3. Fate Was Stronger Than I Thought
3. Fate Was Stronger Than I Thought
3. Fate Was Stronger Than I Thought
"Tell me. Now."
Yu Ha-yeon fixed me with a sharp look and asked what I was hiding.
Could she have realized I'm not the Han Si-jun she knew, but a different one?
A childhood friend she'd known for years might easily notice the change.
As that uneasy thought crossed my mind, I—still possessed—couldn't hide my panic and managed,
"...What? What do you mean?"
"I already know everything. Don't bother hiding it. If you tell me now, I'll let it slide."
...She knows?
Does she know I've been possessed?
Stay calm. Don't panic.
She probably didn't mean it that way. Let's not jump to conclusions.
If I hid something from Yu Ha-yeon, I'd be pestered for a week. So I started searching for clues about what she meant by 'hiding.'
'First...'
Nothing is meaningless. Every action is interconnected, like a living thing.
And the quickest source of information is body language.
I checked her posture.
'Hmm...'
Arms crossed, legs crossed. She was uncomfortable with the situation.
She was quite displeased that I wasn't talking.
'Why on earth?'
There were no memories beyond that.
The memories of the original Han Si-jun were extremely fragmentary; only the important events remained.
Including the memory of Yu Ha-yeon sulking for a week after he deceived her about something.
Tap, tap.
Seeing her twitch her fingers like that, it looked like time was running out.
I hurriedly checked her expression.
'She's annoyingly pretty, though.'
Eyes, nose, and mouth gathered together perfectly.
The way they came together created cat-like eyes and a sharp impression, giving her the aura of a cold city woman.
Long and slender, the epitome of a slim figure.
While I was admiring Yu Ha-yeon's looks, the time bomb kept ticking.
"I'll give you ten seconds. Ten... nine... eight..."
"W-wait. I'll tell you. I'll tell you."
A hint of anger colored Yu Ha-yeon's expression.
The way her eyes were raised, the veins on her temples visible.
Ah, this is going to blow soon.
At that urgent moment.
I spotted one lie on her face.
'The corners of her eyes are trembling slightly.'
Trembling at the corners meant she was putting force there.
Why would she be straining like that?
To fake anger?
No, the anger is real, but she's using it to hide something.
Then what?
'The answer is obvious.'
With a calm chain of reasoning, I could deduce what Yu Ha-yeon was hiding.
"This might be nothing, but my heart kind of hurts."
[Stamina 2]
Judging by the stats, my Stamina is a whopping 2, compared to an average person's 4.
Lower than a normal person's Stamina.
[Mana 0]
A congenital disease where the body does not form a core to hold mana.
This causes an overload on the heart.
'So that's how it all fits together?'
The memories of this body, which spent its childhood in a hospital bed, came rushing back.
Health was a word far removed from me.
And that...
"You..."
It was a topic that flipped a switch in Yu Ha-yeon, the S-rank Candidate.
"I told you to tell me first when you're hurting, didn't I?"
Yu Ha-yeon said in a trembling voice, her face crumpling into a tearful expression.
"Hey, I said if you told the truth, I'd let it slide..."
"Is that the same thing?! Idiot!! Do you want to see me go crazy?!"
Ah, that line is a bit...
Still, coming from a childhood friend, it's kind of nice.
Yu Ha-yeon, seemingly forgetting we were on a train, shouted in anger.
"Hey, calm down first... it could just be my imagination."
"How can someone's heart hurt just because they imagined it! If something happens to you, I'll..."
Yu Ha-yeon's voice only grew louder, so I forcibly covered her mouth.
But the sound had already escaped, and her aggrieved voice echoed throughout the train, causing a few murmurs.
"Oh my, what's going on?"
"Looks like the guy was cheating on her..."
"Tsk tsk. You can't be like that as a man."
People began to misunderstand me after hearing Yu Ha-yeon.
As the whispers passed from person to person, the story evolved from an argument to a cheater, and finally to a two-timing scumbag.
A nearby female student in uniform muttered quietly.
"...What a creep."
And just like that, in less than a minute, I'd been branded as trash on the train.
'This is all because of that damned fate.'
As soon as I heard the announcement that we'd arrived at the station, I pulled Yu Ha-yeon, who was sitting and trying to calm down, out of the train.
"...What are you doing?"
She didn't budge.
Childhood friends are more of a pain than you'd think.
***
The Hero Academy's entrance ceremony is famously arduous.
In their third year of middle school, students undergo a physical examination.
Among those who meet the standards, those who wish to attend Hero Academy are asked about their intention to enroll.
The students who choose to enter the academy are gathered and tested before the entrance ceremony.
And the status results from that test become the student's evaluation criteria.
It's a mystery how I passed that sacred test, but I decided not to worry about it.
Anyway...
"Stop staring at other people. You're embarrassing me."
"Si-jun. They keep staring, don't you see?"
I see.
The countless stares fixed on me. The rumor that I'm a notorious womanizer, spread from the train, had followed us here.
Yu Ha-yeon was growling, trying to fend off those stares.
"Those looks directed at you are insolent... utterly insolent..."
"It's all because of you."
I tried to blame Yu Ha-yeon with resentful eyes, but she seemed too focused on glaring at people to hear me.
Or maybe she heard and is pretending not to?
I couldn't tell.
Enduring those murmurs, we arrived at the admissions office.
We stepped into the area where students have their status checked before attending the entrance ceremony.
"Welcome! Welcome to Hero Academy!"
When the automatic doors opened, the attendants greeted us, presumably identifying us as incoming students in our uniforms.
Seeing them, Yu Ha-yeon took a bundle of documents from her bag and handed them over.
"Are you two indeed Yu Ha-yeon and Han Si-jun, the ones enrolling?"
When we simultaneously answered 'yes,' the attendants each took charge of one of us to conduct the examination.
Yu Ha-yeon asked her attendant in an innocent tone.
"Can't we take the test together?"
"No, you cannot."
Upon hearing that, her face fell, and Yu Ha-yeon was led away by the attendant, throwing worried glances toward me.
"...Is she gone?"
Whew.
That was nerve-wracking.
It's a good thing she backed down quietly, or she would've been checking my heart the entire way to the academy.
"You two seem close."
"...Not at all."
Even though I have memories, this is the first time we've met.
The attendant's misunderstanding was a bonus.
After that, I was herded around by the attendant and underwent numerous tests.
A Strength test that measures total power by the force applied to a large sphere.
An Agility test that tracks a given target with your eyes and tests reaction by pressing the number button shown.
A basic health check and a Stamina test that measures how long you last under gradually increasing physical stress.
A Mana test that measures the magic power in your body.
[Strength 2]
[Agility 3]
[Stamina 2]
[Mana 0]
The results, well, didn't deviate from the stats I'd set at Character Creation.
Will couldn't be measured, so that's excluded.
The examiner's face soured more and more as the results came out, but that wasn't my concern.
It was the academy, not them, that would admit me.
'No way they're going to fail me, right?'
There's no way.
While I was having those insignificant worries, I reached the final stage: the interview.
"This way."
Following the attendant's words, I opened the door and entered a space where a woman was seated.
She looked to be in her twenties, and based on her attire, she seemed to be the interviewer.
"Come here and have a seat, student."
Following the interviewer's gentle tone, I sat down in front of her.
Plop.
Facing her directly, I noticed her appearance had a unique aura.
Reddish hair and red eyes.
It might have given off an intense impression, but strangely, her red color felt warm.
A woman with an unforgettable appearance.
'I've seen her in the game.'
Red hair, red eyes.
She was a teacher in the original V. AGE, and I'd often recruited her as a party member.
Apparently, she was acting as the interviewer now.
Her name was...
'Shin Si-hwa'
That was her name.
Unlike other teachers, she was very affectionate toward students, and with her kind personality, she was popular among other players.
Shin Si-hwa sat in her chair, leaning forward over the desk, reading my documents.
With her warm personality, she let out a gasp of surprise upon seeing my test results.
"Wow..."
What's with that reaction?
It was a pure exclamation, the kind a kindergartner might let out on their first trip to an amusement park.
Then Shin Si-hwa suddenly started muttering.
"How did he pass...? Does he have some ability...? No... his mana is 0... before that, is he even human...?"
I can hear you, teacher.
With a confused expression, she scanned the documents with her red eyes and began reading them carefully.
"Huh... I didn't misread it..."
Even after reading several times, the numbers hadn't changed, and Shin Si-hwa let out a sigh, her mind struggling to reconcile what she saw.
Hoo.
After taking a deep breath, she composed herself, set aside her confusion, and asked me in a gentle tone.
"How on earth did you get admitted... no, I mean, what reason made you decide to enroll?"
Despite her momentary slip, it was a simple interview question.
No matter what I answered here, I'd still be admitted.
But I couldn't answer.
'How do I say I followed my childhood friend...?'
It was too embarrassing.
I couldn't give an answer.