Chapter 5: Assistant Day 2 (1)

The sound of quick steps.

“You don’t need to be so wary.”

The Nurse Teacher awkwardly scratched his chin, but I didn’t stop backing away.

Thud.

Ah. There was no more space to retreat.

“Calm down, Miss Haneul. I told you there’s no need to be so scared.”

I quickly looked around.

‘A place prepared just for me?’

And I mulled over what the teacher had just said.

‘What on earth does he mean?’

I’d tried so hard to avoid that man. We hadn’t even had a proper conversation yet…

Ah.

“You. You…!”

Only then did I realize.

The f*cking sense of unease I’d felt since before.

“You erased my memory?”

“Miss Haneul is indeed very sharp.”

The teacher chuckled softly.

“It’s surprising how perfectly you’re piecing this together. It must be mere imagination, yet you’ve grasped my abilities astonishingly well.”

Imagination?

Through the words he uttered, I inferred what had happened yesterday.

‘It seems I spilled all the information.’

Even the fact that I knew about his abilities through the novel.

I should have been more careful.

It was a relief that the teacher didn’t seem to believe it much, but still, irritation towards my past self surged.

But what was even more infuriating was the teacher smiling cunningly over there.

“Now, Miss Haneul. Have you finished organizing your thoughts?”

He slowly began to approach.

“Anyway, I’ll return your memories, so there’s no need to rack your brain so hard.”

“Don’t come near!”

I grabbed a nearby chair and threw it.

My strength and accuracy were terrible.

But it was enough to make him pause.

Tap, tap, tap.

I left him there and ran towards the back door.

I had to escape.

Rattle, rattle.

“D*mn it!”

Bang!

I slammed the locked door.

‘The front door was open, though?’

I subtly glanced in that direction.

The Nurse Teacher was blocking the way.

Grind.

“Hmm. Miss Haneul. How about we have a calm conversation?”

‘Should I break the window?’

It was against school rules, but was this the time to worry about such things?

I was in the same room as the Nurse Teacher.

And we were alone.

‘Yes. I’ll break it.’

Having made up my mind, I opened my mouth.

“…What conversation?”

“I just want to know more about you, Miss Haneul. Yesterday…”

I let the teacher babble on.

Instead of focusing on his words, I subtly rolled my eyes around, searching for something that could help me break the window.

Now that I looked closely, this wasn’t a typical classroom.

There were all sorts of strange pieces of equipment scattered around.

No matter how I looked at it, it was extremely suspicious.

‘No. First, I need to get out.’

It was incredibly suspicious, but I didn’t have the luxury to be distracted by such things right now.

‘That metal bar over there would be good.’

I didn’t know why it was there, but a crowbar of just the right size was lying on the floor.

‘That should be enough to break the window.’

It was light enough for a girl’s strength to wield.

And its position was quite close.

‘Should I just smash the teacher’s head instead?’

It was a very tempting option.

But I discarded that thought.

That man was none other than the novel’s final boss.

His physical abilities would be stronger than mine, at the very least.

He looked weak, with his scientist-like image, but I couldn’t gamble based solely on appearances.

If I struck his head and failed to knock him out in one hit, it would be a huge disaster.

And the possibility of missing the strike entirely couldn’t be ignored.

“So… Miss Haneul. Are you listening?”

Seizing the moment he tilted his head, I darted towards the crowbar.

Grab!

‘Good.’

Now I had a weapon in my hand.

Whoosh.

Fearing the teacher might have approached, as soon as I grabbed the crowbar, I swung it in a wide arc.

‘Huh?’

But the teacher hadn’t moved an inch from his original spot.

It was strange, but instead of hesitating, I chose to swing the crowbar.

Clang!

“You son of a b*tch…!”

The crowbar bounced off the window.

Since I had naturally put strength into it, expecting it to break, my wrist was strained.

‘Ugh.’

It stung so much my face wrinkled.

‘It’s a little swollen.’

I immediately used my ability to heal it.

Humming.

And I gripped the vibrating crowbar tightly with both hands.

“I told you this space was prepared for Miss Haneul, didn’t I? Of course, I’ve made all the preparations for escape prevention.”

There was a reason the teacher had been watching my actions so leisurely.

Despite hitting it with all my might, there wasn’t the slightest mark left on the window.

Clang! Clang!

“It’s useless, I told you.”

I took a proper stance and put my strength into it, but nothing changed.

Even swinging it with both hands and putting my full body weight into it, the most I could do was make a slight scratch.

A scratch so tiny you might mistake it for a strand of hair if you didn’t look closely.

“F*ck!”

It was a situation where curses couldn’t help but spill out.

It was making my suppressed true nature emerge.

How long had it been since I was this angry?

When I first realized I’d been reincarnated as a woman, and when I came in last place in the mid-term evaluation I’d prepared for by staying up for several nights.

It had truly been a long time since I’d lost control of my emotions to that extent.

“What do you want?! Why are you doing this to me?!”

“Hmm. You made a promise with me, Miss Haneul.”

As I gasped and shouted, the teacher replied.

“Promise, my *ss! It’s obvious you forced that promise!”

I had no memory of it, but I was certain.

The ‘promise’ that b*stard was talking about was definitely not made by mutual consent.

Because that was the method that teacher frequently used.

“Well, a promise is still a promise, isn’t it?”

Clench.

I wanted to smash that shameless face with the crowbar.

‘Hoo.’

But I held back.

As I thought before, my chances of winning weren’t high, and anyway, the bell would ring soon.

Although it was the first floor, where few people usually came and went, it was still break time, so there would be a few people passing by.

I would either scream or loudly bang on the wall with this crowbar to call for help.

Then a passerby who noticed something strange would bring more people, and I’d be able to get rid of that Nurse Teacher from the academy.

Completely getting rid of him was obviously impossible, but stripping him of his status as an academy teacher was entirely possible.

Because he had imprisoned and threatened a student, and a fragile female student at that.

‘I shouldn’t forget that he used some f*cking awful methods, too.’

Hypnosis and drugs.

These were more than enough evidence to turn someone into human trash.

“Hmm. Surely you’re not waiting for break time, are you?”

The teacher asked, watching me.

“Yes. If I just hold out a little longer, people will come. Why don’t you make a quick escape?”

“Pfft! Your certainty is quite cute. Do you really think people will come?”

His confident attitude made me a little uneasy.

Shake, shake.

‘No. I mustn’t waver.’

I couldn’t fall for his tricks.

I had to have faith in my plan.

“Well, alright. Do as you please.”

The teacher shrugged his shoulders and then sat down in a chair.

And then he observed me with interest.

…It’s creepy.

My body shivered.

– Ding-dong-dang-dong.

Finally.

The bell I had so desperately wished for rang.

With a boisterous sound, students began to come downstairs.

I could see the scene through the window.

“Help me!”

I sent out a rescue signal, almost a scream.

“Please, help me!”

Bang, bang!

“I said help me!”

Why.

Why are they just walking away?

They can hear me. They can hear my voice.

There’s only a thin window between me and them.

So why?

Why are they walking away, laughing like that?

Even though I’m desperately shouting right now.

‘I’ll make a hole.’

I’ll make a small hole for the sound to leak out.

Creak.

I wedged the crowbar into the door gap.

And then, like a lever, I twisted it with my body weight.

This was the crowbar’s proper use, after all.

But it was limited to making a gap too small for a hand to fit through, which was why I hadn’t tried it before.

Squeak.

But this small gap would provide me with a means to call for help.

“Help!”

I shouted into the gap, which had grown wide enough for wind to seep through.

The children chatted, giggling.

I shouted again.

The children continued their chatter.

Again, I shou—

Please. Just look this way.

Clank.

Due to overwhelming despair, my grip loosened.

“Have you finally realized that it’s all futile?”

It was truly awful, but I had no choice but to admit he was right.

I didn’t know what method he’d used, but it was impossible to send a signal out of this space.

I could hear the students chatting outside and the bell ringing in the school hallway.

But the sounds I made here didn’t leak outside.

No matter how much I screamed, pounded on the wall, or slammed the door.

It was all meaningless.

“Then, I suppose we can have a smooth conversation now.”

“…No.”

I picked up the crowbar that had fallen to the floor again.

Now there was only one method left.

“I’m going to knock out you, who’s blocking the door, and then I’ll leave.”

The crowbar, its tip chipped despite only a short time passing, due to how roughly I’d handled it.

Wielding that sharp metal bar, I declared.

That I would defeat him.