Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Annoying Shadow
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“The idiot wandering around with flowers in her hair? Fine, whatever.”
Cheon Hye-ji glared at Park Hae-rin, who was trailing doggedly behind Kang Jae-hyeok.
“What’s her deal, following you around? Don’t tell me she’s on your team too?”
“Yeah.”
“Ha! This girl’s a riot.”
Letting out a scoff, Cheon Hye-ji swept back her lush golden blonde hair.
Her school uniform shirt, with its buttons undone in a delinquent style, stood out prominently.
“If you’re picking teammates based on pretty faces, why didn’t you scout me?”
“…?”
“You didn’t think I’d turn you down because of Lee Jin-seong, did you? If you wanted a beauty, you should’ve manned up.”
What the hell is she talking about?
Kang Jae-hyeok could only put on a baffled expression, holding back harsh words. In his stead, Du Bae-su smacked Cheon Hye-ji on the back.
“Cut it out! Comparing you to Da-hee or Hae-rin is going too far.”
“Huh…? Uh? Hey! You pig bastard Du Bae-su! Are your eyes buried in fat and blind? What’s so great about them compared to me! What?!”
“Hold on!”
Chae Da-hee, who had been striding ahead, spun around abruptly.
She’d been trying to let Cheon Hye-ji’s noisy chatter go in one ear and out the other, but one thing had been grating on her.
“You called me an idiot wandering around with flowers in my hair? I’ve never worn flowers in my hair, and I’m not an idiot!”
“It’s a figure of speech. Don’t tell me you don’t even know that?”
“It’s teasing!”
“Oh my, look at her yelling her head off. Just like a kid throwing a tantrum.”
“Hey, you were just screaming your lungs out too… Urk.”
Even Du Bae-su, who’d been acting as Cheon Hye-ji’s brake, collapsed.
While Lee Jin-seong supported him as he clutched his solar plexus and gasped,
“You got energy to spare? Want me to put it to use?”
Kang Jae-hyeok warned Da-hee and Hye-ji, whose argument was escalating.
His gaze was chilling.
It was a far cry from his usual mischievous boyishness.
A faint blush colored Cheon Hye-ji’s cheeks as a shiver ran down her spine.
“Yeah… put it to use.”
“…?”
Kang Jae-hyeok’s eyes widened.
‘Did she like training that much?’
She was always the one complaining the most, but people do change.
Feeling oddly pleased, Kang Jae-hyeok pondered how to train her during class.
‘Her mind’s always in the gutter.’
Sensing it, Hye-ji frowned and changed the subject.
“Anyway, who are the other teammates?”
Lee Jin-seong answered in Jae-hyeok’s place.
“Who else? The 2nd-year mad dog.”
“Ah…”
Hye-ji sighed and gave an awkward smile.
Any lingering desire to join Jae-hyeok’s team had been cleanly dispelled.
“You guys are in for it. Gotta watch out so he doesn’t pick fights left and right, huh?”
Baek Do-jin’s temperament had already become infamous even among the 1st-years.
As Hye-ji strode away, Lee Jin-seong and Du Bae-su followed.
Meanwhile, Kim Jin-rae hesitated in place for a moment.
He bowed his head deeply to Jae-hyeok, who was looking at him curiously.
“Thanks!”
“For what?”
“…There must be a reason you can’t hear the full story. Still, I won’t pretend not to know. I’ll definitely repay the favor. The person who helped the one I love most in the world is precious to me too.”
The one he loved most in the world.
His father.
Not long ago.
Kim Jin-rae had confessed his father’s story to Jae-hyeok by chance.
It was a tale tangled up with his father’s workplace, Daeyang Shipping, and the Lion’s Castle Archery Club.
And a few days later.
New word came from his father.
Everything had worked out fine, so no need to worry.
It had been ages since his father’s voice sounded so calm and pleasant.
All the worries weighing on his heart seemed lifted.
What on earth had happened outside Lion’s Castle?
As an ordinary student, Kim Jin-rae couldn’t even imagine.
But one thing he was certain of.
Jae-hyeok had undoubtedly helped his father.
“…Take good care of him while he’s healthy.”
Jae-hyeok had planned to play dumb to the end, not wanting to seem like he was fishing for thanks, but he responded in the end.
He was essentially fatherless himself.
He had no choice but to offer advice to the boy who said his father was the one he loved most.
“Yeah…!”
May all parents and children in the world cherish and love each other.
Da-hee and Hae-rin watched Jae-hyeok turn away, his wish sincere, with strange expressions.
***
“Damn it…! Goddamn it! Son of a bitch!!”
Crash!!
The boy, his face wrapped tightly in bandages, hurled the mirror.
Jeong Ru-han.
Pain was a deeply foreign concept to him.
Thanks to his father, the real power behind Guardian Guild, he’d been raised like a precious gem.
Materially and emotionally, he’d always been fulfilled.
And once his engagement to his childhood friend Park Hae-rin was set, he had nothing to envy or fear in the world.
He believed he’d soon take over Guardian and enjoy life.
But what the hell was this?
His delayed treatment left his face grotesquely slow to heal.
Every bone in his body was shattered, nowhere pain-free, and worst of all, his mind was tormented.
In recent days, he’d heard that Park Hae-rin was trailing Kang Jae-hyeok everywhere.
“She doesn’t visit me even once while I’m bedridden and chases after another guy’s heels? After a lifetime of upbringing, she’s still like that—born with vulgar, slutty nature!”
“We’ll separate the young lady from that guy right away, so please calm down. You need to rest until the high-grade potions arrive.”
Voices came from outside the window.
They belonged to workers cleaning the dormitory exterior.
Their true identities were Jeong Ru-han’s shadow warriors, disguised as ordinary laborers.
Unlike typical bodyguards, they hid their status normally.
That secrecy was their greatest weapon.
They could move without anyone knowing.
But now the situation had changed.
Kang Jae-hyeok knew of their existence.
“Shut up! Don’t show your faces to me for a while and get lost, you useless fucks!”
Jeong Ru-han bellowed, veins bulging in his eyes.
He resented the shadow warriors.
Pathetic idiots who couldn’t handle one freshman.
If they’d done their jobs, he wouldn’t be hurt, and Hae-rin wouldn’t have shaken off his hand.
“With Kang Jae-hyeok possibly exposing you to Lion’s Castle, you wanna act reckless? Are those heads just for show? Huh? I’ll handle Kang Jae-hyeok myself, so you lot stay quiet like dead rats for now.”
“…Young Master, you’re not thinking of relying on Elder Gu Suk’s grandson, are you? If the sub-master finds out…”
“Shut your trap!”
Unable to contain his rage, Jeong Ru-han threw his spittoon.
He was so worked up he didn’t consider how it would shatter the window, alerting the dorm and putting the shadow warriors and Guardian Guild in a bind.
The middle-aged man silently caught the feebly flying spittoon and sighed.
He was the one who’d been posing as a gardener and gotten badly beaten by Jae-hyeok.
“Please judge calmly.”
“What would a loser who got beat by a kid know about giving advice?”
“…Rest well.”
The shadow warriors vanished.
The spittoon left on the windowsill made the room’s scene—bloodied bandages scattered about—even more desolate and eerie.
“Shit!”
Muttering curses, Jeong Ru-han staggered painfully to his feet.
His destination was close.
Right upstairs.
Where the 2nd-years’ dorms were.
***
-What, is Jae-hyeok tired already? Then sis’ll head out first?
When she was around, it always felt like summer.
Light clothes, sweat trickling down her tanned skin, ragged breaths, and a smile as radiant as the sun.
-That’s how you do it there. Yeah, good job. See? Sis is the best, right?
Her unwavering confidence always looked so cool in Jae-hyeok’s eyes.
Kang Hyeon-ah.
The one he once called noona.
-Don’t worry about sis! I’ll eat well and sleep well even in prison! Yeah, 15 years is nothing! Listen to sis and just take good care of Dad!
“…Why would I worry about you.”
You should’ve worried about me.
Jae-hyeok sat up in bed, muttering, his body drenched in cold sweat.
Aftermath of nightmares that had plagued him all night.
Dreams of repeated calls from his siblings with the same message.
This must be sweat too.
He wiped the moisture from his eyes and headed to the bathroom.
Stripping revealed his body.
The boy’s nude form was beautiful as a statue.
Sunlight filtering through the open door made the mirror gleam as if gasping in admiration.
“…….”
But Jae-hyeok wasn’t satisfied with his own appearance.
The muscles he’d ideally trained over the past 8 years suddenly seemed meager.
In his dream, Kang Dae-seong had been imposingly massive.
Like a tiger standing on two legs, just like their father—intimidating to behold.
And me?
Jae-hyeok ground his teeth recalling the Noble club members who hadn’t flinched no matter how many times he mentioned House Kang.
Cha Jo-ah’s Head Drop technique came to mind too.
[Head Drop]
It perfectly mimicked Kang Hyeon-ah’s.
No, it was definitely hers.
She’d just thoroughly analyzed and precisely trained it until it became her own.
“Daring to use it in front of me.”
House Kang’s technique?
Typical of a generation raised on distorted history.
Cha Jo-ah surely didn’t know the real history.
Thus, she didn’t fear House Kang.
In the worst case, she might not even know Head Drop was theirs.
“Cha Seung-min…”
Cha Jo-ah’s father.
The military powerhouse who could drop even birds from the sky.
Repeating the name, Jae-hyeok finished his shower and left the room.
“Wait, I need to see you a sec.”
The familiar dorm supervisor, wearing a grave expression, was waiting for Jae-hyeok.