Chapter 5
He was so flustered that he went in and out of the classroom twice. The only student sitting in the front row of the classroom carefully called out to him.
“Is this the first period class today?”
“Ah…”
His steps halted as he was about to go outside the door one more time. He slowly turned around to check the face of the student who had spoken to him.
He was a male student with an appearance that perfectly matched the word “student.”
Fair skin, round eyes, and drooping puppy-like eyes. His curly brown hair made him look even younger. He looked more like a high school student than a university student.
He had no choice but to reluctantly remove his hand from the door when faced with the student’s clear gaze. How foolish must he have looked going back and forth outside because he couldn’t believe there were no students?
He cleared his throat and fully entered the classroom.
“…I see. Yes. Thank you for letting me know.”
“It’s nothing.”
Although he had entered the classroom, he still didn’t feel good.
He had planned to have an orientation today. He needed to announce changes to part of the syllabus and inform students to prepare for presentations starting next week. And since it was the first day of class, he wanted to tell them to form groups freely.
But he couldn’t tell students to prepare for presentations when they hadn’t even formed groups.
Thinking he would have to do the orientation in the next class, he looked at the single student remaining in the classroom. Perhaps misinterpreting his gaze, the male student hesitated before speaking.
“I’m Nam Seonjae from the Special Department.”
Nam Seonjae’s voice was as soft as a young boy’s. He had an inherently likable impression.
“You’re Professor Ko Eungyo, right? I’m taking ‘Understanding Ability Users’…”
“That’s correct.”
At his answer, Nam Seonjae smiled somewhat shyly.
In truth, Nam Seonjae’s expression didn’t really register. With a complicated expression, he looked around the classroom once more, which he had already scanned dozens of times.
‘Do university students these days normally skip orientation?… No, no matter how you look at it, how could everyone except one person be absent?’
His mind was extremely troubled. If not for the shy voice that followed him, it would have been difficult to gather his thoughts.
Nam Seonjae’s excuse went something like this:
“I’m sorry. Our department has a dawn ceremony today. It must have been difficult for everyone to attend the first period. I missed the dawn ceremony because I overslept…”
“…”
Should he be thankful that Nam Seonjae had overslept?
If he had entered the classroom and found no students at all, he would have repeated this foolishness for the entire hour. All he could do now was listen to Nam Seonjae with traces of bewilderment still on his face.
What would have happened if Nam Seonjae hadn’t been there, looking at him with bright, puppy-like eyes?
The thought alone was dizzying.
“Should I deliver the important announcements to the department office separately?”
Nam Seonjae kindly offered first.
“Ah, that’s not necessary. I can do the orientation in the next class. But just in case, would you mind giving me your phone number?”
“Oh… yes.”
He tried not to look too much like a novice. Students probably didn’t know much about a new professor’s background, so there was no need to weaken their trust in him from the start.
He looked more warmly at Nam Seonjae, who politely returned his phone with both hands after entering his number. He understood why teachers in his school days had favored model students. It seems only natural to want to meet such a smart and kind student privately and buy them a drink.
“Thank you, Seonja—student.”
After deliberating whether to call him “Seonjae-gun” or “Seonjae student,” he settled on adding “student” as a title. Nam Seonjae smiled brightly, crinkling the corners of his eyes.
“Can’t you just call me Seonjae? Professor.”
“…”
Are all kids these days like this? So… friendly and asking to be called by their first names?
I don’t think it was like that in my day.
He hesitated a bit. But becoming friendly with a student didn’t seem like a bad idea. Just then, Nam Seonjae, who was standing in front of him smiling, scratched the back of his head.
A faint blush appeared on Nam Seonjae’s cheeks.
This guy must be an Esper.
He smiled briefly.
“Alright… Seonjae.”
The next class was on Friday. Since there was quite some time in between, he was able to prepare properly for the class.
In truth, he wasn’t sure if it was really “proper” preparation. He didn’t know what constituted “proper” class preparation. He never imagined he would be giving commissioned lectures, so he had zero experience with teaching.
Most of his class preparation had to rely on the power of the internet. Through this process, he could truly realize how little the original owner of this body had done.
Still, the situation was quite optimistic.
If he had awakened in Ko Eungyo’s body in the middle of a class, he would have been at a loss about how to proceed with the next lesson, wouldn’t he? Being able to prepare for the lectures from the beginning was fortunate enough.
Moreover, Nam Seonjae, whom he met yesterday, was a kind student. Perhaps the other students would be as polite as Nam Seonjae.
On Friday, when he pushed open the classroom door, he even harbored a slight expectation.
Nam Seonjae was sitting in the front row. The moment he opened the door and entered, Nam Seonjae saw him and smiled brightly. At that, the tension in his body unconsciously eased.
He recognized that he was psychologically leaning quite heavily on Nam Seonjae, whom he had only met once. That wasn’t desirable for a professor, but human emotions don’t always follow our intentions.
Thanks to Nam Seonjae’s smile, he was able to stand calmly at the front of the classroom. Then he scanned the classroom, which was chaotically filled. Since there was still time before the start of the lecture, students were just glancing at him occasionally while doing their own things.
Apart from his right ankle, which ached slightly with each step, his physical condition today was very good. His elbow was fine, and he no longer felt pain in the back of his head. Just then, he suddenly felt cold. This was definitely strange, considering it was September and the late summer heat was still lingering.
A freezing wind, as if cutting through his flesh, was blowing from the back of the classroom.
‘What is this?’
It wasn’t an illusion.
He raised his head to look in the direction the wind was coming from. Two handsome male students, with features so striking they seemed about to pop out, were sitting side by side, leaning deeply against the backs of their chairs.
His shoulders tensed as he confirmed their faces.
‘Strange. They seem familiar…’
Wait.
‘…That’s Woo Sihyun!’
Both of them were Espers in his—more precisely, Ko Eungyo’s—”my.”
Especially Woo Sihyun—he couldn’t help but recognize that face, as he saw it morning and night, every time he opened and closed his eyes.
He examined them with a slightly anxious expression. And he waited for them to make some gesture. After all, they were Ko Eungyo’s Espers.
Woo Sihyun didn’t even look his way. Lee Seungwoo, who had been staring blankly at him, narrowed his eyes and merely nodded once. That was all.
‘What’s going on?’
This was strange.
Why aren’t they coming over to say hello?
He had temporarily decided to pretend to be Ko Eungyo, but he hadn’t anticipated this. Since there were only two Espers in the “my,” he had assumed they were quite close… Especially since it seemed clear that Ko Eungyo had a blind affection for Woo Sihyun. Even Ko Eunso had said “going crazy over that half-decent Esper,” and all four walls of Ko Eungyo’s room were plastered with Woo Sihyun’s face.
While he might not know about the other Esper, Lee Seungwoo, he was certain that at least Woo Sihyun had a special relationship with Ko Eungyo.
He briefly considered whether he should acknowledge Woo Sihyun, but he thought it might violate fairness if he just entered the classroom as a professor and showed familiarity with a specific student. Probably, at the very least, they were in a relationship, so after class, Woo Sihyun would approach and say something.
Even if they weren’t dating, since Woo Sihyun and Lee Seungwoo were Ko Eungyo’s Espers, he judged that by now they must be dying to acknowledge their guide, though they weren’t showing it.
Yes… then the one who would be troubled would be himself.
In a dating relationship, especially between an Esper and a guide, skinship is basic. When it transitions to romance, deep skinship becomes inevitable. But even though he had been trained with various Espers, doing mucosal guiding with an Esper he had just met was uncomfortable.
‘Should I run away after class…?’
Trying to shake off these thoughts, he checked the time. It was exactly on the hour. As he turned on the beam projector, he looked at the students.
“Nice to meet you all.”
The lecture finally began.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
