Hero Academy (3-53)
"Come in."
"Alright, then..."
Sung Suho stepped into Yoon Jia's room as carefully as he could.
Watching him enter her private space, Yoon Jia savored a tangle of emotions she had never felt before.
Haa... I've never even talked alone with a man other than Oppa like this...
Yoon Jia was a passive person by nature—the kind who only answered when someone else approached and started a conversation. Her striking looks had always drawn men's eyes, yet she had always kept them at arm's length, conscious that she already had a boyfriend and determined not to grow closer than necessary.
Tonight, for the first time, she had brought a man into her room of her own free will.
Even Go Chungshin had only set foot inside her home long after they started dating.
And yet here she was, blurting out what was in her heart to Sung Suho first.
Once the words were out, though, there was nowhere else they could reasonably go.
I'm not here on Church business, and going into Instructor Sung Suho's room would look even weirder...
They could have sat on a bench in the outer garden, but that wasn't the picture Yoon Jia wanted. She had no desire to do anything that might invite misunderstanding, so the only place left was her own room.
"Please, sit at the table over there."
"Of course."
Yoon Jia seated him, then glanced over the kitchenware and asked,
"What would you like to drink, Instructor Sung?"
"Ah... anything cold is fine with me."
"I see..."
She opened the coffee canister, aiming for the safest choice.
"...Huh?"
The empty tin only reflected the light back at her, gleaming as if to prove there was nothing inside.
From behind her startled figure, Suho asked,
"Is something wrong?"
"N-no, just a moment..."
She opened every container that should have held coffee or tea.
Ha... there's nothing.
Since arriving, she had taken most of her meals in the dining hall the Church provided. The kitchen existed only because these were guest rooms meant for Church visitors, so people could gather comfortably. The supplies inside had never been fully stocked, on the assumption they would sit unused for long stretches.
Ah! There were drinks in the fridge.
She opened the refrigerator, remembering the beverages she had sipped a few times since coming here.
...I finished them all.
The only things left were alcoholic drinks she had never touched.
If she asked right now, the Church staff would deliver whatever she wanted immediately. For someone like Yoon Jia—a graduate of the recovery course and a full-fledged Hero of the Church—they would move heaven and earth. The problem was that she had already invited Sung Suho in; making him wait awkwardly while she put in a request was the last thing she wanted.
As she fretted, her eyes drifted to the cans of alcohol in the fridge.
Thinking about it, offering something like this feels rude...
Even liquor had ranks. Inviting someone over and serving them canned drinks was hardly a good look.
Haa... should I just call and ask for something...? Wait?
In the middle of her dilemma, the bottles on the display cabinet caught her eye. Yoon Jia, who normally had zero interest in alcohol, only noticed them now because the situation was urgent.
An amber liquid in an elegant glass bottle. It clearly carried enough weight to serve as a proper offering, and right now all she wanted was to break the silence that felt ready to stretch forever.
She walked to the cabinet, carried the whiskey and glasses to the table, set them down carefully, and gave Suho an awkward smile.
"D-do you... drink?"
"Ah... of course."
"Whew..."
Yoon Jia let out a sigh of relief and began unscrewing the cap of a whiskey she had never tasted in her life.
Honestly, when Yoon Jia suggested we drink, I was more than a little thrown.
Of all people, I never expected her to be the one proposing alcohol.
What threw me even harder was that the very person who had suggested it got drunk after only three glasses.
"Instructor Sung Suhooo~... do you have a girlfriend?"
"Haha... not yet."
"Hmm~ the girls around you must be blind..."
Yoon Jia smiled contentedly and knocked back the whiskey in her glass in one go, as if it were barley tea.
I didn't stop her. I simply topped her glass up with a careful pour.
Keep it moderate... if she passes out, the whole night's shot.
I didn't know exactly what was going through her head, but there was no way she had offered me a drink with zero feelings involved. And alcohol was one of the great inventions that had shaped history across every universe. Min Ha-yeon and I had been brought together by liquor too, after all...
I filled her glass, then gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"Who would ever like a guy like me? There are so many capable people these days."
"Whaaat!? Who? Who's so capable?"
"Well... Hero Oh Jin-ho, for one... even the security staff are all highly capable people. I just happened to end up in this position by chance."
I kept my tone as humble as possible.
People say bluster is important for a man, and I fully agree—but bluster is far more powerful when shown through actions rather than words. Go Chungshin, the man Yoon Jia had been dating, was all smooth talk. I never approached her that way.
Yoon Jia listened, then grumbled with a tongue already starting to tangle.
"Don't say that. You've experienced it yourself. Among the people called Heroes... there aren't many real ones."
"..."
Since coming to this world, I had only grown close to two Heroes: Cho Seohyun and Seong Sua. Both of them carried themselves with the dignity the title demanded, and their thinking was firmly rooted in what a Hero should be. Sure, they had childish sides and got completely lost in VR, but their sense of responsibility as Heroes ran deeper than most.
In that regard, Yoon Jia was similar. The only difference was that her dependent nature was so strong she tended to get dragged along...
She pouted and said,
"There's no one else like you, Instructor Sung..."
"Haha... thank you. Still a single guy, though."
"Tch..."
The moment she lifted her glass again, I raised mine toward her.
"What about you, Instructor Yoon? Are you seeing anyone right now?"
"...What?"
She froze, startled, and stared at the glass I held out. She must have thought I was fishing for information about Go Chungshin.
"N-no! I-I'm not seeing anyone right now."
"That's actually surprising. Someone like you, Instructor Yoon—I was sure you'd have someone."
"Ahaha..."
Clink.
She tapped her glass lightly against mine, then grinned in relief and tipped the whiskey into her mouth. The high-proof alcohol hit her hard; her face scrunched up and she looked ready to cry.
"Ugh... a girl like me... no charm at all... just keep her around for a while and toss her aside..."
It didn't show much on the surface, but the Dream Intrusion I had put her under was clearly working. The fact that she hadn't been able to meet Go Chungshin properly because of me only amplified the effect.
This is the moment.
I was rushing things a little, but opportunities for an honest conversation with Yoon Jia—especially over drinks—weren't going to come around again easily.
I rested my palm gently over the back of her hand and spoke in a soft voice.
"I think you're so charming that other people are too intimidated to approach you, Instructor Yoon."
"What!? Th-that's impossible... who would ever look at a girl like me..."
She flinched, face flushing red, and squirmed in her seat. Afraid she might pull away, I closed my hand more firmly around hers and whispered,
"In my eyes, no one has ever been as charming as you."
"Ah..."
I leaned in slowly...
and Yoon Jia slowly closed her eyes.
I still didn't know how large a place I occupied in her heart, but one thing I was certain of:
"Chup... churp..."
Affection for me had taken root inside her.
"Haa... damn it... she still won't pick up, huh?"
Go Chungshin scowled and muttered, tapping Yoon Jia's name again on the screen floating above his palm.
"The customer is unable to take your call..."
"Shit..."
He closed his hand, flopped onto the bed, and started regretting everything.
"I've never gotten that angry before..."
It wasn't as if Go Chungshin felt no guilt. But his pride was so fierce that even when problems arose on the job he refused to apologize, and in the end he had simply hoped the whole thing would blow over without a proper apology. Lately, though, her tone on the phone had felt off, and once he realized she hadn't forgotten the incident, he had only pressed her harder.
The result of clinging to his pride was a blocked number.
"Haa... is she really that mad? Over a stupid game...? Ah, fuck... no! Just apologize... looking at how angry Jia got, she must be genuinely pissed."
His true feelings slipped out for a second; he steeled himself and decided to apologize. But even if he wanted to, he couldn't apologize without being able to talk to her. And if he went looking for her in person, there was a real chance Sung Suho in the next room would catch him and make his life hell.
"...Maybe I should just check on her for a second."
Go Chungshin closed his eyes on the bed and focused. The moment he concentrated, his vision shifted from the room to the inside of a bush.
(But can I even see anything? Unless the window's broken like that Sung Suho bastard's, the glass is completely opaque from the outside...)
Possessing a fly, Go Chungshin beat his disgusting wings and flew toward the room where Yoon Jia was staying. When he reached her window he started grumbling.
(Ah, shit... can't see a damn thing...)
He searched every possible gap around the frame, only confirming that the glass was high-quality material.
(...Should I force my way in?)
Every building has openings—windows, vents... drains.
(...No. What would I even do once I'm inside like that? If I accidentally show myself, it's the worst possible outcome.)
He hovered in fly form for a long while, then finally gave up. Just as he was about to release the possession, one open window caught his eye.
Sung Suho's room.
(That fucking bastard... I can't even get close enough to dig up any info...)
Instinctive fear made the fly's body tremble, yet he still drifted toward the open window. Half hoping Suho was asleep, half terrified he was awake, Go Chungshin peered inside—and the moment he saw the empty room, all the tension drained out of him into a hollow fly expression.
(...Nobody home? Where'd he go? Maybe the Church dragged him off for interrogation?)
He cackled to himself over the fantasy and buzzed around Suho's room. After a while he stared intently toward the wall that shared with Yoon Jia's room and muttered,
(...If she answers tomorrow, I'll apologize right away.)
He kept circling Suho's room, but after an hour with nothing to show for it, he had no choice but to leave.
I watched Go Chungshin's fly with mild interest through the window.
It had circled Yoon Jia's room for a while, trying to get in, then given up and slipped into mine instead.
...What? He's coming into my room too? Did he notice something?
Unlikely. The windows of this building have excellent shielding and soundproofing. A fly's sensory organs would never be able to sense what is happening inside.
Hmm...
Go Chungshin's fly paused for a moment, then began buzzing around my room. At least he didn't seem ready to barge into his girlfriend's room uninvited.
Having a fly-like bastard crawl all over my room feels fucking disgusting. Wait—no, it really is a fly crawling around. Fuck...
There is no information for him to obtain from Suho-nim's room in any case.
Well, luckily I've got the orb on me right now...
I watched Go Chungshin's fly wander my empty room with quiet satisfaction, then leaned down and whispered to the naked, drunken Yoon Jia lying in front of me.
"Instructor Yoon... I'm putting it in now."
"Yes... ahhnnn!"
Tzzzt...
I felt her hymen tear and offered a silent word of thanks to the fly still buzzing around my room.
The virginity you so carefully protected... I'll enjoy it thoroughly!