"Ahhhhh!!!"
"…"
Suho snapped back to his senses at Sung Suah's scream and turned his head.
Even though he had initially been startled and looked at her, he wasn't so oblivious as to keep staring.
Sung Suah hurriedly covered her private parts with her slender arms and frantically pressed the logout button.
But no matter how many times she pressed it, she couldn't log out.
"Why, why isn't it working? Please! Please!!"
The calm and composed demeanor she usually showed was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she was panicking and desperate.
Tears had already welled up in her eyes as she kept pressing the logout button in vain.
Suho cautiously called out to her.
"Uh, Instructor Sung Suah."
"Yes! Just, just a moment! It's, it's…."
Sung Suah was momentarily terrified by the man's voice.
The fatal flaw of VR virtual training was that magic couldn't be used at all.
While the program could simulate the impact and effects of magic, it wasn't actual mana being used to cast spells.
In other words, using magic here wouldn't help at all in real combat.
Therefore, except for the monsters that appeared as enemies, using magic was impossible due to the design of the Hero Academy's VR system.
Sung Suah trembled at the unfamiliar sense of powerlessness and was wary of Suho.
But the voice coming from behind her was calm and composed.
"I think it's best to calm down first. It seems like something's wrong with the system."
"…"
Only then did Sung Suah cautiously turn around, and in her line of sight was Suho, standing with his back to her.
He was poking at the hologram in front of him with his fingers.
Sung Suah began to feel embarrassed about her overreaction, realizing how ridiculous her behavior must have seemed to him.
'Sigh… He must think I'm being ridiculous.'
Even though her actions were justified given the situation, she couldn't help but feel guilty.
Sung Suah wanted to apologize, but Suho spoke first.
"Uh…"
"It seems like something's wrong. I can't log out either."
Hearing his words, Sung Suah assessed the situation.
'Something's wrong… At least let me put on some clothes…'
Sung Suah tried to change into her instructor or cadet uniform since she couldn't log out, but…
"Instructor Sung Suah. Since we can't log out, maybe we can try changing into another outfit…"
"Uh… that… that's not working either…"
"Huh?"
"Sigh… It seems like the entire system is down."
"Ah…"
Interpreting her words, it meant, 'I can't change clothes now. And we'll have to stay like this.'
Thanks to the calm response from the man behind her, Sung Suah was able to regain her composure.
He continued to talk to her while touching the hologram.
"I don't have any other outfits either… Maybe this will work?"
"Huh? What are you… Wait a moment!"
Curious, Sung Suah turned around, only to see him start stripping off his clothes.
"This works… How interesting…"
"Wait! What are you doing! Why are you taking off your clothes!"
"Here, put these on."
"…Huh?"
Suho threw his clothes at Sung Suah, who was about to scream in surprise again.
A T-shirt and jeans.
"Someone else might come in. It would be troublesome if you stayed like that."
"But then, Suho, you…"
Suho gave a thumbs-up behind his back and joked.
"Eh, I usually just wear boxers in my room, so it's fine."
"Pfft… Ah… I'm sorry."
"I'm glad you're laughing. Please put them on."
"…Okay, thank you."
Sung Suah couldn't refuse his kindness.
If someone else happened to log in and see them like this, both of them would be in big trouble.
But ironically, the situation had now reversed, and Sung Suah couldn't turn around.
Currently, Suho was only wearing his underwear.
Sung Suah felt her insides burning with guilt as the roles were reversed.
'It's all my fault he had to take off his clothes…'
Now, all Sung Suah could think about was how sorry she felt for him.
She had stepped forward to help, but instead, she ended up tripping him.
As Sung Suah was feeling down, Suho, in high spirits, spoke from behind.
"Oh, this is interesting. Bandages? What's this?"
He was poking around the hologram, checking the system.
When he touched the bandages that caught his eye, they materialized in his hand.
"Ah… Those are probably for injuries. If you get hurt here, it's not real, but you can still bleed like in reality, which can be troublesome."
She explained that while you wouldn't die from bleeding, it could hinder continuous combat, so the bandages were there to stop the bleeding.
Since the system was designed to mimic real combat, stopping bleeding was part of the training.
"Ah, I see… So, if I do this…"
"…?"
Suho wrapped the bandages around his head, covering his eyes.
"Now, even if I turn around, I won't be able to see Instructor Sung Suah, so it should be fine."
"Uh… Actually, now it's Suho who…"
Sung Suah had already put on the clothes.
Suho scratched his head awkwardly.
"Ah, I'm sorry. When I take off my clothes, my brain turns as pure as Adam's…"
"Pfft… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"It's fine. I'm glad you're laughing."
He laughed while still wearing the bandages.
Suho, now blindfolded like a mummy, waved his hands around.
"I don't know when we'll be able to get out like this. Let's… pass the time by talking about something."
"About what…?"
Suho answered Sung Suah's curious voice.
"Let's talk about love since we're bored."
***
"…So, I don't know what to do these days."
"That must be tough."
Sung Suah openly shared her recent struggles with her relationship with Cho Kang-hyun.
At first, she was hesitant to talk about it.
But being alone with a man made her feel awkward, so she cautiously started to open up, and before she knew it, it all came pouring out like a flood.
She had unknowingly released the frustration that had been building up inside her.
"As a fellow man, what do you think? What's wrong with me?"
"Hmm… There is a problem…"
"What, what is it?"
Sung Suah turned around in surprise, then quickly turned back.
He was still only wearing his underwear…
'Sigh… If someone saw me in my underwear, I'd hate it too.'
Throughout her time in the virtual reality, she had only felt guilt toward him.
Even though the clothes didn't fit well, she was still wearing them.
Meanwhile, Suho was only in his underwear, with his eyes covered, all because of her.
'…I have to do something for him when we get out. I feel too sorry otherwise.'
Unaware of Sung Suah's thoughts, Suho answered.
"The problem is that you think there's something wrong with you, Instructor Sung Suah."
"…Huh? What do you mean?"
"There's nothing wrong with you."
Suho removed the bandages but still didn't turn around as he continued.
"When you only focus on the person you like, misunderstandings and illusions can easily arise. So, when you feel like misunderstandings are happening, try spending time with someone else. It'll get better."
"…Thank you for the advice."
Sung Suah smiled and thought to herself.
'I'm glad he's such a good person.'
She felt joy and relief at having met a colleague like Suho.
And that joy and relief, along with Suho's words, formed a sense of resolution.
"Ah! I can log out now!"
***
Suho and Sung Suah finally managed to log out and headed to the department responsible for the VR equipment.
They wanted to report the issue to prevent it from happening again.
As soon as they arrived, they explained the situation to the person in charge.
The person in charge was a man with thick glasses and tired eyes.
"…Uh, so you're saying you couldn't log out?"
"Yes. Fortunately, Suho was able to log out midway, so I could force a disconnect from the outside and get out."
"…I see. We'll look into it."
"Also… Can someone else access the biometric records of instructors or cadets?"
Sung Suah didn't mention that she had been naked.
Even if she had been alone, it would have been difficult to talk about.
But being alone with a man while she was naked? Sung Suah wanted to be honest, but she couldn't bring herself to describe the situation.
The person in charge shook his head vigorously.
"Even the server administrators can't access that data. Even if the entire server containing the data were taken out, we're confident the encryption can't be broken."
"Phew… I see. Thank you."
"Alright, we'll take care of it…"
Sung Suah and Suho were about to leave after explaining, but before they could, the person in charge asked a question.
"…Was there anything else?"
"N-No, nothing else."
"…Alright."
Suho and Sung Suah left the server management room.
Once they were gone, the person in charge immediately began to fidget nervously.
"What the hell? Why did that woman suddenly mess with the VR equipment? She's from the Magic Department; she shouldn't have had any reason to go near it..."
He muttered incomprehensibly and bit his thumbnail.
"Damn it, I should've extracted the data and deleted it earlier… Should I report this? No! If I report it now, they'll definitely try to kill me…"
He started typing furiously.
His fingers moved so fast they were a blur as he muttered to himself.
"Quick! I need to move and delete it…"
After 30 minutes of frantic typing, he leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily.
"Damn… This should do it… Tomorrow, I'll tell Sung Suah… that woman, that we've fixed it and she needs to re-register her biometrics."
His tired eyes were as dry as rotten fish.
He lay back in his chair, lost in thought.
'But even if I blocked Sung Suah from logging out… Why couldn't that guy log out? From what I checked, there wasn't any issue with the equipment…'
The server administrator stood up abruptly and muttered.
"Well, it's not like I'm in a position to worry about that guy… Sigh… Why do I have to suffer because of that pervert… If I hadn't been on duty today, I would've been dead.'
He began preparing to leave, relieved that he had resolved Sung Suah's issue.
***
As soon as I entered the dorm, I flopped onto the bed and laughed.
"Today was a jackpot."
Sung Suah appeared in front of me in her younger, naked form as soon as she logged in.
To make matters worse, she couldn't log out.
I saw it as an opportunity.
[You worked hard. Pretending that you couldn't log out was a masterstroke.]
"Right? Thanks to that, I found out she's having trouble with her fiancé…"
I knew Sung Suah couldn't log out, so I pretended to have the same issue.
I couldn't miss this opportunity…
Of course, I didn't mean to take advantage of her.
The most important thing was to reassure her and make her believe I meant no harm.
Gaining her trust as a colleague was the top priority.
But I didn't expect her to open up so easily about her relationship with Cho Kang-hyun…
"At least… it seems like she has some dissatisfaction too."
Given Sung Suah's personality, it was likely she had been bottling things up until now.
And the virtual space probably played a significant role.
She wouldn't have opened up like that just because I was there.
[It's likely that the frustrations she had been holding back burst out because of the setting.]
"Since no one's watching… The thought that no one would know might have given her a sense of security…"
While the relationship with Sung Suah hasn't fully taken shape yet, I feel like I've found a clue.
VR… It seems like it will play a key role in winning her over.
But there's one big obstacle.
"500 million… How am I supposed to get that…?"
***
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