Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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"Kyaaaaah!!"
"…."
Seong Suho snapped to attention at the sound of Seong Sua's scream and turned his head.
Even if he'd been startled at first and stared, he wasn't so oblivious as to keep gawking.
Seong Sua frantically covered her vital spots with her slender arms and mashed the logout button.
But no matter how many times she hammered it, nothing happened.
"W-Why won't it work?! Please! Come on!!"
The calm, composed demeanor she usually showed was nowhere to be found—now she was just panicked and desperate.
Tears had welled up in her eyes at some point, and she kept tapping the logout button endlessly.
Seong Suho called out to her cautiously.
"Um, Instructor Seong Sua."
"Y-Yes! J-Just a second! I-It’s…."
Seong Sua flinched in terror at the man's voice.
The fatal flaw of VR virtual training was that no magic could be used whatsoever.
The program could simulate spells with impacts and effects to make them look real, but it wasn't actual mana-based magic.
In other words, casting magic here offered zero practical benefits.
Thus, aside from monsters set as enemies depending on the VR machine's training purpose, using magic was impossible.
Seong Sua trembled with a helplessness she'd never felt before, staying on guard against Seong Suho.
But the voice from behind was calm and steady.
"You should try to calm down first. Looks like something's wrong on the inside."
"…."
Only then did Seong Sua cautiously turn around, and in her view was Seong Suho standing with his back to her.
He was fiddling with the hologram in front of him, tapping it this way and that.
Seong Sua began to feel embarrassed about her earlier overreaction, equal to the shame of having exposed herself naked.
Haa… He must think my behavior was ridiculous.
No matter that her actions were understandable given the situation, guilt started to creep in.
She was about to apologize out of sorryness when Seong Suho spoke first.
"Uh…."
"Something must be glitched out. I can't log out either."
Seong Sua assessed the situation from his words.
Something's gone wrong…. At least some clothes….
Unable to exit, she tried equipping her instructor uniform or cadet attire, but….
"Instructor Seong Sua. Since logout's busted, maybe try switching to other clothes or…."
"Th-That’s… not working…."
"Pardon?"
"Haa… Looks like the whole system's down."
"Oh…."
Her explanation boiled down to: Can't equip anything right now. And we'll be stuck like this.
Thanks to the man behind her handling it so calmly, Seong Sua managed to settle down.
He kept chatting with her while touching the hologram.
"No other outfits for me either…. Hang on, will this work?"
"Huh? What…. W-Wait a sec!"
Curious, Seong Sua turned around—and he was stripping off his clothes.
"Huh, this works…. Weird…."
"W-Wait! What are you doing?! Why are you taking off your clothes?!"
"Here, put these on."
"…Pardon?"
Seong Suho tossed his clothes to the screaming Seong Sua.
A T-shirt and jeans.
"Someone else might show up. Can't have you stuck like that."
"B-But then Instructor Seong Suho, you'll…."
Seong Suho flashed a peace sign over his shoulder with a playful tone.
"Nah, I just lounge around in my undies at home anyway."
"Pfft…. Ah… S-Sorry."
"Good that you laughed. Go on, get dressed."
"…Yeah, thank you."
Seong Sua couldn't refuse his kindness.
If anyone else logged in by chance, both of them would be in deep trouble like this.
But ironically, now she was the one who couldn't turn around.
Seong Suho was down to just his underwear.
With their positions reversed, Seong Sua's insides started burning with guilt.
Now he's stripped because of me….
All she could think now was how sorry she felt toward him.
She'd stepped up to help, only to trip him up instead.
As Seong Sua brooded in distress, Seong Suho piped up excitedly from behind.
"Whoa, check this out. Bandages? What's this?"
He'd been poking around the hologram to check the system when he tapped the bandages that caught his eye, and they materialized in his hand.
"Ah…. Probably for injuries. You don't actually get hurt here, but it simulates bleeding realistically, which can be a hassle."
She explained they were for staunching blood to avoid issues in prolonged fights—though you couldn't die from bleeding, it was realistic enough to hinder combat.
Since the training was based partly on real combat, bandaging was one of the included mechanics.
"Aha…. Like this, then…."
"…?"
Seong Suho wrapped the bandages around his head, covering his eyes.
"Now even if I turn around, you won't be visible to me. All good."
"B-But now it's Instructor Seong Suho who's…."
Seong Sua was already dressed by then.
Seong Suho scratched his head sheepishly.
"Sorry. Once I strip down, my brain goes all innocent like Adam's…."
"Pfft… S-Sorry. I know you didn't mean to…."
"No worries. Glad it made you laugh."
He grinned, bandages and all.
Like a blind Mira, Seong Suho waved his hands around.
"No clue when we'll get out like this. Wanna kill time chatting or something?"
"Like what…?"
He answered her puzzled tone.
"Bored, so how about love talk?"
…
…
"…So yeah, I have no idea what to do lately."
"Sounds rough."
Seong Sua had opened up candidly about her recent troubles with Cho Kang-hyeon.
She'd hesitated at first.
But being alone with a man felt awkward, so she started sharing bits cautiously—then it all poured out like a dam breaking.
She'd unwittingly vented the frustrations bottled up inside.
"As a fellow guy, what do you think? What's wrong with me?"
"Hm…. There is a problem…."
"W-What is it?"
Seong Sua whipped around in surprise—then quickly turned back.
He was still in his undies….
Haa… No one wants their underwear seen, put yourself in his shoes.
Throughout this virtual mess, all she'd felt toward him was guilt.
Sure, the clothes didn't fit perfectly, but she was dressed.
Meanwhile, Seong Suho was in just underwear and blindfolded—all because of her.
…Once we're out, I gotta make it up to him. This is too much….
Oblivious to her thoughts, Seong Suho replied.
"The problem is you thinking there's something wrong with you."
"…Huh? What do you mean?"
"There's nothing wrong with you at all, Instructor."
He unwrapped the bandages but didn't turn around, continuing.
"Focusing only on the person you like can breed misunderstandings or misconceptions that weren't there. So whenever you feel like that might happen, spend some time with other people. It'll get better."
"…Thanks for the advice."
Seong Sua smiled inwardly.
Glad he's such a good guy.
She felt joy and relief at having a colleague like Seong Suho.
And that joy and relief coalesced into one sentiment with his next words.
"Ah! We can log out now!"
Seong Suho and Seong Sua barely managed to log out and headed straight to the department handling the VR gear.
With the chance of this happening again, they rushed over to report it.
They explained everything to the person in charge right away.
He was a weary-eyed man in horn-rimmed glasses.
"…So, to clarify, you couldn't log out?"
"Yes. Luckily, Instructor Seong Suho got logout access midway, so I could force-disconnect from outside."
"…Got it. We'll check it out."
"One more thing…. Can anyone else view instructors' or cadets' biometric logs?"
Seong Sua didn't mention being naked.
Even alone, it'd be hard to say.
But with a man there—and her naked? She couldn't bring herself to admit it, even if she wanted to be honest.
The staffer shook his head.
"Even server admins can't access them. Hell, we could yank the whole data server offline, and no one could crack the encryption."
"Phew… Okay. Thanks."
"Yeah, then we'll be…."
Seong Sua and Seong Suho finished up and turned to leave, but the staffer stopped them with a question.
"…Any other issues?"
"N-No other problems."
"…Understood."
Seong Suho and Seong Sua left the server room.
Once they were gone, the staffer's face twisted in anxiety as he fidgeted restlessly.
"What the hell? Why'd that woman mess with the VR gear all of a sudden? No reason for a magic department type to…."
He muttered cryptically, biting his thumbnail.
"Fuck, shoulda yanked the data and wiped it sooner…. Should I report it? No! If I report it now, they'll definitely try to kill me..."
He started hammering the keyboard like a madman.
Fingers blurring as he typed, he grumbled.
"Quick! Gotta migrate and delete it fast…."
After thirty minutes of furious typing, he slumped back in his chair, panting heavily.
"Fuck… That should do it…. Tomorrow, just tell Seong Sua her biometrics need re-registering since it's 'fixed.'"
His bleary eyes were shriveled like rotten pollack.
Slouched in his chair, he pondered deeply.
But Seong Sua was originally locked out, fine…. Why couldn't that guy log out? Checked the device—no issues….
The server staffer shot to his feet, muttering.
"Whatever, not the time to worry about some punk…. Haa… Why do I gotta go through this shit because of some pervert bastard…. If I wasn't on duty today, I'd be dead."
With relief that he'd handled Seong Sua's issue, he began prepping to clock out.
The moment I got back to the dorm, I flopped onto the bed and burst out laughing.
"Today was jackpot."
Seong Sua logged in and immediately faced me—naked, in her younger body.
To top it off, logout was impossible.
Golden opportunity.
[Well played. Pretending you couldn't log out was a masterstroke.]
"Right? Learned her engagement's on the rocks too…."
I'd acted like I was glitched out too once I knew she couldn't log out.
Couldn't pass up a chance like that….
Not that I planned to pounce or anything.
Most important was reassuring her and planting trust that I meant no harm.
Building colleague trust was key.
Didn't expect her to spill so freely about Cho Kang-hyeon, though….
"Anyway… She seemed dissatisfied herself, surprisingly."
Given Seong Sua's personality, she'd probably bottled it up till now.
And that virtual space played a big role, I figured.
She didn't open up just 'cause it was me.
[Such isolation likely burst the pent-up frustrations.]
"Since no one is watching.... The thought that no one would know might have provided a sense of security...."
My rapport with Seong Sua wasn't set yet, but I could see a path.
VR… That seemed core to cracking her.
One big snag, though.
"Five hundred million… Where the hell do I get that…."