11 Virtues A Hero's Civilian Friend Must Uphold - Chapter 50

Although it’s usually a short part-time job late in the evening, during exam periods, the working hours increased a bit.

College students, middle and high school students all feel stressed during exam periods, and sadly, this applies to academy instructors as well.

Na Eun, who had to come in on Sunday to supervise students’ self-study, was reluctantly dragged to a restaurant near the academy due to the manager’s semi-forced urging to treat the instructors to lunch as an apology.

In the past, she would have welcomed a free meal, but with someone she never wanted to see again sitting right next to her, it didn’t seem like the food would go down properly.

Three or four teachers, two counseling office staff, and assistant instructors including Na Eun started eating at a long table in one corner of the restaurant. It looked just like a company dinner.

“I’m sorry for treating you to such a cheap meal today. When the exam period is over, let’s have a real expensive company dinner.”

The manager smiled, addressing everyone with kind words.

The instructors and staff were already used to working weekends during exam periods, so everyone just accepted it.

The restaurant they gathered at today was a famous place near the academy with various menu options, so everyone was satisfied with the venue choice.

They roughly decided on the menu and the food came out. Na Eun resolved to focus on eating her meal, trying her best not to pay attention to the person sitting next to her.

Normally, she would have chatted with the manager or other teachers sitting across from her, but today she really didn’t want to.

As she was diligently eating her rice while trying hard to ignore Jae Kyung next to her, unfortunately, the manager, seemingly feeling that the two weren’t close enough to be included in the conversation, kept trying to engage them.

“How old did you say you were, Teacher Jae Kyung?”

“Twenty-eight.”

“Oh my, so young. Then is there a five-year age difference with Teacher Na Eun?”

Na Eun, who learned Han Jae Kyung’s age that she hadn’t been curious about at all, just gave an awkward smile to the manager who kept trying to include her in the conversation.

It was likely that even this age was a lie, since he was probably still living a fake life. After all, he was a person far removed from the truth to begin with.

“Teacher Na Eun, you said you don’t have a boyfriend, right?”

Why do I keep getting asked this question these days? She nodded with just her eyes smiling as she put rice in her mouth.

Then the manager, not hiding that she found it a bit amusing, pointed at Jae Kyung and asked Na Eun:

“What do you think of Teacher Jae Kyung? Isn’t he handsome?”

“…”

Manager, why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong?

Suppressing the urge to ask such questions, Na Eun gave the most textbook answer to this situation in a robotic tone.

“Haha. He is handsome.”

As an assistant instructor, whose role was literally to assist the instructors assigned to the academy, and because this was the only possible answer when asked such a question at work, she had no choice.

But the manager seemed oblivious in this regard and just kept laughing and saying whatever she wanted.

“These days I’m glad our math single-subject students are increasing because of Teacher Jae Kyung. Did you know there’s practically a fan club among the second-year high school girls now?”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

When Jae Kyung responded with a kind smile and modesty, even that seemed to be viewed favorably by those around.

The head of administration sitting next to the manager suddenly put down her spoon and joined the conversation with interest.

“Teacher Jae Kyung, what do you think of our Na Eun? Isn’t she pretty?”

“…Head of administration?”

Na Eun gritted her teeth and tried to signal ‘Please don’t do this’ with her eyes, but the head of administration pretended not to notice.

If asked to name the people she was closest to personally at the academy, it would be the manager and head of administration sitting across from her.

In non-official settings, they would call her by name without the ‘teacher’ title and often looked after Na Eun like older sisters despite the big age difference.

After coincidentally learning that her family’s financial situation had suddenly become difficult and she had to earn all her living expenses on her own, they tended to be even more caring towards Na Eun.

While gestures like giving her vacation pay usually only given to formal instructors or supporting meal expenses were welcome, these current ones were really not appreciated.

Jae Kyung skillfully deflected their attention even amidst the somewhat meddlesome chatter and interference.

“I’m sure she’s already heard plenty about being pretty from others, so if I add to it, won’t Teacher Na Eun get tired of it?”

Oh my, oh my. Look at how he talks. The manager exclaimed, covering her mouth in admiration.

She seemed to have suddenly taken a liking to Jae Kyung in a purely good-natured way.

Na Eun wanted to desperately warn the manager not to fall for that devil anymore.

As someone who had lost a lot and shed tears of blood after being deceived by that fake kindness and manners, she prayed there would be no more victims like herself.

But unaware of her desperate inner thoughts, the head of administration added fuel to the already burning topic.

“I’ll pretend not to see even if you two start having a thing. You look good together.”

“Sis… Head of administration, you’re making Teacher Jae Kyung uncomfortable.”

Na Eun almost slipped and used the ‘sister’ title she used outside the academy, but quickly corrected herself and tried to stop her.

“Why, Teacher Jae Kyung doesn’t have a girlfriend. And didn’t you say your goal was to get a boyfriend by the end of this year? There’s less than three months left, right? You know that?”

The head of administration winked at her teasingly, and feeling Jae Kyung’s gaze turn towards her at those words, Na Eun gritted her teeth.

At the same time, Jae Kyung, looking down at her from beside, let out a very small chuckle.

Na Eun felt like she just wanted to throw away the meal and storm out of the restaurant in embarrassment and anger.

Oblivious to her feelings, the head of administration and manager grinned at each other, seemingly feeling some unnecessary sense of achievement.

It seemed they had been making such pointless plans about how to set up Jae Kyung, who had started working recently as far as she knew, with Na Eun.

Of course, about a month ago, Na Eun herself had shown her firm resolve in front of them, saying she was really going to get a boyfriend now and even had a blind date set up, but she really didn’t expect the aftermath of her actions to come back like this.

I just need to eat. We’re all doing this to make a living.

Although the meal had already lost its taste, she needed energy to stay late this evening for exam grading.

As she tried hard to just swallow the food down her throat pretending nothing was wrong, the manager sitting across from her gave another unnecessary bit of attention.

“Teacher Na Eun is doing this again. I told you to speak up if you find it bothersome to debone the fish.”

Among the side dishes, there was one grilled fish per person.

Na Eun, who was weak to fishy smells, didn’t even want to look at it and left it untouched, but the much older manager seemed to have understood it as her not eating because she found deboning the fish bothersome.

Last time too, the manager had carefully removed all the bones and given it to her, and unable to ignore that thoughtfulness, she had forced herself to eat it, and it seemed she would have to do so again this time.

Na Eun looked at the fish meat that the manager had carefully deboned and placed on her plate with troubled eyes.

Still, she felt it would be impolite not to even touch it when they had thoughtfully prepared it for her to eat.

With the manager and head of administration in front of her already having changed the topic and chatting about academy administrative work, Na Eun alternately looked at her half-empty rice bowl and the plate full of fish meat.

How could she eat it so it would go down her throat easily?

As she was pondering this, someone’s hand quietly picked up her plate from the right.

“…”

While the manager and head of administration were engrossed in serious conversation and not looking, Jae Kyung calmly moved the mackerel meat from Na Eun’s plate to his own and returned the plate to its original position.

In an instant, only Jae Kyung’s portion of fish increased, and the disliked side dish that had been piled up like a mental burden on Na Eun’s plate suddenly disappeared.

Jae Kyung resumed eating as if nothing had happened, and Na Eun stared blankly at his side profile.

Come to think of it, the only person at this table who knew she couldn’t eat fishy-smelling fish was Han Jae Kyung.

Though she just wanted to work due to her complicated feelings, the surrounding situation wouldn’t let her have her way.

Following the manager’s insistence that coffee was a must after a meal, about ten people moved to the cafe right next door.

“Since you treated us to a delicious meal, I’ll buy the coffee,” Jae Kyung said with a smile, and the manager accepted the offer without hesitation, saying she’d gratefully enjoy it.

The people huddled together outside the bustling cafe to order looked like sad office workers who had gathered due to a lack of caffeine from working even on weekends.

Na Eun, who didn’t want to be among those thanking Jae Kyung and saying they’d enjoy the coffee, was hanging back when the head of administration suddenly linked arms with her and pressed close, making her look up.

The head of administration put her mouth right up to Na Eun’s ear as if telling a secret and whispered in a voice so low no one else could hear.

“Na Eun, do you know why our manager didn’t stop Teacher Jae Kyung when he said he’d pay?”

The manager usually tried to make sure the instructors didn’t spend money on weekends.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t like the manager to suggest getting coffee herself and then let someone else treat.

Na Eun looked up questioningly at why, and the head of administration whispered even more quietly.

“You know all our high school instructors are on a percentage-based pay, right?”

The percentage-based system meant not receiving a fixed monthly salary, but getting a certain portion of the tuition fees paid by their students as pay.

It was a system where the more students one had, the more money they made, and she had heard popular instructors could earn unimaginably high incomes per month.

As someone who wasn’t even a formal instructor but working part-time as an assistant instructor, it was a different world to Na Eun and not really of interest.

The head of administration covered her mouth with her hand and said to Na Eun in a very small voice:

“Teacher Jae Kyung hit the top in our high school division within a month of coming to our academy.”

That meant he had the most individual students.

Recalling how the kids had been clamoring about taking his math class, it wasn’t that surprising.

“He’s probably the highest earner here now. Maybe second only to the director?”

Na Eun just blinked, not understanding why this needed to be said so secretly.

The head of administration poked her side as if frustrated.

“So try your best with him! He’s so handsome, earns well, and there’s not much age difference! He even has a good personality.”

What’s lacking? The head of administration was making a fuss as if she’d found the perfect son-in-law for her daughter.

Na Eun, who had been looking up at her with a brief moment of disdain, said:

“Head of administration, you shouldn’t judge a man carelessly based on just looks, money, or personality.”

“Oh my, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my forty years. If you don’t judge a man by his money, looks, and personality, what on earth are you supposed to judge him by?”

The head of administration counted on her fingers with an incredulous expression, and Na Eun immediately answered:

“His sense of justice.”

“His sense of what?”

Na Eun just smiled in response to the head of administration, who was genuinely confused and checking if she’d heard correctly.

It was obvious that further conversation would lead nowhere.

Meanwhile, thankfully, the manager who had been standing in front came over and spoke, ending this meaningless argument.

“Everyone’s finished ordering, right? When the coffee comes out, just take your own~ Make sure to tell Teacher Jae Kyung you’ll enjoy it.”

“Oh, I didn’t order yet.”

“What? Teacher Na Eun didn’t order?”

Na Eun blinked with a blank expression, and the head of administration, still linking arms with her, asked in surprise.

It seemed she had missed the timing to order while whispering with the head of administration.

However, hearing Na Eun’s words, the manager tilted her head and spoke:

“But Teacher Na Eun’s order was placed too?”

I never said anything. As Na Eun responded in confusion, the manager said:

“A hot vanilla latte. With just a little syrup. Isn’t that right?”

The manager asked if that wasn’t what Teacher Jae Kyung had ordered earlier, but Na Eun said nothing in response.

At the same time, she looked at Jae Kyung standing a little ways ahead.

With his back turned, he was already holding his own coffee and chatting with other instructors with a smile.

“…That’s right.”

“Oh. Then the order was correct.”

Unlike the manager and head of administration who laughed it off as fortunate, Na Eun couldn’t brush it off lightly.

She bit her lip, feeling somewhat complicated.