Your Club Members Are Something Else
If there was one tiny problem, it was that even when sincerity was mixed in, it could still look completely different to someone else.
Kang Sian had shown condolences that would easily put him in the top 100%, yet her expression still looked woefully insufficient. It was the kind of vibe where the perpetrator also had to become impotent before the victim’s impotence could be considered satisfying. From an emotional standpoint or in terms of other people’s perspectives, it wasn’t an entirely incomprehensible way of thinking. The person involved didn’t seem particularly innocent, but the fact that an innocent acquaintance had been harmed was more than enough to spark fury. And that kind of emotion was something the other side could never accept as fair.
“Oh? So someone else became impotent—”
“Huh?”
No, forget accepting it. At this point it was straight-up nonsense, and she clearly felt like proper re-education was still lacking. For Kang Sian, who had a girlfriend (or rather, a person-friend) equipped with the very modern belief that the dead have no human rights, the feeling was even stronger.
Expanding the security department, writing kill lists, pushing various illegal plans, launching operations against both the political and business worlds. Indirectly firing hunters from acquired guilds by shoving them into suicide missions like dragon lairs when they wouldn’t obey. Disguising the aspiring student who triggered the acquisition—along with their family—as a trip to escape social condemnation that ended in an accidental fall to their death. Even if he didn’t agree with her beliefs, which were drenched in that malicious tendency…
Thanks to her influence, his own definition of “unfairness” had become far more sensitive than most people’s…
‘So is she trying to pin the blame on me? But no matter how I look at it, the real problem seems to be the hospital’s side?’
He didn’t know about unfairness, but the first thought that came to mind was that they were all a bunch of brain-dead idiots. It was so pathetic that instead of getting angry, he felt like he’d already crossed the Great Mountain of Utter Delight.
“No… If the treatment failed, it would be a medical accident, and that’s not even my fault.”
“W-what! It’s all your fault!”
Huh? Why is it my fault?
Even if we say hitting the guy was on me, a medical accident is clearly the doctor’s or the necromancer’s mistake. Go sue the hospital over there instead of me. This is America, the land of lawsuits after all. If you hammer them hard enough, something’s bound to get resolved, right?
Kang Sian judged the situation that way. Naturally, the other party had a rather different perspective.
“If you hadn’t inflicted such a massive injury in the first place, none of this would have happened!”
Hey, wasn’t turning him into that state already crossing the line?
“But if I hadn’t, I would’ve lost the duel, you know?”
It’s that bastard’s fault for not even putting up a proper fight.
“You should have at least held back your strength!”
Would you have enjoyed it if I’d toyed with him instead?
“Ah, I always give my all no matter who the opponent is. Even if it’s an elementary school student, there are no exceptions.”
Yep. Your club members are something else.
“You even covered the mouth of a neutralized person and continued attacking in a way that was practically torture!”
Is this guy insane?
“Huh? When exactly did I do that?”
The absurd, intention-obscuring conversation continued. It went on until the ice cream finally died of shock after its fierce battle against the heat.
“Aside from your face, everything about you is vulgar, you pointy-eared bastard!”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Rather than anger, Kang Sian felt refreshed. The kind of feeling where he could fall into a deep, sweet sleep. It was like he’d grabbed one idiot and vented all his stress on them. On top of that, the faint guilt that had lingered in his conscience had been wiped away cleanly.
The part where even Kang Sian thought he might have gone a little too far. How wonderful it was that such a tiny lingering regret had been annihilated by discriminatory logic.
“Are you upset? Then why don’t you hit me right here?”
Of course, with one side acting like this, the other side was on the verge of flipping out. It wasn’t just the anger—being looked down on like a loser while being spoken to politely made it impossible to endure.
“You son of a bitch! I will definitely…!”
“Definitely?”
“Definitely, without fail…! Without fail… uh… um…”
But separate from whether she could endure it, the will to reach a final solution never erupted. The moment her emotions hit their critical point, simply glaring at Kang Sian made her cool off as if a throttling effect had been applied. It could have been her brain’s survival instinct. It could have been instinctive fear. It could have been a prediction from memories of the future. Or it could have been something else entirely. In any case, there was no future where she displayed hatred, showed revenge, or demonstrated Southern-style justice.
It was truly strange, but all she felt was a vague cold sweat and the thought that she should run away.
“Tsk tsk. No courage at all, yet you talk about fighting?”
“No! That’s not it! I will definitely—against a vulgar bastard like you—”
“Do you realize how many times you’ve repeated that exact line?”
It feels like it’s already been over five times. What exactly are you planning to do with that kind of mindset?
“……”
“Sigh.”
A sigh escaped at the repetition. Kang Sian watched the ice cream container slosh and let out another sigh. Finally, as if declaring the joke was over, he put on a serious face and approached her.
Ines took a step back at the sight of Kang Sian walking through the shadows. The embodiment of everything she had called vulgar and hated felt like a giant. The three-inch height difference certainly played a part.
“Here. Go ahead and hit me once. The vulgar being is right here.”
He stood completely defenseless. It was an open declaration that he would allow the first attack. It could have been an opportunity. She could have thrown out a decisive move that would lead everything to victory.
Yet she simply stood there motionless. She had made up her mind several times earlier, but now she couldn’t follow through.
“Why? Can’t you do it?”
Kang Sian snatched one of her hands. Then he forced her fingers into a fist and made her punch his own chest.
Thud.
But it was nothing more than a light tap. Her arm was trembling and there was no strength in it at all. If she had just put a little power into it, she could have landed a hit. If she had drawn out her will even by force, she could have at least given him one good shot.
“You can’t do it, can you? Honestly, I figured as much.”
With just a little information, he could already tell what kind of person she was. She was the type who poured tremendous effort into making resolutions and working hard at tasks.
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“Then why are you just standing there? Are you scared you’ll get beaten until you’re on the verge of death? Weren’t you the one expressing hatred just a moment ago?”
But that was all there was to it. She was the kind of person who only made the effort but couldn’t actually execute anything properly.
‘Somehow she manages the beginning through brute force, but after that it’s either terrible or only average at best.’
It could be a matter of ability, or it could be a matter of personality. In any case, since his past self had been similar to her, he could say it with certainty. He didn’t even need to rely on vague intuition. The fact that she hadn’t jumped straight into a fight the moment they met and instead kept arguing with words alone made it obvious.
What if the conversation before a fight naturally gets long? Then the moment Kang Sian got close, she should have attacked somehow. What if secretly fighting here is a crime? Then she should have proudly gone out to the street and settled it with a proper duel. Honestly, isn’t it just that she’s scared? Then she shouldn’t have made such a fuss about getting revenge in the first place.
“If you hated a situation like this, you shouldn’t have been discriminatory from the start. Right? Or am I wrong?”
That was the basis for why she thought of Southern men as inferior Southern women. She was similar to a certain Irish lizard, but at least Shannon forced herself to do what she had to do. From Kang Sian’s perspective, the woman before him was the type who only made noise but couldn’t even begin the real work.
And honestly, he was starting to wonder if the word “revenge” itself was a lie.
‘Then why the hell did she follow me…?’
There were a few things he suspected. Asking one by one would be annoying, so he thought of a way to make her spit out the answer all at once.
He immediately released her hand. Instead of lowering his own, he raised it in reverse. As if he were about to slap her face. He had moved deliberately slowly so she would watch, and when he suddenly stopped, she flinched in surprise.
She stared blankly at the hand above her head and at Kang Sian’s face. It was then that a change occurred deep in her heart, as if something painful had been prodded.
“I-I hate it!”
She lightly pushed Kang Sian away and ran. She didn’t even look back, fleeing at a speed that showed zero mercy. It surpassed even her ancestors. He should have chased her, but since she had dashed blindly into one of the countless alleyways, he gave up. Finding that Dixie in the complicated backstreets of this massive city would be nearly impossible.
Kang Sian clicked his tongue at how his prediction—that she would eventually submit—had missed the mark.
“Damn it. Guess I’ll have to put in a request later to find one Dixie.”
It was only a little disappointing. Not to the point of despair. Thinking that, he was about to turn and leave when he felt a strange sense of incongruity at his feet.
“What the…?”
The puddle on the ground seemed a little larger than it had looked from afar. Given the yellowish tint, it wasn’t melted ice cream without ice. It was rather curious.
A whole day had passed since Cheon Mari had downed a cup of warm ice cream in one go. Friday had no lectures so it was free, but unfortunately today was Thursday.
I was heading to the practice room for the last lecture of the week—Beginner Survival Cooking.
“Oh.”
When I opened the door, the sight of multiple small kitchens came into view. It was the exact moment I truly felt that this was a cooking practice room.
I walked over to Shannon, who had arrived early. Since it had been a few days, we exchanged greetings and chatted casually while waiting for the professor.
When the start time arrived, a professor with a demon tail and horns entered the classroom. She stood in front of the blackboard and gave the students a simple, friendly greeting. Since it was orientation, I thought there would be an introduction to the course.
But for some reason, the professor pulled something like an attendance sheet out of her bag. She then began calling out students’ names one by one, and my name was among them. It seemed she was checking whether the digital roster matched the students who had actually shown up.
“Shannon Cliodna Redmond?”
“Yes~”
There shouldn’t have been any problems, but unfortunately, unwanted events always happen out of nowhere.
The professor called out someone’s name as she had been doing.
“……?”
And the moment I heard that name, I froze. To be clear, it wasn’t the professor who froze—it was me.
It was bad in many ways, but what was even worse was the reality that no one responded to that name.
The person the professor had called was not present here. She called the name once or twice more, but nothing changed.
Of course, it wasn’t completely absent. Every time that name reached my ears, I felt a trembling emotion.
“Oh my god.”
I hadn’t prepared at all, hadn’t even expected it, yet here we were meeting in a place like this. It was so astonishing it felt like a miracle. No, maybe it wasn’t pure coincidence. It could have been the result of unintended intervention.
Maybe my meeting with Shannon had started in this class? Maybe I had casually inserted myself into it without thinking? If so, I couldn’t miss this opportunity. Even if she wasn’t here today, she would definitely come on this day next week, so I had to catch her for sure.
It might seem a bit over-the-top, but I had no choice. Because the name the professor was calling out right now was—
“Ines Adriana Corceiro da Silveira! Is she really not here?!”
The savior of this hunter world. It was the real name of the ‘protagonist’ from the game Gray Zone.
After coming to the academy, for the first time, I began to look forward to the future.