Side Story 3. Free flight (6)

Soram and Tae-un scattered in opposite directions. Tae-un, avoiding crowded areas, retrieved the sword lying under the driver's seat of his car and hurriedly returned.

Soram was tapping his pager right below the rift occurrence site.

"This is Team 7 Chief Jin Soram. A rift has just opened at my current location. Since it's the festival day and students are crowding, I'll just resolve it right away. Yes, yes."

After finishing his report, which was closer to a notification, Soram raised his head and gestured with his eyes, asking if Tae-un had arrived.

"Han Tae-un, how long will it take to deal with that?"

"I think I'll need about 5 minutes."

"Huh? What did you say? What's taking so long to break a rift that size?"

"..."

"If you break rifts that slowly, you'll have tons of photos taken! Is that how I taught you! The chief is disappointed!"

Tae-un, who often received unfair scolding for the crime of having the strongest lover, vowed to squeeze in more training time.

"...I'll try to finish as quickly as possible."

Though it was a less populated corner, they didn't expect the process of them breaking the rift to go unnoticed by everyone. The rift was already growing larger than before, so it wasn't the time to worry about such things.

"I'll be back."

"Okay."

Tae-un flew up with a white light and swung his sword down towards the rift.

Crack!

A harsh sound was heard, and a few passing students turned in that direction. A small murmur had already started. He pulled out his sword and immediately struck the rift again.

Thinking about why his movements felt somewhat awkward, he realized there were no jacket tails fluttering at his waist with each intense movement. It was because he was in casual clothes. Though the T-shirt and cotton pants were comfortable in their own way, they were no match for the combat uniform he had grown accustomed to over the years.

But he soon refocused and raised his sword again. The commotion from below grew louder. He needed to deal with this before more people gathered. Moreover, as Soram had warned, there were even people filming...

"..."

"..."

The closest camera to Tae-un, who was standing with his sword raised before the rift, was the phone lens that Soram had suddenly flown over and thrust close.

"Jin Soram, what are you doing?"

"I told you there would be tons of photos taken."

"..."

"I'll use it as class material later. Hunter Han Tae-un, it's a crisis. The rift is not easy to handle. What will you do now!"

"You're even taking a video?"

"Ah, I said it's for class material. Answer quickly."

"...I'll have to keep destroying it. With my sword."

"I see. You must be very upset that a rift opened during the school festival."

"That's why I'm trying to remove it quickly. Though it will take 5 minutes due to my lack of skill."

"Wow, you're holding it in again. What do you think about acting petty despite being eight years older than the freshmen?"

"I can't help it when someone with eight more years of experience than me keeps picking on me."

Even while bickering, Tae-un diligently struck the rift with his sword. As time passed, the commotion grew louder. Still, this conversation in the air would only be heard by the two of them and the small camera in Soram's hand.

Soram, who had been chirping teasingly while circling around Tae-un, pointed to a certain spot on the rift.

"Han Tae-un, I think you should hit here."

"Ah."

Though he was fluttering about lightly, the point he indicated was accurate. Tae-un, who was about to turn to look at Soram, found the camera less than a hand's width from his cheek instead of Soram's face.

"...Step back. I'm going to strike hard once."

"Kyaa! I'm scared!"

As Soram exaggeratedly stepped aside, the people gathered below also backed away hesitantly, wondering what was happening. Thanks to this, Tae-un could swing his sword more comfortably and plunge it into the rift.

Crack!!

The rift vibrated greatly. Tae-un gripped his sword with both hands and swung it wide, thrusting it into that point once more.

Crunch, crunch...!

The black gap disappeared without much resistance. Tae-un, who had poured out his attacks, lowered his sword while catching his breath. Soon, he approached Soram, who was still filming him with a bright smile, and covered the lens with his palm.

"Stop filming."

"Whyyy."

"Let's go before we attract more attention."

"It's already too late for that."

Somehow... it felt strangely quiet even though the number of people around had increased.

It was because passersby, students soliciting at booths, corporate promotion trucks, and even the performance venue had temporarily stopped their music, and everyone from all directions was looking at the two people floating in the sky.

A moment later, cheers and applause erupted. Amidst the loud noise, Tae-un awkwardly tried to greet them. However, Soram, who had approached from behind, was quicker to grab his wrist, lift it high, and wave it vigorously.

"It's a festival after all."

Though he had no idea what that had to do with anything, Tae-un felt it didn't matter as long as Soram was excited, so he accepted it moderately.

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<K University Everyday>

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Title: Got my full tuition's worth

Saw a rift destruction air show right before my eyes, so I have no regrets even if I get academic probation

ᄂ The OP's excuse to rationalize their academic probation ᄂᄂ

ᄂᄂᄉᄇ I've been caught, but hear me out

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Title: Does the law department see Han Tae-un often????

Jin Soram is a lecturer and Han Tae-un is a student

But somehow there seem to be many more sightings of Jin Soram

└I'm a 1st year law student! He comes to all the classes! There's a legend that he never leaves the law building because he takes back-to-back classes

ᄂᄂOh, I'm jealous ᅮᅮ I want to see Han Tae-un's shoulders and back up close too ᅲᅲ

└But he seems conscious of blocking the blackboard, so he always sits in the back by the window... I can't sneak peeks ᅲᅲ

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Title: How's Jin ᄉᄅ's teaching ability?

Curious if they just invited a celebrity as a lecturer

└It's fun. His delivery is good, and when he occasionally talks about his own experiences, you get completely absorbed ᄏᄏᄏ

ᄂᄂOh~~... Maybe I'll try to sign up next semester

└It's the worst please don't take it-- Don't come I'm writing this for public good Don't anyone sign up I'm already certain to get an F It's better to go to a PC bang than attend the lecture Absolutely don't take it

ᄂᄂ?? What's this? I'm in the afternoon class and it's not that bad...;;

└└You're trying to get an F on purpose to retake it next semester, aren't you

ᄂᄂᄂShut up please ᅲᅲ

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Title: Going for 3 Sorams in 1 day today ^~^

Once during arm wrestling at the law department booth

Twice when breaking the rift

And soon the afternoon lecture will be the third time

Soram, they say the third time is fate...❤

└Lecturer, I reported them on your behalf

┗Ah, so there's a class today Can I audit the afternoon lecture by any chance ᅲᅲ

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***

Though dealing with the rift was brief, the reporting process took time. As a result, the free time disappeared, and it was already time for the next class.

Originally, Soram was only assigned the previous class, but this class was added due to the flood of additional course registration requests. It was scheduled as a back-to-back class on the same day in consideration of Soram, who couldn't stay at the school for long. Since it was just a one-hour, 1-credit liberal arts lecture anyway, teaching twice wasn't much of a burden.

Tae-un followed behind Soram as he moved towards the lecture hall.

"Han Tae-un, are you coming to class too?"

"Yeah. I can't go to the library now anyway."

"I'm just going to say 'It's the festival, so everyone skip class and have fun' and come out."

"Okay, then let's play some more and go home."

As they were walking side by side towards the auditorium, Tae-un suddenly stopped and answered an incoming call.

"This is Han Tae-un."

Who is it? When Soram asked, Tae-un mouthed 'Academic Affairs Office' in response.

"Ah, the lecture. Yes. I understand. I'll ask right away since he's right next to me."

Tae-un looked at Soram after hanging up. A wry smile was mixed in his short sigh.

Soram entered the lecture hall and looked around the front of the podium with his hands on his hips. The corners of his mouth were stretched into a straight line with only the ends slightly raised.

Even though he had been teaching for two months, while he couldn't remember everyone's names, he had become somewhat familiar with the students' faces. Therefore, the current situation was strange. There was no way there could be this many unfamiliar people in the classroom.

Decisively, there were twice as many people sitting in the lecture hall as listed on the attendance sheet. Since it was the festival, people had come to audit the class to see the rare sight of a hunter. The commotion that arose with the rift occurrence probably contributed to this as well.

"I did receive a message. They said since it's the festival day, outsiders and alumni want to join in too."

Soram placed his hands, which had been on his hips, on the podium.

"What should we do? I ended the previous class early so you could enjoy the festival. So I was planning to do the same for this class."

"No, a student's duty is to study!"

"Just teach the class, please!"

Disappointed voices burst out from here and there.

"We need to keep up with the curriculum, so that's not possible. ...Hmm, then shall we take a few questions? You all came to see a hunter rather than for the class, right? Or you can ask the teaching assistant."

Soram pointed to Tae-un, who was below the podium.

"Anyone have questions?"

After a moment of glancing around as if checking each other's reactions, hands started to shoot up one by one.

"I'm curious how you came to lecture at the school!"

"To be honest, I wanted to experience school with a friend. Being a lecturer was the best way to do that. But I didn't just come recklessly. I know the subject I'm teaching better than anyone else in Korea."

"Can't you show us your ability just once!"

"I'm sorry. In principle, I'll get in trouble if I use it when it's not an emergency situation."

Soram scratched his forehead for a moment, then picked up a piece of paper that was on the podium.

"But since it's the festival, I guess they'll let this much slide."

A loosely folded paper airplane was pushed forward from Soram's hand. It wasn't the metal airplane with blades used in combat, but a real paper airplane he had just folded.

The paper airplane circled the auditorium once, did somersaults in impossible directions, and then gently landed on the shoulder of the student who had just asked the question.

"Next question."

A murmur of obvious excitement arose. Now the number of people raising their hands had increased, with more than half the audience having their hands up.

The student chosen this time was more flushed than the others. The student who received the microphone shouted with a bright red face:

"I, I'm from the Soram fan club! Ah, do you know about the Soram fan club?"

"Of course I do. I'm always grateful."

"But why did you do that to me yesterday!"

"Huh?"

"Yesterday, when I got caught trying to steal artwork at the Louvre, you, I mean, Lecturer, pretended to be a statue so only I got caught!"

"...?"

Soram blinked as he slowly brought the microphone to his mouth.

"Me, carrying out such an operation with a civilian...?"

Those hidden throughout the spacious lecture hall who once or currently passionately loved idols realized. This had become a failed joke.

The questioner also belatedly realized that Soram, unlike other influencers, was a being who didn't understand internet memes, and lamented in the chilly silence.

"Um... Ah? Ah, aha. Statue."