Ch 190
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 190
In my previous life, I didn't take airplanes very often, but in this life, it seems like I'm taking airplanes a lot.
"Teacher, are you really not going to the duty-free shop?"
Duty-free shop... I used to buy a bottle of liquor or so, but now I'm a student.
"Ah, not really. I don't have anything particular to buy."
The special camp hosted by the International Hunter Association that Seo-ra had suggested to me after the midterm exams last time - Eunseo asked me to go together, so I participated too.
I thought it was a bit bothersome, but looking at it now, it seems like it wasn't a bad choice.
After the last holiday ended, Ji-an confessed to me.
Of course, my answer was rejection.
After that day, Ji-an didn't speak to me.
It was natural since I rejected her, but not long after, rumors started spreading throughout the entire first year.
It wasn't simply a rumor that I rejected Seong Ji-an's confession, but rather quite a malicious rumor.
'From the beginning of the semester, he was friendly with her, taking care of this and that, and she was also friendly, taking care of various things for him as they got along well and had something going on, but behind the scenes he was meeting another woman and after weighing his options, he dumped her.'
I became a complete scumbag who plays with people's hearts.
Honestly, it's so unfair.
It's true that Ji-an took good care of me, and I roughly noticed that she liked me, but I never played with her or toyed with her.
I was good to her because she had a connection with Min Chan-seong in the past...
Then I received a confession and just rejected it, but it couldn't look good in other people's eyes.
'There's no result without a cause,' so someone spread the rumor for this to happen, but it wouldn't be Seong Ji-an.
Of course, there was no one watching when I rejected the confession, but considering that kid's personality, it wouldn't be her.
In the early days when the rumor spread, she even explained that it wasn't like that, that she just confessed and got rejected, and that she had misunderstood.
Well, the rumor had already spread so the explanation had almost no effect, and rather, 'even after being treated like that, she's still covering for him,' which only made my image fall further into the abyss.
Of course, Seong Ji-an might have intended it that way, but that kid isn't such a vicious person.
I think the person who spread the rumor was probably Nam Ji-hyeon.
The only kid close enough to Ji-an to hear such stories is that bitch.
Of course, it's just circumstantial evidence with no solid proof.
Even if that bitch was the culprit who spread the rumor, from her perspective, it's inevitable that I would look like a bad guy.
I didn't make any explanations.
I was also a student council member who got first place in the entire school on midterms and got along fairly well with my classmates, but I couldn't compare to Seong Ji-an and Nam Ji-hyeon.
Both have parents who are S-rank hunters and are from top 10 guilds, and they're quite popular.
Even if they didn't show it normally, there were probably kids who thought poorly of me being friendly with those two.
Well, public opinion had already tilted toward me being trash, so I think explanations wouldn't have been much use anyway.
'Agitation is possible with one sentence, but to refute agitation requires countless documents and evidence.'
Of course, if Eunseo's name had been included in the rumor content or if Eunseo had been mentioned, I wouldn't have let it slide like this, but Eunseo's name didn't come up.
Well, even touching Eunseo would have been too risky for Nam Ji-hyeon.
If it wasn't that, Eunseo might not have known, so she might think she's a victim.
It could be because we're not officially dating yet.
Anyway, thanks to this rumor, I became thoroughly isolated not only in my class but throughout the entire first year.
Probably if we held a vote on who's more trash right now, I'd surpass Lee Ji-sung.
"Still, since we came to the airport, let's go together."
Eunseo still seems unaware... Well, it's not the grade right above, and first years and third years have almost no contact.
If she knew, she's not the type to just stay still.
I hope she continues not knowing.
If that kid steps forward unnecessarily, things will get bigger.
"Are you trying to use me as a pack mule?"
"Oh, you caught me."
"Just with words? You'll pay me a daily wage, right, Vice President?"
"That's too much. Where would a student get money?"
"I'm joking. Alright, let's go."
We stopped by the duty-free shop for shopping and came to the gate right on time.
I thought the International Hunter Association would support expenses and book business class tickets, but since we're students, they probably tried to save on budget, so it's economy class.
We'll arrive in 2 hours, so it doesn't really matter...
Geez, how much difference could it be?
Chatting with Eunseo, two hours passed quickly and we arrived at Haneda Airport.
We came without a separate guide, just students together, but fortunately someone from the Hunter Association came to the airport to pick us up.
We arrived comfortably in Tokyo by car, but from then on, it was a series of quite bothersome events.
As soon as we got off at some place that looked like a government building, we went to some auditorium and listened to speeches for nearly 2 hours and took group photos.
Then we moved to a place like a large lecture hall where S-rank hunters from China and Japan came out and started giving lectures.
There were break times of about 10 minutes in between, but it was quite boring.
It would have been a bit better if it were practical classes where we at least moved our bodies, but most of it was just useless content like bragging about their portal conquests or mindset as hunters, spirit of sacrifice as hunters.
Still, after returning to the hotel, it's free time from dinner.
I heard that from 8 PM after dinner time, they're having something like a social gathering in the hotel basement, but that's optional attendance.
The second-year student who came with us said they'd go, but I'm not planning to go.
Eunseo also naturally said she wouldn't go, so we decided to go on a date together.
We have to return to the hotel by 10 PM, so we can't do it for very long.
"Teacher, will you eat more?"
"Yeah. Did you finish eating already?"
The hotel is buffet-style, and it's better than I thought, so I was going to eat another plate, but Eunseo seems full.
"If we're going to eat snacks while walking around later, I should save room. Then I'll go up first and get ready."
"Alright. I'll eat quickly and come up to get ready too."
Eunseo left first and I brought more food, but... Huh? Other students are sitting where I was originally sitting.
The staff took the dishes away, so they probably thought the seat was empty and sat down.
There are quite a few people, so I can't see any seats.
Should I ask to share a table? Just as I was thinking that, fortunately I saw a seat in the corner and headed there, but two female students are approaching me.
"Excuse me, is this seat empty?"
I left the translation magic device in my room, but since it was Japanese, I could understand.
"No. I'm alone."
"Huh? Japanese? Are you perhaps Japanese..."
"No. I'm Korean, but I can speak a little Japanese."
"You're completely at native level. Can I sit here?"
"Sure."
I said it was fine, but I felt a bit uncomfortable and was trying to eat quickly and get up when this time a male student approached.
"Misa, why are you here? I said I'd save you a seat."
His hair was dyed blonde, his skin was completely tanned dark, and his ears were full of piercings.
If he hadn't acted familiar with the Japanese female students at the same table, I wouldn't have known he was a student.
I used to do that too when I rebelled against the vice principal.
Don't Japanese hunter academies have regulations?
Among the kids I saw during the school trip before, there weren't any dressed like this.
"We never said we'd eat with senior."
"Hina, you stay out of this. Misa, let's go together."
"I don't want to. I'm going to eat here with Hina."
"Well, then I'll just sit here too. Hey, you there, move."
Haha... Is he talking to me right now?
"Senior Satsu! What are you doing?"
"What, you're not even wearing a translator. Hey, don't you understand Japanese?"
Thinking I didn't understand Japanese, he glared at me shouting 'Get out,' which is ridiculous.
Sigh, really, if I cause trouble in a place like this, it'll obviously be bothersome, so if he had asked nicely, I would have just moved.
I was almost done eating anyway.
But 'kind words beget kind words,' and it seems like I need to fix this hooligan's habits.
"Where is some dog barking?"
When I casually said that, his face turned bright red.
"Dog? You impudent bastard, do you know who I am? What school are you from?"
"Satsu, stop it. This person isn't Japanese, he's Korean."
"What, he was a Josenjing? So this Josenjing learned our language and was pretending to be Japanese. Hey, get lost."
"I can speak Japanese, but I don't have the skill to translate what dogs say, so I don't know what you're saying. Excuse me, what is this dog saying?"
Unable to endure my second provocation, he reaches out his hand toward me.
He seems to be trying to grab my collar, but no way.
I immediately used binding magic to subdue him and just pushed the frozen guy.
THUD!
He falls backward with quite a refreshing sound.
"Sa... Satsu!"
"That bastard used magic..."
"Um... I'm sorry. Please stop. Satsu, you stop too."
"What, what should I stop? You cowardly Josen... Mmph!"
Since he still seemed not to have come to his senses, I sealed his mouth with silence magic and stood up from my seat.
STOMP!
I stepped on his foot with my foot.
I was originally going to step on his face, but with so many people watching, doing that would really make things big.
"We're really sorry. Please stop."
"I'm sorry."
"The one at fault is this mutt here, so why are you two apologizing?"
"Because he's our school's senior..."
They keep bowing their heads and apologizing, which makes me feel burdened.
They seemed to dislike him, wasn't that right?
The guy on the ground still shows no signs of remorse, but if I do more here, things will get bigger, so I removed my foot.
"We're really sorry."
"Stop apologizing, and the magic will wear off on its own in a bit."
I had that conversation and left the restaurant.
There might be complaints later... No, nine times out of ten there will be complaints, but the one who picked a fight first and tried to use his hands was that bastard.
He even used the anti-Korean slur "Josenjing," so I'm not without things to say either.
I returned to my room and was brushing my teeth when Eunseo texted asking if I was still at the restaurant.
When I replied that I'd returned to my room, she contacted me saying she was ready, so I also quickly finished brushing my teeth, changed clothes, and left the room.
Taking the elevator down, I can see Eunseo standing in the lobby area.
"You came quickly."
"Someone was rushing me."
We went out together and took a walk in a nearby park. When Eunseo said she wanted to eat ramen, we ate ramen and also went to a cafe.
When we returned to the hotel, it was exactly 9:55 PM.
"I should hurry and go in."
They said association staff would go around each room at 10 PM to check attendance.
"Yeah, see you when we eat tomorrow morning. I'll text you."
I parted with Eunseo and returned to my room, but... Huh?
There's no one in the room.
There are 6 students total who came from Korea.
3 males and 3 females each, with male students rooming with male students and female students with female students.
Did the social gathering run a bit long?
Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like they'll do the attendance check either. If I'd known this, I should have played with Eunseo a bit more before coming.
Let me wash up first, I thought, and was gathering clothes to change into when the doorbell rang.
If it were the students sharing the room, they'd just open the door and come in, so what is this?
Looking outside through the magic mirror attached to the front door, I see a young man in a suit and tie standing there.
Is he association staff here for attendance check?
I opened the door for now.
"Are you student Min Chan-seong?"
It's Korean, but the pronunciation is a bit awkward, so he seems to be Japanese.
"Yes. I'm Min Chan-seong."
"I heard there was a disturbance at the hotel restaurant this evening, and that you were the one who used violence?"
"I did use magic, but the other side tried to use violence first, so I was trying to respond defensively..."
"I'd like you to come with me to discuss the details."
Did they report it to the police?
He doesn't seem to be police, but I felt a bit uneasy. Still, thinking I could explain it well, I said alright and followed behind the man.
As expected, he wasn't police, and we came to something like an auditorium? on the hotel's 2nd floor.
The students sharing my room are also there, along with two staff members in suits and one graying middle-aged man. I can see that Satsu guy who got stepped on by me earlier.
The students sharing my room seem to have been dragged here because of me. I unintentionally caused them trouble.
They were all nice and gentle kids. I'm sorry.
"Gento, is this the bastard who insulted and bullied our Satsu?"
"Uncle, that's the bastard."
That Satsu guy looks at me and speaks with a vile smile. That bastard probably left out his own faults and only told his side of the story.
Excluding the Korean students, everyone seems to be Japanese...
Somehow, even if I explain, it feels like they won't believe me.