An Yumin's Memories: The Freshman Representative (1)
At that moment, An Yumin stood upon the very stage she had so desperately longed for — the stage of Theia Academy.
Theia, where countless elite Awakened gathered. And she was the one chosen to represent its incoming freshman class.
"There's still a little time before the entrance ceremony starts, so there's no need to be so tense."
An administrative staff member from the academy looked at her as she spoke.
Apparently her expression had stiffened without her realizing it. She hurried to answer.
"I understand! I won't make any mistakes, so please don't worry."
At those words, the staff member nodded as if thoroughly reassured.
"As expected of Aegis's party leader. Well then, I'll leave it to you!"
With a bright smile, the staff member walked away. An Yumin let out a small sigh.
"Haa..."
It was a truly glorious position.
This was the first step toward following in the footsteps of her mother, who had been called not merely a Named Hunter but a hero. The trembling pride of that alone would have been enough to make anyone nervous.
But An Yumin knew that wasn't the real reason.
She cast a discreet glance over the freshmen gathered in the auditorium. That distinctive blonde-tanned figure, so easy to spot even from a distance, was nowhere to be seen.
The retest. He said he passed.
Song Sia had told her as much. So, true to his usual habits, Lee Junwoo was probably just running late.
The fact that he had even needed a retest was strange in itself.
She had heard that his attendance and practical scores were poor — but with Aegis's community service points, getting into the academy should never have been a problem.
Probably... his grades were even worse than I thought. Lee Junwoo always was an unreliable man.
And yet a nameless unease lingered.
The thought that those terrible grades might somehow be her fault — the fault of their Aegis activities — kept creeping in.
But An Yumin shook her head.
There's no way. He was probably just off meeting Aegis's female fans or some other girls somewhere, like always.
Still, that vague anxiety, that nagging sense of what if, had been following her for days now.
Of course, back when she had expelled Lee Junwoo, An Yumin had been certain.
That irresponsible womanizer who used even their hero work as an excuse to chase girls — that blonde-tanned punk — expelling him from the party had been the only correct answer.
A shameless man like that would only be happier with less time devoted to Aegis and more free time to chase women. That was what she had believed.
She had found him contemptible.
An Yumin despised lecherous men with a passion that went beyond ordinary dislike. She disliked even ordinary men on principle.
All because of the mother she respected more than anyone — Ju Eunji.
Hunter Ju Eunji, for all her former renown, had largely faded from public memory. Hunters still recognized the name, but young civilians rarely did.
Because Ju Eunji had committed a grave mistake as a hunter.
An Yumin's mother had been deceived by a villain, leaking classified information about a secret operation. She had even fallen in love with him.
The operation had nearly failed because of it.
But once Ju Eunji learned too late that the man was a villain, she staked her own life to ensure the mission's success.
Her reputation and accumulated achievements had allowed the mistake to be quietly buried.
Even so, her mother had taken full responsibility for the failure and left the hunter world behind.
And the villain who had deceived her mother was none other than An Yumin's own father.
Men cannot be trusted.
That was why An Yumin instinctively disliked men.
Even when Lee Junwoo first approached her, she had been deeply wary. He was a blonde-tanned punk, after all — and his reputation at the high school academy had been terrible.
But no matter how coldly she treated him, Lee Junwoo always came back.
Her conviction that she must never get close to a man never changed. And yet, at some point, she found herself looking forward to the hours they spent training together.
Inside her, Lee Junwoo's presence grew, little by little.
And then came the day he confessed to her.
Her heart had pounded so hard that day. But An Yumin could not accept his confession.
Because of the promise she had made with her mother — that she would absolutely not date any man, at least until she finished high school academy.
Unlike her mother, An Yumin had never been interested in men to begin with. But her mother had always been anxious.
Having once fallen for a man and ruined not only herself but an operation shared with her comrades, she did not want her daughter to walk the same path.
To put her mother's mind at ease, An Yumin had promised. She would not so much as glance at a man.
She had even said she would not date anyone at the academy either.
But her mother had insisted that went too far — so the promise was set only through high school academy. Romance could come after that. An Yumin herself had drawn that line.
But after graduation...
The fact that she had suddenly thought that startled her.
At the time she still did not understand her own feelings. Even so, something about Lee Junwoo made her feel that after graduation, she might be able to reconsider that confession.
But after she rejected him, Lee Junwoo began to change.
When he first suggested forming Aegis, I didn't realize what he really meant.
Even after the rejection, Lee Junwoo never left her side. Instead, under the banner of righteous hero work, he founded a club with her.
So I trusted him.
But every word of it had been a lie.
The true purpose of Aegis's hero activities was not her — it was to mingle with new women.
He recruited Song Sia and Ha Yeeun, both rumored to be among the prettiest girls at Theia High School Academy. And he spent far more time with those two than he ever had with her.
An Yumin saw it all clearly.
Lee Junwoo speaking gently to Song Sia. Volunteering as a manager for Ha Yeeun's streams.
Every time, something strange churned in her gut.
Obviously no man without ulterior motives would pour that much effort into other women.
Worse still, Lee Junwoo had been secretly meeting Aegis's female fans on the side.
Mother was right after all. Men... men are creatures that must never be trusted.
Right before she forced him out, he had started showing up late to every Aegis activity and half-assing every task.
During hero work, he had even mistreated the very people who came to them for help.
An Yumin could not endure it any longer.
"Lee Junwoo. I'm kicking you out."
A man like that needed to be driven out immediately. Someone like him had no place among righteous heroes who saved people.
She had been certain she would never regret that decision.
But now, two months after casting him out—
An Yumin was in turmoil.
The hero work she had taken such pride in had begun to falter. Strangely, she no longer felt any joy in their recent activities.
Her heart as a hero who existed for the sake of others remained unchanged.
And yet every time they went out — every time they threw themselves into the work with everything they had — the insults only grew. From the people they tried to help. From the internet.
Even that time not long ago...
The D+ rank villain Dark Snake. She had fully expected to arrest him with ease — and they had let him escape.
Ha Yeeun's opening had allowed him to flee, but it was not solely the nun's fault.
If An Yumin herself had focused harder... and if Lee Junwoo, their operator, had still been with the party... that mistake would never have happened.
No. She rejected that thought.
No matter how capable a man might be, she could not keep working alongside a shameless man who had nothing of a hero in him.
Lee Junwoo...
In that moment, the memory of finding Dark Snake again after Aegis had lost him — of returning to the original scene — flashed through her mind.
"Sorry. Was this the villain you guys were trying to catch? Well, too bad. I got to him first."
As if fate itself were mocking her, Lee Junwoo had been right there.
"Why— why are you here?"
The words had burst out of her unbidden. But Lee Junwoo simply looked at her with a perfectly calm expression.
He was face to face with the very person who had driven him from the party.
Let's see how well you do without me. You're going to regret this for sure.
He had said exactly that on the day of his expulsion.
And yet now, as if the whole affair no longer mattered — as if he understood them completely — he answered her with a kind smile.
"Why am I here? If there's a villain, a hunter — a hero — has to catch them no matter what. Right?"
His words were not a lie.
His clothes were a wreck. During their Aegis days, he had never once ended up looking like that — not the way the rest of them did.
A non-combatant. He had trained as a Paladin, but as an Awakened his combat ability was practically nonexistent.
So even when they went out on hero work, he always stayed in the rear — operating, handling tactical command and nothing more.
I've never seen him look like that outside before.
That ruined appearance was undeniable proof that he had thrown everything he had — desperately, with his full strength — against that villain.
Even after leaving Aegis... he kept doing hero work?
A D+ rank villain, yes — but to Lee Junwoo, Dark Snake must have felt taller than a skyscraper. A fight that demanded he stake his life.
And yet he showed no sense of achievement, no excitement at having taken down an overwhelmingly powerful foe. He simply, calmly, handed the villain over to the Association hunters who arrived shortly after, and left in silence.
Leaving only a single remark for Aegis.
"You guys have it rough too, huh? Well, hang in there."
This was the Aegis that had expelled him. He could have spat curses at them. Or at the very least, he could have sneered with the same meaning.
But from childhood, An Yumin had heard it countless times from her mother: villains and those with malice in their hearts could fake their expressions, but they could never hide the murk in their eyes.
His eyes, however, looked peaceful. No — they truly seemed to hold concern for them.
Could it be... that I misunderstood Lee Junwoo?
The thought struck her in that instant. And once it took root, it fed her anxiety, amplifying it without end.
If that were truly the case, she might have made a mistake she could never take back.
"Let's go, girls."
And so An Yumin fled the scene as if running away. That had been only ten days ago.
After that hero activity, Aegis's public standing had plummeted. Hero work came with various privileges from the Hunter Association — and the backlash was just as severe.
The abuse on the streaming communities in particular had been vicious. Even An Yumin, who normally paid no attention to online opinion the way Ha Yeeun did, had been stressed by it.
Ha Yeeun, that attention-starved patient, had gone into temporary hiatus and stopped streaming. Song Sia, too, seemed to have taken a serious scolding from her strict family and their guild.
"In just a moment, we will begin the twentieth entrance ceremony of Theia Academy!"
The host's voice rang out.
I need to pull myself together.
Her mind was a mess, but she was the freshman representative. She had to focus.
And then, as her gaze swept over the cadets gathered in the auditorium, it snagged on one particular spot.
Choi Hana?
She could see the female cadet with the long black hair.
They had been classmates, but she could hardly call her a friend.
No — if anything, Choi Hana was the kind of peer who ignited a competitive fire in her, both as a hunter and as a fellow woman. A strange sort of rival.
And she could see a man talking with that Choi Hana.
Choi Hana is talking to someone?
Choi Hana was famous for barely speaking not only to men, but even to other female classmates. The fact that some guy was holding a conversation with her was strange enough on its own.
Wait... no way. Is that man—?
A blond freshman. His skin tone was not particularly fair, but not dark enough to call tanned either. She had almost dismissed the possibility—
Until she saw his face.
Lee Junwoo? Why is Lee Junwoo with Choi Hana?
It was him. And they already seemed familiar with each other, continuing their conversation without pause.
I knew it. That bastard... he was never going to change.
Now that he had left Aegis, it looked like he was targeting Choi Hana next.
Choi Hana's personality kept her from mixing with other cadets.
Even so, while she was not on Aegis's level, her looks alone made her a frequent topic of conversation among the students.
Anger surged up in an instant — but somehow it felt different from before. It was as if something inside her were boiling over, as if her insides were burning with a raw, bitter resentment.
Even when Lee Junwoo had caught Dark Snake, she had not felt like this.
Why does it have to be Choi Hana of all people...
But just then, the entrance ceremony host called her name again.
"Miss Yumin? It's time to begin the freshman declaration."
"Yes...? Yes! Understood!"
An Yumin snapped back to herself.
But the image of Lee Junwoo and Choi Hana talking together — of the usually expressionless Choi Hana wearing a faint smile — refused to leave her mind for a long while.
Her hands trembled faintly without her meaning them to. Even standing before the podium now, she felt a crushing, bitter sense of defeat.