A Fly and a Lap Pillow
"…I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine. That happens when you're tired."
The moment Cho Seo-hyun walked into the faculty office that morning, she apologized with a look of genuine remorse.
Cho Seo-hyun told me that she had fallen asleep the moment she entered the dormitory yesterday; by the time she woke up, the alarm and the morning sunlight were already welcoming her.
"Class is about to start. Shall we go?"
"Yes…."
After calming Cho Seo-hyun's endless stream of apologies, I stopped by the classroom, gathered the cadets, and headed for the VR training room.
Once we arrived, I drew in a deep breath.
'Hmm~ How should I put it? Every time I come here, I love the feeling of it being filled with that new car smell.'
Perhaps because the VR capsules were meticulously maintained, they were always covered in a gloss so pristine that not a single scratch could be seen.
It felt like being at a luxury car exhibition.
I loved it.
For about three seconds.
'No, fuck, the hygiene in here is a disaster.'
Even a bipolar patient would have kept their distance from the whiplash in my mood.
Armonia sounded genuinely puzzled.
One moment I'd been breathing deep and basking in bliss; the next I was foaming at the mouth with curses.
No wonder she was thrown off.
The reason I was cursing was because of-
Bzzzz….
'You little shit of a fly…'.
A fly was buzzing around a space that couldn't tolerate a single speck of dust.
The thought that the thing might slip into a VR capsule with me and crawl all over my body while I was jacked into the simulation made me genuinely nauseous.
In this world, the things I hate most are mosquitoes, flies were second.
Those wretched things make me feel filthy just by flying around, and they never stop pestering me.
'Ah, I really want to give it a little zap… But if I fire a zap in here, it'll be a disaster, right?'
Maybe I should have just shot it. They say it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
While I was keeping all my senses sharp to track the fly's position, a technician came over and told me to enter the capsule.
As I entered, I narrowed my entire field of vision to the fly, observing it intently to make sure the damn thing didn't follow me in.
Whether it had some shred of common sense or not, it didn't enter the capsule.
'Whew… if it had come in, I seriously would have zapped it.'
Listening to Armonia's nagging, I was pulled into the VR virtual space.
After finishing the VR session, I climbed out of the capsule, exhaled a refreshing breath, and muttered over the comms.
'…Should I shoot it?'
What greeted me the moment I stepped out of the capsule wasn't Cho Seo-hyun, or the technician, or some pretty cadet girl.
It was the fly, perched on the capsule panel.
The thing was rubbing its hands together with the diligence of a master craftsman, mocking me.
Even if I threw every last bit of my central nervous system into it, catching that thing bare-handed was impossible.
If I had any way to take it down… it would have to be magic.
'Something that small should go down to a minor lightning-attribute spell, right?'
I carefully formed a lightning magic circle behind the fly.
Even at its smallest, though, the circle bottomed out at the size of a ten-won coin.
The instant that coin-sized circle took shape and began to glow, the fly reacted to the light and took off to escape.
I poured every scrap of remaining reaction speed and reflex I had left in my life into the cast.
'DIIIIIE!!!!!!!!'
I roared like I was killing my parents' murderer, and the spell fired.
'Pzzzt….'
The fly took a yellow bolt of current dead-on and tumbled away somewhere.
It had fallen between the machines, so whether it was dead or alive was unclear.
I spoke quietly over the comms.
'…Did I get it?'
Bzzzz….
With a wobbling buzz, the fly fluttered up for a moment—then vanished in an instant between the capsule machinery.
'…Fuck.'
My blood feud with the fly ended in anticlimax, and I headed to the cafeteria with Cho Seo-hyun for lunch.
Walking side by side with her, one thought settled in.
'She's genuinely a solid woman.'
She threw herself into her work with real passion and never let anything slide.
The same Cho Seo-hyun who'd been bowing her head and fretting over me all morning straightened her shoulders the second class began, dominating the cadets and running the session like a completely different person.
VR training didn't involve real danger, but she guided the cadets with meticulous care—training for the day it would matter.
Honestly, though, what really made me think she was a solid woman was the shift in her attitude.
"Do you have time this weekend?"
"This weekend? I don't have any particular plans."
"Th-then… want to go out and grab a meal together?"
She said she felt bad about leaving me alone yesterday and wanted to treat me to lunch over the weekend. Cho Seo-hyun asking me out on a date—I never saw that coming.
But she must have read my mind, because she started flapping her arms like a hummingbird and rushed to explain.
"D-don't get any weird ideas! W-we're getting closer anyway, and I still feel bad about yesterday, so I just… wanted to buy you a meal!"
"Don't worry. I won't get any weird ideas."
"…."
Cho Seo-hyun heard that, then suddenly turned her head and started muttering under her breath.
She was speaking so quietly I couldn't make out a word.
By the time she had secured my promise, we arrived at the cafeteria together.
"Ah, Sung Su-ho! …Instructor."
"…."
"Unnie… here for lunch?"
"Yeah."
Seong Sua's face lit up at the sight of me, then the smile vanished the moment she saw Cho Seo-hyun.
As far as I knew, it wasn't that Seong Sua disliked Cho Seo-hyun.
'Standing in front of your future sister-in-law, laughing and chatting with another man… yeah, that would look pretty bad.'
'…Even if I figure out their relationship, is that going to solve anything?'
'What? What method?'
A fight between two women. Moreover, a psychological war fought over a man?
That is not easy.
Beyond whether it was "easy" or not, countless geniuses throughout human history had thrown up their hands and given up on this particular conundrum.
Rather than giving up, it was a riddle they couldn't even begin to touch.
And yet, Armonia claimed to have solved such a riddle.
'…'.
Yeah. That was exactly right.
The problem was that Subjugation required sex first.
And it only took hold when the other person fully accepted me.
And these two right now? We hadn't even gotten to penetration—hell, if someone walked in on us hugging, I'd be finished.
On top of that, I had to avoid a situation where I Subjugated one and got caught by the other.
If I successfully seduced one, applied Subjugation, and the woman who wasn't Subjugated yet found out? Then my mission is bye-bye right then and there.
Whatever else, I definitely needed to reel these two in.
And so began a silent lunch.
"…."
"…."
"…."
Cho Seo-hyun, Seong Sua, and I finished the meal without exchanging a single word of conversation.
Walking with Seong Sua toward the magic department, I apologized.
"I'm sorry."
"Pardon? Sorry for what?"
"I made lunch unnecessarily uncomfortable for you."
"Oh, stop that…. If anything, I should be apologizing for making things awkward."
I always had the strong sense that meal time meant eating with Seong Sua.
Breakfast was always with her.
First, I always eat breakfast with Seong Sua. Then lunch... and actually, dinner too.
I basically just eat with Seong Sua.
But ever since I got closer to Cho Seo-hyun, she started following me to the cafeteria for lunch without fail.
At this rate, Cho Seo-hyun would almost certainly trail me to the cafeteria again tomorrow at lunch.
It wasn't a major problem yet. Whether her personality had changed or her thinking had shifted, I couldn't say—but today, while eating with Sua, she hadn't picked a single fight. Still, it needed resolving.
But there was something more urgent than that.
'…I'm so damn sleepy'.
I hadn't slept properly because I was playing games until three last night.
To make matters worse, Cho Seo-hyun had gone to bed early last night, which meant the first thing I saw at work was her tearful eyes and endless apologies.
I needed sleep.
I was barely holding myself upright when Seong Sua put a hand on my shoulder, concern written all over her face.
"Are you feeling alright? You look pale."
"I'm fine. It's nothing."
"Don't lie to me."
"…Excuse me?"
What was this? Did she have a lie-detection spell on her palm? That wasn't in her attributes.
Besides, I hadn't even lied.
Sua sighed.
"I thought something was off at lunch, too. If you couldn't eat properly because of me and your stomach's upset…."
"Ah, no, that's not it…."
"?"
I hesitated for a moment, then carefully said, "I just didn't sleep. I'm tired. I went to bed around three last night."
"…."
Seong Sua looked up at me with pitying eyes.
"Oh no… is it because your sleeping arrangement changed? You couldn't fall asleep until dawn?"
"…? Ah… no, that's not…."
She was misunderstanding something again. I just stayed up late gaming.
But Seong Sua didn't wait for me to clear it up.
"I'm sorry…. Honestly, my sleeping arrangement changed too…."
She explained that her own sleep had been terrible lately because of the change.
Waking up in the middle of the night was routine, and seeing that I wasn't there when she woke up in the morning left her feeling terribly lonely.
Seong Sua was the type who never said anything outside that could invite misunderstanding—so for her to ramble on like this, she must have really been starving for… a certain kind of game.
"So you're exhausted right now…."
"W-well, yeah…. Hahaha…. I'm going to take a short walk to wake myself up."
I said that and tried to leave. The reason was simple.
'Ah… I can't take it. I'm bolting back to the dorm for a quick nap.'
I abandoned the chance to talk with Seong Sua and chose sleep instead.
The moment I turned toward the dormitory—
"Wait a moment."
"Yes?"
Seong Sua caught my shoulder and stopped me. She closed her eyes, thought seriously for a moment, then let out a small sigh and smiled.
"How about resting your eyes somewhere nearby?"
The place Seong Sua led me to was an empty room with no sign on the door.
"Hm? Where is this?"
"An empty classroom… I suppose. It was in use until last year, but no one's using it now."
Seong Sua had pushed so firmly that I had been dragged along half in a daze.
The dorm was a seven or eight minute walk.
In comparison, this place was only two minutes away.
Even counting the round trip, sleeping here was far more efficient if I was going to nap at all.
The problem was that this place was embarrassingly unfit for sleeping.
Desks and chairs were stacked neatly in the corner, and the floor was covered in dust.
"Um… Instructor Seong Sua? This is a bit… for sleeping…."
I gave an awkward laugh and watched her reaction.
Even if I suggested cleaning it before sleeping, considering the dust everywhere, it seemed a million times better to just sleep in the dormitory.
"Just a moment."
Seong Sua didn't answer. She simply smiled and began opening every window.
Then she stepped to the center of the classroom, crossed her arms, and settled into a stance.
The moment she spread her arms—
Fwoooosh!
A whirlwind of air began to spin around her.
At the same time, transparent water tinted a vivid blue bloomed from her solar plexus like a flower.
The water dampened the dust on the floor and swept it away; the wind dried every last drop of moisture left behind.
Fifteen seconds passed.
"Hoo…. Since we're in a hurry today, even the Association would let this much slide."
Standing in the middle of a classroom that now gleamed, Seong Sua smiled at me.
"Wow… I've seen it a few times, but it's amazing how you can wield two attributes so freely at the same time."
"Despite that, people just tell me I'm a jack of all trades, master of none."
"Come on… who would say that about you, Instructor…."
"Alright! Come on!"
Clap! Clap!
Seong Sua clapped her hands and beckoned me over.
"Now, sleep here."
"Haha… thank you."
It was definitely clean enough to sleep in now. But there was one problem… no bedding.
'She went to the trouble of cleaning for me. Feels wrong to just leave.
I'll just lie down on the floor. If Seong Sua leaves first, I can use Enel for a pillow or…'
I was muttering to myself over the comms when Seong Sua grabbed my arm and yanked me down.
"Uh…. Instructor Seong Sua?"
"Here!"
She knelt on the floor, pulled me down with her, and forced me to sit. Then she patted her own lap with her palm, looked at me with a bright, fresh smile, and said—
"Here. Lie down and sleep."