042. Something You Hate but Keep Looking For
042. Something You Hate but Keep Looking For
Sometimes, people obsessively seek out things tied to a memory
just so they won't forget it for long.
Even when they absolutely hate it.
For Kang Do-hee, there were two such things.
Her role model, the Parandis Guild Master.
She started seeking them out because she didn't want to forget that person—because she wanted to resemble her.
Kang Do-hee's Personal Story was about severing those two things completely,
parting ways with the shadows of her past, and Kang Do-hee standing tall as her own person.
Naturally, one of them was cigarettes.
The Parandis Guild Master was a chain-smoker who had a cigarette in her mouth constantly, so Kang Do-hee started smoking to follow her lead.
'Well, in the case of cigarettes, she hated them at first, but now they've practically become her only hobby, so she does actually enjoy them.'
As for quitting smoking, she wouldn't succeed until nearly the final part of her Personal Story,
so if I meddled with it now, I'd just end up making her resentful.
'So cigarettes are off the table for now. But the other one—I think I can do something about that one right now.'
I wasn't trying to make her abandon it completely, not yet.
But at the very least, I wanted to wipe away that expression of utter misery she wore whenever she sought it out.
I brought Kang Do-hee to the convenience store attached to the dormitory to find the thing I was aiming for.
Maybe she hadn't expected that the place I'd dragged her to as payback would be a convenience store—Kang Do-hee looked flustered.
"What, disappointed it's not something actually expensive?"
I said with a smirk.
She shook her head, and her expression soon relaxed.
"No. This is better."
Convenience stores were a genuinely positive place for Kang Do-hee. For someone who hated hassle, there was nowhere more convenient than here.
"Let's go in."
I led her inside, pushed open the door, and strode all the way to the back of the store.
We ended up right in front of the drink cooler.
There, I carefully scanned the rows of canned drinks.
"Mmm, I know it's around here somewhere......"
My eyes lit up at one corner of the shelf.
"Ah, found it."
What I'd been looking for was the peculiar-tasting drink the Guild Master had enjoyed.
A canned drink with pale green leaves printed on it.
'Sol's Eye.'
A pine-needle-flavored drink people either loved or hated.
I pulled out two cans and turned back toward Kang Do-hee.
"This one. It's something I like."
The instant I said that, Kang Do-hee's eyes shook as if struck by an earthquake.
"......This?"
I nodded.
'Well, to be honest, it's a drink I came to like.'
In Kang Do-hee's Personal Story, every time she drank this stuff, her face looked like she was swallowing poison, and I'd been so damn curious what it tasted like that I'd gone to a convenience store.
But my neighborhood convenience store didn't carry it, so I'd ordered a whole case online.
And the taste, honestly.......
Hm, it'd be rude to the beverage company, so I'll spare you the detailed description.
I'll just say it was definitely not my thing.
'But the thing is, there's actually a specific way to make it taste good.'
Anyway, I'd impulsively ordered a whole case of the stuff.
I had to do something with it, so I'd researched methods and combinations to make it palatable.
I grabbed two items—one for me, one for Kang Do-hee—and headed for the snack aisle.
Then I picked up a brown, cylindrical snack.
Choco Digestive.
An intensely chocolatey flavor and a thick, crumbly biscuit.
It was a snack with a fairly loyal fanbase of its own.
"If you eat this together with this drink, it's actually really good."
I said it while looking at Kang Do-hee, but her gaze refused to leave the Sol's Eye.
One Choco Digestive, two cans of Sol's Eye. I took them to the counter and paid.
The part-time convenience store worker did briefly look up at me with a face that said are you actually serious, but whatever.
"I'll pay by card. Oh, and want me to buy you some cigarettes, too?"
"......No, I'm fine."
Kang Do-hee answered in a voice that was oddly subdued.
We went outside and sat down at one of the simple tables.
Riiiip—
Click.
I tore open the Digestive package and popped the can tab.
First, a demonstration.
I bit into the thick biscuit snack, and a moment later, took a swallow of Sol's Eye.
'Ahh, that's the taste.'
It was like harmony within disharmony.
Seriously, with just this combination, I could drink ten cases of Sol's Eye.
"Here. Give it a try."
I held the Sol's Eye out to Kang Do-hee.
She stared at it silently for a moment, then accepted it with a resolute expression.
Click.
She started with the snack first.
Crunch—
At the texture of the snack—the strong sweetness of the chocolate and the slightly overdone, cloying dryness—her brow twitched for a second.
'Still, the snack itself is tasty. You might get sick of it if you eat too much, but it's not like you can't eat it.'
The important part came next.
Kang Do-hee glared at the Sol's Eye as if it were her mortal archenemy, then squeezed her eyes shut and gulped it down.
Gulp—
"Huh......?"
Her eyes flew open wide.
Then she looked at me with a bemused expression.
"See? Eaten like this, it's more drinkable than you thought, right?"
"......It's not bad."
Seeing her reaction, I pulled the corners of my mouth up.
* * *
After the Demonized Human Misunderstanding Incident.
Kang Do-hee had spent quite a long time observing Jin Yu-ha.
His insane physical capability, which let him keep pace right behind her even though men were supposed to be physically weaker.
And what about his specialization, Swordsmanship?
She didn't know much about swords, but she could tell that the way Jin Yu-ha wielded his sword was anything but ordinary.
And in barely three weeks of training, he'd seemed to reach a higher level as well.
How to describe him in a single word.......
A slick personality.
Annoying as hell.
Shameless as fuck.
'Lucky bastard.'
Once during joint training, she'd been unable to contain her curiosity and had asked him.
─ How do you do that?
─ Do what?
─ Command.
Occasionally, the Guild Master's face would overlap with his—setting that aside (though, oddly, maybe because her emotions welled up at night, when she watched videos, the overlapping happened more often),
his commanding ability, to be frank, was even better than the Guild Master's.
No, not just better—it was practically an art form.
Whenever she was under his command, she'd almost get the feeling that he understood her skills and limitations inside and out, better than she knew them herself.
So on that point, even she couldn't let it pass without asking.
But Jin Yu-ha's answer was this:
"Hm? That? You just do it?"
"......."
And when it was clear she wasn't buying it, the bastard had added, as if genuinely not understanding.
"It's easy. Anyone can do it. Basically as long as you've got decent memory and judgment?"
"You're so damn annoying."
As expected, this prick is nothing like the Guild Master.
Shameless as fuck and annoying as hell.
But something about him also stirred a nostalgia she couldn't ignore, so Kang Do-hee decided to join Jin Yu-ha's party.
And the more she got to know him, the more certain it became that he and the Guild Master were completely different people.
On top of that, even the Black Snake, who'd been sending her videos daily, stopped mailing her.
Word that Jin Yu-ha wasn't a Demonized Human must have reached that person, too.
Honestly, she was a little disappointed.
Anyway, that was how Kang Do-hee was gradually separating the two in her mind and establishing an appropriate distance.
......But.
This time, when he'd held out that drink, she'd been unable to stop her expression from filling with bewilderment.
'Sol's Eye.'
The drink Guild Master Choi Hye-seo had always enjoyed.
Whenever she thought of the Guild Master, she'd stop by a convenience store and buy one to drink,
but the bizarre taste was something she'd never gotten used to.
Starting from the trifling question of whether this was meant to be sold not to humans but to pine caterpillars,
right up to the fundamental question of why the hell a drink needed to taste like pine needles at all.
She'd always thought no one besides the Guild Master could ever drink this for the taste.
And then Jin Yu-ha had suddenly shoved it at her, saying he liked it.
'......What the hell is he?'
Kang Do-hee could only stare at Jin Yu-ha with a bewildered face.
* * *
Chew-chew.
Gulp-gulp—
Maybe Kang Do-hee genuinely liked this combination, because she kept repeating the process of biting into the snack and then drinking the beverage.
I started to understand why people watched mukbang.
I watched her with quiet satisfaction,
then a thought occurred to me, and I asked her.
"Ah, right. Kang Do-hee. Have you already sorted out how you're handling course registration?"
In response, still chewing on the snack, she held out her phone to me.
The moment I saw the timetable she'd shown me.
A curse nearly slipped out of my mouth reflexively.
"......Fuck."
In the end, it did slip out.
Right after I'd parted ways with Kang Do-hee and returned to my dorm room.
I immediately turned on my phone.
Ding—♬
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
【Sword Demon(劍鬼)】 ─ Everyone, get in here!!!!!
【I'm Not Gukbap】 ─ What's going on?
【Fire Fist】 ─ ?
【Blossom ✿】 ─ Is there a separate mission or something?
【Sword Demon(劍鬼)】 ─ Hand over the course registration timetables you've all already worked up!
【I'm Not Gukbap】 ─ [ Photo ]
【Fire Fist】 ─ [ Photo ]
【Blossom ✿】 ─ [ Photo ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
'Holy shit, these bastards....... They're even worse than the game.'
I checked the timetables they'd sent and pressed a hand to my forehead.