Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Striving to Win the Bet with the Shady Teacher (4)
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The body had deliberately gotten itself injured. It had faked an accident to create an opportunity to connect with Park A-young.
Naturally, the sparring session ended right then. He'd borrowed the room for thirty minutes but hadn't even used ten properly.
"Sorry."
It wasn't something I'd done, but I apologized to Park A-young anyway. I looked at her with as much genuine remorse as I could muster.
"...Even if I say it's fine, you keep doing it."
From the training grounds onward, all I'd done was apologize. After it hit double digits, Park A-young waved me off, clearly tired of it, telling me to knock it off.
She'd gotten bolder than before. Our attitudes had completely flipped.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"Some seniors helped out, so it's fine. Doesn't hurt at all."
Park A-young's wound was already healed. Lucky there were plenty of cadets around to help.
"By the way, Juyeon-woo, you really do have an attribute, huh."
"I had no idea. Never thought my mana had one... First time I found out was back then."
"During the one-on-one in class?"
"Yeah."
Since coming to this world, the body hadn't properly swung a spear even once, so how would I know its settings?
"You're the first among the first-years to awaken an attribute, right?"
"No clue. Me neither."
"That's amazing... Kinda jealous too..."
Park A-young kept marveling as she recalled the lightning strike from earlier.
Was having mana with an attribute such a big deal? I wondered a bit.
But I let it slide without digging deeper. I could just search it up at home later.
What I wanted to ask Park A-young wasn't about settings like that.
"......"
The conversation lulled, and an awkward silence settled in. Thinking about it, we weren't that close.
Classmates who knew each other's faces—that was it.
So of course it felt weird walking home together like this. Then why were we leaving the academy side by side?
The vibe at the training grounds had just made it happen.
After causing an accident in the sparring room, sticking around alone to train more or leaving solo? That'd look even stranger.
So for the training grounds at least, Park A-young and I were stuck together by fate.
"But you blocked pretty well, surprisingly?"
I brought up what happened in the sparring room to break the ice. To exploit the body's guilt, I needed to steer the conversation topic firmly.
Park A-young glanced at me sideways and puffed out her lips a few times, grumbling like she was throwing a tantrum.
"You said we'd go easy."
"We did."
"But your 'easy' isn't my 'easy.' I was really pouring blood and sweat into blocking..."
She was basically pleading for me to recognize how hard it'd been.
"Oh, really? Sorry. And this apology's different from the one for hurting you earlier."
To cut off any complaints about more apologies, I added the disclaimer upfront, shutting down Park A-young.
"I planned to go easy too at first. But swinging the spear got me hyped up. Didn't expect lightning to spark the second I infused mana."
"Heard some heroes are like that sometimes. Attribute control can be tricky—more common than you think."
We chatted back and forth, recapping the sparring room. Our pace was slow, and home was far. No clue where Park A-young was headed, but no signs of splitting up yet.
"You entering the Hero Tournament?"
"They'd make me, right? You teasing me now?" "So you're thinking of giving it a shot at least?"
"Can't just slack off even if I skip the tournament. Gotta train hard."
Park A-young gave an embarrassed smile in reply.
For cadets, the Hero Tournament was definitely a big opportunity. But it wasn't the endgame. Just a step.
Park A-young wouldn't stop striving to become a hero itself, not just for the tournament. The other cadets probably felt the same.
"Oh..."
"What about you? You entering the Hero Tournament, Juyeon-woo?"
"Dunno."
"You are teasing..."
"If I can, I probably will. It's a chance."
I thought of the bet with Eum Ji-hye. Reach the quarterfinals, and she'd let me bareback creampie her on a dangerous day. Just imagining it made my balls ache.
'Gotta win no matter what.'
I had zero intention of losing. In the Hero Tournament, going all out was fine, so it might even be easier. I trusted the body to carry me.
The distance between Park A-young and me had closed a bit. Talking like this, I could feel us getting slightly friendlier.
Park A-young seemed more at ease with me too. She'd been awkward without Han-seol around, but now even just us two felt okay.
"I gotta head this way."
"Oh, yeah?"
Our paths split. Time to part. We knew we'd see each other tomorrow anyway, but this felt like the perfect moment.
The mood wasn't bad. The air made it hard to refuse, or something like that.
Park A-young wouldn't ask for my number first. She had an introverted side rivaling any heroine archetype. I had to make the move.
Before she turned away, I called out to her.
"No matter how I think about it, I can't just let you go like this."
"H-Huh...?"
"With the screw-up I pulled today, and feeling bad about it."
Excuse. I used the spear stab from today as my justification. Same context as drawing out the bet with Eum Ji-hye.
"You free this weekend? Let me buy you a meal at least."
Top untrustworthy phrase in Korea. "Let's grab a bite sometime." Basically a greeting like "hi."
But pair that casual line with a concrete time, and it turns into a real date invite.
"...Th-This weekend? I have time..."
No way Park A-young didn't have time. Sorry to say it, but she was the type doomed to hole up at home all weekend.
'Han-seol's friend, after all. No way she'd roam around outside.'
A friend who could come if called—that was Park A-young.
"Then let's meet up."
"...D-Do we have to...? I'm fine..."
She'd been chatting fine up to now, but suggesting an actual plan made her clam up. My offer clearly threw her off.
"I'm doing it 'cause I feel bad. Can't just brush it off..."
What to say next? How to make sure Park A-young couldn't refuse.
"My aunt told me. If you mess up, apologize sincerely to whoever got hurt because of it."
When the body stabbed Eum Ji-hye, Aunt had wanted to go apologize to the teacher herself. Her kid caused trouble, so it was only right to face the victim and atone.
That's how I'd been raised under Aunt. I had a duty to atone to Park A-young.
"...Your aunt?"
Checkmate. Refusing now meant ignoring Aunt's words.
"So, gimme your number?"
Tomorrow would've worked fine. We'd see each other in class anyway—no need to whip out phones on the street.
But I planned to wrap it up today. Rip the band-aid off, as they say.
"Ah, uh... Number."
We were classmates. Didn't mean I'd swapped numbers with everyone.
The body's phone only had Class President Mi's number. It wasn't the type to buddy up with others.
Tap, tap-.
Park A-young entered her number. I called her right away. My number popped up on her screen.
"I'll treat you to something tasty this weekend. Got it? That settles the apology."
"You don't have to go that far."
"I want to treat you. If I don't, it'll feel like I didn't apologize properly, and the guilt'll eat me up."
I stared straight at Park A-young as I kept going.
"You trying to guilt me to death?"
"No way, I'd never..."
"Then just enjoy the meal and accept my apology. Okay?"
"...O-Okay..."
Park A-young stood there awkwardly clutching her phone. I waved at her and turned away, heading home with light steps.
I felt her gaze on my back, but I pretended not to notice the whole way.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "How's training going, Juyeon-woo?"
The next day, I met Eum Ji-hye. Word of the training grounds incident had reached her too.
I looked at her with a super tense face.
"...Not going well. Hard to control on my own terms..."
I could've lied and said it was fine. But I didn't. In front of Eum Ji-hye, I wanted to whine.
Legally exploiting her hypnotized state.
"Ended up hurting someone else too. I wanted to be a hero who saves people."
I pulled a pitiful pout, hamming it up as much as possible.
Eum Ji-hye patted my back. Trying to fulfill her teacherly duties. Even though she was a sleazy adult hypnotizing cadets.
"You're a cadet—that's bound to happen. That's why academies exist."
"...Why they exist?"
"Academies aren't for learning stuff. They're for cadets to screw up as much as they want before becoming heroes."
Better to mess up at the academy than on the field. That's what Eum Ji-hye meant.
"Teachers are here to cover for your mistakes. Don't beat yourself up. Everyone screws up. Even I was a disaster back at the academy."
"...Really?"
"Totally! Cried 'cause blood scared me, ran away screaming when it hurt."
"......"
Eum Ji-hye beamed. Her shady vibe made it look like a creepy smirk.
I pulled her into a hug.
"Teacher...! Thank you."
"......"
I ground my bulging crotch against her lower belly. Did she realize it was on purpose?
Glancing down, she seemed to know but held her tongue.
"Feels like sex with you would calm me down."
"...Teacher's got condoms in her wallet. Use one."
"Can't we skip it? Not a dangerous day."
"......"
She let me go bareback when popping her cherry. Why get picky now?
Had no choice but to use the condom. Still felt great though.