Chapter 260: Wow! It’s the Second Semester! (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 260: Wow! It’s the Second Semester! (2)
After finishing her meeting, Park A-ram was wandering around the Academy with some time to spare when she spotted a toy—no, a star student—arriving for school early in the morning.
“Oh, Kang So-hyun. Seeing you like this from the very first day of the new semester. It’s a pleasure.”
“Ah! Hello! Professor Park A-ram!”
However, his current state was far from normal.
“I don’t recall Kang So-hyun having such a bright and polite image…? What, are you just excited because it’s a new semester?”
“You betcha!”
“Uh, um. I know I shouldn’t say this to a cadet, but do you know you’re being a bit creepy right now, Kang So-hyun?”
“Yes!”
“Just… asking just in case, but you’re not making fun of me right now, are you?”
“Me, making fun of a professor! How could you say something so cruel!”
“…Is he broken? Cathy’s going to be sad. Anyway, whether he’s broken or not, a celebration is in order. Congratulations on taking the top spot this time.”
“I’m the top student?”
“Yes, of course. After your performance, would being the Academy’s valedictorian even be a challenge? You’ll probably have to do an interview even bigger than the one Lilac did last semester, and they’ll likely hold an award ceremony for you!”
Now, a brief look at Park A-ram’s intentions.
She simply wanted to tease Kang So-hyun as she usually did.
He clearly wasn’t the type to enjoy conspicuous activities like interviews, and he had always shown a rather uncooperative attitude whenever it came to receiving certificates or points.
She expected him to react with something like, ‘Ah, I really hate that,’ or ‘I think I might have to leave early today,’ so she could tease him back with her usual, ‘Nope, not a chance, Kang So-hyun!’
But his reaction was quite different from what she had anticipated.
Far from looking uncomfortable, he beamed at her.
“Really~? Hehe.”
“Wh-what…? Kang So-hyun, are you actually sick? I don’t usually worry about people, but your condition seems pretty serious.”
“Why~? Getting an award is a good thing. I need to do lots of good things.”
“Oh, really? Why? Are you trying to get a ‘Good Child’ award or something?”
Up to this point, Park A-ram thought there was a chance Kang So-hyun was just possessed by some weird concept and was playing a prank he wouldn’t be able to handle later.
“I promised my mom. That I’d get better, even if it’s just a little bit at a time.”
“…Huh? Kang So-hyun, what does that—?”
“Ah, I’m going to be late. I’ll be going now!”
But before she could process the sense of dissonance, Kang So-hyun, his body shrouded in Reinforcement, began a full-on sprint toward the classroom.
“…No, seriously, what was that all about?”
Her confusion lasted until a short while later, when his friends informed her of the truth: he had consumed a Hero Drink and was currently intoxicated.
* * *
At that moment, Rose decided it was time for her to step in and blocked her master’s path.
Rose.
A homunculus belonging to the Academy’s Holy Fire Class, she served as a beautification maid while her primary duty was acting as Kang So-hyun’s bodyguard.
Fundamentally, unless ordered otherwise by Kang So-hyun, she was always by his side. Naturally, she had been guarding him yesterday as well and was very much aware that he had become intoxicated after drinking a Hero Drink.
In fact, she had been watching and guarding him from nearby even while Baek Seol and Ha-ru were drinking theirs, so no further explanation was needed.
So why hadn’t she stopped him until now?
Was it because of a minor desire to see her master drunk? Yes.
Was it because she wanted to see him get publicly humiliated while intoxicated? Yes!
Was it because she was curious about how her master, who had recently become a man, would react if she sexually harassed him while he was drunk? That was also correct!
Honestly, how could she resist the urge to tease a drunk Kang So-hyun with the “honey water” line?
So, on the flip side, why was she stopping him now?
“I cannot let you go any further.”
Was it because she felt sorry for the countless teases he would endure once he sobered up? Regrettably, no.
It was because she was up ahead.
If she found out that Rose had left Kang So-hyun in such a drunken state—especially if the reason was simply because it seemed fun—Rose could, in the worst-case scenario, be dismissed from her position as his guard.
“Rose…?”
“Yes, it is Rose. First, please relax and come this way. And then, drink this.”
Rose slowly reached under her skirt and pulled a bottle out of a pouch labeled Maid’s Secret!
Indeed.
It was honey water.
“It is honey water made by extracting and blending ingredients from plants that help with hangovers.”
Normally, Kang So-hyun would have been wary, asking where she was pulling things from, but perhaps because he wasn’t in his right mind, he calmly gulped down the honey water Rose offered.
Rose felt relieved.
In truth, while she used it casually, this honey water was an elixir she had blended using Alchemy with his health in mind.
She thought the hangover would be resolved and she wouldn’t have to worry about her finding out, but unfortunately, her judgment was flawed.
To begin with, strictly speaking, Kang So-hyun wasn’t “drunk” in the traditional sense.
A Hero Drink is a drug that acts directly on the spirit, not the brain.
In other words, it wasn’t something that could be fixed with mere honey water for hangovers, and this fact contributed to creating the greatest “dark history” of Rose’s life.
“It’s sweet. It’s tasty. Give me more.”
After saying that, Kang So-hyun didn’t hesitate for a second. He hiked up Rose’s skirt, forcibly opened the Maid’s Secret, and extorted two more bottles of honey water from beneath the skirt of the defenseless maid. Only then, as if satisfied, did he return her skirt to its original position.
Rose, too flustered by this series of events to move, spent a long time after Kang So-hyun left wondering what had just happened to her. Once she reached a conclusion, she gave a stoic nod.
“I’ve been bested. I suppose this level of ‘spiciness’ is no longer enough to fluster Master.”
The maid vowed to become even stronger as she chewed on the day’s humiliation.
She had prided herself on becoming the perfect maid through the internet, but it wasn’t enough.
If she couldn’t make him blush with just honey water, she would find something even more provocative.
And since she was bound to find out anyway, Rose figured she should start by bowing her head in apology.
Since she’s surprisingly deep-hearted, I hope she’ll forgive me with just a pay cut.
* * *
And the woman who was the object of Rose’s fear—and who held a position somewhat akin to an employer.
Kang Na-hyun had returned to the Academy, radiating irritation and stress.
She felt like her head was going to split, thinking that if it weren’t for her title as an External Inspector, she might still be caught up with those damn people.
There were the old men who, under the guise of being high-ranking Association officials, subtly tried to touch her, and on the other hand, the younger ones who weren’t as overt but sent suggestive glances her way.
Then there were the government officials who threatened her, asking if her annoyance should be interpreted as the will of the Yuseong Group.
Of course, she had mostly replied with, “Yes, feel free to take it that way,” and turned their hair into afros with her Flame Tiger, but there was one man who had blocked her attack effortlessly as if it were nothing. She couldn’t shake her foul mood because of him.
She had become a B-rank hero while being treated like a celebrity and thought she had grown somewhat accustomed to such attention. However, once talk of her promotion to A-rank surfaced at the Association, those blatant stares only intensified.
“Why do they keep trying to grab my hand? It’s seriously annoying.”
— It’s not bad. It’s not bad, but it’s a little lacking.
She should have landed a blow on that bastard’s face, but she couldn’t because he had left before her, claiming he had business to attend to.
…Not that she could have won even if she tried.
Lately, it felt like everything was going wrong.
There were many small, irritating things, but the most unpleasant part was likely the fact that she was painfully aware of her own weakness.
Even excluding her achievements as the eldest daughter of the Yuseong Group, her performance on the battlefield against the demons this time was apparently quite impressive.
Because of her contributions, which were hard to believe for a B-rank, and her versatile ability that saved the lives of several A-rank heroes, the talk of an A-rank promotion had come up.
However, if asked if she was at the top of A-rank, the answer was no.
A hero at the bottom or, at best, the middle of A-rank—one who had been overtaken by her younger brother and his friends, who were far behind her until recently.
That was her.
Of course, she knew.
It was just that their growth was abnormal, and she herself was at a level far beyond her age.
Still, she couldn’t help but feel anxious.
After all, she had made a final promise to her mother. To protect that boy in her mother’s stead, to love him.
But she had repeatedly fought and clashed with the brother she thought she needed to protect. By the time she came to her senses, her brother was no longer a child; instead, he was the one who reached out to reconcile first.
He had moved forward without stopping and was now even stronger than she was.
And he had probably moved forward in a different way too, through his connection with Cathy Unnie.
She thought she would always have to protect him, that she had to do a good job in her mother’s place, but instead of protecting him, it felt like he was leaving her behind and moving further and further ahead.
“I don’t even know anymore.”
Honestly, she didn’t know anymore.
What exactly were these feelings she harbored for her non-blood-related brother?
Was it responsibility? Familial love? Or perhaps even affection?
Maybe she was just looking for her mother in that smiling face that subtly resembled her.
“What don’t you know?”
…Huh?
“Hello, Sister! You don’t look so good for the start of a new semester~!”
When she turned her head, something that looked like her brother was smiling and waving exaggeratedly.
You can fool everyone else, but not me. My brother isn’t the type to smile like that.
“Haha, I can tell just by looking that you were worrying about something weird again!”
…But for some reason, it felt nostalgic.
Should she say it felt like someone she had missed dearly?
That strange sensation felt somewhat unsettling, giving her a premonition that she should get away quickly.
“So-hyun, I’m not in the mood for jokes right now…”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s not something that can be solved by telling you…”
Her words, ‘It’s not something,’ couldn’t continue.
Because the hand that lightly touched her hair felt so much like that of the person she missed so dearly.
Because in her brother’s smile, the shadow of the person she had longed for all her life had grown deeper.
“But you never know, maybe I can help!”
— Hehe, but you never know, maybe if you tell Mom, Mom can fix it for you!?
This was crazy. She must have lost her mind from exhaustion lately.
No matter how much she lacked a place to lean on, no matter how much that smiling face resembled her, how could she overlap one person with another like this?
“Is someone bullying you? Should I go crush them for you!?”
— If someone’s bullying Na-hyun, should Mom go scold them!?
Even the way he playfully mimicked throwing jabs was identical, and eventually, Kang Na-hyun found herself venting her frustrations without realizing it.
“The truth is…”
She left out the part about her feelings being complicated because of him lately, but she told him about the interference from the Association and the government.
* * *
As he listened to the story, Kang So-hyun’s expression began to grow serious.
His intoxication hadn’t completely faded, but he could guess who the person his sister was talking about was.
Ranked 76th among the fewer than 100 S-rank heroes in the world.
A man with the tacky codename “Flash.”
…His personality was very similar to the man who had fallen and become a villain in the 1st Timeline.
What kind of “Flash” was that bastard? He was more like a “Lucky Woo Jae-hee.”
— What? Women? Why should I protect them? They’re not even kids I care about; they just flocked to me because of my popularity.
Ah, no. Sorry, Jae-hee. You’re much better than that guy.
He was a representative figure among the rotten heroes who fit perfectly into the rotten Association. However, since his official debut as a piece of trash was still a bit further in the future, he was likely still somewhat popular.
It might be difficult to deal with him openly, but there were plenty of ways to crush him without doing it directly.
“It’s okay. That son of a bitch won’t be able to do anything to you, Sister.”
“…Huh?”
Ah, um. I should choose my words more carefully, but I can’t seem to control it.
Normally, at this point, Kang So-hyun would have realized something was wrong and tried to check his own condition.
However, in this moment.
The rising, quiet anger combined with the unique side effects of the Hero Drink led him to a rather bizarre conclusion.
…I’m suddenly pissed off. Should I just go crush that son of a bitch right now?
I think I could make it happen if I ask the Chairperson.
His “reverse gear” had completely broken.
“Well, I’ll be going now.”
“Huh? Where?”
“To the Chairperson’s office.”
“…Why?”
“For justice!”
And at the same time Kang So-hyun shouted that, another voice could be heard from a distance.
“Inspector! Please catch So-hyun…!”
“Uh…?”
“Not a chance! You think I’ll let you catch me…!?”
Kang So-hyun had already changed his destination from the classroom to the Chairperson’s office and began to sprint.
“No, seriously, why is he so fast…!!!”
“…What is going on with everyone?”
In addition to the friends who usually hung around her brother, there was Rose and even Professor Park A-ram…?
Kang Na-hyun felt an ominous premonition. After hearing their explanation, she could only hang her head.
…While thinking that even his drunken habits were exactly like their mother’s.