Chapter 13: The Bunny Headband and the Emperor’s Health

Having endured such a tumultuous night, Lee Doha had fully expected to remain awake. Yet, exhaustion eventually claimed him, and when he finally opened his eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.

Somewhere nearby, his phone vibrated.

Still half-asleep, Lee Doha stumbled around his rather small room, searching for his phone. He only vaguely recalled that it had slipped beneath the bed the previous night.

As he heaved the entire bed upwards, a cloud of accumulated dust billowed out from underneath. Coughing uncontrollably, he glanced at the screen to see Yoo Seo’s name.

His mind instantly cleared.

“How did it go?”

–Whoa… Hyung, why didn’t you pick up? You weren’t asleep, were you? I just exhausted myself using all my specialties.

Yoo Seo whined.

–His condition has stabilized quite a bit. Besides me, the Swedish healer and Jacob Hughes were also there. Jacob Hughes is that human regenerator from Australia, you know? I saw him in person for the first time… and wow, his specialty is truly amazing. It’s incredibly fascinating. I even got his number, but damn it, I can’t contact him because I don’t speak English. Anyway, with three of us working on him, he recovered quickly. But Emperor Orphenos’s HP pool is so massive that we couldn’t completely fill it. Even after pouring everything into it, it felt like we barely managed a third. Bosses really are different, I guess.

Yoo Seo prattled on, his voice brimming with excitement.

‘Boss, what boss? With talk of HP pools and such, it was clear how Yoo Seo perceived Orphenos.’

‘He’s just a high schooler, a mere high schooler,’ Lee Doha reminded himself, gathering his patience.

“Did you tell him?”

–Tell him what? Oh.

Yoo Seo, who had initially asked in confusion, trailed off hesitantly.

–That… I couldn’t tell him. He hasn’t woken up yet.

Lee Doha clicked his tongue in exasperation.

‘A Mola mola. A paper human.’

“Aren’t you going back?”

–Probably not for a while? Irina used a lot of magic, so they need to rest. Not everyone is a monster like Emperor Orphenos, Hyung.

“What’s so monstrous about him?”

–He is a monster! A third of his HP pool is far larger than Irina’s entire pool! If Irina had tried to summon you, their HP would have been depleted the moment the summoning circle flashed. Ugh.

“What’s the point of summoning if I just faint every time…?”

Gathering the accumulated dust into a neat ball, Lee Doha tossed it into the wastebasket before lowering his bed.

As he flopped onto it, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, despite having done nothing.

“Why didn’t you at least tell your contractor?”

–Hyung. You might call Emperor Orphenos ‘this guy’ or ‘that guy,’ but he’s still an emperor… How can Irina tell an emperor not to play such dirty tricks?

His voice sounded choked up.

Lee Doha initially thought he was crying, but it was a voice on the verge of laughter.

Both of them, this one and that one, always burst into giggles over the most trivial things.

–Hyung, Hyuuung. By the way, what are ‘dirty tricks’? What did the Emperor say? He’s seriously so handsome, I could look at him three times and still not get tired of it.

“You worked hard in the middle of the night, so go to sleep. I’m busy.”

–Oh, you’re lying! What are you busy with? You’re unemployed, Hyung!

Lee Doha, though not technically unemployed but living like he was, bristled.

“Who’s unemployed?”

–Are you really going somewhere?

“Yeah. School.”

–School?

The end of his question, “Schooool?” stretched upwards in surprise.

‘Yeah, you punk,’ Lee Doha answered curtly before hanging up.

With Yoo Seo’s voice no longer filling the air, a profound quiet settled.

Outside the window, only sparrows chirped.

As Lee Doha lay there, lost in thought, a flurry of contemplations assailed him.

‘Yoo Seo should have conveyed that message.’

‘Surely, Siohan wouldn’t summon him again just because he was feeling a bit better.’

‘When would he finally see Siohan with a healthy, normal face?’

‘The Emperor, yes. With the Emperor bedridden like that, would the country even function?’

‘Was there no one by his side to gently dissuade him, saying, ‘Your Majesty—’?’

‘When would he be called again? Should he rest for about a week? A generous month? That felt too long.’

The time difference with Orphenos remained a mystery, a principle no one had yet deciphered, so no one knew if the next summons would be tomorrow or the day after.

Perhaps Siohan didn’t even want to recover fully.

Considering how he had gobbled down everything offered to him like a baby bird, there was no telling what novel dirty trick he might have devised next.

To spout nonsense about the spoon being too heavy, Lee Doha had been forced to counter by fashioning him a pair of wooden chopsticks.

Ding, an alarm sounded.

Lee Doha, who had been drifting in his stream of consciousness, effortlessly floated his phone into view without even turning his head.

A message from Yoon Hyung had arrived.

[Did you die?]

Ding, ding, messages arrived in quick succession.

The new notifications, rising from below, pushed the previous ones steadily upwards.

[Are you dropping out?]

[Then you’ll only have a high school diploma.]

[If you don’t come today, you’ll get an F. You’ll have to retake Advanced Accounting.]

‘School. Right, he should go to school.’

Lee Doha, who had been staring blankly at the messages, finally pushed himself upright.

The pleasure of lounging at home while everyone else went to school or work only lasted a day or two.

Staying cooped up at home had started to feel tedious and boring.

His mind kept wandering, filled with idle thoughts.

What he had flippantly told Yoo Seo now sounded surprisingly plausible.

As Lee Doha headed to the bathroom to wash his face, he paused, catching sight of himself in the mirror.

The contract name etched beneath his right eye immediately drew his gaze.

He raised a hand, subtly attempting to cover it.

It was striking how accustomed he had become to it, considering how he had once clutched his neck in dismay, viewing it as a facial tattoo.

Indeed, an unblemished face, devoid of the stark, neat characters, now felt unfamiliar.

‘Humans truly are fickle creatures,’ he mused.

Lee Doha let out a hollow laugh before splashing water onto his face.

“Ah, this is not happening.”

“What do you mean, ‘not happening,’ you punk?”

“Is this how you scam people?”

“If you think about it, you’re the scammer, Lee Doha. You clearly said you’d do it without a word of complaint back then, didn’t you?”

“You didn’t even tell me what it was, just demanded I do it, right?”

“And you just agreed without even hearing what it was? Said you’d do it?”

“Aish.”

After a brief struggle, Lee Doha finally snatched the headband from Yoon Hyung’s hand.

Yoon Hyung smiled smugly, as if he had expected nothing less.

As Lee Doha haphazardly put it on, Yoon Hyung thrust his phone forward.

“Oh my, how pretty, so pretty. You’re so handsome, Lee Doha.”

Lee Doha scoffed indifferently.

The headband was adorned with surprisingly large, adorable bunny ears.

One ear stood perkily upright, while the other drooped halfway.

Its white fur was plump and soft, and the band itself was black, making the ears appear remarkably realistic, as if they were truly sprouting from his head.

Surely, such a headband was meant for small children or girls to look genuinely cute and charming.

Putting it on a dark-haired man like him would only make him look…

“…like a pervert.”

“Sunbae, you just don’t get it. If Yoon Hyung Sunbae wears it, he looks like a pervert, but if you wear it, you look adorable and charming.”

“A pervert…? Lee Jooyeon, that’s a bit harsh.”

Yoon Hyung, wearing a mouse headband, feigned dejection.

Regardless, Lee Jooyeon continued to snap photos with her phone.

She was Lee Doha’s junior from his department.

All the juniors gathered around, both male and female, were wearing similar headbands: a tiger, a pig, a fox, a dog, a giraffe, a mouse, and one with inexplicable green antennae.

Among all those options, why did he have to be the rabbit?

“Wow, truly handsome. The past few days without you, Sunbae, made school unbearable.”

“Jooyeon. Quiet down a bit.”

“Why? A handsome person should always be praised, after all.”

Lee Doha wasn’t offended, but he was certainly exasperated.

When Lee Doha made a troubled face, Lee Jooyeon and her classmates clapped and giggled, seemingly overjoyed by even that reaction. “You’re so cute, Sunbae!” Lee Doha resigned himself.

“Sunbae, don’t get a girlfriend, okay? Doha Sunbae is public property for the business administration department, so you can’t have a girlfriend. Or at least, keep it a secret.”

“Why not?”

“Sunbae, you stamped your approval last time. No backing out.”

“I don’t remember.”

The surroundings were bustling and noisy. Loud music blared, and hawkers’ shouts filled the air. The school was in the midst of its festival.

Lee Doha deeply regretted coming to school, having foolishly complained about being bored at home. He had noticed the banners and music indicating a festival from the moment he got off the bus, but he hadn’t anticipated this situation.

He had only intended to say hello after a long time.

The business administration department, already large, boasted the highest attendance rate at this festival. Thanks to Yoon Hyung, who held a position on the student council due to his nosy personality, Lee Doha had inadvertently shown his face everywhere.

All the juniors he knew were there, and even those he didn’t know shyly greeted him.

With seniors above, juniors below, and even people he’d merely crossed paths with exchanging greetings, Lee Doha, already overwhelmed, had been dragged to the business administration booth and forced to wear this ridiculous headband.

This year, the business administration department had two booths: a common drinking tent and an uncommon experience booth.

The Korean University Heartthrob’s Aerial Stroll.

Lee Doha didn’t know who had come up with the name, but he thought it was utterly insane and incredibly embarrassing. A large banner displayed a scene from an anime, showing a blonde-haired character walking side-by-side with the female protagonist in the sky.