It was not.
“Then I’ll be going. If a third party says too much about something this deep, it’ll only cause misunderstandings. You think over the rest yourself, Nayun.”
Yoo Yeonha patted Chae Nayun on the shoulder and turned around.
“······Uh, yeah.”
Chae Nayun’s voice had much less strength in it than before.
Somehow, this felt like she had scored points with both of them. Yoo Yeonha retraced her steps with a very light heart.
“······.”
Now, in the wide, silent forest, Chae Nayun was left alone.
Chae Nayun stared blankly ahead.
Whoooosh— Wind blew in from beyond the darkness and brushed against the tree branches.
Watching the leaves sway and fall, Chae Nayun took time to look back on her previous day.
* * *
“······Haha. You’ve gotten really big.”
I smiled warmly as I looked down at the seed. The way it wriggled, trying to suck my blood, was strangely cute.
I knew what form this seed would take once it hatched. At first, it would probably take the shape of a human. A three- or four-year-old child, at that.
But Evandel was an exceptionally gifted witch. Temporarily transforming her own body into something like a cat or dog should be nothing to her.
“Should I make it a cat, or a dog······.”
That was the dilemma. Raising a child in Cube was absolutely impossible, but bringing in a pet was allowed. In fact, Cube encouraged pets, saying they had a positive effect on emotions. There was even a pet adoption center on Cube’s grounds.
“When are you going to hatch?”
I gently rubbed the squirming seed’s belly. The seed trembled as if it were ticklish.
“There, there. Cute, cute.”
I suddenly thought of Mong. He’d only liked Mom and Dad, not me, but right now, I missed everyone back on Earth.
It was then.
All of a sudden, an alarm rang from the laptop I’d left on atop my desk.
[SP has increased by 253.]
[A marvelous stroke of luck has influenced your human relationships!]
[Nine Lives (2/9)—The special stat ‘Accumulation of Luck’ is partially activated!]
“······What is this?”
It was an alarm I couldn’t understand at all.
End
The penthouse of Dormitory 4.
In that place, vast and all the emptier for it, Chae Nayun lay alone on her bed.
Today was the weekend. Saturday had already passed and it was Sunday now, but at least there were no classes. However, classes would resume again starting tomorrow.
“Haa······.”
Chae Nayun let out a deep sigh. The moment she thought of tomorrow, fear inevitably crept in. The rumors must have already spread. That Chae Nayun had lost to Kim Hajin, and that the difference in skill had been overwhelming. Some people would feel delighted, and others would worry. Chae Nayun would have preferred the emotions directed at her to be satisfaction or schadenfreude rather than concern or pity.
But what bothered her even more than those rumors right now was, as expected, Kim Hajin himself.
“Cigarettes······.”
Chae Nayun suddenly remembered what had happened at the mountain villa. Kim Hajin had said, as if talking to himself, that he had quit smoking. At the time, she had thought he was just some delinquent trying to show off, but had it not been that? Had he been carrying a proper reason and a wound of his own? Had he been unable to endure without relying on an object because there wasn’t even anyone he could lean on······?
Chae Nayun pressed herself flat against the bed.
The harassment Kim Hajin had endured all this time had left traces behind. The messy posts written on Shin Jonghak’s group’s SNS accounts and circle pages. Chae Nayun had looked through all of them. Just as Yoo Yeonha had said, many of them were things she could hardly bear to look at with both eyes open. Shame, embarrassment, and guilt gathered together and tangled into a complicated emotion.
All of a sudden, such a thought occurred to her as well.
A change of armament. A change of position.
Thinking about it, those were all things Kim Hajin had experienced first.
Kim Hajin was said to have originally been a swordsman. But he had put down the sword. It was probably because he realized that his talent lay not with the sword, but somewhere else.
Then what had he felt back then? When he had to abandon everything he had built up over his entire life and choose a weapon called a gun······ what kind of thoughts had he harbored?
Chae Nayun reached under the bed. In the space beneath it was a suitcase of a suitable size. She pulled it up onto the bed. Sitting up, she opened the suitcase. The memories she had kept until now revealed themselves.
First, around a hundred photographs. They were pictures taken with the people she had had to bury deep in her heart so she would not be hurt, and yet could never forget.
Her mother, and her older brother. In the photos, she was smiling brightly with them. The young Chae Nayun looked so happy that simply looking at her made tears well up inside.
“Hup.”
Chae Nayun held back her tears. Forcing her reddened gaze away, she picked up the short blade placed on top of the photographs.
A short sword only one meter long. However, this item had a rather special magic effect added to it, so when magic power was infused into it, its length increased. Its maximum length was probably somewhere around four meters. This wondrous sword was the weapon Yoo Sihyuk had gifted her eight years ago.
For the first time in a very long while, Chae Nayun held it. Now, it merely seemed like a cute toy, but when she was young, it had been a weapon heavier and more frightening than anything else.
Back then, how many meters did I manage to extend this? I couldn’t have handled much magic power at eight years old, but I remember making it at least two meters long.
Chae Nayun infused magic power into the sword. The sword stretched out smoothly, shooting up until it nearly touched the ceiling.
“Wow.”
I really have grown a lot too. Feeling that anew, Chae Nayun watched the sword for a long time. Then, following the teachings of her old master, she wrapped the sword in magic power. Blue magic power emerged clearly and clung to the blade.
Bzzzz.
The sword resonated with her magic power. It was the manifestation of ‘Sword Qi.’
“······.”
Chae Nayun rested her forehead against the sword. Then she quietly closed her eyes. The cool touch of steel. The trembling cry of magic power. Chae Nayun felt them.
* * *
On Sunday, I had a meeting with a Cube official. It was because of something called “aptitude talent.” It seemed the fact that I had won the bet against Chae Nayun, and that my best record was 900 meters, had already reached the ears of the officials.
They asked me whether it was true. After hesitating for a moment, I nodded. Then they asked whether I would choose to have the information made public or kept private.
I chose private.
In truth, whether I chose public or private, it would be revealed either way. The only difference was that one was free, while the other was a commodity. My information, if there was any demand for it, would be sold by a few officials for money. In reality, since the rumors had probably already spread, they would be taking money to “officially confirm” those rumors as true.
In any case, after finishing the meeting, I left the administrative building. Since the exam would begin in just two weeks, the outside was deserted. Everyone was probably studying or training in the library or the physical training room.
However, I walked straight back to my dorm.
As soon as I opened the familiar door and sat on the sofa, I turned on my laptop.
There were a lot of things I needed to buy in preparation for the exam.
[Automatic tent]
[Pork belly]
[Chicken]
[Frying pan]
[Burner]
······Other than those, I put every item that would help with camping into my cart. It came out to a whopping 1.98 million won, but I paid without hesitation.
Of course, right before the finals, the instructors would inspect our belongings to search for privately purchased armor and weapons. But these kinds of items were allowed. Even if they asked why I bought them, there were plenty of excuses I could give. I could just say I prepared them all just in case.
[Payment of 1,988,900 won completed.]
Along with the payment confirmation message, a text from Park Suhyuk arrived right after.
[Hajin. We made our website. Take a look. You’re on the investor list too.]
[wmw.shagent.com]
“Oh?”
An agent site, apparently. I accessed it.
「Cultivating Trust ─ SH Agent」
[About SH Agent][Investor List][Affiliated Hunters]
The design and the font both made it look pretty plausible. But affiliated hunters? Did they just add that for appearances? Chuckling, I clicked on it.
===
[Jamie King]
Born August 3, 1997
Hunter with 5 years of experience.
[Joshua]
Born September 1, 2005
Hunter with 1 year of experience.
===
“What the. They actually have some?”
Unexpectedly, there were two of them. I didn’t know who either of them were, but, well, having people was a good thing.
This time, I clicked on the investor list. At that moment, I was slightly surprised.
I thought I’d be the only one there, but at some point, one more person had squeezed herself in.
[Kim Hajin, Yoo Yeonha]
She really is quick.
I let out a small laugh and closed my laptop.
[How’s the site?]
[It’s clean and nice. But you should probably put Yoo Yeonha before me on the investor list.]
Even if she pretended otherwise, Yoo Yeonha was the type to care a lot about things like that.
[Why? It doesn’t really matter, but shouldn’t you be first? Whether by investment order or alphabetical order.]
[No. Listen to me.]
If they kept leaving it like that, there was a chance the investment amount would be slashed by a huge chunk in the future.
* * *
The next day.
“Phew.”
I was taking deep breaths in front of the school gate.
I was especially nervous today. There had been around seventy spectators at the archery duel alone. Because of that, the rumors should have spread within a day, but a full three days had passed. At this point, anyone who didn’t know was probably a spy.
Because of that, I was afraid to enter the classroom. Still, I opened the door and went inside.
Gazes immediately stabbed into me. They whispered about me. I ignored the voices and walked. Then, as usual, I sat in the shadowy back seat and looked around. Chae Nayun was not in the classroom yet.
“······?”
No, I thought she wasn’t. But for some reason, I kept hearing a familiar voice, so I looked in that direction.
There was Chae Nayun, changed from usual. To be specific, her brown hair, which had previously fallen at least to her armpits, had been cut short to her shoulders.
Chae Nayun and Yoo Yeonha were talking in whispers.
“······By the way, how’s short hair? It does suit you.”
“Hair is hair. It’s just not hot, so it’s nice. You should cut yours too while you’re at it.”
“I don’t really need to······ But you didn’t cut it because of that bet, did you?”
“I cut it because it was hot, okay? And people can lose sometimes in life. Do I look like the type to dwell on something like that?”
Judging from the atmosphere, aside from her hair being cut, she seemed the same as usual.
But at that very instant, Chae Nayun stretched and turned her head to the side. For some reason, it seemed like she was about to look this way, so I hurriedly buried my head in the notebook I had placed on my desk.
* * *
Chae Nayun pretended to stretch and glanced sideways at where Kim Hajin was sitting. He had just come in, and he was completely focused on studying.
“Nngh~ Ah, I’m tired.”
Chae Nayun looked forward again.
“Oh right, Chae Nayun, did you study?”
At that moment, Shin Jonghak, who was sitting right behind Chae Nayun, asked. Chae Nayun answered simply.
“I just did a decent amount.”
At Cube, theory had a fairly low weight. The ratio of practicals to theory was seven to three. However, since the practical exam had considerable power to distinguish students, at least among the upper ranks, rankings from practicals tended to hold until the end.
“A decent amount? Then you’ll be around rank 600 again this time. Hahaha.”
Seeming to mistake Chae Nayun’s pretending to be fine for actually being fine, Shin Jonghak teased her without reading the room.
“······.”
Chae Nayun glared fiercely at Shin Jonghak. Shin Jonghak, who had been snickering, blinked at the sudden hostility radiating from her and backed away.
“Oh right. The Phenomenal Realm Analysis notes you asked about yesterday.”
This time, it was Kim Suho, who was sitting beside her, speaking.
“Thanks. I’ll copy them and give them right back.”
“Don’t trust them too much. Other than Kim Hajin, almost no one understands Phenomenal Realm Analysis······.”
Kim Suho realized his mistake after the words had already left his mouth.
“Yeah. Other than Kim Hajin, no one understands it. It’s fine. Seriously, everyone makes such a huge fuss.”
Chae Nayun shook her head and placed Kim Suho’s notes in front of herself. Yoo Yeonha was better at studying than Kim Suho, but frankly, Yoo Yeonha couldn’t be trusted.
In fact, Yoo Yeonha had made two separate sets of notes because she didn’t want to lend them to Chae Nayun.
Clatter—
At that moment, the theory professor burst in.
“Now, now. Quiet down. You all know the exam is in two weeks, right? The exam scope goes up to the ‘aurora reaction.’”
The once-noisy classroom fell silent. The professor announced the exam coverage once more, then immediately began the lecture. Chae Nayun spread her notebook wide and gripped her pen. At least for today, she would study hard. It was time to show that she had changed… Though she was a little sleepy… This was the professor’s fault…
When she closed her eyes and opened them again, the screen was filled with notes to copy down.
“Now, now. A calculation problem. A calculation problem, the kind you all struggle with. There are quite a few cadets who don’t even understand why they have to learn this. But when you actually enter a dungeon later, you’ll understand, so don’t go shedding tears of blood then—work hard now.”
At some point, the theoretical explanation had apparently ended, and they had already moved on to solving problems. Chae Nayun simply could not comprehend this distortion of time.
“For this problem, I’d like to have one of you try it as a test. Let’s see…”
The professor paused the lecture for a moment and began looking over the cadet roster. Chae Nayun tensed up instantly. He’s not thinking of calling on me, is he? I already feel like dying of embarrassment because of that archery duel incident, but if I have to suffer this humiliation today too…
“Ah. Cadet Kim Hajin. Come up.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t Chae Nayun.
Kim Hajin rose from the very back row. As he trudged toward the podium, the cadets’ gazes gathered on him. Soon, standing at the front, Kim Hajin received the hologram pen from the professor.
He solved the problem without hesitation. His process, calculations, and definitions were all flawless and complete, and even his handwriting was neat. Chae Nayun stared blankly as he wrote down the letters and formulas, then suddenly came to her senses and hurriedly copied them into her notebook.
“Good. Very good.”
The moment Kim Hajin finished solving the problem, the professor applauded. The cadets were busy copying down his notes.
“Perfect. As expected of the number one in the world. You can go back now. I’ll handle the explanation.”
Number one in the world? Kim Hajin tilted his head slightly as if puzzled, but turned around without asking anything.
“Now. Everyone, look. This is a perfect model answer.”
The professor drew the cadets’ attention. This time, Chae Nayun also opened her eyes wide and watched the professor closely.
* * *
Monday night, 10 p.m.
As soon as I finished exercising in the physical training room, I came to the shooting range. I practiced shooting after cranking the difficulty all the way up, pushing myself pretty hard. In other words, it was stage 10, where even the targets attacked.
But. While I was practicing that diligently, some faint shouts kept piercing through the wall from the room next door.
Hiya! Huryap! Stuff like that. I was so curious what kind of training those shouts were for that I looked through the partition wall.
“…Hm?”
In the shooting range next to mine, Chae Nayun was swinging a sword. In front of her was a training dummy, though I had no idea where she’d gotten it.
Swordsmanship training in a shooting range didn’t exactly fit, but it was still a good sight.
Chae Nayun would only begin wielding a sword in earnest a full year after graduating from Cube. The turning point was the “battle for Genghis Khan’s relics” that took place in Mongolia. There, Chae Nayun encountered the Djinn who had killed her mother, but she had been unable to kill him with a bow.
If Chae Nayun started honing her sword from now on, then by the time she went out into the world, she would probably become a monster second only to Kim Suho. Feeling oddly pleased, I ended my training with some finishing stretches and headed outside.
But the moment I stepped out, the door next to mine opened at the same time. From beyond it, Chae Nayun came out, wiping away the sweat that covered her entire body. For an instant, my body stiffened. Chae Nayun was the same.
“…”
“…”
To be honest, I did feel somewhat sorry. Even if my intention had been to provoke Chae Nayun, I had touched her reverse scale twice. Because of that, I had to open my mouth first before Chae Nayun could attack me, just in case.
“…Looks like you were practicing the bow?”
“Huh? Y-Yeah.”
Chae Nayun, nodding, replied awkwardly.
“Y-Yeah. What of it? Is that not allowed?”
“No. Go ahead. Work hard.”
I tried to end the conversation there and quickly leave, but all of a sudden, Chae Nayun called me to a stop.
“Hey.”
“…”
Inwardly