Goehori
6 p.m.
Ham Minju was patrolling the academy grounds, wearing the student guidance committee armband.
Just then, the wolf phantom beasts Solar and Luna let out low barks.
It was a signal directed at her.
She turned her head, following the wolves’ gazes.
There…
‘Huh?’
A familiar third-year senior and her friends were sitting on the grass, drinking alcohol.
It was a violation of school regulations.
“Those seniors…”
She couldn’t just see this and walk past.
Ham Minju’s eyes blazed.
Taking the wolf phantom beasts with her, she headed straight toward them.
Then she blew her whistle sharply.
Piiiiiiip!
“…!”
The group, who had been chatting happily, flinched at the sound of the whistle.
Only then did they notice her, their faces filling with dismay, and Ham Minju spoke to them.
“Drinking out in the open like this during class hours… Seniors, you’re getting demerits. No, even if graduation isn’t far off, haven’t you gotten a little too lax? Aren’t you embarrassed to let your juniors see this?”
“What? We’re done with all our classes!”
“There are still students whose classes aren’t over, aren’t there? Drinking on campus is prohibited until twelfth period, you know?”
“We only had one can of beer! Minju, just let us off this once. If I get even a single demerit here, I might get cut from the clan that’s already agreed to take me! Do you know how badly I wanted to go there? No! Please!”
“If you knew that, you should have been more careful.”
“No, I thought it’d be fine to drink since all my classes were over…”
“Senior, didn’t you make that same excuse when I caught you last time?”
“Ugh…”
“And yet you’re saying you didn’t know? So you just lied to me?”
“M-Minju, I’m sorry… Nooo, I really thought one can would be okay. We were just going to get some fresh air and drink lightly… We never had any intention of throwing a drinking party or making a scene. The other guidance committee members have all used their judgment and let this much slide…”
The third-year senior, with whom she had a history through demerits, pleaded with a tearful face, rubbing her palms together.
As if she had no pride, she even got down on her knees.
Ham Minju furrowed her brow.
If this had been before she’d become close with Do Gyeonu and the others, she would have coldly given them demerits, but…
“Haa… Senior, are you seriously doing this? How many times am I supposed to let you off?”
She had gained a little flexibility now.
Ham Minju, once known as the demerit demon at the beginning of last semester after enrollment, no longer existed.
She relaxed the strength in her eyes and sighed as if there was no helping it.
Only then did the third-year senior’s face brighten.
“Thank you, Minju! I seriously love you! What a pretty junior you are! Should this unni introduce you to some guys? Just say the word anytime! There are lots of good men around me. If I say I’m introducing them to you, they’ll all go crazy.”
“What do you mean, introduce… No thanks.”
The third-year senior tried to hug her.
Ham Minju pushed her away as if telling her not to bother her.
Even so, as if she didn’t entirely hate it, the corners of her mouth were curved upward.
“Only one can. Got it? If I come back later and see you drinking again… then I really will give you demerits.”
“Oh my, yes, yes, got it! Minju’s suffering because of us. Get back safely!”
She really was a shameless person.
Just like Do Gyeonu and the other seniors…
Ham Minju, whose personality had softened somewhat compared to before, left the third-year senior behind.
She decided to continue her patrol.
It was then that she heard a sound.
Meow…
“…Hm?”
It was the sound of a cat crying.
Ham Minju stopped walking.
‘It sounds weak… Is it hurt somewhere?’
It felt too mournful to dismiss as just a cat’s cry and move on.
Ham Minju, who normally liked animals, decided to check on the cat’s condition.
She commanded the wolves.
“Solar, Luna, find it for me.”
Woof!
The wolves responded.
With their help, Ham Minju was able to find the cat easily.
As for the cat…
Her worries had been right.
Meooow…
“Ah… Who did something like this? To such a tiny little thing…”
The cat she found in the bushes was a complete mess, as if someone had abused it.
Ham Minju couldn’t help but feel a lump rise in her throat.
This wouldn’t do.
She immediately took action to treat the cat.
“Kitty, stay still. Good girl. Unni isn’t scary… There, there.”
So she wouldn’t accidentally make it wary.
Ham Minju carefully approached the cat and cast healing magic.
From that day on.
Though it did not violate school regulations, even knowing it was something discouraged, she began taking care of the stray cat.
* * *
In order to prepare for the approaching midterms.
Recently, my friends and I had rented a study space inside the library with Geumgang Coins.
We’d been spending our days there studying with whoever had time.
‘Ah, I don’t want to do this…’
Now that I had left the Divine Sword Do family, I had resolved to live diligently from now on, if only for the sake of my future.
But apparently, this was as far as I could go.
I needed a break.
I took my eyes off my major textbook and lifted my head.
I looked around at the others.
Yong Haerang, who was turning the pages with his chin propped in his hand, was yawning; Go Eunbi was just doodling; Cha Eunsol was sleeping openly; and Nam Yuri, trusting in her clever brain, was reading a comic book.
‘Pathetic.’
I wasn’t exactly in a position to criticize, but I seemed better than them.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, Yeon Haneul, Yeon Bada, Min Arin, Park Sagun, Lisa, Ham Minju, and Yu Gaeul were studying hard.
The first three in particular stood out.
That much was clear.
‘They really want to take first place on this midterm.’
Yeon Haneul wanted to reclaim the first-place seat she had lost last semester.
Min Arin was determined not to let that happen and to defend it at all costs.
And Yeon Bada, along with a sense of rivalry toward the two of them, wanted to earn praise from me.
That was why they were so absorbed in studying for the exam.
To me, who wasn’t particularly obsessed with placing first, it was simply interesting.
While I was at it, since I was taking a break anyway…
‘I’ll watch Haneul.’
From the seat beside her.
I quietly watched Yeon Haneul so as not to disturb her.
Her glossy lips were cute.
So much so that I wanted to devour them outright.
‘What a shame. If it weren’t exam period, I’d pounce on her at night…’
Yeon Haneul and I had been enjoying our newlywed life far too much, to the point that we hardly slept at all every night, so we had agreed to sleep quietly until the midterms were over.
How torturous that was…
Every night, the two of us had to fight against reason.
‘I want to do it… But Haneul wants to take first place, so I can’t get in her way.’
I smacked my lips.
I’d have to be satisfied with just looking.
That was what I was thinking when it happened.
“Are you going to keep staring? It’s distracting…”
My eyes met Yeon Haneul’s.
She muttered with a sullen face.
I chuckled.
“Sorry, did I break your concentration? Keep studying. I’ll stop looking.”
“No, it’s not that… Never mind. I was going to take a short break anyway.”
“Then can I keep looking?”
“Yes, yes. Look to your heart’s content.”
“If you’re taking a break, is there anything you want to eat? Should I go outside and buy something?”
“No, it’s fine. Besides, we’re having dinner later.”
Yeon Haneul giggled.
She was pretty.
The corners of my mouth rose on their own.
After that, to refresh ourselves, we happily joked around and played together.
Perhaps because of that.
“Ugh… I can’t concentrate properly because of you seniors.”
“I agree. More than anyone else, Gyeonu and Haneul are the biggest problem… If you came here to study, you should just study. What is this?”
“Guys, you don’t have to study! You only live once, so just live recklessly! Even if you ruin yourselves, it’s fine. I’ll take responsibility and feed you!”
Starting with Yu Gaeul, Lisa, and Nam Yuri.
Friends who seemed to have been watching for an opportunity quietly began slipping in.
In the end, even Min Arin joined in.
We stopped studying on the spot and enjoyed chatting.
In the middle of that.
“Oh, right, do you want to see a picture of the cat? It’s the cat I mentioned before. These days, it’s gotten a lot healthier. Ah, some seniors might not have heard about it, but what happened was…”
Ham Minju brought up a topic.
Showing us the screen of her smartphone, she explained what she had experienced recently.
“Wow, why is it so tiny? It’s so cute. But… is it hurt somewhere? Why is it wrapped in bandages? …What? You think someone abused it?”
“Mm… It’s black.”
“Ah, so this is the one. I heard about it.”
“Looking at the picture, it seems to have healed a lot. When I first saw it, it was really…”
“Good thing it seems to be doing well. Did they find the culprit?”
“No. There weren’t any clues.”
Looking at the black kitten on the smartphone screen.
Yeon Haneul, Cha Eunsol, Park Sagun, whose voice I felt like I was hearing for the first time in ages, Go Eunbi, Kang Hanbyeol, and Yu Gaeul each gave their impressions.
A few of them seemed to already know about Ham Minju’s situation.
Meanwhile, I sank into thought.
‘That’s not a cat, though…’
At least.
According to the game’s development around this time.
Because of her distinctive conduct, Ham Minju earned the resentment of the students and, furthermore, became isolated within the academy.
Even so, she seemed as if she would not yield and would carry out her will, but…
As time passed.
Her heart was slowly breaking.
To the point that.
「Ham Minju」
—I should just quit everything… I want to drop out…
Those words slipped out of her without thinking.
Ham Minju was feeling disillusioned.
Then one day.
‘She finds a stray cat that’s wounded and on the verge of death.’
Ham Minju cannot turn away.
She treats the stray cat and nurses it with utmost devotion.
In the process, she pours out the resentment she has been keeping inside to the stray cat…
And at that moment, the episode occurs.
In truth, the stray cat’s identity is…
‘Not an animal, but a monster.’
A 4th-rank monster that mainly bewitches people’s hearts and incites them to commit evil deeds: Goehori.
Just before it was subjugated by hunters, it had somehow barely survived and hidden itself within the academy.
‘And it was concealing its monster aura while recovering its strength. Then, just in time, it used Minju when she exposed an opening in her heart…’
In that way, without realizing it herself, Ham Minju ends up bewitched by the Goehori.
The wolf phantom beasts are the same.
As a result, they commit the bizarre act of ambushing students they are on hostile terms with almost habitually.
Meanwhile, the Goehori extends its claws not only toward them, but toward other people as well, urging them to commit evil.
Thus, while the atmosphere at the academy grows more and more ominous by the day.
‘Hanbyeol and the others hear the news and set out to resolve the situation. Then they encounter Minju as an enemy and eventually reach the Goehori.’
At that time, if the episode is cleared…
Ham Minju undergoes a change in personality and opens her heart to Kang Hanbyeol’s party.
Through this, the player can recruit Ham Minju into the party.
Unlike Yu Gaeul, who joins the party right after first meeting them at the club gathering, she joins one semester later.
Conversely, if the player fails to clear it…
‘Well, it’s obvious by now.’
A destruction ending awaits.
Brought about by the Goehori, which uses the students of Geumgang Academy as sacrifices and ascends into a 6th-rank monster.
‘Since the circumstances have changed from the game, I thought Minju probably wouldn’t get involved with the Goehori…’
Though the game had described it as a coincidence, was it actually inevitable?
Judging from the experiences I’d had so far.
It seemed that episodes related to the ending were bound to happen in some form no matter what.
In any case.
‘This is actually better.’
I had already been racking my brains over the Goehori problem.
Thanks to this, I’d saved myself the trouble of searching for it.
While my friends, unaware of the cat’s true identity, were chatting cheerfully…
I spoke as if throwing cold water on them.
“That thing seems to be a monster.”
“…”
My friends abruptly shut their mouths.
They stared at me with looks of utter disbelief.
Ham Minju immediately frowned.
“Senior, are you crazy? What part of this kid looks like a monster? Seriously… If it were a monster like you said, I would have noticed its aura.”
“It’s because that thing is good at hiding its presence. Its power probably isn’t intact right now either.”
“How do you know that, senior?”
As if telling me not to take the joke too far.
Ham Minju’s voice grew sharp.
On the other hand, I maintained my composure.
“I heard the news a few days ago. A nearby clan was subjugating a monster, but they ended up letting it get away. The individual’s name was… Goehori, I think. A 4th-rank monster.”
“Where did you hear that? And I know the monster called Goehori too, but it doesn’t look like this.”
“It’s probably in the form of a cat because it’s not in a complete state. From what I heard, its existence suffered a serious blow, so it might have transformed into a different appearance. Ah, I heard it from the chairwoman.”
“That’s suspicious…”
Except for Yeon Haneul, who knew about my secret.
Ham Minju and the rest of my friends looked at me doubtfully.
I played dumb and made a proposal.
“If I’m wrong, I’ll call you noona. For now, we just need to confirm it, don’t we?”
“Fine! Then if you’re right, I’ll call you oppa from now on. Not that I’ll ever have to…”
“You don’t have to wager yourself too… Still, that’s not bad. Fine.”
“Gyeonu?”
While Ham Minju raised the corners of her eyes and declared that to me.
Yeon Haneul looked at me and smiled.
It was terrifying.
‘No, why…’
Is it because of being called oppa?
No, what’s wrong with that…
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss