Chapter 35: Gaze (2)
First lesson.
After following Yeorum, Yu Jitae sat down on the guardian seats prepared at the very back of the lesson room. There were many guardians present, perhaps because it was the first lesson of Lair.
“I am the teacher of swordsmanship classes, Kai.”
An ordinary first lesson began.
To be honest, it wasn’t much.
It was similar to a university lecture; the old man clamoured, while the kids were bored. Unexpectedly, Yeorum didn’t fall asleep or fidget. Although the sulky look on her face reflected her boredom, she still listened to the lecture.
He wasn’t even expecting her to write anything down and considered it to be fine as long as she didn’t fall asleep straight after the beginning of the lesson.
If she appeared unable to tolerate the boredom, he thought of having her quit Lair and heading to an underground arena in Mexico, but despite the poor behaviour, Yeorum listened to the teacher.
Yu Jitae asked after class.
“You were listening well. Wasn’t expecting that.”
“I need to try my hardest until I can smash that bastard.”
She seemed to be talking about Javier Carma. In truth, she was the most diligent despite being within the scope of daily lives. Yu Jitae remembered how Yeorum spent a few hours everyday in training centres.
“Ah… it’s boring. Seriously.”
But when the boring lessons were repeated three times, Yeorum made a frown.
“And how long are you going to follow?”
“At least the whole day today.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m your guardian.”
In response to his words, Yeorum rolled her eyes in boredom.
“You are still boring.”
When he didn’t give a response, Yeorum lamented her situation.
“If a kidnapper was some interesting kidnapper, how good would it be? You looked like a super bad bastard so there was this thrill, you know? I was expecting this and that to happen and yet there’s no such thing either.”
The Regressor returned a random nod.
“Your atmosphere is like the worst person in existence, so why do you act so nice? Your actual nature and actions seem inconsistent. Isn’t it boring to live like that?”
“Even then, I need to live.”
“That too. Why would you continue living if it’s a boring life?”
Yu Jitae shook his head.
“Because life continues, and giving up isn’t an option.”
Yeorum, who knew nothing about his inner thoughts, let out a sigh.
“…Whatever. So, what’s my next lesson?”
“It’s a free period.”
“Ohh, really?”
Hearing those two words, interest surfaced in her crimson eyes.
“Then do you want to go to that place with me?”
As if in direct contrast with the expression from before, she had a bright look on her face.
“Where is ‘that place’.”
“The shooting range!”
Recently, she had been watching a drama related to World War I. While watching a sports drama, she would exercise all day and after watching a drama of a war, she seemed to be itching to shoot a gun.
She walked at the front with excitement. It made Yu Jitae realise again that she too was a hatchling, in the middle of an Amusement.
But there was a person who ruined her mood.
“Huh? You’re Cadet Yu Yeorum, right?”
On the way from the academy district to the entertainment district – at a place which did not prohibit the entry of outsiders, a reporter found Yeorum and dashed in.
“Ha, fuck.”
She, who had previously been surrounded by reporters a few times, let out a curse.
Heaving out a sigh, she lowered her head and continued walking forward. Then, the reporter ran up to her and walked backwards while matching his pace with Yeorum, and shoved the mic forward.
“Wahh! Cadet Yeorum. Hello. This is the public broadcast team TTA, from Taiwan! Would an interview be okay?”
Without replying, she walked faster but the reporter followed her pace while walking backward.
“It won’t take long! There won’t be many questions! Cadet Yu Yeorum!?”
When Yeorum picked up her speed, the reporter found it difficult to keep up while running backward and thus turned around before following her.
“Cadet! Cadet Yeorum!”
There was a problem and it was that the reporter’s voice was too loud. Unfortunately, the road Yeorum was walking on had a cafe nearby which was frequented by reporters.
“What? Cadet Yu Yeorum?”
“Where?”
Hearing the voice of the Tainwanese reporter, reporters from all around the world kicked their poor seats behind and dashed towards them. It was because of the recent event with Kaeul resulting in the rise of the Yu household’s fame worldwide.
“Excuse me! Cadet Yu Yeorum! Is it possible to have an interview about Cadet Kaeul?”
“Wait a second please! We are from Korea! KSB!”
“What did you mean when you shouted sex in the Azure Dragon study group’s interview?”
Reporters ran in like zombies and blocked the front. There were more than ten reporters present.
Unable to ignore and evade them anymore, Yeorum stood still on the spot. Then, she raised her head up.
“Cadet Yeorum? If you agree with the interview…!”
“…Did you mean that you would be having a sexual relationship at the study group?”
The questions continued building up.
Yeorum turned her head around with a flick and stared at Yu Jitae. In return, he shook his head. Using fists wasn’t allowed.
Seeing that, Yeorum heaved out a sigh but soon, her eyes bent into crescents as if she thought of something.
“Okay. Line up in front of me. I’ll answer one question each.”
Although it was a strange, incomprehensible request, that was the image of Yeorum that had been spread to the media. Despite feeling dumbfounded, they still made a queue in front of her.
Yu Jitae, who had been quietly watching the situation, opened his mouth.
“Yu Yeorum.”
“Ahh, it’s fine. I’ll take care of it. Now! Your questions please!”
“Hello I’m Zai Xian from China’s CCTV. Do you perhaps know the reason Cadet Yu Kaeul rejected appearing on TV?”
“I don’t know! Whether that yellow monkey appears on TV or not is none of my business. Why ask me that?”
“None of your business, yellow monkey… by using those expressions, do you mean that there is a discord inside the household?”
“What? Discord?”
“It seems that you are not in a good relationship with other cadets of the household.”
The questions were obstinate and stubborn. It was the best topic to use for people who were interested in gossip about the cadets of Lair.
It was important to give a prudent response.
“There is. Whenever that bitch acts stupid, I can’t hold myself back from slapping her butt.”
“S, sorry…?”
“But her butt is very bouncy. It feels good to touch once in a while when I’m bored. Is that okay for an answer?”
“…So you mean there is discord?”
“Slow-witted as heck.”
“Yes?”
“So what if there is; why do you care? Go away if you’re done with the question. Next!”
The reporter was about to say something back in response to Yeorum’s violent language, but was pushed away by another reporter.
Even now, a video footage was still being taken. Thus, Yu Jitae started contemplating.
Should he stop this? Or was it okay.
The reason for his pondering was because of the regulations concerning Lair’s enrolment. Using vulgar words that damaged the dignity of Lair would result in penalty points to the student.
“Yes. This is Park Kangho from Jeju Daily News. What did you mean when you shouted sex back in the Azure Dragon study group?”
This time, the question was even more blunt.
Yeorum took a step closer in and shoved her face forward. Startled, Park Kangho pulled his neck back with a red face, but they were close enough to have their breaths touch each other.
With that short distance between them, Yeorum opened her mouth.
“Mister reporter.”
“Yes?”
“Do you want to have sex with me?”
She licked her lips.
In that instant, Park Kangho from Jeju Daily News was turned stiff in surprise. As if she found that reaction boring, the smile disappeared from Yeorum’s face and she distanced herself with irritation filling her face.
“…that’s the sex I meant. How long are you going to make use of something you know already? It must feel good to make a damn living by nitpicking on what others say. Next!”
Frozen stiff, Park Kangho was shoved away by other reporters.
“I am Japan’s…”
Around the time the next reporter was starting to open his mouth, Yu Jitae made a decision. He moved his body and after blocking Yeorum’s mouth with one hand, he picked her up by her waist with the other and carried her by his side.
It happened in an instant while the reporters were puzzled. Yeorum attempted to resist in a fluster but couldn’t fight against Yu Jitae’s strength and immediately after, he disappeared from that place.
“Uhh?”
“They disappeared! Where are they!?”
The reporters were lost as to what to do.
***
Unlike what he had expected, Yeorum wasn’t offended. Although she found it regretful that she couldn’t go to the shooting range, she didn’t make other complaints after coming down from his side.
During dinner, she opened her mouth.
“It was good that you cut me off there. I might have lost my temper and smacked them.”
“Why did you do that. You could have avoided them.”
“Like, it’s been more than just one or two days. I don’t really care about what others think, but they bother me every single time so how would I stay sane?”
“You could get expelled by doing that.”
“Hmph. Whatever. Anyways, since I pretty much directly told them my thoughts, they wouldn’t come again.”
It seemed that Yeorum had spouted such words simply because she found the reporters obnoxious. But Bom, from the other side of the table, deeply stared at Yeorum.
“Why? What’s funny?”
“Things might not go the way you think.”
“…What do you mean. Did you see something?”
When Yeorum made a frown, Bom gave an awkward smile.
“Un.”
*
That night, Yeorum’s news flooded the internet. It started from the fingertips of the reporters that had been present during the scene.
[A superhuman cadet requesting a sexual relationship with a reporter?]
[Sex! After being asked why, she…]
Most of the news reports had such provocative titles. Like always, these appeared appealing and gained more clicks while the actual report itself would be about something different.
‘Dude, like who would believe this…’
One of the online viewers clicked the link for the benefit of the doubt.
‘Huh?’
And after reading the article, he was surprised.
The protagonist of the news article was none other than Yu Yeorum – that cadet who let out blunt remarks against every reporter worldwide. This article too contained a dumbfounding content.
Lair’s community, as well as a fan community of superhumans started burning up with comments.
– Crazy kekekekekek
– Seriously must be crazy. Her temper is no joke lol
– Which household supports someone like that lol
– I love crazy people like that kekekekek
There were ones who showed positive reactions.
– Uhh. Not my style;;;
– Isn’t she actually crazy? That’s a disgrace of Korean superhumans.
– This is unpleasant. How spoiled must she have been at home to be like that with that age…
– She sounds very loose..
While there were also displeased reactions.
A media critic referred to Yeorum’s behaviour as ‘a raw delight and repulsion’. Just like what he said, there was a clear distinction between those that liked her way of speech and behaviour, and those that disliked it.
Fortunately, the aftermath wasn’t too big, as it was a rough remark of a nameless superhuman cadet.
But thinking that there might be a problem, Yu Jitae gave a call to Team Leader Yong, of the PR team. It was because he judged that the PR team would have started taking actions if it was deemed negative to Lair’s image.
– No. It’s not that serious. It should die down after being mentioned for a few hours.
“Is that how it is?”
– Yes, but wow… Cadet Yeorum is like fire isn’t she?
The middle-aged woman giggled as if she was enjoying it.
– Actually, there had been a call from the education department.
“Did they say anything.”
– Well, they said this much was fine. There’s the fact that the reporters were a bit annoying. Ah, there were some people who liked Cadet Yeorum for her words being straightforward.
“It was a blunt remark, and yet they like it?”
– Fans of superhumans, who got a bad image after being disliked by reporters – well, people like that. These days, the reputation of reporters are just way too bad.
“I see.”
Team Leader Yong Dohee made a bitter smile.
According to her words, it wasn’t a big issue, nor was it an extremely negative situation. It was when Yu Jitae was about to end the call with a thanks.
– Ah, did you hear that by the way?
“Yes?”
– I heard that a personal fancafe for Yeorum was created.