This Isn't It...? (2)
This Isn't It...? (2)
"Ughhh..."
Baek Ha-na's eyes fluttered open as a groan escaped her lips—the kind that might get her mistaken for a zombie.
The first thing to greet her unfocused blue eyes was a plain white ceiling. Her dorm room ceiling.
"...?"
Ha-na stared up at the all-too-familiar ceiling, blinking blankly.
She'd definitely been in the study. So why was she lying in her dorm bed?
'Woo-jin was supposed to watch me train...'
She closed her eyes.
Releasing her mana, she sensed every object around her.
The moment she detected a small mass of mana gathering in a large hand—
—BAAANG!!
A skull-rattling impact and an explosive roar like a bomb detonating.
"Nngh..."
Now that she had a rough idea of what had happened, Ha-na stretched and sat up in bed.
Tucking her disheveled hair behind her ear, she glanced at the bed across from hers.
"...Gone."
Lee Na-young's bed, which should have had a rounded lump in it, was perfectly flat.
Ha-na's gaze drifted to the clock on the table.
AM 09 : 13
'He told us to be there by ten.'
Recalling what Jaden had said yesterday before they parted ways, Ha-na climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
"Pwaah~!"
After a quick shower, Ha-na stood before the bathroom mirror and lightly lifted her damp bangs.
A smooth, pale forehead came into view.
A force strong enough to knock her senseless had struck her head, yet the forehead that took that mass of mana was perfectly fine. No redness or swelling, no lingering sting or throbbing pain either.
Though.
"Tch..."
A twinge of disappointment was unavoidable.
'Still, right off the bat that was way too harsh... idiot.'
She hadn't asked for personal instruction to indulge some dark side, obviously.
She'd asked to train together out of a pure desire to grow stronger.
'W-well... not that it doesn't exist at all...'
Personal instruction meant getting to see his face for longer, after all.
Right now, that alone was enough.
"...Might as well eat."
What she'd hoped for was guidance somewhere like a training room, not the residence.
'It'd be hard, huh?'
Given what happened yesterday, plus how he'd always disliked noisy places and crowds, that wish seemed unlikely to come true.
"Hoo."
Having neatly sorted out her feelings, Ha-na grabbed some instant food from the freezer and tossed it in the microwave.
Click. Click. Click.
Ha-na had been absentmindedly watching the microwave spin quietly. Then, tossing the towel draped around her neck into the laundry basket, she headed for the front door.
"You're awake."
"Just got up."
Nam Seo-hee stepped inside, and Ha-na pulled the finished pasta out of the microwave and set it on the table.
"Did you eat?"
"Already did."
Ha-na grabbed just a fork and sat at the table.
"You're the one who carried me back yesterday, Seo-hee?"
"Na-young can't exactly haul you around."
"That's true."
The image of Lee Na-young struggling and huffing as she tried to lift her suddenly surfaced, drawing a small laugh.
"Hmm, so what's the group meeting for?"
"I heard professors are pairing up to supervise us."
"Hmm."
Ha-na shoved a forkful of twirled pasta into her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp, barely chewing.
"So sparring happens once a week?"
"Maria said a month and a half of individual training first, then matchups based on skill level after that."
"Based on skill level..."
A small furrow appeared between Ha-na's brows.
Because Yoon I-seul, who'd been on the stage with her yesterday, came to mind.
'No, forget it. Don't dwell on it.'
She'd gotten new gloves, and while the whole taming thing and her mindset were a bit off-putting, the person herself didn't seem bad.
"Don't worry. I'll beat that gloomy woman and be your opponent, Ha-na."
"Don't push yourself too hard. The fact is, she's strong..."
Putting aside the annoyance, that Shadow Spear that flew at her at the very end was threatening enough to set off every danger instinct she had.
She'd actually burned through most of her mana just to block that one strike.
Fortunately, the Shadow Spear had shattered before piercing through the mana barrier, but the shockwave from the collision alone had nearly turned her insides into a mess.
'If I hadn't gotten beat up by my sister every day, that woman would have won...'
Maybe Nam Seo-hee had read her thoughts.
"It's fine. I've got something in mind."
Seo-hee ran her fingers over the sword hilt at her hip, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"If you need someone to test it on, let me know."
"I will."
After chatting a little longer, Ha-na crammed the last of the pasta into her mouth and left the dorm with Seo-hee.
"Seo-hee, this way."
"Yeah."
Ha-na grabbed Seo-hee's hand—surprisingly bad with directions—and headed toward the upperclassmen's training rooms.
'It's huge.'
Ha-na inwardly marveled at the building's imposing size, which rivaled the dome-shaped sparring arena she'd seen yesterday, and stepped through the wide-open entrance just as she had then.
"Hey—!!"
'...?'
Ha-na blinked as Kang Han-na came striding toward her as if she'd been waiting all along.
"You little—!! I get that you're adorable, but who shows up exactly at ten when they're told to come by ten...!!"
She was clearly angry.
Yet Kang Han-na was keeping her voice firmly in check.
Almost like she was watching someone's reaction.
"You came the same way yesterday, didn't you?"
"Nngh... forget it. Adorable, you go right over there."
Kang Han-na's finger pointed at the entrance of the training room tucked in the far corner.
Unlike the open layout of the first-years' training rooms, the upperclassmen's facilities were divided into individual spaces—no one on the outside could see in unless the student inside gave consent.
"Just go in there?"
"Yes! Now go, go!!"
Kang Han-na gave her a light push on the back, and Ha-na scratched her head as she stood before the door of the room the instructor had pointed to.
'Who's inside?'
A red light above the door indicated that someone was currently using the room.
'More importantly, how do I even open this...?'
Ha-na was flummoxed by the array of unfamiliar buttons.
Psssshhh—
The door slid open with a rush of escaping air.
"...A jungle?"
Ha-na's eyes widened at the interior, which looked straight out of a tropical rainforest.
Psssshhh—!!
The moment she stepped inside, the wide-open door shut behind her with the same sound.
"Not real... though."
Massive trees and thick undergrowth spread before her, but she couldn't sense any life from them. The only thing she could feel was mana—finely refined mana.
'Amazing.'
It wasn't real, but the blade of grass brushing her fingertips felt no different from the genuine article.
"But this mana feels kind of familiar...?"
The wavelength was something she'd encountered not just once but several times before.
The trouble was, no face immediately came to mind.
A faint crease formed between Ha-na's brows as she chased a memory that hovered just out of reach.
Right at that moment.
Fwoooosh—!!
Plant stalks burst from the ground beneath her feet and lunged.
"Kh—?!"
A beat too slow to catch it through the faint tremor and sound underground, Ha-na threw herself into a roll and barely managed to evade the stalks that meant to bind her.
But.
Fwoosh— fwoooosh—!!
Before she could even get back on her feet, dozens more stalks erupted from the ground the instant her knees touched it.
Sllip.
Just before the deep-green stalks reached her body, a snow-white tail slipped out from under Ha-na.
Fwooosh—!!
In a flash, Ha-na kicked off the ground and spun her body. The white tail whipped through the air like a living lash, sinuous and deadly, and tore through every last stalk that had sprouted.
Thud!!
Now fully transformed into a beast, Ha-na launched off the spot before a third wave of attacks could begin and bolted deeper inside.
'Predicting them is hard.'
The ground beneath her feet, the small blades of grass, even the towering tropical trees—all of it was composed of mana. Even the muggy breeze brushing her cheek.
This entire space was essentially one massive mass of mana.
'And every bit of it holds the exact same amount...'
Being dropped into a vast ocean was bad enough; this was like being surrounded by a swarm of identical sharks.
Shaaa—!!
From the densely packed trees, countless branches shot forth with enough force to skewer her.
"Hup—!!"
Both of Ha-na's thighs swelled slightly.
Papapak—!!
Dozens of branches slammed into the ground right in front of where her toes had just been, as she came to a sudden halt.
Ha-na spun on her heel and dove into the underbrush.
The stalks and branches kept coming, relentless, giving her not a moment's rest. She avoided direct clashes whenever possible and only used force to smash through when evasion was truly impossible.
"Hah, hah...!!"
Though she hadn't had a second to check how much time had passed, even under the unending assault, Ha-na panted roughly and grinned.
Crrrunch!!
Rending the thick tree roots that erupted in front of her with her claws, Ha-na pushed herself even faster.
'Faster, even faster...'
To find Baek Woo-jin, who had to be somewhere in here.
·
·
·
Psssshhh—!!
"...?"
Kang Han-na's head turned. She'd been spacing out after having the student she was supposed to supervise stolen away by a superior.
"...!!"
And the instant she recognized who had stepped out of the training room, she shot up from her seat.
Black slacks and a black dress shirt. Red necktie and a black long coat.
"I'll be attending the first-year meeting."
"Huh? Ah, yes, sir!! Sh-should I go inside and watch over her for a bit?"
Kang Han-na cautiously posed the question to the superior who had approached.
"No, there's already someone filling in for me, so no need to worry about it."
"...?"
Who else had gone in? No, that couldn't be right.
Kang Han-na swallowed the question that had risen to the tip of her tongue and nodded.
Click. Clack.
The pleasant sound of dress shoes gradually receded.
Alone once more, Kang Han-na leaned back against the hard chair and muttered under her breath.
"...Getting paid to do nothing. Sweetest gig ever."