episode_0221

Everyone turned at the same time at the sudden noise.

A female student dressed neatly in her school uniform was slowly approaching them.

Even in an urgent situation, her calm appearance actually looks unnatural. Lee Hyun, who saw her, could immediately guess her identity.

The person who spoke just now was not the female student herself, but someone else over there. In other words, the mastermind behind this situation.

And maybe…

“What does it mean?”

“It means that struggling is useless.”

After handing Professor Shin Jae-yu, whom Lee Hyeon was holding in his arms, over to Jin Ye-seo, he stepped forward. Then, an unfamiliar female student smiled and stared at him.

“There’s nothing you can do right now anyway. Wouldn’t it be better to have a final confession with each other?”

“Are you here to mock us?”

“Well, there’s that too… and there’s things to see.”

She covered her mouth with her hand and smiled bashfully.

“What’s there to do?”

“Yeah. To be exact, to you.”

Then he nodded and pointed at Lee Hyeon.

“Come to the rooftop of the main building. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

She, who had been smiling brightly, added something as if she had forgotten for a moment.

“Ah, but you have to come alone. It’s a bit much to be an uninvited guest on a date, right?”

“What nonsense are you talking about…!”

Then Jin Ye-seo got angry and snapped at her.

“Who do you think I am? Do you think I have some kind of ulterior motive and want me to come alone? Do you think I’ll just watch you do that?”

“Well, maybe it’s better to just watch?”

The schoolgirl continued speaking calmly.

“If you refuse my offer, I will blow up the underground core right now.”

“What…!”

She snickered as she looked at the speechless Jin Ye-seo.

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to just let Hyun-i go? Okay? I should live a little longer.”

“This fucking bitch is carelessly using someone else’s name… ”

Jin Ye-seo glared at her and ground her teeth. Kook Jae-ryong, who had been watching her closely while sweating, cautiously opened his mouth.

“Hey, hey. Just let me go. It will go down in history as a holy sacrifice… ”

“Hey you little shit!! You’re saying that right now…!”

“I’ll go.”

Jin Ye-seo was about to grab Guk Jae-ryong by the collar with a fierce attitude when suddenly a calm voice came from behind her and Jin Ye-seo hurriedly turned around.

“Hey!”

“Good idea. Of course it should be like that.”

And the strange female student nodded slowly, as if satisfied.

She stood there for a moment, then added one more word as if urging a dear friend.

“Then I’ll be waiting… Come quickly?”

-Saah…

Soon, a whitish fog seemed to ripple from the female student’s body and then disappeared. Lee Hyeon ran over and barely managed to support her as she lost her balance and collapsed.

“Listen.”

“Uh, uh… ? Me… ?”

And just as he was about to turn around after handing the female student who had regained her body over to Kook Jae-ryong,

Jin Ye-seo, with a very angry face, blocked his path.

“Absolutely not.”

Jin Ye-seo shook her head fiercely. Lee Hyeon shrugged her shoulders and answered calmly.

“There’s no other way anyway. They say if you don’t come alone, they’ll blow up your core.”

“But…!!”

“Are you thinking about something?”

Professor Shin Jae-yu, who had regained consciousness, joined us shortly after. He staggered a little, but seemed to have recovered somewhat compared to before.

“… To some extent.”

Lee Hyeon slowly nodded to her question and continued with a brief explanation.

“Then it wasn’t Professor Noh Jong-ha who betrayed… ”

Professor Shin Jae-yu gulped at the thought that the entity that had been occupying the female student’s body until just now was the mastermind behind this incident.

“I guess I should assume he was brainwashed by some means. Like that guy over there.”

Lee Hyeon said, nodding to Kook Jae-ryong, who was holding a school girl.

“I’ve fought something similar in the first city before. It’s definitely not the type of enemy you can’t beat. It’s definitely worth a try.”

“Umm… ”

“Professor, please let others know about the current situation. I will deal with it and figure out a way to resolve the situation.”

Lee Hyeon continued to persuade Professor Shin Jae-yu, who looked hesitant.

“If that’s really the mastermind behind this, then maybe they know how to calm the core overload and prevent the explosion. If not, I’ll just buy as much time as I can.”

“No… Absolutely not… ”

Jin Ye-seo shook her head desperately, even holding back tears.

“In the end, you’re saying you’ll die alone… ”

It’s easy to say, but even in the first city, the two of them almost met a terrible death. Knowing the enemy’s strength, it was impossible to leave them to their fate.

“Sigh… ”

However, Professor Shin Jae-yu, who was in agony with his hand on his forehead, eventually had no choice but to nod.

“… Okay.”

“Professor?!”

Jin Ye-seo looked back at Professor Shin Jae-yu in surprise, but she seemed to have already made up her mind. After all, Lee Hyeon’s proposal was the most likely way to resolve this situation.

“I guess I have no choice but to do as you say. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“None… ”

Lee Hyeon, who was about to shake his head, suddenly looked at her waist.

“… Professor, please lend me your blade.”

“Mine?”

“Yes. I don’t have any proper weapons right now… ”

“Okay, I got it. It wasn’t really useful, but of course, someone who needs it should use it.”

Professor Shin Jae-yu nodded readily without much hesitation.

“Oh my, if only we hadn’t been ambushed from behind, we could’ve wiped them all out with this… ”

She grumbled lightly and released the blade from her waistband.

And I was about to hand it over to Lee Hyeon.

Professor Shin Jae-yu paused for a moment as if thinking about something, then suddenly hugged Lee Hyeon tightly.

“Huh?”

Jin Ye-seo glared at Professor Shin Jae-yu with a fierce gaze without realizing it. The mask was buried deep in the valley, so it was not visible.

“I’m sorry. I’ve become a professor and I’ve been getting help from my students… Now I’m going to send them to their deaths… ”

Professor Shin Jae-yu, who had Lee Hyeon in his arms, gently stroked his hair.

“… It’s okay. I’m just doing what I can. ”

Lee Hyun nodded quietly. An unpleasant sensation ran through his body, as if he had been electrocuted by an electric eel, but somehow he felt that he could endure it.

“How special.”

Professor Shin Jae-yu smiled gently, unlike his usual expression.

“… Please come back safely. If you die… I won’t have the face to face that human and my sisters… ”

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely come back alive.”

Finally, the female professor let go of Lee Hyeon and handed him a sharp blade.

“Take it. It’s called the XR-5 Plasmaite. It may not be as good as your Marvelous, but it’ll be pretty useful. ”

“Thank you. I will use it well and return it safely.”

“Haha, of course it should be like that. If it breaks, you’ll charge 100 times more?”

Professor Shin Jae-yu, who had made the last joke, turned around. Behind him was Jin Ye-seo, who was glaring at Lee Hyeon with her cheeks puffed out for some reason.

“… Was it good? Being hugged by the professor… ”

“Good… ”

“Huh… ”

Jin Ye-seo, who had been pretending to throw a tantrum, soon showed a sad look in her eyes.

“Even if I tell you not to go… you’re going to go… ?”

“That’s how it is. Well, it’s better to die alone than to die together… ”

Jin Ye-seo looked angry at the awkward joke that was meant to lighten the mood. Jin Ye-seo approached Lee Hyeon, grabbed his collar, and muttered fiercely.

“Don’t ever say that, even as a joke. It’s horrible to even imagine. Got it?”

“… Okay. I’m sorry.”

Lee Hyun nodded after a moment of silence. Only then did Jin Ye Seo, who was hesitating to let go of his collar, begin to think about something.

And then, after glaring at Professor Shin Jae-yu, he ran to Lee Hyeon and hugged him tightly.

“Oh my… ”

“What am I looking at right now…? That Jinyeseo to the guy…?”

Ignoring the exclamations from Professor Shin Jae-yu and Kook Jae-ryong, Jin Ye-seo pressed even closer to Lee Hyeon. It seemed as if she was trying to cover his body with her scent.

“… You must come back.”

“I told you so.”

Jin Ye-seo, her eyes slightly reddened, whispered softly.

“If you do that… I’ll do anything you ask… Even the most perverted things… I’ll do anything… ”

“What…?”

“Just say you understand… ”

“… Okay.”

“… ”

After hearing the answer, Jin Ye-seo rubbed her face one last time and finally fell down. Before she knew it, the sound of an emergency siren blaring loudly and the screams of people in confusion could be heard in the distance.

After exchanging a final greeting with them, Lee Hyeon immediately turned around and ran towards the rooftop of the main building.

***

As Lee Hyun ran to the rooftop, Kook Jae-ryong’s words somehow came to mind again.

I wondered if he might have mistaken me, but the last time I saw Yena, her unfamiliar appearance, strangely weighed on my mind.

A bird lost in thought. Finally, there was only one door left in front of him. Without hesitation, Lee Hyun opened the door and jumped into the rooftop.

There was already the sound of someone there.

The back of a female student leaning against the railing, her body turned towards him.

“It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?”

A clear and transparent voice spoke to him. She was admiring the red fields that covered the horizon like sunset. Seasoning them with the screams of the people she could hear.

“I’m glad you came. It was too good a sight to see alone.”

At the sight of that all too familiar brown hair blowing in the wind, Lee Hyeon asked in bewilderment.

“Really… it was you… ?”

“I’m sorry. It turned out that way.”

Contrary to her words, there was no sign of apology at all. Then, Yena slowly turned her body towards him.

“Still… it was pretty fun.”

Then he opened his mouth with a bright smile.

“Play with friends.”