"Thanks to you taking down the mage, we were able to win."
"...It was a unilateral decision though."
"Right. If you had failed, you'd be a troll; since you succeeded, you're a hero. I was seriously surprised. I thought you had some insane luck. You just suddenly went and slit the mage's throat."
Lee Bokgyu said with a snicker. Rachel, even so, looked only at me and nodded warmly.
"Yes. You really did wonderfully."
"But where did Jamer go?"
Just then, Jin Hoseung looked around and asked out of the blue.
"Jamer?"
"Oh, you're right. Jamer's gone. Jamer did well too."
When I tilted my head, Lee Bokgyu added.
"Jamer... ah."
I kept getting confused.
Jamer and Tomer.
Tomer is the real name; Jamer is the stage name.
That aside, why wasn't Tomer reacting at all? The Purple Banquet's system was very precise and reliable, so there should be no worry about being scammed.
Could it be that she had no money?
"I'll go look for her."
I quietly slipped out of the waiting room.
I looked around the corridor to find where Tomer was.
Restroom, no.
Another waiting room, no.
It was an alley near the vending machine.
Tomer was standing as if hiding, talking quietly on the phone.
As I moved toward her, I eavesdropped on the conversation.
"E-Excuse me. If you could give me an advance..."
Aha.
Tomer was indeed out of money.
To Tomer's cautious question, the person on the other end...
"Are you really saying that? You've been dragging out something that should've been finished in two weeks for months now."
An annoyed voice rang out.
"...I'm sorry."
"If you can't finish by this week, it's demerits and a pay cut. Oh, right. I heard you even lost the item the team leader sent?"
"Ah, that's... I'm truly sorry, but I urgently needed money..."
"Are you out of your mind? You sold it because you needed money?"
"No, no. I didn't sell it. I just lost..."
"Oh, bragging. What a brag."
Tomer got scolded for a long time, then hung up sullenly.
"Sigh."
Tomer let out a deep sigh and turned around.
I was standing right in front of her.
"...Hick!"
She froze like a stone in that instant.
However, even after hearing the entire call, it was impossible to guess that Tomer was a Mine. Perhaps Tomer understood that too, because she soon let out a sigh of relief.
I put a coin into the vending machine and asked.
"What, is something wrong? You asked for an advance."
"..."
Tomer passed by me without a word.
"Want me to lend you some?"
But perhaps because she was drawn to those words I had tossed out casually, she turned her head slightly to look at me.
"...How much do you think it is?"
"Who knows. But you're a mage, aren't you? If you just write an IOU, it's possible."
Because a mage could rake in money with a claw if they just set their mind to it.
Thud, thud—
A soda rolled out of the vending machine.
"I may not look it, but I have quite a lot of money."
* * *
Dragging my sore body, I came out of the duel arena.
The second duel was at 3 p.m. now.
No more, no less—just two more to go, so let's hang in there, let's...
"Hey, Kim Hajin!"
But a familiar voice came from behind me. When I turned my head, Chae Nayun was slowly walking toward me.
"Kim Suho said he saw your skills well~ and told me to tell you."
"Kim Suho did?"
"Yeah. He went straight into a match right now. But how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"The bullet curved. What kind of trick is that?"
Chae Nayun asked in a suggestive voice. I answered simply.
"My talent."
"...That's a fucking boring explanation. ... *Yawn*~"
Out of nowhere, Chae Nayun let out a big yawn and clasped her hands behind her head.
"Ah~ I want to fight quickly too. Since it's afternoon and evening."
"...Ah. I see."
I tried to just ignore her and go on my way, but I had no choice but to stop because there were people in front.
At a distance of barely ten paces, Sin Jonghak and Yu Yeonha were there.
Sin Jonghak's dry, yet cold gaze fixed on me. Devoid of any emotion, his eyes felt contemptuous instead.
Should I say those eyes were like a summer horror special?
He was really handsome, but just as scary.
"..."
Sin Jonghak quietly kept his mouth shut and looked alternately between me and Chae Nayun. Chae Nayun, having silently endured that gaze, soon furrowed her brows and snapped at him.
"What, punk."
"...Haha."
A laugh leaked through Sin Jonghak's teeth. Sin Jonghak liked this side of Chae Nayun. Yu Yeonha, standing beside him, had an expression that said she couldn't understand it at all.
Sin Jonghak trudged toward us.
As if swapping places with him, I brushed past Sin Jonghak and stepped forward.
"Are you leaving?"
Yu Yeonha asked. Her eyes were fixed on Sin Jonghak.
"Yeah. Do you have a match?"
"Yes. At 11 a.m."
"...I see."
As I was about to pass Yu Yeonha like that, I suddenly remembered.
"Ah, right, hey."
"...Yes?"
Only then did Yu Yeonha turn her gaze to me.
I spoke briefly and simply.
"Bullets. 5.56mm."
"...You want me to get them?"
"Yeah. But quite a lot."
"It's possible, but why assault rifle bullets all of a sudden?"
"Because I think situations like that will come up in the future."
"Hmm. Just a moment."
Yu Yeonha immediately operated her smartwatch.
"How many rounds?"
"About... 600 rounds?"
"Six hundred... what?"
"Six hundred rounds."
"...You know that if they're 5.56mm high-grade magic bullets, they're at least 200,000 won per round, right?"
"That's 120 million won total. Is it not possible?"
I looked at Yu Yeonha with disappointed eyes. Yu Yeonha, receiving that blankly, suddenly put on a queen's smile.
"...Pfft. That's something I could do with my eyes closed, so don't try to scratch your pride for no reason. Why, do you need any weapons separately?"
"Yeah. I don't need anything else. Just the bullets, please."
As if by habit, I was about to put my hand on Yu Yeonha's shoulder, but caught myself and stopped.
Ahem.
I coughed once and put my hand in my pocket. She pathologically hates it when someone touches her body.
"I'm going."
"Yes. Ah, wait."
This time, Yu Yeonha grabbed me as I was about to leave.
"That wild ginseng."
"Yeah. What about it."
"I think the elixir will be ready in two weeks. So, by any chance..."
"Are you asking if I can give you more if I have more?"
"...Yes. I think it'll take a while to find a trading partner."
I stroked my chin and pondered.
Wild ginseng.
Honestly, I felt like I could get some by going hiking a few times.
"I can't be sure I can get any, but if I do, I'll trade it for stock in your pharmaceutical company. How about it?"
"That's not difficult at all."
As the conversation continued, Sin Jonghak's voice flowed in from behind.
"Chae Nayun, but why are you hanging out with a guy like that?"
"What? What kind of bullshit is that, coming out of nowhere?"
"...You didn't forget about that time, did you? You were the one who first said that guy was suspicious and told me to crush him."
"W-what? No, th-that... I had misunderstood back then..."
A guy like that.
It was a slightly unpleasant thing to hear, but that was Sin Jonghak's setting.
Sin Jonghak had a strong pride in his bloodline and status.
It was truly something worth boasting about.
Even if the nobility of that bloodline couldn't compare to that of the royal family, Sin Jonghak's distant ancestor was a Chief State Councilor who had advised the king, and his grandfather Sin Myeongcheol was a true noble who had revived the starving Republic of Korea after the Outcall.
"...Please let it go in one ear and out the other. Jonghak doesn't know you well yet."
Yu Yeonha said that while glancing at my expression.
"I don't really care."
I passed by them and trudged toward the lounge.
* * *
7 p.m.
After all duels ended, I returned home completely exhausted.
"Hajin! Hajin!"
The moment I opened the door, Evangel came running with a tearful face, patter-patter.
"Hajin! Hayang scratched me!"
Holding back a handful of tears, she held out her right hand. Looking at it, there was a very shallow scratch.
Sigh.
The sigh that tried to burst out was swallowed down.
One iron rule of childcare.
Never show annoyance to a child.
"...How did it happen?"
"I dunno. I hate Hayang. Hayang, you're bad!"
Evangel shouted toward where Hayang was.
I glanced at Hayang. Hayang was on the sofa, yawning big and acting haughty.
"Did she scratch you for no reason?"
"Yeah! I didn't do anything wrong..."
Could she really have scratched her for no reason?
I looked around. Cat treats were scattered here and there on the floor. Why, they're called "Churu," and honestly the high-quality ones are tasty enough for humans to eat, too.
I had clearly left Evangel in charge, telling her to feed her only once a day... Somehow, it was suspicious.
No way. Hey. No matter how curious and gluttonous Evangel was...
"Evangel. You didn't touch Hayang's treats or anything, did you?"
"..."
In that instant, Evangel's body flinched.
"...Really?"
"Ah, no, it's... I was just wondering how tasty it must be for Hayang to like it so much... I just wanted to have a little taste..."
As Evangel squirmed and continued making excuses, while I was looking at her dumbfounded—
An alarm rang from my smartwatch.
It was a message from Rachel.
[Mr. Hajin! Happy birthday~~ ^-^!]
[This is a gift. You did really well in today's match.]
[Let's go to karaoke together after the exam ~.~]
"...Birthday?"
I tilted my head.
But before long, I remembered.
Today was September 8th. It was my birthday.
Wondering how Rachel knew, I took a look at my smartwatch.
A Happy Birthday party hat overlay was on my messenger profile.
End
9 p.m., the night the first exam, the multi-person battle, ended.
Chae Nayun was idly browsing SNS. Because kids' SNS became active right after an exam ended.
[Uyunha]
[It was hard, but I'm glad the results were good. Good work, our team members.]
Yu Yeonha, who had finished the day with three victories, seemed to have had an after-party at some cafe, uploading a harmonious group photo. For Chae Nayun, whose team atmosphere was bleak, it was nothing but envy.
"...Tch."
She still wasn't talking to Yu Yeonha after their little fight back then. Since she was the one at fault first, she wanted to make up somehow...
Click.
[♥]
[NYChae and 4,593 others like this.]
Chae Nayun timidly pressed like and scrolled down.
Right below Yu Yeonha's was Sin Jonghak's post.
[jonghak2]
[3 wins 0 losses #Cube #SinJonghak #Exam #Hero]
Sin Jonghak's was also a group photo, but the composition was quite different from Yu Yeonha's. Sin Jonghak sitting at the head seat among his minions, as if reigning over them, so to speak.
"When is this guy's chuunibyou gonna get cured."
Chae Nayun clicked her tongue and continued her SNS stalking.
"...Huh?"
Then she discovered a rather interesting photo.
It was Kim Suho's SNS, who had as many as 20,000 followers.
[With Cube's only Gunner, the sharpshooter Hajin]
"This guy... is he good or bad?"
It seemed to have been taken right after the previous class competition's archery tournament; the difference in his facial expression was a bit too extreme.
[leonidas357: Good to see you looking bright.]
[Yunseung_A: I watched the class competition on video too^^ Both Mr. Hajin and Mr. Suho were amazing, weren't they?]
"Pfft. What's she doing over there."
It was a comment from Yun Seunga that clearly showed impure intentions to anyone who saw it.
After giving a slight scoff, Chae Nayun turned off SNS and went into her messenger.
"Huh?"
Scrolling down absentmindedly, Chae Nayun suddenly found something. It was the party hat overlaid on Kim Hajin's profile.
"...So it was his birthday today."
Chae Nayun muttered without much thought. Though she tried to pass by indifferently, she secretly accessed a gifticon shop. Was there anything to give? Even after searching, nothing really caught her fancy.
A cake would be safe enough.
No, if I'm going to give something, giving it directly instead of a gifticon would be... Ay, what do you mean directly. Like I'm crazy.
Between me and Kim Hajin, a single text is all it takes.
Chae Nayun swiftly tapped out a message and sent it.
[Kim Hajin lol was it your birthday today? lol]
But one minute, three minutes, five minutes passed. No reply came. Left with no choice, Chae Nayun added one more line.
[Happy bday lol why didn’t you say anything lol?]
The reply came soon after.
[Thanks]
“……Bastard, acting all unnecessarily cool.”
Pouting, Chae Nayun set down her smartwatch.
* * *
With Thursday as the last day, the exams were over.
I had taken a total of four exams.
Two were team project exams, and the other two were individual exams.
I hadn’t done particularly well on the individual exams, but thanks to doing exceptionally well on the team project exams, I had scored enough to enter the top 200.
Once I became a second-year, I’d probably be assigned a slightly larger room.
But the problem right now wasn’t something as trivial as exam grades.
“……This should be enough, right?”
I bought a top-of-the-line magic bag. It looked just like a duffel bag, but it was a premium product capable of storing up to 200 kilograms. It cost a staggering forty million won, and I had stuffed all sorts of things inside it. An icebox, of course, as well as a tent, a portable stove and other cooking utensils, food like ramen and pork belly, and so on……
Vrrrr—
Just then, an alarm rang from the smartwatch on my wrist.
[Cube will be on break next week.]
[When using overseas portals with your cadet card, 70% of the usage fee will be discounted.]
The good news that there would be no classes next week.
This was probably because of the external investigation.
To be honest, even in the original work, Cube was an organization gradually being encroached upon by devils.
The external investigators wouldn’t find anything particularly noteworthy, but the Djinns’ schemes would shrink back a little.
But what mattered was the message that would arrive next.
[However, the field trip promoted by the Jinseong Foundation next Thursday will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, limited to first-year applicants.]
A field trip.
This was an extremely important schedule.
During this field trip, the main characters would be captured by a specter. And among specters, it was the most malicious of them all, known as the “Specter of the Past.”
This specter would send the group back to the 1970s, to the time when Outcall had broken out. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the real past, but anyway.
This was an event that had to happen. Not only Kim Suho, but Shin Jonghak and Yoo Yeonha would also grow through this incident, and……
“Aaaang!”
Just then, Evandel suddenly screamed.
Startled, I turned around to see Evandel staring at Hayang with shocked eyes. I followed Evandel’s gaze.
In Hayang’s mouth was the boneless chicken Evandel had just been eating.
“Hayang, Hayang, you. You, put that down!”
When Evandel tried to run over, Hayang bit down hard on the chicken. At the crispy sound, Evandel flinched and stopped.
“Okay! Okay, Hayang. First, calm down. Caaalm down……”
Hoo. Hoo.
Breathing heavily, she spread her hands wide and tried to calm Hayang down as if she were dealing with a hostage situation.
“That’s right, calm down…… Cats aren’t supposed to eat that……”
However.
Crunch.
As if Evandel’s persuasion meant nothing, Hayang chewed the chicken. In that instant, Evandel’s face crumbled.
I glanced at Evandel’s plate. It was empty. Apparently, that had been the last piece of chicken.
“Eeeeing! You, you really!”
Evandel chased after Hayang. But Hayang was fast, and Evandel was slow. No matter how much she ran, she couldn’t catch her, so Evandel suddenly threw herself into my arms, where I had been watching quietly, and began whining.
“Hajin! Hajin! Hayang just ate chicken……”
“It’s okay. She won’t die.”
Considering her bloodline.
This cat had received a whopping Grade 4 in mana affinity. Beasts with high mana affinity have excellent recovery, long lifespans, and are quite intelligent.
There’s a reason “spirit beasts” exist.
“No, that’s not what I mean! She stole mine and ate it!!”
“……Ah. That.”