Birthday Surprise

With Ye-riel's help, Seong Sua, Seo Jieun, and I all made it safely out of the dungeon.

Outside, the sun was already sinking toward evening.

Even so, escaping the dungeon did nothing to settle my mind.

That monster of a bastard… no, he really was a monster. I never thought he'd survive that and still manage to run.

The dungeon hadn't collapsed simply because I'd used a Stage Two arrow. It had collapsed because of the creature that batted my shot aside with his bare hands. He'd deflected an attack that shouldn't have been possible with physical ability that shouldn't have existed, and the dungeon had come down on top of him for it. Afterward I'd heard crying from the far side and gone around back, hoping to finish him off — only to find he'd already fled.

How the hell am I supposed to deal with him next time?

For the first time, an ability I'd always treated as a finishing move had failed to finish anything. If I'd gone at him head-on from the start, I would have lost for certain.

Yeah. Time to focus on grinding my stats.

Unless I picked up some entirely new technique, pushing the abilities I already had as high as they would go was the only way to improve my odds of surviving.

Well… I'm alive, so that's something. But Seong Sua… she's clinging a little hard, isn't she?

The entire time Ye-riel floated us out, Seong Sua had stayed glued to me, murmuring under her breath — and she still hadn't stopped once we were outside.

"I'm so glad… I'm really so glad."

"I'm sorry. Everything went to hell so fast when the dungeon started coming down, and we just ended up taking cover…"

I was grateful she was worried about me, but the full-body contact was a bit much.

Ye-riel eyed her and spoke with mild reproach.

"Maybe ease up a little? Someone watching would think you were a parent who'd just found her missing child."

"…Yes."

Even Ye-riel, who'd been smiling so warmly at Seong Sua earlier, seemed to be finding the theatrics a bit much. And with the crowd milling around outside the dungeon, Sua's behavior wasn't exactly a good look. A woman with a famous fiancé hanging off another man and whispering into his chest was never going to play well.

Ye-riel looked between Seong Sua and Seo Jieun.

"You two should head back to your posts for now…"

"…?"

Then she turned a meaningful look on me.

"Stay a moment. We need to talk."

"Yes."

"Ye-riel…"

Sensing something off, Seong Sua tried to stop us, but Ye-riel spoke quietly.

"Don't worry. It's nothing that will cause problems."

"…Alright."

Seong Sua carefully stepped back at once. Ye-riel took the lead again, and I followed. She found a spot not far off and began without preamble.

"…Honestly, I don't understand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a single thing about you."

"Pardon?"

"Your magic is strange. Your archery is strange. And your personality is strange, too."

"…"

For someone who'd promised this wouldn't be a problem conversation, she was opening with some heavy material. But that was as far as it went.

"Well… there are plenty of things in this world I don't understand. Like those beasts earlier."

Ye-riel's expression eased as she looked up at me.

"I didn't call you over for that, though. What I actually wanted to talk about is the bet from earlier."

"The bet… you mean?"

"I went the way you told me to, and I ran into Seong Sua and Seo Jieun."

"Ah…"

I remembered now — over the comms, she'd said that if the path turned out to be correct, she'd give me a reward. I'd thought she was just lightening the mood. Apparently she'd meant it.

But…

I don't really have anything to ask for.

Asking her to keep what happened secret would have been ideal, but that would only make me look more suspicious. And a request built around a secret was pointless from the start.

Ye-riel studied me for a long moment before speaking.

"Taking this long… you must be trying to figure out the greediest favor you can squeeze out of me."

"Haha…"

This was a test. She wanted to know what kind of man I was — what kind of request I'd actually make.

What do I ask for… wait. Ah!

I looked down at Ye-riel and chose my words carefully.

"Ye-riel… then…"

Seong Sua gathered the cadets and fretted, chewing her nails.

She's not getting the wrong idea, is she?

By Seong Sua's standards, Sung Suho was skilled enough to earn the title of Hero. And yet he didn't operate as one — he was ranked somewhere past ten thousand and had simply taken a job as an assistant instructor at the Hero Academy. There were people who never formally registered with the Hero Association and still made names for themselves. The percentage was vanishingly small, but those individuals often became more famous than ordinary Heroes. Seong Sua had filed Sung Suho under that category. She had watched him steadily, and she trusted his character.

But Ye-riel?

There's more than enough room for a misunderstanding…

This was the same Ye-riel who had once asked to measure Sung Suho's body inside a VR device. The situation was more than enough to set Seong Sua on edge.

While she waited among the cadets, Ye-riel came walking slowly from a distance. Seeing her approach alone — without Sung Suho — only amplified Seong Sua's anxiety. She hurried over and asked for an explanation.

"Ye-riel… where is Instructor Sung Suho…?"

"Ah. When I said I'd grant him a favor, he asked if we could wrap up the field trip early."

"…A favor?"

Ye-riel recounted everything that had passed between her and Sung Suho without omission or embellishment.

"Someone's birthday. He said he needed to take care of a gift for it."

"…"

Seong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sua cast her mind back to when she'd been riding on Sung Suho's back. She had woken partway through the trip, and the moment she opened her eyes, he and Seo Jieun had been talking about birthdays. Their exchange was impossible to forget.

Replaying the lines in her head, Seong Sua felt her cheeks warm.

How did he know my birthday is next week?

And then another thought:

Don't tell me… because he won't be able to go out for a while, he's trying to buy my present early?

Without realizing it, she broke into a soft, silly grin. Ye-riel frowned at the sight.

"…Are you feeling alright?"

"Ah, no… I was just thinking about something…"

Ye-riel's brow stayed furrowed for a moment before she quietly sighed. The sigh snapped Seong Sua back to attention.

"Ye-riel? Why the sudden sigh…?"

"…Even if it started with good intentions, this is how it ended. I don't know how I'll face the cadets."

The damage hadn't been as severe as it could have been. That was only because the Wise Stars and the active instructors had all been present. Without those two groups, the incident would have sent shockwaves far and wide, and the Tower would have suffered for a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long time. But what weighed on Ye-riel wasn't only the Tower's reputation — it was the cadets themselves. She was beginning to fear she had planted terror in them.

"Maybe I'm getting old… I'm starting to wonder if I should step down for real…"

"Ye-riel, that's not true at all. Look."

"…"

She followed the direction Seong Sua indicated.

There was the Wise Star who'd claimed the cadets clustering around him was a nuisance…

"You were incredible!"

"Heh heh… I'll have you know, when I get serious, I can take creatures like that bare-handed — no magic required."

"Pffft—!"

"You little brat, laughing at me?!"

…And the Wise Star who doted on the cadets like grandchildren…

"What kind of magic did you use back then?"

"Well, you see. You just think, deep in your heart… Fire! …and it comes out."

"…I don't understand that at all."

"You'll get it if you work hard enough. Heh heh heh…"

The cadets and the Wise Stars were blooming with conversation about everything that had just happened. In that bloom there was no fear, no terror — not even a flicker of unease. And the cadets Ye-riel had been responsible for, the ones she had saved, came surging toward her with thanks.

"Ye-riel! Thank you!"

"If it hadn't been for you, we would have been in real trouble."

"Someday I'm going to be as strong as you!"

"…"

Ye-riel smiled faintly and looked up at Seong Sua. Seong Sua returned a soft smile of her own and murmured,

"Well? What do you think of kids these days?"

Ye-riel huffed a quiet laugh.

"I underestimated them. They really are… remarkable children."

The two of them smiled together and stepped into the crowd of cadets.

Click.

The front door opened and the lights came on automatically, bright and welcoming for their owner. The owner, however, wore a sour expression and stomped inside, each step thudding against the floor. Then, set down hard on the dining table—

Thud.

A cake.

Cho Seohyun set the cake she'd just bought on the table, dropped into a chair, and muttered,

"Those bastards…"

Not the singular "bastard." The plural. "Bastards."

Ignoring the cake entirely, she buried her face against the tabletop and stared endlessly at her smartwatch. It was her birthday, and no one had contacted her. That part didn't bother her much. She didn't have many close friends to begin with, and the ones she was only loosely close with could just send a text.

What kept her eyes locked on that tiny screen came down to two reasons. One was a man's message. The other was also a man's message. And the first man to surface in her mind was the first of those two.

"Damn it… how busy can one person be…"

She stared at the contact on the screen, torn.

Sung Suho had gone to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tower and hadn't reached out since. Part of her wanted to hit the call button right now, if only to have a conversation on her birthday. But another part of her — the pride of a woman running through her veins — knotted up at the thought of being the one to call on her own birthday, and her fingers refused to move.

"Haa… I'll just see him tomorrow."

Saying it was her birthday would have been too humiliating, and even if she swallowed her pride and called, it wasn't as though she could actually meet him right now.

"Fine. That part I can understand. But…"

What made her angrier was the silence from her younger brother, Cho Kang-hyun.

"Haa… what did I ever do to that kid?"

He'd known it was her birthday. They'd even made plans to meet today. And yet on the day itself there had been no contact at all — and when she'd tried calling, his phone was completely off. When she'd thought about Sung Suho, the frustration had at least carried a thread of self-reproach. Thinking about Cho Kang-hyun was pure irritation.

"So now he just goes radio silent without a word…"

If he'd been busy the way Sung Suho was, she could have understood. But it was Saturday. Even for an instructor, being busy on a Saturday was rare.

"…There's probably something going on at the Church."

A gloomy look settled over her face. She was just closing her eyes when—

Beep-beep! Ding-dong!

"Hyaah! Wh—what the—!"

Her smartwatch and the intercom went off at the same time. The smartwatch issued by the Hero Academy was linked to the dormitory intercom, so the system rang both whenever someone came to her room or the gate security called. Just in case, she checked the watch.

"Huh?"

No one ever came to her dorm room, and calls from gate security were almost as rare. She sat up straight and took the call.

"What is it?"

"Ah—! Just send him in."

She didn't even ask who it was. She answered the guard, hung up, and shot to her feet.

"Damn it… if you're coming, at least call first."

She was certain.

"I knew it. Family's the only ones who look out for me."

Laughing hollowly, she started tidying the room. The instructors' dorms were strictly segregated by gender, but as long as the entry log was filled out properly and the room's occupant gave permission, instructors of the opposite sex could come in. The dorms themselves were fully private rooms like Seohyun's, so the corridors were essentially just another part of the school.

She hummed as she cleaned.

"Good thing I already tidied up a bit."

Anger aside, the thought that Cho Kang-hyun had remembered her birthday brought a smile to her face unbidden. And the moment everything was in order, one more thought struck her.

"…I'll just throw something casual on."

Even if it was her birthday, there was no need to dress up for her little brother. She waited.

Ding-dong.

The smartwatch and intercom rang together. Heart lifting with anticipation, she didn't even check who it was — she flung the door wide open with a bright smile.

"Hey! Showing up with no call and now you— wait… wh… what…"

"…I'm sorry."

Standing in the doorway with a blank expression, gift box in hand, looking down at her — was Sung Suho.