I Wished for Non-Face-to-Face Lectures

“…What is all this?”

“Major assignment, collect specimens, dry them, write their characteristics, and submit.”

“They don’t look like they’ll fit in that file.”

“…That’s why I’m diligently trimming them, kid.”

I was slowly organizing the specimens I had collected in large quantities at school, expecting to finish work on time.

Breaking my expectations, Jaehyuk arrived at the apartment very early.

He looked at the numerous branches scattered on the floor with a blank expression.

I thought he would just nag a lot while watching, but surprisingly, he sat next to me and started helping to organize the specimens.

“What’s going on with you? Helping me?”

“We need to finish organizing this quickly so we can sleep early. Haah, I come back from work, and now I have to work again.”

“If you’re going to grumble, just lie down on the bed and rest. I’ve almost finished organizing anyway.”

“What do you mean almost? You haven’t even finished half yet.”

Pointing at the collection items that were not yet fully organized, he sighed deeply.

“It’s really surprising you didn’t become an elf. No, even an elf wouldn’t bother with this kind of hassle, seriously.”

“…I think so too.”

“And I have one question, what are these absurdly thick branches? Looking at the cross-section, it doesn’t seem like you sawed them.”

“I don’t know either. I just applied a little force, and they broke easily.”

“…When it’s time to throw them away, you do it. They look too heavy for me to dispose of.”

“Okay.”

A dry conversation that ended.

After silently trimming the collection for a while, I suddenly recalled yesterday’s conversation and asked him.

“Nothing unusual today? Your face looks brighter than two days ago.”

“That’s because I got off work early. I didn’t know I would end up doing other work at home, though.”

“Look, I said you don’t have to help. By the way, have you heard the news? They say the Special Alien Species Law will be enacted soon.”

Perhaps because alien species had been causing too many accidents, I heard that the legislation, which would normally take more than a month, had already reached its final stage.

Looking at the content, although it was laden with all sorts of restrictions, honestly, I could understand why there were so many constraints.

There were quite a few alien species who were intoxicated with power and causing accidents. Fortunately, since each individual had clearly defined weaknesses, they were subdued before leading to major incidents.

Good news for him, who had been having a hard time because of alien species.

When I conveyed the news to him, who must have been desperately waiting for the law to come out, Jaehyuk nodded, saying he already knew.

“Ah, actually, that’s partly why I got off work early. The boss said he’d take a break from business until the law comes out.”

“…Then what about the observation?”

“He said he’d do business until Sunday specially. When I explained the situation, he gladly agreed.”

“That’s a relief.”

After breathing a sigh of relief, I was focusing on trimming the specimens again.

Perhaps he got pricked by a thorn while grasping a branch, he groaned and quickly grabbed his finger.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah… I grabbed it wrong and got pricked by the branch.”

“Let me see, are you hurt badly?!”

“Would I be badly hurt from getting pricked by a thorn? It just stings a little.”

He showed me the wound area as if there was no need to worry at all.

But contrary to his boastful words, blood was flowing from the wound area.

Sweet-smelling, delicious-looking red blood that emanated a sweet blood scent.

“…Ah.”

The urge to suck blood rose sharply.

Without even thinking about suppressing the desire, I licked his blood with my tongue.

“W-what are you doing?!”

Jaehyuk backed away in alarm. But I had no time to mind him.

The taste of blood I was experiencing for the first time.

It was an ecstatic taste enough to lose my mind.

I want to eat a bit more.

How good would it be to bite that white nape and drink the gushing blood to my heart’s content?

Looking at him while salivating at the rising appetite, Jaehyuk just looked back at me with a puzzled face.

“…Are you okay?”

“???”

“I thought you said you couldn’t eat Korean or Chinese blood at all.”

“…Ah!”

My reason finally returned.

What I felt after the ecstatic taste was an extreme spiciness that could easily make me forget even that ecstasy.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I began rolling on the floor like a mouse that had eaten rat poison.

“…Are you okay? You look really unwell.”

“Ugh, ah, urk…”

“Seriously, why did you suddenly eat someone else’s blood and act crazy? A woman who usually can’t even approach because it’s disgusting.”

“I must have been, kack…! too hungry… I couldn’t, cough…! control myself for a moment…”

As I appealed in pain with tears welling up in my eyes, he brought me a sweet drink and shook his head.

“Here, drink this. Sweet things are the best when you’ve eaten something spicy.”

“Than… hiccup! Thank youuu… But, are you okay? I licked, hack! your wound…”

“It’s fine, licking won’t make me a vampire, right? In most folklore, you need to be bitten to become a vampire.”

“That’s true, cough cough! but…”

“I also disinfected it just in case, so don’t worry. Well, if I become a vampire, you’ll take responsibility for me for life, right?”

He spoke jokingly and headed back to the kitchen.

Seeing his kind gesture of making a sweet drink with his injured hand, guilt weighed on my heart.

Since starting to live together, I’ve only been a nuisance rather than being helpful.

Really, how am I going to repay all this later? No, can I even be of help to him in the first place?

As I was gulping down the cold drink to cool my burning insides, Jaehyuk came with another non-alcoholic cocktail.

He checked the time and spoke to me with a worried face.

“Will you be okay if you rest? Will you be able to go to the meeting in the evening?”

“Phew… Thanks to you, I’m a bit better. If I sleep for a while and wake up, my condition should return to normal.”

“That’s good. So, what are you going to do with those? Leave them as they are?”

“Even if I’m in pain, I need to finish them before sleeping. If I leave them like that, they’ll wither, and I’ll have to collect them again.”

I didn’t want to go back and forth twice, which would be troublesome.

I also felt sorry for the trees if I collected any more.

After putting the empty glass in the sink, I advised him to rest.

“You don’t need to help anymore. I don’t want to end up looking like a mouse that ate rat poison again.”

“…Alright, then I’ll sleep first? I don’t need to worry about cleaning up, right?”

“Of course not.”

Perhaps very tired from helping with the assignment after coming from work, he fell asleep as soon as he covered himself with the blanket.

After briefly looking down at the sleeping Jaehyuk, I sat down again and began organizing the specimens.

“Is it because I ate something too spicy?”

Maybe it’s because the temperature has risen with spring’s arrival.

For some reason, the quiet apartment felt a bit hot.

The pain that felt like it was burning my stomach had completely disappeared after I slept and woke up.

The stinging pain I had experienced for a time that was short or long, depending on how you look at it.

Through that terrible experience, I could clearly realize.

Blood must be consumed regularly, and Korean people must never be bitten.

If eating the blood of someone who occasionally consumes garlic and kimchi was this bad, what would happen if I bit an ordinary Korean with garlic addiction?

The result was obvious without seeing it.

I would suffer in pain like broadcasters who eat the spiciest food in the world and gasp for breath.

But the good thing was.

Thanks to shock therapy, or maybe because I consumed even a drop of blood, my thirst had subsided significantly.

Looking at the current thirst I felt, the time it would take until I became a vampire obsessed with blood like in the early morning would probably be about ten days.

I had to get a blood pack within that period, no matter what. Otherwise, the same unfortunate incident as today would happen.

“If I go to a blood donation center and ask for a blood pack, would they give me one? No, they would have drawn blood from Korean people anyway, so it might be meaningless.”

After briefly exploring ways to obtain a blood pack, I emptied my mind.

Since I kept paying attention to other things, it was hard to hook my bra.

…Damn, how do I hook this by myself?

After several attempts that failed, I approached Jaehyuk and asked him to hook it for me, but he just ran away, saying he had an urgent call.

That bastard.

How long would it take to hook this one thing?

After struggling for a long time and finally hooking it, I could prepare quickly after that.

Seeing that there wasn’t much time left until the appointment, he and I immediately left the apartment.

On the way to the meeting place.

While bickering with him because of a bra hook, I witnessed a scene that I simply couldn’t pass by.

And that was.

“Wow! Are you really giving this to us?”

“Yes! You’re supposed to eat a lot of those when you’re young! When you get old, you can’t even eat one cotton candy freely!”

“But… Mom said it’s not good to eat these…”

“It’s okay, it’ll all go into your height anyway! Haven’t you heard that you need to eat a lot to grow tall?”

“Ah! Mom did say that too!”

The sight of a horned demon handing cotton candy to children with a sinister smile.

Thinking they might be kidnapping them, I stopped Jaehyuk and waited, but strangely, the demon just gave them cotton candy and then let the children go willingly.

…What’s going on? Weren’t they trying to do something bad?

As I made a stupid expression at the flow that was far from my expectations, soon the demon’s terrifying plan was heard in my ears.

“Fuhaha! You stupid little kids! That’s how you get cavities and gain weight! Cry at the dentist, and scream on the treadmill! Ahahaha!!!”

…So they were just a kind person who was a bit lacking somewhere.

But why do they look familiar?

When I turned my head to look at Jaehyuk, he was making the same expression as me.

“That person, it seems right?”

“…It seems so.”

I began to walk toward the happily laughing demon.