Academy’s Villain Professor-Chapter 183 : Chapter 183

Chapter 183: Introduction
Ho-cheol subtly applied force to his arm, trying to pull away Da-yeon's hand that was gripping his wrist.
But Da-yeon, for a rare moment, even activated her Trait to hold him down.
From her tightly clenched lips, he could feel a resolute will to never let go.
As long as he didn't hurt her, it was not easy for even Ho-cheol to pull away.
In the end, he gave up on shaking her off and subtly brought it up.
“What if I say I’m not qualified?”
“Lies.”
Da-yeon pushed her face even closer.
The warm breath that flowed from between her lips brushed against Ho-cheol's cheek.
“That won’t work.”
“I suppose not.”
Was it because he had already used it once?
It was a statement that wouldn't work at all.
“You said it yourself, Professor. That it’s most important to convey your true feelings.”
Ho-cheol let out a long breath.
Really.
What's so good about a guy like this?
Grumbling, he confessed his honest feelings.
“Alright. You say you like me, so what reason would I have to refuse?”
Da-yeon's expression brightened.
But with the following words, a dark shadow was cast over her again.
“But you’re my student. That’s not right. I refuse.”
Honest feelings, but what was more important was their respective positions.
If he were to accept her confession here, it would be a statement worthy of being stoned, no joke.
If Da-yeon had not been a student at Clington, or if Ho-cheol had not been a professor.
Such assumptions were meaningless.
In the current situation where both were true, it was a refusal without any room for debate.
“Then…”
“If.”
Their voices overlapped for a moment.
Ho-cheol added, in a serious tone completely different from before.
“I’d recommend not saying something ridiculous like, ‘Is it okay if I quit Clington so we’re no longer in a student-professor relationship?’ Because I’ll be really disappointed.”
Da-yeon swallowed several times and then shut her mouth again.
It was a good thing she had thought about it, even if it was for a very short moment.
She rolled her eyes left and right and thought.
“Then after I graduate…”
“After you graduate, we’ll definitely be on equal footing. Do it again then.”
One year and six months.
For kids this age, it was an endlessly long time.
There was no way that feeling would last until then.
In Ho-cheol's opinion, the feelings Da-yeon was feeling were just a midsummer night's mirage, a whim of her young age, a growing pain.
“Then I’ll seriously consider it.”
Of course, Ho-cheol was certain that that would not happen.
A confession again, my ass.
In just a year, today's confession would probably become an embarrassing past she would want to erase.
In fact, at that time, he would probably be able to see her begging him not to spread rumors.
I’ll have to tease her until she cries.
“In that case…”
Da-yeon relaxed her grip on his wrist.
Acceptance and refusal.
Was it a deferral, neither one nor the other?
For Da-yeon, it was a 50-point answer out of 100.
However, this much was satisfactory.
At the very least, it meant that the opportunity was always open.
“Alright.”
She smiled softly and put her hands behind her back.
“I’ve said what I wanted to say, and I’ve heard everything I wanted to hear.”
Just 1 year and 6 months.
It must have been the best choice for Ho-cheol, a way of buying time, but in reality, that was not the case at all.
Would her feelings, which were already so swollen, disappear with the passage of time?
In fact, they would probably accumulate even more steadily during that time, and by then, they would have grown to an uncontrollable extent.
When that moment came, would the option of refusal even be left for Ho-cheol?
Da-yeon lowered her head.
“I’ll be going now. The ramen was delicious.”
And so, Da-yeon left.
Ho-cheol let out the breath he had been holding in.
“Heo—!”
His body slumped and he was half-slouched in his chair.
With a dumbfounded expression, he looked up at the ceiling.
To think he would be completely overwhelmed by a kid who had just turned 20.
It was the first time in almost 10 years that he had been pushed back in a battle of wills like this.
It was that unfamiliar feeling for Ho-cheol as well.
“What is this, really?”
His mutter echoed emptily.
***
Alone in his dorm, Ho-cheol was enjoying his precious alone time.
Clank— Kwang—!
The door opened with a force that seemed as if it would fall off.
Naturally, the ones who came in after were Ji-an and So-hee.
“Is that person gone?”
“Yes.”
She ran over—dododo—and threw herself on Ho-cheol's bed.
Wrapped in a blanket, she poked her face out and grumbled.
“She looked at me with really scary eyes. I thought I was going to be eaten.”
Just by her words, who was the victim and who was the perpetrator?
“Ah. Right.”
Ho-cheol, with the back of his head on the backrest of the chair, looked up at the ceiling and said, as if spitting out the words.
“I was confessed to.”
Tuk—
Ji-an's mouth, which had been chewing on Ho-cheol's blanket, fell open.
The blanket, with clear teeth marks, fell onto the bed.
So-hee, who had just come out of the bathroom after washing her hands, also froze in her awkward posture.
“Eh?”
“She said she liked me.”
In the awkward silence, the one who came to her senses first was Ji-an.
Wudangtangtang—
She half-rolled off the bed, ran to Ho-cheol, and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
She stomped her feet with a tearful face.
“Ah, Mister is mine!”
“What do you mean, yours? Am I an object?”
Ho-cheol said, turning his head to look at So-hee.
Even So-hee, who would usually chime in with a "that's right, that's right," was pressing her lips with her index finger, her expression serious.
Then she turned her head and asked.
“So what did you say?”
“I told her to confess again after she graduates, if she still feels the same way. It would be crazy to accept a student's confession.”
“So you gave her a kind of deferral.”
So-hee nodded her head with a strange, sneering smile.
“Well, you can't date a student.”
Right.
This is right.
How dare she stick her spoon in first.
And Ho-cheol's earlier remarks about graduation and students did not just apply to Da-yeon.
“Heok.”
Ji-an staggered with a gasp.
She plopped down on the bed again and asked in a trembling voice.
“Then what if I quit being a student? Will you accept me then?
“That would be crazy. And I’m not patient enough to embrace a crazy kid.”
“Ueueueuk.”
Ji-an collapsed onto the bed with a dying sound.
Looking at her, Ho-cheol's brows narrowed.
“By the way, did you wash your hands?”
“Ue-e…”
She, who had gone limp, crawled on the floor like a caterpillar and headed to the bathroom.
Ji-an, who came out rubbing her wet hands, Ho-cheol gestured to her.
“Come here for a moment.”
When Ji-an came right in front of him, he reached out and grabbed her face.
He squeezed her cheeks with his thumb and index finger.
“Ube—”
Ji-an, whose cheeks were pressed and her lips pouted, made a strange sound.
Then Ho-cheol hooked his thumb on her lip and pulled it to the side.
The teeth inside, the tongue, and deep into her throat.
With an expression too serious for a simple prank, he examined and confirmed each one in detail.
Ho-cheol took his hand away again, and wiped his wet fingers, he said shortly.
“You, your condition has been getting worse.”
A question that was close to a certainty.
For a moment, Ji-an's true expression, hidden under her excessively boisterous emotions until now, was revealed.
In the first place, her liveliness was limited to when she was in front of Ho-cheol.
Her true self, like the past Ho-cheol, could not trust people, and the wounds that could not be healed were still unhealed.
“I can tell by your expression.”
Ho-cheol crossed his arms and stared at Ji-an.
In her villain days, she had forcibly raised her output, which had greatly reduced the stability of her Trait itself.
Of course, the artificially raised output would slowly recover, but her current condition was by no means good.
“Are you secretly using your Trait or something?”
The amount of power she used for lectures at the academy was so negligible that it wouldn't affect her recovery.
Don't tell me she's secretly doing something.
“Absolutely not!”
Ji-an hastily shook her head.
“In any case, I was waiting for it to recover naturally, but I thought it would get worse. This won’t do.”
He uncrossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders.
“You, go to the Association and get a proper check-up and treatment.”
The Association also had sufficient equipment and facilities to adjust and treat such a condition.
“I, that is…”
Although Ji-an was the type to say yes to whatever Ho-cheol said, for this one, she had a rare troubled expression.
“Right. I know. Well, you said you had a trauma.”
The electrodes stuck all over her body, the fluttering patient gown, the smell of alcohol swabs, the mechanical devices that made bizarre sounds.
The terrible memories of her childhood, which could not even be described in words, were always accompanied by those things.
Her irreplaceable friends, who were in the same situation as her, had also died.
They were not lives, but just a number to correct an error.
All of those things had remained as a considerable trauma for Ji-an, who had lived as a test subject in a villain organization as a child.
That's why she had also refused treatment and check-ups at the Association.
Ho-cheol had respected her will at first, but not now.
Health comes first, after all.
“You have to get it, even if you don’t want to.”
“Hing.”
Ji-an tried to look pitiful and teary-eyed, but Ho-cheol was firm.
She discreetly glanced at Ho-cheol and carefully opened her mouth.
“Then just one more wish…”
Ttak—!
“Ow!”
Before she could finish her nonsense, Ho-cheol's flick landed on her forehead.
***
A peaceful weekend.
Even though the sun was at its zenith, Ho-cheol was lying in bed.
Although he was awake, just lying there without doing anything was enough to recharge his exhausted body.
Ji-an was busy with the homework she had forgotten, so she had no time to disturb him.
But this short peace was also for a moment.
Clank—!
Ding-dong— Ding-dong— Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong
At the sudden ringing of the doorbell, he sat up.
Who on earth?
Judging by the fact that they were ringing the doorbell, it wasn't Ji-an or So-hee, and ringing the bell so loudly was something a student would never do.
With that question, he opened the front door, and there was no one there.
No, there was no one when he looked straight ahead, but when he looked down a little, an unexpected person was standing there.
The head of the union, Jeong Se-ah.
Se-ah would usually just contact him by phone, even if she had some business.
She had never visited his dorm in person before.
That meant it was an important matter.
Se-ah, who was pale as a sheet, shouted out of the blue.
“Help me!”
Moreover, her expression, tone, and atmosphere were more urgent and serious than ever before.
Even Ho-cheol erased his languid attitude from just a moment ago and tensed his body.
“What is it?”
The explanation that followed was beyond shocking, it was dumbfounding.
“My parents set me up on a blind date, but I said I didn't want to and turned them all down. But this time, they said they would kill me if I didn't go, so I told a little lie.”
An ominous possibility flashed in Ho-cheol's mind.
“A lie, you say, don’t tell me.”
Se-ah stealthily avoided his gaze and muttered.
“I said I had a boyfriend.”
“And?”
“Then they told me to show them a picture, so I… um. That's what happened.”
Ho-cheol's head throbbed for a moment.
No, not for a moment, it continued to throb.
“Why my picture, of all people.”
“Where would I get a picture of a guy on my phone! It’s all pictures of our Gom-gom-i! So I was in a hurry and just found a random picture from the union database and sent it!”
The problem was that the picture she had sent as her boyfriend's was far from a picture of the two of them together, but a stiff ID photo.
Naturally, Se-ah's parents did not let go of their suspicion and finally gave her an ultimatum.
“Even if the sky falls, bring him by tomorrow!”
Se-ah forced a smile and persuaded Ho-cheol.
“Well, it’s alright. Just go and say yes, yes, and agree with the atmosphere, and then we’ll eat and be done. So. Huh? Help me out, just this once!”
“……No. Haa.”
Ho-cheol sighed and leaned against the wall.
“Well, I thought it was a really important matter.”
“It is an important matter! If they find out this is a lie, next time, some 40-year-old guy will show up with the premise of marriage!”
In fact, although Se-ah's appearance was that of a 10-year-old, since her actual age was her age, the other party would also demand a serious meeting with the premise of marriage.
“It’s okay, right? Huh? Uh? Huh?”
Ho-cheol answered bluntly.
“No.”
Well, if it were a matter of life and death or a heroic matter, maybe, but honestly, no one would be in danger just because he didn't help.
No, in fact, wasn't marriage a blessing?
“Aaaack! Nooooo! I don’t even want to meet a strange old man!”
Se-ah finally lay down on the floor in the hallway and threw a tantrum.
Looking at her, Ho-cheol could only sigh.
Her appearance was completely that of a child, but for someone older than him, it was truly pathetic.
“You said I was your first friend! Then help meee! Egegegegegek! Gyagagagak!”
She now made bizarre sounds as if she had forgotten how to speak like a human.
“The people in this building are all going to come out.”
“That’s why I’m doing this! If you don’t want to be embarrassed, help me quickly!”
Considering Se-ah's personality and behavior, it was something she would never do.
That meant this situation was so important that she had to swallow her pride and everything else.
Ho-cheol scratched the back of his head.
“……Haa.”
In the end, he let out a sigh and squatted down.
“So I just have to go and show my face, and just answer ‘yes, yes’ appropriately, right?”
In the first place, it was a meeting to confirm if she actually had a boyfriend.
Seeing a glimmer of hope in Ho-cheol's words, Se-ah stopped her tantrum with a snap.
She stood up and nodded her head so vigorously that it seemed as if it would fall off.
“Of course! Just prove that you’re a real living person!”
“Right. Well, if it’s just that…”
Let's just go and get a free meal.
What could possibly happen?