22. Sorting Out Relationships (1)

“Jihu-ya, do you know how long I’ve been waiting…? You said you’d be right back, but it’s been 30 minutes, huh?”

Who am I? Where am I?

More than that, why the hell am I stuck between two women, having to endure both of their piercing gazes…?

“Ah-ha, is that so…? Jihu-ssi! Did you get home okay yesterday? But why do you look so bad? Did you not sleep well…?”

“Jihu-ya, but who is that woman? Were you with her yesterday by any chance?”

A subtle war of nerves is slowly starting up.

It’s more than just a childish squabble; every word is filled with genuine emotion.

They’re exchanging relatively wholesome words now, but even a clueless guy like me can tell that it’ll soon devolve into a mudslinging fight.

At this point, my mind starts to fade.

Why do bad situations always escalate to the worst possible outcome?

I definitely didn’t expect this development.

“Jihu-ssi, why are you pretending not to know? We had a great time yesterday. Surely, you haven’t forgotten already, have you? Are you playing innocent after cumming so much inside me…?”

With just one sentence from Jung Yewon, the perfect schedule I had prepared for Hayul crumbles.

It was barely a day away… Reality always hits without even a moment to prepare.

Before I can even recover from the shock, Hayul’s sharp voice pierces my ears.

“Hey, Lee Jihu. Answer me… Who the hell is she?”

“Jihu-ssi, don’t answer her. Who are you to be so rude to Jihu-ssi? Are you his girlfriend or something? Oh, but what a shame…? Jihu-ssi was busy fucking me until late last night.”

“Ha, look at the way you talk… Lee Jihu, did you ditch me right after class yesterday to fuck this whore?”

“Excuse me? A wh… what? I’m sorry, but do you have a rag in your mouth? I thought I smelled something weird earlier… Ah, I should have just ignored it, but I made a mistake. Sorry, Rag-ssi.”

No, this isn’t what I wanted at all.

How did it end up like this?

Was I underestimating Jung Yewon’s personality too much…?

I somehow clung to my fleeting sanity and tried to think as clearly as possible.

I had to pinpoint exactly where this tangled mess started, without any answers.

The clock rewinds to about 30 minutes earlier.

It was right before lunch break, just as the professor was about to finish the lecture.

“That concludes today’s lecture. Ah, Lee Jihu-gun, please stay behind for a moment. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

“Excuse me? If it’s not too much to ask, what is it about…”

“It’s too much to explain in detail here, so if you go to the faculty office, the person in charge there will tell you. The person you’ll be talking to should be arriving around now too.”

I had already promised to have lunch with Hayul, so I was a bit troubled, but I couldn’t refuse the professor to his face, so I decided to go along with it.

“Hayul-ah, will you wait for me in the lecture hall? I’ll be back after a quick chat.”

“I’ll wait in front of the faculty office. It’ll be a hassle for you to come all the way back here… Hurry up and come out, okay?”

There’s not really a place to sit in front of the faculty office…

She’s making it so obvious that she doesn’t want to be apart from me, so I reluctantly nodded.

Yeah, it was all good up to this point. Up to this point.

“Oh, good. You’re here already. Then both of you, come this way.”

As I entered the faculty office, an unexpected person caught my eye.

It was Jung Yewon, the purple-haired girl, waving her hand at me with a smile.

There are many other professors around, so she’s keeping quiet to maintain decorum, but she’s still waving her arms enthusiastically to show how happy she is.

Her antics are quite cute, so I unconsciously raise my hand slightly in response.

“Okay, so we’re holding a special lecture for students with excellent grades in the first semester, and you two have been selected as the top students. The grades were calculated based on comprehensive criteria, so don’t be too suspicious about your scores.”

The person in charge of administrative tasks handed us a few thick documents.

Skimming through them, I saw a list of special lectures, opinions on comprehensive evaluations, and detailed information on development directions suited to each of our aptitudes.

“Looks pretty good, right? The approval deadline is today, so it would be best if you could decide now. Just tell me whether you want to take the special lecture or not, and if you do, which lecture you want to take.”

[Genealogy of Modern Awakened Ones]

[Fundamentals and Applications of Delicate Mana Manipulation]

Just looking at them makes my mouth water.

The instructors are mostly Awakened Ones active on the front lines, and even the names of veteran active-duty personnel are visible, so I really feel like they put a lot of effort into creating these special lectures.

But… It’s all good, but how did I get picked as one of the top students?

They told me not to doubt my grades, but it’s impossible not to be suspicious.

Of course, it’s great to be able to take high-quality lectures that you can’t get even with money, but there are so many other people who are good at studying, so why me?

The first person that comes to mind is Jo Yujun, who ranked first among the freshmen.

No, I didn’t even need to go that far. Even when I was doing group study with Seol-ah sunbae and Hayul last time, they were both much more knowledgeable than me in theory.

“I don’t know… But I should just take what they give me.”

“Puhut, yeah, yeah. Jihu-gun probably got a high score in other areas even if his written test scores weren’t that great. So don’t worry too much and tell me which lecture you want to take. If you’re having trouble deciding, you can just pick one from the recommended list, so don’t feel too pressured.”

The professor chuckled, finding my mumbling amusing, and told me an easy way to choose a lecture.

Let’s see… The lectures listed in my recommendation section are these three.

[Understanding Psychokinetic Abilities Based on Wave Mechanics]

[Physical Enhancement for Non-Physical Awakened Ones]

[Analysis of Human Mental Structure]

They’re all lectures perfectly suited to my ability, “Mental Wave Emission.”

I get a strong feeling that Siana or Sania might have used their influence a little… This is why it’s important to have good connections.

I put my worries aside and leisurely read the detailed lecture descriptions on the other pages.

Each one was so innovative and in-depth that I even forgot about my promise with Hayul and stared at the documents for dozens of minutes.

Yeah, this is probably where things started to go wrong.

I should have noticed it sooner…

“I’ll apply for the recommended lectures listed here.”

“Yeah, that’s probably the safest bet. It’s a loss for you if you apply for a topic you’ve never heard of before and then give up because it doesn’t suit you. How about you, Yewon-ah? Have you decided?”

“I, I’ll take the same one as Jihu-ssi, no… Jihu.”

“Huh? The same one…? Well, it doesn’t really matter, but even if we put aside the other lectures, the psychokinesis-related lecture probably has nothing to do with your ability. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

The professor asked again with a worried expression, but Jung Yewon nodded as if she had already made up her mind.

Judging by the happy smile on her face, I think she deliberately waited for me to decide everything and then chose the same one to match.

“Okay. My goodness, that took a while… Sorry for taking up your lunch break. You can both leave now since all that’s left is to get approval from the higher-ups.”

At the professor’s words that we could leave, Jung Yewon linked her arm with my right arm as if she had been waiting for it.

She rubbed her head against my shoulder, looking like a cute animal, and I unconsciously smiled with satisfaction.

“It hasn’t been that long since I saw you, but you’re already acting cute.”

“Eung… It’s because I’m happy to see Jihu-ssi…”

As we walked out of the faculty office, talking in hushed tones while clinging to each other, I suddenly froze in place.

Hayul, who had been waiting for a long time and had collapsed on the floor, was slowly getting up and approaching me.

And after that… It continues with the previous situation, so I’ll skip it.

Jung Yewon, who is constantly provoking me with sensitive words, and Hayul, who is glaring at her with a deadly cold gaze while responding to her.

Maybe this is all a problem caused by me messing around with my lower body… That thought suddenly flashed through my mind.