Harem Pure Love Is Not True Pure Love!
"What the hell? How did this woman figure it out?" [Art thou certain thou hast never met her before?]
"I'm positive. Today was the first time."
In the drowsy classroom, alarm bells began ringing throughout my entire body, as if I had been transported to another dimension. Professor Kim Jiseon pulled away from my ear with a slight smile. Ignoring Hye-ji, who was staring at us like a ghost, I slowly raised my guard and put on an expression of feigned ignorance.
"Who is that person? From what I heard from the Heavenly Demon, I was under the impression that he was not exactly a man of upstanding character."
"Don't lie to me."
Professor Kim Jiseon's expression began to harden coldly.
"The Defensive Coat that student Shinwoo possesses."
"I simply received it as a favor from an acquaintance."
I gave the prepared answer firmly. However, Professor Kim Jiseon merely swept her hair back with an air of complete leisure. Her face clearly showed that she already knew everything.
"Judging from the contents of the faculty meeting, you must know who it is."
"I don't know. I don't even know who you're talking about, or why you're looking for them."
Professor Kim Jiseon once again flashed her bewitching smile. Yet her gaze was as sharp and merciless as a blade, completely at odds with that smile. There wasn't a shred of goodwill to be found in it.
"Stop lying."
"......"
'What do I do? There are too many eyes around to silence her right now.'
[For now, continue the conversation. Thou cannot subdue that woman, but she cannot harm thee either.]
I maintained my stance of ignorance.
"How am I supposed to tell you about someone I don't know? You suddenly say all this without any context, so of course I can't understand."
"Ah, you're right. My apologies. I was a bit lacking in explanation."
Professor Kim Jiseon suddenly wore an ecstatic expression. Then she began to gaze into the distance, as if reminiscing about something.
"I have been watching that person for a very long time."
"So?"
"Even now, whenever I close my eyes, I can see him clearly."
Professor Kim Jiseon closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, wearing a wistful expression.
"Those indifferent eyes of his. That broad back. Those rough yet warm hands. Those blunt but kind words. Everything is as vivid as if it happened yesterday."
"So... you really want to see that Ryu Kanghyuk person again?"
"That's right! I just want to see him one more time. That's why I asked for your help, student Shinwoo."
I roughly understood the situation. The voice in my head seemed to have reached the same conclusion.
[My dear, is this woman perhaps harboring romantic feelings for that Ryu Kanghyuk?]
'I think so too.'
But right now, the old man and Yelim noona were in the middle of their own sticky pure-love story. If I let her interfere, the genre would drift from pure love straight into harem territory.
[How dare she attempt to intrude upon pure love! Unforgivable!]
'Rape pure love, training pure love, confinement pure love, hypnosis pure love—those are all true pure love. But harem pure love is not.'
[Do not casually treat such bizarre terms as pure love!!!!]
And not all pure love is permitted. There are also vulgar words in this world that cannot be called pure love.
'Harem pure love, along with NTR pure love, NTL pure love, affair pure love, and corruption pure love, are not true pure love.'
[Stop slapping strange modifiers onto pure love!!!]
Right now, Professor Kim Jiseon was clearly trying to intrude upon pure love. This could not be forgiven. The only answer was judgment.
[My dear! Today, thou art the guardian of pure love!]
'Weep, "Pure Love Demon-Slaying Sword."'
I circulated my mana and reinforced my entire body. Just as I was about to punish the pure-love intruder, she spoke.
"I want to find that son of a bitch and tear him to pieces!"
"......Huh?"
[What???????]
Professor Kim Jiseon spat the words out viciously. My wariness and everything else vanished in an instant. Blood began to seep from various parts of my body as the mana circulation suddenly cut off. Hye-ji, who had been standing beside me, was startled by my injuries, but I had no time to worry about that.
"W-why?"
"That bastard borrowed my money and dumped it in some shady place!"
"Ah..."
"I lent it to him because he swore this time was a sure thing, but he went and threw it all into 'Elf'!"
It was a coin name I had heard somewhere before.
[Doth "Elf" mean ruin?]
'Crazy. "Elf" again?'
Only then did I grasp the situation. Professor Kim Jiseon wanted to see Kanghyuk because she wanted revenge and to collect her debt.
"Ah... Then, could it be..."
"It's a full three years' worth of my salary! Money I have to squeeze out of that bastard!"
"So you're a debt collector."
"Yes, that's right."
Professor Kim Jiseon had returned to her original demeanor. But unlike my first impression, all I felt now was pity.
"Then you don't have any ill feelings toward me?"
"Oh my! Why would I have ill feelings toward you, student Shinwoo? If anything, I want to thank you."
"....Why?"
"You remember the midterm exam betting incident, right? Back then, I bet my entire fortune on you out of desperation."
"Ah."
'I see. So I "saved" her.'
[......Is this truly the kind of salvation befitting a web novel?]
Professor Kim Jiseon smiled brightly and expressed her gratitude to me over and over.
"Thanks to you, student Shinwoo, I paid off all my debts and even have some extra money left over."
"That's a relief."
"Not at all! I'll treat you to a meal next time!"
"Understood."
"And the female student next to you—she was student Hye-ji, right?"
The aggro suddenly shifted to Hye-ji. She was glaring at Professor Kim Jiseon with clear displeasure. I wasn't sure if it was because the professor's expression kept changing in real time in an unpredictable way.
Hye-ji answered Professor Kim Jiseon curtly.
"Yes. That's right?"
"I'll invite you as well when I treat student Shinwoo to a meal next time."
"Just so you know, I'm not interested in being a research student."
"Oh my. That's not what I meant."
Professor Kim Jiseon didn't lose her smile even at Hye-ji's prickly tone.
"I'll treat you somewhere nice. And..."
"I'll pass. I'm not the type to be lured by food either."
Hye-ji tried to refuse, saying she didn't need it. However—
"I'll make sure you can have a meal alone with student Shinwoo."
"Loyalty! Loyalty! Loyalty!"
She immediately swore her loyalty.
'She got hooked right away.'
[......Thou really ought to develop some tact.]
'A protagonist without tact is frustrating, but a protagonist with too much tact is a piece of trash.'
One might wonder why a quick-witted protagonist would be trash. But if you read the terms and conditions, you'll understand what I mean. Because Gwan-siu was a real lunatic.
'I'm normal by comparison.'
[Didst thou never have a conscience to begin with?]
Professor Kim Jiseon stood up and began calming Hye-ji, who was shouting her loyalty. Once Hye-ji had calmed down somewhat, I spoke to Professor Kim Jiseon again.
"For now, I'll tell you his address. Though he might have moved."
"That's more than enough. Thank you so much! I'll handle the rest myself."
"How?"
"Ability users have to report their residence every time they move, don't they? I can find out through someone I know."
[My dear? Is that not illegal?]
'Be quiet. If you get on her bad side, she's a genuinely dangerous person.'
I gave Professor Kim Jiseon Ryu Kanghyuk's address.
"All right. I hope you get a good result."
"Thank you~!"
Professor Kim Jiseon left the classroom without even looking back. Class had ended out of nowhere.
"Hye-ji, let's go."
"Hehehehehehe."
Hye-ji didn't seem to hear me. Judging by her happy expression, Professor Kim Jiseon's offer must have pleased her quite a bit. Meanwhile, Jung Ayeon kept wiping her tears, as if the movie had moved her deeply.
[Let us not disturb them.]
'Yeah. Let's just head back quickly.'
Since there was nothing left to do in the classroom, we returned to the dormitory. Of course, I bought a box of snacks and beer on the way back. Beer—today was the day it all went to hell.
***
Right now, I was enjoying my final feast alone in the dormitory. I had tried to invite Hye-ji and Jung Ayeon, but both refused, saying they had to return early tomorrow. As for Elsia—
"Just one drink! Please, just one drink!"
"Have you lost your mind? You're going to the Great Forest and you want to vomit instead of making your representative declaration?"
"You don't trust me? I said just one drink."
"We have to open the gate and depart later, so absolutely not!"
"Why are you being so stingy?"
"Last time you said 'just one drink' and then brought a bucket!"
The escort elf firmly blocked her. Elsia eventually threw a tantrum and lay down on the spot, but the escort elf knocked her out with a chop to the neck just like before and disappeared with her slung over his shoulder.
[Thou seemest accustomed to this.]
'It was a demonstration by a seasoned trainer.'
Before I knew it, it was the last bottle. The buzz was starting to rise, so this seemed like the right time. I began pulling out one by one the questions I had buried before.
'But if you could see the world through my eyes, why didn't you help me earlier?'
[Because this body is an extremely weak existence.]
'I'm managing to use it somehow now, but if you were going to give me an ability in the first place, you could've given me something broken.'
Stopping time, for example. Or leaping through space. At the very least, an inventory or status window would have been nice.
[My apologies. It would have been better if I had given thee the ability to control the earth.]
'What's so good about earth law? You can't even cause earthquakes, and all you get is dirt pillars rising up. Fire law or ice law would've been better.'
[Petrification.]
'Ah, fuck.'
It hurt like hell. A sudden mental attack. I suffered severe internal injuries, and my mentality rapidly deteriorated. To soothe my ravaged mind, I hurriedly bought another box of beer. Each time the beer went down my throat, it became a painkiller, slowly calming my mentality.
'And you didn't even ask for your name until episode 50.'
[Names are unnecessary. This body is but a remnant of the one who created the world. Merely a tiny fragment.]
'Then what should I call you?'
[Call me whatever thou wishest.]
At that moment, one name came to mind. It would be good to use a word that commemorated the dramatic moment of our meeting. However—
[If thou include the word "HAL," I shall not kill thee cleanly.]
'You're watching this, huh.'
[This novel cannot handle that word to begin with.]
The voice in my head was one step ahead. Anyway, I had to give her a name. I forced my malfunctioning brain to work.
'Fragment. Fragment. Since you're a piece, I'll call you Piece.'
[Piece... Not bad.]
At that moment, an unbearable word came to mind. My drunken mouth spat it out without any restraint.
'Double Piece Ahegao!!!'
[You fucking bastard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Piece spat out a string of curses mere seconds after receiving her name.