Chapter 12
Chapter 12
What Are You Talking About?
“...Kang Jihoon? Are you talking about the Kang Jihoon I know?”
“Yeah... Probably. The Kang Jihoon who went to the same high school as us.”
Jinhee understood why Yoojung’s face had twisted as though it contained every question in the world.
Because if she hadn’t seen it herself, she wouldn’t have believed it either.
Jihoon had been the representative failure of Class 11, the academy’s absolute bottom-ranked student.
The idea that Jihoon had reduced Changhoon, a C-rank Hunter from Class 6, to that state was not something anyone could easily believe.
“Starting a few days ago, Kang Jihoon started acting kind of strange. It’s like he became a completely different person from before...”
As Jinhee recalled her recent encounters with Jihoon, her expression stiffened.
He had been like a loyal subordinate who would give her his liver and gallbladder if she asked.
Jinhee had spent her whole life freely using and taking advantage of him, someone she had known since childhood.
After his parents died, she had become the most important existence in Jihoon’s world.
For someone who didn’t even have a single proper friend, her existence had been absolute.
Jihoon was simply someone who went when told to go and came when told to come.
Someone who waited for her anytime, anywhere.
When she first realized in their second year of high school that Jihoon had fallen in love with someone.
Jinhee didn’t feel jealous.
Because she had never thought of Jihoon as a man.
What filled her instead was only an unpleasant sense of loss.
Anxiety that someone else might steal away her toy?
That was why she had spread rumors everywhere about Jihoon’s pure feelings.
Jinhee knew that Jihoon, who was too busy just trying to survive, could never actually confess to Yoojung.
And just as expected, everything went exactly the way Jinhee wanted.
After hearing the rumors, Yoojung became uncomfortable and pushed Jihoon even further away, despite them never having been close to begin with.
Once again, Jinhee confirmed that she alone was the entirety of Jihoon’s world.
Even after mentally trapping Jihoon so he could neither leave nor move on, Jinhee herself remained free.
She openly showed Jihoon that she liked Changhoon, the handsome guy from a wealthy family.
You can’t meet anyone, but I can meet whoever I want.
Jihoon never realized the malice in Jinhee’s heart.
The fact that his childhood friend liked Seong Changhoon, the very person who tormented him horribly.
How much that truth hurt Jihoon was never important to Jinhee.
No one worries about the feelings of a toy while playing with it.
And now, that very toy had suddenly started overturning her entire world however it pleased.
Jinhee couldn’t believe the reality that she could no longer casually talk to someone who used to come when called and leave when told.
Everything had happened far too suddenly.
Overnight, Jihoon transformed from Jinhee’s toy into someone she could no longer control.
“Do you... know why he made him like that?”
Yoojung’s sorrowful voice pulled Jinhee back to reality from her thoughts.
“H-Huh? What?”
“No, I mean Changhoon. I still can’t believe Kang Jihoon did that to him, but I’m also curious why he went so far.”
“Ah... Um... Well...”
Jinhee couldn’t tell Yoojung that Changhoon had consistently bullied Jihoon since high school.
She couldn’t tell her that the person she liked had tormented her childhood friend nearly to death.
“Well... I honestly don’t know either.”
Jinhee eventually spat out a lie.
Then she heard Yoojung say something she couldn’t understand at all.
“Was it... because of me?”
“...?”
What was she talking about?
Jinhee genuinely couldn’t understand.
Why Yoojung thought the fight between Jihoon and Changhoon had happened because of her.
The fact that Jihoon liked Yoojung had become such a widespread rumor that every classmate knew about it, not just Jinhee.
But Jinhee didn’t know that Changhoon also liked Yoojung, had confessed to her many times, had been rejected many times, and still hadn’t given up.
Jinhee never understood why Changhoon never allowed her to get close no matter how hard she tried.
“W-What are you talking about? Why would you think they fought because of you?”
Seeing Yoojung continue thinking with a serious expression, Jinhee asked.
“Hmm... Never mind. I think it’d be better if I talk to him directly first. It was nice seeing you. I’ll head off now.”
After casually saying goodbye to Jinhee, Yoojung quickly left the treatment room hallway.
‘What the... What is she even talking about now...’
Jinhee stared at Yoojung’s retreating figure.
“If a girl stays by a guy’s side when he’s hurt, he falls for her immediately?”
Suddenly, Jihoon’s playful words from earlier resurfaced in her mind.
“Why did he say something so pointless... What the hell...”
Just as Jihoon had said, Jinhee had ended up in a situation where she could stay by injured Changhoon’s side, but the thing endlessly running wild through her mind right now was Jihoon.
How had he suddenly become so strong?
Why had he jokingly spoken as though he supported her relationship with Changhoon?
And after saying something like that, he really went and turned Changhoon into that state...
But among all those questions, one stood above the rest.
Why had his attitude toward her changed so drastically? What exactly was different now compared to before?
As Jinhee’s thoughts became unbearably noisy, the treatment room door opened and Professor Hyun Jayoung stepped out.
“You’re the friend who brought Seong Changhoon’s severed leg, right?”
‘Ugh...’
The nausea Jinhee had barely suppressed earlier began rising again.
“...Yes, that’s right. How is Changhoon doing?”
“The healing skill has almost completely restored his wounds. His leg has also been reattached perfectly. As for the psychological shock... Well, anyway, it seems he wants to see Cadet Jinhee now, so you should go in.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Changhoon was looking for her?
Was it really turning out exactly like that bastard Kang Jihoon had said?
Even as she walked into the treatment room, Jinhee still couldn’t stop thinking about Jihoon.
In front of the training center building.
Jihoon stood drinking cola he had just bought from a vending machine.
After learning that academy cadets received demerit points if they didn’t spend at least three hours per week at the training center, Jihoon had just finished working out there.
Since it was a training facility designed for academy cadets, the place was filled not with ordinary gym equipment, but with much more intense training machines.
But to Jihoon, who had trained in the martial world for ten years, it wasn’t remotely satisfying.
Even without using internal energy, that level of training was nothing more than child’s play.
“Man, this kind of thing really feels like a waste of time...”
Although Jihoon had decided to adapt to academy life, being bound by unnecessary rules irritated him greatly.
Click
Jihoon popped open the cola can and started drinking.
The small happiness—no, the great happiness—provided by carbonation remained just as wonderful even now, several days after returning to the modern world.
“Kkeuuu~~~ This stuff is seriously heavenly!”
After letting out a satisfied burp, Jihoon tilted the now-empty cola can into his mouth, trying to squeeze out the last drops.
Because he had bought a hotdog that morning, Jihoon only had enough cash left for a single can of cola, making him groan in disappointment.
‘Ah right! The money I owe for the hotdog... Since Changhoon stole and ate it, I should get the money from him~’
Jihoon felt extremely grateful that the angel-like shop owner had allowed him to buy the hotdog on credit, even though unavoidable circumstances prevented him from eating it.
“Hey, Kang Jihoon!”
Someone familiar approached while calling out to Jihoon from afar as he stood before the vending machine.
She was walking over while talking on her phone.
‘Who was she again... Where have I seen her before...’
“Yeah Yoojung, I found him. He’s in front of the training center. No no, the training center near Zone 7H. Ah, you’re coming right now? Okay, I’ll keep him here. But what’s going on? Why are you looking for him... Ah okay, see you in a bit~”
‘Ah, she’s the girl who was with Yoojung in the library.’
Jihoon admired his own memory and greeted her cheerfully.
“Yoojung’s friend Sunhwa! Seeing you again? Nice to meet you.”
“...It’s Sunhee.”
Maybe Jihoon’s memory wasn’t actually that good.
“Right, Sunhee! That’s what I said.”
“You said Sunhwa... Just like last time...”
Sunhee still remembered Jihoon calling her Sunhwa when they parted at the library before.
“D-Did I? Well, what’s so important about a name anyway?”
“What kind of nonsense is that... What could possibly be more important than someone’s name...”
Was it because he missed Yeonhwa that the ending syllable of her name kept slipping from his mouth so easily?
Either way, Jihoon started walking away with Sunhee standing beside him.
“Hahaha! This place has amazing cola. Have a can sometime~ I’m heading off, Sun...hee!”
“H-Hey wait a second. Hold on.”
Sunhee almost grabbed Jihoon’s arm to stop him, but remembering the warning he gave her before, she couldn’t bring herself to touch him and instead blocked his path with her body.
“Hm?”
“No, Yoojung’s been looking all over for you because she has something she wants to ask. She said she’s coming here right now.”
“Yoojung?”
Jihoon stopped walking with a puzzled expression.
And then, a moment later.
Seol Yoojung approached from the distance.
“Oh, there she is. Yoojung! Over here!”
In the direction Sunhee called toward, Yoojung walked closer to Jihoon one step at a time with a completely unreadable expression.
Eventually stopping right in front of him, Yoojung asked in an extremely cold tone.
“Hey, Kang Jihoon. Did you do that to Changhoon’s leg because of me?”
Jihoon tilted his head sideways.
Why had this girl suddenly come looking for him just to say something so random?