Chapter 24: Affection

I miss you.

This was already the third time this week.

“I’ve watched you from afar for a long time. I like you. Please go out with me!”

This kind of sh*tty situation, that is.

A brown-haired boy standing in front of Chayeon held out a letter.

F*ck.

No matter how fresh their age might be, who the hell confesses like this nowadays?

No, regardless of the era, she didn’t think anyone would confess like this in real life.

Especially in a hallway where everyone passes by.

She could feel her blood pressure rising.

At first, it was embarrassing, but having experienced it so many times, now it was just annoying.

Judging by his appearance, he seemed like a first-year, but since there were sometimes older students who were young, she wasn’t sure.

Anyway, around this time, a certain group usually started showing up.

“Hey, you there! What do you think you’re doing to Lady Chayeon? Stay back more than 5 meters!”

Sure enough, they appeared again this time.

“Lady Chayeon, are you okay? Some dirty man!”

“Get away from Lady Chayeon! You pest!”

‘I’m actually that dirty man too.’

On the day she taught Ju Jiho a lesson, rumors about Chayeon spread throughout the entire academy.

The Penis Breaker,

Fire Egg Destroyer,

The Queen of Homu.

TL Note: “Homu literally means Vast Nothingness. The nickname implies she turns something vast (implied reference to male genitalia) into nothing.

These were the titles attached to Chayeon.

Even giving a hundred concessions, she could understand the first two, but the last one was baffling.

They said it was because she made the ‘Ho’ (Vast) into ‘Mu’ (Nothing), but what the hell did that mean?

Anyway, since that day, for some reason, many people started appearing abruptly like this to confess.

Regardless of gender.

She could understand the people who would sneakily run away, tucking their butts in, whenever they encountered Chayeon.

The problem was these kinds of people.

She couldn’t understand where on earth they found attraction in the sight of someone destroying a man’s life as a man.

If that were all, it might be different, but now, three weeks after that match, an unwanted fan club for Chayeon had even formed.

When she was being confessed to like just now, they would suddenly appear, surround Chayeon, and wage a non-battle battle.

Judging by the lines, it seemed composed solely of girls, but it was absurd that men were also mixed in.

“Dirty men, scram!”

‘You guys are men too.’

Chayeon hated this idiotic group.

They were fcking annoying, fcking burdensome, and f*cking grating.

So she pleaded with them to stop following her, but they wouldn’t listen at all.

For reference, the fan club’s name was supposedly 「Eungchaa~」.
TL Note: “Eungchaa~” is short for “Eungae Chayeonineun Agaya ,” meaning “Wahh, Chayeon is a baby~”.

“Sh*t.”

“Oh no, Lady Chayeon is upset!”

“That guy! How dare he ruin Lady Chayeon’s mood. I’ll teach him a lesson!”

“Heek!”

The boy who confessed turned pale and fled.

Ah, how did things end up like this?

“Hey, Jeon Chayeon!”

A helping hand came from an unexpected place.

A ringing, sharp voice cut across the hallway.

Turning around, she saw barley-field golden eyes shining brightly there.

A pure white witch cosplay outfit, a pointed hat, and a broomstick.

It was Arena, discharged from the hospital about two weeks ago.

As Arena approached, the members of 「Eungchaa~」 who had gathered quickly scattered.

When they gathered, they clung like ants to breadcrumbs, but when scattering, they scurried away quickly like cockroaches.

“Spar with me!”

She thought it was a helping hand, but maybe it was just new baggage.

“No.”

“Why!”

“We already did this morning.”

As Chayeon refused flatly, Arena raised her voice sharply.

When Chayeon glanced downwards, Arena flinched and hid both hands behind her back.

“You said you shouldn’t overdo it.”

“St-Still! Right, rehabilitation! It’s rehabilitation therapy!”

“Who does rehabilitation by overdoing it like that?”

After being discharged, Arena, like Chayeon, had also skipped to the 3rd year.

Unfortunately, she was in Class D.

A different class from Chayeon.

As an aside, Ju Jiho had disappeared since that day.

He was on the attendance list but didn’t come to class.

She didn’t know what happened, but she wasn’t particularly interested.

Her revenge was over, and unlike before, she unintentionally had reliable bodyguards constantly following her, so she wasn’t afraid of repercussions.

“Anyway, no. Wait until tomorrow at least.”

“Hing…”

Arena’s expression quickly became sullen.

“Then I’m going.”

“Ah, w-wait!”

Ah, lunchtime is going to end.

“Why.”

“Th-the! B-bento… I packed it… No! I didn’t pack it for you, I just made too much!”

“You want to eat lunch together?”

“Uh, yeah!”

Could it be that this was the main point, not the sparring?

Since Arena’s discharge, they had consistently eaten breakfast and dinner together—since they commuted together—but this was the first time she suggested eating lunch together.

Besides, a bento box? If so, welcome.

She felt bad receiving living expenses from Teacher Seohee every time anyway, so it was better to save if she could.

“Okay.”

“R-right? As expected… Huh, huh!? What did you say?”

“Let’s eat. Let’s go to the front yard or something.”

“Uh, uh! Okay! Just don’t be surprised by my cooking skills!”

Arena’s gloomy face brightened rapidly.

She hummed a tune and led the way, feeling as if a non-existent tail was wagging vigorously.

‘She looks kinda cute like that.’

She followed, recalling her honest impression.

At first, she just seemed like a crazy kid, but who knew her impression could change this much.

Was it because they almost greeted the gates of the afterlife together?

The human heart was truly fascinating.

As she was lost in thought, Heukgu added.

<<You are cuter.>>

It was a truly unnecessary addition, but according to himself, Heukgu was also a member of 「Eungchaa~」.

Munch, munch.

“Whewe awe you going for ye awignment?”

“Speak after you finish eating.”

Gulp-

“You, where are you going for the assignment?”

In the shade of a large tree in the annex front yard garden, Chayeon and Arena sat side-by-side on a bench, moving their spoons.

“Dunno. I guess I’ll have to choose appropriately from the A-rank assignments.”

As a result of the ranking match, Chayeon received an A rank, one of only three in Class B.

The three losers of the finals, including Ju Jiho, received B rank, and everyone else got C rank.

Apparently, there was another round among the C ranks to further divide the grades, but that had nothing to do with Chayeon.

Arena, having joined late, naturally had no ranking match record and was thus at the bottom of Class D’s C ranks.

When the assignment season came, various assignments were posted like quests in an RPG game, each with a rank restriction.

Students, regardless of class, formed teams according to their rank, carried out the tasks, and returned.

“I’m jealous. I want to do A-rank assignments too.”

“I want to do C-rank assignments.”

C-rank assignments were assignments in name only; they were practically volunteer work.

The main task was being dispatched to various facilities within Jindal to assist with their duties.

On the other hand, A-rank assignments often involved more danger, ranging from catching criminals or dismantling criminal organizations to hunting low-level demons active in the outside world under the guise of exorcism.

“Besides, your hand isn’t fully healed yet, what A-rank assignment?”

“Ugh…”

Arena mumbled her lower lip as if frustrated.

Although much better, Arena still couldn’t wield her sword properly.

To an uninformed observer, she might seem skilled, but to someone who knew her past self, it was far from adequate.

“Still, I want to do the same assignment as you.”

“Why do you want to do the same one as me?”

“You heard me!?”

She must have thought she muttered quietly, but being this close, it was inevitable she’d hear.

Arena’s ears turned bright red.

“A-anyway! I want to receive an A-rank assignment and be active too!”

Thump, Arena stood up from her seat and shouted loudly.

She didn’t know why she struck such a pose.

Maybe because she lived in Japan, everything she did seemed like it came out of an anime.

An autumn breeze blew, and a single maple leaf fluttered down onto Arena’s sharp nose.

“Ah…”

Seeing that, Arena fidgeted and looked this way.

“Jeon Chayeon…?”

“What.”

“Uh, the bento, how was it?”

Even from the side, she could feel how incredibly nervous Arena was.

How should she put it? It felt girlish.

“Uh, it was the most delicious thing I’ve eaten recently.”

“Really!?”

As Chayeon spoke honestly, Arena’s expression brightened.

“Th-then…”

“Hm?”

“I’ll pack a bento… so… want to go on a picnic?”

A picnic.

It was the first time she’d heard that word since graduating elementary school.

“A picnic?”

“It’s the maple leaf season. There’s a famous spot for autumn leaves on the north side of the academy!”

Arena bounced on the spot.

Like before, it felt like her tail was wagging vigorously again.

Chayeon thought she had heard about the famous autumn leaf spot on the north side too.

She heard many people went there for fun during this season.

Cherry blossoms on the west side in spring, ginkgo and maple leaves on the north side in autumn.

“Jeon Chayeon, you’ll fall for it too once you see it! It’s really, really, really pretty, they say!”

Arena tried to persuade Chayeon somehow with her limited vocabulary.

Hmm.

Honestly, she didn’t feel like it.

Flower viewing, autumn leaves – they were far from Chayeon’s tastes.

However, seeing Arena bouncing with anticipation like this, she didn’t feel like refusing.

Maybe it was because she felt sympathy seeing her injured after fighting together that day, but he had a strangely soft spot for Arena.

“Okay.”

“Yes!”

TL Note: Arena originally says “Yatta!” in Japanese.

Arena unconsciously spoke in Japanese.

Jumping up and down with joy on the spot, Arena belatedly looked at Chayeon and cleared her throat.

“Uh, actually, it’s not like I really want to go that badly! But since you seem to really want to go, Jeon Chayeon, I’ll accompany you!”

Did this kid not realize it was too late to say something like that?

Inside the dense multi-layered barrier, a naked woman was nailed upside down to a cross.

Her long, turquoise-colored hair cascaded downwards in disarray.

The tail extending from her buttocks was bluntly severed at the root, and her long ears, different from a human’s, also appeared to have their tips torn off.

“How is it?”

“It seems just about done.”

In front of the upside-down nailed woman, Uroboros, Yeonkyung and a skinny woman standing beside her exchanged questions and answers.

The inverted Uroboros’s eyes stared blankly into the distance.

“It took a long time.”

“I apologize, Director. Manipulating the mind of a demon is, after all, not an easy task.”

The skinny woman’s ability was Mental Manipulation.

She was the only human permitted to possess that ability, unique to demons.

“It’s done.”

Finally, the mental manipulation was complete, and Uroboros’s mind was completely captured by the woman.

“Good. You’ve worked hard.”

Yeonkyung crouched down, met Uroboros’s eyes, and opened her mouth.

“Now, shall you tell me? Who is this ‘He’ you spoke of?”

Six weeks of torture and mental manipulation.

Yeonkyung had held the demon captive and poured immense effort into this.

Because something bothered her.

Six weeks ago, the demon Uroboros and Lubrum-Luna invaded Jindal.

For some reason, the barrier had been deactivated.

At the time, it was revealed that Teacher Shim had contacted the demons, and the case seemed resolved.

However.

‘Director, this… is strange.’

‘What is, Teacher Jeong?’

‘I’ve looked through the internal structure of the barrier, but it wasn’t dismantled from the inside. This… seems like it was destroyed by force.’

Teacher Shim, consumed by Jindalshim, was an expert in the field related to barriers.

The barrier surrounding Jindalmok also relied heavily on his power.

Would someone like him really need to destroy the barrier by force?

Of course, there could have been various reasons why he had to.

The most plausible explanation was simply to make repairing the barrier difficult. Indeed, now that Teacher Shim is dead, the effect of the new barrier is weaker than before.

But if even a 1% lingering doubt remained, it shouldn’t be ignored and passed over.

That was a lesson Yeonkyung learned from life.

They began interrogating the captured demons to extract information.

Contrary to expectations that they would clamp their mouths shut, the two cackled and spoke.

‘Liar, doesn’t love the light, the destroying spear, ‘He’ will come!’

‘He?’

Leaving only such puzzling phrases, the two, as if by agreement, didn’t utter a single word about ‘He’.

After that, the academy began the mental manipulation of the demon.

Finally, the time had come for the fruits of that long effort to be harvested.

“Now, hurry up and tell me. Who is he?”

“…Me…”

“‘Me’?”

The moment Uroboros opened her mouth and Yeonkyung asked back,

Splat!

Uroboros’s head exploded like a cracked watermelon right before Yeonkyung’s eyes.

Sticky blood and brain matter splattered directly onto Yeonkyung’s face, then dripped down slowly.

“……Are you alright?”

Yeonkyung turned to her side and saw the woman who came with her collapsed, clutching her head.

With a light gesture from Yeonkyung, a glow enveloped the woman, and soon, her ragged breathing returned to normal.

“Haa, haa. Thank you. Director.”
“No need for thanks. What happened here?”

Yeonkyung took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from her face as she spoke.

“Th-that… It seems a powerful restriction was placed. It’s presumed that someone forced death upon uttering information about themselves.”

A restriction (Geumje).

Higher-level mental domination that exerts physical force, going beyond mere mental manipulation.

At the very least, she now knew there was someone behind the scenes capable of placing such a thing on a Class 2 dangerous demon.

“‘Me’.”

There was nothing to be known from just one syllable.

However,

It was a syllable that gave off a somehow unpleasant resonance.