The Study Group
I felt like if I stayed there any longer I would get swept up in the atmosphere again, so I headed home first.
“So that’s what happened.”
If you were betrayed in that manner by a woman you truly loved, it made perfect sense that your personality would twist. As someone who had once been a man, I could understand. When you get dumped like that, your pride gets shredded to pieces.
Come to think of it, this wouldn’t be limited to just men or women.
“What kind of crazy bitch does that? She cheats on him and then badmouths him?”
Of course, I probably ought to hear her side of the story too. Memories had a way of distorting details over time to suit one’s own feelings. But Cheon Ma-ru didn’t seem like the type to lie about something like this, and it was unlikely his recollection would have suffered any major distortion after only a year. So she was the trash. If you didn’t like the other person anymore, you should break things off cleanly and look for someone new. Why two-time them? If she felt wronged, she could have come forward and explained herself.
“Ugh…”
Whenever I thought about it, the final words and actions kept resurfacing. The way I had suddenly stroked his head, brushed his bangs aside, and said those cringeworthy things.
But I really couldn’t help it. The sight of him trying to hide the wounds he’d received looked so pitiful that I wanted to do something—anything—for him.
“I’m not usually this easy…”
My hunter career had only lasted three years, but I had gone through enough real battles to border on overwork, so I had met all kinds of people. Among them were those who had been dumped and those who had lost family members. I had definitely felt pity for them too, but I had never felt the sudden urge to stroke their hair. Strangely, that impulse had appeared this time.
“Is this maternal instinct?”
Had I become that lonely after my little sister went abroad to study? Should I have cried and begged her not to go? But no matter what, as her older sister, how could I stand in the way of her future? Should I have followed her then? But what about our parents? Ah, I didn’t know. My head hurt.
“Let’s just sleep.”
When it came to sorting out complicated emotions, sleep was the best solution.
No matter what, the sun always rose. Today, as usual, I stood in front of the door waiting for Cheon Ma-ru. Yesterday’s events might make things awkward, but I just had to hold on until we reached the academy. For everything else, I would have to trust Kim Chae-eun.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning.”
It was a perfectly ordinary, run-of-the-mill morning greeting. The first time I had waited in front of his house I had been incredibly flustered, but before I knew it this had become routine. And fortunately, it seemed he had no intention of bringing up what happened yesterday.
“Did you get home okay yesterday? Friend.”
…Never mind. He was going full throttle.
“Uh, yeah. I got home fine. It’s literally the house right next door.”
“True, that makes sense.”
Still, the atmosphere felt different somehow. Not in a bad way—maybe a little brighter? Whatever the case, since it seemed like he had only mentioned it once, Cheon Ma-ru didn’t bring up yesterday’s events again.
Yeah, well. If my actions yesterday had been meaningful, that was a relief. I could at least do this much for a friend. I never thought I would end up thinking of him as a friend, though.
When we arrived at the academy, Kim Chae-eun and Heo Yeon-hwa were already there, chatting with each other. I tried to sit down quietly without interrupting, but they noticed immediately.
“Hello hello~!”
“Hello…”
Ma-ru and I returned the greeting and took our seats. The ever-energetic Kim Chae-eun came running over, words tumbling out.
“A-rang!!! Have you finished preparing for the midterms?”
“Huh? Midterms? Isn’t it still a while away?”
“Even so, shouldn’t we start getting ready?”
It might not have mattered before, but these days guilds considered academy grades when recruiting new members. Ranks only indicated magic power capacity and didn’t reveal disposition or skill level. A strong-but-stupid fighter was nothing more than a dangerous element that could wipe out an entire raid party.
Surprisingly, magic power wasn’t absolute. It could easily be overturned by technique and experience.
“But I’m confident.”
“Whoa. Is that the composure of an A-rank?”
“Then you’re an A-cup brea—uwaaa—”
“How should I fix this rotten mouth? Besides, I told you I’m B-rank!”
Oh no. Kim Chae-eun looked genuinely annoyed. But it was the truth. Even setting my true identity aside, hunters with A-rank magic power weren’t common. Unless I had some personality defect, guilds would want to recruit and nurture me. Since Kim Chae-eun knew that, she must find it irritating. In that case, I would have to work harder on the group project. Balancing test prep and the group assignment was going to be tough.
By the seventh day of the group project, we had finished nearly twice as fast as planned. It was all thanks to Heo Yeon-hwa’s hard carry. She had filled in almost the entire development process for the formation.
“The point that came up back then—that you shouldn’t place the healer too far back. So they began positioning healers in the middle row, between the front and rear lines.”
For once, her speech was clean and her voice carried real confidence. Come to think of it, in the original story she had excelled at theoretical aspects too.
“Therefore, in this kind of situation, the assassin position can move freely—”
She immediately came up with a new formation. Even I could tell it was genuinely usable. It assumed being surrounded and created a style that could endure while slowly advancing. She really was smart.
“Yeah… well… it’s just my worthless opinion… you can ignore it…”
“No, unnie. It was really good.”
“Yeah. Really!”
“It was an excellent idea.”
“Hehe…”
The moment she finished speaking she hunched over again. Still, when the three of us patted and praised her, she quickly started smiling again. It was impressive how pure she looked smiling through that gloomy aura.
“Right! Since we’re finished, let’s get the promised drinks—”
“I don’t mind, but didn’t you say we have to study for midterms?”
“Kuaaaak!!”
“Hold out until after the midterms. I’ll buy then.”
“Really?!”
By the way, it was bothering me a little too. Good academy grades would help when approaching the protagonist and teaching him things.
“Then shall we gather like this to study?”
“Gather to study?”
“Yeah! We can watch each other to stay focused and teach what we don’t know!”
I wondered if that would actually work. Usually when friends gathered it just turned into a hangout, didn’t it?
“S-study group…!”
But seeing unnie’s eyes sparkling with such anticipation, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse. Look at those shining eyes. I couldn’t extinguish that light.
“Then where should we meet? The library?”
“Huh? Of course here.”
I had asked because if we were only studying there was no need to insist on Cheon Ma-ru’s house, but Kim Chae-eun spoke as if I had asked something strange.
“Reserving a study room at the library is almost impossible, and the moment you look like you might talk, the librarian scolds you. It’s not an environment where you can ask questions.”
“Really? That’s pretty harsh.”
They would probably even complain about the sound of turning pages.
“Then let’s meet here. Is that okay?”
“Yeah. It’s hard for me to focus when I study alone anyway.”
And so the connection formed through the group project extended into a study group.
“How does it feel?”
“What?”
“Being surrounded by girls.”
After the two of them left and I was resting, the question suddenly occurred to me. Honestly, neither Kim Chae-eun nor unnie had appearances that would make anyone feel intimidated, and neither did I. Still, what did it feel like when girls like that were hanging out at your house? When I had been a man I had never experienced anything like this.
“This is totally a harem story development. Beautiful female classmates coming over to my one-room apartment. It feels like a situation straight out of a red toon adult genre.”
Just to be clear, I wasn’t trying to tease him this time. I asked because it seemed like something any guy would find hard to endure.
“Not really. I’m not crazy about women. I never had any fantasies about them because of my older sister and younger sister.”
“You have an older sister too?”
“Yeah. She’s abroad right now, though.”
“Hmm~.”
“Why?”
“Can you tell me? What kind of person she is.”
I had a younger sister but no older sister or brother, so I was curious about how it felt to have older siblings.
“My older sister… she’s a typical elite type.”
“Elite?”
“Yeah. She was good at everything—studying, sports, you name it. Objectively speaking, she’s pretty too.”
Cheon Ma-ru frowned slightly as if digging through memories and continued.
“But her life skills are terrible. To a worrying degree.”
“…Are you one to talk?”
The shock I felt the first time I saw this house was still vivid.
“That’s… I can’t really argue, but my sister is worse. She can’t even boil ramen.”
“Really?”
There were people who couldn’t boil ramen. That was a first.
“And my younger sister has no manners.”
“That’s harsh.”
“It’s true, so what can I do? She never had any to begin with, but after awakening she became even worse.”
I pretended not to hear the quiet mutter of “Does awakening change someone’s personality—” Because when I thought about his ex-girlfriend, I had no idea how to respond.
“She’s not bad enough to call her a personality wreck or a social misfit, but she has that habit of always adding one extra cutting remark at the end.”
“Ah~.”
I knew the type. Once or twice was fine, but if it was constant it got annoying.
“Oh. And she’s your passionate fan.”
“Huh?”
“More precisely, a hardcore fan of Baekwol. She has posters and merch at home. She even attends fan cafe meetups. She’s a pretty well-known name in those circles.”
“Ha?”
It wasn’t strange that there were posters or goods. The association had made and sold them—I had no idea what they were thinking. You could spot umbrellas or keyrings with my face on them just walking down the street. They had made them well, but as the person in question it made my face burn with embarrassment.
But fan cafe meetups? They did that sort of thing? If things hadn’t changed, the fan cafe president would be Jaseonmyo. Did that man have so much free time? Even though he was the guild master of one of the three major guilds?
As I sat there flustered, Cheon Ma-ru gave me a warning.
“If you ever meet my younger sister, you should absolutely hide your identity. I have no idea what kind of embarrassing nonsense she might spout.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
I doubted we would ever meet, but I would remember it.