TRPM 348

chapter 348

“Hmm? Why are you suddenly—”

“Hey, bow your head too!”

“Wha—?!”

The woman grabbed the man’s head, who hadn’t yet realized who I was, and forced him to bow.

‘Well, that’s a natural reaction.’

To them, I must be something they dare not look up at.

Even Song Eunji, the guild master of Cleaner Guild, always watches my mood carefully so as not to provoke me.

So, for these two—who don’t even seem like guild executives but just ordinary awakened ones—to bow their heads before me, in a way, is only natural.

‘I’m not particularly authoritarian by nature, but…’

Still, I didn’t stop their excessive display.

Normally, the proper thing in such a situation would be to tell them not to be so formal, but in my case, I can’t say such things lightly either.

And that’s not even my personal opinion—Iron Blood Guild, which manages my public image, told me so.

They said if someone in my position told a subordinate to speak casually, that person might mistakenly think I was fond of them.

‘Unless I’m truly close to someone, I’m not supposed to even leave them the room to speak comfortably with me.’

For that reason, even as the two of them bowed their heads, I gave no particular response.

“… Ah, right, we still need to check out.”

When the room fell into a brief silence, Teacher Son Ji-hye spoke up to lighten the atmosphere.

“Oh, yes. I’ll assist you with the check-out right away.”

At that, even the hotel staff—who had frozen up at the sight of the two bowed awakened ones—snapped back into action.

“Ah, so you were here on a business trip to clear the dungeon nearby?”

“Yeah. We finished earlier than expected, and since there was a festival going on, we decided to stay an extra day.”

Son Ji-hye listened to the two as she sipped her coffee in the café.

For reference, Ha-eun and Geon-woo had vanished somewhere.

Clearly, they knew the conversation wouldn’t go smoothly with them around, so they left—

‘…Or more likely, Ha-eun just wanted to go on a date with Geon-woo.’

In truth, Ji-hye didn’t really need to spend all her time here with these two anyway.

She was a little surprised to bump into them while coming for the festival, but the three could have met up anytime if they wanted.

Cleaner Guild wasn’t particularly busy most of the time, and Ji-hye herself could visit whenever she wasn’t working at school.

‘Still, it does feel fresh to see them face to face again after only talking over the phone or by message for so long.’

So, while things turned out this way, Ji-hye decided to enjoy some time with her friends.

“Wow… it’s been so long since the three of us sat down to eat together like this.”

“Right? Back when you were in the guild, every time we went on trips we’d conquer all the famous restaurants in the area.”

“And if there was a male waiter, we always got free service—and your plate always came with a phone number attached.”

“Hehehe… even when other women were around, the number always ended up on your plate, Ji-hye.”

Ji-hye hadn’t been in Cleaner Guild for very long.

It wasn’t that her growth was particularly slow, but the two people now sitting before her had grown far faster.

Seeing them advance so quickly made her lose confidence, and eventually, she gave up the path of being a dungeon-raiding awakened.

Which is probably why—

‘I have no sense of just how high their level is now.’

Ji-hye tasted the bitterness of her coffee.

“By the way, Ji-hye.”

“Yeah?”

“You were with the Artist earlier… does that mean the Artist is your student?”

“That’s right.”

She’d been waiting for that question.

Of course these two would be curious about the Artist—Han Geon-woo.

Even though Lee Ha-eun was a Great Mage, her fame still didn’t measure up to Geon-woo’s, so they must not have recognized her.

“Wow… normally, awakened from Cleaner Guild outshine teachers, but looks like you’ve got us beat.”

“Seriously. The teacher of the world’s strongest man…”

“…Yeah, that’s what everyone thinks.”

Ji-hye said that aloud but added privately:

‘And in truth, being the homeroom teacher to my class is far more advantageous than building connections with most awakened.’

Not just Han Geon-woo, the strongest in the world, but also Great Mage Lee Ha-eun, British royalty Elena and Elliot, heirs from prominent families like Kang Ga-ram and Jin Cheon-ha, alchemist Kim Eun-yeon, and the well-known projection twins Ryu A-min and Ryu A-young.

Every one of them was extraordinary.

Only Lee Doo-min seemed ordinary compared to the rest, but even he had the skills to graduate from the Academy already.

Plenty of people would feel pressure, but still desperately want to be their teacher.

‘There wasn’t anyone at school with guts enough to handle those kids, so it ended up falling on me.’

While she was thinking this, her friends started asking more questions.

“How’s the Artist at school? Does he skip classes because he’s the strongest in the world?”

“No, not really. He doesn’t seem particularly focused, but he does attend and participate like a regular student.”

“What… then that rumor’s true? That the Artist’s never once missed a perfect score?”

“Well, he’s only a first-year, so there haven’t been many high school exams yet—but yes, he’s gotten a perfect score on all of them.”

Ji-hye answered sincerely where she could, but carefully avoided questions that might damage Geon-woo’s image.

For example—

“He’s not a robot… but don’t you think the Artist’s a little too perfect?”

This kind of question.

Why would it harm Geon-woo’s image? Because—

‘Geon-woo does have his human side.’

Like forgetting things he’s stored in subspace, or secretly snapping embarrassing photos of his classmates to tease them.

If she shared things like that, it might undermine the cold, ruthless image of the Artist who mercilessly judges criminals.

‘And with that weird game circulating lately, some people already have a negative perception of him… I can’t add fuel to that.’

Sure, most people would probably find those habits endearing, but Ji-hye decided it was safer to keep them quiet.

After all, there are plenty of people who only believe what they want to believe.

She knew her two friends weren’t like that, but better to be cautious.

And so, while she sidestepped the delicate topics—

Bzzz…

Bzzz…

Both of her friends’ phones vibrated at once.

If it had been just one, it might’ve been nothing. But both, at the same time?

“Work?”

“Looks like it.”

Must be a message from the upper ranks of Cleaner Guild.

They checked their phones and frowned.

Seeing their expressions, Ji-hye asked:

“Busy? It wasn’t like this back when I was in the guild.”

Cleaner Guild’s master, Song Eun-ji, was notoriously lazy, preferring to sleep whenever possible.

Maybe because of that, the whole guild had a pretty relaxed atmosphere, and work rarely piled up.

Ironically, they still managed to raid more dungeons than anyone.

‘But if they’re giving orders to those two fresh off a dungeon raid, things must be hectic now.’

Well, since Taeguk Guild—once Korea’s number one—was gone, it made sense that Cleaner Guild would be busy filling the void—

“Nope, the guild leader just wants us to buy some combat rations on the way back. She’s curious what the ones sold here taste like.”

“The Artist bought a hundred servings of those? What the hell was that about?”

“……”

Guess not that busy after all.

But wait—the Artist bought a hundred servings?

‘Ah, didn’t Geon-woo and Ha-eun slip out before dinner yesterday?’

Ha-eun had looked oddly full afterwards.

They must’ve bought them then.

That made sense to Ji-hye.

“Anyway, we should get going. If we want to catch our train, we need to buy the rations now and head straight to the station.”

“Yeah. What about you, Ji-hye?”

Ji-hye revealed her plan for the day.

“I’m going to the Butterfly Festival with my students.”

They’d also be collecting stream water on the way, but she left that part out.

“…Butterfly Festival? Oh, that place?”

“Mmhm…”

Her friends’ expressions turned strange at the mention.

“…What?”

Sensing something off, Ji-hye asked.

“Just… be careful. There’ll be some upperclassmen there.”

“The same guys who all confessed to you at once and demanded you pick one of them.”

“Ah…”

Ji-hye immediately understood why her friends reacted that way.

“If they haven’t given up yet, they’ll definitely pester you again.”

“…Wait. Do they still not know I’m a guy?”

“Probably not? We never told them.”

“Unless you said it yourself, how would they know?”

At that, Ji-hye muttered in disbelief.

“No way… they still don’t know…?”

“Maybe some do, but like us, they probably find it entertaining to keep quiet.”

“……”

Ji-hye couldn’t exactly deny that.

After all, even Geon-woo knew she was male, yet hadn’t told anyone but Ha-eun—just because he wanted to see how people would react when they eventually found out.

And Ji-hye herself had chosen to keep it hidden for similar reasons.

“Anyway, good luck.”

“Being popular’s tough, huh?”

“……”

While Ji-hye stayed silent, lost in thought, her two friends got up from their seats.

She nodded slightly in farewell and remained sitting.

“…Teacher? Where are the others?”

Until Ha-eun and Geon-woo came to find her.

It hadn’t even been ten minutes.

“Oh, they had to catch a train, so they left first.”

“Really? Then we should get going too.”

Ha-eun said this, and Ji-hye nodded, tossing her empty cup.

Geon-woo, watching her closely, asked:

“Teacher, is something wrong? You don’t look well.”

At his words, Ji-hye gave a bitter smile and decided to answer honestly.