88. Tikitaka
“Who, who… !”
Tongue twisted. Stuttered her. I just couldn’t control my tongue. Due to the anger and shame beyond the limit, it seemed that the hot heat was burning up to the top of my head.
“Without my permission, you f*cking… !”
I crumpled the lousy banner hanging at the entrance and threw it to the floor with all my might.
“If you hate me, say it!!! f*ck! Madame!!! I almost came back after 5 years, what kind of dog is this!!!”
“What, what… ! Nut, nut, you… ! It’s an ajumma again!!!”
“What is this! What the hell is this! This vomiting garbage banner! You’re teasing me now!!! That’s it!!!!!!”
“Hey! You! If you’re going to say something respectful, say something respectful, and if you’re going to speak plain language, speak plain language! Why haven’t you heard of it since before!!!!!!”
“You are good at it!!! If the upper water is clear, the lower water will not be clear!!! This no-tang lady!!!!!!”
“You, you said everything!!!”
“No! We are still far away! Where the heck did you leave your brain, why are you hanging up such a lousy banner as if you were proud of it!”
Let’s imagine that my face is drawn as if a friend had taken it as a joke, and a banner with my name written on it in plain text next to it is hung in a place where most of my acquaintances are.
I was angry. I was so angry. I was angry and unbearably embarrassed. While I was gone, the thought of how long this banner had been hung, suddenly exposed to others made me want to shed tears.
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No matter how you think about it, it was clear that this was Instructor Pamela’s high-level f*ck. How can you make people a joke like this? It seemed like it was going to be etched in my mind forever as a shameful thing.
f*ck. What did the other people, especially Max, who came in after receiving my recommendation, think when he saw that banner? It would be fortunate if I just thought ‘what is that idiot?’.
“Hey, Austin! What the hell are you doing I met you after a long time! You screamed like this as soon as we met?! Who knows what they wanted to do?!”
Instructor Pamela countered with a ridiculous expression. I was more and more dumbfounded, and I had no choice but to raise my voice.
“Then f*ck, what kind of crazy arc did this slut do such nonsense!”
“Captain, that crazy idiot ordered it! Why!!!”
“Damn it, you said that now… !”
As I tried to run at Instructor Pamela with my teeth clenched, Sylvia, who was standing next to me, hurriedly grabbed my arm, and the other instructors jumped in at the unusual sound and started desperately to stop Instructor Pamela.
“Austin! Calm down! Calm! Sorry! Everything reaches Priest Royman?!”
“Pa, Instructor Pamela! You can’t do this! If the disciplinary committee is held again, this time it will be really big!”
* * *
Instructor Pamela and I, who were shouting with red-hot faces, sighed heavily while being held by Sylvia and the other instructors.
“Haa…. Ha….”
“Ugh…. Whoa….”
After shouting with blood vessels in each other’s necks, there was a truce for a while.
Sup—.
Take a deep breath.
Haa—.
Exhale slowly.
“Austin. Can you calm down?”
“Yes. Thanks, Sylvia.”
In a state of overexcitement, it is bound to calm down quickly if someone stops it.
As the blood that had been rushing to my head from screaming went down, I felt dizzy for a moment. As if to represent my feelings, I moved my staggering steps and slumped helplessly into the guest chair in front of me! It sat down as if it was collapsing.
“Instructor Pamela. Have you calmed down a bit?”
“… Go see It’s okay now.”
“Okay. And Austin. Long time no see.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you after a long time, but we’ll talk a little later. We.”
“Then, we’re done….”
Once the other instructors left, silence fell in the room. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my mind, listening to the ticking of the clock.
As I tried to calm my excitement, my head went cold. Feeling lightly dizzy, I poured the teapot on the table casually into the cup and immediately poured it into my mouth.
“… This is what the captain ordered.”
A terribly cracked voice, a powerless voice that had lost its will to fight, flowed down my throat.
Instructor Pamela, sitting in the chair across from her, lifted her head with a tired expression.
“… Huh.”
“This one.”
I unfolded the crumpled banner I had thrown on the floor. There were a lot of crumpled banners with a rustic design that was hard to see with my eyes open, and a picture of my face and my name stuck in the middle of it.
“Look at this.”
“Puha… !”
“Puff….”
“… ….”
Sylvia, even you.
I didn’t even have the strength to get angry. I put the banner in my hand down on the table and buried myself in a soft chair.
“… Please take care of this yourself. No matter how much the captain ordered it, it’s also the instructor’s fault for approving this.”
“Uh hmm…. Let’s try….”
“Don’t just try, answer clearly….”
“… I’ll try my best.”
“Good.”
Let’s make sure that no one has eyes for that monstrosity anymore. That was the only thought from the beginning.
“… No. I’ll just take care of it.”
“Huh?”
If you’ve made up your mind, it’s time to show it in action.
I picked up the banner I had put down on the table and walked helplessly to the window.
I opened the window, pressed down on the banner, folded it, and inserted it into the blast bolt.
Tung—!
Kwaguawang!!!
The banner flying towards the clear sky exploded in the air and scattered in all directions. I looked at the burnt-black banner fragments fluttering and falling with vague eyes, then closed the window and returned to my seat.
“I’m late to say hello, but it’s been a while. Is it after 5 years?”
“… Uh, yes that, yes It’s been a little over 4 years. Time flies.”
“I see.”
Perhaps it was because we fought to the death, the silence that came the moment the conversation was cut off was awkward.
“Is Max doing well?”
“Oh, Max…. Yes….”
Instructor Pamela lowered her upper body with a serious expression. I, too, corrected my posture and sat down.
“You…. I thought so when I recruited Robin as a wild dog. Because Robin was talented.”
“Yes. Especially with the dagger throw, there was no one to follow.”
“By the way…. Ha…. How do I explain this?”
“Don’t just hold back, speak right away.”
“The child you recommended…. Max is…. How to say, a little….”
Instructor Pamela slurred her words and leaned her body against the back of her chair.
“What can I say…. It’s too ordinary.”
“… Yes?”
“It’s normal. Even if it’s ordinary, it’s too ordinary. Average fitness. Average strength. Skills with weapons… I’m still in the process of getting my hands on it, so I’m not sure, but I do it as well as everyone else, except for one thing.”
“What was that about?”
Max is ordinary. In all respects. Still, the middle goes, this is the sound.
What’s wrong with that?
“Austin. You, who said you would never take a wild dog except Robin, recommended it to you by handing over a dagger. Don’t you know how heavy that child’s seat is?”
“… Was I that great?”
“… Anyway, I was expecting a lot because I was the one you recommended…. In many ways, it is too ordinary.”
As for the Max in my memory, he seems to be good at archery. Even though it took a little too much strength.
“The bow should shoot pretty well.”
“Yes. Bow only. All other weapons are mediocre, but only one. He shoots really well with a bow.”
“That’s it, well. Raise Max to be a sniper. Don’t force it into the other kids’ training curriculum.”
“… Only selected trainees can enter the sniper course. Are you saying you know?”
“Sure. Didn’t I try to get in there and fall? Well, did you say that swordsmanship was a waste to be a sniper….”
“… ….”
Instructor Pamela stared me in the eye. I, too, looked at Instructor Pamela’s eyes while maintaining a calm expression.
After a brief snowball fight, Instructor Pamela raised the white flag.
“… If you see it with your own eyes, then it must be so. Okay. I will raise Max as a sniper myself.”
“Don’t just pick up the short bow, help me learn the long bow as well.”
“Haa…. You know very well that I try not to give preferential treatment as much as possible, right? I am asking you to listen.”
“Sure. Pamela’s sister. Thank you.”
Look at me, me. As soon as she hears that she is a sister, the corners of her mouth are very close to her ears.
I looked at her with a pathetic expression for a moment, and Instructor Pamela suddenly came to her senses, cleared her throat, and stood up.
“So, is that all you have to do to get here?”
“No. Actually, the real business is different.”
“What is that?”
Instructor Pamela, sitting in front of the desk in the office, asked as she picked up the papers piled up with work related to the training center.
“Actually, I….”
* * *
“Left foot! Left foot! Left foot! There you! Oh wow, I can’t get it right!!!”
“I’m sorry!”
“You bastard, look at that stutter! Ten more laps! Left foot! Left foot!”
Watching the trainees running through the hellish morning at the training center, I immediately thought of the old days.
At that time, I was like that too. Really.
“Why. Do you want to wear it too?”
Instructor Pamela asked playfully, poking me in the side. Unbeknownst to me, my expression was frowned upon.
“No? Are you crazy?”
“… Don’t hate it.”
“Austin. Have you been trained like that?”
“Yes. It was worse when I was. Look at me jumping around If it were me, I would have gotten it right away.”
“It must have been difficult….”
We were walking along the outskirts of the training center along with Instructor Pamela, and were heading to the Ranger Headquarters to meet the leader in person.
To Instructor Pamela, I had explained everything that had happened. Of course, with regards to Luna and Sylvia, I was able to gloss over them somehow with my excellent improvisation.
When I asked about the academy dispatch, which was no different than the main topic, he said I needed to discuss it with the leader. Well, even if it was Instructor Pamela, who was in charge of the entire training camp, she wouldn’t send the instructors without the permission of the leader.
“It just went well. As for the banner, you convince yourself.”
“… It’s the same old lady. Can’t we finish it well with each other?”
“Do you keep calling me a lady? Do you want to die?”
“Joke. Joke. Why are you so hot with a joke? Do you know what it’s called? It’s an old virgin hysteria….”
“Hey.”
“Sorry.”
As I approach my mid-thirties, what is it that is not an ajumma….
Still, there would be no particular problem with the leader, who is a docile and soft-spoken person, even if I directly argue about the banner issue or make noise about the academy dispatch.
The problem is, that person is so different…. He is overly relaxed in everything, and when we talk, he always goes the other way.
The point is, I don’t know if the words will work. Hanging such a bizarre banner proudly was understandable if it was the leader’s order.
“… Will it work out?”
“Well….”
Instructor Pamela, too, blurted out her words, as if unsure.
“Still, I like the current leader.”
“… What’s good about someone who doesn’t know what the hell they’re thinking?”
“The former captains all just shoveled…. Why not. Are you pretty? The things he does are stupid and cute. Honestly, I can’t believe I’m a year older than the instructor.”
“Does that mean I look older than her?”
“… Think about it yourself.”
“Hey!!!!!!”
“Sylvia. Cover your ears.”
“Yes.”
Closing our ears to Instructor Pamela’s nagging, we headed for the Ranger Headquarters.