The Second Failing Student (1)

At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first, I had no idea what that sound was. No—I figured I must have misheard it.

I carefully gathered her trembling, overheated body into my arms, meaning to lay her down on the bed until she recovered her strength, just like always.

As I lifted Selena in a princess carry and started to move, I noticed the blanket on the bed was bunched up in a rather strange shape.

A face both unfamiliar and familiar peeked out from under the covers, grinning from ear to ear.

A phone was held sideways in her hand—so that earlier click had been…

"Nyeheheh, this is a total scoop~"

"What the hell. How long have you been there?"

"Ssaem. Is this for real? I heard you only just got posted here."

I swallowed hard without meaning to.

That sultry, thoroughly irritating little smirk. The gestures and tone of voice looked like someone had taken a mesugaki and stamped her out of a mold.

No doubt about it—the early-tutorial character. Lavi. One look at that signature pajama set and there was zero room for doubt.

But why the hell is she here??

"A teacher laying hands on a student… Imagine how sad the Chairman would be if she found out~"

"This is—that was—"

"Ssaem♡ You're about to die a social death~"

She giggled and snapped a few more shots.

"Can I at least lay Selena down first?"

"Sure, go right ahead♡ Poor little Selena, reduced to Ssaem's sex toy. So pitiful."

Watching Lavi carefully out of the corner of my eye, I set Selena down as gently as I could. The climax had hit her so hard she'd blacked out completely.

If she'd been conscious, she could have at least helped me explain. Like this, I looked every bit the filthy teacher who'd just preyed on a student.

First priority: snatch that phone!

"Nyeheheh♡ Not happening, not happening~♡ You think I'm gonna let you take such important evidence that easily?♡"

I'd pretended to set Selena down so I could grab the phone, but Lavi's small frame made her ridiculously quick.

In a blink she was standing on top of the desk, proudly holding her phone high overhead.

Her sleeve slipped down, exposing a thin, delicate wrist.

This girl was a pure slender type. Her frail, tiny build and babyish face made everyone misjudge her at first glance.

Her profile listed her at 154 cm, but in person she barely looked like she scraped 150.

Yet despite appearances, she was the oldest playable character of the entire cast.

Twenty-six. Same age as my Noona.

Her behavior, though, constantly invited the comment "must've eaten her age backward," and her talent for petty schemes meant she was nothing but trouble.

"Lavi. What do you want?"

"Ehhh~? Ssaem already memorized every student's name? Kinda touching, actually. Nyeheheh♡"

"Figured it couldn't hurt to remember a few."

"Ehehe~♡ Smooth-talking pervert Ssaem♡ You just scouted out the students you wanted to put your hands on ahead of time, didn't you?"

"What? Absolutely not."

"Then what exactly were you doing with Selena just now? This, I mean this~♡"

On her phone screen was a crystal-clear shot of Selena and me going at it. It was so explicit I couldn't even invent an excuse.

As you can see, this is the kind of brat she is. An absolute gremlin who lives to grab someone's weakness and shake it for all it's worth.

"So♡ Ssaem asked what I want, right?"

"Yeah. If that photo gets out, Selena gets hurt too. I'll give you whatever you want—just delete it."

"Oh my♡ You wreck her until she passes out, and now you're worried about Selena? Ehehe~♡ I'm falling for you, Ssaem♡"

She spun in place on the desk, pretending to think it over. She'd already decided what she was going to demand.

Instead ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of answering, she floated lightly into the air with that same wicked grin.

Sparks crackled around her slender frame like static electricity. They seemed to be coming from the soft fabric of her pajamas.

"Ssaem♡"

"What?"

"If you don't want to die a social death~? Come to my room at seven tonight♡ I'll tell you where Selena is~"

"What?"

"Even one second late and… you know what happens, right?"

Nyeheheheh—she let out that ridiculous laugh and escaped through the window.

Slow as her speed might be, the fact that she could fly at all… I was halfway through cursing how broken that ability was when another thought hit me.

"Why? Since when?"

Questions could wait. Right now I had to deal with my favorite character's juices, our mixed scents, and Selena sleeping ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soundly on the bed.

Bzzzt— bzzzt—

"Hm?"

My phone was ringing. I checked the screen.

"Yuhwa Noona."

I really didn't want to face her right now. A blunt older sister who secretly likes her little brother as a man…

It felt like getting stabbed in the back by the one person I'd trusted completely all this time.

There was no telling what Noona might do. This was the woman who injected me with nanobots and even bugged me.

Best not to see her for a while. Best not to go home at all.

I ignored the call. Immediately a flood of NanaTalk messages poured in.

A chill ran straight down my spine.

Noona never messaged first. Her replies were always short, clipped, formal even when longer.

I'd sometimes wondered if she disliked me, but she always answered instantly, so I'd just assumed she was the blunt type.

However she'd been holding it in all this time, the result was downright terrifying.

With trembling hands I managed to type a reply.

For a second I almost fell for it. This was a trap. Noona was brilliant—just like Lavi a moment ago, she was trying to reel me in.

"Haaah."

So this was what had been living inside that blunt, ice-cool beauty of a Noona all along.

Honestly it still felt like a dream. Even the Yuhwa Noona in the game had always given the teacher orders with a blank face whenever you entered a weekday dungeon.

Growing up together, aside from the occasional intense stare, she'd just been a quiet, kind older sister who didn't talk much.

The quiet pressure of her pushing my back, helping with homework, or insisting we sleep in the same room because I must be scared…

It had all been love.

No wonder that after we started living together she kept "accidentally" wandering into the wrong room (the room I was using was her bedroom) and crawling into my bed.

And the habit of wrapping her arms around whoever was next to her and falling asleep that never went away even as an adult—that was purely because she'd been seeing me as a sexual object!!

Yesterday my entire world collapsed.

Even if this was a game world, the gentle, pretty, kind blood-related Noona simply didn't exist.

As expected, this world was completely broken. B-grade sensibilities or not—once it became real life, there was no need to keep the B-grade flavor, right?

Doing bad things still got you arrested. So why did stuff like this happen?

"Mmm♡"

"Selena."

"Ah♡ It's Sion Seonsaeng-nim♡ Hehe♡"

"Th-this isn't the time. We're in real danger right now."

"I'm in danger too♡"

"Does something hurt? Should we go to the hospital?"

"No. Sion Seonsaeng-nim just looks so incredibly cool♡"

Why had she changed like this too? Did hitting 500 affection turn everyone's head into a flower garden??

"This is not the time for jokes."

"Did something happen?"

The afterglow still hadn't faded; her delicate, sweet voice was soaked in sensuality. The soft little gasps she was making had me standing at full attention again.

Ahem. Get a grip.

"Do you… know a student named Lavi?"

"Ah. Lavi Unni? Yes, I know her."

"How?"

"She lives next door."

"Ah. Are you close?"

"Close… I'm not sure. Sometimes when I make too much side dishes I take some over."

"I see."

"She's also a Service Club client. Once a month she requests a cleaning for her filthy room."

If even kind-hearted Selena made a face of pure disgust, just how bad was it?

Well, separate from her mastery of getting under people's skin, Lavi had always been portrayed as extremely lazy. In the game she mostly just floated around the protagonist the entire time.

"But why are you asking about her?"

"Just now she was hiding under the blanket and secretly took photos."

"Secretly took photos… of what?"

"Of you and me. Doing that."

"Eh."

Life snapped back into her hazy eyes. Clearly this was a shock for Selena.

So why did she look… happy?

"If that photo ends up circulating on Nastagram—"

"Sion Seonsaeng-nim."

"Yeah?"

"Photos that explicit get the account suspended if you post them."

"Oh. Really? I don't use it so I wouldn't know."

"But if she uploads it somewhere else… that would be a big problem."

Her reaction was surprisingly calm. I was ready to climb the walls—my hard-won teaching license from decades of work was on the line, and Selena's already-tarnished reputation as a failing student would take a massive hit.

Then again, that very composure of hers had repeatedly saved the protagonist, hadn't it? I remembered her quietly holding everyone together with advice while the rest of the party panicked.

"Anyway. I need to talk to Lavi."

"Do you have another way?"

"She told me to come to her room at seven tonight."

"Ah."

"I know it's a trap, but I don't have a choice. I have to go in."

"You're planning to make a deal."

"A deal?"

"Lavi Unni loves making deals."

"I see."

"Sion Seonsaeng-nim. May I come with you?"

"Huh? No, no. I'll handle it alone."

"No. I'm partly responsible for this situation too."

Selena's face, now completely serious, was so beautiful it almost hurt. No—it felt reliable.