First Bloom - Kang Seojun's Awakening
Serina! Snap out of it!! Kang Seojun!!!!
Seo Eunha slapped Kang Seojun’s cheek hard and fast.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
“Ugh… ow…”
Her strength had been carefully measured, but even that wasn’t enough to spare Kang Seojun. The sting left his eyes spinning wildly before they snapped back into place.
“S-Stop…”
“Seojun! Seojun-nim!!”
“Ah… yes… I’m fine…”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Kang Seojun knelt on the ground, vigorously shaking his messy head. Droplets of blood-mixed spit splattered across the floor.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
“I’m really all right…”
Kang Seojun spoke while spitting blood-tinged saliva.
“It’s nothing big. This…”
“What?!”
Seo Eunha had said it to calm her down, but the words carried no weight at all—especially not when he looked ready to collapse.
“I-It’s nothing! Just take me to the hospital right now!”
“No, no, the hospital…”
“It’s not ‘no’! I’m supporting you, period!”
Seo Eunha hooked her arm around Kang Seojun’s side and steered him toward her car.
“Agh…! The hospital…”
Kang Seojun fought to resist, but he couldn’t overcome A-rank hunter strength.
“It’s no good! Kuuek!”
Crack!
Finally, Kang Seojun collapsed with a scream, vomiting blood once more.
“S-Seojun!”
“Hah… wheeze… I can’t go to the hospital…”
Whoosh… whoosh…
“Today… we mustn’t leave any record that we met…”
Although the mind target had switched to Park Sinhu today, Seo Eunha would still be under surveillance for a while.
If the minds got the data that Seo Eunha had met Kang Seojun today…
‘I might become their target too.’
The minds never let new faces slip by easily.
They would definitely wonder why she had met Kang Seojun, who had no connection to her.
That would make all the aggro she had planted on Park Sinhu completely useless.
Of course, Seo Eunha was aware of it.
“H-Huh… but…”
Whoosh… whoosh…
Still, she couldn’t just abandon a man bleeding out and barely hanging on.
It was a plan, a strategy—first, survive.
“I really am fine.”
Chaaak… chaaak…
“Kuuuuh…”
Kang Seojun rose with wheezing breaths like a consumptive patient.
“See? I can walk perfectly fine like this.”
Stumble! Stumble!
Twist! Twist!
“You’re barely standing!”
Fearing he might fall backward, Seo Eunha quickly steadied him.
“Rest a little and you’ll recover.”
“But… but stubbornness…”
Seo Eunha steered him back to the car.
“Ugh…!”
The stubbornness burned in his eyes this time.
“I’ll take you to the hospital! All responsibility is mine!”
“No… nooo…”
To resist Seo Eunha’s strength, Kang Seojun simply collapsed backward.
“Seojun?!”
She could have dragged him forcibly, but she stopped when she saw him hurt.
“This is a waste of time! Your body will only get worse!”
“No… this is the best. Really, just rest and it’ll get better.”
Even though he spoke with blood pouring from his mouth, there was no point in arguing—because it was the truth.
Sweat poured down his face, breathing was hard, vision spun, and his whole body throbbed, yet it wasn’t the extreme state Seo Eunha imagined.
It was simply an overdose of medicine and crushing fatigue.
He had gone two days without proper sleep, overusing Awakening Potion and Analgesic Potion from the Prosperous Realm.
It was nothing more than a simple status ailment he had endured dozens of times in the original Grand Hunter Academy game.
The solution was ridiculously simple.
Use a Dimensional Shop Healing Potion to calm his stomach and just rest.
Fatigue would recover and the medicine would be flushed out in urine, and the ailment would vanish on its own.
In short, for Kang Seojun this was no worse than a bad stomach bug.
“Why… so much…”
But to Seo Eunha, who didn’t know, Kang Seojun’s condition carried an entirely different meaning.
Puuwuuk.
Seo Eunha bowed her head, biting her lower lip tightly.
“So that was it…”
She muttered softly.
“You said you were going alone… to hide such a body condition…”
“Eh?”
That wasn’t it.
“I… I know I’m not dependable! Don’t—don’t!”
“No no no…”
“If you don’t trust me… then at least treat me like consumable goods!”
“No no no!!”
Kang Seojun cut her off before she made another misunderstanding.
Whoosh… whoosh…
“I should probably show you proof… so you can rest easy.”
Kang Seojun tapped the Dimensional Shop window and bought Dimensional Shop Healing Potion.
“Hah!”
Kang Seojun pulled a glass bottle filled with red liquid from thin air. Seo Eunha, who had been staring blankly, swallowed her breath.
He shook the potion and spoke.
“…This is why we don’t need the hospital. I already have medicine.”
Pong!!
Kang Seojun popped the cap and took a sip.
Saaaak.
Red liquid slid down his throat and his stomach cramps eased at once, breathing became smooth again.
“Whew… now it’s good. I can walk on my own.”
Kang Seojun lightly patted Seo Eunha’s hand. She carefully loosened her grip and checked his condition.
“…Do you really feel okay?”
“You sound like you don’t trust me.”
“…Sorry. I made a mistake again…”
His color and breathing looked much steadier than before, so Seo Eunha dropped her head with embarrassment.
Seeing that, Kang Seojun offered a relieved smile.
Now they were both completely drenched in blood.
“My perfectly cleaned clothes are dirtier again…”
When Kang Seojun reached for the Dimensional Shop to buy another Prosperous Realm Cleanliness Spray, the world tilted.
Stumble.
“Eh…?”
At the same time the messages popped up.
Extreme fatigue tests willpower.
Extreme fatigue tests willpower.
Extreme fatigue tests stamina.
Extreme fatigue tests stamina.
…
…
…
…
Under the already-ignored repeated messages, a new one appeared.
Reached limit and fell unconscious.
Puff!
“S-Seojun?! Kang Seojun!!”
Eunha’s voice echoed from far away.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Consciousness returned.
Consciousness returned. Status ailment “Unconscious” is removed.
Surpassing one’s limits and surviving, the fruits of willpower are reaped! Willpower stat rises by +1!
“Ugh…”
The moment consciousness returned, a skull-splitting headache pounded his brain.
“Ugh…!”
“Seojun?”
Kang Seojun’s groan drew a familiar girl’s voice from beside him.
“Kuuuh…”
Forcing his heavy eyelids open, Jin Serin was right next to him.
“Serin…?”
“Aah… thank goodness… I’m so relieved… it really is a relief…”
Jin Serin, sitting by the bed, clasped Kang Seojun’s hands in both of hers and prayed in gratitude.
Kang Seojun, however, wore a complicated expression.
Where was he? Why was Jin Serin in front of him instead of Seo Eunha? How long had he been unconscious?
He needed to figure out what had happened.
“Kuuuh!”
Kang Seojun tried to sit up by bracing his stomach.
Ziiit!
“Ugh!”
Severe pain lanced through his side and he had no choice but to collapse again.
“Whoa! Don’t push yourself! Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Should I bring something?”
“…What happened? Where are we…?”
He really wanted to get up and assess the situation, but opening his eyes was already difficult.
The status ailments “Extreme Fatigue” and “Drug Overdose” had dropped his HP to a precarious level.
“Rest easy. This is the dormitory. My room.”
“Dormitory…?”
Only then did he recognize the familiar ceiling.
The ceiling of Jin Serin’s dormitory room from the original Grand Hunter Academy.
Kang Seojun closed his eyes again and fell into thought.
Yet he had no idea how he had ended up here since his unconsciousness.
“…How did I get here?”
“Eunha unnie carried you. She came through the window. I have no idea how shocked she was.”
“Through the window?”
“Yeah. The minds can’t leave records via CCTV, so she couldn’t enter the main gate.”
“Ah…”
That cleared up the situation in his mind.
‘Eunha did a great job of finishing. Thank goodness.’
He felt deep relief at her thoroughness—even covering the academy’s CCTV.
Because spies were active at the academy, if Seo Eunha had moved sloppily, things could have turned much worse.
If the minds followed her movements and saw Kang Seojun being carried by her through the dormitory CCTV, they would have turned that useless aggro onto him.
“Whew…”
Kang Seojun let out a deep sigh of relief.
Why had Seo Eunha brought him to Jin Serin’s room instead of his own…?
‘My room was probably locked. She must have rushed to Jin Serin for help.’
The memory gap was roughly filled.
When he lost consciousness he worried, but thanks to Eunha everything had ended without a hitch.
He wanted to thank her immediately.
“Mmm.”
Yet the real MVP was nowhere to be seen.
“By the way, where’s Eunha?”
“She had to leave because it was late. About ten minutes ago.”
“I see…”
Thank you later.
“Yeah. But… you know…”
“Huh?”
Thud.
Jin Serin placed her hand on Kang Seojun’s chest and said,
“You fought with the minds today, right?”
“……Did Eunha tell you that too?”
MVP canceled.
“If I know, I shouldn’t be told, right?”
“No… that’s not it…”
She would worry over nothing for a small matter.
“Then since I’m telling you anyway, how does that help?”
“…Eh?”
Kang Seojun frowned.
“No… why such a serious face…”
“No. It’s fine.”
Jin Serin gave a playful smile and lay down beside him.
Poof!
“I know. To stop you from worrying.”
Her eyes, a finger’s distance away, looked straight at him.
The gaze held both relief and disappointment.
“If you don’t want me to worry, don’t get caught in the first place.”
“…Sorry.”
She was right. He had nothing to say.
“An apology isn’t enough.”
Jin Serin swirled her finger on his chest and spoke.
Kang Seojun answered with a flat gaze.
Then Jin Serin sighed in frustration and offered her pinky.
“Promise me one of two things.”
“Eh?”
“Either promise you won’t get hurt like this again, or promise you won’t hide anything from me from now on, no matter where.”
“Mmm…”
“Since it’s a bet, hurry!”
Seeing Kang Seojun had no intention of moving his hand, Jin Serin placed her pinky first.
“From now on, don’t get hurt where I don’t know.”
Completely unexpected, Jin Serin had forced both promises.
“I know I’m way behind you. Even if I want to help, I only get in the way. But…”
“……”
“At least I don’t want to stay in the dark.”
Kang Seojun felt no shame.
After separating from her in the afternoon, he had returned late at night in this state.
She was probably holding back her anger as much as possible.
“At the very least… you could worry, right?”
“…I’m really sorry.”
Kang Seojun put strength into his pinky when he clasped Jin Serin’s.
“I promise. I won’t get hurt like this again—wait!”
At that moment, something unexpected caught his eye.
“Eh?”
“You… when…!”
On the back of Jin Serin’s hand, the Chosen One stigma had evolved one step further.
What that evolution meant was clear: Jin Serin had become the strongest cadet at the Korea Hunter Academy.