Jaegyeom was standing in front of a closed door. He scratched his forehead as he glanced at the sign hanging over the door once, then the doorknob.
‘Teacher’s office’
This must be the right place, but the hallway was deserted, and the air beyond the door was eerily quiet. Should he go in? How did he even find this place…
“Hey, what are you doing there during class time?”
Jaegyeom turned his head at the voice he heard from the other side of the hallway. She seemed to be a teacher. The teacher glanced at the name tag hanging from Jaegyeom’s chest and widened her eyes.
“Kim Jaegyeom?”
The teacher approached quickly and grabbed Jaegyeom’s hand in a friendly manner. Even though it was the first time meeting him, she seemed very happy. The teacher took him and entered the office. Jaegyeom followed her as if he was being dragged along.
“This is a transfer student from the year 2 class 3.”
As the teacher introduced him, the teachers who were each looking into the monitors raised their heads. In an instant, all eyes focused on one place. Everyone was looking at Jaegyeom with curious eyes.
“Who? Who?”
“A transfer student.”
“Wow, he’s handsome.”
The quiet classroom began to stir. After greeting the teachers, Ms Seo gestured to Jaegyeom to follow her. Jaegyeom moved his steps with a bewildered expression. When he came out into the hallway, Ms Seo pointed to the stairs with her fingertips.
“Jaegyeom. I’m still having class, so go to the library first. The library is right on the 4th floor, okay? There’ll be a librarian inside. Go read a little bit, and then come down to class 3 as soon as the bell rings. Oh. And starting tomorrow, you can’t be late? Do you know what time to come to school?”
“Yes.”
Then, see you later, Ms Seo smiled and patted Jaegyeom on the shoulder. Jaegyeom fiddled with the strap of his bag and headed for the stairs. As Ms Seo said, as soon as he arrived on the 4th floor, he immediately saw the library. Should he knock on the door and go in? After thinking for a while, Jaegyeom slowly turned the doorknob.
***
The interior of the library was spacious and comfortable. It was also quiet. Jaegyeom sighed and closed the door. Contrary to the words that there would be a librarian, there was not a single person in the library. Seeing that no one was at the desk with a low partition, it seemed that the librarian must be away for a while. Jaegyeom stuck his head out and looked inside the desk. Two computers, neatly arranged writing instruments, and a vaguely crooked chair.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He put down the bag he was carrying on the crooked chair. The library was so quiet that his footsteps could be heard whenever he took a step. The large bookshelves lined up in rows were packed with books of different shapes. The morning sun streamed in from the window with the thin curtains hanging.
Cr lo abemtlcu j mbrwbr atja yibbwfv bc atf rlvf bo atf gbjv, Ajfusfbw ibbxfv jgbecv atf ilygjgs, mjgfoeiis rmjcclcu atf abq bo atf ybbxr klat tlr olcufgalqr. Pa kjr ktfc tf kjr kjcvfglcu jgbecv atf ilygjgs jr lo tf kfgf ajxlcu j kjix. Ajfusfbw revvfcis rabqqfv kjixlcu.
“Ft… ?”
Lf rfcrfv rbwfatlcu kgluuilcu lc atf vjgx mbgcfg bo atf ybbxrtfio. Ajfusfbw lwwfvljafis rafqqfv yjmx abkjgv atf ybbxrtfio tf tjv pera qjrrfv ys. Lf kbcvfgfv lo tf kjr wlrajxfc, yea ibbxlcu mibrfg, tf kjr regf.
Wriggling in the dark was a pitch-black inchworm.
An inchworm the size of a little finger folded and undid its waist, wriggling, approaching in the direction of Jaegyeom. He narrowed his eyes. What the heck? It’s the first time he had seen a black inchworm… was it coming for him? It was when Jaegyeom, who had been looking at the inchworm for a long time, looked down indifferently.
“What the fuck!”
Jaegyeom crumpled his face at once and lifted one of his legs.
The floor was infested with pitch-black inchworms that had appeared out of nowhere. They seemed to surround him in a circle. There must have been dozens of them. Like the guy on the bookshelf, the pitch-black inchworms folded their waists in half and approached Jaegyeom. If he hadn’t dodged a leg just now, it would have jumped on Jaegyeom’s sneakers.
He didn’t know what was happening. Before he could grasp the situation, the guy who had come closer tried to get on top of the other foot. Jaegyeom stepped on the insect with one of his legs. But strangely, he didn’t feel anything like the feeling of something being stepped on under a shoe.
Jaegyeom lifted his feet and checked the floor.
“This…”
What was visible under the soles of the shoes was not the hideous remains of insects. There were no signs of bugs anywhere. Instead, only black scorched marks remained, as if burnt, just like the shape of the inchworm. It was as if a shadow had crept in.
Jaegyeom realised. This wasn’t a real bug. Perhaps it was a bug that could only be seen by gwijae. When he thought about this, he reached out and picked up a book from among the books on the bookshelf. Then he unfolded it randomly and tore a page. Rip~, seeing the torn page, he threw the paper away in annoyance. As straight as possible in a rectangle, Jaegyeom tore the next page without hesitation. Again, rip~, this time it was torn into the desired shape.
Jaegyeom closed the book. He propped up the book under the paper torn to make it easier to write on, and immediately brought his right hand to his mouth. When he put his index finger into his mouth and chewed his fingertips tightly, fresh red blood flowed out. Jaegyeom furrowed his eyebrows at the overwhelming pain.
“Fucking hurts.”
After confirming that enough blood was dripping from his fingers, Jaegyeom began to write in blood on the torn paper. Having scribbled in blood, Jaegyeom quickly dropped the paper from his hand. It was a simple talisman made in a hurry. The talisman written in blood fluttered down onto the floor infested with inchworms.
Jaegyeom muttered in a low voice.
“If it is a shell, it will shatter, if it is an illusion, it will disappear, and if it is evil, it will withdraw.”
As soon as Jaegyeom finished speaking, the talisman that fell on the floor spontaneously ignited. At the same time, the pitch-black inchworms stopped moving and stiffened like a piece of wood. It was the moment when the talisman finally burned completely. The swarming inchworms vaporised and disappeared without a trace along with the talisman.
“Aish, I was startled.”
Checking the clean floor, Jaegyeom let out a deep sigh. The guy on the bookshelf also disappeared. The grip that was holding that book finally lost its strength. What was that? It was the kind he hadn’t seen before. He had never even heard of such a thing. It’s dark colour made him feel displeased, but he didn’t feel any malice. Since it was in such a sunny place, there was a high possibility that it was not an unclean existence. Maybe it was reasonable if it was in a forest or a mountain, he wondered why it was in a place like this. Besides, if there’s something that bothered him more than anything else…
Why was it coming towards him?
Jaegyeom, lost in thought, blinked slowly.
***
The door opened with the sound of the library doorknob turning.
The person who opened the door was a young man. The young man, wearing a white shirt and black suit trousers, with his sleeves rolled up to his arm, held a mug in his hand. The young man, sipping his mug, entered the library and found Jaegyeom reading a book.
When their eyes met, the young man smiled. He was very handsome when he smiled.
“Hi.”
Jaegyeom stared blankly at the young man greeting him. Was that person a librarian? So should he call him ‘teacher’? He seemed young for a teacher…
Jaegyeom, who was worried, lowered his head vaguely. Saying goodbye was more awkward than I thought.
“Isn’t it class time now? Why are you here, friend?”
The young man’s gaze, which was heading to the desk, turned to the chair. Jaegyeom’s bag was on the chair.
“Don’t tell me you’re skipping class.”
The young man whispered playfully. Then he picked up Jaegyeom’s bag and looked around. As if he was simply looking around, the young man gently put his bag on one side of the desk.
“The teacher told me to wait here for a while… yo.”
Informal speech came out habitually. Jaegyeom quickly added the honorific at the end, catching himself. Fortunately, the young man nodded his head, unperturbed.
“I see. Make yourself comfortable.”
The young librarian sat down and started typing on his computer. It was fortunate that the librarian was away at the time. If he was with the librarian, it would have been in quite a bit of trouble if he had encountered the worm then.
Jaegyeom, who was wandering around the bookshelf, was startled when he realised something.
He had forgotten the wrongly torn pages of the book he had left on the floor earlier. Jaegyeom subconsciously eyed the librarian. Fortunately, he was in a position that was not visible from the position of the librarian. Just when he was bending down to pick up a piece of paper, pretending to be looking at a book,
“Excuse me, friend.”
Suddenly, the librarian called Jaegyeom. Jaegyeom was stunned for a moment, but he wrapped the crumpled paper in his fist and answered, “Yes.” as calmly as possible.
“Over there, could you bring me just one book from the literature shelf in front? You’ll probably find it somewhere in the middle of the third column. The title is Knowledge And Love.”
Oh, what a surprise. Jaegyeom went to the literature bookshelf, sweeping his chest. Just when he thought he might have been caught, the librarian just asked for a favour, so he did as he was told. Jaegyeom held the paper in his hand and quickly scanned the bookshelf. Knowledge And Love. Knowledge And Love. Knowledge And Love… He tried diligently to find the location the young librarian had told me about, but he couldn’t find the title of the book.
“Can’t find?”
“H- Hold on.”
Jaegyeom felt a little chased. Knowledge And Love. Knowledge And Love. He muttered a little and focused on finding the book. About halfway through the third column… His eyes rolled around. Then, he found the book on the top shelf, not the third.
Jaegyeom stretched out his free hand that was not holding the piece of paper. He was about to pull out the book when a large hand protruded from behind him and took the book one step faster than Jaegyeom. He was taking too long, so the other person seemed to have come to find it himself. The young librarian stood close right behind him. The young man was slightly taller than Jaegyeom, and it felt like there was a wall behind him, perhaps because of his broad shoulders.
“Oh, I was confused about the location.”
When Jaegyeom averted his eyes, the librarian apologised.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes.”
Instead of saying it was okay, Jaegyeom graciously accepted an apology. The young man smiled and looked at him. Then, suddenly, his gaze went down to his hand. Jaegyeom was taken aback. Just as he clenched his fists tightly, so that the torn paper could not be seen, the young librarian grabbed Jaegyeom’s wrist out of nowhere. Fortunately or unfortunately, the hand the young man took was the other hand, the free hand.
Jaegyeom’s hand, which the young man lifted up, was stained with blood.
Ohooooo ~ 👀 Is Mr. Librarian a creep?
LMAOOO so much for meet cute 🤨
😂
Thanks for the chapter~