Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Group Project (5)

Baek Seolhwa greeted me awkwardly.

"......Hello."

Fierce eyes that seemed to glare.

I felt a little bad saying this, but Baek Seolhwa always looked scary no matter when you saw her.

I could guarantee that if a girl who looked like this had asked me for money back in my school days, I'd have handed over my entire wallet.

"What brings you here?"

"The assignment."

A slightly brusque tone.

If An Seri had said the same thing, it would've been a sarcastic "Can't you see I'm suffering because of you?" But Baek Seolhwa wasn't that kind of person.

Her speech was always guarded around others out of habit─that was all. She'd meant nothing by it.

"How's the assignment going?"

"Not well."

"I see."

The conversation briefly stalled.

Short answers might look like a refusal to talk, but this too was just her way of speaking.

If Baek Seolhwa truly didn't want to talk to me, she'd have simply walked away.

I patiently kept the conversation going.

"Are the group members inside?"

"......Yes."

"Good to hear you took my advice."

In truth, I'd engineered things to reach this point.

When I told her I'd just like to observe for a bit, Baek Seolhwa quietly led me to the seminar room.

I didn't go inside. Standing with Baek Seolhwa, I watched through the window for a while.

The group members were chatting amicably.

It wasn't loud, but with an Awakened's hearing, it was perfectly audible.

"I think the offense made a mistake here, don't you?"

"Yeah. Seems like going a little more to the right would've been better."

"Even they make mistakes, huh?"

The discussion had some merit.

Not everything was correct, but it was clearly better than when Baek Seolhwa had worked on the assignment alone.

Glancing at Baek Seolhwa, she was frowning slightly.

A subtle change in expression, but upon close inspection, her scary face had gotten even scarier.

It seemed the discussion was running more smoothly now than when she'd been there. Maybe that was making her feel left out, or guilty.

"Shouldn't you head in soon? The group needs a team leader to guide them."

"......Just a little more. I'll go in after watching a bit more."

Baek Seolhwa knew it too.

Those kids didn't need a team leader to guide them.

If anything, the team leader was only holding the group back.

Multiple emotions crossed Baek Seolhwa's face.

I grabbed a cold canned coffee from a nearby vending machine and handed it to her.

"Then let's chat for a while. I happen to be free."

"......Okay."

We stepped outside the library and sat on a bench.

As if by unspoken agreement, we left the middle empty and sat at opposite ends.

Whether it was the lingering spring chill making the air brisk, or because she wore a short skirt with her pale, bare legs exposed, Baek Seolhwa looked especially cold today.

Maybe giving her cold coffee was a mistake.

I walked to a nearby vending machine, got a hot coffee, and swapped it with the cold one in her hands.

The cold can I downed in one gulp.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind. I can at least lend an ear."

"Why would you, Professor?"

"Because I'm your professor."

Baek Seolhwa wore a complicated expression.

There was a vividness I couldn't feel through graphics. In the game, her expression had always looked about the same, but in reality, there were subtle differences.

Right now, she looked very down.

Baek Seolhwa spoke as if giving up.

"It's just...... I keep thinking. Maybe I'm not needed?"

"Why's that?"

"All I do is bring down the mood...... What do you think, Professor?"

"That's true. You have no social skills, your appearance is distinctive, and just sharing a space with you might make some group members uncomfortable."

When I gave an honest assessment, Baek Seolhwa's brow furrowed.

This time it wasn't her default expression─she was genuinely angry.

The laser-beam glare was a little─no, very─scary.

But I maintained my poker face and pressed on.

"It's not just your face that's intimidating. The shortened uniform, the tongue piercing, smoking macho─all of it. And your usual speech habits and gestures too......"

"I get it! I get it, so stop!"

Baek Seolhwa raised her voice─a rare occurrence, apparently from embarrassment.

She muttered to herself as she deflated: "That was scary?"

She looked ready to dig a hole and crawl in.

To snap her back to reality, I clapped once right in front of her face.

"That scared me!"

"Why worry about that stuff? Let me ask: do you want to be friends with them, Seolhwa?"

"......No."

What Baek Seolhwa wanted wasn't to become close with her group members.

In fact, for someone like her who had no knack for getting along with others, maintaining a comfortable distance would be far easier on the heart.

She simply hated herself for being a liability to the group.

And if that was the case, the answer was already clear.

"Let go of the idea that you have to be part of the party."

"What?"

Baek Seolhwa repeated the question as if she'd heard something absurd.

By any measure, it was an absurd thing to say.

But it was the best option.

"You don't have the talent to command a party like Seokhwan. The party doesn't need you. But as a combatant, you're the best, Seolhwa. So maximize that. That's the job you need to do."

"......Are you telling me to leave the group?"

"No, of course not. You'll operate as a two-party system. The five members as Party 1, and you as Party 2─a separate strike force. There's no need to be shackled to the role of party commander."

"Ah......"

When teaching a student, social skills were certainly essential.

Even in a profession that killed monsters, you couldn't operate like a lone wolf.

Dungeon clears were party-based, making social skills all the more important.

But that didn't mean everyone had to become friends.

This was a group lasting just one semester before dissolving.

There was no need to force closeness. Maintaining a reasonable business relationship while each person did what they did best─that was enough.

For Baek Seolhwa, who blamed her social deficiencies for every problem, this was exactly the advice she needed.

"You can choose who you want to get close to on your own."

It wasn't exactly stellar advice from an educator's perspective.

Closer to the worst, actually. A good teacher would never have spoken like me.

They'd have slowly opened Baek Seolhwa's heart, helping her learn to get along with others.

But I wasn't a good educator.

I had no idea how to raise good people.

All I could think about was how to make Heroes─soldiers.

"What kind of advice is that?"

A hint of a smile crossed Baek Seolhwa's face, as though my answer had satisfied her.

Having only ever seen her scary expression, that genuine smile looked especially beautiful.

"So, what do you think?"

"I like it better than forcing myself to get close."

From the far end of the bench, Baek Seolhwa scooted a little closer toward me.

A subtle blend of perfume and macho smoke drifted over.

Not exactly a pleasant scent, but slightly addictive.

She raised the coffee can I'd bought, clinked it against my empty one, and said:

"You said I can choose who I want to get close to on my own, right? Then I want to get closer to you, Professor."

She must have mustered some courage to say it, because her face was slightly flushed.

I gave her the best answer I could.

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."

That alone seemed enough, because Baek Seolhwa beamed brightly.

A radiant smile I'd never seen─not even in the game.

Baek Seolhwa popped open her coffee can and took a sip.

Then she stuck out her tongue and scrunched her face.

"It's bitter. Gross."

"That's the good stuff."

"Next time, I'll buy you coffee."

Baek Seolhwa stood from the bench and headed back to the library.

Maybe I'd done something unnecessary.

This might have completely altered Baek Seolhwa's future.

In Baek Seolhwa's storyline, changes in her relationships were a critical element.

In one route, she'd be betrayed and meet her end.

In another, she'd shut her heart and walk a lonely path for life.

In another, she'd view every person as a chess piece.

In another, she might make a true friend.

And in yet another route......

But because of me, all those possibilities had vanished.

Baek Seolhwa was no longer a character bound by her relationships.

One thing was certain, though: in none of those routes had I ever seen a smile like that.

This didn't feel bad at all.

***

─Mentor's effect activates. A small amount of EXP gained. (Target: Baek Seolhwa)

─Mentor's effect activates. A small amount of EXP gained. (Target: Oh Jaehak)

"Good. Well done, both of you."

Baek Seolhwa and Oh Jaehak's final assignment submissions were quite satisfying.

Compared to their rough first attempts, it was a massive improvement.

"How did it go? Working with others?"

"Thanks to the others doing their part. I should've swallowed my stubborn pride and worked with them from the start."

Oh Jaehak answered with a grin.

This kid had better social skills than I'd expected.

His leadership couldn't compare to An Seri's or Song Seokhwan's, but his ability to divide roles among members and mediate smoothly between them was considerable.

Oh Jaehak wasn't an elegant commander, but he could certainly be a hardworking leader.

The purpose of this assignment wasn't to improve the team leaders' skills.

It was to teach them: "You two can't do what Song Seokhwan and An Seri do."

Instead, I'd guided each to find their own strengths.

Baek Seolhwa was given a free role.

Oh Jaehak's party was stripped of a main caller and had orders distributed instead.

Of course, even with those changes, whether they could match the other two parties remained to be seen.

From here on, it was up to them.

"How were our reports?"

Oh Jaehak asked with confidence.

His party had collaborated to produce a much better report than before. Hence the confidence.

"Well done. Both of you, Jaehak and Seolhwa."

Oh Jaehak visibly lit up.

Baek Seolhwa's change was subtle, but her expression had brightened too.

I marked a few corrections with a red pen, then handed the reports back.

"See you in the next class."

The two bowed and left.

With that, the balance between parties felt reasonably even.

At their current level, the two weaker parties wouldn't be steamrolled by the other two.

It should make for a good contest.

"I'd better start preparing for class too."

Tap, tap-tap─

After a while at my laptop, an email was ready.

A request for the supplies needed for the upcoming lectures.

The parties were growing faster than expected, so I could afford to be a bit more ambitious with the lessons.

Right on cue, the door creaked open and in walked Lee Yeeun with zombie eyes.

"Good evening, Professor......"

"Perfect timing. TA Lee."

"Huh?"

Hearing "TA Lee" made Lee Yeeun startle.

I normally called Lee Yeeun "Yeeun," but when I had TA work for her, I used "TA Lee."

She was probably thinking something like: "The professor's going to work me again."

"Supplies will arrive this evening, so I'll need you to help with class prep."

"Professor...... I pulled an all-nighter last night too......"

"Now, now─did you think being a TA meant doing nothing?"

"Yes...... wake me up later, please......"

With that, Lee Yeeun collapsed onto the sofa.

She was asleep within seconds.

I was a little worried she'd ruin her health like this.

"Tch...... just for today."

I ended up doing all the class prep by myself.

Lee Yeeun didn't wake up until nearly half the day had passed. Getting scolded for not waking her was the cherry on top.