85. Vacation Season
85. Vacation Season
The students who had finished their exams knew one thing for certain: the inevitable had arrived.
The reward for a semester of hard training.
Report cards and vacation.
Students satisfied with their results would rest. Those who barely scraped by would train. And students who failed had to climb back onto the training track for a full year.
So which category did I fall into?
"That was close..."
My grades sat right in the middle of the year.
If it hadn't been for the written exam, I probably would have failed.
My practical scores had been scraping the bottom.
But I wasn't the only person with one subject carrying a high score.
Ban Ha-na's small voice came from ahead of me.
"Th-This is a lie...! My score can't be like this...! Th-This is an error...!"
Ban Ha-na's hands trembled.
She'd scored high on practicals and scraped the bottom on the written exam.
I'd already graded Ban Ha-na's test paper beforehand, so it wasn't surprising.
Still, it beat failing.
On the written exam alone, it would've been a guaranteed fail.
If her practical score hadn't been nearly perfect, Ban Ha-na would have been a sure failure.
All I could tell Ban Ha-na was that she got lucky.
"Yu Ha-yeon, what about you?"
"Mmm... my score?"
Yu Ha-yeon's score.
She casually handed me her report card.
On her hand, a ring the same color as mine glinted.
A couple ring... I guess you could call it that.
I took the report card from her hand.
I skimmed the paper lightly.
Yu Ha-yeon's score was already a foregone conclusion.
Aside from the time she messed up her marking back in middle school, she'd always been first.
"Perfect score. Both written and practical."
"Of course, Han Si-jun. Who do you think I am?"
"Yu Ha-yeon."
"That's not what I meant!"
She'd wanted an answer like, 'Han Si-jun's childhood friend Yu Ha-yeon.'
But that'd be embarrassing to say with my own mouth, wouldn't it?
I dodged the question like that.
Then I thought to myself.
'Lee Seol-ha must be second again.'
Yu Ha-yeon in first.
Lee Seol-ha in second.
It was an unbreakable formula in V. AGE, and it looked like the same result had come out this time too.
'She'll be jealous of Yu Ha-yeon again.'
While I was thinking about that future,
Na Yu-na came into view beyond those students.
"..."
Wordlessly, Na Yu-na stared intently at her report card.
Her expression had darkened a little.
Had her exams gone badly?
Well, Na Yu-na had been incredibly busy lately.
The uproar over the theft of the S-rank Magic Stone and the security issues had thrown NAVI into quite a bit of chaos.
Na Yu-na had a packed schedule.
It was only natural her grades would drop.
Our homeroom teacher, Shin Si-hwa, called out from the desk at the front of the classroom.
"Well then, students. I hope you all spend your vacation meaningfully—and absolutely no causing trouble! If anything happens, don't hesitate to contact me. Understood?"
"YES!"
The students answered with vigor.
They all seemed thrilled to be officially entering vacation season.
'If anything happens, don't hesitate to contact me...'
I etched those words into my heart and rose from my seat.
Ban Ha-na, who'd stood up after me, approached and spoke.
"Si-jun! So, what are you doing for vacation?"
"Ah, right. This is your first vacation, isn't it?"
"Yeah! My first vacation! But more importantly, what is a vacation?"
Starting from there, huh.
I explained to Ban Ha-na that we'd be off from the academy for about two months starting now.
Ban Ha-na asked as if she couldn't understand.
"Why take a break from the academy? Si-jun! Can't you go to the academy three hundred sixty-five days a year?"
"What a horrifying thing to say..."
Does she not know how annoying it is to attend the academy?
Ban Ha-na hadn't gone to kindergarten, elementary school, or middle school, so she didn't seem to know the horror of having to go to school every day.
A life of attending school 365 days a year.
That was a horrifying thought.
"Ehew. I'll explain it to you."
Yu Ha-yeon stepped in and started explaining to Ban Ha-na.
She snatched the phone from Ban Ha-na's hand and said,
"Give it back! My phone...! You're going to break it again...! You bad villain!"
"Stop for a sec. And listen to me. You know your phone has a battery, right?"
Nod.
Ban Ha-na nodded her head.
But her pink gaze never left the phone.
Yu Ha-yeon pointed at the phone and asked,
"What happens if you don't charge that phone's battery?"
"...It goes pik! And turns into a black screen!"
"That's right. Just like a phone, if people don't recharge, they turn black too, Ha-na."
"...!"
Ban Ha-na's eyes went round as if she'd finally understood.
The normally energetic Ban Ha-na.
She seemed to have grasped that other people needed to rest.
"Have to... take a rest... Got it! I understand now! Hehe...!"
Yeah.
People need to rest, Ha-na.
So Ban Ha-na had learned something.
As I felt proud watching her,
Yu Ha-yeon asked me.
"Han Si-jun, you're going home for vacation, right?"
"No, I'm planning to stay in the dorms."
"Why! Let's go see your parents...!"
What do you mean, see my parents...
Yu Ha-yeon seemed to be expecting something.
I firmly refused her suggestion.
"No. I need to train. You saw my grades, didn't you?"
"..."
My grades weren't far off from a failing score.
The fact that Ban Ha-na was right below me said it all.
But there was another reason besides grades.
'Because I can't take Ban Ha-na with me.'
If I went back to my family home, Ban Ha-na would be left all alone.
But taking Ban Ha-na to my family home was full of problems.
'Han Si-jun, why are you bringing her along to meet my parents...?'
Yu Ha-yeon's obvious jealousy.
And it'd be awkward explaining Ban Ha-na's existence to my parents.
'She's the kid who got kidnapped with me.'
Ban Ha-na was known as someone kidnapped by Black Dawn.
Without a guardian, Ban Ha-na still couldn't leave the academy, which meant she had to stay at the academy during vacation.
Knowing her mental state wouldn't be great without me around, I couldn't go back home like Yu Ha-yeon suggested.
"Too bad. This was my chance to tell our parents..."
"Haha..."
Tell them what?
I didn't even want to imagine what she'd say and what would happen.
'Those two might end up getting married, you know~'
Our parents, who'd been doting on us since we were little.
What would they say seeing me and Yu Ha-yeon wearing matching rings?
Ugh, I don't even want to imagine it.
I told Yu Ha-yeon,
"Anyway, I'm staying in the dorm. If you want to go home, you can..."
"You think I'd leave you behind and go alone?"
"...Yeah, figured as much."
Yu Ha-yeon made her intention clear.
It looked like she and I were going to be stuck together this vacation, too.
'We need to be together anyway.'
Episode 3, which happens in vacation season.
If Yu Ha-yeon wasn't there for that episode, huge incidents would break out in Seoul.
I was actually leaning toward Yu Ha-yeon not going home.
"..."
I looked at the protagonist of Episode 3, far off in the distance.
Na Yu-na.
Could she really handle those incidents?
'...It'd be impossible alone.'
With those worries, I welcomed what would be both a long and short vacation.
***
A certain rabbit lay in bed, on her phone.
"Hm-hm-hmm~"
What kind of videos would be up today?
Ban Ha-na seemed addicted to XTube.
Dressed in rabbit pajamas, she was staring intently at the screen.
Then the title of one video caught her attention.
"Characteristics of a trashy man...?"
How could you call a person trash?
A provocative title like that was enough to spark Ban Ha-na's curiosity.
Tap.
Ban Ha-na clicked the video,
and watched with rare concentration.
- Three characteristics of a trashy man! If a male friend near you fits these traits? You should be suspicious!
"Mmm... I seeee..."
Noting it down. Noting it down.
Ban Ha-na began scribbling in her notebook.
- Trashy man trait! He has a lot of women around him! You should be suspicious of this! There's a reason he has so many women around him!
"Si...Si-jun has a lot of women around him, though...?"
That's weird.
Si-jun is trash?
No way that's true!
Ban Ha-na shook her head from side to side.
Then she focused on the video again.
- Trashy man, second! He lies a lot! This is the most important one! Men who lie a lot are highly likely to be cheating!
"If he lies a lot, he's cheating... noting it down, noting it down..."
But doesn't Si-jun lie a lot?
In that case, doesn't Si-jun fit this criterion too?
A little doubt sprouted in Ban Ha-na's mind.
- And finally! People say you act the way you look, right? They say the better-looking a man is, the higher the chance he's trash!
"I...I see...!"
Ban Ha-na clapped her hands, fully convinced.
Unfortunately, she had no idea that the video had a massive number of dislikes.
"Trash is good-looking... Noting it..."
Ban Ha-na diligently scribbled.
The video began its closing remarks.
- If a man you know fits all these conditions! Then even if he has a girlfriend, there's a 100% chance he's cheating! If this was good info, please subscribe and li-...
"Mm-hmm."
Such good information.
This is why you use XTube.
Ban Ha-na thought that and organized her notes.
Characteristics of a trashy man.
Looking at those notes, Ban Ha-na had a flash of insight: there was a person they pointed to.
Ban Ha-na asked Han Si-jun, who was lying down.
"Si-jun. Si-jun, are you trash?"
"...What's gotten into you, Ha-na."
What was she talking about?
Han Si-jun immediately got up from the bed and approached Ban Ha-na.
Then he looked at the video title on the phone screen.
"Characteristics of a trashy man...?"
"Yeah! They mentioned the characteristics here! And they're exactly like Si-jun! Amazing!"
"..."
Han Si-jun rubbed his face with his hands and said,
"Ha-na. This stuff is garbage. I'm not trash."
"But it said right here you're trash..."
"I said I'm not. Let's just go to sleep now."
"So he's not trash...?"
If Si-jun said he wasn't, then he probably wasn't.
Han Si-jun took Ban Ha-na's phone and set it aside.
Ban Ha-na felt disappointed.
Her eyes caught Han Si-jun's hand.
His finger, to be precise.
'A ring...?'
There was a shiny ring on Han Si-jun's hand, like the ones in storybooks.
What did that ring mean?
Ban Ha-na fell into contemplation.
'If I search for a video tomorrow, it'll come up... right?'
Thinking that, Ban Ha-na in her rabbit pajamas fell asleep.
To her, XTube had already become a magic conch shell.
Unaware of that truth, Han Si-jun fell asleep without knowing anything.