Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Reunion
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> [Choi Ji-soo] You're sleeping at my place tonight, right?
[Me] I'm on my way there now?
[Choi Ji-soo] At this rate, I'm going to be raw down there.
[Choi Ji-soo] Let's just invite Im Chae-seul over, too.
Ji-soo's jokes are starting to cross the line.
Is she testing me?
I don't like it. The moment I get home, I'm going to wreck her lower body with my cock.
[Me] Don't underestimate my principles. I will maintain my fidelity to you both.
[Choi Ji-soo] That sounds like you're planning on giving me a vaginal rupture, too.
When I called, Choi Ji-soo answered with a voice that sounded like she was on death's door.
-...Yeah. What is it?
She seemed so energetic in her messages that I wasn't too worried, but hearing her voice made me feel a sudden wave of guilt.
"Are you in a lot of pain?"
-I feel like I'm dying... I can't feel my lower body... Just go to my place and sleep today....
"Still, I should be there with you."
-Then promise you'll just hold my hand and sleep.
"Alright. I promise. What about Hye-na?"
-She has her leg draped over mine, sleeping like a log. It's so annoying. I can't even move it.
So even though she's annoyed, she's enduring it so Jung Hye-na doesn't wake up.
Our Ji-soo may seem prickly, but she's surprisingly warm-hearted.
By the way, are they both naked right now...?
-I don't even have the strength to move my fingertips, so I can't push her off. This is driving me crazy. Why do I have to be skin-to-skin with her?
Never mind. She's just too weak to do anything about it.
Wow, that makes me want to see them even more.
I need to get there and see for myself.
"Okay. I'll be there soon."
-You really have to just hold my hand and sleep...?
"I said I would."
You fool, do you actually believe that?
As if I'd only hold her hand. I'm going to caress her entire body.
I'll cherish her all night long.
"She's completely passed out."
Surely she's not just pretending to be unconscious, right?
Either way, it doesn't matter.
I've already seen her house, after all.
"Hwang Ah-young, wake up. We have to go home."
"Ugh... sleepy... let's rest for a bit...."
Is she talking in her sleep, or is it an act?
I folded Hwang Ah-young in half over one shoulder and slung her over my back. In my other arm, I held the puppy.
Hwang Ah-young, you underestimated my Strength and Stamina +500%.
Your 50kg body feels like a mere 8.3kg thanks to this buff.
I made it to the front of her house, but now I was in a predicament.
What would they think of me?
Well, her mother said she knew about me, so I just have to hope there won't be any trouble.
-Who is it?
When I rang the bell, a deep, middle-aged man's voice responded.
It sounded familiar.
"Hello, I'm an acquaintance of Ah-young. She drank a little too much and passed out."
-Ah-young went out for a walk with the dog a while ago. What do you mean?
"We ran into each other during her walk and decided to have a beer, but she had a bit too much."
-Please wait a moment.
He seems to be her father, and he sounds quite dignified.
His voice alone screamed that he was a man of high culture.
"But I've really heard that voice somewhere before...."
_Click._
The door opened, and a distinguished, graying middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses appeared.
His face was etched with the years of scholarship and refinement.
The moment I saw him, I froze stiff.
"You're our Ah-young's friend?"
The 'Professor' also flinched in surprise upon seeing me.
Though likely for a different reason than I did.
I barely managed to calm my pounding heart and opened my trembling lips.
"Professor Hwang Si-hoo?"
"You know me? Are you perhaps a student at my university?"
"...I'm not a university student. I've always respected you, Professor, so I've attended many of your lectures. I've also read all of your papers."
"Ho ho, not even a student, yet such a passion for learning. Please, come in."
Although he wasn't my advisor...
And besides taking one or two of his classes as an undergraduate, we had no particular connection....
He was the professor I admired most.
To think he was Hwang Ah-young's father.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The professor took the puppy from me.
I carried Hwang Ah-young in my arms, princess-style, and followed him.
A spacious garden complete with a swimming pool, and a towering three-story main house.
It was a magnificent mansion, the kind often featured as a rich family's home in dramas.
I laid Hwang Ah-young down in her bedroom and came out to the drawing-room.
The professor had personally prepared tea and snacks.
"What is your relationship with our Ah-young? Are you perhaps her boyfriend?"
"We're close acquaintances."
"Calling her 'noona,' I assume you're younger."
"Yes, I'm twenty-two."
"I heard you're not attending university. What about your military service?"
"I was exempted. My parents passed away a long time ago...."
"Ah, I've asked an inappropriate question. My apologies. The heart of a father with a daughter is much the same, so please try to understand."
"If a stranger rang my doorbell carrying my intoxicated daughter, I would also ask a lot of questions."
Unlike her mother, who offered to give me a commercial building if I gave her a grandchild, the professor seemed unaware of who Ah-young liked.
The professor sipped his tea, staring intently at my face.
His gaze was almost burdensome.
He must be running through a thousand different scenarios in his head about my relationship with Hwang Ah-young.
Any father of a daughter would naturally...
"In all my life, I've never seen anyone as handsome as you, young man. I was so startled earlier, I thought my heart had stopped."
"Ah... thank you."
"You must be tired of hearing that you're handsome."
"Yes, well. I've heard it a little."
"Are you really just an acquaintance of our Ah-young?"
Why is the conversation heading in this direction?
Normally, if a young daughter came home drunk and carried by a complete stranger, shouldn't the father make him kneel and unleash a dragon's roar?
"Yes, just a close... acquaintance."
"Hmm...."
He doesn't seem satisfied with my answer.
I hope this isn't some development where he's taken a liking to me as a potential son-in-law at first sight.
But he's her father. She's his daughter.
No matter how handsome this body is, it's absurd to think he'd feel that way after our first meeting involved me carrying his drunk daughter home.
"If my wife had seen you, she would have been delighted. It's a shame she's not here. My wife has a thing for handsome men. As you can tell by looking at me, of course."
"Ah, yes. I can see that."
Objectively, the professor was a handsome middle-aged man.
I'd heard he was quite the looker in his youth.
"Actually, after listening to your lectures and watching your videos, Professor, I often thought about how much I wanted to be mentored by someone like you."
"Oh, is that so?"
It was true.
If possible, I had wanted to pursue my master's and doctorate under Professor Hwang Si-hoo.
But it wasn't just me; all my peers, seniors, and juniors in the same major felt the same way.
The professor was never stingy with material rewards for his "slaves."
The slaves in his lab were always so well-fed that they were plump and had a healthy glow.
As the saying goes, if you're going to be a servant, serve a high minister.
Seeing his house today, I finally understood why he was so generous to his slaves.
Since he was already so wealthy, he probably didn't embezzle research funds and made sure to pay his slaves their proper salaries from the university and the state.
"The path of learning is never too late. If you study diligently even now, you can surely achieve your dream."
Oh dear, he's mistaken me for a high school graduate with lingering regrets about academia.
I no longer have any attachment to studying.
I burned myself out completely in my past life.
In New Chang-woo's life, all I need is Jung Hye-na and Choi Ji-soo. I don't need money or anything else.
"I'm satisfied with the work I'm doing now, and it's important to me. Doesn't everyone have a few things they leave as just dreams?"
"You're very mature for your age. I can understand why Ah-young drank until she was so defenseless and intoxicated."
After a lifetime of being nagged to grow up, receiving such a compliment feels awkward.
We talked for quite a while.
The professor even brought out a bottle of Royal Salute 38, calling it a liquor he cherished.
"It was a gift from a fellow professor. I only drink a little on special occasions."
"I'm honored. It tastes wonderful."
A wave of wistful nostalgia washed over me, almost bringing tears to my eyes.
I could bet my life that I was one of the people who scoured every liquor store in the country to buy this at the slightest discount.
"It must be an expensive liquor, yet he gave it to you as a gift. He must be a very generous person. A single bottle must cost over a million won at a liquor store."
Translation: He's known for being incredibly stingy with his master's and doctoral students, isn't he?
"Oh, you know this liquor?"
Alcohol brings people closer.
The professor had been speaking to me informally for a while now.
I had also pleaded with him to speak comfortably.
"The person I used to work for loved this drink so much, I remember running around to every liquor store in the country trying to buy it a little cheaper.
In the end, I never got to taste a single drop until I... quit."
"Hold on. Hearing that reminds me of that fellow, Dr. Go. He used to run around all the liquor stores in the country on errands for Professor Jang, buying whiskey."
"Dr. Go? Who's that?"
My heart began to pound.
My fingertips trembled as my nerves fired up to an extreme degree. I could feel the rapid burn of adrenaline coursing through my veins.
Seeing the surname, it was definitely about my past self.
Wait, but I died before I got my doctorate.
"He was one of the... undergraduate students I had my eye on. I wanted to mentor him if possible, but there wasn't an opening in my lab at the time. He ended up being supervised by a colleague, but it was a shame, at such a young age."
"Could it be...?"
"He fell into a brain-dead state recently after battling cancer. But his family is opposing the removal of the artificial heart and lung machine, so even though he's dead, he hasn't been able to leave his hospital bed."
The professor said with a sip.
"The university awarded him a doctorate after he passed away. He worked so hard to become a doctor even while fighting his illness, but he couldn't achieve it in life, only in death."
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