Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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"That's too much... Hnng... You left me all alone... Ahh!"
"...I'm sorry."
Seong Sua was face-down on the bed, burying her face in the sheets as she sniffled.
"Ahh!"
"... "
It wasn't crying. The massage just felt so good that moans were spilling out.
I'd been spending some intimate time holding hands with Banguli when Seong Sua caught us, grabbed me, and dragged me back to the cabin.
Once there, she chewed me out nonstop.
The gist of her nagging was simple.
She felt neglected that I had fallen for another character when she had come here to play the game with me.
At least she didn't throw a tantrum and quit. That was a relief.
She didn't seem like the type anyway...
This is all~~~~~~~
'Armonia's fault for not stopping me sooner.'
[....]
Heh... Can't even argue back, huh? Feeling guilty?
Anyway, once the nagging finally ended, Seong Sua said she wanted a massage as atonement, so here I was, working hard at it.
But thinking about it, this wasn't an apology. It was more like a reward from the industry.
As I massaged her with my hands, I caressed the skin of Seong Sua's back through her T-shirt.
'I want to touch her for real in reality too.'
[For anything outside VR, you'd probably need a private space.]
Seong Sua was the girlfriend—no, fiancée—of the ultra-elite powerhouse Cho Kang-hyun.
I figured she was acting this freely because she was certain no one was watching right now.
Even in reality, we got along well enough to joke around, but to outsiders, we'd just look like close colleagues—nothing more, nothing less.
But if someone caught us secretly massaging in real life, we couldn't just laugh it off.
Her Conquest would fail on the spot!
And if we were really unlucky, it'd blow up in the media.
'...Let's think this through step by step. The massages only started yesterday anyway.'
Given Seong Sua's pure and chaste aura, she probably wouldn't let anyone touch her body without absolute certainty of privacy.
"Hnnng... Haa... Hnngut..."
"... "
Even if right now, in this VR world, she was letting a stranger massage her...
After about thirty minutes of bliss, Seong Sua drifted off with a hazy expression and hugged me to sleep as usual.
"... "
"... "
Today's fifth-period class for Group 5 was cadet spars.
Cho Seo-hyun stood side by side with Seong Su-ho, intently watching the cadets duel.
Normally, she'd point out flaws in their form, but today she said nothing—just stared straight ahead.
She didn't talk much with Seong Su-ho even on regular days, but today she seemed especially reluctant to speak.
"... "
"... "
The root of this silence wasn't the staff room.
Thanks to turning in early the night before, Cho Seo-hyun woke up ahead of schedule and headed to the cafeteria bright and early.
After waiting a bit, Seong Su-ho showed up, and she planned to joyfully suggest they eat together.
Yeah... she planned to.
(...)
(Instructor Cho Seo-hyun?)
(Uh... yes....)
(...?)
Suddenly having Seong Su-ho right in front of her, Cho Seo-hyun found it absolutely impossible to get the words "let's eat" out of her mouth.
'Dammit, why am I like this....'
She had certainly thought that she could easily ask him to eat before they met, but once he actually appeared before her eyes, her tongue felt tied.
While Seong Su-ho looked on with a puzzled expression at the hesitating Cho Seo-hyun, Seong Sua appeared, and Cho Seo-hyun opened her mouth to address Seong Sua instead of Seong Su-ho.
(Uh... you're here. That... let's eat.)
Cho Seo-hyun clutched her head as she recalled the words she had just spoken.
'Argh! Why do I sound like such a total loser!'
After that, Seong Su-ho, Cho Seo-hyun, and Seong Sua shared a meal that felt like a game of psychological warfare, and then returned to their respective duties without a word.
And since then, Cho Seo-hyun and Seong Su-ho simply conducted the class in silence, without exchanging a single word.
She was certainly filled with the desire to talk to him.
It would have been fine to start with a conversation about the class, as before, or she could have simply asked him to have lunch together.
She just had to talk about something mundane, like she usually did.
But Cho Seo-hyun simply could not bring herself to speak.
"...Dinner should be fine, right?"
Cho Seo-hyun skipped lunch with Seong Su-ho and ate bread and milk alone in the staff room.
Part of her wanted to force herself to join him anyway, but she didn't want to relive that morning's silence.
Especially not in front of Seong Sua.
Chewing a bite of bread and sipping milk, she scrolled through Seong Su-ho's profile.
The sparse page had only basic personnel info.
The one thing that caught her eye was his birthday.
"Already passed."
Seong Su-ho's birthday was January 6th—long gone.
"Damn, I was gonna get him a gift..."
Nothing else on the profile was any help.
Still, Cho Seo-hyun blankly kept scanning the empty page, killing time.
The long-awaited dinner hour had arrived.
"... "
"... "
"Nom nom..."
It was 8 PM.
The cafeteria was nearly deserted, with the only sounds being Song Ara munching away.
It was quiet and sparse.
The problem was that Cho Seo-hyun and Seong Su-ho were also remaining silent..
She tried to start a conversation, but her mouth wouldn't cooperate.
'What the hell do I even talk about...'
No matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn't recall how they'd ever chatted before.
In the end, they finished eating while watching Song Ara's mukbang.
"Haa..."
Without even changing, Cho Seo-hyun lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, muttering to herself.
"Why am I like this..."
The only "conversation" she'd had with Seong Su-ho all day was the loop of "Instructor Cho Seo-hyun?" and "Uh... yeah..."
She wondered if Seong Su-ho would even consider that a conversation, as it sounded like a track on repeat in a music player.
Frustration mixed with anxiety bubbling up inside her.
"He must think I'm weird now, right? Haa..."
The woman who'd normally snap and chew people out had gone quiet and clingy?
Putting herself in his shoes, it felt like truly unpleasant behavior..
She recalled how she had hounded him last week.
She couldn't remember showing him a single positive side of herself for an entire week.
Meanwhile, Seong Su-ho had praised her behind her back, showing his sincerity.
(In my eyes, no other instructor here has her sense of responsibility or work ethic.)
Remembering his compliment, Cho Seo-hyun's lips curved into a goofy grin.
"Hee hee... Hi hit... Haa... How does he say stuff like that... Hee hee..."
After giggling over his words for a while, she snapped back and refocused.
"Ugh... I need some conversation topics first."
Cho Seo-hyeon decided that the possibility of naturally starting a conversation had already sailed away.
Because she had acted in a way that suggested they should only maintain a work-related relationship from the first impression, any natural conversation would inevitably lead directly back to topics about the cadets.
As an instructor, the cadets were naturally important.
However, Cho Seo-hyun wanted to have a private conversation that didn't feel work-related..
Problem was, having aged without ever building friendships, she had no clue what topics to pick.
Finally, she considered advisors.
First candidate: Seong Sua.
"...Nope, can't ask Seong Sua."
No matter how much she wanted to get close to Seong Su-ho, bugging his sister about it? No way.
Second: Song Ara.
"Song Ara... She never tries bonding with peers her age—instead, she's always cozying up to adults..."
An honor student she had watched for two years.
She certainly had a good personality, outstanding abilities, and an appearance that most cadets found appealing.
However, because of the overflowing heroism inside her, her fellow classmates tended to avoid her.
Because she spoke and acted with such unwavering righteousness at such a young age, people found her burdensome.
"As her teacher, I shouldn't say this, but Song Ara could stand to loosen up a bit..."
Thinking of her, Cho Seo-hyun recalled their earlier training.
(Impressive. Way better than yesterday?)
(Hee hee. I thought about your advice all day, and it really helped.)
(Might just be your talent shining through.)
(Hee hee.)
Splayed out across her bed, Cho Seo-hyeon looked at the ceiling and smiled bitterly.
"Praise... I'm jealous..."
Gazing at the fluorescent lights blurring her vision, she murmured.
"Guess I'll ask Song Ara first."
The next day, after morning classes, Cho Seo-hyun vaguely asked Song Ara.
"What do guys like?"
"Yeah, what're kids into these days?"
She used "kids" to dodge suspicion it was about Seong Su-ho.
But Song Ara tilted her head, then muttered just loud enough.
"Instructor Seong Sua asked something similar."
"Huh? Her...? No, Seong Sua did?"
"Yeah. Is it Instructor Cho Kang-hyun's birthday?"
"Uh... Y-yeah, something like that..."
"Hmm..."
Luckily, Song Ara didn't dwell and continued.
"Well, guys love VR. But someone like Instructor Cho Kang-hyun probably has a pod already?"
"...Doubt it's that fancy."
If a VR headset is the budget option, a capsule is the ultra-luxury option.
Cho Seo-hyun vaguely knew capsule prices.
It was something so expensive that not only ordinary people, but even most heroes could not afford it.
Moreover, it wasn't something you could buy just because you had the money...
'...I wonder if he's already earned that much? No, that's not what's important.'
She shook her head and pressed on.
"Hey, but VR is too expensive. Is there anything else?"
"The kids here probably aren't interested in anything else."
"...I get it. Go eat."
"Yes, ma'am."
As Song Ara hummed about food and reached for the door,
"Wait."
"Yes?"
Just as she was leaving, Cho Seo-hyun called her back.
"Seong Sua asked the exact same thing?"
"Yes."
Cho Seo-hyun couldn't make sense of it.
'...Weird. She said just last week she couldn't reach Kang-hyun, and now?'
Wondering if it was recent, she asked when.
"When?"
"Last week."
"Same answer?"
"Yep."
"... "
Cho Seo-hyun blankly tapped Song Ara's desk before speaking.
"Sorry for calling you at mealtime. Go eat."
"Sure~"
Once Song Ara left and the door closed, the faculty office overflowed with silence.
Cho Seo-hyun sat alone in the silent office and ponder.
'Even so, VR's too much. Gifting that would make me look suspicious...'
She wanted Seong Su-ho to notice her affection, but she also wanted to avoid being caught.
For heroes, 500 million won was an amount they could earn if they tried.
Even Cho Seo-hyun, who had been in a mid-to-low tier guild, could earn that much.
But no matter how much she wanted to buy him a VR headset, it was too expensive an item to give as a gift.
"Wait! Don't they rent VR headsets here?"
She recalled a snippet but scratched her head, muttering.
"Telling him about rentals isn't gifting. Argh, Dammit, my head hurts..."
She agonized over a gift he would love without raising flags.
And that worry lasted until she dozed off at dawn.
"Pardon? He's gone?"
"Yes, Instructor Seong Su-ho left for an overnight early this morning. Roster says back Monday morning."
"...Okay."
Hearing the guard, Cho Seo-hyun trudged back to her dorm.
"...I finally figured out what he likes, and he's gone."
Muttering dejectedly, she headed to her room alone.