The Monster Aspires to Be a Hero!

Jieun blankly watched Jinwoo leave before regaining her senses and heading to the restroom.
Shaaaaaah—
Turning on the sink faucet and looking in the mirror, her beet-red face stared back at her.
Recalling the bus incident made Jieun’s face flush even redder.
Her heart was pounding, her breathing ragged.
‘If only we had been a bit closer…’
Unconsciously, Jieun stretched her hand towards her lips.
It was now entering the 3rd year since first meeting Jinwoo.
While various things had happened during that time, there had never been such an incident before.
Jinwoo was diligent and quite conservative in this regard.
But…
The sensation she had felt from the skin contact with Jinwoo.
Perhaps it was her own pulse, but Jinwoo had seemed flushed too.
She had thought him an indifferent man.
Despite her embarrassing efforts to convey her interest, his obliviousness felt incredibly vexing.
She had seriously wondered if she lacked feminine charm.
But that wasn’t the case.
Jinwoo was a man too, and conscious in such situations.
Jieun gazed at her reflection in the mirror.
Her face was blushing so fiercely that she couldn’t bear showing it to others.
In the end, Jieun decided not to go to the club room.
Despite considerable time passing since entering the restroom, the heat in her face only intensified rather than subsiding.
‘I thought Sunbae was an old-fashioned gentleman…’
It was the first time in two years that Jinwoo had displayed such a reaction.
Jieun left the restroom at least 10 minutes later.

When Jinwoo was criticized by people over Insoo’s incident, it wasn’t just one or two who expressed concern.
He made courtesy calls to thank those people, but for university friends and underclassmen, he expressed gratitude in person.
It was a necessary action.
There wasn’t any particular other reason for doing so.

You’re finding excuses not to visit the club room.
…But how could I go there after such an incident?

Unexpectedly, she might actually like it.
What nonsense is this?

“Let’s play soccer again sometime.”
“Sure, see you later.”
He wandered around greeting acquaintances who were free or on break at the time.
But even after a day passed without visiting the club room…

“…”
“…”
Since Jieun and I lived about a 10-minute walk apart, we inevitably took the same bus home.
In the mornings, everyone desperately boards to catch their lecture times, so the bus is crammed to bursting.
But in the evenings, with varying schedules and gatherings, it’s quite deserted.
Hence, the distance between Jieun and I was slightly greater than usual.
About a foot more spacing than normal.
“…”
“…”
Situations repeatedly arose where we seemed about to speak before closing our mouths again.
Ah, I’m going mad.
Ordinarily in such awkward silences, we would take out our smartphones and occupy ourselves.
But now, we couldn’t even do that.
We just kept fidgeting while gauging each other’s reactions.
Whenever the bus hit a bump and our bodies swayed, fidget. Whenever passengers disembarked and boarded amidst commotion, fidget again.

I really can’t stand romantic comedies, you know…
I fail to see how this qualifies as a romantic comedy.
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call it the peculiar accompaniment of a sexual assailant and victim?
In the end, we could only head home maintaining an unusually stiff atmosphere.

If it’s so uncomfortable for you, just say it like this.
Say what?

Don’t stiffen up – you’re the one who made me hard.
You lunatic.
Are you really genderless?
It felt like some middle-aged uncle constantly spouting vulgar remarks, quite jarring.

Just say the word and I’ll provide you a happy time.
A happy time?

Oh…
You really do seem to be genderless after all.
Greed probably just enjoys my embarrassment.
I need to vent this.
“About today’s incident… um, I’m sorry.”
“…”
“It was unintentional, so please don’t report it…”
“Pfft! Report? I won’t.”
It was the first time Jieun had laughed since that morning incident.
She probably took my words as a joke.
“With sexual assailants constantly emerging lately, it’s really becoming a big deal~”
Jieun seemed to have regained her usual demeanor as she playfully teased me.
I could only scratch my nape with an awkward feeling.
Still, I was just relieved she could easily forgive me thanks to our history together.
The subtle atmosphere that had arisen between Jieun and I gradually dissipated like that.
…Or so I thought.

“Hello, Sunbae.”
“Uh… uhh. Hello.”
While she had always dressed lightly, that… skirt seemed even shorter.
“You pervert… what are you looking at?”
“N, nothing at all.”
It was probably just my imagination, right?

It wasn’t my imagination after all.
After that incident, Jieun began showcasing even bolder fashion choices.
Not to the point of being offensive to my eyes, but rather…
Straddling that fine line of revealing just enough to seem suggestive while not actually exposing anything overtly.
I’m a man too.
With her dressing like that, my mind inevitably wanders, yet I don’t know if she’s aware or not…
Inside the bus headed to campus.
As usual, I had secured Jieun in the corner, acting as a buffer while we conversed.
But as we neared the school, more students boarded, closing the gap between us.
If this continued, another awkward scene might unfold with Jieun.
So this time, I decided to use my abilities.
Physical enhancement.
Gripping the handrail firmly, I adjusted the distance to prevent body contact with Jieun.
This should prevent us from getting stuck together like last time, I thought.
But just as I was about to sigh in relief…
“…”
“…”
Jieun’s flushed face entered my vision.
This posture of leaning against the wall next to Jieun’s head to avoid contact…
This was… um…

Essentially a wall-slam.
Right, that’s it.
It seemed another peculiar situation was unfolding, albeit in a different sense this time.
Jieun repeatedly opened and closed her mouth, as if struggling to speak.
Her lips shone with some sort of gloss, appearing alluringly moist, making my heart flutter.
Greed could vacate my body.
For as long as 2-3 days, even.
Knowing that fact… felt like losing control of various things.
I could sense Jieun’s breathing.
Hotter and more rapid than usual.
We gazed into each other’s eyes, bodies frozen stiff.
At that moment, I felt that cloying sensation of someone intently watching us.
Hurriedly averting my gaze from Jieun, I surveyed our surroundings.
But perhaps due to the cramped bus interior, I couldn’t scan everywhere.
Jieun, seemingly quite flustered by that situation, could only bow her head and fidget with her hands.

…An enemy?
Greed would react if he sensed hostile intent, but his response was slower than mine this time.
Was there no clear hostility yet?
As I maintained a vigilant attitude, Jieun called me with a worried expression.
“Sunbae, what’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh… it feels like someone is watching us.”
Upon hearing that, Jieun’s face reddened further.
Jieun was probably focused on someone having witnessed our peculiar atmosphere just now.

But I was more concerned about that incessant gaze.
Perhaps Jieun’s revealing attire had drawn some influence.
The sexual assailant villains constantly featured in recent news.
Jieun could potentially become a victim too.
No, if those villains noticed Jieun, it would be 100 percent certain.
“Jieun-ah.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll notify the office that from this Thursday until Sunday, I’ll be accompanying you, so let’s travel together for the time being.”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
Jieun nodded brightly with a smile.
While observing her, I remained conscious of whoever had been watching us.
However, I didn’t sense that gaze again until we arrived on campus and disembarked.

Around a week had passed since I started sticking closely to Jieun.
As late May approached, the temperatures gradually rose.
Yet despite people’s clothing becoming lighter and attention dispersing more…
It was certain.
Over the past week, someone had been persistently following us.
Initially, I had thought it was my imagination, but since even Greed sensed the gaze, it couldn’t be mere delusion.

“So for the team project, it was really… this is why I hate business administration.”
“That’s true. Especially the marketing field is the worst.”
“Professor Kim Young-eun is really the worst.”
“Ah, the new product?”
“Yes, that one. What makes them think university students can conceive and directly manufacture new product ideas for presentations…”
Jieun ranted about why students had to brainstorm, produce, and present new product ideas.
While Jieun could grasp anything at a glance, team projects posed her greatest obstacle.
Despite actively participating in volunteer work and attentively caring for troublesome kids, she oddly struggled with team projects.
Who would actually enjoy them? But her case seemed particularly severe.

“Always pretending not to notice while sneaking glances, ah, tch.”
Jieun seemed about to utter an unsavory remark before noticing my gaze and substituting it with a tongue click.
I was about to say something to Jieun in that situation.
Then I felt that gaze again.
The gaze that had persistently followed us for the past week.
“Jieun-ah.”
“Yes.”
“Just keep walking and listen. Don’t react.”
Seeming to grasp my intent, Jieun continued her previous complaints.
As I listened to Jieun’s words, I opened my mouth while pretending not to notice, walking casually.
“Someone has been following us constantly for the past week.”
“…So that’s why Sunbae kept glancing around during team projects?”
Jieun disguised her inquiry about my intent with casual conversation.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
There was someone tailing us.
“Still, Professor Kim Young-eun’s class is decent. It’s Professor Jung Su-young who teaches Cost Accounting that’s really drifting insanely.”
Drifting.
If we turned that upcoming corner, our pursuer would momentarily lose sight of us.
It was a signal to seize that moment.
“Professor Jung Su-young is famously known for starting off teaching in detail before running out of time, then just underlining everything telling students to self-study – truly drifting.”
Signaling my understanding, Jieun and I turned the left corner together.
Then, after proceeding ahead, I deliberately slowed to a stop.
Focusing my senses to the limit, I listened for footsteps.
The footsteps of our pursuer grew closer.
Now!
Embracing Jieun from behind, I turned the corner and faced the man who had appeared.
“Sunbae Taeil?”
It was Taeil.
“Why are you…”
Wait.
I had been continuously training to widen my field of vision at the training room.
And that training carried over into daily life too.
My enhanced vision revealed that the person before me wasn’t actually Taeil.
For one, Taeil has a distinct walking posture placing his weight on the outer edges of his feet.
So the outer sides of his right shoe and inner side of his left are far more worn down.
But this man’s gait and footsteps didn’t match Taeil’s usual ones.
And most importantly, the clothes he was wearing.
Today, Taeil had worn a newly released summer t-shirt to campus.
Then at lunch, when he ordered a sizzling beef plate and got grease stains, he had grumbled about why this always happened with new clothes before changing outfits.
That had happened during lunchtime.
Yet…
The man before me had the same appearance and outfit as Taeil, but without those grease stains.