episode_0128

“I can’t believe you’re using a professor like that.”

There are moments when people lose their reason.

The limit is different for each person, but at least the anger gauge of Jang A-hyeon, the girl with brown short hair in front of me, seemed to have already reached that point.

No, we may have already exceeded that limit.

Just by looking at his face turning red and his tightly clenched fists shaking, it was possible to guess.

However, the only thing that prevents her mental collapse is me, who exists next to her.

If I weren’t here right now, I might have gone crazy a long time ago and punched Sia in the face.

Even now, when she senses my panicked breathing, she glances at me, puts her hand on her chest, inhales and exhales several times, and tries to use mind control to force herself to calm down.

“I used it… Isn’t that a bit absurd? The professor is also here now.”

“You are the one who is being rude. Why are you doing this when you’ve already revealed everything with your own mouth?”

“Why? The professor already knows, right? Of all the people here, only you didn’t know this.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a fight between women, but considering the intensity, it goes without saying that this was the worst.

My heart felt tight.

Whenever I try to intervene, Sia moves her body to block me from Jang A-hyeon’s gaze.

It shouldn’t be like this… .

“You. I really want to kill you.”

“Is it okay though? Am I Elm’s lover? You’re the lover of that professor who loves you so much. If you kill me, will the professor like you?”

“Shut up!”

My mind becomes exhausted.

I didn’t intervene in this situation and didn’t say anything, but Mr. Elm Northmund’s mind was devastated because he didn’t say anything.

“It’s okay to hit if you want. No, feel free to try it out. Let’s see how rude I can be in front of the professor.”

“Ugh… Ugh.”

Jang A-hyun’s golden-radiant fist continues to rise and fall.

He bites his lip and desperately pulls down the fist he raised to smash her face.

And Yoon Sia looks at the face filled with agony and despair with an amused expression and a sneer.

It’s already a one-sided fight.

The more Jang Ah-hyeon becomes convulsed, the more Yoon Sia automatically counterattacks instead of counterattacking.

Even if he doesn’t say anything, even if he just shows a mocking face, he continues to rip into Jang Ah-hyun’s heart.

“You… Was he really this kind of person? I thought he was an unpleasant person, but I didn’t know he was so full of malice.”

After a while of the most awkward silence in the world,

Jang Ah-hyun stopped everything, said that in a weak voice, and slowly sat down.

This time, the woman with long black hair who was confronting her didn’t say anything and just looked at her squatting on the floor.

She was so confident, but at this moment, she seemed so small.

“… Black.”

And as I gradually heard a wet sound, I bit my lip and sighed heavily.

There is no way you don’t know its meaning. A lot of things will change today with this.

This fact was bound to explode at some point. These are events and outcomes that cannot be avoided.

And the longer time passed, the greater the hurt she would have suffered.

So, the event I prepared today was to save a girl named Jang A-hyeon, but it was also to leave a big scar on her.

When I saw her sobbing, I realized the meaning again and had no choice but to bite my lip.

My relationship with her will never go back to normal.

A girl named Jang A-hyeon, who still remains in my memory, is always sharp and has leadership skills, leading people and caring for others.

Whether it was her original personality or what she was trying to show me, that was the impression I had of her.

But now you can’t show me like that anymore.

To express it a little differently, it would be safe to say that the person I know named Jang Ah-hyun is a new person born from today onwards.

No matter how much she tries to act like before, the story of today that remains in each other’s memories will continue to come to mind, so she can’t help but be conscious of it.

And the dirty teacher who tried to use her and straddle her will no longer be able to remain in her heart.

‘So after today… ‘I will never be able to meet the child I know named Jang A-hyeon.’

My heart ached.

The moment I became conscious of that thought, the small hesitation that remained in my mind created a faint pain in my heart.

I thought I had already made up my mind and made a decision, but it seemed like that small hesitation was still lingering in my heart.

In addition to the guilt, I felt a faint pain lingering within me.

‘I didn’t think so, but maybe I… .’

I have always made the excuse that I didn’t know.

I used to think that I didn’t have any feelings for her.

Of course, that is still a valid fact.

Then why does my heart hurt so much?

Have you become attached to the way she has shown you so far?

Or is it just a feeling of pushing away the girl who followed me around saying she liked me?

‘But even so, the decision has already been made.’

okay. The decision has already been made.

Although I feel a little regretful and miserable, I can’t change my decision now.

As I realized this and nodded my head a little, I felt eyes directed at me from in front of me.

“… ?”

It was Sia.

At the end of my gaze, there was her looking at me with a wry smile.

Because that expression was not one she would make, I felt suspicious for a moment and stared straight into her eyes.

Why do you look like that?

After completely beating Jang Ah-hyun up until now, he showed his firepower to the point where he burned her to ashes.

I thought he was looking triumphant and satisfied, but why was he looking at me with that expression?

“Elm.”

she calls me

“You made a promise to me, right?”

“Promise?”

“You made a promise to me last time. Do you remember?”

It’s a promise.

I couldn’t easily remember what promise she was talking about.

Now my head was in a completely extreme state, as if a flag was standing on only one point.

My mind, which had been apprehensive while watching the argument between the two women that had just been going on, is somehow only in a state where the emotional part is wide open.

As I was racking my brain because I couldn’t remember what promise she was talking about, the corners of her eyes narrowed when she spoke first.

Then, looking at me in confusion, he shook his head, sighed loudly, and gave the correct answer in a voice that seemed to have some spirit.

“That morning. You talked to me.”

“Morning? iced coffee… At that time.”

“Yes. At that time, Elm made a promise to me.”

She says that and looks at me.

‘… what?’

Actually, I said I remembered it, but I just said it haphazardly. I can’t immediately remember what memory I was talking about.

Although I spoke openly and energetically, if you saw me with my neck slightly bent and answering with a straight face, you would probably not feel trustworthy at all.

Sia is surprisingly quick-witted.

He looked a bit pouty, as if he immediately realized that he was just saying something out of thin air, but he continued talking as if he didn’t want to make an issue of it now.

“Elm made a promise, so I will believe it. So, you must never break your promise, Elm.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“… What promise?”

A low, slightly crying voice is heard from behind.

When I turned to look, I saw Jang Ah-hyeon crouching against the wall near the window, rubbing her red eyes and looking in this direction.

Her well-groomed chestnut hair was sticking to each other and splitting due to moisture, and the knitted dress she had worn so stylishly was wrinkled, making her look even more miserable.

Sia looked at that for a moment.

“You don’t have to know, it’s a promise just between the two of us.”

“… .”

“No, it doesn’t matter. Let me tell you. Not long ago, I made a pact with Elm’s Dragonheart to prevent him from betraying me. Yeah, that’s what you think. When you break a promise, your heart explodes and you die.”

“… What?”

“Yes. I made you that promise so that you wouldn’t betray me. So, even though I exposed the whole truth like this, I got away with it. If not, wouldn’t the relationship have already fallen apart and ended?”

I was startled by Sia suddenly saying something strange and tried to come forward, but she raised her hand to block me.

When Jang A-hyeon heard those words, strong emotions appeared again on Jang A-hyeon’s face, who was rubbing her red eyes.

Upon hearing those words, Jang Ah-hyun suddenly starts biting her nails and repeating something to herself.

If someone passing by saw her now, her clothes and hair were tangled, her face looked anxious, and she was talking to herself, I don’t know if she would have looked so strange that they would have recommended going to the hospital.

Seeing that the words she was repeating included professor, medicine, dragon heart, etc., it seemed like she was analyzing what Sia had said over and over again in her head.

“… I see.”

And finally, Jang Ah-hyeon stands up with the flames of anger burning in the white ashes.

“You are such a great person!”

“Ah, that’s enough now. My mouth is starting to hurt, but can I just stop here? Anyway, you know now, right? Tell me why you don’t have a chance.”

With a somewhat bored look on her face, Yoon Si-ah says, “I’ll just leave, Elm,” and taps Jang A-hyeon on the shoulder and heads towards the door of the principal’s office with a small giggle.

Jang Ah-hyeon could not take her angry gaze off her until the door to the principal’s office opened and she completely disappeared from sight as her figure gradually became smaller in the darkness.

Eventually, after she disappeared, Jang Ah-hyun’s burning gaze turned towards me.

“Uh, so that’s it… .”

“Professor!”

As I was contemplating what to say to the awkward space left after the storm passed.

Patter.

The sound of her pumps hitting the marble floor is heard.

And soon after.

“Oh!”

Suddenly, with a sound, she was hugged to me.

“How did I end up with such a crazy woman… professor! Why didn’t you tell me sooner!”

“No, that’s not true, you just misunderstood something.”

“You’ve already heard it all! And yet, how did it happen… Is it because of that agreement?”

She suddenly places her hand on my chest.

The long-haired woman who came in a storm and then disappeared again in a storm has a serious expression, as if she is trying to find the chain of the covenant that is tightening her heart.

But there’s no way I can feel it.

Because that doesn’t exist at all. I have never made a promise, and above all, there is no magic in itself that can blow a heart away with a single blow of such a covenant.

If there was such a thing, there would have been a lot of abuse since the days of the original game 『Grandis Saga』.

However, I was so overwhelmed by her momentum that I ended up nodding my head without realizing it.

That’s because the words Yoon Sia said just now were lingering in my head.

‘I made a promise, so I will believe that promise.’

Now I remember.

Perhaps the promise she spoke of was referring to what happened in the principal’s office that day after visiting Taeseong’s mansion.

─No matter what happens, please think of me first.

Yes, she said that back then.

─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.

─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.

I remember what Sia said to me that morning.

That’s what you said to me when I was about to give up on Jang Ah-hyun. He said that if I keep those conditions, he can understand my slight deviation.

Was that why, as soon as the agreement was confirmed, I provoked Jang A-hyeon and made her even more unable to give up on me?

If her intentions are right, she has truly succeeded.

“Professor. Is there a way to break this oath? I wonder if there is a way I can help you.”

“… I don’t know yet. But there might be a way later.”

“Ah, Professor. What should I do with this?”

Yes, didn’t they make Jang Ah-hyun completely change like now?

You’re clinging to me as I sit on the chair in the office, like you’re nursing a wounded puppy.

‘No, but it would be difficult to do it blindly like this.’

The operation to take down Jang A-hyeon today failed.

It wasn’t an ordinary failure, but actually had the opposite effect.

She’s not like she usually is. The sight of her so defenseless, stamping her feet and looking pitiful.

Could it be that his usual mature, dignified demeanor was actually a pretense that he was showing me?

Looking at her now, it was the reaction of girls of that age who seemed somewhat innocent, so I clicked my tongue inwardly.

“I see. As expected, I couldn’t understand why a professor would date such a woman. But there was a reason for everything. Poor professor.”

“No, but Sia is essentially a good child. So please… .”

“Professor! How did it come to this… .”

Jang A-hyeon, her brown short hair swaying, comes closer and closer to me.

Those big eyes filled with water and pity made me feel like I was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

‘No matter what, you twisted it too much.’

I was about to sigh loudly, but when I looked at her watery eyes looking at me, I felt somewhat awkward, so I just hummed and said whatever came into my head.

“It’s warm.”

“Whoa, I guess that woman has never even given a professor such a simple hug.”

“… .”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just blurted out something, but instead, it became more and more misunderstanding and misinterpretation, making the situation even more complicated.

It was too late to solve it now, so I decided to just leave it as is. No, should I say that it had to be that way?

‘It’s resolved well, right?’

Yes, even if Alexander the Great had not visited the temple of Gordium, in fact, he would not have had much trouble conquering Persia.

Alexander’s great achievements were not due to the power of chariots tied in the Gordian knot, but were purely due to his tactical ability and the dedication of his excellent subordinates.

So, although the current situation is also a relationship that is as twisted as the famous knot, our feelings for each other have deepened, but there is nothing lacking in this.

No, the answer is it doesn’t matter. I decided to just think that way from now on.

I sighed softly in my heart as I looked at her sitting next to me and holding onto me as if she was nursing me.