Transfer Student Neon(2)

Vroom—

“She’s here.”

The sound of an engine begins to be heard at the quiet entrance of the tower.

At that, I uttered a short word and raised my head towards where the sound was coming from.

A single car approaching the tower from far away.

Although it was an ordinary car that didn’t fit at all with the Central District where the towers of the Five Pillars were built, the car quickly drove up as if that didn’t matter and stopped at the entrance in front of the General Management Team’s tower.

A car that would normally have been sent away immediately by the guards.

However, today the purpose of this car was clear, so the guards watched silently as I, Yeon-ah, and Neon approached the car.

Step– Step–

Neon’s back view is visible as we walk towards the car like that.

Her appearance of walking in her school uniform with her schoolbag swinging looked just like a little kid.

Neon, who couldn’t hide her expectation as if she was extremely looking forward to going to school today, was showing her emotions without reserve.

Feeling like that emotion was reaching even me, I smiled slightly thinking that a kid is still a kid, but I had to pull back the corners of my mouth again as Neon suddenly turned her head towards me.

“You weren’t just thinking something annoying, were you?”

“…No? Not at all?”

“I felt an unpleasant tickle from the gaze on the back of my head…”

Neon frowns, immediately reacting to my gaze, perhaps because she had lived in the slums.

At that sharp appearance, I secretly averted my gaze and let out a small fake cough.

And Neon, who found me suspicious, seemed like she was about to probe further, but fortunately, that dangerous situation could be avoided as the car door opened as soon as we stopped walking.

Clunk—

The back seat door opens to let Neon in as soon as we arrive in front of the car.

At that, Neon glared at me for a few seconds before turning her head and getting into the car.

“…I’ll let it slide just this once.”

“Alright, alright. Have a good day at school.”

A sigh of relief that was about to escape naturally.

However, knowing that if I let it out, Neon would come running at me with her fangs bared, I swallowed the sigh inwardly and bid Neon farewell.

‘Is it because she can handle the goblin power well now? She’s really become difficult to deal with.’

『If you didn’t tease her in the first place, there wouldn’t be any fights.』

‘Honestly, I can’t stop because it’s too fun.’

『…』

Recently, when Neon gets angry and comes running, it’s become quite difficult to respond, so I felt the need to control my teasing in many ways.

Hwa-gon is urging me to stop the teasing altogether, but how could I stop something so fun?

Since I get a reaction every time I push her buttons, there was no way I could stop such an amusing prank.

And ignoring Hwa-gon, who was silently expressing various emotions at my answer, Yeon-ah, who was standing beside me, also smiled at Neon and greeted her like I did.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any particular advice to give about school. So, have a good day, Neon.”

“I don’t think there would be anything proper in the advice you’d give anyway… And rather than thinking about such advice, please don’t have any more conversations like the one this morning.”

“…Ahem! I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t you think that thinking about it is the problem in the first place?!”

Neon raises her voice at Yeon-ah’s answer and squeezes her eyes shut as if she has a headache.

But that was only for a moment. Soon, as the door that had been open closed with the artificial intelligence’s voice announcing departure, Neon opened the window and looked at us alternately.

Whirr—

Neon’s red eyes visible through the lowered window.

Neon seemed to look at us alternately with those eyes still shining with expectation, then carefully raised her hand and waved at us.

“Well then… I’m off to school.”

A greeting that might seem ordinary in any way.

But Neon’s emotions contained within it make that simple greeting special.

At least I and Yeon-ah knew how meaningful this moment was for Neon, so we waved back to that greeting without anyone taking the lead.

“Yeah, have a good day.”

“Take care, Neon.”

“…”

Whirr—

The window closes immediately as soon as I and Yeon-ah wave our hands.

Then, as the car departs without even giving us a chance to peer through the window, I turn to Yeon-ah with a chuckle.

Then I see Yeon-ah looking at the back of the car with a faint smile, just like me.

Seeing that expression she usually makes when looking at sleeping Seol, I opened my mouth.

“Does it feel like Neon is really your sister now?”

“Well, legally she’s certainly been adopted as my daughter. And since we’ve been living together and bumping into each other every day recently, at first she just seemed like an arrogant kid, but I’ve come to see that she’s quite thoughtful and has cute points.”

“Hmm… Neon is certainly like that. But well, nothing will happen to her at this school place, right?”

“You probably don’t need to worry about that part.”

Yeon-ah asserts that the bag given to Neon is equipped with at least an automatic protection system and alarm system, and if any problems arise, it would be because Neon hit someone.

“Even though Gaeam High School is a hunter training high school, the level of the students themselves is far behind compared to Neon. Neon is almost at the level of a semi-S-rank hunter. Just in terms of strength alone, it’s like comparing a drop to an ocean, so if the school contacts us, it would only be because Neon couldn’t control her anger and used her fists.”

“That’s a relief then. Well… it’s better to have problems from hitting someone than getting hit.”

“It’s as you say, Ancestor.”

When people get angry, isn’t it natural to hit the person who made them angry?

If an ordinary person heard this, they might have pointed out that there was something wrong with this way of thinking, but at least for me and Yeon-ah, this was a natural thought.

It’s not like we didn’t have the power to solve such problems on our side, so as Yeon-ah said, there seemed to be no need to worry.

And because of that, now that I had completely sent Neon off to school, I stretched my stiff back and refreshed the air in my lungs.

“Urghh…! Then shall we quickly go to Mount Seorak?”

“Yes, I prepared the aircraft carriers and cargo flagships in advance yesterday.”

Now that we’ve sent Neon off, what I need to do is go to Mount Seorak again with Yeon-ah.

As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot, it suited my personality to handle it the next day right away rather than postponing it unnecessarily, so this was something I had planned in advance yesterday.

Since Yeon-ah said the preparations were already finished, all that’s left to do is to quickly go to Mount Seorak and sweep up the gold and silver treasures, rare items, and weapons inside the warehouse.

Therefore, at the point when Neon was going to school, I and Yeon-ah also moved our steps back into the tower.

“Let’s try to go and come back before Neon returns from school if possible.”

“Yes, Ancestor.”

Aiming for the fastest possible handling of business, our destination was the airport in the 34th District.

Since we intended to finish the work before Neon returned if possible, our steps entering the tower were quick.

Now it’s time to visit Mount Seorak again.

---

Tap, tap, tap, tap—

At the back gate parking lot of Gaeam High School.

Currently, the sound of feet tapping filled with anxiety was echoing regularly there.

And Lim Sung-hwan, Teacher Lim, who was listening to that sound right beside him, turned to look at the man tapping his feet incongruously next to him.

“Principal, are you alright? If you’re feeling very nervous, maybe I should just go alone…”

“No, no. I should be here too. Yes. That’s right.”

Maybe you should at least stop tapping your feet then. Sung-hwan felt those words rising up to just below his chin, but he barely swallowed them and straightened his gaze again.

The principal, who, despite being in his 70s, kept his body fit out of respect for Ahn Seo-hyun, the leader of the Punishment Team called the hero of the defense city.

There was nothing more incongruous than seeing a man with frighteningly broad shoulders tapping his feet like a five-year-old child next to Sung-hwan.

So when Sung-hwan was trying hard to detach his nerves from the principal, suddenly the annoying foot-tapping sound stopped.

Then silence falls at the same time.

And suddenly in that silence, the principal spoke to Sung-hwan while keeping his head facing forward.

“Teacher Lim, since you’ll be in charge as the homeroom teacher, I’ll tell you a few things in advance.”

“Huh? Ah, yes…”

Tell me what in advance?

As Sung-hwan looked at the principal with such a face, the principal began to continue speaking with a solemn expression.

“The student named Neon, most of her documents are blank, aren’t they? But she’s not an untrustworthy student, so don’t be unnecessarily curious or try to find out about her. I vouch for that student.”

“What?! Ah, no. I didn’t have such thoughts to begin with?”

“Is that so, that’s fortunate then.”

What kind of scary talk is this about investigating a student’s background?

Since Sung-hwan had no such thoughts at all from the beginning, when Sung-hwan answered like that, the principal nodded saying it was fortunate.

Then the principal lightly patted Sung-hwan’s back and added more words.

“And this is just out of an old man’s concern… but please try to make sure the transfer student coming today doesn’t clash with Na Juri, the student in your class, if possible.”

“Huh? You mean Na Juri?”

“Yes, and I know you’re tight-lipped, so if other teachers ask about what I just said, I’d appreciate it if you could vaguely brush it off.”

The principal finished speaking with a heavy single sound as if trusting Sung-hwan himself.

However, from Sung-hwan’s perspective hearing the principal’s words, he could only feel full of questions.

Why did the name of Juri, a student in his class, suddenly come up here?

And is saying that he’s tight-lipped and asking him to brush it off on his own implying that this is an important conversation?

Sung-hwan’s face filled with question marks at the successive questions that arose, and he tried to understand the principal’s words somehow.

But no matter how much he thought about it, these were questions that needed his own answers.

“Um, Principal. What exactly does that…”

So Sung-hwan was about to ask the principal directly, but unfortunately, it was cut off by the appearance of a car entering through the back gate.

Vroom—

Before Sung-hwan could finish his question, a car enters the back gate parking lot with a quiet engine sound.

And the car drove straight in, seemed to decelerate, then stopped right in front of Sung-hwan and the principal.

“…”

It was just a single car that had stopped, but Sung-hwan’s mouth closed shut as if glued.

Glancing slightly, the principal standing next to him was the same.

For some reason, feeling an indescribable presence emanating from inside the car, neither Sung-hwan nor the principal could open their mouths carelessly.

Clunk—

Then the car door opened in that silence.

And the person who got out of there was undoubtedly a girl wearing the uniform of Gaeam High School.

“So this is…”

A single girl carefully stepping into the parking lot while muttering with trailing words.

At the same time, as the girl completely descended into the parking lot, her snow-white hair dyed in various colors spread out mystically fluttering.

“Oh, ohh…”

The girl repeats small exclamations with her mouth open as if the school building is fascinating.

And as Sung-hwan and the principal quietly watched the girl like that, the girl belatedly noticed their gazes and straightened her posture with a start.

“Ah, I’m sorry! I was distracted and didn’t see you…”

“No, no. It’s alright, student Neon. You can be comfortable.”

The girl… more precisely, the transfer student Neon, whom Sung-hwan had been waiting for here with the principal today, bows her waist and apologizes.

At Neon’s attitude, the principal waved his hand saying she didn’t need to be so stiff, and only after hearing those words did Neon straighten her bowed waist again.

“…!”

Then for a moment, her gaze met with Sung-hwan’s.

After a brief exchange of glances, Sung-hwan, as the homeroom teacher, gave Neon an eye greeting in the awkward atmosphere.

And at Sung-hwan’s eye greeting, Neon immediately bowed her waist once more and gave Sung-hwan a proper greeting.

“Hello, teacher. I’m… Neon. It’s nice to meet you.”

Neon’s greeting, somewhat awkward but full of excitement.

This was the first meeting between Sung-hwan and Neon as teacher and student.