Ha Yeeun's Belated Regret (1)
How does a cadet have eyes like that…
Lim Jaeho nearly took an unconscious step back.
An abyss. Something vast and bottomless lived in those pupils — a darkness so dense that his werewolf instincts read it at once.
Only his wild pride kept him planted where he stood.
Normally the other person flinched under his gaze. Right now the situation was completely reversed.
Yeah. Confirmed. Just as I thought — this guy is no ordinary cadet.
Truth was, Lim Jaeho had been watching Lee Junwoo since their days at Theia High Academy.
The hero club Aegis. The public painted them as shining paragons, but to Jaeho they had always looked like clowns.
Right. The Hunter Association, Valhalla's Apostles — all of them obsess over image management and nothing else.
Hunters were hunters in the literal sense: predators walking around with Authorities as weapons. Swap the name tags and there was no real difference between the hunter world and the underworld, between heroes and villains. His father had drilled that into him a thousand times.
In that light, Aegis was just another pawn for the hunter world's PR machine. The mere fact that Song Sia — Song Yuhwan's daughter — sat among them said everything.
But it's weird. Why would a party like that keep a deadweight as a member?
That had been the central question. Junwoo rarely stood at the front, yet he still appeared often enough as an Aegis member. Rumor claimed the blonde-tanned punk had joined just to chase the three girls.
Lim Jaeho only felt attraction toward werewolf women, so he couldn't judge how pretty those three actually were — but the public treated Aegis more like an idol group than a hero party. The rumor about Junwoo had a surface-level logic to it.
But that absolutely wasn't it.
If Junwoo's presence had been pure dead weight, Song Sia's family would never have left him alone. Bad rumors about him had circulated, sure — yet Aegis's reputation only climbed higher by the day.
Junwoo must have had some kind of role.
Besides, Jaeho already knew those three reasonably well. Song Sia was the daughter of the lord his clan served — impossible not to know her. He and An Yumin had gone to the same middle school. Ha Yeeun had been in his class during their third year of high academy.
Honestly, just working with those three is a nightmare.
The public liked to say Junwoo, as the only guy in the party, had hit the jackpot. Reality was different. All three women had… distinctive personalities. An Yumin clung to an almost pathological ideal of justice. Song Sia was a sociopath. Ha Yeeun came off as thoroughly empty-headed.
I've watched them long enough. I wouldn't be wrong about this.
As the next leader of his werewolf clan after his father, Lim Jaeho always analyzed people coldly. Given those three personalities, Aegis should have been drowning in friction and scandal. Instead, they had racked up so many awards at Theia Academy's entrance ceremony that their fame already surpassed ordinary high schoolers.
Someone had been controlling all three of them perfectly.
There's only one conclusion.
The real core of Aegis had been Lee Junwoo.
"……"
Junwoo was still looking down at him. The manic glint from a moment ago had vanished, but the ease remained. A werewolf's stare didn't seem to scare him in the slightest.
Right. This is the same guy who slapped Song Sia across the face with a holy shield during the evaluation. A heart of steel. A werewolf's intimidation is nothing to him…
Jaeho had rewatched the class-placement evaluation replay hundreds of times — the scene of Junwoo smacking Song Sia with that shield of holy power. He hated admitting it, but it was something he himself could never have done.
Honestly… I was grateful to him.
He had nearly cheered out loud. He despised Song Yuhwan, Song Sia, and Valhalla's Apostles — yet his entire clan already lived under the Song family's thumb. Including him. That hierarchy was absolute, unchangeable. So he had fled here, to the Free Major Department, to the middle class.
But Junwoo was different. Maybe Junwoo is the kind of hero who…
This wasn't ordinary guts. The mindset itself looked different. Because his own father had never been able to become a hero, Lim Jaeho had always yearned for a true one — someone unbound by anything, reshaping a twisted world by his own will alone.
Even before the VR training just now, Jeong Siu had picked a fight with Junwoo. Jeong Siu was a thug, but even Jaeho had to admit the kid's skill as an Awakened was exceptional. Any normal cadet would have folded.
But Junwoo didn't even blink.
Honestly, even now — locking eyes with him, the madness gone — Jaeho still felt fear. But the only way to know someone's real strength was to clash with them. Anyone could bluff.
I'll confirm it right here. Whether Junwoo has the qualities of the true hero I've been looking for.
Mindset alone wasn't enough. In this era, justice without power was an empty echo.
If Junwoo has that power as well—!
Lim Jaeho looked up again and shouted.
"Get down here! How long are you going to hide up there like a coward?!"
"I already said no. I've got the high ground — why would I come down? Or you climb up yourself. What, you scared?"
That hit a nerve. Junwoo clearly had no intention of fighting him properly. He just kept needling from above. If Jaeho hadn't seen that flash of madness earlier, he would already have reduced the wooden spire to splinters.
Then a voice cut in from the side.
"You two! If you don't fight right now, I'm retiring both of you! Settle this!"
Instructor Lee Suyeon's voice. Even so, Junwoo didn't move an inch.
Damn it. I can't retire without even seeing what Junwoo can really do!
In the end, Lim Jaeho swung his razor claws at the wooden tower.
CRACK—
The wooden spire was coming apart. Time was getting tight against the limit. In the original plan, Jaeho should have smashed the tower long ago after taking the bait.
I already removed the ladder up here, so that was his only option.
But Jaeho had been cautious. More than that — he seemed excessively wary of me. He had potential to fall into villainy later, but he was no underworld type. A solid hunter-side figure. The Unknown title's effects wouldn't apply to him right now.
Don't tell me he watched the evaluation spar replay.
That would explain it. My opponent then had been Song Sia — the one he feared. And even without the title effect landing on him, my mental fortitude sat at 90.
That itself is a title effect.
A werewolf with senses that sharp might have felt something — the Unknown nature sleeping inside me. Lim Jaeho was a born hunter. He loved frontal clashes, but he was just as careful about reading an opponent's capacity first.
Still, he had already committed.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—
The wooden tower shuddered like it was in an earthquake. Haa. The guy hit like a truck.
Well, at least he finally took the bait. Good enough.
In pure physical strength he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with An Yumin. If he'd used his Authority, the tower and I would both have been pulp. Either way, the plan was working. This wooden spire was sturdy. Even with a Strength stat near 70, with his Authority sealed, battering it until it fell would burn serious stamina and mana.
Now!
True to a physical-type character, Jaeho tore the tower down fast. It started to tip. I picked my moment and jumped.
Tumble-tumble—
I rolled through a clean breakfall and landed safely. With Strength up to 20, I could manage stuntman-level movement without much trouble.
"Lee Junwoo! Let's finish this!"
He looked completely fresh even after wrecking a tower like that. But the light in the mana stone he was holding had dimmed.
Proof his concentration slipped.
Mine, on the other hand, was fully charged. One big shot was on the table. I bolted, but he closed the gap almost immediately. My Speed sat at a pathetic 10. His was at least four times that. Running was never an option.
He caught up and locked on.
"You can't run anymore."
Shing—
Lim Jaeho's weapons — those long wolf claws — caught the light.
Yeah. At that length, Authority or not, a graze means death.
But I had a way to win.
Just one timing window. That's right. Come on, Lim Jaeho.
He eyed me carefully — then finally threw himself forward.
"With this— wait?"
Just as my retirement seemed locked in, he stopped mid-lunge, looking confused.
"Too late, unfortunately. You already stepped on it."
Buried under that exact spot was a fully charged mana stone I had planted earlier.
BOOOOOM—
The ground under Lim Jaeho's feet exploded.
Night had already fallen. After finishing the day's academy schedule, I was at Jiyu's place. My whole body ached. Stats or not, fighting someone whose specs still crushed mine was never easy.
"You even beat Lim Jaeho… The Class 1 kids were talking about you all day. First place. That's amazing… Hehe."
I was lying face-down on Jiyu's bed, shirt off.
"Nngh… Ah— that spot hurts, go easy."
"Mm…"
We had promised to practice War World together tonight. Technically Instructor Lee Suyeon's first lecture had already been solid War World practice, but unfortunately the tournament Jiyu's Mungsukkyu Crew was entering didn't allow linked mode.
"A-all done!! Wait — here too…"
I'd used a breakfall, but jumping from that tower had still done a number on me. So Jiyu was plastering pain-relief patches all over my body. Meanwhile my phone kept buzzing with notifications. I checked it.
A DM from Ha Yeeun. It had been sitting there for hours. When I left it on read, she started carpet-bombing me with messages. She looked desperate. The only thought in my head was one word.
So what.
Not my side job anymore.
Jiyu glanced at my phone.
"Who are you DMing? Don't tell me… Ha Yeeun?"
"Nah. Spam."
I ignored it.
"Then… shall we try it together now?"
"T-try what… together…?"
I looked at her, puzzled, as her face went bright red in a hurry.
"Why— why do you keep leaving me on read?!"
Ha Yeeun screamed in pure despair.
No! I need Junwoo… I need Lee Junwoo!!
In one hour, the Mungsukkyu Crew's tournament preliminaries would begin. If she walked into the scheduled 3v3 War World match like this, she would get absolutely roasted and her stream would freefall into the abyss.
I really… I didn't want to think it, but… was kicking Junwoo out… actually a mistake after all?
Ha Yeeun was regretting it.