Midterms with All My Might (2)
I don't have Yeom Junhyuk's raw strength.
I'm not as fast as Serena, either, and my magic can't hold a candle to Lim Sowon's.
But if there's one thing I have over the three of them, it's this:
I've played a lot more games.
As brutal as this situation feels, at its core it's still just a test—not a survival game. Tests have question patterns, and in games, those are called patterns too.
That thing's attacks have a pattern. If my hunch is right, this could end almost anticlimactically.
"Yeom Junhyuk. Think you can move yet?"
"More or less."
"Then chuck that shadow bastard somewhere far away. I need a strategy huddle."
Junhyuk nodded, scooped me up in one smooth motion, and held me against his chest like a princess.
"You're coming too, right?"
"Do you have to carry me like this?"
I grumbled, but all he did was flash a little grin.
"Cute."
"What?"
I was still sputtering in pure disbelief when—
Thoom!
—Junhyuk kicked off the ground and closed the distance on the other two at terrifying speed.
"Junhyuk!"
"Hey, done freeloading and finally showing up?"
"Greetings later."
The second he set me down, Junhyuk charged the shadow as it slashed with its dagger in a murderous arc, driving straight into its guard. He clamped his right wrist with his left hand, gathered every ounce of power he had, and—
"Get lost for a bit!"
CRASH!
It was just a punch, but the dull, truck-hitting impact sent the creature flying.
"You got here fast."
Serena's whole body was a map of cuts and bruises as she sniped at me. Sowon's once-beautiful arms and legs were covered in scorch marks.
I wanted to heal them right then and there—but first we had to put that thing down. No time. I boiled the plan down to the essentials and handed it over.
"I'll take the front. When I give the signal, hit it all at once and finish it."
"What?"
"Philin, are you insane?"
"That's basically suicide!"
I'd expected the pushback. Explaining the logic piece by piece would take too long. The creature would be back on us in its martial-artist form any second.
Right on cue, the air split with a whoosh—
BOOM!
"Whoa—!"
Its kick cratered the ground. I pushed them again.
"Just do what I say! Everyone fall back—now!!"
The sheer certainty in my voice finally got the three of them to drop their counterattack stances and ease in behind me.
For the first time, the shadow monster locked onto me alone. What if I'm wrong? The thought hit, and my body started shaking beyond any control. One of those brainless kicks would shatter dozens of bones and leave me a wreck on the floor.
It came toward me at a slow, deliberate walk. Looking up at a frame a full head taller than mine—exactly Junhyuk's height—the tremor in my chest gradually stilled, and certainty settled in its place.
So I opened my palm.
Toward the three of them behind me.
"What are you doing?"
I cast healing magic on their blank, uncomprehending faces as I answered.
"I'm locking in the target for it to copy."
A healer can't heal themselves. But that thing had cast healing magic on its own body and wiped every scrap of damage clean. I'd turned that violation of basic healing principles over and over in my head, hunting for the hint it was supposed to give—
—and concluded that the healing itself wasn't the point. It was a planted setup meant to teach us the shadow monster's pattern.
Sure enough, it stared at me for a long moment—
—then cast healing magic on its own uninjured body.
"…Ah."
"So that's what it was."
The three of them finally caught on, soft sounds of realization slipping out.
When a martial artist attacks, it becomes a martial artist and hits back. An assassin's blade dance gets answered with even faster butchery; a mage's flames get repaid with stronger magic.
The shadow monster's nature shifts depending on who it's facing. Which means, to beat it—
—the healer, the one with the least power to protect themselves, has to step out in front.
I watched the shadow monster stand there like a robot, endlessly healing itself, and shouted.
"Now!"
The word had barely left my mouth when—
"Flame Chain!"
Sowon bound it in burning chains, and the instant it couldn't move, Serena slipped behind its legs and severed every tendon she could reach.
Its legs gave out. It dropped to its knees with a heavy thud, pitching forward—and toward that falling head—
"Free kick."
Junhyuk put everything he had into a kick that caught the creature square in the skull.
CRACK!
With a sickening sound, the shadow monster's head tore clean off its neck and sailed away like a soccer ball. My mouth fell open at the grotesque sight.
"Whoa."
Calling that "outstanding power" didn't even begin to cover it.
Sowon reeled in her chains, and the headless shadow monster toppled sideways, limp. The neck-stump of a corpse lay there pitifully, slowly rising into heat-haze, then—
—became a blue portal.
Exam over.
Only then did we let out the breath we'd been holding and manage a light laugh.
A quiet little space, barely a few square meters, hemmed in by curtains.
Lying in the bed, I got the nurse's inevitable question about my condition.
"How are you feeling?"
"Still a little dizzy."
"You're recovering slower than expected. Try not to move—just stay lying down."
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, the nurse vanished beyond the curtain. A few seconds later I heard the same "How are you feeling?" from the next bay over. After hundreds of repetitions, every scrap of sincerity and warmth had drained out of the delivery; it was pure paperwork.
Which made sense—every single first-year at the Academy was currently packed into this hospital, groaning.
Now I finally understood why there was a full week with no academic schedule after midterms.
The entire first-year class was attending the injury-ward meetup. Classes couldn't exactly run.
Having the Academy cover every last medical bill was a sweet deal, sure—but free treatment still loses hard to never needing treatment in the first place, and the stress is lower too.
Especially for someone like me, whose internal mana had been completely drained. It was basically the same as being stuck in exhaustion for days on end. While other students recovered in about three days and got four days of free time, I was looking at a full week of hospital life.
Shff. Next door, the nurse finished her spiel and whisked the curtain open. Then almost immediately came another sharp shff—
"Philin!"
By pure coincidence, the tomboy Serena from the next bed had come over and sat primly beside mine, looking absurdly out of character.
"I'm getting discharged."
"Lucky you. I still can't feel anything in my arms and legs."
"Want me to stick around a few more days?"
"Don't. You've got four whole free days for once—go have fun."
"I can have fun right here with you!"
Serena's usual clingy warmth pulled a snort of laughter out of me before I could stop it. The ice-queen cosplay had already failed, so as long as we were here—
"Thanks."
—I might as well be honest and smile back.
When even moving is a hassle, having someone sit with you is genuinely nice.
"But Philin. I feel kind of weird asking something pointless, but…"
"What?"
"Do you really not care at all?"
I gave her an easy smile.
"Nope. Doesn't matter."
Of the four of us, Sowon's injuries had been light enough that she'd only gone through the intensive recovery process on day one and been discharged immediately.
I'd found out she was out the next day, when she sent a message—a photo of herself holding a bouquet.
It wasn't a girls' hospital visit, and she couldn't have seriously planned to haul that mountain of flowers over. She'd said with her own mouth that there was nothing between them—so this was probably just a little "go on, get jealous" energy.
But I genuinely didn't care, so—
It was game-data info, so his tastes might have changed in this world—but if they had, that was its own kind of poetic justice. I cheerfully handed Sowon the tip.
They probably ate well together.
Serena had completely lost it when she heard the story, but—
—it gave me a nice clean excuse to say that, which I appreciated.
Anyway, if those two got closer because of this, Junhyuk's obsession with me might cool off a little.
However.
With a soft shff, the curtain was carefully drawn aside—
"Oh. It's Yeom Junhyuk."
—and the uninvited guest appeared. So much for being a gentleman. I didn't need a mirror to feel my face twisting.
"What. Why are you here?"
Unlike Serena, who looked mildly startled, I glared at him radiating pure annoyance. I'd figured the head trauma would keep him recovering for a while, but with that physique of his, of course he was bouncing back faster than expected.
Looks fine. I looked him up and down and muttered it to myself.
"I asked why you're here."
I caught the hem of Serena's clothes as she tried to quietly slip away. Getting stuck alone with him and letting some weird atmosphere form again would be miserable. That would make sending Sowon to him completely pointless.
Junhyuk's face had gone a little red. He kept gripping and releasing the curtain edge.
This feels ominous, I thought—and right then—
"Should I just say it straight?"
I had no idea what this no-brakes straight-line man was about to spit out, so I shook my head fast and handed him a guide.
"I love you, you're cute, I missed you, I was so worried I thought I'd die, the hospital gown looks good on you—none of that is allowed."
After the machine-gun dump, I replayed my own words and a sudden wave of secondhand embarrassment crashed over me. I prayed he wouldn't say something like I never thought any of that.
Junhyuk let out a soft sigh, then delivered the single carefully selected line with a completely flat expression.
"I'm just glad you look okay."
With that, he whipped the curtain shut again and vanished. Something about his retreating back looked… happy.
"Ugh."
Escape was still a long way off.