Ch.60Blue Sky 7

“Why should I spar with you?”

Sohee asked with a smirk.

In response, Seah raised the corner of her mouth and pointed at me.

“Because this person is a professor. Since they’re already here, wouldn’t it be good to get an evaluation?”

At the red-haired girl’s meaningful words, the elite students frowned.

That’s because Seah’s finger was pointing at the transfer student they had been bullying.

“A professor…?”

Sohee asked in disbelief.

“Yes. This person is ‘Professor Han,’ who will be giving a short lecture tomorrow.”

Seah looked down at Sohee with arrogant eyes.

Under that gaze, Sohee froze like a stone.

Because she realized Seah’s words weren’t a simple joke.

The faces of those who had been filming my body just moments ago turned pale.

“That’s impossible…”

Sohee’s lips trembled.

She shook her head as if denying reality.

How could the young woman before them, wearing a school uniform and looking their age, possibly be a professor?

“That’s right. She even attended class with us earlier!”

The telekinetic girl exclaimed.

True to being the student with the strongest mental fortitude in the group, she made a sharp rebuttal.

“Unnie, did you attend class with these kids?”

Seah asked me with a smile.

I couldn’t help but clear my throat at her question.

“Somehow… the teacher must have mistaken me because of the uniform.”

“That’s too bad… I would have liked to attend with you.”

Seah clenched both hands as if upset she hadn’t been there.

“Stop lying… Someone like her can’t be a professor. She couldn’t even dodge a single chair…”

Sohee muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

For her sake, Seah approached her personally.

And like delivering a death sentence, she showed her the lecture plan for tomorrow.

<Healthy Mental Management Methods for Hunter Candidates>

Lecturer: Han Siho.

“Han Siho…”

Clearly the name they had heard in the classroom.

And with the vice principal’s confirmation stamp…

Seah whispered to Sohee, who had turned pale.

In a very “concerned” voice.

“What are you going to do-. Didn’t you say you’d get suspended if you received another warning for school violence-?”

The red-haired girl patted Sohee’s shoulder with a smirk.

She knew better than anyone that she didn’t need to intervene further.

“Ah. Come to think of it, this might not end with just a warning?”

Seah tapped her palm as if calculating.

And seemingly satisfied with the result, she smiled broadly.

“Hitting a professor, trying to strip and film her—isn’t that completely criminal?”

Perhaps it was the word “criminal.”

Sohee glared at Seah with a face full of anger.

The red-haired girl simply shrugged her shoulders at her.

“I wonder if your precious congressman father can protect you this time too.”

Congressman…?

My eyebrows twitched involuntarily at those two words.

The reason she had been able to commit such evil acts without hesitation until now.

It was because her father was a senator in the Hunter Association.

One of the 100 congressmen ruling Korea.

A senator in the top 30% at that.

With such strong backing, she had been able to survive despite severely bullying her friends until now.

But.

Even as a congressman’s daughter, could she survive after messing with a professor?

Sohee bit her trembling lips.

Seah commanded her:

“Apologize. To the professor.”

At the word “apologize,” all eyes focused on Sohee.

Especially the two delinquent girls who desperately looked to their leader.

Since Sohee had never bowed her head to anyone, they hoped more than anyone that she wouldn’t submit.

“I’m…”

Sohee’s blue-tinged lips quivered.

Soon, as if resigned, she muttered in a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry… Professor…”

But Seah wasn’t satisfied with just that.

She grabbed Sohee’s hair in disbelief and twisted her head.

“Listen to that voice. Does this sound like you’re taking it seriously?”

My eyes widened at Seah’s sudden transformation.

Perhaps the school’s strongest wasn’t Sohee but Seah all along.

“I’m sorry, Professor.”

Sohee answered in a tearful voice.

Then the other girls followed their leader and apologized to me.

“Unnie, what should we do with them?”

Seah asked me.

An apology is one thing, but punishment is another.

“Should I burn all their hair off? I’ve been annoyed by their behavior lately, so this works out well.”

Seah smiled maliciously.

She was already holding a Molotov cocktail in her hand.

The girl tore off the rag attached to the bottle and prepared to drink.

That’s not what I gave it to you for…

“Hey, hey… it’s okay. You don’t have to do that.”

I tried to dissuade Seah.

She’s become more extreme while I wasn’t looking.

No, actually, she might have always been this kind of person but just acted introverted in front of me.

I turned my head slightly.

And looked at the wolf standing behind me.

There were wounds all over her body, too large to be hidden even by fur.

As if proving all the pain and oppression she had endured until now.

Those wounds made even me angry.

“I’ll report this to the authorities myself.”

I spoke coldly to the girls, as if passing sentence.

At this, Sohee began to tremble, unlike the composed face she had shown until now.

“Professor, please, at least don’t tell my father…”

Sohee finally showed an expression befitting a teenage girl.

It seems she couldn’t bear the thought of her father finding out about her misdeeds.

Yes.

She wouldn’t like it.

If it became known that she bullied classmates at the academy.

If it became known that she sexually harassed and assaulted an external professor.

It would certainly have a major negative impact on her father’s position as a congressman.

That’s why she should have behaved better.

I buttoned up my school uniform shirt firmly.

And looked at the young girl with serious eyes.

“If you have such an excellent father, you should have lived more righteously.”

I casually slung my bag over my shoulder.

Stroking Jiyoon’s fluffy leg, I said:

“Instead of bullying friends while relying on your father.”

We quietly slipped out of the school’s back alley.

The three girls could only stare blankly at our departing figures.

“Fuck…”

Sohee staggered, supported by her friends.

The three of them barely sat down on a bench in the back alley and faced each other.

“What do we do… who would have thought she was an undercover professor?”

The telekinetic girl sighed.

“I never imagined it. How can a professor pretend to be so weak? She really looked like someone you’d want to bully, I was completely fooled.”

Sohee muttered, biting her fingernails.

She shuddered as she recalled Professor Siho she had seen earlier.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of Siho’s seductive eyes and the mole on her chest.

“So are we really going to be expelled now?”

The knuckle girl asked with a serious expression.

The telekinetic girl snorted in response.

“It’s okay, we’ve been through this before. Won’t Sohee’s father help us like last time?”

“No… if he finds out I got in trouble again, I’m really finished.”

Sohee shook her head with a pale face.

Remembering being beaten with a leather belt by her father, she compulsively trembled.

“Then what are you going to do?”

The two friends asked, as if pushing the responsibility onto Sohee.

Sohee’s anxious lips twitched.

Soon that anxiety turned into a precarious smile.

“We have to stop her…”

“Make sure she can’t even think about reporting to the school…”

The congressman’s daughter picked up her phone.

And began searching through her extensively long contact list.

“That bitch won’t be going home safely today.”

The academy was enveloped in a quiet stillness, as if all classes had ended.

We enjoyed that atmosphere while strolling through the campus.

Jiyoon’s transformation began to fade.

Her size gradually decreased, and soon the fur covering her body fell out.

Jiyoon shrank back as if embarrassed by the changes happening to her.

We were startled and took her to the bathroom.

And barely managed to clothe her naked body.

Certainly, monsterization seems to be an ability with as many risks as it is impressive…

After various complications, I was finally able to return to the academy’s main gate.

By then, the sky had already turned red.

The sun hung on the horizon, dripping lava.

The view of the school from there was spectacular.

It felt somehow nostalgic, as if I had originally attended this place.

Perhaps because of that feeling, I fingered the school emblem attached to my chest.

“Unnie, I’m sorry. I should have stayed right by your side…”

Seah had returned to being a cute teenage girl.

She looked depressed, as if deeply affected by what I had gone through.

“It’s okay. Thanks to that, I was able to meet Jiyoon.”

I smiled gently at the wolf girl standing next to Seah.

Although she had returned to human form, her fluffy ears and tail still remained.

My eyes were drawn to the tail protruding from under her skirt.

Only when the girl spoke did I finally manage to look away.

“Um… Professor.”

Despite having called me Siho so easily before, the girl addressed me with an awkward title.

“Yes.”

The wolf girl’s bright eyes stared at me intently.

Her eyes reflected the red sunset.

“By any chance…”

Despite everything turning out well, the girl’s eyes still looked troubled.

“Did you help me today just because of the school violence investigation?”

I gazed steadily at the girl.

Jiyoon seemed to think that everything that had happened between us today was planned, judging by her dejected expression.

“Was being nice to me all… just out of pity?”

The girl smiled bitterly.

I still remember that smile.

That smile reminded me of a silver-haired woman I knew.

“Jiyoon…”

I approached her slowly.

And gently brushed aside her disheveled hair.

“You know, attending the academy was my dream.”

The girl’s golden eyes turned red.

Those eyes rippled like water.

“And the time I spent with you at school today made me truly happy.”

I whispered softly to the wolf girl.

I didn’t want to hurt someone else like Anna.

“In those moments, I wasn’t a professor.”

May is ending.

June’s wind blew in, tickling my hair.

“I did it all simply because I like you.”

Under the red sunset, I smiled gently.

“…”

The wolf girl’s eyes reddened.

The fine down on her cheeks trembled subtly.

Eventually, Jiyoon threw herself into my arms.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face in my chest.

“Thank you.”

I hugged the girl tightly.

Seah watched the scene with satisfaction.

Soon she handed me a shopping bag containing my clothes and said:

“Unnie, I’ll escort you outside.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

“You never know. It’s dangerous out there since there’s nothing but the academy around here.”

Seah nibbled on her lip as if feeling uneasy about something.

“Then shall we just go to the bus stop together? Someone’s coming to pick me up nearby, so don’t worry too much.”

“Okay.”

At the mention of someone coming to pick me up, Seah finally relaxed her expression.

Then she gracefully approached and linked arms with me.

I ended up leaving through the main gate with both girls on either arm.

“Um… Professor.”

While walking down the hill, Jiyoon cautiously asked.

“I told you not to call me professor. After tomorrow, I’m just a neighborhood bartender.”

“Then what should I call you…?”

Jiyoon asked me, seemingly perplexed.

“…”

I took a moment to gather my thoughts at her question.

Then, covering my mouth with the back of my hand, I shyly muttered:

“Call me unnie…”

Jiyoon smiled brightly.

As if she had been waiting for those words.

“Yes, unnie.”