Chapter 66. In the old saying, a student neither kills nor revives
“Don’t tell me,” he said.
I had already conveyed everything I needed to.
So, I hurriedly began to prepare to leave.
Getting caught by those two troublemakers is a definite no.
I mean, do they really need to punch other people’s faces, spit in each other’s hair? There’s a limit to causing nightmares too.
As soon as I touched the water, warm water flowed out from the luxurious bathroom.
After showering and drying myself off with a towel larger than my body, I slipped out of the house.
Those guys would probably get up and move according to my intentions.
I should head home.
What a sight.
I heard the door I just exited close with a thud behind me.
No more entering the house of those guys who turn weird after just sleeping.
From now on, I must meet them under conditions where we will never sleep together again.
With that thought, I dashed down the narrow path in the garden.
The cool morning air dried the moisture left on my skin.
So refreshing.
Just as I was about to exhale that slightly cool air and relieve myself of the messy emotions…
“Are you leaving already?”
A boisterous male voice echoed through the tranquil garden from last night.
“Seems like you met quite the muscle this morning,” he remarked with a certain expression.
“That’s right.”
“This is my job. I have to sleep and take care of the garden as well, you know.”
Only then did I notice the adorable scissors in his hands.
Well, they’re technically garden scissors, but when they’re in his hand, they look more like regular scissors.
“Thanks to someone jumping around in the garden yesterday, the grass is all in disarray, so I had to wake up early.”
He chuckled and pointed somewhere.
Turning my head in that direction, I saw muddy boot prints and long marks that looked like they were freshly dug.
…It is a mess.
But it’s not my fault. Isn’t the problem caused by the three of us, including that man, ambushing?
I did nothing wrong.
There are traces of the grass being dry and dead in a circular area from the muddy puddle, but that wasn’t due to my shockwave.
That muscle-bound guy, Huang, clearly didn’t water the grass enough.
How well can a muscular guy handle garden work anyway?
“Anyway, it’s a garden that nobody is going to see, right? So we can take care of it later, right?”
“With all there is to do today, that would be tough.”
As I clicked my tongue and stepped out through the front gate, a loud voice came from behind me.
“Take care!”
“Yeah.”
Is he planning on waking up the whole neighborhood?
Creek!
A strangely loud sound echoed as I opened the window and slipped back inside.
Hasn’t there been any oil applied to the frame?
There’s a bit of anxiety, but this is the only way to enter quietly.
If I went in through the front door, the squeaky doorbell would ring loudly, and breaking in somewhere else is out of the question.
Who knew my room’s window, which was always left unlocked, would come in handy?
To think I would use the stealth techniques I learned for assassination and infiltration in this way.
A sigh escaped me.
– You get it, right? If it’s you, Haram, you could sneak in and unlock the window or the back door.
– Nonsense.
– Just listen to me. If you put on a wig, and wear contacts, you could pass as any girl.
– You might as well kill me.
– Change your tone. Doing that while sneaking would just attract attention.
– I’d rather be mute.
– Not a bad idea. But that can’t always be the case. Just try this: ‘Um… I got lost. Could you help me find my parents…?’ sniffle.
– Shut up.
Thanks to that conversation, useless memories began to resurface.
I shook my head to rid myself of the miserable thoughts and quietly moved my feet after taking off my boots.
The house was quiet. I couldn’t sense anyone getting up and moving about.
Thank goodness.
What if someone was awake?
I searched for my boots by the bed.
I need to find some clothes.
Even if I’m gone, they could have bought something that fits my estimate.
Children’s sizes are pretty standard.
If they did buy something, I need to get rid of it quickly while the students are still sleeping.
No matter how they go wild, I can’t wear non-existent clothes.
Rustle, rustle.
So I thought as I opened the wardrobe.
A black suit.
A loosely fitted black dress.
A gray running outfit.
And various t-shirts.
Looks good here.
It would be shameless to assume I could just stuff clothes into the master’s wardrobe.
Then I should have left it in the living room.
Slowly, quietly, without making a sound.
Just like I would when hiding in the basement.
Finally reached the living room.
And in the center was a shopping bag.
Found it. Now I just need to check if my clothes are in there and get rid of them.
Thinking that, as soon as my hand was about to touch the shopping bag…
“Poyo?”
Poyo?
A familiar yet strange sound came from inside the shopping bag.
Specifically, it was the voice of my partner, who is usually useless in most situations.
From the paper shopping bag, a long white tuft of fur slithered out like a snake.
With drowsy, bleary eyes, it seemed to be looking at me but didn’t recognize who I was.
The straight tuft of white fur swayed side to side.
“Thief!!! Poyooooo!!!”
Damn.
A hearing was taking place.
It was a hearing about a runaway soldier who fled from combat and snuck back into the house.
Thanks to Unho, the exceptionally capable security guard, the awakened students found me standing in the living room.
And it led straight to an interrogation.
“So, you came to dispose of the clothes?”
“No, I don’t see what I did wrong; they are my clothes, so why should I endure the students’ scoldings?”
Is it the strange pressure coming from Han Abin’s voice?
Or is it the subtle guilt I’m feeling?
Unconsciously, I pressed my body against the couch and sat up straight.
Still feels a bit awkward to refer to what’s in that paper bag as my clothes, but I had no other option.
“Are these your clothes, senpai?”
“Yeah, I’m saying I’m going to get rid of my clothes, is there a problem?”
This is it. Let’s push forward with this.
“It’s something I bought with my card, so technically it’s not your clothing yet, is it?”
What kind of nonsense is this?
“So if I pay for it, then there’s no problem, right? Because they are clothes I bought with my own money…”
Flap!
A piece of paper fluttered through the air and I instinctively grabbed it.
The strangely soft texture of the paper could be felt between my fingers.
“What’s this?”
“Read it.”
What significance could there be in this useless piece of paper…?
“What… is this?”
“It’s the price of your clothes. Quite expensive, right? Thanks to that, I struggled too.”
A little? It’s worth more than my month’s salary!
Even if most of my salary is deducted through the foundation, what is this?
No way! I should have some seniority, right?
It wasn’t even written down densely.
Three pieces of children’s clothing. I don’t know the brand, but what’s written there amounts to more than my monthly wage.
“Can you pay for this?”
“Well, I might be able to… If I drain my whole account…”
But is there anything worth that much?
Definitely clothes I wouldn’t wear.
“Hey. The Oxymoron teacher told me everything. Is it really possible?”
Has she been blabbing about the Oxymoron being here or not?
Would she also mention my empty bank account?
I recognized the judgment; enduring a brief sense of shame, I realized I needed to buy proper clothes.
If I had stayed, at least I could have chosen clothes to my taste.
At this rate, I might be stuck wearing whatever the students pick out.
Maybe I could get bold and tell them how a student shouldn’t be so rude to their master?
Maybe I could just yell at them?
No, that’s not it.
That would be too much like a boomer.
A kind-hearted middle-aged magical girl like myself can’t do that.
Is there really no other way?
Some means to escape somehow?
Alright. First, I’ll admit they’re my clothes and shove them in the wardrobe.
“Uh… Abin? It seems Master is reflecting on things, so let’s just leave it at that…”
“Si-hyun. It’s okay. It’s just wearing one outfit once. If you wear it once, you will understand our sincerity.”
Wear it once?
There’s a strangely heated tone in Han Abin’s voice.
If I don’t wear it once, she won’t recognize it.
Alright, this is how we’ll settle it, huh? Just wear it once, and then I could forget about the rest.
“If I wear it once, does that mean you won’t care if I wear it afterwards?”
I turned to look at Abin, feeling the pressure radiating off her.
“Yes. You can do whatever you want.”
With a smile, she maintained her pressure against me.
Is that really the same timid Han Abin?
They do say a child changes after sleeping overnight; it’s exactly that, isn’t it?
“Considering the student’s sincerity who bought the master’s clothes, I’ll wear it just this once.”
There’s no helping it.
I took Huang, who was still wriggling inside the shopping bag, and tossed him out the window, then pulled out the clothes from inside.
Three sets of clothing carefully wrapped in clear plastic.
I placed them on the table in the living room.
Wait, something feels off here.
“Abin?”
“Is this really my outfit?”
“Yes, it’s definitely your outfit.”
It was an outfit completely different from what I expected.
A navy blue suit set that included a tie.
Though it felt a bit tight in the shoulders, it was a perfectly acceptable casual set for a man.
Was it meant for me to sleep in? A light gray outfit as well.
They seemed more like clothes that were made to fit an adult male but designed in a size smaller.
In fact, the last gray outfit looked like a special product woven from monster fur.
And resting on top was a small white card.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, it’s about… ”
Baek Sihyeon, flustered, tried to stop me, but I had already opened the card and looked at its contents.
It was an ordinary sentence.
Thank you for being my mentor, and a line thanking me for returning alive.
The content was about how Baek Sihyeon’s first paycheck and Han Abin’s current paycheck were to be used for me.
They must have contemplated what to get, but it looks like they decided on my clothes since they had an opportunity to go shopping.
They didn’t want to see their teacher wearing tattered and faded clothes.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise!”
What silly kids.
They should just have been honest with me.
If it’s something like this, I would have gladly worn it.
It’s a simple dark shade that doesn’t have any frills; not like the masculine outfit to begin with.
The accessories and patterns on the clothes curve in ways that might seem feminine, but considering that, they could still easily pass as men’s clothes.
When thinking of my appearance as a magical girl, this would be the most optimal look.
If I had known this was what they would come up with, I should have stayed to get a custom-made outfit.
“I’ll go change.”
“Take your time.”
“It’ll look great on you! Master!”
Ugh… no wait. Thanks.
The outfit I tried on was like it was made just for me.
The length fit perfectly, and there were no uncomfortable areas pressing in.
The initially feared feminine patterns turned out to be hidden behind my hair, so they hardly showed.
Even I, who knows little about clothing, could feel how much thought went into these three outfits.
But one thing puzzled me…
“How did they fit so perfectly when I was absent?”
“Are you talking about the size?”
“Yeah.”
How they matched the sizes was just perfect.
The fit was like something bought ages ago that could be worn for decades.
“Oxymoron Sensei seemed to know everything about you.”
“0 7.”
“When the senpai fled, he sent measurements for everything, including the length of each finger.”
What’s that about? That’s scary.
What’s that Oxymoron doing with me?
…Let’s just move on.
Isn’t everything going well?
“I’ll wear these clothes gratefully.”
Just as I was about to return to my room wearing the last gray pajama set.
“There’s still one set left.”
“I thought I saw all three.”
“I never said there were three.”
A chill crept up my spine.
It felt like when we were surrounded by otherworldly enemies.
The same unease I felt when the adversaries from the otherworld surrounded us, and we fell into their schemes.
Why am I feeling that same anxiety now from Han Abin?
Rustle.
Her hand went into the shopping bag.
The shopping bag I hadn’t seen, filled with the students’ clothes.
Rustle.
The original price came out.
A bright red base, with black patterns adorned everywhere along with lots of frills; a flashy gothic dress.
It couldn’t be. There’s no way that could be my outfit.
“It’s from the reward money we got for hunting down the monsters. It’s your outfit, senpai.”
“It’s my money!”
My mind went blank.
The emotional impact I felt earlier faded away, and the clarity I had barely managed to grasp started drifting toward the otherworld.
“Please wear it for us, okay?”
That?
Me?
Bleep.
I heard the sound of a phone being tapped.
Beep, beep, beep.
Han Abin walked toward me, one hand grasping the phone and the other holding onto the dress.
…Is she calling someone?
“Oxymoron…”
“I’ll wear it.”
That girl might bring even more outfits.
Or perhaps I might get dragged to a shopping mall under the influence of drugs while asleep.
If that’s the case… this is the best I can do, I suppose.
“I’ll wear it for you…”
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