The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 120

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 120

I fled into my home before the taxi had even pulled away. Pongko, who had been chewing hay in my hideout, perked up his ears and came to greet me when he saw my arrival.
“You’re back, Leoryna? Did you have a good time?”
But I was in no state to engage with Pongko. Noticing something amiss with me, he examined my face with considerable concern.
“Leoryna, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Your face looks terrible.”
I didn’t know exactly how terrible my face looked, but I could certainly tell that my mind was just as disheveled as my appearance.
“That’s the thing, Pongko… I’m curious about something right now.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I said I didn’t want to kill Khalid anymore, remember?”
“You did.”
“But ever since I started thinking that way, whenever I see Khalid, my stomach feels all fluttery, and even when I try not to think about it, I keep noticing him. And when our eyes meet, I don’t know what to do with myself, but… looking at him doesn’t seem unpleasant. How would you define this state?”
Pongko’s expression became quite subtle at my words.
“So… when Leoryna sees Khalid, that’s what happens?”
“Yes. Have I started thinking of Khalid too intimately? But it’s strange. I don’t feel this way about anyone else.”
Pongko spoke in a tone of disbelief.
“If I remove the other person’s name and just listen to what you’re saying, your symptoms sound like you’re fond of someone.”
“…What?”
“You can feel that way when you like someone.”
I tilted my head as if I’d heard something incomprehensible.
“Can you say that again?”
“Ugh, you’re so frustrating! You seem to like Khalid!”
“Ahhh!”
At Pongko’s exclamation, I gasped and clutched my head with both hands.
“What are you saying right now?! Me and Khalid, what?!”
“Should I say it one more time? You seem to like Khalid…!”
“No, no, no!”
I let out a wail.
“Am I insane?! I’m crazy! I must be crazy! How could you say such a thing?! Not someone else, but Khalid? Me?!”
I muttered and clicked my tongue, then spoke breathlessly.
“No. You’ve misunderstood. It’s a mistake. There’s no way I could like Khalid!”
“But based on your symptoms, it really does seem like the kind of feeling you’d have for someone you like…”
“Hey!”
I grabbed Pongko and shook him vigorously.
“Am I the crazy one?! Or are you?! Or are we both insane?! It’s not like that. It’s not like that, I’m telling you!”
“Ugh, L-L-Leo, ri-na, p-please, st-stop, sh-shaking, m-me.”
Thanks to me shaking him, Pongko nearly bit his own tongue and tried to calm me down.
“I-I m-made, a m-mistake. Y-You d-don’t l-like K-Khalid, it’s j-just a m-misunderstanding…!”
At Pongko’s words, I stopped shaking him, breathing heavily.
“That’s right?! That’s it, isn’t it?! You’re the one who’s mistaken?!”
In that moment, Pongko slipped free from Leoryna’s grasp, shook himself off vigorously, and retreated to a safe distance before speaking.
“But think about it carefully. How did the male and female protagonists’ psychology get described in those pulp novels Leoryna stayed up all night reading?”
At those words, Leoryna seized up again.
“I’ve lost it! I’ve completely lost it! This is madness!”
Leoryna thrashed about like someone who knew only that single word.
“Aaaah! I’ve lost it! This can’t be real! This can’t possibly be happening!”
Leoryna was now rolling across the floor.
“That I could… How could I… That impossible, infuriating Khalid…!”
“So it seems like you might actually like him…”
“No!”
Leoryna reflexively denied it, but she knew her heart disagreed. Yet knowing that didn’t mean she could accept it.
How could she possibly accept this?
How could she come to terms with the fact that she liked Khalid?
“Kyaaah! This isn’t happening! This can’t be happening!”
Leoryna bolted upright and took a deep breath. Then she began muttering to herself like casting an incantation.
“Think rationally, Leoryna. You’ve had a little to drink and you just watched a soccer match—your excitement hasn’t settled yet. It just so happened that Khalid was beside you at that moment, so you got these strange thoughts. You haven’t developed feelings for him. This is nothing but a misunderstanding, and misunderstandings happen. Think objectively. If you started listing all the ways that bastard Khalid has manipulated you, wouldn’t three days and nights not be enough? How could you possibly like someone like that? So, approaching this very rationally, if I think about what I actually think of Khalid…”
Leoryna imagined Khalid’s face.
Sharp, refined features. Eyes the color of iris petals—a deep cerulean blue. Silver hair that gleamed like moonlight woven into silk. Skin smooth as a perfectly sculpted marble statue, the color of rich chocolate. A tall frame with a body that was appropriately muscular and defined.
Having thought that far, Leoryna promptly smashed her forehead against the wall.
‘Damn it, the bastard is handsome, sure. But is that what matters right now?! Of all things, to be captivated by just his face?! That doesn’t make any sense!’
Leoryna now tore at her own hair.
“No… This isn’t it… There’s no way I could…”
Pongko waited for Leoryna’s thrashing to stop, his expression that of someone witnessing the strangest thing in the world.
“I’m on the side of justice! He’s a future villain! I’m an assassin! He’s my assassination target! I’m a graduate student! He’s my advisor! How could such feelings arise from this combination?! Something has clearly gone terribly wrong. This is strange! Where is there a champion of justice who likes a villain?! Where is there an assassin who likes their target?! Where is there a graduate student who likes their own advisor?!”
The more she thought about it, the more indignant she became, breathing heavily.
“This is strange… These feelings can’t possibly be what I think they are… They shouldn’t arise from a relationship like this…”
“Leoryna, please calm down first.”
“How am I supposed to calm down?! I’m in this absurd, impossible situation right now!”
“So you’re saying you like Khalid?”
“Aaaah!”
Leoryna suddenly produced a staff and pointed it at her own head.
“Something’s gone wrong. This must be a dream. I’ll pass out and wake up again.”
“Huh?! Leoryna, wait a moment!”
Having lost all reason, Leoryna paid no heed to Pongko’s protests and without hesitation chanted the incantation for a knockout spell, then promptly collapsed forward.
“At least pass out on the bed!”
Pongko cried out in alarm from beside Leoryna’s head.
He fretted for a moment, then sighed and dragged the blanket and pillow from the bed over to cover Leoryna with them.
Leoryna had certainly been shocked enough to cast a knockout spell on herself, but Pongko was equally bewildered.
“I’m always on Leoryna’s side, but…”
I still couldn’t be certain whether Leoryna truly harbored different feelings toward Khalid.
“How could I possibly develop feelings for Khalid? The man who’s constantly threatening to kill me, grinding his teeth at me every single day? Have I completely lost my mind?”
Ever since Leoryna declared she no longer wished to kill Khalid, she did seem somewhat gentler toward him. Yet there were absolutely no signs of romantic inclination, which only deepened my confusion.
Well, I had learned through dramas that love could arrive suddenly, but….
“Really? Huh? Seriously?”
I clutched my small head and groaned, desperately hoping that when Leoryna woke tomorrow morning, she would be exactly as she always was.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————