episode_0116

“Ugh.”

When I looked at the time, the sun was already high in the sky. Uncharacteristically, I felt like I overslept for the first time in a long time.

The time is approximately half past ten.

After a while, I lay in bed and fell asleep until noon, but for some reason, my body felt dizzy and I didn’t feel like my fatigue had completely gone away.

The moment I put my hand to my mouth and yawned and pulled back the blanket to get out of bed, I stopped moving for a moment.

“Wow… .”

For some reason, I heard a very provocative voice coming from not far away, or even close to me, so I reflexively pulled back and slightly raised the corner of my mouth.

After a moment of strange silence, the two people’s eyes met.

“Ehehe… Good night, Elm. Ah, the time has already passed… .”

When the blanket was lifted with a foolish, half-asleep voice, and her pure white naked body was visible, I quickly pulled down the blanket and covered her body.

“… So, did you sleep well too?”

“Ehehe, yes.”

As I watched her begin to stretch, everything that happened last night began to replay in my head like a cassette tape.

As the events with her that had last night, or rather all night, began to appear in my mind like they were engraved on a canvas, I blushed and burst out laughing as if I was trying to swallow my shame.

Although it wasn’t her intention, she was really passionate, as if her suppressed emotions were bursting out due to the incident that was caused by my mistake.

Perhaps it can be said that my current oversleeping came from that.

Did you really feel what it was like to feel your body melting away and losing all its energy?

“Wow, the weather is nice today. I think the day has cleared up a lot.”

Didn’t the woman behind me notice that I was slightly shaking my shoulders and showing signs of agitation?

Or even if I did notice, am I just pretending not to know to protect my pride?

I’m not sure why, but she speaks while looking out the window in a somewhat tense voice.

“Mmm. I’m in trouble. Some employees are already moving around. It will be a little difficult to return to the dormitory without being caught.”

“Sia.”

“Why are you having lunch together? Yes?”

After taking a deep breath, I slowly turned my body and looked at her.

And I began to tell her the story I had come to my own conclusions about.

“I apologize to you again. It’s all my fault. You must have suffered a lot because of that.”

“… yes I’m okay. Still, Elm chose me in the end.”

“I will go to Jang A-hyeon and correct the misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m sorry, but I’ll make it clear that I will decline that offer.”

This and that is happening and it’s crazy, but let’s summarize the outline based on Sia and Jang Ah-hyeon’s reactions.

Roughly speaking, it seemed like she had said that she would cooperate with me on the condition that I accept her.

Actually, that would have been a profitable thing to do. No matter how much I was a teacher and a student, the help she offered me meant betting everything she had.

It was a difficult condition to declare unless the two people were truly in a relationship.

Of course, the conditions are not unsatisfactory. It wasn’t that Jang Ah-hyun wasn’t attractive.

She was a truly smart child, always upright and just, with a clear vision for the future.

Under normal circumstances, I might have accepted her offer even if I knew everything.

“Elm.”

But now it was unacceptable.

“Yes, Sia.”

How could I betray this child, so lovely and cute, who I decided to be with, right in front of me?

That should never happen. I couldn’t hurt her heart anymore.

So, it would be a pity for Jang A-hyeon. We will have no choice but to remain in the relationship of teacher and disciple forever.

“It’s okay.”

“… Hmm?”

And I couldn’t help but speak in a voice immediately filled with doubt.

She smiles faintly and nods her head slightly, perhaps trying to answer that question.

“… I understand Elm’s situation. So, I will give in this time too.”

“What?”

Suddenly, two pure white hands come out towards me, gently hug me, and bury their head on my chest.

I could only watch the scene blankly as her unique fragrant fruity scent wafted through me.

“Elm is in a very bad situation right now, right? You need her help to achieve your final goal, right?”

“No. It is true that we are in a bit of a predicament, but we will soon find a solution. I just need some time.”

Her slender shoulders were trembling slightly as she hugged me.

It will most likely be very difficult on your mind.

I couldn’t see her expression because she was burying her face in my chest, but I could easily picture the expression she was making.

“It’s okay. Accept her offer.”

“Sia!”

I urgently grabbed her shoulders and shook her away from my body.

Their gazes intersect.

Her moist eyes were still full of affection for me, and her appearance was so lovely that I couldn’t help but hug her tightly, but what she said just now was something I couldn’t just ignore.

What does this mean? Just as I was making up my mind and coming to a conclusion.

“Chairman Jang Tae-san said that. That I can’t do it. Only she can actually help Elm. It’s a pity, but I couldn’t deny it.”

“Jang Taesan… That damn human being.”

“No. It’s true. I love Elm, but I can’t be of much help to him. Elm fights for a greater cause, right? Please don’t break that will because of me.”

“No matter what… .”

There was silence. The late morning sunlight shines brightly inside the bedroom, as if tickling it.

This is ridiculous. I felt sorry for her and tried to listen to everything she had to say, but it was difficult to leave the story just as it was.

“… Of course, there are no conditions. Hehe, that woman also put a condition on Elm, but I feel like I’m losing something if I don’t make it.”

“Ah… Let me tell you first.”

I was about to deny it all at once, but stopped what I was saying when I saw her index finger sticking out at me.

She narrowed her eyes and slowly began waving her finger in front of my nose.

The image came to mind as if it were an homage to the memory of Jang Ah-hyun telling me the conditions in the annex of Taeseong Mansion.

“No matter what happens, please think of me first.”

“… Um.”

“You might think it’s selfish. But these are my conditions. Please always think of me before that woman. If you give a gift, please give it to yourself before hers. If she and I are in danger, please run to save me first.”

“… .”

“And if there comes a time when I have to choose between that woman and me… Please be sure to choose me. That’s my condition.”

As she said that, she looked as if she was about to break.

I forgot what to say for a moment. This was her true intention.

In fact, half of what I said earlier was close to pretentious talk.

Otherwise, there is no way that she, with her strong possessiveness and desire to monopolize, would obediently tell him to accept another woman.

No matter how much she conceded, this would have been the most she could offer.

“Hehe, actually, Elm reacted calmer than I expected, so I put a little more thought into it.”

“Yes, better than expected?”

“Yes. Actually, if I had liked Elm and thought he was right, I would have criticized him very strongly and canceled the offer right away?”

“No, that is.”

She swayed her body from side to side with twinkling eyes.

For some reason, the atmosphere I felt from her felt cruel for a moment, but she is still a kind-hearted child who knows how to be considerate of me.

The horns sprouting from her head and the tail swaying behind her are very eye-catching.

Her long black hair and the horns sticking out between them sway as she shakes her body.

When I opened my eyes, both of her hands came into view once again, and at the same time, with a small clicking sound, she suddenly hugged me once again.

“Ugh. Why is Elm such a high and noble being that I cannot own alone? Why weren’t you born on the same day as me?”

“Of course… .”

I am a person who entered from outside this world. I force myself to swallow again the words that were rising to my throat.

She probably wasn’t particularly hoping for an answer either.

“If Elm had been a friend of the same age as me, I would have tied him up and locked him in a deep room. Only I, not anyone else, would have made it possible for Elm to become a precious person… .”

“… ?”

She puts one finger to her mouth and smiles with slightly relaxed eyes.

At that moment, a chill appeared on my back. The cruelty I felt just now wasn’t my mistake.

It’s a good thing I’m her superior, I thought sincerely, gulping.

If, when I entered this world, I did not come in with Northmund’s body, but as someone of her same age or vaguely senior, say, a year older… .

As soon as my thoughts reached that point, I shivered from the overwhelming chill and stared at her blankly with my mouth wide open.

She caught my gaze and burst into laughter with a somewhat satisfied expression, as if this was the reaction she had been expecting.

“Hehe, just kidding. There is no way I would do anything that would harm Elm. No one treats their precious things like that. I just made fun of Elm a little.”

And then she puts more and more strength into the hand that holds me.

The unusually strong force compressed my lungs and made it a little difficult to breathe, but I forgot what to say and just stared at her blankly.

She hugged me tightly for a while with the force of squeezing me, and then slowly removed her arms from around me, as if she was finally satisfied.

“Phew. Now I feel relieved too. Because I’ve made up my mind. I also received confirmation that Elm puts me first. Then I won’t have anything to worry about with that woman.”

“… Is it really okay? Are you perhaps overdoing it?”

“Yes, it’s okay. It’s for the cause that Elm aims for. So, I will try to get along well with her.”

She nodded and began to pick up her clothes that were lying on the bedside and put them on.

A rustling sound was heard, and before I knew it, a sophisticated-looking woman was standing wearing a black turtleneck polar T-shirt and a cashmere camel coat over it.

Looking at her like this, she somehow feels like an office lady, and she is so different from the way she seduced me late last night wearing only a thin negligee, that I forgot what to say.

After changing into office-like going out clothes, she smiles at me and says something.

“Oh, that’s right. Elm should not be mistaken about this.”

“What is the story?”

“… Hmm. I ask again, do you remember what you said at the end that you would choose me?”

“Of course. There’s no way you could forget something like that.”

“Yes, that’s it. Ultimately, Elm must be connected to me.”

“Hmm?”

I asked back in a slightly stupid voice. This is because I had no idea what this child was talking about.

When I said that I would allow her to accept Jang A-hyeon’s proposal and I gave her a puzzled look, not knowing what she was saying, her face turned pale.

Her round eyes narrowed slightly and her face turned into a slightly glaring look. I scratched my head in embarrassment, and she continued to giggle at me.

To be honest, I would say that the sound of laughter is extremely annoying.

“It may be a little early to tell you now, but you should marry me.”

“What? Ah, of course that’s a given, but then with that child Jang Ah-hyun… .”

“Hey─”

Was it a mistake to just say the words without being particularly wary of what she had shown up until now?

“─You didn’t mean to bring up something like polygamy here, right? This is Korea. No matter how much Elm is said to be the world’s hero, he is polygamous… Umm. Well?”

“… .”

… That was unlikely.

That’s right.

Even though I entered the world of the novel, I may have been thinking about the clichés that often appear in the novel.

Now that I think about it, this isn’t medieval land, and that would be a bit difficult in modern society.

‘No, wait a minute.’

So what is the story she told?

Anyway, if what she said is true, don’t you feel so sorry for Jang Ah-hyun? To put it bluntly, isn’t this saying that you should just use it and then throw it away?

“Hehe.”

Sensing that my questioning gaze was on her, she smiled faintly with a bewitching expression, like a goblin.

When I realized that the meaning of her laughter was that she was trying to make fun of me, I burst out laughing.

This is a child who really picks up and puts down. I guess this was her original personality.

I was nodding my head, sighing in relief.

“Well? What I just said may have been sincere. I’m feeling a bit glum right now too.”

“What?”

This time, she didn’t answer my question and just shrugged and smiled.

It was as if he was telling me to do whatever I wanted.

“Hehe, I’m going back. good bye. See you later, Elm.”

Then she suddenly kicks her feet and jumps out the open window in the principal’s office.

It is said to be 5 floors, but due to the structure of the huge academy main building, it would be about the height of the 8th or 9th floor of most apartments. She just jumps out without any hesitation.

From afar, a thudding sound as if landing on the ground is heard, followed immediately by the sound of feet hitting the ground.

And I, who was left behind, had this strange feeling that I didn’t know how to express, so I forgot to say anything and just sat down on the bed again.