soyul also looked at me, slightly surprised, but it was all intentional.

In fact, when I uttered the name ‘Soyul-ah’… I noticed. A twitching sensation came from Seol Hayeon’s fingertips.

I felt that reaction throughout my body and couldn’t help but subtly curl the corner of my lips.

‘…I shouldn’t be doing this.’

I couldn’t deny that I felt like I was doing something a little naughty, or rather, mischievous—

But what could I do?

I had genuinely rarely seen my Teacher-nim display such a side before.

Even during the Cheongsong Festival, that was the first time she had ever broken down.

If I felt a little amusement, was it because I was truly a cruel person? Or was it the heart of a disciple who thought highly of their Teacher-nim?

I suspected it wasn’t the latter.

‘Should I provoke her a little more?’

At that moment, I strangely wanted to put this pathetic Seol Hayeon and Cheon Soyul together and observe their contrasting reactions.

*****

A few minutes later, Lee Hyunjin, Seol Hayeon, and Cheon Soyul entered the mansion’s first-floor dining room.

“…?”

Cheon Sehee, seeing Seol Hayeon (Middle School Ver.) in between them, holding one hand of Lee Hyunjin and one hand of Cheon Soyul as they entered, formed a question mark.

It was a look like someone who had just witnessed a truly incomprehensible, utterly baffling sight.

‘You… what are you doing…?’