"Sigh…"
Sung Suah sat alone in the quiet faculty room, letting out a deep sigh.
Normally, she would have stopped by the school cafeteria for breakfast, but she had no appetite today.
Last night, to continue playing the game, Sung Suah playfully hugged Seong Suho and laid him down on the bed.
Afterward, she also lay down and, while manipulating the screen, noticed that it was unusually quiet behind her.
Worried that her teasing might have upset him, Sung Suah glanced over and saw the child Seong Suho sleeping soundly.
"Sigh… I hope he didn't wake up in the middle or anything?"
Unable to resist, Sung Suah hugged the sleeping Seong Suho.
She had lost her family at a young age and grew up in an orphanage.
For her, family was a lifelong dream she had always yearned for.
When she received a proposal from Cho Kang-hyun right after graduation, she broke down in tears at the thought of finally having a family.
But six years passed.
As time went by, those feelings gradually faded.
Sung Suah, who had always fantasized about having children, momentarily lost herself and hugged Seong Suho without waking him.
Even though she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't help but stroke his head, touch his cheeks, and do various other things.
Perhaps because it was a virtual world, Seong Suho's senses were dulled, and he only occasionally stirred without waking up.
After a while of caressing him, Sung Suah ended up falling asleep while hugging him.
Even after waking up, she didn't wake him on purpose.
The sight of the child as soon as she woke up seemed like an angel to her.
In the end, she poured all her energy into enjoying the warm feeling until he woke up.
"Should I be honest? No… how could I even say I did something like that…."
If this were real life, Sung Suah would never have done such a thing, and even if she had, she would have confessed and sought forgiveness.
But in this completely isolated world, her transgression dulled her sense of guilt.
"It'll be fine… and…"
Until yesterday, Sung Suah had no interest in the game.
She only wanted to build trust with Seong Suho as a comrade.
But now, things had changed.
"I want to play with him again…"
Unconsciously, Sung Suah began to feel a desire to fulfill her longing for family through the young Seong Suho.
In the end, she planted the seed of greed in her heart and began to stray from the path of atonement.
***
[She's a sly woman. Be careful.]
'She's not that sly….'
While heading to work, Armonia replayed (?) the actions Sung Suah had taken toward me yesterday.
To summarize, she hugged me and rubbed against me… or something like that.
If it had been She-Hulk who did that, I might have been wary, but if it was Sung Suah… I'd welcome it.
'Damn, thinking about She-Hulk gives me chills…'
[….]
If that hero brat had thrown me into a group of She-Hulks as revenge, that would have been worse than killing me.
Anyway…
'Things are going better than expected, huh?'
[Be careful. She's a sly woman.]
'No…'
She's been saying that since earlier.
Armonia kept badmouthing Sung Suah, seemingly displeased with something.
By the time we arrived at the faculty room, Armonia stopped the slander and brought up an important matter.
[Starting this weekend, you'll be heading to a new mission location. Please keep your weekends free, no matter what.]
'Ah, are we going to that cosmic tree or whatever?'
[Yes.]
…She's not taking my jokes.
Armonia briefly explained how to travel between the two worlds.
Spend five weekdays here. Then spend the remaining two weekend days at the cosmic tree, Yggdrasil.
However, the time difference is adjusted so that while you're at the cosmic tree, time at the embassy slows down to 0.1x.
Similarly, while you're here, time at the cosmic tree slows down to 0.1x.
Twenty days at the cosmic tree equate to two days at the Hero Academy, and five days at the Hero Academy equate to twelve hours in the cosmic tree's world.
'Okay! Got it!'
[If you make any plans for the weekend, please plan carefully.]
'Yeah, got it~'
I cheerfully replied and entered the faculty room.
The faculty room was quiet. Everyone seemed to be having breakfast and hadn't arrived yet.
I immediately headed to my partner's desk.
Today, she was still barricaded behind a partition.
'…Wouldn't she get scolded by the principal or vice-principal for that?'
[Since she's Cho Kang-hyun's sister and, as an educator, has no flaws, they don't seem to make an issue of it.]
When I reached the desk, I could see Cho Seo-hyun smiling sleepily on the other side of the partition.
"Hehe… hehehe…"
"…."
Seeing her giggling like that again, it seemed she was having a pleasant dream.
…What on earth does she do every night to sleep like this in the morning?
'If she's going to sleep like this, why not just sleep a bit more in the dorm?'
She must have her reasons, but there was no way to know right now.
As I looked at Cho Seo-hyun, Armonia spoke.
[Seeing her sleep like this… I think she might be playing games all night. Like the VR games Suho plays.]
'Oh… that makes sense.'
If it's Cho Seo-hyun, even if she didn't rent or buy it, there's a high chance Cho Kang-hyun got it for her.
'But it's not easy to ask. I might get blamed for something unnecessary…'
I'm not close enough with Cho Seo-hyun to have personal conversations.
No, rather, the moment I bring up something personal, I'll get scolded.
[You could ask the students or other instructors….]
'Ah!'
[…?]
I quietly clapped my hands and communicated.
'Should I try Dream Invasion?'
[That seems like a good idea. There's a chair placed separately at the back.]
Since she's asleep and has no resistance to magic, dreamwalking should be easy.
However, her mental strength probably isn't weak, so controlling her might be impossible…
I quickly sat on the chair and began the Dream Invasion.
***
As soon as I entered the dream, a chaotic party was underway.
"Die!!"
"Kyaaak!"
A small girl wearing a cloak was running around, slashing people left and right.
It definitely looked like a game…
Fortunately, the cloaked girl didn't seem to see me.
I almost got slashed too.
The cloaked girl threw off the hood on her head and laughed heartily.
"Kahahaha. Bring it on! I'll take you all on!"
As she shouted, the pathetic-looking teammates around her began to bow as if worshiping her.
"Ohh! Amazing!"
"Wow, it's my first time seeing a Grandmaster."
"Wow, I wish I could be like that…"
I couldn't watch any longer and hid in the bushes, crouching down with a red face.
'Damn, the embarrassment is all mine…'
Even in her dreams, she's like a real kid…
If it were someone else's dream, I might have laughed at the absurdity, but with Cho Seo-hyun, it was just embarrassing.
'So this is why she's always smiling in her dreams…'
The atmosphere was similar to a popular game from my world.
A 5v5 or 3v3 team game where you destroy the enemy's base.
I wondered if Cho Seo-hyun's dream might not be a game environment, so I looked around.
And my conclusion was…
'It's definitely a game. There's an ID floating, and even a KDA.
I wanted to get out of this kindergarten-like front yard as soon as possible, so I looked for information about Cho Seo-hyun.
Even in the dream, her real-life ID must be applied, right?
'Her ID is… Cho So-hyup-gak… Middle school syndrome is overflowing.'
She seemed to have mixed her name to create an ID that suited her character.
'Looking at it… her character seems specialized in assassination and ambush…'
While I was gathering information, Cho Seo-hyun was cackling and boasting with her small stature.
"I'm the Grandmaster, puhahaha!!"
"Damn, let's get out of here…"
I couldn't take Cho Seo-hyun's preschool-level resistance any longer and declared my retirement.
***
When I came out of Cho Seo-hyun's dream, some instructors were starting to appear in the faculty room.
I explained to Armonia while looking at Cho Seo-hyun sleeping behind her desk.
'It's definitely a game. I roughly figured out her ID, but I'm not sure about the game's name.'
[In the world where Suho is, there's a popular game called Watch of Legends.]
'….'
It's probably not a mix-up, right?
As the number of instructors in the faculty room gradually increased, I shook Cho Seo-hyun awake.
"Instructor Cho Seo-hyun, it's almost time for class."
"Huuuh… Grand…"
Watching Cho Seo-hyun look around with sleepy eyes, I thought.
'Today's going to be another grand day…'
[….]
***
And as I thought, it really was a grand day.
Once again, I followed the students around during practical training and graded them.
However, unlike before, I could quickly move to the combat locations because Armonia remembered them precisely.
The only problem was that I was late…
"Why don't you look into other things?"
"…Sorry."
"Sigh… What are you going to do if the students get hurt because of that?"
Cho Seo-hyun was once again nagging me with words that irritated my stomach.
To be honest, I hadn't done anything right, as she said.
My main job was the students' safety, not grading.
Grading was just an additional task I took on while doing my main job.
"Hey, with that level of stamina, can you handle it if something happens to the students? By the way… what's your specialty?"
"…."
Of course, she wouldn't know my information…
'She's asking that now…'
[Su-ho's profile doesn't have anything specific written.]
When Armonia provided information to Zodiac, she sent it in a way that made it seem like we had multifaceted abilities without exposing our actual information.
But from my perspective…
'I don't think she even looked at the profile…'
[….]
Armonia also seemed to agree with me and remained silent.
I maintained a stiff posture and answered.
If I showed any weakness here, Cho Seo-hyun would only find more faults.
"I don't have any special skills."
"…Sigh. Well, you're not called Mandeuki for nothing."
"…."
"Since you're here as an instructor, you should do your job. Spend the weekends training at the training center to build up your stamina. We'll have to keep working together."
"Yes, understood."
"Then go."
Cho Seo-hyun, with a dissatisfied expression, started typing on her computer again.
Looking at the crown of her small head, I desperately wanted to do something.
'Damn, I want to give her a knuckle sandwich…'
[Be careful. If you do that, Suho's skull might break.]
'Damn…'
For some reason, I felt like if Cho Seo-hyun seriously hit me with a knuckle sandwich, she could split my skull.
It's not that I can't stand being angry, but being scolded by a high school girl just feels dirty…
As Cho Seo-hyun's nagging ended, I barely managed to leave the faculty room.
'Being an assistant instructor must be tough. Most of them aren't from the Hero Academy, right?'
[That's correct. None of the assistant instructors are from the Hero Academy. Most of them are just people with records of having abilities.]
But for non-Academy personnel, being an assistant instructor at the Hero Academy is considered the best job.
Although there can be dangerous situations, considering everything, it's a dream job.
I'm not really interested, though…
When I arrived at the cafeteria and smelled the food, today's main menu seemed to be Chinese cuisine.
Another happy lunch was waiting for me.
Even though my bitter stomach wasn't welcoming it…
As I happily filled my tray with my favorite dishes, someone poked my back from behind.
"Huh?"
"Do you like today's menu too?"
Distracted by the refreshing voice, I turned around to see Sung Suah, neatly dressed, looking up at me.
"Haha, I do like it. Actually, I like almost everything here."
After a week of eating at the cafeteria, I found that all the food here suited my taste.
Honestly, the food at the Demon King's castle or the Stura's place was also delicious, but it felt a bit bland compared to here, where they use a lot of seasoning, making it really tasty.
Modern people really do love seasoning.
At my words, Sung Suah made a mischievous expression and playfully said.
"Then you should eat breakfast regularly too."
"Hahaha… I am eating."
"Hmm? I haven't seen you in the mornings."
Sung Suah playfully pushed, as if she had caught me.
"Haha… I eat in secret."
"Make sure to eat breakfast regularly. Breakfast is delicious too. Got it?"
"Yes, I'll make sure to do that."
"I'll check on you tomorrow."
I could feel that Sung Suah's attitude toward me had changed a lot.
Even though we only opened up to each other yesterday, her attitude had clearly changed.
'She's really starting to treat me like a kid. It feels good, though?'
[….]
Sung Suah, making sure not to raise suspicion from others, whispered to me after closing the distance.
"Let's play together again tonight."
She said that, took a step back, and smiled brightly at me.
As I looked at her, Armonia spoke.
[She really is a sly woman.]
'….'
Throughout the meal with Sung Suah, Armonia kept repeating the same thing about her.
***
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