Chapter 26 – But Now I’m Going to Stop

The lecture room without exaggeration was full of small whispers. The girls who had been chattering around sat in separate seats, each in small groups. It was quieter than when he was there, but the atmosphere was louder than then.

It made it louder when I wasn’t there, so I could see how much the hype had dug into the gwa. Thinking about that, I entered the classroom.

Everyone who saw me enter didn’t make eye contact with me. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in me like before, but it felt like he was ignoring me on purpose.

This was reality, and this was people.

When people find out about their misunderstanding, they choose to ignore rather than apologize. He’s more comfortable ignoring than admitting he was wrong.

Anyway I didn’t mind this. Just like if you don’t have expectations, you won’t be disappointed, I didn’t expect much from my classmates. Rather than looking at me and sending countless requests for a handshake, I felt comfortable ignoring it like this.

“Jiheon-ah, what are you doing?”

I turned around after hearing Yuri’s voice. Beyond the classroom door stood Yuri, who had an innocent image, wearing a white shirt under a gray knit and jeans. She nodded her head curiously.

“Aren’t you going in?”

Her bobbed hair swayed as she asked with a smile. Her neatly cropped bobbed hair was short and wavy. I said, averting her eyes from the hairstyle Yuri had kept since high school.

“No, let’s go in.”

After I finished talking, I went into the lecture room with an awkward aura. And now I sat down in what had become my assigned seat. Yuri follows me in, and she sits right next to me.

“Hmm.”

She turned her head, humming her softly before sitting down. It seemed like he was laughing at the girls who had been sitting around the hype until yesterday. She looked back at her face, saying that she had recognized his identity early on, and that is why she had sorted out her relationship in the first place.

While doing so, he called while crying.

Yesterday, her self-discovered exaggeration seemed to have lost all will in her. He stepped out of the room against a wall of little resistance. Shortly after he left, looking helpless, Yuri received a phone call.

“Ji-heon.”

On the other side of the phone, she was crying. Perhaps she was shocked to receive the articles and recordings sent through her phone.

Yuri talked to her while crying on the phone, and I comforted her. So the result is now this.

“… So, don’t think that it is always difficult.”

Even in the middle of the lecture, Yuri looked sideways at me. When she turned her head away from the gaze, she turned her eyes to the blackboard as if she hadn’t looked. She wasn’t even taking classes. She reached out for her pen and scratched at her writing.

What are you doing?

No, no matter who sees it, I am studying and taking classes! What are you doing watching it right next to you?

I couldn’t say anything because it was in the middle of the lecture, so I left an answer under the text she wrote.

Study

Then there is

As soon as Yuri left it, she started to leave her answer to it again. If it were high school, the teacher would have warned me, but the professor was just silently lecturing in front of the podium.

In this state, she couldn’t concentrate on her studies and read her answers.

Are you playing with your seniors today?

The senior she was talking about meant the demon king.

Yesterday, the demon king left the room while I was talking to Yuri. She called to have some chicken together to commemorate her revenge, but she refused, saying she wanted to get rid of the perfume smell as soon as possible. Still, it was fortunate that we made an appointment to meet at 9 o’clock this evening, perhaps because we wanted to party.

Thinking of that promise, I shook my head slightly. Seeing me denying it, Yuri smiled softly, showing her straight teeth. Laughing at her professor, she wrote again in my textbook.

Then, after today, would you like to go to a PC room together?

I never thought that Yuri would ask me to go to an internet cafe together. Yesterday was the first time we went to an internet cafe, but now he suggested we go together.

While living with the Demon King, I realized that my relationship with Yuri had changed a lot. She said that the other day she was just her friend, but now Yuri seems to see me as the opposite sex.

It wasn’t such a bad feeling that my first love, whom I had liked for a long time, was conscious of me as the opposite sex.

I picked up my pen and wrote below what Yuri had written.

Do you want to have dinner together tonight? I will live

Seeing her writing, she raised the corners of her mouth and was at a loss for what to do. She couldn’t laugh openly because the professor was right in front of her, and she tried her best to cover her mouth with her hand. However, that was not enough to hide all of Yuri’s feelings.

“Wow!”

Suddenly it made a strange noise. It was a strange sound that seemed to be laughing or crying. He looked around hurriedly to see if he had noticed that too. She made a fuss about her until she knew that no one was interested in her. To some extent, she looked at me with a smile.

With a slightly reddened face, Yuri whispered softly.

“… Huh.”

“Jiheon-ah, is this right?”

Perhaps because it was early spring, it was already dark even though it was still a little past 6:00. Under the slightly chilly weather after the sun went down, I took Yuri to a restaurant a little far from the school.

The lecture ended at 4 o’clock and there was still time left until the appointment time, so Yuri and I decided to spend time separately. In my case, it came just as it was worn at school, but Yuri had her coat on and a bit more makeup on.

She said to her, thinking of her demon king dressed up yesterday.

“It’s okay, you’re right here.”

As she said that, she went inside.

“Welcome.”

A woman in a neat uniform greeted me at the entrance. I bowed her head as she followed her, leaving her door open to let her glass in.

“Thank you.”

Yuri came in, speaking softly so only I could hear. When she came in, I unlocked the door and the waitress asked.

“Are there two of you?”

“Yes.”

“Then please follow me this way.”

“Yes. Let’s go, Yuri.”

“Ah, yes!”

From the moment she entered this place, she followed the waiter with Yuri, who was strangely restless. She led us to a window overlooking the road. She was off work, so she stood on the back of one of her chairs, looking down at the busy road.

“Yuri.”

“Uh?”

“Here.”

I pointed to the chair in front of me. As Yuri listened to me and sat down in her chair, the sweet smell of perfume that she sprayed entered her nostrils. As she exhaled the breath that had entered her nose, she pushed the chair back as she learned in this world.

“Thank you, Jiheon.”

“No.”

She answered simply and sat down across the glass.

At the same time as I sat down, the waitress who guided us picked up the menu boards on the round table and handed them to us one by one. As soon as I opened it and started reading it, she asked me to tell you what the main menu is today and if you have any allergies.

I asked without taking my eyes off the menu board.

“Yuri, do you want something to eat?”

“Uh? I don’t have much… “

“Then can I do it? Please give me a couple B set here.”

I ordered a course meal with steak as the main course. After ordering, Yuri first held out the menu to the waiter. I handed it over and she asked.

“How do I get used to it? There are rare, medium, and well done. Do you need an explanation?”

“No, just medium, please.”

“Yes, I understand. And if you pay only 10,000 won more, we will provide you with a bottle of wine, is that okay?”

It’s wine I don’t like alcohol very much, but on a day like today, I needed one.

“Yes. Is it red wine by any chance?”

“Sure. ID verification is required for wine orders. Excuse me, but would you mind checking your ID?”
At that, Yuri and I each took out their identification cards and showed them. Confirming that she was an adult, she left her table to deliver her order.

As the neatly-looking waiter left, Yuri asked in a low voice.

“Jiheon-ah, are you okay?”

The intent of the question was whether my wallet would last. This restaurant is a bit difficult for college students to go to, although it may be for families. But I had the money I received as settlement money the day I went to another world. For once, it was enough money to buy my first love dinner.

I gave her a small nod of her head towards her as she looked at me with her anxious eyes.

“Are you okay.”

“Still… “

“Because it’s okay. Oh, it comes.”

The woman I met at the entrance and another employee approached with a tray. She put her appetizer on the table with the receipt.

I handed out my bill and check card to the waitress who had placed the bread and soup.

“Please pay in advance with this.”

Without saying a word, she took her card and left the table like no one else. While I handed over the card, Yuri tore her bread and ate it.

“Hmm! This is delicious! Jiheon-ah, you should try it too!”

Then she handed over the bread she had torn.

She took the bread, tore it up to the size of her fingernails and put it in her mouth as she did. The taste was just plain bread. I just couldn’t do that.

“… It’s delicious.”

“Yes?”

Hearing my words, Yuri laughed. There was a piece of bread smeared on her mouth, which made her look cute in a way. As she ate her bread, she pointed to a small bowl that came with her bread basket.

“It tastes even better if you dip it in cherry jam!”

“Okay?”

Without thinking, she tore the bread the size of a finger and ate it with red jam. Unlike strawberry jam, it was strong and sour, which was impressive.

I’m about to take another shot, but I have a question.

“Yuri.”

“Huh?”

She answered while eating the cherry jam-soaked bread. Looking at the glass, she asked.

“How did you know this was cherry jam? They are all red.”

Cherry jam or strawberry jam is the same red type. The dark ones are darker than the cherries, but it was hard to tell them apart under the slightly dim lighting typical of the restaurant.

“Uh, huh?”

“Have you been here before?”

Upon hearing my question, Yuri was visibly taken aback. Her eyes wrinkled and laughed, she panicked and her pupils trembled. After being silent for a while, she replied as if making an excuse.

“I came here with my dad and mom, here! I’m here with my family, family!”

Seeing Yuri talking desperately, she noticed that she had come with the overlord. The proof was that she was strangely restless when she entered the place, and that she gave me the menu after the order was finished, as if she was used to it.

Before coming with me, she said that she had come with Gwadae…

But I didn’t want to worry about that anymore. Just as I was a former warrior and the demon king was a former demon king, Yuri’s meeting with the giant was just in the past.

I took my eyes off her bewildered one and focused on eating her soup.

“You said you came with your parents?”

“Huh! I sat over there!”

Even though I wasn’t curious, I even pointed to the family seat. I didn’t have much to say to her.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, but you know, Jiheon-ah. Isn’t it hard to keep up with the class?”

Now the topic of conversation has changed. In order to make her forget the previous topic, Yuri continued to talk about irrelevant things.

I couldn’t understand the words that sounded like a shot, and all I could do was give a rough answer. Today I brought her to make her confession. I was so nervous that I didn’t even know the taste of the soup I was eating.

“… Excuse me.”

Around the time we finished eating the soup, a waitress pulled a cart and approached us. She cleared her empty bowl and placed the plates of her steak in front of each other. Along with cutlery such as forks and knives, she also set clear glass wine glasses.

“… “

As food was placed in front of her, Yuri, who had been making a loud noise, shut her mouth. She was quiet until the waiter tipped her wine bottle when she opened her mouth.

Swallow!

“And!”

It was a strange sight to see small waves of red wine poured into a transparent round glass. To me, she looked like an immature child.

“Have a good time.”

After the waitress put the bill card and receipt on the table, she left with an empty cart.

After she left, I picked up the wine glass and held it out to Yuri. Yuri also picked up her own glass in line with me and made a toast by bumping into hers with mine.

Crack!

After the toast, each of us took a sip of wine. Yuri picked up her fork and knife and started slicing her steak, and I rubbed her plate with her knife and watched her screeching.

I sang the glass while holding the neck of the wine glass with my index finger and thumb.

“Yuri.”

“Huh?”

“Actually, there is something I want to tell you.”

Hearing my words, she put on an expression that something had come. Then she put down the fork and knife she had picked up with a grim face.

“What?”

“No, it’s been a while since we met. Roughly, seven years?”

“It was just like that.”

“Actually, I wanted to tell you from the first time we met… “

“What is that?”

Her face as she asked was not different from the one the hype showed yesterday. It was a face of vain hope.

Even so, 7 years ago, I put in my mouth what I should have said from then.

“I liked you.”

“Me too! Then we date,”

“But I’m going to stop now.”

“… What?”

Yuri’s expression at this time was truly spectacle. She was, of course, like an incompetent little boy whose stupid plan she had conceived was blocked in a way she never expected.

Looking at her, she remembered what happened yesterday. After sending in an article and recording about her hype, she was soon called by Yuri. That meant that unlike me, she didn’t shut out the hype. If she had blocked her, she wouldn’t have received the articles and recordings sent to his number.

I hate to admit what he said, but he was right. She knows that Yuri is just such a woman.

She doesn’t look as shiny or special as the first time I saw her, and compared to the girls passing by on the street, she was no different. Yuri was an ordinary person. She just weirded out the management of her fishing grounds, and she was a woman who didn’t have anything special about other people.