43 – suggestion

“professor.”

The footsteps that were heading forward naturally came to a halt at the sound they heard from behind.

I didn’t have to turn around to check on my opponent. Hana Baek came and stood beside me.

Standing at a distance, the guy looked up at me with the dry expression Claire used to when he looked at the students and pursed his lips.

“Are you busy?”

A calm atmosphere with an inappropriate respect… let’s correct The current atmosphere suits the guy’s appearance more.

I looked at that guy’s face for a moment, then looked away, resumed my stopped steps, and answered.

“I can afford to take a few questions.”

“I see.”

He nodded his head, then quietly kept his mouth shut and started walking in step with me.

Unlike before, he didn’t care and increased his stride, but he didn’t lag behind and followed him.

It didn’t matter if I followed you, but I didn’t want the attention of the students who came out to the hallway to warm up for a bit during break time to be drawn to this direction.

“The dragon is.”

“A question.”

He responded calmly to my question.

“If you have any questions, ask them now.”

“I’m taking classes until the afternoon.”

Without changing her voice or facial expression, Hana Baek revealed her true intentions.

The guy doesn’t have any questions in the lecture, it seems his purpose is just to have lunch with me.

I quietly walked down the hallway with my mouth shut, and Baek Ha-na also kept silent and followed me. And the moment I turned the corner of the hallway with him.

“to… … ?”

I grabbed his hand, and Baek Ha-na, who was dry and stiff, looked up at me with her eyes widening as if surprised.

“One hundred and one.”

“Yes, yes… … ?”

A blush began to appear on the white boy’s cheeks.

Even after answering my call, Baek Ha-na showed a nervous look by moving her blue eyes from side to side.

“It’s invisible, so it’s okay if you don’t pay attention.”

“… That, that’s right.”

A smile forms on the boy’s lips.

He fixed his dizzying eyes on me and closed the distance he had opened in an instant.

“hehehehe… … .”

He fidgeted with the fingers of the hand he was holding, then looked up at me with his usual mischievous smile and said.

“Is it okay if we eat lunch together?”

“Can not be done.”

“I’m only Woojin… … uh?”

Hana Baek, who had been laughing lightly, tilted her head with her eyes wide open.

I was talking to that guy.

“There are a few places to stop to prepare for the joint practice on Thursday. So don’t make any weird misunderstandings.”

He closed his mouth and moved his other hand to lightly stroke Baek Ha-na’s head.

“It’s not because you’re avoiding it, it’s because you have something to do.”

“… … Yes.”

The guy who was about to get depressed moved his head in the opposite direction of my hand and enjoyed my touch in his own way.

“And try to eat with friends whenever possible.”

“… I mean, they watch it until they get tired of it.”

“If you argue like that, I must have gotten tired of it right away.”

We have lived together in the same house for over 8 years.

At my question, the guy who had slightly raised the corner of his mouth and enjoyed my touch, shook his shoulders abruptly and hurriedly munched his mouth.

“No, that, I, I don’t mean that, evil!!”

He grabbed his forehead and took a few steps back.

I didn’t hit it too hard, but it still hurts.

“One hundred and one.”

“Chi… … why… .”

He pouted his lips saying that he had only been hit once.

And I was about to laugh at that guy’s reaction.

I swallowed the laughter that was barely coming out and said to the guy.

“If something happens that requires you to go far away somewhere, I will make sure to tell you.”

“… Take me too.”

“Where I can take you.”

He pointed his pinky finger at the boy.

In response, Hana Baek stretched out a hand that was covering her forehead and bet hers on my outstretched finger.

“Until then, I will always be at home, so I hope to spend more time with my friends while attending the academy.”

“… You are still treated like a child.”

“what. We do the same thing.”

“It’s not the same… … ?”

I shrugged at Baek Ha-na’s grumbling and lightly pressed the guy’s protruding lips.

“Ugh… … .”

“Let go of your hand and you will see it again.”

The blue eyes glared at me for a moment with a little bit of dissatisfaction, and Baek Ha-na soon put in her pouting lips and erased the emotions displayed on her face.

I said quietly, removing my index finger from his lips.

“Don’t forget to turn in your assignments.”

“Eh… … .”

Leaving Baek Ha-na’s slightly ridiculous reaction behind, I left the annex.

**

“Come on, let’s end today’s lecture here.”

Yoon Do-sik, one of the professors of the Department of Alchemy, opened the classroom door after comforting the students who were shaking their heads and nodding their notes. And staggered back.

It was because when I opened the door, there was a man with a staggering height and wearing odd glasses, and Kim Seong-won, the head of the finance department, who was dazzlingly reflecting the lights hanging from the ceiling.

“Something.”

“What? I came because I had something to see.”

Yoon Do-sik frowned and said to Kim Seong-won, who responded with a smirk.

“So, aren’t you asking what the matter is? .”

“It’s not something to talk about while standing, so let’s go to the lab first.”

“… … Tsk.”

There are still a lot of things to check for field training in two days, but Kim Seong-won, who came without an appointment, was very annoyed. However, since it was a stone among the stones that held the money line, Yoon Do-sik had no choice but to sigh briefly and take the two who suddenly came to his lab.

Unlike other professors who use the research building in the main building, non-combat occupation professors have their own research room right next to the students’ lecture hall.

For that reason, the three of them were able to walk into Yoon Do-sik’s lab within a short walk.

“Whether you sit or not, so why did you come?”

“What about your temper, Professor?”

‘… … ?’

Yoon Do-sik blinked his eyes several times as if he had seen nothing wrong with Kim Seong-won’s behavior of being polite towards a man who seemed to be somewhat unapproachable.

While Yoon Do-sik was looking at Kim Seong-won with a gaze that meant ‘what did you eat wrong for lunch’, Baek Woo-jin, wearing odd glasses, opened his mouth.

“Practice going on the day after tomorrow. I want you to put some in there.”

“… … ?”

Yoon Do-sik’s gaze, which was heading toward Kim Seong-won, turned to Baek Woo-jin.

In a very ugly form.

No matter how much this academy puts rank first, basically everyone was polite enough for their age. There are many eyes to see, and the personal connections that each person has reached cannot be ignored.

Yoon Do-sik, who was staring up at Baek Woo-jin’s face, lowered his gaze and checked Baek Woo-jin’s left hand.

A black ring worn on the index finger.

“Black color?”

As Yoon Do-sik furrowed his forehead even more, Kim Seong-won, who was standing behind Baek Woo-jin, quickly stepped aside and added a comment.

“hahahaha, it seems like you haven’t heard about the professor yet because he seems to be a nobleman who uses the research building separately and isn’t interested unless it’s something they’ve started.”

Kim Seong-won hurriedly approached Yoon Do-shik and chatted in his ear, and Yoon Do-shik’s crumpled forehead came back quite flat.

“… Okay, let’s go down a little bit. Because it’s gross.”

“Who did you like?”

When Kim Seong-won grumbled and went back to Baek Woo-jin, Yoon Do-sik coughed briefly and said,

“therefore. Exactly what do you want to put in?”

“I want the students who are taking my lectures to be included in that practice. If you do that, I’ll let you do the rift investigation tomorrow.”

“Hmm… … .”

Yoon Do-sik stroked his chin and counted.

Kim Seong-won said that the young professor in front of him was the next most powerful person next to the chairman and the real power.

That said, he could easily arrange new rifts as many times as he wanted.

Nevertheless, he dared to come to me and propose a joint practice.

Is there an artifact hidden in the rift that I will visit the day after tomorrow?

Yoon Do-shik, who was thinking about this for a while, nodded and said.

“There is no reason to refuse to do something troublesome. Instead, I will accept it if you are responsible for the safety of the students that day.”

“These students are also quite competent, so there is no need to worry about hurting them.”

“No matter how low-level a crack is, a crack is a crack. Promise to bring 2 more people as you never know what will happen.”

“I will.”

“That’s fine.”

Baek Woo-jin and Yoon Do-sik looked at each other and nodded once.

“Then let’s see the day after tomorrow.”

“Don’t forget to go to the pre-inspection tomorrow. I went in the day after tomorrow, but if the content is different from what I was told, it hurts in many ways.”

“yes.”

Baek Woo-jin gave a short answer and turned around.

“I will go back alone.”

“Yes. professor.”

Kim Seong-won straightened his waist after Baek Woo-jin had completely left the lab.

Yoon Do-shik, who was watching this, clicked his tongue and said.

“No matter how much money and power are good, to bow like that to a new blue guy like that. The Kim Seong-won I used to know seems to be in an inn somewhere.”

“What is the old man in the closet saying?”

“The young guy is talking cheap.”

“There’s only a four-year age difference, so let’s stop bragging about our age. What’s so great about being old? Eh.”

“Tsk tsk, guys who don’t care about playing with each other get along well.”

Kim Seong-won said while clearing his ears, looking around the lab to see if there was anything to pick up.

“And you’re misunderstanding something, but the person who said you were very young was the one who had been there before the academy was founded.”

“… … what?”

When Yoon Do-sik opened his eyes wide in surprise, Kim Seong-won took a medicine from the drawer and continued.

“So, no matter how small it is, it means forty. Even if it is minimal.”

“… … The world is so unfair. Forty with that face.”

“At the very least, it’s 40. It could be more than that.”

Seongwon Kim quietly approached the door of the lab.

“Keuheum, then I have work, so it’s enough.”

Then, fearing that the pills he had taken would be taken away, he quickly opened the door and left the lab.

Yoon Do-sik, now alone, clicked his tongue briefly as he closed the door of the half-open laboratory.

“I would have given it if I just said it, but it sucks every time I stop by.”

Yoon Do-shik approached the drawer Kim Seong-won had opened earlier.

“Well?”

A name tag on the floor.

Yoon Do-sik picked it up and looked at the drawer.

[Naturative tonic]

“I couldn’t stand it for a week before falling off. I will have to replace it with another product.”

After muttering that, he put his name tag back on the spot he had fallen from.

[constipation medicine]

[Naturative tonic]

Yoon Do-sik looked at the two drawers for a moment, then opened the upper one to check the contents inside.

“I have to go home for a while.”

Yoon Do-shik closed the drawer and changed his clothes.

The lights in the lab go out, and the door is locked.

On the way back, Yoon Do-sik quietly turned off his smartphone.