020. Jealousy (1)
020. Jealousy (1)
"You want to get close to Do-hee, right?"
"......."
"I think I could help with that......."
Shin Se-hee stepped forward, offering to help me get closer to Kang Do-hee.
It didn't come out of nowhere.
I'd apparently caught Shin Se-hee's interest,
and she already knew I was interested in Kang Do-hee.
My mind spun rapidly.
Right now, did I need Shin Se-hee's help?
'......It would be nice to have.'
No matter how well I had Kang Do-hee's personal story and personality memorized,
the depth of her repulsion toward the Male Quota System was still an unknown.
Of course, I was confident I could dilute that image over time by showing her a side of me different from her prejudice.
But I didn't have time.
Only three weeks.
'Considering the training ahead and everything else, I'm way too short on time to create a point of contact with Kang Do-hee on the side.'
Once the training camp period ended, it would become hard to even run into Kang Do-hee at the academy.
'Getting Shin Se-hee's assistance here would definitely help.'
Since she was so skilled at interpersonal relationships and scheming, I could probably receive genuinely useful help.
'But if things go this way, I'll end up getting pulled into her orbit.......'
I narrowed my eyes and looked at her as she smiled brightly.
As she gave me these small bits of help and I racked up debts, there was a high chance I'd end up as a pawn in her game before I even realized it.
I needed a leash.
Not one-sided help, but a deal.
That would prevent Shin Se-hee from using a debt as an excuse to cross the line.
But anything too private would just invite suspicion, so pass.
'Something appropriate....... Ah, right. There was that, wasn't there?'
"How about it? Getting close to Do-hee. I'll help you. You'll accept my help, won't you?"
An expression brimming with confidence, as if asking whether I really thought I could refuse this offer.
I lifted the corners of my mouth.
"......I'll accept the help, but let's make a deal instead. You'll need my help too, after all. The necklace you lost. Don't you want to know where it went?"
"Huh......?"
The smile on Shin Se-hee's face shattered, as if a crack had split right through it.
A subtle sense of satisfaction welled up inside me as I continued.
"I'm talking about Cheonhwa's sole blemish. The unidentified necklace theft incident."
"......Y, you."
"Rumor was, it was a dungeon reward....... And it was a good one, so Cheonhwa secretly pocketed it behind the scenes. Was that how it went?"
"H, how do you know that......!"
"What, you told everyone to keep their mouths shut, so are you shocked I know about it?"
"......."
"More people know about that than you'd think."
In reality, quite a few people other than me knew this. And it would eventually blow up into a whole incident later.
An incident that would crack Cheonhwa's solid reputation.
Around three months after the entrance ceremony,
a rumor would begin to circulate at Velvet Academy.
The rumor that Shin Se-hee hadn't wanted to distribute a dungeon reward and had pocketed it herself, then silenced everyone about it.
But, absurdly enough, it was also an incident that would get resolved immediately after it broke out.
'Which means it's fine to use it now.'
Shin Se-hee was glaring at me, her face stiff, her lips twitching slightly.
I let out a soft chuckle at the sight.
"Don't look at me like that. I know you didn't take it."
"......!"
This time, her eyes went wide.
Shin Se-hee's expression flipped rapidly in a matter of seconds.
"And I also know who did take it."
"Who is it!!!"
Shin Se-hee's voice lost all composure as she shot the question right back at me.
"Shin Se-hee, I said let's make a deal."
"......Ah."
"Since you brought up the offer first, shouldn't making Kang Do-hee and me friends come first?"
Only after a brief silence did Shin Se-hee open her mouth.
"Jin Yu-ha. What exactly are you?"
"Male quota?"
"......Ha."
She let out an incredulous laugh.
"That had better not be a lie. What you said about knowing the bastard who stole that necklace."
"Would I dare lie in front of Cheonhwa?"
I shrugged and answered nonchalantly.
"Fine. Let's do it. A deal."
Shin Se-hee extended her hand to me.
Not as a one-sided helping hand, but as an equal trading partner.
* * *
The next day.
"The special admission cadets and the quota students will no longer follow the same training schedule."
Instructor Baek Seol-hee came out to the training ground right at 8 o'clock sharp and said this the moment she arrived.
At that, the quota students' faces bloomed like flowers in full blossom.
Apparently, after trying it once the day before, they absolutely couldn't handle it.
Of course, I was also a quota student, but I wasn't particularly worried.
She had said she'd set up a separate training schedule tailored to me.
"The special admission cadets have the same training schedule as yesterday, so go start your running. The quota students, come over here for a moment."
Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee headed to the track, and we gathered in front of her.
"From now on, the three of you will train together."
"......!?"
I looked at Baek Seol-hee with bewildered eyes.
"W-wait a moment, Instructor. This is different from what we discussed—"
"Ask questions after I'm finished speaking."
Baek Seol-hee cut me off as if she'd expected exactly that.
"The one doing the training is Cadet Jin Yu-ha alone."
"......Pardon?"
"Then you must be wondering what the remaining quota students should do."
"Yes......."
"W-what should we be doing?"
The quota students looked at her with eyes full of anticipation.
Do they really hate training that much......?
"The Healer will provide healing, and the Support will provide buffs. To Cadet Jin Yu-ha."
"......What!?"
"T, to Jin Yu-ha!?"
"Yes. Cadet Jin Yu-ha has a naturally gifted body, but he handles it like an ordinary person. He has absolutely no sense of the limits of his physical abilities."
Baek Seol-hee stated in a flat voice.
"Therefore, he will break through those limits while moving his body under the effects of buffs and healing."
"Ah."
The explanation was short, so it took me a moment to understand, but applying it to my current situation made it clear what she meant.
'I had been moving my body based on the standards of my previous world's body.'
A Hunter who had awakened their status window possessed a physique leagues apart from ordinary people.
Different in recovery, strength, endurance—every dimension.
To the point where even if shot by a gun, you'd get sent to the hospital but wouldn't die.
'So I receive buffs and healing while....... breaking the ingrained sense of an ordinary person. That's it.'
Seeing my expression, Baek Seol-hee nodded.
"Hm, you seem to understand roughly, good. The quota students' skills are especially minimal in effect, making them perfectly adequate for reducing Cadet Jin Yu-ha's learned physical dissonance."
A statement that practically treated the quota students as training tools.
At those words, their faces crumpled, pride clearly wounded.
'But there's no way they think well of me; will they obediently do it......?'
"If you don't want to, you're welcome to proceed with the same training schedule as yesterday."
"......I'll, I'll do it!"
"Please let me do it!"
With that single sentence from Baek Seol-hee, they immediately became obedient.
"Good. Quota students, just sit comfortably and use your skills."
And then Baek Seol-hee's personal instruction began.
*
"You can do more."
"Just one more."
"More."
Like an enthusiastic personal trainer, Baek Seol-hee fervently chanted "just one more."
Though without any change in expression or tone, she was basically a machine playing the same words on repeat.
"Grrrrgh—!"
I bit my lip as I did handstand push-ups.
Veins bulged on my face and drops of sweat dripped onto the floor.
The weights strapped to my ankles were much heavier than the day before.
"Quota student, buff."
"Eek......! A-again......?"
"Then we can start with running instead."
"N, no! I'll, I'll do it!"
The quota student extended both hands toward me with his lips pressed tight.
A faint Mana rose from her hands and flowed into my body.
It felt like a single drop of water falling on parched, cracked earth.
It was absorbed so instantly I couldn't even feel it.
"Cadet Jin Yu-ha. Just one more."
"Grrrgh—!!!"
I gritted my teeth and bent my arms and pushed up again.
Thud—!
Right after that, I collapsed onto my back.
"Hm, it seems some muscles in your arms have torn slightly. Quota student. Healing."
"Uuuurgh—. H, healing!"
At Baek Seol-hee's command, the quota student cast recovery with a face that looked half-dead.
Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I was being healed.
Maybe this was some wicked scheme to use the placebo effect to boost training efficiency.
"Good work."
"......."
"......."
"......."
Neither I nor the quota students said a single word.
I felt like my body had been squeezed to its absolute limit.
Baek Seol-hee looked down at us.
"Training from now on will proceed in this manner. Now eat and reassemble in one hour."
Stomp. Stomp.
Baek Seol-hee said that and then turned her back and left.
The sound of her fading footsteps reached me as if in a dream.
I was staring blankly up at the disgustingly clear sky
when a shadow fell over my face.
"......Shin Se-hee?"
One of my eyebrows twitched.
"Fufu, you worked hard in training."
"......You come to make fun of me?"
"Of course not. We should eat together."
"With you?"
"Yes, this is all part of the plan."
Shin Se-hee covered her mouth slightly and whispered as if sharing a secret.
"......Fine, got it."
I'd already put a leash on her anyway. No reason to suspect her.
So I got up and staggered off to my meal with Shin Se-hee.
The place was completely different from yesterday.
Red and yellow signs.
Stimulating aromas.
And the loud noise of people chattering.
A fast-food joint.
'......Hamburgers?'
I turned my head and looked at Shin Se-hee as if to ask, are you serious?
"I've, I've never eaten anything like this before!"
"......."
"I always wanted to come here but never got a chance, you know?"
Her eyes sparkled as she opened the door.
The moment we went inside, we grabbed an empty seat.
She whipped her head around, searching for the menu board.
"Ah, there it is. I think my chef made me a hamburger once before....... I wonder if it'll taste similar?"
"I'll have the Yeroni Piaco Cheese Burger."
"......What's that?"
"The burger's name."
"Ah, so they have something like that. Then I'll have that too."
That was when it happened.
A short distance away, a woman holding a hamburger and looking for an empty seat caught my eye.
Vivid red hair.
A toned, voluptuous body.
An indifferent face.
It was Kang Do-hee.