Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Go Change Your Clothes… And Wash Up Before You Go
“What do I do? Seriously, today she said we absolutely have to duck-walk five laps around the field!”
Jinhee kept biting her nails anxiously while Soojung approached her side.
“You didn’t solve even one problem? Don’t you know that crazy math teacher always follows through on what she says? What’re you gonna do, Jinhee…”
Jinhee hadn’t done a single page of the homework assigned last week and now sat there chewing her nails nonstop.
The math teacher, infamous for being strict, always gave students plenty of time whenever she assigned homework.
She only assigned amounts everyone could finish with a little effort.
But despite being considerate like that, she always carried out every punishment she warned about for students who still failed to do it.
She was famous for never letting anyone off easy.
“…Ah! Jinhee, where’s your lackey?”
“Kang Jihun? Why?”
“I mean, his class has the same math teacher as us, right? Wouldn’t he have gotten the workbook homework too?”
“Ah!!”
Jinhee’s face lit up like she had just shouted Eureka.
Moments later, Jihun entered through the back door and walked toward her.
“Jinhee, here’s this and this. There were way too many people. Did you wait long?”
Jihun pulled snacks and milk from his arms and handed them to Jinhee while grinning brightly.
Then suddenly, he noticed Jinhee looking like she was about to cry.
“J-Jinhee, what’s wrong? Is it because I took too long buying snacks? Or did something happen?”
“Tch… you eat the snacks. I’m getting ready to be punished.”
“Punished? What punishment?”
“I don’t know. Teacher Kim Sooryeon said if we didn’t finish the workbook, we’d have to duck-walk five laps around the field… and I left my workbook behind.”
“What?? Then what do we do? I’ll run to your house and bring it right now. Your mom’s home, right?”
“Ah… no, that’s not it… I lost it. Yeah, yeah, I lost it… what do I dooo…”
Watching her fake crying expression, Jihun told her to wait a moment before sprinting out the door.
“Wow, this bitch deserves an acting award.”
Hearing Soojung’s comment after silently watching the whole thing, Jinhee snorted and answered proudly.
“This level’s easy~ I’m supposed to go to a study café with Changhoon later. I can’t show up there with sore thighs from punishment~”
“You don’t even study. Why’re you going to a study café? Changhoon still hasn’t fallen for you yet?”
“Ugh, no. He’s seriously impossible. So annoying. Hey hey, he’s coming back. Move.”
Jihun reappeared through the back door.
And in Jinhee’s eyes—
She saw the workbook in his hand.
Now, sitting collapsed on the ground, Jinhee stared at Jihun slowly walking toward her.
For a brief moment, an old memory overlapped with reality before her eyes.
“Is that… a workbook…? No, why am I thinking about something from the past right no— l-leg?”
Jinhee suddenly vomited right there on the ground.
Her skirt and shoes became filthy with vomit.
As an 8-Class hunter, Jinhee had already participated in multiple gate subjugation missions.
She had seen fellow cadets injured by monster attacks.
She herself had been injured too.
Hunters naturally had to grow accustomed to death and injury.
Words like “weak stomach” didn’t belong in a hunter’s vocabulary.
But perhaps Jinhee, still only a first-year academy cadet, wasn’t that professional yet.
“Urgh… blegh…”
“Ugh… gross… what are you doing?”
Jihun stopped a few steps away from Jinhee as she continued retching.
Then he casually tossed Changhoon’s severed leg in front of her.
“Jinhee… weren’t you a hunter too? Why’s your stomach so weak?”
“H-Hey! Anyone seeing something like that and staying normal would be weird… urgh…”
“Seriously, you’re too disgusting to stand near. Anyway, like I promised, I brought this guy’s leg. Now take it and carry him to a healer… and when he wakes up… you know? Heh.”
Jihun made an intentionally sinister grin and turned to leave, but Jinhee hurriedly called out to him.
“Hey, Kang Jihun, w-wait a second.”
“Hm? What? Ah, don’t come closer. You stink and you’re gross. Stay over there and talk.”
Crack.
Jinhee became furious that Jihun—who used to obey her without question—was now speaking to her so casually.
“Y-You little… what happened to you? Did you seriously reawaken or something?”
“No? I’m just an E-rank hunter. Actually, I’m currently researching how to raise my hunter level. I’m heading back to the academy to study, so stop bothering me.”
Watching Jihun continue speaking as though she meant absolutely nothing, Jinhee suddenly felt a strange ache in her chest.
“Hey… wait. I said let’s talk for a minute…”
“More importantly, shouldn’t you hurry and take that leg to a healer? If you waste too much time and they can’t reattach it… are you really okay with Changhoon losing a leg forever?”
“Ah… what are you…”
Jihun suddenly widened his eyes and spoke like he was impressed.
“Wow! Your love’s way deeper than I expected? I’m touched, Jinhee! Still… go change your clothes and wash up a little before taking care of him… got it?”
After saying everything he wanted, Jihun sprinted back toward the food truck without even turning around.
Meanwhile, academy cadets who had been watching finally lifted the unconscious Changhoon and began carrying him away.
Jinhee silently watched Jihun standing in front of the food truck staring at the owner again just like before.
Then she carefully picked up Changhoon’s severed leg lying in front of her.
“Urgh… blegh…”
She vomited all over again.
Watching from afar, Jihun tilted his head.
“What’s wrong with her…? Did she drink too much yesterday?”
After receiving the hot dog from the owner, Jihun started heading back toward the academy once more.
Then someone suddenly blocked his path.
“You’re Kang Jihun from Class 11, right?”
The woman standing before him had long pink hair, black leggings hugging her legs, and a crop top revealing half her stomach.
Her full chest looked ready to burst through the shirt, while her gently lowered eyes gave off a dangerously seductive vibe.
“…Who are you? Why’re you speaking casually the first time we meet? You look younger than me too.”
Jihun took a huge bite of his hot dog while answering lazily.
“We’re in the same year. Han Sojung from Class 2. You can speak casually too. Ah, I guess you already are?”
“Whoa… you’re an academy cadet? I thought you were a yoga instructor or something.”
“Ah… th-that’s just because I came back from jogging! I live in the academy dorms! Anyway, that’s not important. How’d you do that earlier? I saw everything.”
“Your pink hair’s dyed, right? That color doesn’t naturally exist.”
“Yeah, obviously it’s dyed— ah, stop saying weird stuff! I’m asking how you fought Sung Changhoon earlier. You’re only an E-rank hunter.”
“In a world without hunters, whoever’s stronger and faster wins. I was simply faster than him.”
Sojung rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought after hearing his casual answer.
Meanwhile, Jihun calmly finished chewing the rest of his hot dog.
“Hm… somehow that actually makes sense. Have any guilds tried scouting you yet?”
“Guilds? Nope.”
“Then wanna take an entrance test? My dad runs a gui—”
Before she could finish, Jihun suddenly started walking again.
Sojung hurried beside him to match his pace.
“Hey hey, didn’t you say no guilds recruited you yet? My dad runs a small guild, and we recently signed this super unusual gate subjugation contract. So right now we really need people—”
“Ahh, go away already… I need to study at the academy right now. This is study time, not work time.”
The moment he finished speaking, Jihun’s footwork shifted—
And he vanished instantly.
Sojung lost sight of him in a single moment, her eyes sparkling with fascination.
“That guy’s seriously unique??”
She stared toward the direction Jihun disappeared.
He had already become a tiny dot in the distance.
“If I join a guild, they’ll take away the time I need for studying and research at the academy. I do need more money, but I need to find a way that wastes as little time as possible. There’s nowhere better than the academy for raising hunter levels and researching my skill.”
Jihun still possessed weak hunter abilities and hadn’t spent enough time studying his skill or its side effects yet.
If he wasted too much time earning money with the body trained through martial arts, there was no way his hunter abilities would grow.
And if that happened—
He might never see Yeonhwa again.
Never seeing Yeonhwa again.
That was something Jihun simply could not accept.
“…don’t you think?”
Professor Jin Seokhyun stood before him looking utterly dumbfounded that Jihun, after being summoned again, had drifted off into his own thoughts.
“…Pardon?”
“This bastard really was daydreaming.”
“We’re seeing each other way too often, don’t you think?!”
“Ah… yes, professor. You’re right. Nice to see you.”
“Nice to— urgh.”
Professor Jin grabbed the back of his neck and carefully steadied his breathing before continuing.
“Right… so this time you cut off a Class 6 cadet’s thigh?”
“Yes! But it was a clean cut, so if they get him to a healer quickly, it should reattach just fine!”
“…Are you a psychopath?”
Professor Jin Seokhyun wasn’t scolding him anymore.
He was asking out of pure curiosity.
At this point, he had stopped wondering how Jihun kept doing these things.
Now he genuinely wanted to understand why.