Chapter 14 Part 2: Adaptation.

The cake was an ordinary whipped cream cake.

But it tasted so good that I still haven’t forgotten it.

Back then, the only snacks I could eat… were just candy.

So, of course, the cake was bound to taste amazing.

“Is it good?”

I was very surprised, but I didn’t show it.

I could just think of it as a vivid auditory hallucination.

The researcher said that, and then slowly smiled.

Even though he knew I hadn’t eaten the cake yet, it seemed like he said that just to start a conversation.

And the researcher said to me.

“Wait, can we talk?”

…!

The voice.

The intonation.

The way of speaking.

It all seemed to resemble someone I knew, so I flinched and stood up.

And while I was startled and gasping for breath, the hallucination gradually began to fade.

The table and cake in front of me became blurry, and the researcher had somehow turned into my homeroom teacher.

No, I must have mistaken my homeroom teacher for the researcher.

My homeroom teacher seemed quite surprised.

His eyes were still closed, but I could tell from his expression and gestures.

More than anything, seeing him holding his phone, I thought he must have thought my condition was really bad.

…And only then did I realize that I was leaning on my homeroom teacher’s shoulder.

I probably mumbled something like sleep talk while enduring the hallucination.

I was so embarrassed that I wanted to crawl into a hole, but I couldn’t do that right away.

I had to at least clear up the misunderstanding.

“…Student, are you okay?”

My homeroom teacher asked me that.

His voice was filled with worry.

His eyes were still closed, but his expression was full of kindness.

That’s why it was even more disgusting.

An unknown, deep disgust rose from within me.

I clenched my teeth and tried to suppress the emotion.

And suppressing my emotions as much as possible, I said to the teacher.

“…It’s none of your concern.”

I might have said it a bit harshly…

But this was me saying it as nicely as possible.

The researcher and the teacher had a strangely similar atmosphere.

Just being in this space together made it hard to breathe.

I wanted to tell him to get out because I didn’t even want to look at him.

…But since the teacher wasn’t the researcher, I tried hard to calm down.

So, the teacher and I didn’t say anything.

The teacher looked at me with concern, then looked ahead again.

I leaned against the window and fixed my gaze on the window.

Meanwhile, the intercity bus continued to run along the road.

And soon after, it stopped at a bus stop near the academy.

I waited, took out my transportation card, and got off the intercity bus.

“Student, are you really okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

And after saying that to the bus driver who was worried about me, I walked forward without looking back.

If I got involved with another person now, I didn’t know what I might say.

So I increased my speed.

It was a shame that my skirt was too short to run.

As I walked up the steep slope, I found another bus stop.

That… seemed to be a shuttle bus stop.

Other students seemed to be waiting at the bus stop to take the shuttle bus instead of walking.

I knew from going to university.

If you take the shuttle bus, it’s comfortable, but it’s bound to be late because there are so many people.

So I passed the bus stop, planning to keep walking.

…I didn’t want to get involved with other people right now.

So I kept walking up the steep road, and I felt someone following me from behind.

I hesitated for a moment, and turned my head just in case, and I immediately regretted it.

It wasn’t just any other student, it was my homeroom teacher who was following me.

I tried my best not to show any reaction.

As if I had never turned my head, I kept walking forward.

But I didn’t think I could ignore the teacher.

My homeroom teacher was already walking beside me, keeping pace.

So I ignored the teacher for a moment and stopped in my tracks.

If I did that, I thought he might lose interest and go somewhere else.

But the teacher also stopped and didn’t move.

In the end, I couldn’t stand it and said to the teacher.

“If you’re the homeroom teacher… shouldn’t you go early?”

“Hm?”

“Do you have time to wait here with me?”

“Haha, is that what you mean?”

“…Of course, you’re already coming to work early. But still, shouldn’t you come to work a little earlier?”

“Normally, I take the first bus, but I had a lot of things to take care of today.”

“…”

That wasn’t a lie.

If he had lied, I would have definitely been able to tell.

So I didn’t say anything more.

Instead, I started walking really slowly.

Hoping that the teacher would pass me.

But the teacher didn’t pass me.

Rather, as if he would wait forever, he kept matching my speed beside me.

Then, the teacher spoke to me first.

“A little while ago, on the bus, you leaned on my shoulder, right?”

“…Yes.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t just because you were tired, was there something wrong?”

“…”

I didn’t answer, I just turned my head and blinked.

Glass windows appeared everywhere in my vision.

Fragments of unconnected glass walls floated in the air.

And surely the teacher should be wearing casual clothes.

…But for some reason, I could see a white coat fluttering from the teacher’s direction.

Then I gritted my teeth.

And I concentrated as much as possible to break the hallucination.

If I was troubled by hallucinations here, something troublesome would happen.

…For today, I’ll endure it with willpower, and tomorrow, I’ll interrogate my aunt and get some kind of medicine.

Aunt Ailey is competent. She’ll definitely give me something to deal with this situation.

So, pretending to be fine, I said to the teacher, cutting him off.

“…Nothing’s wrong.”

“…I see.”

The homeroom teacher just walked forward silently for a while.

I also walked forward silently for a while.

Then the teacher spoke to me again.

“I know that the student helped arrest a criminal yesterday.”

“…Yes?”

“There was a discussion about it, are you interested?”

“…”

I closed my mouth and thought.

I don’t know why my homeroom teacher knows about that…

No, let’s say he knows.

But considering the academy’s tendencies.

The teachers must have already come to a conclusion on their own.

And it seemed like he was forcing the issue to talk to me about it after a decision had been made.

I wanted to just ignore it.

But I didn’t think I could ignore it any longer, so I grumbled a little and said I would listen.

The teacher smiled kindly and said to me.

“Since a student of the academy helped arrest a criminal, this should be commended.”

“It was nothing.”

“Still, it should have been in the news by now.”

“…There’s no, way.”

“But this would be a big burden for the student, right?”

“…”

The teacher was smiling, but I couldn’t smile.

If, as the teacher said, the news broke.

An unbearable amount of attention would be poured on me.

A freshman at Busan International Academy.

Not just an ordinary freshman, but a freshman who defeated a villain in the entrance exam.

If such a freshman helped arrest a criminal.

…I couldn’t imagine how excitedly the reporters would type about me.

Just thinking about it made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

And if the teacher found out about this, he would try to do something to me.

So I tried to maintain a calm expression.

As if my thoughts weren’t wrong, the teacher said exactly what I thought.

“So, how to handle this matter came to me, the student’s homeroom teacher.”

“…I see. Can we get to the point?”

“And I was thinking of giving the student that choice.”

“…Yes?”

“Because the student seemed to dislike being noticed more than necessary.”

“…”

“Dressing up rebelliously is also a part of that, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Because the student is that kind of student.”

I tried to calm down, but I couldn’t.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even maintain my expression.

So I stopped for a moment and stared at the homeroom teacher.

Because the words the teacher just said.

I felt like I had heard them somewhere before.

…The glass walls, were slowly appearing.

My vision lowered again.

Surely the homeroom teacher should be standing here.

But before I knew it, a middle-aged man in a white coat was standing in front of me.

The middle-aged man looked at me with interest and said.

“So you’re that kind of child.”

There was no emotion in the word, child.

It was just a kind of meaningless praise, added because the object in front of him was a success.

…And the tone, like he was happy to see a new toy.

It was so annoying and irritating that I felt nauseous.

I stood still for a moment, wondering why I remembered this now.

Then I looked up blankly and examined the man’s face.

Similar.

No, identical.

That conviction took hold strongly within me.

I unconsciously tensed my body, activated my power, and then released it.

And I gritted my teeth and took a slow, deep breath.

But I didn’t stop looking ahead.

The person in front of me is not a man.

I’m just overlapping hallucinations, the person in front of me is my homeroom teacher.

So I tried to calm down and answered.

“I don’t like getting more attention than necessary.”

Saying that, I forced a smile.