137. Wrap-Up (4)
137. Wrap-Up (4)
"Wh-why—why are you here!????"
Lee Yu-ri tried to bolt upright, but her arm was hooked around Jin Yu-ha's head, and she flopped back down.
Flump.
And so Lee Yu-ri was once again serving as a human pillow for Jin Yu-ha.
Her pupils trembled as if an earthquake were hitting them.
'Wh-what kind of man!! In a woman's sleeping area! I-isn't he, isn't he embarrassed!?'
Her inner Confucian girl bellowed a Shout!!!! in a thick voice.
Pay her no mind, because Jin Yu-ha squirmed and readjusted the position of his head on her arm.
Then he nodded with a satisfied look, as if he'd found the optimal posture.
This was so absurd her mouth fell open of its own accord.
Jin Yu-ha turned his head back—still with only his face poking out of the sleeping bag—and put on a stern expression.
"Where do you think you're going? You haven't even finished recovering, and you're already trying to get up?"
"......Uh, w-well, I think my body is all recovered? I, I think I got some healing too......"
Inside, thoughts were whirling: strict separation of boys and girls after age seven, this is way too fast, get off my arm right now.
But it was Lee Yu-ri who didn't have the nerve to say any of it and averted her eyes while stammering.
The final moments before she blacked out were hazy and hard to remember clearly,
but when she checked her body's condition, she could no longer feel the severe injuries she'd sustained back then.
"Still, no. You have to rest. Even if you look okay right now, you're probably not back to normal. You kept forcing out skills that wouldn't even activate back then, didn't you? Squeezing them out by sheer force."
"......"
That was exactly what had happened.
She'd already run out of Mana using Shield's Echo.
Whenever even a little Mana recovered, she'd alternated between Shield's Echo and Sacrificial Shield.
She'd been desperate, thinking that if she didn't, even one of them could end up in serious trouble.
Haaah—
Jin Yu-ha narrowed his brows and let out a heavy sigh.
"For the time being, no skills, and training is off-limits too. And your Mana roads must be damaged...... I'll send you some good stuff, so don't forget, make sure you take it."
"N-no! Th-there's really no need to go that f—"
"Shut it. Your objection is denied."
Jin Yu-ha spoke in a firm voice that brooked no argument.
"You idiot. Who asked you to go that far? And if you'd thought about it a little more, there would've been other ways."
"......B-but still."
"If something had gone wrong with you, Gukbap, what was I—the one who gave the order—supposed to do? What was I supposed to say to your family, your little sister, your friends?"
Jin Yu-ha stared at Lee Yu-ri with deeply serious eyes as he spoke.
'What's with him today, wh-what's with him!!!'
It was nice that he was so worried about her,
but staring right into her face this close while saying it was unbelievably overwhelming.
Especially for her heart.
Gulp.
"This already makes three times."
"Uh...... W-wasn't it, the second...... time?"
Embarrassed, Lee Yu-ri averted her eyes and protested in a small voice,
but that appeared to be the wrong answer, only fueling Jin Yu-ha's anger further.
"First time was Camela Forest, when you charged in alone. Second time was the very first Basic Monster Understanding lecture, when you lunged out the moment the Instructor transformed. And this time makes three!"
"......Nggh......"
Faced with these weighty facts, Lee Yu-ri shut her mouth tight.
"Seriously, I told you over and over! And you still didn't even think about listening! Who on earth do you take after......"
Jin Yu-ha's nagging went on until her ears began to sting.
Lee Yu-ri just smiled.
'Mhm, this won't do.'
"......N-now that I think about it again, I'm, a little......? My body? Is maybe? Still? Hurting......?"
To escape Jin Yu-ha's nagging, she tried playing sick.
At that, Jin Yu-ha's expression turned grave, and he shot up from the bed and threw off the sleeping bag.
Jin Yu-ha was in excessively light clothing.
Lee Yu-ri's eyes went as wide as lanterns.
'Aaaaaah......!?'
A stretched-out t-shirt and short shorts.
They were the clothes Jin Yu-ha had brought as sleepwear from the very first day he came to the uninhabited island, but to Lee Yu-ri—who'd spent her whole life without ever knowing a man—it was far too intense a stimulus.
'Cover up a little! Cover up, you bastard!!!'
At Jin Yu-ha's risqué attire, Lee Yu-ri's eyes spun round and round.
But Jin Yu-ha drew even closer and pressed his forehead to Lee Yu-ri's.
'Hey, hey!! Heeey!!!!'
Inside Lee Yu-ri, who'd squeezed her eyes shut, a scream soared into the heavens.
But Jin Yu-ha, who could not possibly know this, simply kept his forehead to hers and even brought his hand up to stroke her cheek, speaking in a grave tone.
"You're really—your forehead is on fire!? And your face is hot too......! Did you catch a cold or something? Maybe something's wrong with your Mana roads......!"
Jin Yu-ha, deciding this wasn't good, pulled his face back and stood up.
"First, I'll at least give you some of the first-aid supplies I brought. And I'll make you some porridge. Eat that, then take the medicine."
Amidst the chaos, the sound of Jin Yu-ha's "porridge" came through with crystal clarity.
And her survival instinct kicked in.
Grab.
She seized Jin Yu-ha's arm.
"D-don't go!"
"Huh?"
"M-my body temperature just runs high normally! Yeah, yeah! So that's all it is! So don't go, just—just stay here with me!"
"But—"
"......This is a once-in-a-lifetime request. Jin Yu-ha."
Lee Yu-ri said to Jin Yu-ha with her eyes wide open.
At that, Jin Yu-ha let out a deep sigh, as if he had no other choice.
"Hoo...... Fine. But if you get hungry, you have to tell me, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah!! Of course!!!"
Lee Yu-ri nodded desperately.
* * *
"......So, what sort of situation is this, exactly? Would someone mind explaining, perhaps?"
Shin Se-hee asked with a smile on her face.
But in contrast to that smiling face, her voice somehow dripped with cold energy.
Lee Yu-ri and Jin Yu-ha lying side by side on a crudely made bed.
Jin Yu-ha was using Lee Yu-ri's arm as a pillow.
And what's more, in a practically undressed state.
Four women encircled the pair, looking down at them with icy stares.
Lee Yu-ri's eyes darted around nervously, cold sweat trickling.
Shin Se-hee, Kang Do-hee, even Lee Min-young......?
And the blonde? And who might you be?
Lee Yu-ri's pupils began to tremble again.
She turned her gaze towards Jin Yu-ha, looking for a way out.
Hoooh— Hoooh—
He was sound asleep, as if he had no clue what was going on.
'......No, why is he asleep again!!??'
A situation where everyone was staring at her as if she were trash.
'I'm not the one—he started it!'
She was wronged. For real.
"Yellow Dog nursed you five days and nights without a wink of sleep. Yes, now that you've woken up, it's understandable that he'd relax and fall asleep. But, this situation still seems to require an explanation."
'No! When I woke up, he was already sleeping next to me!'
"......Honestly. Using your patient status...... to act on ulterior motives. I'm very disappointed in you, Lee Yu-ri. I didn't think you were that kind of person...... You. You were a truly frightening person, weren't you?"
'I'm not.'
"Ch-chieftain...... With, with Jin Yu-ha, in that, kind of......."
'I said I'm not!?'
"......S-so, cute!!!"
The blonde girl she'd never seen before seemed to be a little off in the head.
Lee Yu-ri tried to say something, but this was a bizarre situation where no excuse seemed like it would make a difference.
For now, she tried to pull her arm out from under Jin Yu-ha's head,
"Nnng—"
Squeeze!
Letting out a nasal sound, Jin Yu-ha hugged Lee Yu-ri's arm even tighter.
At this, the already chilly stares of her party members grew even more frigid, like a northern blizzard.
"""......"""
"Eek! Cute!!!"
Let's forget the blonde girl's inexplicable interjection for a moment.......
'Oh for crying out—why does he have so much arm strength!?'
She couldn't do this, and she couldn't do that; it was truly driving her mad, ready to jump out of her skin.
"Hah, no matter how much time passed there was no word, so I came in to check, and this is the shameless...... Tch, let's set aside this discussion for a separate occasion."
Shin Se-hee, who could not possibly know what Lee Yu-ri was feeling, continued in a cynical voice.
"Tch, first, since you seem to be up, I'll start with a situation briefing."
"Uh, yeah......"
"Tch, you've been asleep for five days."
"F-five days? Then, the Midterm Evaluation!?"
"Tch, things have quieted down for the moment. After what happened, exams and everything else aren't exactly the priority."
"Ah......"
"Tch, even so, the Midterm Evaluation must be officially recorded under Hunter law...... So, the results will likely be tallied based on the settlement up until the Demonized Human appeared."
"......Uh, then?"
"Tch, you're in the same party as Kang Do-hee, so you will take first place."
"Tch, I agreed because Yellow Dog asked, but seeing this scene now, I'm not feeling inclined."
In truth, this Midterm Evaluation was extraordinarily important to Lee Yu-ri.
Because it was the exam that determined the scholarship for Velvet Hunter Academy, which has high tuition!
Shin Se-hee had already forfeited her own Coins, standing at 0 Coins. As things were now, Kang Do-hee was overwhelmingly in first place.
If Kang Do-hee's Coins were combined with her own.......
Lee Yu-ri looked down at Jin Yu-ha.
"......Then, what about him?"
"Tch, Jin Yu-ha and Sofia, our newly joined Healer here—those two originally formed a party. And I will be joining them. Our party will take second."
"Ah......"
So that blonde was the Healer.
And even with Shin Se-hee—currently at 0 Coins—pulled into the party, they were still in second place.
It seemed Jin Yu-ha had also managed to rake in a fair number of Coins in the meantime.
Lee Yu-ri nodded in acknowledgment, then tilted her head.
"Huh? But...... if it's just me and Kang Do-hee, doesn't that leave one spot open in our party?"
"Tch, that one spot is......"
"Ch-chieftain! M-me, it's me!"
Cutting off Shin Se-hee, Lee Min-young's hand shot up.
"......Lee Min-young?"
"Yep! I'll be joining as an intern for the Utopia Party, assisting Operator Shin Se-hee from now on! P-please take good care of me!"
Huh......?
That girl, the Utopia Party?
Lee Yu-ri wore a bewildered expression.
'What in the world is going on!???'