LRF 04

Chapter 4

The hallway was eerily quiet.

Jiho took out her phone, which she had carefully tucked into her pocket, and checked the time.

8:35 AM. According to the school schedule Yerim the fairy had given her, it was still morning self-study time.

About five minutes remained until self-study ended. After that, a short morning assembly would follow, then a break, and then first period.

Fortunately, she could make it to the morning assembly.

Come to think of it, I never even thanked her for saving me.

Regardless, the fact that she had made it safely was entirely thanks to Cheon Haerang.

His sudden appearance had thrown her off completely. Jiho decided to offer her thanks, even if it was a little late.

She briefly considered using formal speech, but since he was just Cheon Haerang at this school, she decided to speak casually.

Jiho glanced sideways at Haerang walking beside her.

He was unbelievably, impossibly good-looking. Just looking at him, time seemed to fly by.

Ever since she’d come down to the human realm, her eyes had been sore. That had never happened in the heavenly realm. Walking the streets of the human world, there was nowhere to look.

So she’d purified her eyes by watching the people on the screen Yerim the fairy showed her. But for today, at least, it didn’t seem necessary.

“You don’t have to sneak glances, Jiho. You can just look openly.”

“…I wasn’t looking.”

Jiho flinched and quickly denied it. Haerang let out a small laugh.

“Right, sure. Let’s go with that.”

“I’m serious.”

“Okay.”

“I’m telling you, I wasn’t looking at you.”

“Got it.”

Jiho denied it strongly, but Haerang clearly didn’t believe her.

She wasn’t exactly upset, but somehow, she felt a bit frustrated.

The Yeonhwa in her memories hadn’t been like that. It seemed like the human realm had rubbed off on him badly.

The gratitude she’d felt completely vanished. Jiho turned her head sharply and walked on, looking only ahead. Haerang watched her with a smile hanging on his lips.

Honestly, he hadn’t meant to tease her like that. But Jiho was just too cute. If he had his way, he’d lock her up somewhere and keep her all to himself.

If Jiho ever found out about this dark side of his heart, she might run away. Of course, he had no intention of showing it to her yet.

The future… well, who knows.

Haerang suppressed his racing heart and stopped walking. He wanted to walk with Jiho a little longer, but they were already in front of the teachers’ office.

Jiho, stopping alongside Haerang, looked up at the sign. The words “Sophomore Teachers’ Office” were clearly written.

Jiho stared at the firmly closed door of the teachers’ office. She felt an oddly uneasy feeling.

She dismissed it, telling herself she was just on edge because of what had happened earlier.

Haerang knocked carefully on the door.

Knock, knock. The sound echoed in the quiet hallway. Then Haerang slid the door open.

At the same moment, a clear sound spread through the corridor.

♩ ♪ ♬ ♪

It was the school bell. Morning self-study was over.

“Good morning, teachers.”

“Oh, isn’t it Haerang? What brings you here?”

Someone greeted Haerang warmly.

As Haerang opened the teachers’ office door, Jiho, who had been hiding behind him, cautiously peeked her head out over his shoulder.

Inside, the teachers were all standing, about to head to their homerooms for the morning assembly.

The teachers’ attention naturally focused on Haerang and Jiho.

Jiho’s eyes met one of the teachers. A man with a tall, handsome build, rare even in the heavenly realm.

Jiho quickly read the nameplate on his desk partition.

Class 2-4. Math. Kim Jeonghyeon.

“We have a transfer student in our class today. I ran into her, so I brought her along.”

“Is that the one hiding behind you?”

Startled by his words, Jiho quickly stepped forward and bowed at a perfect 90-degree angle.

“Hello. My name is Ryu Jiho, and I’m transferring to Seonhwa High School starting today.”

For a moment, silence fell over the teachers’ office. Then, light laughter burst out here and there.

“Wow, very polite. Jeonghyeon teacher must be happy.”

“Ah, I wish my class only had kids like this.”

Saying this, the teachers filed out of the office one by one. Some even patted Jiho’s head affectionately as they passed.

“So, you’re Jiho. Nice to meet you.”

A gentle voice sounded above her head. Jiho straightened up and confirmed her homeroom teacher’s identity.

It was Kim Jeonghyeon, the math teacher for class 2-4.

Looking at the kindly smiling teacher, Jiho felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

What is this? It’s strange…

Maybe it was the lingering effect of meeting that man earlier.

Ignoring the feeling of her hair standing on end, as if she were surrounded by thick negative energy, Jiho greeted Jeonghyeon politely.

She didn’t bow all the way to her waist this time, but she gave a respectful nod.

“Hello, Teacher.”

“Hello. Was the trip to school hard, Jiho?”

“No, it was fine.”

The trip to school hadn’t been hard. Fairy Yerim had brought her in an expensive car.

It was what happened after arriving at school that was the problem.

Something very big had occurred, but there was no need to tell a human teacher about that.

“Our Jiho is in class 4 with Haerang. Now, come with me. Haerang, you worked hard.”

His voice was calm and gentle. Jiho followed behind Jeonghyeon alongside Haerang, watching him.

It wasn’t intentional, but she found herself studying Jeonghyeon from various angles.

His looks were excellent, he was tall, had broad shoulders, and long legs.

He had a nice voice and a respectable job as a teacher. By all accounts, he was a man who had everything.

He must be popular.

Of course, if we’re talking about popularity, Haerang was probably no slouch either.

Maybe Haerang was even more popular among students than an unapproachable adult man like a teacher.

She’d told herself not to. But Jiho found herself stealing another glance at Haerang.

Unlike the bright, smiling face he’d shown her earlier, his face was now expressionless.

With that blank look, he gave off a somewhat cool, distant vibe.

It was a dignity befitting a prince. Someone in a position of authority needed that kind of presence.

Aside from running away and being disobedient, he’s a very well-raised prince. Jiho clicked her tongue inwardly but felt a sense of pride nonetheless.

Soon, they arrived at class 2-4. Through the windows, she could hear the boisterous voices of students chattering.

Squeak. As Jeonghyeon opened the door and entered, the noise died down.

Haerang, following behind Jeonghyeon into the classroom, sat down in his seat with practiced ease, unfazed by the students’ staring eyes.

Jiho hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the classroom. Curious eyes immediately latched onto her.

Standing at the lectern, Jeonghyeon spoke to the class.

“Alright, everyone studied hard during morning self-study, right?”

“Yes!”

The students answered energetically. Jeonghyeon raised the corners of his mouth in satisfaction and continued.

“I have good news for you today. We have a transfer student joining our class.”

Jackpot! It’s her! Whoa, she’s freaking pretty.

The students’ rather unfiltered comments pierced Jiho’s ears.

Just standing in front of so many people was hard enough. Jiho wanted to hide somewhere.

“Well then, Jiho. Shall we introduce you to everyone?”

“…Yes.”

Jiho steadied herself, forcing her pounding heart to calm down.

Before speaking, she scanned the class once.

These were faces she would see for the first and last time, so there was no need to memorize them.

Among the unfamiliar faces, she saw Haerang, smiling warmly.

It was strange. Maybe it was because she saw a familiar face? Jiho felt her mind gradually settling.

Jiho greeted the students. Fortunately, her voice didn’t tremble.

“…Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you. My name is Ryu Jiho. Please take care of me.”

“Alright, everyone, give her a round of applause.”

Clap, clap! Following the homeroom teacher’s cue, the students obediently applauded.

The overly enthusiastic welcome made Jiho’s ears burn.

Jeonghyeon looked around the room and then spoke to Jiho.

“Perfect. Jiho, you can sit next to Haerang. It just so happens that Haerang is also our class president. If you have any questions, just ask him.”

“Okay…”

…Was this really a coincidence? How could the seat next to Cheon Haerang be empty exactly at this moment? Was it empty from the beginning?

Heading to the seat Jeonghyeon had pointed out, Jiho felt a strange sensation. How to describe it? The closer she got to her seat, the more she felt like she was falling into a trap…

…It’s probably just my imagination.

“It’s really perfect, isn’t it, Jiho?”

Jiho, who had been sitting down and organizing her bag, looked up at Haerang’s face as he smiled and spoke to her.

It was a pretty smile, but Jiho didn’t find it very pleasant.

He seems to think I’ll be continuing school life here. A huge miscalculation.

Then, suddenly, Jiho felt that the surroundings had become too quiet. She subtly shifted her gaze to the area around Haerang.

A significant number of the students’ gazes were fixed on her and Haerang. More precisely, on Haerang.