<’Cause I wanna talk to you—>
Right, Tak Hwa-yeon decided to spoil me lately: last night’s dinner and today’s breakfast were spiked with something nasty (my mental health couldn’t handle the actual answer), several of her goons tried cornering me this morning, and my [PMs] were clogged with inappropriate spam. When I come back to my room later today, the door was gonna be trashed again.
Chang-min raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the whiteboards.
Disgust was plain as white bread across his face.
I crossed my arms and cocked my head.
I gritted my teeth.
I crossed my arms.
I shook my head. After discovering Lynn was a doctor here, I literally looked up every single faculty member last night. Turns out, there were more people going under the radar.
Okay, gather information about a last-minute substitute. That actually wasn't unreasonable. Hopefully, it wouldn’t end up disastrous like yesterday’s Task. A couple problems, though.
I raised a finger.
Chang-min rolled his eyes.
***
Sung Yeong-ae was a ghost. Nothing on the school’s website, nothing on social media, it was like she didn’t exist at all. The only proof of her existence was from word-of-mouth; every magic instructor I’d spoken to, they confirmed Chang-min’s claims. All of them. She was gonna be our new instructor and she carried around a notebook everywhere she went.
I even found her office, which conveniently had her nameplate. Door was locked, of course, but at least she was a real person.
Question was, how was I gonna get her notebook within twenty-four hours? Trying to conduct thorough surveillance was out-of-the-question given the time limit, so plan B was trying to exploit natural events. By that, lunch. It was eleven right now. All I needed to do was find the right people and ask: “Hey! Where’s Instructor Sung? Where is she eating? When will she come back to her office? I gotta talk with her.” Then, I would figure out the rest of the steps from there.
Alternatively, I could create a crisis on my own. Like, for example, pulling the fire alarm while she was in her office or blowing up the building next door. Something that would force Instructor Sung to leave her office and be tunnel-visioned into dealing with an emergency.
Problem was, though, how the fuck was I gonna accomplish anything? I didn't know any personal details about her, not even her favorite color. Everyone I’d spoken to, they knew of her but no one personally knew her.
Instructor Sung was either a hermit, the most introverted woman alive, or she hated people.
So Yoon-ho but with boobs.
“Dammit all…” I groaned, kicking the rocks outside Ether Hall, the main academic building for the magical arts.
I scoffed, puffed my chest, and stubbornly turned the other direction.
Kim Min-jae, who’d gotten used to my antics at this point, pressed,
Being a little pissed, I snapped,
He lifted his right arm.
Min-jae grinded his teeth, clearly annoyed and hopefully that was directed at himself.
I shrugged.
He eased up and explained,
I muttered,
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I smirked, head cocked back.
Seeing that he wasn’t gonna get any answers out of me, Min-jae looked toward the rest of campus like his next kill was out there waiting.
Min-jae was silent.
***
After that terrible conversation with Kim Min-jae, I abandoned my idea to intercept Instructor Sung at lunch. Not because I was upset—though, it helped—it was because I didn’t eat breakfast this morning thanks to a certain bitch and I needed food in my stomach.
Genuine food. Not shit on a plate that would leave me woozy for hours.
Hopefully, Hwa-yeon’s insiders wouldn’t be working today. Otherwise, I was probably gonna live off nearby convenience stores for the rest of the week.
However, something else happened instead. Knowing I was gonna sound exactly like my brother, I might as well say it: damn, my luck was shitty, had always been shitty, and would be shitty for my entire life.
Before I could ignore him and move on, my back hit another dickwad’s chest—Dae Myung-jun (???)—and the last douchebag boxed me in. His name was Gong Kwang-hoon (???). Two unremarkable, inconsequential dudes coming from relatively small families. A part of me assumed they only joined Tak Hwa-yeon’s faction because she was the only chick in Gold.
That’s besides the point. I was trapped in the middle of the perverted trio as onlookers pretended to not notice and carried on with their day. Thanks, guys. Problem with being a girl was the obvious height disadvantage. I had to look up at these fuckers, especially Gu Sang who was somehow taller than Alex.
I rolled my eyes.
Myung-jun shoved me toward Gu Sang, and I caught myself inches away from burying my face in his disgusting shirt.
I spat,
As I raised my hand, Kwang-hoon grabbed my wrist. He was trying to squeeze with all his strength, but Lynn was thrice as strong as him.
My restrained hand flopped around to make a point.
I clenched my hands, making sure these perverted fucks see my eyes.
Kwang-hoon laughed and dragged me a step toward him.
[Skill Activat—
Something struck Gu Sang on the back of his head. He stumbled backwards, dazed, and Myung-jun had to catch his friend before he cracked his skull on the pavement.
Kwang-hoon released my hand.
Myung-jun shouted,
The woman extended her arm at him.
Wait, classes? Don’t tell me that getting sexually harassed actually worked out in my favor.
They’d never felt such nasty intensity before, especially from a complete unknown. So they kicked the ground, swore under their breaths and glared at me for one last time, and hobbled away.
At least they were smart enough to walk away. Thought they'd be stupid enough to chat up the handsome unnie.
Instructor Sung sighed and tugged at her turtle-neck. Looking at her now, she really was handsome. Unlike with Lynn's charm, which was loud and eye-catching, Instructor Sung's was quiet, subdued. Cool, if that made sense. Despite the different approach, they both had this strange magnetism that made them appear larger than life. Well, Lynn’s wasn’t strange at all—I knew what her deal was—but that meant I should cozy up to my new instructor.
Instructor Sung looked at me indifferently.
Well, now I know what happened to the old guy. Good riddance.
I said,
I gasped.
I asked,
(
I winked.
In a single sentence, she wiped away my wink and stupid smiling and cheery voice. <...Who told you that?>
Instructor Sung raised an eyebrow.
***
[Dorothea Zhang]
[Eun Chang-min]
[Dorothea Zhang]
On the second-floor of the library, I presented the beautiful and heroic Instructor Sung Yeong-ae to the second-worst Gold in my section!
Instructor Sung had a very flat expression.
Meanwhile, Chang-min had his fingers intertwined in his hair and dangerously pulled.
Instructor Sung held onto her notebook tighter.
I innocently nodded.
I dramatically gasped, putting my hands on my cheeks.
Chang-min scoffed, wiping saliva off his lips.
She opened her journal, flipped to a random page, and wrote his name down.
I…
I don’t think that’s a good thing.
I whistled, giving him a thumbs-up.
Without waiting for a response, I ported.
***
[Eun Chang-min]