Career Path and Goals
Sian let out an irritated groan. “Goddamn charger… I’m heading to the convenience store. Stay in the room and don’t do anything weird while I’m gone.”
“I’m not a child. Got it~” Cheon Mari waved him off with a lazy flick of her hand.
Still uneasy, Sian shot her a suspicious look before stepping out. The sound of him greeting the bodyguards drifted back, followed by the soft click of the door closing. Now only one person remained in the hospital room.
Mari cracked the door open, scanned the hallway, then snapped her fingers. The woman with short black hair and round glasses—who looked more like a secretary than a bodyguard but had been dubbed “the waiter”—hurried over.
“Oh? Yep! Miss!”
She had only recently been assigned, so her inexperience showed; she couldn’t quite mask her emotions. Calling her a proper bodyguard would have been a stretch.
“Secretary Baek. Sorry for making you handle that odd task earlier.”
“N-not at all. It’s perfectly fine.”
In truth, the woman wasn’t a bodyguard but Mari’s personal aide. A stoic demeanor would have been nice, but it wasn’t strictly necessary for what Mari needed right now. Competence and unwavering loyalty were enough.
“I’ll speak with Grandfather and arrange a bonus for today’s work. Don’t worry too much.”
“No, really, it’s quite all right.”
Baek So-eun, a secretary Mari had worked with many times before, kept bowing deeply. While the humility was admirable, in this situation it felt somewhat excessive. Mari tapped the wall lightly, signaling her to stop.
“No time to waste. Did you take care of what I asked?”
“If you mean the matter concerning the parents of the person who pushed your friend into the underground ruins, then yes.”
“Exactly. Lim Hana’s parents—the ones who were supposedly on their way here.”
“They argued with the bodyguards and eventually left.”
“Good work. If they try to visit this room again, block them by any means necessary.”
“Understood. But… is it really all right to keep doing this?”
Her eyes carried a trace of anxiety. Preventing even acquaintances from approaching a patient was clearly problematic, especially when the visitors came with good intentions. Morally, it crossed a line.
Yet Mari felt zero moral qualms about her actions. In the name of corporate interests and friendship, a person skilled at subtly shaking and guiding others’ hearts could justify almost anything.
“It’s fine. They won’t make any significant moves regardless.”
“That’s not what concerns me. I heard he was your friend’s close childhood companion. If he finds out, won’t your friend’s feelings be deeply hurt?”
“Ha! Childhood companion? That disloyal wretch? She’s the type to repay kindness with betrayal.”
Someone who had tried to kill a devoted friend had no right to the term “childhood companion.” On top of that, she was a drug user who had abandoned all loyalty. The word “friend” was practically an insult when applied to her.
“Still, we did gain some benefits from her betrayal. Since things have come to this, I’ll delay matters a little longer to secure even greater gains.”
“Forgive me, but… by any chance, does this matter involve…”
“All those projects you’re aware of. That includes everything.”
The explanation was vague, but clear enough. Baek So-eun nodded immediately.
“Ah, and while we’re delaying things, let’s supply those defective potions scheduled for disposal and the ones requiring testing to a certain guild.”
“What?!”
“A suitable recipient just occurred to me.”
“There could be complications later. Especially if your friend experiences significant disappointment—”
“Even if Sian learns the truth, he’s not the type to sever ties completely over it. No need to worry.”
Mari would bear the consequences. Therefore, she would accept no objections. The topic could not be discussed any further.
“…Oh, by the way, earlier your friend mentioned…”
“Stop. Don’t go into detail here. Too many ears listening. Keep it vague.”
After receiving the rest of the minor reports, Mari gestured that she understood. She instructed the secretary to report again if anything else arose, then returned to the room.
With light steps, still dressed in her patient gown, she moved to the window of the private room. The moment she opened it, the sound of wind sweeping through the reed field rushed in coldly. Even if she muttered dark thoughts to herself, the breeze would drown them out so no one could hear.
Staring outside, her expression turned venomous.
“What kind of face do they have to come visit… Ah, they claimed they didn’t even know what their child had done.”
They didn’t know what their daughter was up to. And even if they did, they exerted no proper control.
“They spoil the child rotten, letting her spread filth everywhere, while the sane people around her suffer the consequences.”
No strong will. No real sense of crisis. They simply hoped their child would mature on her own.
“And now they’re trying to ruin the life of a child who has endured everything so far by appealing to misplaced sympathy. Tsk. Poor Sian.”
Yet, if only because they were parents, they had installed a safety measure just in case. The real problem was that their method involved devouring others through sympathy—and now even that safeguard had shattered.
Good grief. To make an innocent child suffer for the sake of their own child’s future. It was obvious both sides were being neglected, yet they had the audacity to ask that their child attend the same middle school. On top of that, they constantly demanded updates about their own child.
In Mari’s eyes, not only Lim Hana but her entire family looked terrible—both consciously and unconsciously. It was painfully clear they viewed Sian as nothing more than a stepping stone and tool for their daughter.
“Parents, honestly.”
She had encountered this type countless times across her regressions. Those who failed to value others’ children weren’t limited to the overtly violent.
Mari clicked her tongue and lowered her gaze. Below, Lim Hana’s parents appeared, trudging away dejectedly. Foolish people who had thrown away their own luck.
Her sharp eyes pierced downward like arrows. As if sensing the gaze, they glanced around nervously.
“Tsk.”
For now, it seemed she needed to have a longer talk with her only truly satisfactory friend. After all, Sian was clearly different from the traitors she had known before.
“First, I need to establish the minimum objective.”
The work had begun. A vision was required—a long-term, concrete vision.
The days blurred together with acquaintances visiting the hospital room, offering well-wishes, and leaving gifts. Time flowed endlessly, continuing right up until break began.
Naturally, since the hospital stay for treatment had been extended, not every single day felt identical. For instance, during one walk, reporters had swarmed them. Fortunately, bodyguards appeared from nowhere and held them back.
“Student Sian! Could you please tell us exactly how you survived?!”
“Don’t answer them. Give them one response and they’ll ask three more.”
“I just kept thinking I had to survive no matter what, so I held on! There’s no special trick, so just remember it like that!”
Since I was a model student, I offered at least a brief reply.
Of course, the visitors weren’t only reporters.
“How’s my pointy-eared friend doing?”
“Whoa, you’re still alive? Tough as nails, seriously.”
“Hi, Sian… huh?”
Some elementary-school friends came to visit as well. But the moment they saw the person playing beside my bed, they recoiled in horror and fled.
“Hey, why do you keep playing games here? Go do that in your own room.”
“But being alone is boring. Yes! I pulled an S-rank hunter with fifteen million won!”
“That’s still a gacha game! If you’re going to play that, do it in your own room!”
Mari visited my hospital room every single day. In fact, she brought her laptop, played games, and essentially moved in. Forcing her out wouldn’t have been impossible. But she was my friend, and she occasionally asked questions that seemed meaningful, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“Anyway, Sian, if you’re heading into the hunter path, what goal have you set for yourself right now?”
“Goal?”
“Yeah. Like what kind of hunter you want to become. Or something more specific, the way high-school seniors set detailed targets for college.”
It was a surprisingly profound question. We had only just decided on the hunter career path, yet she was already asking about detailed goals. I thought for a moment, then found my gaze drifting to the TV where a movie channel was playing. The third installment of a film series about graduate students suffering at an academy was on.
“Hmm…”
Logically, there was only one place a hunter aspirant would look toward. Whether one could actually learn valuable things there was debatable, but it was a place many admired.
“Palaestra Academy.”
“Palaestra Academy?”
It was an institution only the top tier of current hunter aspirants could realistically aim for. A gathering place for those who already stood out in the profession; even after entering, it would demand tremendous effort.
“Palaestra Academy, huh? That’s unexpected.”
“Why unexpected?”
“I figured you’d say you wanted to join a strong guild. Something like the North Sea Ice Palace Guild, the Hot-Pot Tenacity Guild, or the Dog-and-Cat Grand Banquet Guild.”
“Even when you give examples, you pick guilds with ridiculous names.”
At any rate, Mari had assumed I would join a guild immediately. Honestly, it felt like she was overestimating me. Other kids had received early training since elementary school and were already soaring, while I was barely at the starting line. I couldn’t even guess how much additional training I would need after high-school graduation.
“Well, they were just examples. Still, if that’s your target, I’ll need to adjust the plan slightly.”
“Adjust it?”
“Yes. I originally planned to start training next semester, but this means we should move it forward.”
“Move it forward… to when, exactly?”
“This week.”
Excuse me? This week?
The doctor had said that, subjectively speaking, my body wasn’t fully recovered yet.
“The doctor did say that, didn’t he? Even if you’re not completely healed, rehabilitation exercises will speed up recovery.”
That was true, but… No matter how I looked at her eyes, they didn’t belong to someone planning gentle “rehabilitation exercises.” They looked like the eyes of someone about to throw me into a hellish training camp and say, “Welcome to hell,” before running me into the ground. If I wasn’t careful, I might end up as a tattered rag, possibly even losing my youth in the process.
“But even if exercise helps with recovery, my body was already damaged once. If we start now, won’t it have negative effects on strengthening and healing?”
It wasn’t that I desperately wanted to avoid hardcore training. I was genuinely worried about my body.
When I made that frightened face, Mari pulled me into a headlock and laughed as if to reassure me. Of course, the exaggerated gesture only decreased her credibility.
“Sian, there’s a famous saying from a certain baseball coach known for swinging bats.”
“…What is it?”
“Shoulders only get stronger the more you use them.”
Excuse me? Stronger how?
Where on earth did that saying come from? Usually shoulders break down the more you use them. It didn’t seem like an appropriate remark for this situation. As she began peddling this dubious wisdom, my anxiety surged.
Whether she noticed or not, Mari continued calmly.
“If that’s true for shoulders, wouldn’t the whole body grow even stronger the more it’s used?”
It was not reassuring in the slightest. I silently prayed for my future self.