021. Jealousy (2)
021. Jealousy (2)
I spotted Kang Do-hee and immediately turned my head away.
Shin Se-hee had a mischievous look on her face.
"I know every single restaurant Do-hee goes to regularly."
"So what, you follow her around and ask to eat together?"
This was no different from when I used to follow her around whenever she went out to smoke.
I pressed her with a look that said, This is your big plan?
"Come on, no. If I ask her to eat together, she'll obviously run. So I'm starting with a hello. You do know the first step to getting close to someone is a greeting, right?"
Shin Se-hee whispered that, then raised her hand toward Kang Do-hee.
"Do-hee! You here to eat!?"
She called out in a loud, bright voice.
Instantly, everyone's eyes converged on us.
"Huh—what!? Ch-Cheonhwa!?"
"I wasn't sure from a moment ago, but I never thought Cheonhwa would show up at a place like this... But it's really her..."
"But who's the guy sitting with her? Whoa. He's good-looking."
"...That's him. You know. The male quota case."
"What?"
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
What the hell is Shin Se-hee even trying to do?
She'd normally hate this kind of thing.
"What the fuck? What're you looking at?!"
Kang Do-hee, her mood soured by all the attention, looked around and threatened them.
"Th-the Mad Dog's here too...!"
"Hey, don't call her that, you crazy bitch...! Call her Fighting Dog!"
"The Fighting Dog, she comes here all the time."
"Still, she doesn't bite if you leave her alone."
"Except we didn't leave her alone, so that's the problem. Hey, idiot, lower your eyes right now!"
The atmosphere settled in an instant.
Kang Do-hee bit down hard on her lip.
Stomp─
Stomp─
Kang Do-hee walked over, making no effort to hide her irritation.
"Hey, Flowerbed. What kind of bullshit stunt is this?"
"Excuuuse me? A bullshit stunt?"
At her offended tone, Shin Se-hee put on a face that said, How could anyone say something like that?
A vein pulsed on Kang Do-hee's forehead.
"Yeah. I'm asking why some precious lady who'd never set foot in a shithole like this decided to show up here."
"Umm, because Jin Yu-ha said he likes this kind of thing...?"
At that, Kang Do-hee's gaze shifted to me at her side.
Well, this is a little awkward.
Just a bit ago I'd told her I had no intention of getting friendly with Shin Se-hee.
And here I am, eating with her.
"Hey."
I raised my hand slightly in greeting for now.
Kang Do-hee, who'd been staring right at me, set her tray down on our table with a thud.
"You two just stuff yourselves."
Then Kang Do-hee snatched just the burger and the cola off her tray and walked out.
I turned my head to the side.
"...Hey, is this how it's supposed to go?"
"With Do-hee, this is exactly how it goes."
I can't make sense of what this girl is thinking at all.
It looks like she just showed up at Kang Do-hee's usual spot and stirred up shit for no reason.
'Normally you don't even mess with a dog while it's eating, and this is basically flipping its bowl over...?'
But whether I got it or not, Shin Se-hee just kept talking with that bright face of hers.
"Well then, we came to eat too, so let's hurry up and order."
"...Yeah, sure. We did come to eat, so I guess we eat."
We ordered our burgers and brought them to the table.
Nom nom─
"Whoa, this is way better than I expected...!?"
Shin Se-hee's eyes sparkled and she marveled with a happy expression, like she'd just discovered a whole new world of flavor.
At that, camera shutter sounds and reactions of "so cute" rippled from around us.
I stared blankly at the scene, then opened my mouth.
"Shin Se-hee, don't tell me you're planning to eat wherever Kang Do-hee is tomorrow too?"
"Yep, well... I figure about three days should do it? Maybe even sooner. Mm, depends how those people decide to play it."
"Can't you tell me what this so-called plan of yours actually is?"
"Mm─. I think this one's more effective if you don't know, Jin Yu-ha. You're not exactly the type who's confident at acting, are you?"
Sluurp─!
She'd gotten sauce on her finger, apparently, because she sucked it clean while she spoke.
I had nothing to say to that.
Because I genuinely have zero confidence when it comes to acting.
I brought my burger to my mouth too.
Chew.
Yeah, franchise burgers really are worth the money.
I should bring Gukbap here and let her try one sometime.
If Shin Se-hee reacts like this, I'm curious how Gukbap's reaction would go.
* * *
After lunch period ended.
It was time for Role Training again.
"I saw you training yesterday."
Instructor Baek Seol-hee walked up and spoke abruptly.
"Ah, yes. I still don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing, so..."
"You figured out the basic training quite well on your own. It was not far off from what I'd originally planned to teach you. What you need right now is a solid foundation."
Fortunately, the method I'd started on my own yesterday wasn't exactly wrong after all.
"Keep that wooden sword on you at all times."
"Huh? The wooden sword?"
"You need to grow accustomed to it. From now on, whether you are training, sleeping, or eating—do not let the wooden sword leave your hand."
She basically meant I should never let go of the wooden sword.
Well, that's not exactly hard.
"Yes."
I nodded.
"Take your stance."
I gripped the wooden sword and assumed the same posture as yesterday.
Sword forward, one foot slightly ahead, chest and shoulders open, gaze straight ahead.
Then Baek Seol-hee adjusted my stance little by little.
"Good. Remember this stance now, and try swinging once at normal speed."
"Yes."
Internally tracing the sword path I'd drawn the day before, I raised the wooden sword overhead and brought it down in a single stroke.
Whoosh─!
Since I swung it fast, it wasn't a perfect straight line.
But it definitely felt improved compared to when I'd first swung it wildly without a clue.
"Still a long way off. It would be best to continue that practice until you can trace the correct sword path at normal speed."
I thought it wasn't half bad.
But in the eyes of this strict instructor, I still seemed woefully lacking.
Well, what can you do.
She says jump, I jump.
"Yes, understood."
Without a word of complaint, I started swinging the sword.
Whoosh─!
Whoosh─
Whoosh...
......
My eyes closed on their own.
I still couldn't see this sword path clearly with my eyes open.
When I envisioned a perfect straight line in my mind's image, the sword lost speed again and returned to the same state as yesterday.
The sword halted high, poised above the crown of my head.
Watching Jin Yu-ha's figure, Baek Seol-hee wore a faint smile.
'His sword path improved in just one day.'
She knew full well how absurd that was.
Not a quantitative change accumulated through new swordsmanship,
But a qualitative change in the sword strike itself.
Even if you lived madly for the sword for months, forgetting food and sleep,
A sword path is not something that develops so easily.
Whether you've trained in the sword for years or just started—it doesn't matter.
Because humans unconsciously swing the sword in the posture most comfortable for their own bodies.
In fact, correcting a sword path is even harder when someone hasn't been learning the sword for very long.
How can you correct what you don't even know is the correct sword path to begin with?
Baek Seol-hee herself only began paying attention to the correct sword path five years after she'd formally started learning the sword.
'What made that absurd feat possible is, fundamentally, an exceptional instinct for the sword... but also this focus.'
The previous day, not long after Jin Yu-ha had begun training on his own during individual role training.
Even then, Jin Yu-ha had already been completely immersed in his sword, oblivious to everything around him.
A talent for losing himself completely in his focus.
Complete concentration to the point of forgetting not just idle thoughts but his very self.
Jin Yu-ha possessed that.
A concentration that never broke even during joint training, while the earth shattered under the power of Special Admission cadets and explosions boomed all around.
'...He must have a trait like Detection. Completely shutting down his peripheral senses like that isn't something achievable through talent alone.'
It looked like joint training would have to proceed without Jin Yu-ha for the time being.
He was the type who could catch up just fine even if he joined late, so it shouldn't be an issue.
Baek Seol-hee watched him for a moment, then left to check on the other students.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, night had fallen again.
"Seriously, would it kill you to tell me when joint training is starting?"
Joint training had obviously been scheduled for the evening,
But I'd forgotten about it again while swinging my sword and filled the entire day with nothing but role training.
At this point, I was starting to wonder if they had any intention of including me in joint training at all.
Growl─
My stomach growled.
'Ah, I'm hungry.'
I'd skipped dinner again because of training.
'Guess I'd better hit the convenience store.'
Yesterday I'd woken up several times during the night from hunger, so I wanted to avoid that tonight.
So I swung by the convenience store, grabbed two triangle gimbap that caught my eye, and was walking back toward the dormitory when—
'Hm?'
Something pinged on my Detection.
─ Hey. Hey. He's coming. I said he's coming.
─ The hell. This little shit. Why's he so damn late?
─ Hey, is that definitely him?
─ Holy shit, his face is fucking perfect.
─ He seduced Cheonhwa with a face like that?
─ Bullshit. Cheonhwa is just nice. She just puts up with him 'cause he won't stop clinging even though he's annoying.
A little ways off.
A group of guys was hiding there.
I furrowed my brow and headed toward them.
Their eyes went wide, like they hadn't expected me to approach first.
"...Hey. What the hell are you guys."
And then the scene came into view.
"Gkkh─."
"Ghk..."
One guy was sitting on top of two male students.
A big bastard with a square jaw and a rough, thuggish face.
He was just an extra, but I knew him.
The guy who follows that bastard around like a puppy in Shin Se-hee's personal story.
I cast my eyes downward.
Familiar faces met my gaze.
Thanks to my Eye Opening trait, I can see as clearly at night as in broad daylight.
The bloodstains splattered across the ground were vivid.
Looked like they'd been beaten for a good long while.
Their faces were a wreck of bruises and blotches,
And their clothes were torn to shreds.
They were trembling faintly, spilling out groans.
Male quota students.
"Benchwarmer pricks oughta stay put. Quit squirming around like goddamn bugs."
The square-jawed bastard ground the quota students' heads against the floor.
Then he tilted his eyes up and asked me.
"Hey, you're that Jin Yu-ha who's been tailing Cheonhwa everywhere lately, right?"