Chapter 240: Look at These Guys?-5
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 240: Look at These Guys?-5
Day two of school. After finishing my classes without any issues, I stopped by the supermarket to pick up some groceries for dinner.
In a moment of poor judgment, I ended up lugging bulging plastic bags in both hands up the hill—a total disaster—but I managed to make it home somehow.
I should have just ordered delivery.
I can’t tell if I still haven't adjusted to the modern world or if I’ve just grown too old to utilize the conveniences of civilization.
There were two reasons why I decided to change my diet, which had consisted almost entirely of cup ramen and frozen food.
First, I felt like I’d been eating nothing but processed junk since the possession. Second, I wanted to have dinner with Yun Si-a.
Considering her tight budget, I had suggested we eat dinner together on the days we had lessons.
Yun Si-a hesitated at first, but she eventually accepted when I pointed out that she’d already been eating cup ramen with me anyway, so there was no point in being bashful now.
It wasn't a proposal born purely out of sympathy. Eating alone in this spacious house felt a bit lonely.
I figured it was a win-win: I’d feel less solitary, and she’d save on extra expenses.
[Where are you?]
I sent a message to gauge her arrival time.
In my original world, I only knew how to make curry, stir-fried pork, and pasta. Living alone, I never really needed a diverse menu.
However, while camping and cooking for my Master in the Murim world, I managed to build up some culinary fundamentals, however crude they might be.
She complained all day whenever the food tasted bad, so I had no choice but to improve...
The nightmares of when I charred the wild boar meat she’d caught still haunt me.
Recalling those memories, I stirred the seasoned meat in the pan. The spicy-sweet aroma of the store-bought sauce tickled my nose.
Stomach growl—
I hadn't eaten anything since lunch, so I was definitely hungry.
She was supposed to arrive at eight, so there were about thirty minutes left.
Using the excuse of a taste test, I popped a couple of pieces of meat into my mouth and chewed.
Mmm, as expected...
Meat usually tastes better than average, even when prepared haphazardly.
The rice cooker had already switched from cooking to warming, so all the preparations were complete.
I tidied up the messy kitchen and washed my hands.
After neatly plating the food and setting the table, I took off my apron and draped it over an unused chair.
Now, I just had to wait for my guest.
It was already 7:57 PM.
Yun Si-a should be arriving any moment.
[Where are you?]
The '1' next to the message I sent earlier still hadn't disappeared.
I began setting out the cutlery while keeping an eye on my phone.
The '1' remained stubbornly visible.
[Teacher, are you running late?]
She might not have seen it because she was walking, but I sent another one just in case.
Five minutes passed, then ten.
Even after twenty minutes, Yun Si-a had not arrived.
*
She had definitely been on her way to the lesson.
When she was just a stone's throw from In-ho’s house, Shin Jeong-ah appeared in front of her.
"I have something to talk to you about."
Si-a was surprised that the girl, who usually bared her claws and growled every time they met, was the first to strike up a conversation.
"There’s something you need to know about In-ho, Unni."
Normally, Si-a would have ignored her. However, the mention of In-ho piqued her interest.
Seeing her curiosity, Shin Jeong-ah took a couple of steps closer.
"It’s a bit awkward to talk here. Do you have a moment? It’ll only take five minutes."
Shin Jeong-ah spoke in a low voice, as if she were about to reveal something incredibly important.
Yun Si-a picked up her phone to message In-ho that she’d be a little late.
But before she could, Shin Jeong-ah placed both hands over hers.
"It’ll only take a second."
Si-a followed Shin Jeong-ah back down the hill.
They headed down a set of stairs connected to a park below the slope.
It was a park built by the city to improve the environment, but due to its poor accessibility, it seemed poorly maintained.
Instead of the usual hill path, Yun Si-a precariously descended the steep stairs and arrived at a small park equipped with benches, a pavilion, and a few pieces of exercise equipment.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Si-a asked toward Shin Jeong-ah’s back as the girl walked toward the pavilion.
Even then, she didn't feel a sense of danger.
Perhaps she had underestimated the level of cruelty students that age were capable of.
"Well. What should we talk about?"
Yun Si-a felt a chill run down her spine as Shin Jeong-ah spun around with a smirk.
She began to realize, bit by bit, that something was going terribly wrong.
"I thought you were smart, but you're fucking stupid, aren't you?"
Returning to the tone she’d used when they first met, Shin Jeong-ah curled her lip in a sneer.
Just as she sensed a presence beneath the dark pavilion, "fireflies" began to glow.
Those fireflies, shaped like long sticks, had red embers burning at their tips.
Someone flicked the head of one toward Yun Si-a.
The firefly flew in an arc and landed at her feet.
Identifying the object—which emitted acrid smoke and a pungent smell—Yun Si-a swallowed hard.
"...You?"
Her blood ran cold.
"Then why did you have to act so high and mighty?"
With a giggle, Shin Jeong-ah stepped back. From beside her, dark shadows with indistinct features began to slowly walk toward Yun Si-a.
'In... In-ho.'
Desperately forcing her trembling legs to move, Yun Si-a backed away from them, her mind filled with the student who would be waiting for her.
*
When he couldn't reach her at all, In-ho stepped outside to wait for Yun Si-a.
He waited in front of the house at first, then gradually walked down the hill until he spotted something and stopped in his tracks.
He knelt down to examine what was on the ground.
"This is..."
It was just ordinary dirt.
But Kang In-ho found this dirt suspicious.
The instincts he’d honed while chasing bandits with Namgung So-yu suddenly resurfaced.
This hill path was mostly used by cars. The only people who walked here were himself and Yun Si-a.
However, looking at the amount of dirt dropped and the faint prints left behind, it was clear that someone had walked here relatively recently.
Kang In-ho walked a bit further down the hill.
The amount of dropped dirt gradually increased. This meant the owner of these tracks had been heading up the hill.
"They went back down near my house."
Another peculiar point was that the tracks heading up the hill turned back around.
Kang In-ho turned on his phone's flashlight to illuminate the dirt.
It was dirt he hadn't seen in the immediate vicinity.
From the hill down past the convenience store to the bus stop where Yun Si-a caught her ride, there was nowhere she could have picked up this kind of soil.
In-ho began to follow the trail down.
When he reached the middle of the hill, he could faintly sense a group of people gathered in the park below the stairs.
"Ah... please."
In-ho hoped his suspicions were wrong.