What Is This?
Exam season always warped the flow of time. It was probably because the massive weight of worry called “exams” kept bearing down without mercy. I wished I could just take the tests and be done with it, but the moment they loomed right in front of me, I found myself hoping for even one more day. That was simply human nature.
“So according to Freud’s theory of psychosexual development—”
“Ughhh…”
Heo Yeon-hwa was teaching with fiery passion while Kim Chae-eun looked like she was dying. Honestly, I had no room to talk. I was half-dead myself.
“Why do hunters even need to learn this stuff…”
“Tell me about it…”
People who had suffered through the crimes and general nuisance of awakened right after the Day of Awakening had come to both fear and despise them. One of the academy’s founding purposes was to provide personality education for awakened and polish their public image. The personality curriculum was practically brainwashing, drilled into us as a core subject for three straight years. But what on earth did a hunter’s personality, social skills, and Freud’s developmental stages have to do with one another? Weren’t things like that supposed to be taught in early childhood education or nursing programs?
In the middle of it all, Cheon Ma-ru was studying with intense focus. He even stepped in to teach whenever Yeon-hwa needed a break. She was a good teacher, but so was he. He could probably make a living as an instructor.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t you say you got into university before you awakened?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I did.”
“Where? Can I ask?”
“S University Law School. I only lasted the first semester of freshman year before dropping out, though.”
“For real?!”
When you considered that the academy was a specialized university just for hunters, S University was basically the best school in Korea.
“No wonder you’re so good at studying. That’s impressive.”
For someone like me, who had graduated only from middle school before jumping straight into hunter work, it was a dream school I could never have attended. Of course, I had become successful enough to overshadow any S University graduate. Just look at my bank account.
“Wait, then that means you’re a year older than us?”
“Huh?”
Kim Chae-eun’s casual remark made me realize it. If he had taken a year off and entered the academy at the same time as us, then yes, he was older. Actually, now that I thought about it, I had already heard that during the blackmail incident.
“Then shouldn’t A-rang call him Oppa?”
“Why are you excluding yourself? You should call him Oppa too.”
“Sure, why not. Ma-ru Oppa~.”
I told her to say it and she actually did? And why was she dropping his family name? Couldn’t she just call him Oppa?
“Come on, A-rang, you try it too.”
“Haha, it’s fine if it’s uncomfortable…”
“Hey, we live in Korea. We should observe proper etiquette. Oppa.”
“It’s just one year, it’s not that—”
As I let out a sigh, I felt Ma-ru’s gaze on me. The guy who had said I didn’t have to do it had a faint glimmer of expectation in his eyes.
“…Ma-ru Oppa.”
Ugh, that was so cringeworthy. I had decided to live as a woman, but calling him Oppa? To him, of all people? Seeing the corner of his mouth twitch made me feel strangely petty.
“Anyway, aren’t you guys getting hungry?”
Kim Chae-eun must have decided she had teased me enough, because she smoothly changed the subject. It was about time for dinner.
“Should we call it here for today?”
We usually wrapped up whenever dinner time rolled around, but for some reason she suddenly wanted to keep going.
“Let’s study a little longer today! The exam is so close!”
“You just don’t want to go out because it’s raining, right?”
“That too~. Don’t worry, I’m not planning to sleep over.”
“What about curfew at the dorms?”
“There’s plenty of time. They don’t enforce it that strictly anyway.”
While we were chatting, Ma-ru opened the delivery app on his phone and frowned.
“Staying late is fine, but there’s nowhere that delivers right now.”
“Because of the rain?”
“Yeah. Looks like it.”
Made sense. Outside right now was basically a war zone. The sound of rain was so loud it was impossible to tell if it was rain or gunshots.
“Can’t be helped. Do you have any food?”
“No. I was going to go buy some soon.”
“Seriously, there’s only one pack of ramen left.”
This was going to be a problem. I had food at my place, but if I brought it over they would find out I lived next door to Ma-ru. Kim Chae-eun already suspected something was going on between us. I couldn’t give her any more ammunition.
“The fridge is empty too… but the freezer… there’s a lot in here?”
Unlike the fridge that only held drinks, the freezer was packed.
“Oh, that. Mom probably put all that in for me. I completely forgot.”
“Your mother gave you all this?”
“…I was planning to eat it. Really.”
The same person who had just said he had nothing to eat was talking big. But there really was a lot. Fish cakes, dumplings, green onions, chicken breast… was that bacon?
“Can I use these?”
“Yeah, you can.”
“Okay. I’ll borrow your kitchen.”
I could probably whip up something for one meal. No apron, so I skipped that. I took out a frying pan and started preparing.
“I’ll make something simple. Let’s take a break.”
“Wait, you can cook?”
“Pretty much any home-style dish.”
Taking care of my little sister meant I had to learn, but I had always enjoyed cooking anyway. My father was a chef, after all. Today’s dish was bacon kimchi fried rice. There weren’t many ingredients to choose from anyway.
I heated oil in the pan, added the chopped bacon, and stir-fried it. Once the bacon released its fat, I threw in the green onions to draw out more flavor. Then I added the kimchi that had been buried in the fridge, along with some of the brine. Since it wasn’t sour kimchi, I added a suitable amount of vinegar and sugar. This guy didn’t cook but had salt, sugar, vinegar, and even oligosaccharide syrup. Judging by the lack of use, his mother must have bought those too.
After that I added instant rice and stir-fried everything, then microwaved the frozen dumplings and placed them on top.
“Done.”
It wasn’t a huge amount, but since it was dinner, it was probably better not to overeat. Since there were no plates, I simply carried the whole frying pan over. The spoons were disposable.
“Here, let’s eat.”
“Whoa!!”
“Ooh…”
Their reactions were way too big. It was just kimchi fried rice. Was there any reason to be this surprised? Anyone could make this much.
“I can’t believe you made something this good with what was in my fridge…”
Ma-ru looked almost moved. Considering he usually survived on delivery or convenience store food, it made sense that he would be impressed.
“Come on, eat before it gets cold.”
I took the first bite. It tasted good, but the limited ingredients meant it lacked depth and complexity. A little disappointing. I had wanted to show off my cooking skills a bit more.
“It’s delicious.”
“For real. Whoever marries you is going to be so lucky.”
“Marriage? Just eat your food.”
I laughed and brushed off the nonsense. There wasn’t much to begin with, so we emptied the pan quickly. Seeing them eat so well made me feel good. This was exactly why I cooked.
After we ate, the atmosphere was no longer suitable for studying. Even Baek A-rang, who usually nagged everyone to focus, had loosened up and was just playing around. With full stomachs and good moods, we chatted and fooled around until the other two eventually left.
“Do you only play Hell Company, or do you play other games too?”
“I sometimes play stuff like Leorina or Luxury Watch. I dabble in a bunch of things, but I don’t have any other games I’ve really sunk deep into.”
“Really? Oh, what does this mean?”
“This is—”
After the two of them left, Baek A-rang stayed at my place a little longer like always. The only difference today was that we were actually studying. I still needed to keep my grades up, after all.
“You teach really well. As expected from an S University graduate—there’s just something different about you.”
“What’s the point of bringing that up all the time?”
“I’m jealous. I didn’t even get to finish high school.”
“Wait, you only graduated middle school?”
“Yeah. I started working as a hunter right away.”
In South Korea, the legal age to work as a hunter was seventeen, starting from the first year of high school. Of course, the requirements were strict, so it was difficult. Guilds apparently only accepted them for training and almost never sent them into actual raids. But Baek Wol belonged to the Association. I had no idea how they handled it.
“Ah. Do you have any wet wipes?”
“They’re in that drawer over there. Why?”
“Someone spilled a little rice here. I’ll grab them.”
The more I watched her, the more fascinating she became. Of course, my first impression of her hadn’t been great. She had seemed quite prickly. After that she had suddenly pulled a knife and threatened me, so there was no way my first impression could have been good. But as we spent more time together, I began to see new sides of her. How much she cherished her family, how naturally she joked around with friends, how she was surprisingly affectionate. Considering Baek Wol’s status and influence, she could have acted like an arrogant tyrant and no one would have stopped her, yet I didn’t sense even a trace of that from her. Even if she had to hide her identity, those weren’t the kinds of things that could be easily concealed.
But why had she suddenly frozen?
What had I put in that drawer again?
“What’s wrong?”
“Eh? Uh?”
She was extremely flustered. Her face had gone bright red. What on earth had she found…?
“Ah.”
I remembered the moment I saw it. A box with a shield shape drawn on it. The contents looked like the vitamins I used to eat as a kid. It was a box of condoms.
“Oh, no. That’s something my mom forced on me…”
“R-right…?”
It was awkward. The thing my mother had shoved into my hands. I had been too lazy to deal with it and had just stuffed it in there. And of all times, she had found it now.
“I mean, it’s not that strange for an adult man to have something like that at home. I understand. Really.”
“…Thanks.”
Fortunately, Baek A-rang simply put the condom box back where it was, grabbed the wet wipes, and cleaned up the grain of rice she had found. Seeing her flushed cheeks made my own face heat up, but we somehow managed to move past it. I should throw that box somewhere else later. Strangely, the fact that the box was still unopened embarrassed me more than the fact that it had been discovered at all.