NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39.1
MC POV
1:00 AM at the Academy’s Public Security Department…
“The stolen goods consist of a brown pouch, thin rods, each white, black, and red, and a soft white bundle. Right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
A pencil case, mechanical pencils and pens, and an eraser were described in that way.
Jihye and I visited the academy’s security department and informed the worker of the new case of theft.
He wrote down Jihye’s account with familiar movements and then inserted the file into a binder in the corner of the desk.
There were piles of documents of the same style bunched together.
“Since it is a writing utensil from another world... The culprit must have coveted it because of its rarity, right? It may be a common item in your world, but it’s naturally rare here.”
The feeling was strange—
I found the fact that the total value of her stolen belongings which did not even exceed 10,000 won was considered a treasure here, and his remark about referring to the earth as a different world, awkward to hear.
I looked at the dark circles around this senior’s eyes and asked him a question.
“Has pickpocketing increased that much lately?”
“Man, don’t even remind me about it. Normally, the number of cases increases at the start of the school year, but this time it’s honestly ridiculous. Last year it was just two or three cases a week, but these days there are more than ten cases a day.”
“Wow... you must be working hard.”
“Damn it. Why did I have to quit my club and come here?”
He shook his head to and fro and then looked at Jihye.
“Junior, now we’re going to through the monitoring tools installed throughout the academy one by one, and if we find anything suspicious or some secret magic, we’ll track it down. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it’s better not to hold high hopes. So far, dozens of dispatches have been made. But the tail of the culprit has not been caught, let alone seen.”
“I see... Thank you for just confirming this at least...”
Ji-hye became depressed at the senior’s assertions.
I slowly stroked her sullen hair and reminisced about the events that had transpired a bit ago.
She had knocked on my door without warning about four hours after the group dinner had just ended.
She then said she had lost her pencil case, which she apparently had inside her bag, and she asked if I could go with her to her club room right away just in case.
I admired Jihye for not forgetting her schedule and what she should do even in such a sorry situation, so I followed her to see if I could help.
We quickly arrived at the sorcery club by carriage and were soon able to meet with the manager there.
His name was definitely ‘Jamie Cursreal’, right?
“Oh, you mean ‘that’ pencil case? I looked all over the club room, but I couldn’t find a pencil case.’
The senior was as tall as a man with Klinefelter’s syndrome and had a skinny body like that of an anchovy, which made him look unattractive.
In addition, his pale skin and slightly sunken cheeks gave off an eerie feeling.
He seemed like a guy who didn’t eat and continued his research in a gloomy environment.
I didn’t like the look in his eyeballs.
He had the gaze of a man looking at my Jihye.
I could tell because he was the same type of guy as myself.
The look in his eyes was clearly that of one who coveted her.
“Haa...”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You’ll find it soon.”
“”······!!””
As I gently held her in my arms, the expressions on the two of their faces changed dramatically.
Of course, each of them expressed the exact opposite reactions.
The depression on Ji-hye’s face disappeared without even a beat, leaving only a shy blush, while Jamie’s face quickly rotted.
Wasn’t he being too obvious here?
Did he not plan to manage his facial expressions at all?
Who dared to fall for my woman?
With a big smile on my face, I wrapped my arms around Ji-hye’s shoulders and led her out of the room.
Jamie Cursreal.
I needed to investigate what this guy was up to.
I would check up on him through Soniel’s information channels.
Afterwards, we retraced the path she walked from the club to her dormitory room, looking for a pencil case on the floor.
We both knew that the odds of finding a lost item this way were close to zero.
I couldn’t even see the ground properly because of the darkness of the night.
However, I thought it wasn’t too bad to take this opportunity to have a night walk with Ji-hye after such a long time.
Looking to my side, I watched her as she looked around intently among the bushes with her eyes wide open.
Why was she so sad to have lost her pencil case?
Sure, she couldn’t acquire one again since it was an item made back on Earth, but honestly, I didn’t feel that a pencil case was that valuable to warrant such angst.
Would there be a picture of my ID in it?
That was a possibility.
I suddenly grabbed Jihye’s small hand, which was swaying aimlessly in the air.
“Hyap!”
“Sigh, what is that sound?”
“Ugh...”
We were on a street at night with no one around.
The only thing that illuminated the dark street was the street lamps littered across the road and the cold, soft moonlight.
Within the depths of the quiet darkness, only Jihye’s footsteps and breathing could be heard, and her warmth was conveyed through our clasped palms.
Even without exchanging glances or talking, we could feel that each of us was focused on the other.
I felt like I was about to fall into an illusion where only the two of us existed in the whole world.
Should we have kissed?
Such romantic atmospheres were rare.
It would be the best first kiss for Ji-hye, who had only been able to pine for me for the past few years.
At first, we would start with a fresh kiss, then I would slowly slide my tongue in and gently caress the inside of her mouth, and she would then forget all her worries and leave everything to me.
Sadness and melancholy would turn into feelings of joy, pleasure, and love.
Unaware of time passing, standing still in one place and immersed in each other’s feelings, she would surely have found the experience euphoric.
I suppressed the desire that had welled up within my heart.
My heart shook.
This was very dangerous.
I had almost dragged Jihye into my arms and ruined her.
If the woman next to me had been Hye-rin, and if Hye-rin had fallen for me like Ji-hye had and I was sure that she would accept anything I did, I might have been mesmerised by her beauty, body, scent, and the atmosphere enough to have dove right in.
But not here…
Because I wanted subordination from this girl rather than a pure love, and to have created an ant labyrinth that she would never escape from, rather than a beautiful castle.
If I had gone ahead and kissed her right now, I might have given her the wrong impression and given her the idea that we were equals.
“Since you’re depressed, and in a bad mood too, what can I do to make our Ji-hye feel better?”
“······Hair.”
“Huh?”
“If you give me some of your hair, it might make me feel better...”
“…”
Just like the day before the exam, she seemed to really treasure my hair...
In the end, I ended up giving in to her request to comfort her, who only looked at the floor as if embarrassed, with my words and hair.
After we arrived at the dormitory, we went straight to the public security department.
I knew it would be open 24 hours a day, but seeing the building with the lights on even though the date had changed made me feel a little sympathy for the individuals on duty.
We didn’t get much by way of help there either, so we went back to the dormitory after.
After taking her to her room, I returned to my room and looked at the video feed on the hidden camera installed in her room just in case.
Soon, I couldn’t help but be left amazed at what I had seen.
Jihye’s room had been empty due to the group dinner.
But there was a moving object in the room Erich should only have been silent and still.
It was shaped like a paper-folded white bird origami and crawled out through the opening of her bag with a brown pencil case in its mouth, walked to the window, opened the window on its own, and flew into the sky.
“……”
What was that?
I had more leads to investigate…
***
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