Lovers' Quarrel
The moment the spar ended, I was packed straight off to the infirmary.
Lee Yeon-hui had dropped her sword, so she was automatically ruled to have forfeited — victory went to me.
I had a handful of shallow cuts and a few that ran a little deeper, but every last one of them had missed anything vital. Thanks to the recovery-type Awakened already standing by, most of the wounds closed up fine. Still, they'd told me I'd lost a lot of blood and needed to rest, which was how I'd ended up here.
Honestly, moving around wasn't a problem. I could have walked out just fine, and the whole thing felt like a hassle — but that wasn't the real issue.
The real issue was this.
"I said I'm fine. Stop crying."
"I was not crying!"
Lee Yeon-hui sat beside my bed with her face buried, screeching at the top of her lungs. Something about the exchange dragged up an old conversation, and a laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it.
I reached over and stroked the hair of that floating head of hers. Her shoulders gave a little twitch.
"Remember? Back then you insisted you weren't crying either."
"That was because you almost di—!"
She snapped her head up the second the words left my mouth. Our eyes met, and I caught the tears still clinging to the faintly reddened rims of hers.
"Finally showing me your face."
Until now, every time our eyes had met she'd either looked away or glared. Aside from during the spar itself, it had been a long time since we'd held a calm gaze like this.
Maybe something about that observation needled her conscience. Lee Yeon-hui's head slowly drooped.
"I'm sorry. Because of me—"
Bonk.
The moment I heard the apology, I flicked a light knuckle against the top of her head.
"Ow! Why'd you hit me?!"
"I already told you it wasn't your fault. And don't apologize. I won, remember?"
"…Yeah."
I'd been the one who'd orchestrated this whole thing in the first place, so if anyone bore responsibility, it was me. And at the end, I'd been the one who charged in and took the hit myself.
I didn't believe this had unraveled every knot sitting in Lee Yeon-hui's heart. But as far as the psychological pressure went, I could at least hope things had gotten a fair bit better.
"So. What's your condition right now?"
A question about the regression. Until now I'd been working off nothing but my own guesses; confirming it with her directly was the surest way.
"I'm the Lee Yeon-hui who grew up with you… but also."
"Also the regressor Lee Yeon-hui?"
"Yeah…"
I hadn't attached a subject, but she'd caught the intent behind the question and answered it precisely. It seemed safe to treat my hypothesis as correct — the memories had merged.
In the original story, this had been the point when she was most backed into a corner, so psychologically and mnemonically it must have been an absolute circus of chaos.
"I can recall the memories clearly."
She hadn't said as much out loud, but maybe she'd sensed I was thinking about her regression. Her answers kept coming.
"You looked pretty rough even during the spar. What about that?"
"That wasn't from this loop. It's a symptom I've had since the last one — the dissonance between cycles."
That was new information to me. Early in the original, there had been mentions of her head spinning every time she ran into major characters, but apparently it had been worse than I'd thought.
To sum it up: Lee Yeon-hui's current state was the memories of the girl who'd spent her childhood with me, with the memories of the regressor Lee Yeon-hui from the start of the original layered on top.
Well — calling her ability a simple "regression" had always been a little imprecise to begin with.
"And the headaches?"
I'd seen her keep pressing a hand to her forehead, so I asked. The answer came back positive.
"Now that you mention it… I think they're gone."
"That's a relief."
"……"
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Lee Yeon-hui kept her eyes lowered, then carefully opened her mouth.
"Hey. You too… are you really a regressor…?"
Huh? Where had that come from?
I sat there blinking like an idiot for a second, head tilted — then the conversation we'd had after the first exam came back to me, and her meaning finally clicked.
"Pff— hahahahaha!"
"What! Why are you laughing?!"
"No, wait — you actually believed that? That I was a regres— hahaha!"
Even after looping this many times, she still had that gullible streak left in her. The thought only made me laugh harder, cackling away —
"Stop laughing!"
— until she started batting at me, clearly annoyed at being mocked. The fact that she couldn't even hit properly because she was worried about my wounds only made it funnier.
"I'm not a regressor. I can't go into detail, but I know a certain amount about the future. Other than that, I'm just a regular person."
"I see…"
A flicker of disappointment crossed her eyes. She'd probably thought we were in the same boat.
"Lee Yeon-hui."
When I called her name, the head she'd been hanging slowly lifted.
"I'll make this loop your last one."
"……"
I looked straight into her eyes as they met mine and spoke.
"So you don't swing your sword to protect the world. You swing it to help me."
"I—"
"What are you hesitating for? You lost to me."
"That's because you—"
She looked ready to argue, but then her face abruptly dropped toward the floor. I had no intention of letting her go until I got a clear answer.
"Do as I say."
"…Fine."
"What was that?"
"I said fine!"
I kept pressing until she finally answered with her head still bowed. Even that was more than enough to leave me thoroughly satisfied.
In the original, Lee Yeon-hui's personality had been cold and curt from start to finish. Maybe the version of her I was seeing now — closer to how she'd been as a child — was nearer to her true self. Maybe looping again and again had worn that away until only the ice remained.
That was the thought that crossed my mind.
I was glancing at her as she kept her head down in silence when —
Knock. Knock.
— someone rapped on the infirmary door.
This wasn't a private room, so I didn't say anything. Apparently the person on the other side took the lack of refusal as permission, because the knob turned and they walked right in.
"Oh! I came because I was worried about your injuries, but you look all right."
The man grinning as he spoke to me was Min Gyeong-ho, head of the Hunter Association. Broad-shouldered, with only a few threads of white showing in his black hair — aside from that, he barely looked middle-aged at all.
He took in the sight of me sitting on the bed and Lee Yeon-hui beside me, then stretched his mouth into a wide smile.
"Charging in so passionately you got yourself run through with a sword — looks like it worked out."
"Haha… thank you for your concern."
I'd been the one who'd spouted all that nonsense, so denying it now would only dig the hole deeper. I tried to brush it off — but he clearly had other plans.
"Does your girlfriend know? That you called me up personally to beg for the chance to throw a full-blown lovers' quarrel?"
He refused to drop the subject and just kept going.
"Girl… friend?"
As a bonus, Lee Yeon-hui — who'd had her head buried this whole time — snapped it up at that.
"It was quite the spectacle. Calling out of nowhere to ask me not to stop the match, then asking me to keep the sound from leaking out, and when I asked why, saying it was just kids having a lovers' spat."
Give this old man an inch and he turned into a faucet left wide open, words pouring out in a stream.
"Still, looking at the two of you, it seems things turned out well."
At that, the face of the girl beside me started going red in real time. I let out a small sigh and looked at Min Gyeong-ho.
"Association President, that wasn't the end of what I asked you for."
The reason I hadn't stopped him from bringing all this up was because I needed it as a lead-in to what came next.
"So? Did we put on a good enough show?"
"Hmm… well. After a display like that, I suppose I have no choice but to agree."
Min Gyeong-ho cleared his throat once, then spoke slowly.
"Park Yeon-chan, Lee Yeon-hui. This is provisional, but I'll proceed on the assumption that you'll be ranked first and second. From the moment you enter the Academy, you are granted access to the Tower up through Rank A. Additionally, should the Academy grant approval, you will have the authority to select the members who accompany you. These privileges are issued under a special measure of the Association President, so keep the following confidential. The detailed agreement will be coordinated and executed at a separate time. Will that do?"
"Yes. That'll do."
Lee Yeon-hui's eyes went round with shock as she stared at me. The Association President saying this out loud meant that even if nothing was officially set yet, it was as good as decided — and the special measure was generous enough to leave her stunned.
"That smug grin of yours is the spitting image of your master's."
The remark aimed at me made my face twist on reflex.
"This is the first time we've ever sat face-to-face and talked, and you're already throwing around insults that harsh?"
This old man was crossing a line. I was grateful he'd granted my request, and sure, I'd caused my share of trouble — but there were things you said to a person and things you didn't.
"My apologies… you're right. That was too much."
Fortunately he seemed to recognize it and offered a sincere apology. Good. In my book, that remark ranked on the same level as a parental insult — not that those meant much in my particular case.
While the two of us shared that moment of mutual understanding, Lee Yeon-hui — who had no idea what we were talking about — looked back and forth between us with a thoroughly puzzled expression.
"I've kept a patient tied up far too long. Until next time, Yeon-chan. Enjoy your private moment."
"It's not like that."
I said it to the back of Min Gyeong-ho's head as he turned away with a meaningful smile, but he didn't seem to hear a word.
And with that — him chuckling as he left the infirmary — an awkward silence settled in.
When he'd asked why we needed the sound blocked from outside, I'd just thrown out "lovers' quarrel" as a convenient cover. Since Lee Yeon-hui was tangled up in this too, it might be bothering her a little.
"Th-that stuff just now… was all of it real?"
"Ah, the Tower access?"
"Not that."
"Selecting companions?"
"No."
"Keeping the sound of our conversation during the spar from leaking out?"
"No. The lovers' quarrel."
My body went stiff.
I'd been dodging and weaving, trying to steer us anywhere else, and she'd gone and pinned it down anyway.
"Th-that… when he asked why I wanted the outside sound blocked, I just made something up. I can explain later—"
"Y-you don't have to."
"…Huh?"
The answer was so far outside anything I'd expected that I ended up echoing it back without thinking.
"I… don't really mind."
Don't mind what, exactly?
She was speaking with her face lowered, so I couldn't read her expression. It sounded like a positive answer, at least.
"Lee Yeon-hui."
"……"
"Lee Yeon-hui?"
"……"
"Lee Yeon—"
"N-not now! We'll talk about it later… later…"
Well, she didn't seem angry, so that was something. What exactly we were supposed to talk about later, I had no idea.
Either way, I decided to count it as a win that we'd gotten through it in one piece.
A long corridor in a sprawling mansion.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A black-haired girl strode hard down the wooden floor, her steps rough and fast as she cut across the length of the hall.
"Good day, young miss."
"Hello. Is the Association President in his room?"
"Yes. He's in the study."
Her tone and wording were perfectly polite, but the household staff who'd watched over her for years could tell at a glance that her mood was foul.
Knock. Knock.
The girl — Min Ji-won — went straight to the study and knocked.
"Come in."
A middle-aged man's solemn voice carried through the door.
She opened it to find the Hero Association President, Min Gyeong-ho, seated at his desk poring over documents. He rolled his eyes alone toward the girl who'd entered.
"What is it?"
"I have something to say."
"This is work hours. You're not even an Academy student yet. What business could you possibly have with me?"
"I apologize for interrupting official time. But Association President — what exactly are you thinking? Granting Tower access, a privilege reserved until now for the first-year top student alone, not only to the runner-up as well, but also handing over the right to select companions on top of it?"
"That was my judgment. It is not for you to question."
At the Association President's words, Min Ji-won's brow twitched.
"You know as well as I do, Association President. Handing this much authority to ordinary students — freshmen, no less — will cause a massive uproar."
"I've already instructed both of them to keep silent."
"You can't keep a secret if you're recruiting companions. Sooner or later the rumor will spread, and other students will start currying favor with the two of them. Beyond that, there will be students and faculty who look unfavorably on a precedent like this. The pushback aimed at the freshmen won't be something you can ignore, either."
"Precedent or not, the Academy hasn't even been around for ten years. There's no need to argue history over something that young. As for the two of them, I judged they can handle that level of scrutiny without trouble."
He turned his eyes back to the documents as he laid out his answers to her logic. This time Min Ji-won let out a heavy sigh and pressed on.
"The Association President who exercised this authority could also end up the target of gossip."
"And what of it?"
"What do you mean, what of it…"
Still not lifting his eyes from the papers, moving only his mouth, Min Gyeong-ho finally looked at Min Ji-won with a broad grin.
"I decided. That's all."
"……"
Association President Min Gyeong-ho had decided.
Those words alone had the power to smother a boiling wave of discontent in a single stroke.
Even if the office of Association President symbolized power and responsibility, the title by itself wasn't enough to quiet every complaint that erupted.
But —
Association President Min Gyeong-ho had said so.
That carried a different weight entirely.
The reason no one could touch him no matter how much grumbling went on behind closed doors was simple: in all of Korea, there was almost no one who could stand against him in raw force.
Min Gyeong-ho's reasoning was sound, even if his methods ran a little rough. So Min Ji-won opened her mouth once more, determined to persuade him again.
"But in the first place—"
Briiing—!
The alarm clock on Min Gyeong-ho's desk went off, cutting her short.
"Time's up. My duties as Association President are finished."
He started clearing the desk, tucking documents away along with his necktie. The dismissal was cold and clean, but Min Ji-won didn't back down.
However —
"I still have something—"
"Sweetheart~! Daddy's not the Association President anymore! He's Ji-won's dad!"
Work mode already shut off, Min Gyeong-ho had transformed from Association President into a doting father. His massive frame bounced as he charged at Min Ji-won like an overgrown puppy —
Thwack!
— and Min Ji-won kicked her oncoming father square away, then walked out of the study.
Park Yeon-chan. Lee Yeon-hui. Just how strong are they, for Dad to go this far…
Had they managed to move a father who normally hated special exceptions? Carrying that question with her, Min Ji-won walked the long corridor and left.