Chapter 7
Chapter 7
They Say Men Fall for You if You Stay Beside Them When They’re Hurt?
Early summer sunlight poured warmly over the streets.
On the road leading toward the academy, lush green trees lined the path while red and yellow flowers bloomed beautifully between them.
Couples walked together laughing and chatting.
An elderly couple slowly took each step hand in hand.
It was the very picture of a peaceful beginning to the day.
Yet Jinhee’s mind was noisier than ever as she walked that road.
Because the little incident that happened a few days ago hadn’t felt small to her at all.
Yoon Jinhee.
A D-rank hunter from Hunter Academy’s Class 8.
A magic-type hunter specializing mainly in wind-element abilities.
E-rank hunters possessed physical abilities only slightly above ordinary people while using one or two low-level skills.
But beginning from D-rank, hunters started possessing physical abilities and powerful skills that existed on an entirely different level from normal humans.
Some people even claimed that true awakened individuals only began at D-rank.
They mocked how E-rank hunters barely surpassed ordinary people physically.
But no matter how much someone tried to downplay it, the bizarre and metaphysical abilities unique to awakened people far exceeded common sense.
Even Kang Jihun, who had been considered the weakest E-rank hunter, used a skill that connected spaces together and allowed high-speed movement.
What once existed only in novels as the mystical “Shrinking the Earth” movement technique had manifested in an even more absurd form.
Which meant even E-rank hunters could never truly be called ordinary people.
Still, which gap was larger?
The difference between ordinary humans and E-rank hunters?
Or the difference between E-rank and D-rank hunters?
Ask any random person on the street—even ten people or a hundred—and instead of answering, they’d probably laugh at you or look at you strangely.
Because obviously the gap between E-rank and D-rank hunters was far greater.
E-rank and D-rank.
D-rank and C-rank.
The differences between hunter ranks were so enormous that even a child could see them at a glance.
People often said hunter stats and skill levels couldn’t be overcome through combat experience or mentality alone.
That was why every hunter trained desperately to climb toward higher ranks.
Without knowing how long it would take.
Without knowing how much of their potential would ever bloom.
Hunters devoted themselves desperately while praying heaven would help them.
“An E-rank hunter overwhelmed me, a D-rank hunter?”
Even now, Jinhee still couldn’t believe what happened with Jihun a few days ago.
The strange sense of discomfort she felt from him.
The composure he showed the entire time.
And that overwhelming pressure that had made breathing difficult, even if only for a moment.
It had to be some kind of mistake.
Maybe the rumors about Jihun killing an E-rank gate boss and defeating four Class 10 hunters were true.
But even if those rumors were real, it still made no sense for her—a D-rank hunter—to feel dominated by an E-rank hunter like him.
And on top of that, this was Kang Jihun.
The same Kang Jihun who spent middle and high school doing everything she asked.
The same Kang Jihun who never even considered disobeying her.
The image of him grinning while casually smacking her butt before walking away refused to leave her mind for days.
“Did that bastard seriously eat something weird? There’s no way he’d act like that toward me. And what was that atmosphere? Did he gain some kind of new skill?”
Jinhee cycled endlessly through anger, confusion, resentment, and finally embarrassment strong enough to make her face burn red.
Unable to clear those thoughts away, she continued walking toward the academy—
And spotted the very person responsible for all her confusion.
Jihun stood in front of a food truck selling hot dogs and toast, staring at the owner cooking with sparkling eyes.
“S-Student… I’ll make it quickly, so please stop staring at me like that…”
The owner couldn’t endure Jihun’s intense gaze and finally spoke nervously.
“It’s my first time eating this again in forever. You’ve been doing well, right?”
“You’re one of my regulars… You were here just a few days ago, so what do you mean ‘forever’?”
Jihun’s sparkling eyes looked like those of someone eating hot dogs and toast for the first time in his life.
“Please add tons of cheese~”
“Didn’t you hate greasy food before? You used to only ask for ketchup without cheese. What changed?”
“No, I love cheese now. I really… really wanted greasy food… sniff…”
“U-Uh? Student? Why are you tearing up while looking at a hot dog?”
The owner decided he needed to hurry up and finish the food before this strange student got any weirder.
And right then—
“Hey! Kang Jihun!”
Jinhee approached Jihun.
“Hm? Jinhee, hey~ You came to buy hot dogs too?”
“What? No, I— I need to talk to you, so come with me for a second.”
“But my hot dog’s not ready yet.”
“Forget the hot dog and just come—”
Jinhee abruptly swallowed her words after meeting his eyes.
“Damn… it’s that same feeling from before… He’s not even glaring, so why’s he this scary?”
Jihun’s expression wasn’t angry or intimidating at all.
Yet somehow Jinhee found herself unable to continue speaking while carefully watching his mood.
“The hot dog’s almost done, so wait a bit. Ah, do you want one too? Ah… I’m short on cash. Sorry~”
“Seriously… am I actually getting intimidated by this pathetic loser…?”
Jinhee swallowed her irritation and decided to wait for the hot dog first.
“I need to drag him somewhere private and seriously talk to him. He keeps overstepping despite being my toy. I’ll make him realize his place again.”
Jihun had always tucked his tail between his legs the moment she frowned.
Without her, he barely had any friends at all.
He’d become completely isolated.
Whatever nonsense got into his head lately, there was no way he could truly act harshly toward her.
Jinhee still believed the playful Jihun chatting casually beside her could be brought back under her control.
And then—
The body standing before her suddenly shifted backward slightly.
“Ohoho!! Kang Jihun~ You dodged that?”
The person approaching beside the food truck was Sung Changhoon.
The same guy who had bullied Jihun for no reason all throughout middle and high school.
And Jinhee’s longtime crush.
When Jihun first learned he had awakened as an E-rank hunter and could enter Hunter Academy, he hadn’t been able to celebrate freely.
Because he’d heard that Sung Changhoon—the guy who tormented him for years—had awakened around the same time as a C-rank hunter and entered the academy too.
And not just that.
Changhoon had entered Class 6, completely incomparable to Jihun’s Class 11.
Though slightly below Yujeong, whom Jihun secretly liked for years, a Class 6 C-rank hunter was still someone far beyond Jihun’s reach.
The sparkling eyes Jihun had while waiting for his hot dog instantly turned cold.
“C-Changhoon, hey!”
The moment Jinhee spotted Changhoon, she greeted him shyly.
All the chaotic thoughts filling her head because of Jihun disappeared as her entire focus shifted toward Changhoon instead.
“Jinhee? You still hang around with this loser? Hah. At this point you two might as well be dating.”
“N-No! It’s not like that! I just had something to talk about with him!”
“What’re you waiting for? The hot dog? Hey, is this yours?”
Changhoon casually grabbed the hot dog that had just been finished.
“Ah… s-student, that belongs to him…”
The owner cautiously tried speaking up after watching Changhoon steal the fresh hot dog—
But quickly lowered his head again.
Starting from C-rank, hunters were considered official national combat personnel.
Even if they’d only trained at the academy for a year, C-rank hunters already received social recognition as capable elites.
“Mmm… pretty good. But why’d you drown it in cheese? Since when do you eat greasy stuff like this?”
Holding Jihun’s hot dog while eating it freely, Changhoon stepped toward him.
“But seriously, how’d you dodge that ice shot earlier? I barely put any mana into it because I didn’t want to blast a hole through your stomach, but there’s no way trash like you should’ve dodged it. Hahaha. What, you training hard lately?”
Changhoon mocked him while shoving over half the hot dog into his mouth.
“C-Changhoon… I need to talk to Jihun for a second…”
Jinhee carefully interrupted.
Her attitude toward Changhoon was completely different from how she treated Jihun.
Every word she spoke came out cautious and shy while watching his reactions carefully.
Standing a few steps away, Jihun slowly approached the two again.
Then he looked back and forth between Jinhee and Changhoon.
“What’re you staring at, asshole? Still haven’t learned your lesson? Wanna go somewhere private and have a little chat? Hm? Somewhere dark with nobody around?”
Changhoon grinned while stuffing the remaining hot dog into his mouth.
Then suddenly, Jihun looked like he remembered something.
“Right! Right!!! Changhoon! Sung Changhoon!”
Jihun suddenly looked proud of himself for finally remembering.
“Wait… Jinhee, didn’t you like him? My memory’s right, isn’t it?”
Fwoosh—
Jinhee’s face instantly burned bright red.
“HEY!! KANG JIHUN!!”
Jihun smiled as though he found the flustered Jinhee adorable before quietly whispering to her.
“Men instantly fall for girls who stay beside them when they’re hurt, you know? Take care of this bastard after I’m done with him. Starting today, you two will practically become lovers!”
Leaving behind those incomprehensible words, Jihun walked toward Changhoon with a grin.
“Take care of him? What’s he even talking about?”
Jinhee didn’t understand what he meant.
But as the atmosphere around them suddenly shifted, she couldn’t stop feeling like something was about to go terribly wrong.