I Wished for Non-Face-to-Face Lectures

Since it wasn’t a suggestion I made lightly, unlike at first, he listened to my words quite seriously.

While doing so, he also explained the bartender profession in detail. As expected, it wasn’t as simple a job as I thought.

We decided I would visit the bar on Sunday to observe and then decide whether to learn the job or not.

Even if it didn’t suit me, I was planning to do it anyway, but if it was a really bad fit, I might have to look for another path.

Having tried pretty much every part-time job before joining the military, there wasn’t much I couldn’t do, but.

You never know, there might be something that critically affects my weaknesses in ways I’m not aware of.

After our mutual counseling session ended.

Jaehyuk and I drifted in silence for a while, picking at the few remaining snacks.

What should I say now? It seems like we’ve said most of what needed to be said.

Unable to bear the awkward atmosphere, I was stirring the residue in my glass with wooden chopsticks when he finally broke the silence, as if he had just remembered something.

“Oh right, I heard Hye-eun also became an alien species? Do you have any photos or something?”

“Why, planning to date her if she’s pretty?”

“Are you crazy? She’s not my type! I prefer voluptuous, modest housewife types over small-chested, vulgar women.”

“Hey, Hye-eun would feel bad hearing that. She was also saying she hates tsunderes like you.”

I guess the saying that men and women can’t be just friends is a lie.

As I giggled while picking up some snacks, he kept pestering me to show him a photo.

“Anyway, just show me once. If you do, I’ll treat you amazingly on Sunday.”

“I don’t want to be treated, I want to observe the workplace.”

“Ah, stop playing hard to get. Please?”

“Hmm…”

It was fun to watch him so desperate, and I wanted to tease him a bit more, but since we’re living together, if he gets seriously upset, that would be troublesome in its own way.

After teasing him a few more times, I showed Jaehyuk one of the photos I took with Hye-eun downtown.

And then.

“…This is Hye-eun?”

“Yes, exactly your type, right? Voluptuous, mature figure with a relaxed vibe… Wait, hey, you’re drooling, you crazy guy.”

“Ah, uh, what?”

He was even drooling as he took in Hye-eun’s appearance.

Ugh, disgusting.

I threw the roll of tissue on the table at him and started berating him.

“Get a grip, you lunatic. Even if you’re turned on, that’s too much, drooling disgustingly?”

“Ah, I wasn’t drooling! And who’s turned on, kid! She may look like that on the outside, but inside she’s a lustful slut!”

“Your mouth says no, but your body is honest, huh?”

“…!”

When I pointed at his lower body that was pitching a tent, he immediately picked up a nearby blanket and covered his legs with it.

He’s always so dishonest.

That’s why he doesn’t get a girlfriend.

I clicked my tongue and looked at him with contemptuous eyes, and he cleared his throat a few times and changed the subject.

“By the way, still no contact from Jeong-hyun? The regular meeting is the day after tomorrow, why is he so quiet?”

“…I was worried about him too. Did something really happen to him?”

“Why don’t you send him a message now? Who knows, maybe he’ll respond today.”

“Ssip, I don’t have much hope, but…”

Would anything change by messaging someone who hasn’t been in contact for nearly ten days?

I sent a message without any expectations, but surprisingly, for the first time in ten days, the number 1 that had not disappeared, disappeared.

“…Hey, he saw the message!”

“What?”

“The 1 just disappeared. Wait a bit.”

Calming my surprised heart, I asked him what was going on, but.

Jeong-hyun just left a message saying he would explain at the regular meeting and then disappeared again.

…What on earth happened to him in the more than ten days?

I had the urge to pry, but forcibly suppressed my curiosity.

If he specifically said he would tell us at the regular meeting, there must be a clear reason for it.

“At least he’s alive, that’s a relief. I really thought he had gone missing.”

“Yeah… By the way, you don’t think he became an alien species too? Since contact was cut off after the species transformation incident, it seems possible.”

“Hmm, if he changed, what species would he have become? Since he’s a kind and pure guy… a spirit, perhaps?”

“I don’t know about others, but I hope he didn’t become a pathetic species like you. Seriously, what sin did you commit in your past life to become such a pathetic species?”

“How would I know, damn it.”

Suddenly hitting me where it hurts.

I growled at him with fierce eyes, but he just smirked and took out the silver chopsticks he had put in the drawer again.

“What can you do.”

“…”

“What can you do besides growling and trembling? You can’t even bite because of the garlic smell. You little cherry-blossom twig.”

Using his vampire-exclusive manners injector, he thoroughly T-bagged me.

With a resentful feeling, I gritted my teeth and vowed.

Someday, I will definitely bite you.

You fucking bastard.

The day after having a drinking session that didn’t end well.

As if it were true that bad things come all at once, another trial was waiting for me when I woke up.

HelloMs 10:47 AM

You have a new message. “Dendrology Assignment – Guidelines for Collecting and Describing Broadleaf and Coniferous Tree Specimens”

“…What the hell is this.”

An assignment I was seeing for the first time in years due to military service.

And this assignment didn’t sound simple from the description.

Collect a certain number of broadleaf and coniferous trees, dry them well so they don’t rot, and submit the specimens along with their scientific names and characteristics.

Given that the deadline was until the end of the semester, it was obviously not an easy assignment.

Feeling like it would be a big problem if I postponed it, I headed to school with a pair of scissors and an envelope after checking the assignment notice.

“Not much has changed here either.”

The school I visited for the first time since the start of the semester had hardly changed.

If there was any difference, it was that there were fewer people walking around campus due to remote classes?

Amid many changes, the familiarity of what remained unchanged wasn’t unpleasant.

Enjoying the coziness provided by the quietness, I began to stroll the streets with an empty mind.

“This is nice. No people emitting garlic smell, and no one to mind what I do.”

It felt like returning to being an ordinary person.

I wanted to feel that longed-for sensation a bit more, but the vitality surging in my body didn’t allow it.

“Phew, I don’t want to admit it. Really.”

I complain while looking at the cold moonlight.

Why can’t they just return me to my original body?

They should give it to someone who would appreciate it, why give it to someone who doesn’t want it?

Every day was a repetition of ordinary yet boring daily life, but I never complained even once.

Because I liked that life, because that stable and peaceful feeling was so happy.

But now…

“Am I really happier than before?”

I asked myself, then shook my head vigorously.

“No, what’s the point of thinking negatively now? I should find a way to be happy somehow.”

Complaining to the sky won’t change anything.

Of course, if I earnestly wished like last time, something might change. But I didn’t want any more confusion.

Just like how wishing for remote classes led to a large-scale species transformation incident, I couldn’t know what insane method would be used to fulfill my wish.

“The past should be buried in the past, and a person living in the present should think about the future.”

A ghost living buried in the past cannot unearth the happiness hidden in the future.

Having blown away my depressing emotions into the cold air, I felt my heart lighten and began to walk again.

“By the way, why a vampire of all things?”

A question that arose as I was walking.

I alternately looked at the scissors in my hand and the tree visible in the distance.

No, if we’re just talking about my major, honestly, shouldn’t I have become an elf? Where else would you find someone so environmentally friendly?

Learning about nature and how to handle it, isn’t it strange that I’m not an elf?

Of course, there was one highly plausible hypothesis.

A recently proposed hypothesis suggested that alien species transformation is influenced by one’s usual behavior and desires.

I wanted to deny it, but the probability of that hypothesis being correct seemed quite high.

Looking at the comments on the article where the hypothesis was written, unlike other hypotheses, the atmosphere was that everyone acknowledged it.

If that hypothesis was true, what aspect had influenced me?

I didn’t particularly have desires like wanting to suck blood or become a woman.

“…My head hurts.”

Perhaps because I was using my brain too much after a long time, it quickly became overloaded and started screaming for help.

You pathetic bag of noodles, if you become an idiot just because I became a pathetic species, what should I do?

Sighing deeply, I approached a nearby tree to finally proceed with the assignment.

“This one’s name is… a zelkova tree, right?”

After staring blankly at the tall tree, I reached out my arm, but unfortunately, the scissors couldn’t even get near where the leaves were.

If I had my superior height from when I was a man, I would have definitely reached it.

While keenly feeling once again that I had become a woman, a good idea suddenly came to mind.

“Why don’t I just break off a suitable branch and choose the best one from it?”

Simple is best.

I immediately tried to break off a branch of appropriate thickness, but I overlooked one fact.

The vampire’s strength exerted at night is stronger than one might imagine.

Crack!

“Eh?”

The thick branch that broke so easily when I applied strength playfully.

After being momentarily stunned by the pitiful sight of the tree with one side now empty, I hurriedly collected any branch and stuffed it into the envelope.

No one saw that, right…?

Then.

Run away…!