035. Sparring (5)
035. Sparring (5)
"......Join forces? I'm a little surprised you'd say that to me."
Kang Do-hee looked at Shin Se-hee's outstretched hand as if seeing it for the first time.
"Hmm, it's true I misjudged Jin Yu-ha early on and jumped to conclusions, and honestly, your offer is tempting, but......"
She kept her arms crossed and narrowed her eyes as if sizing Shin Se-hee up.
"Flowerbed. I've known you long enough that I don't think I misjudged you."
"......What?"
"It's just... if I take that hand, I have a feeling I'll never get to apologize to him properly. Scheming behind the scenes. That's not my style."
Kang Do-hee was blunt.
At her firm refusal, Shin Se-hee bit her lip.
Then she let out a deep sigh.
"Haaah—"
Shin Se-hee felt utterly deflated.
What more could she possibly do?
Whenever she tried to approach him directly, that strange woman blocked her way.
When she tried to use someone close to him, Kang Do-hee refused to join hands with her.
Even when she approached him with complete honesty, he pushed her away.
She was trapped on all sides.
'I'm truly out of options.'
She felt a tightness in her chest.
* * *
After talking late into the night with Baek Seol-hee about the next sparring match, I was on my way back to the barracks.
The two of them blocked my way.
"......What brings the two of you here?"
The combination of Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee.
They weren't on great terms, and I'd never even seen them have a conversation, so seeing them show up together was unexpected.
The two of them glared daggers at each other.
"I was here first, you know."
"Did you make an appointment?"
"What about you?"
Kang Do-hee didn't answer Shin Se-hee's question and got straight to her business.
"......I came to find you because I wanted to apologize."
"Apologize?"
Kang Do-hee bowed her head deeply toward me.
I was flustered by her sudden bow.
"Whoa, whoa? Is this about what you said to me before? If it's that, it's fine. We barely knew each other back then. I understand why you reacted that way."
"No, that's not it."
Kang Do-hee shook her head, still bowed.
"I got a request before then, too."
"A request?"
"Yeah, from the Hunter Management Bureau. They asked me to investigate you on suspicion of being a Demonized Human."
"Ah."
Only then did I understand why Kang Do-hee had glared at me so fiercely back then.
She'd received a request, and it seemed she'd suspected me of being a Demonized Human at the time.
So, naturally, she felt sorry once it turned out I wasn't one.
"......Oh, wait. Then."
I subtly turned my eyes toward Shin Se-hee.
'Doesn't that mean this one didn't do anything?'
"......."
Shin Se-hee's pupils quivered as if caught in an earthquake, clearly not expecting this either.
"So I wanted to formally apologize to you."
A flat voice with no inflection.
Her head was bowed, but there was no sense of groveling.
That was Kang Do-hee for you.
She's self-centered and strict with others, but she's just as strict with herself.
I waved my hand dismissively.
"It's fine. I wasn't even particularly upset about it. I didn't suffer any harm from it, either."
Even though I said that, Kang Do-hee still looked hesitant.
"Still......"
"I told you before. Come find me anytime. And if you have questions, I'll answer them."
"......Mm."
"So I'm telling you honestly. It honestly doesn't bother me at all, so it's fine."
Only then did Kang Do-hee raise her head, awkwardly scratching her cheek.
Then, averting her eyes slightly, she spoke in a stiff voice.
"......Th, then, could you let me into the p-party too...?"
My eyes went wide.
'I didn't expect her to bring that up first...?'
Originally, I was planning to ask her next week, after I'd recruited Gukbap.
We'd at least gotten to the point where we'd fought alongside each other.
If she refused, I was going to ask for her number and try to recruit her through regular contact.
'Hmm... But.'
As welcome as the offer was, I was forced into a moment of hesitation.
'First off, I promised Gukbap she'd be my number-one recruit, so taking Kang Do-hee first...'
Of course, Lee Yu-ri had turned me down first, so she'd probably understand, but...
It felt like breaking a prior commitment, and that bothered me a little.
Besides, Kang Do-hee liked people who kept their word without fail in situations like this.
To catch both rabbits—Kang Do-hee and Gukbap—turning her down here was the right call.
Having made my decision, I spoke to Kang Do-hee.
"Sorry, but I have a prior commitment, so I can't accept right now. After I resolve that one first, would it be okay if I came to you with a formal offer?"
"Next week's sparring opponent?"
Kang Do-hee's eyebrows twitched as she shot back.
"How did you know? Ah, you overheard my conversation with the Instructor earlier."
Kang Do-hee let out a short laugh.
"Ha, then I suppose I can't afford to take it easy, either."
Kang Do-hee nodded, an unreadably cool smile on her lips.
Then she extended her hand toward me.
"All right. I'll take that as your answer for now."
"Yeah. Sorry I can't give you an answer right now, but I wanted to recruit you into my party from the very beginning."
I said, taking Kang Do-hee's hand.
Her grip tightened with almost excessive force, but I endured the pain and smiled.
"Yeah, this is definitely more comfortable for me. Just saying it straight."
She nodded briskly and, as if her business was finished, turned her back and walked away.
'Nice, the Demonized Human Misunderstanding Incident resolved Kang Do-hee's recruitment like this...'
And what remained was Shin Se-hee.
"......And you."
She looked flustered beyond reason.
She was clutching an armful of some kind of documents.
She had been furrowing her brow, and finally let out a heavy sigh as if realizing there was no way out.
"Haaah—. This is a mess. A total mess—."
I understood her sigh.
She'd probably planned to use the connection with Kang Do-hee as leverage to make another offer to me.
But with Kang Do-hee's sudden admission, it turned out that her own contribution to connecting me and Kang Do-hee had been negligible.
Shin Se-hee, who'd been trying to put me in her debt, had ended up owing me one herself.
"No way out—. Really. How on earth can things get this twisted?"
Shin Se-hee grumbled as if displeased.
"But in the first place, you can't really stand being around Lee Yu-ri, can you?"
"......That strange woman."
"Yeah. You can't even seem to talk properly when she's in front of you. Even if you joined my party, how would you work together?"
Shin Se-hee gave a scoff at my words.
"...Hey, Jin Yu-ha."
"Yeah?"
"Can I give you a quiz? See if you can guess the answer."
Before I'd even said I'd play along, Shin Se-hee launched into her question on her own.
"I have one part of my body that I'm most confident about. Where do you think it is?"
As she said it, Shin Se-hee pushed her chest forward.
I forcibly dragged my gaze, which had instinctively started to drift downward, back up again.
"......Your eyes."
"Seriously... I can't even tease you."
Shin Se-hee burst out in a peal of laughter.
"I don't know how you knew, but that's the right answer. My eyes. That's the one thing I trust."
"......."
"Then, Jin Yu-ha, would you care to guess how you appear in my eyes?"
"I wouldn't know about that."
Honestly, I still didn't understand why Shin Se-hee was so interested in me.
It was true I'd grown fast early on by pouring in resources, and my aptitude for swordsmanship was a reasonably high Specialization S, but that only made me stand out among the male students.
If you included all the female students, my level was, at the end of the day, about 4-Star.
Compared to Kang Do-hee, a 5-Star, I was a cut below.
Shin Se-hee took a stride.
One step closer to me.
A considerably close distance.
"In my eyes, you look like an uncut gem. A rough gemstone that, with just a little polishing, would shine brighter than anyone."
Her eyes still locked on mine, her moistened lips parted.
"Beautiful, mesmerizing, as if you might disappear the moment I look away......"
Shin Se-hee cautiously stroked my chin with the tip of her finger.
"I've never seen an uncut gem like this anywhere before. I truly, truly want it. So much that I'd want to break it if I couldn't have it... It shines so brilliantly......"
Suddenly, her smile deepened.
"But somehow, I can't find a single way to get it?"
Heh—
"If I were truly determined, I suppose there are ways, but... I don't want to go that far just yet."
Shin Se-hee took a step back and gave a sardonic smile.
"Is that a threat?"
"No. It's a plea."
She answered my question in a calm voice.
"Please understand. This is the first time I've failed to get something I wanted. I don't know what to do because it's so unfamiliar."
Shin Se-hee stared at me intently and spoke.
"So tell me, Jin Yu-ha. What should I do? How can I gain even a little of your interest?"
I couldn't help but make a complicated expression as I looked at her.
'There is the option of just putting her name on the party roster and never using her, but...'
Since the character gacha has dozens of characters, it's only natural that some students you pull end up abandoned and unused.
And even when left neglected, they never really voice any complaints.
But right now, we're not forming relationships through convenient character gacha pulls. We're building them through personal bonds.
The Shin Se-hee I knew was not a woman who could tolerate being treated like that.
'Tch, what the hell do I do with her...?'
During my brief moment of hesitation, the time her pride could endure seemed to run out.
"Even with me standing right in front of you, you're still debating."
She let out a short laugh and shrugged.
"Well, fine. If throwing away this much pride still isn't enough, then I suppose it's truly impossible."
With a forlorn look on her face, she scattered the documents she was holding onto the floor.
"Hoo... Why did I work so hard preparing something like this...."
Flutter— flutter—
"I won't bother you anymore from now on. Still, I'll give the group sparring my all until it's over. So don't you worry, party leader."
And with that, Shin Se-hee immediately turned her back and fled as if running away.
Whish—
A single sheet of paper blew on the wind and skidded to a stop right at my feet.
I stared down at it blankly, then picked it up.
'Huh, wait. This is....'
In an instant, my eyes went round.
"Lee Yu-ri's party's status window...?"