That’s right! The blog post said seatbelts were mandatory, but he’d completely forgotten! Pyeonghwa tried to push himself up, pressing his hand against the man’s thigh.
“Tsk!”
The man clicked his tongue from above. An inexplicable chill washed over him. As Pyeonghwa stiffened while still bent over, the man grabbed Pyeonghwa’s collar and roughly hauled him upright.
“Kek, kek! Cough! Cough…!”
His throat constricted in an instant. Pyeonghwa whipped around to look at the man with tears welling up in his eyes. The man was still looking out the window. After doing this to someone, he looked completely serene all by himself. Pyeonghwa, whose anger surged…quietly put on his seatbelt.
‘I absolutely must not get involved with him.’
Even the Hunter Department students were swaying back and forth despite wearing seatbelts, but the man in the seat next to him barely moved at all without a seatbelt. In other words, he wasn’t just some student-level Awakened.
Whether he was a student or professor, nothing good would come from getting involved with someone who gave off such an ominous feeling. It was a lesson learned through experience. Pyeonghwa endured the winding road, struggling with all his might not to touch the man’s body.
Screech! The shuttle bus that passed through the main gate stopped in front of the clock tower plaza in the center. Pyeonghwa sprang up and hurriedly got off the bus without looking back.
“Oh, not bad.”
He’d thought it would be run-down since it was a third-rate university, but it was wider and cleaner than expected. It had the feeling of a typical university campus that ordinary people would imagine.
Pyeonghwa looked around, turning his head this way and that, then followed the sign that said Main Building. The Academic Affairs Office on the first floor of the Main Building. That was Pyeonghwa’s destination today.
Pyeonghwa entered the Academic Affairs Office and smoothly handed over the leave of absence application he’d prepared in advance to the staff member. The staff member quickly scanned it with their eyes, then pushed the paper back toward Pyeonghwa.
“First-year students can’t take a leave of absence in their first semester.”
“What? When I inquired by phone, they told me to come submit it in person.”
“Woman? Man?”
“Man.”
“Ha, a new employee must have given you wrong information. According to regulations, leave of absence is only possible from the second semester of first year, and right now only withdrawal is possible.”
“Withdrawal? Shit, that won’t do.”
Pyeonghwa clutched his head. In a message that ‘DdoHaeNuna’ had suddenly sent in the early morning not long ago, there was this content:
[DdoHaeNuna♡: Keep going to school you fucking irresponsible bastard don’t withdraw]
It had been so long since he’d received a long message that his heart fluttered. Pyeonghwa boasted that when it came to responsibility, he was the man, and he absolutely wouldn’t withdraw.
…But withdrawal was the only option! Pyeonghwa groaned and picked up the leave of absence application.
“Then… then what do I have to do to get expelled?”
“There’s no expulsion at university, there’s something called dismissal. To be dismissed, you need to accumulate 3 academic warnings…”
As the staff member’s explanation continued, Pyeonghwa’s expression gradually brightened. There was no way to be dismissed immediately. To be dismissed, you needed 3 academic warnings, but if you were absent for an entire semester, you’d only receive 1 academic warning. However, thinking about it differently, it meant that even if you didn’t come to school for one semester, your student status would be maintained.
‘As long as I don’t withdraw, it’s fine!’
Having found the answer, Pyeonghwa left the Academic Affairs Office with a beaming smile. He took out his phone to check the shuttle bus time back to Jangmak Station. He was walking toward the main building lobby entrance while reading a blog post when a group of students came in noisily, opening the door.
Pyeonghwa twisted his body to the side to avoid them. But one of them suddenly swung their arm in a large motion and whack, hit Pyeonghwa’s back. From the impact, his phone flew out diagonally. Pyeonghwa bent his arm backward and snap, caught the phone.
“Wow, nice catch.”
“What reflexes? Are you from the Hunter Department? Pretty handsome too.”
“Gasp! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…!”
The student who bumped into him kept bowing in apology. Even after Pyeonghwa said it was okay, they turned around and bowed several more times.
Pyeonghwa was relieved that his phone was safe. If it had broken, he might have died of boredom on the way home. Pyeonghwa stood there and checked the shuttle bus time.
“In 30 minutes… Huh?”
Someone covered Pyeonghwa’s phone screen with a sheet of paper. At the top of the paper, in bold letters, it said ‘Leave of Absence Application.’ Below that, in crooked handwriting, were written Noh Pyeonghwa’s name, phone number, student ID, address, and reason for leave. When he’d bumped into the students earlier, his leave of absence application must have flown out as well.
“Thanks.”
Pyeonghwa casually nodded his head in thanks. Then he tried to take the leave of absence application, but the other person applied force, so the paper wouldn’t budge.
If he pulled any harder, it would tear completely. Pyeonghwa frowned and raised his gaze upward.
A ridiculously tall height. Shoulders like the Pacific Ocean. A bucket hat pulled down low and a mask. It was the man who’d sat next to him on the shuttle bus earlier.
His head was on the verge of disappearing, his face completely hidden by the hat and mask. From Pyeonghwa’s line of sight, he couldn’t even see the man’s eyes, but the other person was staring down at Pyeonghwa intently.
I feel like I’ve seen a silhouette similar to this man somewhere. For some unknown reason, Pyeonghwa’s pulse quickened with anxiety.
“Noh Pyeonghwa.”
“…You’ve got the wrong person then I’ll be going.”
His heart sank with a thud. It was a voice he couldn’t forget even in death. Thinking he needed to get away as quickly as possible, Pyeonghwa blurted out whatever words came to mind and whipped his body around.
The main gate was out, he’d have to escape through the back gate. Even his legs trembled as he tried to walk.
“Kugh!”
At that moment, the man grabbed Pyeonghwa’s collar. It was the second time after the shuttle bus. Pyeonghwa couldn’t go any further and stopped right there.
“You only got taller. Your face is the same.”
“Wh-who are you? Let go of this. If you don’t let go, I’ll…!”
“I’ll what. Report me to the police again?”
“…”
“Do you recognize me or not.”
“…Shit, I recognize you…”
When Pyeonghwa acquiesced, the man put his arm around his shoulder. Outwardly, it looked like they were close enough to put their arms around each other’s shoulders, but in reality, it was an act of pressing down with his body weight to prevent escape. The man dragged the thoroughly frightened Pyeonghwa to a corner.
‘Damn it, did he come knowing I’m Pax?’
Pyeonghwa rolled his eyes around, then lowered his gaze to the end of the man’s arm. It was a pale and pretty hand, but in Pyeonghwa’s mind, the only thought that came was that even one hit would pulverize his flesh. He recalled his own butt that had been beaten to a pulp. Pyeonghwa’s complexion turned deathly pale.
‘I’m dead now!’
He never thought he’d die so futilely before the apocalypse even arrived. Should he leave a last will asking them to deliver at least the ring in his pocket to her? One last time, he wanted to see her.
Pyeonghwa sniffled with a surge of emotion. Sniffle… He still smelled good.
“Virtual Reality Department freshman?”
“Yesss…”
“That’s perfect.”
“What is…”
“Find someone for me. A guy who enrolled this time… I’m not certain, but he’ll probably be in the same department as you.”
Pyeonghwa’s shoulders, which had been completely hunched, gradually straightened. This bastard doesn’t know! The other person didn’t know he was Pax, and he knew the other person was Do Dohae. Then the story was different. The one holding the weakness wasn’t Do Dohae, but him! Wahaha!
“He’s a guy, height is 183… Are you about that tall too?”
“N-no? I’m not even 180, you know? I’m 179.”
“You look taller than that.”
“It’s because I’m 179.9!”
“Fuck, won’t you shut up? Everyone’s staring.”
When the man growled lowly, Pyeonghwa’s shoulders shrank again. Why did the person Do Dohae was looking for sound so familiar? Jangmak University, Virtual Reality Department, freshman, male, 183cm…
Pyeonghwa gradually bent his knees to reduce his height. The more he did so, the harder it became to support the man’s weight, but right now, escaping from his grasp was the priority.
“But hyung. I can’t come to school for a while due to personal circumstances. I didn’t even go to orientation, so I don’t have a single friend in the department. I don’t think I’ll be much help, can’t you just ask someone else?”
“No.”
“Ah, why not. Honestly, we’re not even that close. It’s not even a good memory…!”
“Do you think I’m asking you a favor right now?”
Black haze flowing from the man’s fingertips wrapped around the paper. The leave of absence application turned to ash and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
As Pyeonghwa gasped, sharply inhaling, the man whispered in his ear in a threatening tone.
“I let you live back then, so you need to pay the price for your life, Noh Pyeonghwa.”
“B-but I got hit on the butt. It hurt…”
“You got hit for acting up.”
“…”
“Phone.”
“Yes.”
Pyeonghwa quickly handed over his phone. When the man tapped numbers on the keypad and pressed the call button, a short vibration rang from his pocket.
“…After I find that person, you have no more business with me, right?”
“None. He’s a rat-like bastard, so find him as quietly as possible.”
Pyeonghwa took his phone and opened the department group chat. Perhaps because demand for the Virtual Reality Department had recently increased, there were over 100 freshmen. More than half of them were men. From the photos they’d uploaded to their profiles alone, he couldn’t confirm their heights.
