Cho Eunbi's Tears: Belated Regret
Inside the Broad Academy.
Cho Eunbi sat with a somber expression, waiting for class to begin. Her daily routine had narrowed to two things: helping the old woman who came to the academy every morning collect scrap paper, and then sitting alone in an empty classroom, staring blankly at the wall.
In truth, there was no real need to lose sleep helping the grandmother gather waste paper, but guilt toward Lee Hyunseung drove her to take on the task. If he hadn’t been expelled, he would have been the one helping the old woman every single day.
‘....’
Every morning, in the heavy silence, she thought of him—of Lee Hyunseung, who had now left. Or rather, who had been suspended. She remembered the injustice etched into his face, the tone of his voice, and the way he had cried out.
“I told you clearly. I didn’t do anything.”
She still couldn’t forget that expression. Sometimes he even appeared in her dreams, tormenting her.
Cho Eunbi had been one of the people closest to Lee Hyunseung. During breaks or lunch, she would often ask him about difficult problems, and he would answer without hesitation. Through those exchanges, the two had built a quiet closeness.
In an academy where everyone was a rival, it was rare for anyone to share information so freely. Whether he realized it or not, he had shown her more kindness than she deserved. Cho Eunbi had liked that about him. Unlike the others, he wasn’t childish. She liked his bold yet tolerant nature, his relaxed attitude that seemed untouched by the pressure of competition.
She had liked how calm he was, how he respected his elders, how diligently he pursued his studies without any trace of calculation.
She stared at her phone. The call log contained nothing but rows of failed attempts. She wanted to reach him. She wanted to say something—anything—over the phone, but Lee Hyunseung never answered. She understood why. He had been driven out unjustly, expelled without a single person believing him, powerless to do anything about it.
He probably wanted nothing to do with anyone. If their positions were reversed, she would have felt the same.
Cho Eunbi began typing a message, one careful character at a time.
She agonized over whether to press send, but in the end, she couldn’t do it.
-Click.
Cho Eunbi closed her phone and let out a long sigh.
‘It’s already been a long time since he was suspended. What’s the point of sending something like this now…?’
She hated herself. When Lee Hyunseung was being attacked by everyone, she hadn’t lifted a finger to help. Yet here she was, safe and comfortable, worrying about him from the shadows. The sight of her own behavior made her sick.
‘Honestly… I was scared.’
She had wanted to take his side. The Lee Hyunseung she knew would never do anything so strange. He was simply a person overflowing with academic passion and integrity.
But she had been afraid. Afraid of Yoo Heeyeon—the daughter of the Artemis Guild leader.
If Yoo Heeyeon was condemning him so fiercely, what would happen if Cho Eunbi stood up for him? The consequences were obvious. She would be marked. Her school life would be ruined, her future guild prospects destroyed, and it might even harm her parents who were already working in guilds.
‘Even I can see it… I’m pathetic.’
She had been scared. So she had looked away. She had ignored the desperate look in his eyes. As a result, her school life remained smooth, but none of it brought her any joy.
Her expression grew darker by the day.
-Screeech.
-Thud!
Students began trickling into the classroom one or two at a time. Yet Cho Eunbi continued staring blankly ahead.
Time passed. Class was about to start.
-Rustle.
She listlessly pulled her textbook from the drawer and prepared for the lesson.
Eventually, Cho Eunbi simply gazed into empty space with hollow eyes.
Her friend sitting beside her, Han Goeun, looked at her with concern.
“Eunbi, are you okay? You really don’t look well.”
“Uh… yeah? I guess… maybe I’m coming down with something.”
Cho Eunbi gave a half-hearted excuse. Han Goeun only leaned closer, more worried.
“That doesn’t look like just a cold. Your lips are pale, and now that I’m looking… you’ve lost a lot of weight. Are you even eating? You skip lunch every day, don’t you?”
“I just… haven’t had much appetite lately.”
When she answered in that weak voice, Han Goeun spent a long time fussing over her.
Then—
-Bang!
The classroom door flew open with a violent sound, and Seong Hyunwook shouted.
“Hey, want to hear some insane news? That criminal bastard is here. The stalker guy.”
The A-class instantly erupted into murmurs.
“What? Why the hell is he coming here?”
“Pathetic. Getting suspended and still showing up at the academy?”
“Ugh… it’s going to be noisy again. Can’t they just expel trash like him?”
In the middle of the growing chatter, Cho Eunbi shot up from her seat.
“Huh…? E-Eunbi, where are you going?!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, she ran straight to Seong Hyunwook. Looking him dead in the eyes, she demanded, “Who did you say came? Say it clearly.”
“What’s with you all of a sudden? Who else? The stalker. Lee Hyunseung.”
-Thud.
Cho Eunbi shoved him aside and sprinted toward the central staircase like a woman possessed. She reached the window on the landing and looked down. There stood a man in a brown fedora, a beautiful young woman, and Lee Hyunseung.
‘He… he really came.’
She wanted to run to him immediately. She wanted to apologize for not believing him, to tell him she knew he could never have done it, to say she was sorry for not stepping forward. But when she saw his face, her legs refused to move.
Because she was ashamed. After remaining silent while he suffered, only now pretending to believe him—it was unbearably shameful.
-Thump.
Her trembling legs finally gave out completely. She collapsed right there on the spot.
Time passed. Lee Hyunseung, having entered through the main gate, was now climbing the central staircase.
Step. Step. Step.
Before long, he had reached the stairs where she sat.
‘I… I need to hide…’
Cho Eunbi had imagined the conversation hundreds—thousands—of times. What she would say when she saw him.
At the same time, she was terrified of his reaction. The thought of his disappointed face, his cold tone, his rejection—it frightened her beyond words.
She wanted to hide. She wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. She didn’t have the courage to face him. She didn’t have the strength to meet his disappointed gaze.
But her legs wouldn’t obey. Even as he drew closer, all she could do was remain slumped on the floor.
Step. Step.
Lee Hyunseung stopped directly in front of her.
-Pause.
He halted on the stairs and looked down at Cho Eunbi, who sat collapsed on the ground, staring up at him with empty eyes.
Jeong Eunseo, standing beside him, glanced at the girl on the floor before asking, “Do you know her?”
Lee Hyunseung gave Cho Eunbi a single, indifferent look, then turned his head away.
“No. I don’t know her. Let’s go.”
Step. Step.
He walked away without another glance.
Cho Eunbi could only stare after him, speechless, for what felt like an eternity.
She had been prepared for anything—resentment, hatred, disgust. She knew she had been one of the very few people close to him. She knew that after all the help he had given her without asking for anything in return, she deserved whatever treatment she received for not believing him.
But his reaction was nothing like she had imagined.
Complete indifference.
There was no emotion at all in Lee Hyunseung’s eyes.
No hostility. No killing intent. No malice. No resentment. Nothing.
He had looked at her the way one might look at a random stone on the side of the road.
“Kh… huk…”
“Khaaaaang!”
The tears she had been holding back finally burst free.
His once clear, bright eyes had turned dull and lifeless during his suspension. His once gentle voice was now filled only with coldness. The friend she had known was now a complete stranger.
She understood instinctively. She had already crossed a river with no way back. No matter what she did now, the Lee Hyunseung she once knew would never return. The realization was brutally clear.
Cho Eunbi remained in that spot and cried for a long, long time.
Step. Step.
Lee Hyunseung continued past the central staircase, heading for the president’s office.
‘I’ve finally… made it this far.’
The unjust suspension. The contempt and hatred poured on me from every side.
But I was a non-awakened. There was nothing I could do.
All I could do was accept the unfair decision and submit to it.
‘It was unfair. So unfair I thought I would lose my mind.’
Yoo Heeyeon had used her parents’ authority to crush me.
In a situation where nothing had been confirmed, she decided I was the culprit based solely on the fact that a phone had been found in my locker. Overnight, she turned me into a criminal.
The bastards standing beside her were no different. They hadn’t even finished proper fingerprint analysis or emotional scans, yet they all acted in perfect sync, treating me like a confirmed criminal and condemning me.
I know why. They were afraid of the Artemis Guild. They went along with it to protect their own careers or their own safety. If Yoo Heeyeon said it was true, then it had to be true. That was the unwritten law of A-class. That was the power the Artemis Guild held.
‘Scavengers fighting for scraps from the table.’
Whatever their reasons for joining in, it had nothing to do with me. It didn’t matter how much they claimed they “had no choice” after destroying a person’s life. Their excuses meant nothing.
‘Yoo Heeyeon. Starting today, your academy life is going to become very difficult. You will lose the trust you’ve built, and I will pressure you from every possible direction.’
The top spot in practical skills she currently enjoyed. The overwhelming first-place results and all the expectations and privileges that came with them in every test the academy administered.
As the only daughter of the Artemis Guild leader, she carried the weight of enormous public expectations. And that perfect image was about to be shattered by a piece of F-rank trash—a legendary gunner.
‘I’ll destroy it. Your smooth, easy life. That golden path you walked.’
I’ll take it all away from you. Just like you took my entire life and ruined it.
I can do it. Because I am no longer a non-awakened.
I am a simultaneous Legendary-grade awakener.