A Step Forward
A few days later, our group managed to hold a mock battle against another team. The results were pretty solid. Even though it was a 3:4 disadvantage, our coordination turned out better than expected. From my position at the front line taking the enemy's attacks, a brief flicker of fear had surfaced, but once the fight began, that fear vanished without a trace. Every time Jia's lightning struck the opposing vanguard, their movements faltered, making things far easier than I'd anticipated.
Moreover, Senior Eva fought without her usual hesitation, her tone completely different from her everyday self. As expected of a senior, she swung a mock crescent blade larger than herself, weaving between the enemy rearguard and our own. By drawing the enemy's attention with hit-and-run tactics, she made it much simpler for me to hold the line, and whenever I managed to endure, Jia could freely launch attacks and rack up points. Once Eva pulled their focus and Jia and I took down one vanguard member in perfect sync, the tide of the mock battle naturally shifted in our favor. As the enemy numbers dwindled one by one, the match ended in our group's victory.
We conducted a post-battle review, identifying areas for improvement and fine-tuning our strategy. If we kept this up, the workshop would probably pass without much trouble. As expected, when the few face the many, picking them off one at a time is the way to go. Everything I'd learned from Professor Baek Seol-hee was proving useful.
. . .
Just like the workshop preparations progressing smoothly, my progress in winning over Professor Baek Seol-hee wasn't bad either. I'd been rolling around the training hall, preparing for another sparring session with her. Today, as always, she wore a white tank top and leggings. The deep valley of femininity pressing against the tank top immediately caught my eye. On top of that, her leggings seemed especially thin today; if I glanced the wrong way, the hill of Venus came into view. Definitely not the kind of outfit a professor should wear in front of her student.
"That's enough. Good work today."
"Thank you for your hard work!"
After our usual sparring session ended, I collapsed onto the training hall floor as I always did. Perhaps because her student had suddenly started looking like a man, the professor's hands had grown a little gentler, but she was still a professor. Professor Baek Seol-hee had begun to see me as a man. Every time I closed the distance during our spar, she'd blush and throw me—that was proof enough. Normally, she would have perfectly subdued me with joint locks, but today was different.
I checked the item I'd prepared to push things forward. Yep, it was still right where I'd left it.
"Professor, there's something I'd like to give you."
"Hm? What is it, Hyun-do?"
"Would you accept this?"
"......?"
The professor took the small box I handed her with a puzzled expression. No point hiding it—the box contained a new pair of running shoes. The last time we'd gone jogging together, I'd casually asked for her shoe size. I'd ordered them online in advance, and when they arrived yesterday afternoon, I decided to give them to her today.
Good running shoes need excellent cushioning and a firmer material rather than something too soft. They also shouldn't compress completely when you jump in them, but without her actually trying them on, there was no way to know for sure. Since I'd never bought running shoes before, reading through pages packed with dense text had been a headache. Once I received the actual product and examined it briefly, the sole felt incredibly elastic. Made from gate materials, these shoes boasted durability, breathability, and above all, lightness. They were ergonomically designed for comfort too. The moment I bought mine, they went out of stock.
After checking the contents, Professor Baek Seol-hee looked up at me and spoke.
"Hyun-do, thank you for the gift, but a professor can't accept something like this from a student."
"There's no one else here in the training hall. Last time I noticed your soles were completely worn out, so why not wear these now?"
"No. I can't accept them."
"Then just think of it as a gift from a younger acquaintance instead of your student."
The back-and-forth continued—me insisting she take the gift, her refusing on principle. Since things had come to this, I decided to be shameless about it. Who would complain about a younger acquaintance giving a gift? In reality, Professor Baek Seol-hee wasn't that much older than her students anyway.
I fetched a folded pipe chair from across the hall and forced her to sit down.
"Just try them on. When else are you going to get a chance like this?"
"Ugh, I really shouldn't..."
"Lift your foot. I'll put them on for you."
I made the professor sit on the pipe chair and knelt in front of her with the shoebox. Carefully taking hold of her slender ankle, I removed her shoe. The foot that emerged looked smaller than I'd expected. And somehow... sensual. Maybe because my gaze was lower than usual, the alluring line of Professor Baek Seol-hee's legs filled my vision in their raw state. From wide hips that left a triangular gap between her thighs, down to firm, toned thighs, then calves tapering gracefully from the knees—her legs embodied health and vitality itself. The line extending from her healthy-looking ankle traced over the top of her foot to soft, delicate toes.
My eyes landed on the socks covering her feet. Contrary to my assumption that they'd be plain white, they featured a red rabbit character on the instep. I nearly laughed but managed to hold it in. Laughing now would ruin the mood completely.
The socks in my hands were damp from our sparring session. Yet they carried none of the unpleasant odor I'd expected. Instead, the feet of Professor Baek Seol-hee, who always carried a refreshing mint scent, gave off the warm fragrance of a woman's body heated from exertion.
When I looked up at her, the professor's face—having shown me her feet—was flushed bright red. But something seemed off. Beneath the blush, there was a hint of fatigue. What was that about? Had she not been sleeping well?
For now, I slipped the running shoes onto her feet. Thanks to loosening the laces beforehand, they accepted her feet smoothly. After putting on both shoes, I spoke.
"Would you stand up and try walking? They say the cushioning is the most important part of running shoes."
"......Okay."
The professor rose from the pipe chair and lightly bounced on her feet to check the fit. The subtle upward curl of her lips suggested she quite liked my gift. From where I sat in front of her, her attractive lower body was right in my face.
"How are they? Comfortable?"
"They're nice. Thank you, Hyun-do."
"Hyun-do? That's not right."
"Hm?"
"Right now, I'm just a younger acquaintance. You should call me Hyun-do."
"......"
"Go ahead and try it. Say 'Hyun-do.'"
"H-Hyun-do... thank you?"
Baek Seol-hee removed the word "student" from how she addressed me, hesitating as she did so. She'd always added "student" whenever she called my name, and I'd taken that as her way of maintaining distance. By spending more time together—jogging every morning, sweating through one-on-one spars in the training hall—this had become possible because the feelings she'd shown me since the start of the semester had been favorable.
"By the way, noona, did you not sleep well last night? You look exhausted."
"N-Noona?"
"Ah, would you prefer I call you professor?"
"No. Noona is fine."
The professor seemed briefly flustered when I called her noona, but after seeing the slightly hurt look on my face, she relented.
"Last night... I was up a bit late."
"Ah, I see. You must've been busy with work."
"Huh? Ah, yeah. There was a lot to do."
"Even if you're busy, you should rest sometimes."
"Right, got it. I'll do that."
"Then how about sitting back down on the chair?"
"On the chair? Why?"
"I'll give you a foot massage. It's good for relieving fatigue."
"It's fine, really..."
"Come on."
Baek Seol-hee lowered herself back onto the pipe chair. Realizing I wouldn't take no for an answer, she sat down surprisingly obediently. I took hold of her ankle and removed the running shoes I'd just put on. Once again, I was face-to-face with Baek Seol-hee's feet. Perhaps embarrassed by the situation repeating itself, she wiggled her toes.
Cute.
A cute act of defiance, considering her strength. Even though she could kick me across the room if she wanted, she didn't. Feeling the corner of my mouth slowly curl upward as I watched from the best seat in the house, I spoke.
"Shall I take off the socks?"
"......"
Taking her silence as consent, I removed the socks from her feet, revealing the professor's bare skin. Perhaps from the cool air, her toes curled inward even more. They fidgeted, unsure what to do.
"I'll start the massage now. If it hurts, don't hold back—tell me, okay?"
"U-Understood."
Baek Seol-hee carefully entrusted her right foot to my hands. I gently cupped her right foot with both hands. It fit entirely in my grasp. The foot I held was warm and soft.