After finally finding the monster meddling with her mindscape, the creature changed the dream the instant its identity was exposed.
She had been one step too late.
“Where am I…?”
Yeon Haneul, who had been smacking Do Gyeonu’s backside in the classroom, was now standing in the middle of a middle school athletic field.
“This time, it’s a memory from middle school…?”
She could not sense the creature’s presence.
It seemed she would have to find it again.
Resigning herself to it, Yeon Haneul decided to first confirm what sort of dream the creature was showing her.
That was when she heard a voice.
“Haneul.”
“…Huh?”
It was Do Gyeonu’s voice.
Yeon Haneul turned toward the direction it had come from.
The moment she saw him, she was at a loss for words.
Her mouth fell wide open.
Her rabbit ears shot straight up.
“…”
“Thank you for coming.”
Do Gyeonu was holding a bouquet.
At his feet, candles flickered in the shape of a giant heart with him at the center.
Rose petals were scattered about, and balloons were rolling around as well.
Yeon Haneul had no choice but to ask him as he grinned foolishly at her.
“You… what are you doing right now?”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
His expression seemed to say she was asking the obvious.
Do Gyeonu shrugged.
Just then, voices came from above.
“Hurry up and confess already!”
“You two are seriously amazing!”
“Haneul’s so lucky!”
“Guys! Gyeonu’s confessing to Yeon Haneul! Everyone, look!”
“Gyeonu! You’re the real romantic!”
“If you’ve got time to confess, go study!”
“You lot! Be ready to get penalty points!”
“Hoho, I had days like that too…”
“It’s a wonderful age. Youth truly is enviable.”
Students with their faces stuck out the windows were giggling.
It seemed every student in the building had crowded to the windows.
Even the principal, vice principal, and teachers appeared to be looking down.
“Ah…”
As she looked up at them.
Yeon Haneul felt dizzy.
Meanwhile, whether Do Gyeonu knew how she felt or not.
“Haneul, actually, I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time. I’m only saying it now.”
“…”
Do Gyeonu was putting her in a difficult position, led only by his own feelings.
He scratched his cheek shyly.
Then he dropped to one knee and held the bouquet out to Yeon Haneul.
“Haneul, I like you. No, I love you. You’re the only one for me. So… will you go out with me? I’ll treat you well.”
Do Gyeonu confessed in an earnest tone.
Meanwhile, the people leaning out the windows started whistling.
“Go! Out! Go! Out!”
“Gyeonu’s leg is going to hurt! Hurry up and take it! Playing hard to get forever is bad manners, you know!?”
“Congratulations on day one starting today!”
“Hoho, the school’s official couple has been born.”
“What a wonderful age, truly.”
The crowd fanned the flames like that.
An atmosphere was forming in which she had no choice but to accept the confession.
In the midst of that atmosphere.
“…No.”
“Huh? Haneul, what did you say?”
“I saaaaaaid nooooooooo!”
Yeon Haneul shrieked.
Before she knew it, a metal tag was gripped in her hand.
“I… you don’t want to? No, why?”
“I hate public confessiooooooons!”
Device On.
Yeon Haneul swung the iron hammer.
With all her might.
* * *
The scene changed.
After beating Do Gyeonu almost to a pulp and half-destroying the middle school building, Yeon Haneul found herself in a school hallway.
“…”
It was a familiar sight.
It seemed to be a middle school hallway.
“What are you trying to show me this time…”
Yeon Haneul furrowed her brow.
Surely it would not be a confession in the hallway this time.
To avoid standing still and getting swept up in the situation like before, she quickly walked down the corridor to search for the monster.
“Wow, those two look seriously good together.”
Then, while she was heading toward the central staircase.
Yeon Haneul heard the students gathered in the hallway whispering.
They were all looking toward the central staircase.
‘Who are they talking about?’
Yeon Haneul passed the students.
Soon, she saw a boy and a girl talking by the central stairs.
They were faces she knew.
“What are you doing after school?”
“Nothing? Why?”
“Then do you want to come over to my place today? No one’s home except Mongsil.”
“What are you planning to do after inviting me over?”
It was Do Gyeonu and Kim Suji.
Kim Suji, standing on the stairs, was looking down at Do Gyeonu with a smiling gaze.
Do Gyeonu was smiling as well.
Even from a distance, it was obvious the relationship between the two was not ordinary.
“…”
Yeon Haneul froze in place at the sight.
That was when she heard the students’ voices.
“They’re such a perfect match.”
“Gyeonu’s from the Divine Sword Do Clan, and Suji’s from a prestigious family too, so neither of them is lacking.”
“Love is practically pouring out of Gyeonu’s eyes.”
“What about Suji?”
“How long has it been since they got together?”
“It hasn’t even been a week yet, I think?”
“Didn’t they say Suji confessed first? Ha, I liked Suji first…”
“But didn’t Gyeonu like Yeon Haneul?”
“Ah, that rabbit monster? He did. That’s why he even made a public confession. But what did that rabbit monster do to Gyeonu?”
“How wounded do you think Gyeonu’s pride was when he got rejected back then?”
“Suji slipped right into that opening.”
“Hey! Yeon Haneul’s over there! Shh!”
“Damn, did I say the wrong thing?”
“So what? They say she cut ties with Gyeonu, right? Then she can’t get the Divine Sword Do Clan’s protection anymore, so do we need to watch what we say around her?”
“…”
Through the students’ whispering.
Yeon Haneul was able to grasp the situation.
‘This is a dream. Don’t get worked up.’
Yeon Haneul bit down hard on her lip to suppress her emotions.
She clenched the fist holding the metal tag.
Right then.
“…Gyeonu…?”
Her eyes met Do Gyeonu’s.
The moment he saw her, the corners of his mouth split into a wide grin.
Then, as if deliberately showing off…
“Oh, they’re about to kiss.”
“They’re doing it so openly.”
“…”
Do Gyeonu placed his hand on Kim Suji’s cheek as she stood on the stairs.
She closed her eyes and offered him her lips.
He also closed his eyes and was about to press his lips to hers—
Snap!
At that moment, something broke inside Yeon Haneul’s heart.
Device On.
She swung the iron hammer.
* * *
A man with skin tanned as if scorched by the sun and hair dyed yellow.
He multiplied endlessly, infinitely, and fought against women with rabbit ears.
As they intertwined and tangled together, they turned the dream into chaos.
The metallic clang of weapons clashing against each other never ceased across the entire world.
‘This is a catastrophe.’
The creature that had hidden inside the man’s dream could not help feeling deeply flustered.
Things were going wrong.
It had disguised itself among the endlessly multiplying girls and had been waiting for a chance to kill him, but it had never imagined he would use the fact that this was his own dream to respond in this way.
Numerical superiority had become meaningless.
At the same time, it seemed to understand his intent.
‘He means to reduce the time and cost of finding me, and to hide himself.’
Though discussing reality inside a dream was ridiculous in itself.
Realistically, it was nearly impossible for the man alone to find it hidden among the girls.
On the other hand, it was in a position where it could find and target him at any time.
And so he had multiplied in order to find it, and also to confuse it.
It was a fairly clever ploy.
But it was only half-successful.
The man might achieve one objective, but he would not achieve the other.
‘Do you think I won’t find you just because you’ve created clones?’
It was a dream demon.
There was no way a creature with the power to manipulate dreams would fail to distinguish the man’s dream.
Though it had been briefly shaken by the man’s unexpected ploy, it accurately recognized the real body among the countless men filling the world.
‘Even if all of this is nothing more than a dream, is that girl so precious to you that you cannot even kill her? Foolish and weak thing.’
Unaware that it had noticed, the man was diligently dealing with the girls while searching for it.
But it was here.
No matter how much he searched over there, he would never find it.
The creature laughed at the foolish man.
In the end, nothing about the situation had changed.
It simply had to wait for the right moment and target him.
That moment was now.
‘There is nothing more to see. I have grasped all of the human man’s swordsmanship.’
Finally deciding to begin the hunt.
The creature charged at the man together with the girls nearby.
“Gyeonu.” “Gyeonu.” “Gyeonu.”
“…!”
A look of dismay spread over the man’s face as he was in the middle of fighting three of the girls.
Lion Whirling Thunder
The man hurriedly assumed a defensive form.
But it was within the creature’s expectations.
The core of the defensive form the man was about to unleash was to receive the impact that struck his sword as it was, convert it into rotational force, and create a whirlwind centered on himself.
In that way, he would deflect the attack.
In that case, all it had to do was not attack him directly in a way he could block with his sword.
As if collapsing the ground he stood on.
“…What!?”
The man’s rotation failed.
As the ground collapsed and he lost his axis, a panicked sound escaped him.
‘Now.’
The creature grinned among the girls.
Then it manipulated the girls around it, making them launch a coordinated attack so that he would not even have a chance to respond properly.
“Kh!”
The man was completely driven into a corner.
Though he had been dodging leisurely just moments ago, after being struck once, he was now frequently exposing openings.
The opportunity to kill him had arrived.
‘With this.’
The creature did not miss its chance.
Having firmly seized the advantage, it immediately moved while blending in among the girls.
‘It’s over!’
Raising the giant iron hammer above its head.
The creature was about to bring it down on the man.
It was then that it sensed something was wrong.
‘…!?’
The man’s eyes flashed.
His gaze was fixed on it.
The corner of his mouth curved.
It was not an illusion.
There were certainly other girls around him too.
Yet beneath his yellow hair, that piercing gaze was aimed only at it.
“Eeeeeek!”
It had to kill him right now.
This was dangerous.
Feeling an inexplicable unease, the creature made a sound like it was grinding its teeth and brought the iron hammer down.
Whoosh!
The iron hammer fell.
The man—
Pshk!
Unlike the way he had shown himself refusing to kill her until now.
As if moving instinctively, the man slipped into the creature’s chest.
And without hesitation, he thrust his sword.
“…Kuhak!”
Shwaaaa!
The sword pierced its chest.
Letting the iron hammer fall from its hand, the creature stared at the sword embedded in its chest and could not hide its shock.
But the sound did not carry far, buried beneath the sound of rain.
The creature vomited blood.
The blood was blue.
“H-how did you know it was me…”
How in the world did you recognize me?
Unable to maintain her form any longer after being attacked, the creature asked in an unbelieving tone.
The man answered as if it were nothing.
“Because there’s no way Haneul would seriously try to kill me.”
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss