A Seat at the Lonely Table
The place I was currently in was the school cafeteria.
All around me, the only thing anyone was talking about was me.
"Dude, one kick and the kid was foaming at the mouth."
"I'll give you that. But even for that instructor, it was way too unreal."
"I'm telling you it's true! I saw it with my own eyes, okay? If you still don't believe me, go ask the kids in our class."
"Ugh, if you're gonna brag, at least keep it within reason."
Apparently the fact that I'd floored Cha Hyun-woo during the sparring match had already spread as a rumor.
"He's way more brutal than I thought."
"Beats kids like dogs just for not listening...."
"Hey, hey! Shh! The instructor's right behind you!"
No matter how hard I tried to explain, the students and instructors had already settled on the conclusion that I'd half-killed Cha Hyun-woo. As the person who actually knew the truth, all I could feel was awkwardness.
How is the person in question supposed to get any food down with this kind of pressure?
Even so, I was happy—at least for now. I could taste a meal cooked by a professional chef, after all.
Having finished collecting my food, I scanned for a seat. I spotted a cluster of fellow instructors gathered together.
"...Pass."
That spot was a hard pass. The way those instructors treated me reeked of caution. On top of that, Lee Dae-sik's burning gaze was enough to make that place feel like a bed of thorns. I'd rather just eat alone.
While I was fretting over it, Shin Na-yul caught my eye.
She's alone again.
Shin Na-yul was sitting by herself in the farthest corner. The way she poked at her food with a gloomy face, barely eating, was somehow pitiful. Everyone else was enjoying their school lunch next to friends, and only Shin Na-yul was like that—the contrast was stark.
—Glance, glance.
I almost mistook her for a meerkat. She seemed to know how embarrassing she looked, glancing around nervously, reading the room. Then she'd go back to picking at her rice.
I want to just ignore it.
But my heart kept getting pulled that way. Reluctantly, I turned my steps toward her.
"Huh?"
Shin Na-yul stared at me with blank eyes. I had taken a seat two spots away from her.
Honestly, I would have liked to sit right next to her and keep her company, but right now I was an instructor. An instructor and a student cozying up over a meal just didn't paint the right picture.
"Uh..."
Pupils blown wide, mouth slightly open. Shin Na-yul's reaction was like she'd just seen a ghost.
At least she's not running away.
I'd have been a little hurt if she'd fled the seat, so this was a relief.
Alright, time to fill my stomach.
I was about to dig into a greasy chicken leg when Shin Na-yul started watching me out of the corner of her eye. Was I really that distracting to her? If I started paying attention to her too, the whole situation would just get more awkward, so I focused silently on my meal.
"Ahem... ahem...."
"......."
Unlike me, Shin Na-yul cleared her throat, trying to draw attention. She must have been lonely. Wanting to talk even with me, an instructor, said as much. But I just kept moving my spoon like she was invisible, without a single reply. I had zero intention of getting caught up in some ridiculous rumor about a teacher-student romance.
—Clatter.
An awkward atmosphere hung between us for a while. I quietly tore into my chicken leg, and Shin Na-yul poked at her rice with her chopsticks.
It was when I'd cleared about half my tray. At some point, Shin Na-yul was sitting right next to me. She must have casually scooted over without me noticing. It was honestly absurd.
Without so much as a glance, I moved one seat over. But my efforts were completely useless.
"Mmm...."
The kid who'd been pretending to look elsewhere was eyeing the seat next to me again.
"Why are you following me?"
"M-me?"
"Is there anyone else here besides you?"
"I... I'm not following you...."
"Don't follow me."
With that, I moved seats again. This time I sat all the way in the farthest corner so she wouldn't even dare, but sure enough, Shin Na-yul trailed after me and plopped down right beside me. I finally let out a sigh and gave up.
—Poke, poke.
Shin Na-yul filming a silent mukbang right next to me. If she was going to be like this, I couldn't understand why she'd latched on in the first place. Sitting in silence was getting weird too, so I spoke up first.
"Why are you sitting alone?"
It was a somewhat rude question depending on how you looked at it, but sometimes this kind of directness was better. Shin Na-yul kept reading my face anyway—might as well just ask outright and take some weight off her mind.
—Freeze.
At my question, every movement of Shin Na-yul's stopped. Only after a little time passed did her mouth finally open.
"I-Instructor, why did you come to this table? Because you felt sorry for me? Out of pity...?"
"Is sitting here somehow against school regulations?"
"That's not it...."
Shin Na-yul carefully chose her words, murmuring.
"It's just... you could sit with the other instructors. You don't really need to be here...."
Hmm... the other instructors were a bit uncomfortable. It felt like sitting on a bed of nails. I dressed up my words as carefully as I could.
"Everyone finds me uncomfortable. How am I supposed to insert myself?"
"Huh? You, Instructor? Why?"
"Let's just say I'm being a kind of outcast."
Shin Na-yul's eyes went round.
"You say that... so casually."
"Because it doesn't bother me, so I say it like it doesn't bother me."
"Ah...."
"So why are you sitting alone?"
"...Same reason as you."
"Is that so. We're the same kind, then."
The gloomy talk ended, and the meal continued without any conversation. I'd brought up the topic because the atmosphere was too awkward, but it only made things more depressing. I offered her some words of comfort in my own way.
"Don't let it get you down. Walk with your shoulders back."
"Huh?"
"I mean don't shrink under other people's stares. You're going to become a fine hero before long, so steel yourself."
"Uh, uh. Yes. Thank you?"
Maybe the encouragement was too out of nowhere. Still, her expression looked a bit better. Shin Na-yul's chopsticks started moving faster and faster. I just watched her fondly.
She eats so heartily.
Shin Na-yul had been described as having a huge appetite. Until a moment ago, there hadn't been a single sign of that, but now she looked every bit the glutton.
"Hey, but Instructornning."
"Swallow what's in your mouth first, then talk."
"Ah, yeees."
She gulped it down without even chewing. Wasn't she going to get a stomachache like that?
"So, what is it?"
"Do you eat cafeteria food at this time every day, Instructor?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"Well...."
She hemmed and hawed, unable to answer right away. From her opening mouth came only deflated sounds.
"...."
Shin Na-yul lowered her eyes and avoided my gaze. Then she delivered her words in a small voice.
"Tomorrow too... if you have time, let's eat together."
"What?"
"Eating together tastes better than eating alone, right?"
"...?"
"Ah, or maybe not... it does for me, though..."
Shin Na-yul's hands moved busily.
—Plop.
She set a fried shrimp on top of my tray.
"Th-this is one I was saving, but I'll give it to you."
I furrowed my brow, expressing my confusion. Whether I did or not, Shin Na-yul just kept making her proposal.
"If you eat with me, I'll give you tasty stuff from now on, so how about it, Instructor...?"
What am I, a little kid? Trying to bribe me with food? Still, it felt good. That was Shin Na-yul's own way of showing kindness.
"I heard they're serving chicken gangjeong tomorrow... chicken gangjeong is really good...."
"Alright. But this is a bit too much."
I returned the fried shrimp she'd given me. Shin Na-yul's dejected face instantly lit up with color.
"Then you'll eat with me?!"
"Yeah. It's not like I'm losing anything."
"N-no taking it back later!"
With her tension rising, Shin Na-yul's chopstick work leveled up another notch. I followed her lead and started eating again.
How much time had passed? Before I knew it, Shin Na-yul had emptied her tray and was on her second helping. I'd finished my tray too, so I was about to leave. But the moment I lifted my rear off the chair—
"Ah... aah...."
Shin Na-yul's lament filled my ears.
"Are you leaving? I haven't finished eating yet...."
"......."
"If you go, Instructor, I'll be alone. I don't like being alone...."
Was this originally her character setting? It was, but it felt like it had been amplified.
"Can you wait just one minute? I'm really confident I can eat super fast."
I couldn't listen to any more of this—it was too pathetic.
"I'm just going to get some water. Figured you'd get thirsty."
"Aha! Thanks, Ssam. Oh, but your way of talking suddenly got lighter, Ssam."
Slip-up. My mind was so jumbled that my usual speech pattern had leaked out. Fortunately, Shin Na-yul didn't seem to mind.
"It suits you way better than the stiff way of talking. Ah, that doesn't mean I dislike you as an instructor or anything."
"You calling me Ssam instead of Instructor feels more natural too."
"...Ah! I-I'm sorr...."
Only then did she realize, and she kept bowing her head. I didn't get why she was making such a fuss over just getting a title wrong. It wasn't even a disciplinary matter.
That aside, Ssam. For me, it was a much better title than Instructor. It rolled off the tongue nicely too.
"Just call me Ssam. It sounds better."
I said it without thinking, and Shin Na-yul's eyes went round.
"Really?"
"If you don't want to, you can stop. I don't mind either way."
"N-no, Ssam!"
Honestly, every time I heard the title "Instructor," my training camp PTSD flared up. And the instructor speech pattern I'd been maintaining, too....
"Ah, that reminds me!"
Something suddenly came to mind, and I snapped my fingers. Snap! At that sound, Shin Na-yul flinched—
"Ah!"
And at the same time, her fried shrimp tumbled to the floor.
"...I only got one bite in."
She looked at the floor once, then lifted her head to look at me. Her dejected face looked like a puppy who'd had its chew toy stolen.
"Sorry. Eat this instead."
Unable to bear those sad eyes, I half-forcibly handed her a yogurt. Once she claimed the yogurt, she put on that silly smile again. If only the other students were this easy to handle.
"But why did you suddenly do that? Did you remember something you forgot?"
Shin Na-yul asked while sucking on the yogurt pouch. Her looks were pretty enough to pass for a noble young lady, but her manners had zero dignity. I spoke as if letting out a sigh.
"Do you know a kid named Han Seo-jun in our class?"
"Ah. Yes. He's a really mean kid. He keeps bullying me."
So that was all Shin Na-yul could make of him. In reality he was a complete bastard.
"Be as careful as you can. Something about him feels off."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Yeah, of course she'd wonder what I meant.
Han Seo-jun. That guy was a spy for some villain organization called Paradise, and at the same time a Main who had contracted with a demon. Right now he might only be a nasty student, but there was no telling when he'd show his true colors.
"And."
According to the original story's progression, Na Eun-sol would take serious damage because of Han Seo-jun. I couldn't remember the exact details, but the fact that Na Eun-sol got hurt was clear. Na Eun-sol needed to know this as soon as possible and be careful.
"Tell Na Eun-sol too. Tell her to be careful of a kid named Han Seo-jun."
"M-me?"
"Yes."
"I-I'm sorry, but could you ask some other friends instead of me? Eun-sol is scary...."
"...Alright."
This was me making an unreasonable request. At this point in time, Shin Na-yul was very wary of Na Eun-sol, after all.