Apocalypse’s Teacher

Chapter 88

The moment of crisis had passed.

Juyeong safely finished her conversation with Seokho and staggered over to the sofa, collapsing onto it.

'That lunatic!'

She cursed Jinwoo inwardly.

For Juyeong, it was a natural reaction.

After all, wasn't it strange for a man to have such a lukewarm reaction when a beauty like her acted all cute around him?

No, it wasn't just lukewarm.

At that moment, his attitude had been as if he didn't even see her as a woman, like someone staring at a pebble lying on the roadside.

'How could he act like this?'

Juyeong felt as though all the common sense she knew was being denied.

At the same time, another emotion arose within her: competitive spirit.

Though she was on an infiltration mission, at her core, she was still just a middle school girl.

It wasn't strange for her to get angry when things didn't go the way she wanted.

Juyeong's teeth ground together noisily.

Her knees trembled.

As a peculiar sense of competitiveness boiled up from within her, Juyeong thought, 'How can I make that guy lose his composure?'

"Unni's here!"

"Woof!"

An uninvited guest appeared.

Need I say more?

It was Hyesung and Chunsik.

"Hello, unni!"

"Woof!"

Hyesung raised her hand and waved it in front of Juyeong's eyes.

Chunsik placed his front paws on Juyeong's knees, wagging his tail enthusiastically.

Juyeong flinched and shuddered, then spoke to Hyesung with a face full of irritation.

"What is it?"

Now, even a useless kid was interrupting her work.

She spat out sharp words, driven by such thoughts, but Hyesung didn't shrink back.

She was already used to Gihyun's anger, which was far scarier than Juyeong's tantrums.

"What are you doing, unni?"

When Hyesung, who merely saw Juyeong as a new playmate, asked that, Juyeong clicked her tongue and replied.

"I'm thinking. Unni is busy, so can you take this dog away?"

"He's not a dog! He's Chunsik!"

"Woof!"

"Fine, Chunsik."

"Woong!"

When Hyesung clapped her hands, Chunsik moved away from Juyeong.

"Chunsik, let's go to the uncle!"

"Woof!"

As Hyesung and Chunsik energetically disappeared from sight, Juyeong, now left alone, let out a sigh of disbelief and stared at their retreating figures.

'What was that?'

She couldn't understand Hyesung's thought process at all—why come here only to leave so easily?

Alongside that thought, another emotion arose once again.

'I really don't like her.'

That naive look of hers, that carefree, happy smile—Ju-young couldn't stand it.

She didn't think too deeply about the reasons.

It was because the answer would come to her even without reflection.

Juyeong clenched her fists tightly.

'...Some people are struggling just to survive like this.'

A world that was no longer kind to children.

A world where even one's parents were no longer around to protect them.

She had lived by reading the room, simply wanting to survive somehow.

No, simply reading the room wasn't enough to satisfy the adults. She had taken on all sorts of odd jobs, desperate to prove her usefulness.

Even after exhausting herself with such work, what she got in return was ridicule for being good for nothing but menial tasks.

And those disgusting stares.

'She has no idea about her privileges, no clue how blessed she is to live so carefreely.'

She wouldn't know the loneliness of having no one by her side.

She wouldn't sense the creepy stares that come with watching a growing body.

Though it hadn't been for long, that little kid would surely think life was wonderful, just because everyone around her adored her for giggling like that.

Deep down, Juyeong had feelings she didn't want to admit.

Namely, that the emotions she was experiencing were rooted in jealousy.

Juyeong stared at the spot where Hyesung had disappeared with an annoyed expression on her face, then snorted and stood up.

'Enough, I don't have time to waste on that sort of thing.'

It was a life unrelated to hers.

The only thing she had to do here was one thing: observe Bomberman, analyze his tendencies, and recruit him as an ally for the upcoming war.

'This is the last chance.'

If she couldn't prove her worth this time, she'd inevitably fall to the status of a servant.

She'd be left with nothing but the task of enduring those sickening stares day after day.

'...I absolutely refuse.'

Juyeong's face twisted miserably.

She clenched her teeth as she steeled her resolve.

And she thought.

'Information, I need more information.'

She thought she couldn't back down with just this much.

*

"What are you doing?"

A voice that felt somewhat artificial.

At that, Jinwoo lifted his head.

Standing before him was Juyeong, grinning brightly.

"Ah, I was preparing dinner. You must be really hungry, huh? Just wait a bit."

"Do you do this kind of preparation all by yourself?"

"Hmm... usually?"

Jinwoo answered like that and thought.

'Sometimes the old man does it, but usually it's me.'

Gihyun absolutely detested cooking and found it annoying.

Chun-bae barely knew how to cook anything, and as for Helen...

'...Let's not even go there.'

Since there was no way the kids would cook, the task naturally fell to Jinwoo.

Recalling this, Jinwoo let out a faint chuckle.

"Why are you laughing?"

"No reason, just a funny thought."

Juyeong stared at Jinwoo.

'How should I seduce him...?'

Even when she added a flirtatious tone to her voice, it didn't faze him.

Even when she showed interest in his work, he seemed entirely lost in his own thoughts.

'...Should I try physical contact?'

It was a blow to her pride.

The idea of having to resort to such tactics for an airheaded boy like him was infuriating.

But, then again, what choice did she have?

There was no immediate breakthrough to be found, so it was only right to not hesitate and do even such things.

Juyeong pressed down her aching heart, put on a smile again, and sat next to Jinwoo.

"I'll help you."

"Huh?"

"It's hard to prepare alone, right? Let's do it together."

With those words, Juyeong subtly overlapped her hand on the back of Jinwoo's hand.

When Jinwoo's hand flinched right afterward, Juyeong inwardly cheered.

'Yes! I knew this would happen!'

No matter how much he pretended to stay calm, he was just a guy of the same age, in the end.

If she approached him earnestly, it wouldn't amount to much.

...Or so Juyeong thought as she got a little drunk on premature victory, while Jinwoo was thinking.

'Did she wash her hands before doing this?'

He hesitated to open his mouth, thinking it might be rude to ask.

Overwhelmed by a rising sense of discomfort, Jinwoo sighed deeply and said,

"...No, I'll handle it myself."

"Huh? Why, we could..."

"You're just getting in the way."

Zzzzt-.

Juyeong's body stiffened.

Juyeong then realized that Jinwoo's reaction when she overlapped her hand wasn't from excitement but from annoyance, and her face flushed red.

*

Failure.

Failure.

Another failure.

Even offering help with cooking was rejected.

Thinking it wasn't enough, she offered him boiled eggs served with the meal, but he wouldn't even consider taking them.

At some point, she wondered if she had been too passive, so she even pretended to be startled by a bug and hugged him, but he remained immovable.

Meanwhile, the only thing that happened was a blonde girl, frightened by the mention of a bug, clinging to Bomberman.

Juyeong was in despair.

'What's with that guy!'

She had no idea where to hit to get a reaction from him.

At this rate, she was feeling increasingly anxious, thinking it would all end in failure.

As Juyeong thought she had to seduce him quickly, she didn't realize.

That her original purpose for coming here wasn't to seduce Jinwoo but to negotiate with Seokho.

That if Jinwoo remained immovable, she could just target the other side.

However, at that moment, Juyeong's head was overheated, preventing her from realizing this.

There wasn't even a chance to cool her head because she kept running into Jinwoo in the confined space of the penthouse.

It was a thoroughly chaotic situation.

Squatting in the room assigned to her, clutching her head in frustration, Juyeong finally made a decision.

'I need to find his weakness!'

It was a resolution one million light-years away from her original goal.

Juyeong sprang to her feet, and from that moment on, she started spending almost all her time observing Jinwoo, except for when she was sleeping.

With this kind of passion, Juyeong might have already found out something about Seokho had she observed him, but the Juyeong who needed to know that was merely watching Jinwoo while biting into a boiled potato.

*

After about three days of observation, Juyeong noticed something suspicious about Jinwoo and started to investigate it.

'The bottom drawer of the wardrobe.'

Jinwoo had hidden something there.

Whenever he rummaged through that place, Jinwoo was particularly wary of others' gazes, so if she was to find his weakness, she had to search there.

Juyeong, who was convinced, put her speculation into action on a late night when everyone was asleep.

Stealthily, Juyeong opened her door and stepped out into the living room.

From there, she moved to the corner of one side of the wall.

To the wardrobe in the middle of it.

Arriving in front of the wardrobe, Juyeong once again glanced around, confirming that no one was nearby, and began to act.

Creak-.

A very slight sound was made, and right after, the wardrobe, filled with thin clothes not suitable for the season, was revealed.

Juyeong gulped nervously and thrust her hand inside.

'There it is!'

Something sleek was felt beneath the clothes.

The moment Juyeong realized it, she quickly grabbed it.

Juyeong's gaze turned to her hand.

"...What?"

And Juyeong witnessed the truth.