Chapter 36
Jin Yeonhui.
With her past life awakened, she had become one of the few S-class superhumans in Korea.
She must have been fifteen at the time.
She wasn’t affiliated with the Association, but rather worked like a mercenary under Taeseong Group, where her parents held the chairman’s seat.
With her gorgeous looks and the incredible standing of an S-class superhuman’s past life, she was probably more famous than a Korean celebrity.
No, she definitely was.
She was the kind of person who should never have had anything to do with me.
And if I were to sum up the relationship between her and me, then yes. It could be written in just one word.
Childhood friend.
Someone I’d been close to when we were little.
These days I was closer to Jin Gyeongbeom, but if I had to go back to the beginning, Jin Yeonhui had come first.
Now we barely even talked, and we hardly knew what was going on in each other’s lives anymore. But back then, things had been different.
- Jinwoo! Let’s go together!
Because our families were connected, we’d been close from a young age.
Sometimes I could almost see that small, pale face trailing after me.
- Let’s do this together!
Whenever there was something to do, she’d always come running over and insist we do it together.
- You said this tasted good.
It was the same even when there was something delicious to eat. I probably thought well of Jin Yeonhui back then, too.
I was only six or seven at most.
Still, it had been a good relationship.
It would have been nice if we’d stayed that way.
That only hadn’t lasted very long.
- J-Jinwoo…. M-Mom….
I remembered her tearful eyes on the day my parents died.
My relationship with Jin Yeonhui had ended that day, too.
It couldn’t have been helped.
Neither she nor I could have kept it going.
And so time passed.
Later, when Jin Gyeongbeom had come back to Korea after being treated in the United States for an illness, we’d become close again.
But that had nothing to do with Jin Yeonhui either.
Even if I’d grown close to Jin Gyeongbeom, it wasn’t as if my relationship with her would suddenly resume.
So.
That was why this was strange now.
Why is she acting like this all of a sudden?
She hadn’t come near me for years, and then out of nowhere it felt like I kept seeing her more and more.
To think she’d suddenly been assigned to the knights, too.
And even a newly formed knight corps? I had no idea why a promising superhuman from a major corporation would bother taking on something this dangerous.
She wouldn’t need to do this at all.
If you were backed by a company, there was no reason to take on work like this. Being a knight might earn you honor, sure.
But the money the company paid would be much better.
And by a wide margin, too. It was common knowledge that knights made good money, but in the end that was only the amount the government paid them.
It was such a difference that comparing the two would almost be rude. And yet people still flocked to become knights because, well—
It was all about honor.
There were also plenty of people who looked down on superhumans working for companies.
Compared to that, knights enjoyed far better treatment and far more prestige. That was another reason.
But whatever the reason was—
It doesn’t matter to me.
None of that meant anything to me. I hadn’t wanted to become a knight for those petty reasons in the first place.
“……Yeonhui.”
As Jin Yeonhui seemed ready to step in, Yu Jin called out to her. Something in his tone was almost sentimental, and I watched him closely.
Just as I thought.
It had been the same back at the Colosseum.
Could that rumor actually be true?
The thought that there might be some sort of connection between Yu Jin and Jin Yeonhui—
“Don’t call me by my name so casually.”
“…….”
“…….”
—apparently wasn’t true?
At Jin Yeonhui’s contemptuous reaction, I couldn’t help but flinch.
She really was loaded with irritation. It had been a long time since I’d seen annoyance this clear.
“How about it. Can I call you by your name too?”
Then Jin Yeonhui looked at me and asked. Her expression was markedly different from the one she wore when she looked at Yu Jin.
“Uh… sure.”
I didn’t mind. If anything, I liked it. It was better than whatever she and Yu Jin had going on.
“……Are you really going to do that?”
At that, Yu Jin frowned and asked back. Seeing his reaction, Jin Yeonhui looked at him with a cold expression of her own.
“Why? Am I not allowed to?”
“……That’s not what I meant.”
At her words, Jin Yeonhui gave a small snort.
“Then what did you mean?”
“Yeonhui.”
Rumble—!
Thunder cracked, and Jin Yeonhui’s body flashed with light.
“Did your ears go dead?”
“…….”
A thin sword shot out from nowhere and pointed straight at Yu Jin’s throat.
“I told you not to call me by my name.”
“…….”
My skin crawled. My whole body stiffened.
■ Killing intent detected.
■ Hero's Super-sensory is activating.
Is that really killing intent?
It was a truly murderous reaction. Even if the aura reaching me was faint, I could tell she was serious.
“Don’t act familiar with me. Just looking at your face makes me feel disgusting.”
“What are you—”
“And stop coming up to him for no reason.”
At that warning, my eyes narrowed. Coming up to him?
“What do you mean I came up to Jinwoo? I was just talking to him as a friend.”
“Since when were you friends?”
“What…?”
As Jin Yeonhui cut him off, Yu Jin’s face twisted.
“You’re really disgusting. Don’t make this troublesome and just stop—”
“……How long are you planning to keep this up……?”
In the midst of the drawn-out tension, someone cut in.
My gaze was yanked toward the owner of the voice.
The person who had appeared was a woman in sunglasses, leaning against the training room wall.
It was Irene.
“……Irene?”
When I looked at her with widened eyes, Irene let out a tired sigh.
“……Such a hassle. I wouldn’t have come if I’d known…. Why are you here….”
“……Pardon?”
“And.”
Irene flicked her thin fingers toward Jin Yeonhui, pointing at her.
“……Don’t pick fights with other knights….”
“…….”
At her words, Jin Yeonhui bit her lip slightly.
Seeing that reaction, Irene gave a small snort.
Then, after a beat—
“Hale Irene.”
Yu Jin addressed Irene. At the sound of his voice, Irene turned to look at him.
She said nothing. Her face seemed to ask why he’d called her if he had nothing to say.
“It’s been a while. I thought I should at least give you the greeting I missed last time.”
At that, Irene tilted her head.
“A while?”
Who was this? I watched Yu Jin in silence.
“Ah.”
Her reaction was slow, as though she’d only just remembered.
“I remember now.”
“…….”
At being recognized only belatedly, Yu Jin froze.
“Sorry.”
She seemed to be apologizing for having forgotten him.
“……Ahaha…. That happens, I suppose.”
Her expression didn’t look like she thought that happened at all.
Even so.
Even if she wasn’t the least bit interested in other people, did it make sense not to recognize a fellow SS-class superhuman?
“It’s good to see you…. Have you been well…?”
“……Yes.”
Nod. As though that was enough, Irene gave a small nod.
After that, there was no more conversation. Irene had never had any interest in Yu Jin to begin with.
“Anything else……?”
After that, she turned to me and asked.
“Pardon?”
“Are you still going to do this… or are you coming with me?”
“Now?”
“Yes. Now.”
“Ah…. Understood.”
I nodded at Irene’s words and followed her.
Just then, I felt someone’s gaze on me. I turned to look, but—
Was that my imagination?
Jin Yeonhui wasn’t looking at me.
I turned my head away again.
* * *
Immediately after Lee Jinwoo disappeared with Irene.
The two people left in the training ground maintained a heavy silence.
As the uncomfortable atmosphere dragged on, the one who spoke first was Yu Jin.
“Hey.”
He tried carefully to call out to Jin Yeonhui, but—
“Haa.”
Jin Yeonhui only sighed and ignored him.
“Yeonhui.”
At that, Yu Jin reached out as though to grab her wrist.
RUMBLE—!!
“Don’t touch me.”
With her cold voice, lightning roiled around Jin Yeonhui’s body. It was far more violent than before.
“……Yeonhui.”
At the sight, Yu Jin bit his lip. Despite his reaction, Jin Yeonhui’s expression only grew colder.
“Anyone watching would think we were incredibly close.”
The slight upward curl of her lips was unmistakably a sneer.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. The one who threw away the chance we had was you. So please.”
Rumble.
Lightning seeped into Jin Yeonhui’s eyes.
“Stop clinging to me like you’re the victim. And don’t get any closer to him.”
“……You mean Jinwoo?”
“Yes. Stop bothering Lee Jinwoo.”
“What is Jinwoo to you?”
“Who knows.”
What should she call him?
If she had to put it into words, then—
“A wisdom tooth?”
Yes, that sounded about right.
“What?”
Yu Jin’s face crumpled at the incomprehensible explanation, but—
Rumble.
After snuffing out the lightning, Jin Yeonhui simply ignored him and walked away.
- …Tch.
Watching her go, Yu Jin ground his teeth.
I didn’t really care about Irene’s reaction, but Jin Yeonhui’s had been a different matter entirely. It bothered him a great deal.
“Wisdom tooth.”
He didn’t even understand what that was supposed to mean.
Yu Jin swept his hair back and let out a sigh.
This was a problem of its own, too.
“……Lee Jinwoo.”
Something else was on Yu Jin’s mind.
Lee Jinwoo.
That classmate of his.
Irene and Jin Yeonhui were both paying strangely close attention to Lee Jinwoo.
Why?
He couldn’t understand it.
He just…
Had managed to catch an A-class terrorist by luck.
No, calling it luck would be wrong. Lee Jinwoo himself had been an A-class superhuman.
Right.
A-class.
The Association’s official rating was A-class.
Yu Jin hadn’t expected him to awaken at such a high level, but Lee Jinwoo had done it in the end.
He’d struggled and flailed his way through it.
And in the end,
he’d made it. That was surprising, sure, but even so, he was still only A-class.
There shouldn’t be anything especially remarkable about him. So why was everyone—
……Could it be because of that sword?
Yu Jin thought of Lee Jinwoo. The sword he’d been carrying.
That sword came back to mind.
It was strange. It was something he didn’t know.
Buzz—
The moment he thought of it, Yu Jin’s heart pounded.
What was that sword for it to give him such a feeling? It had been that way from the first time he saw it.
It’s definitely a treasured relic.
More specifically, a personal relic. He could tell it was a relic that could only be used if it matched the user’s past life.
Why does that
matter to me so much?
Yu Jin clicked his tongue softly and shook his head.
“……I can at least congratulate him.”
He’d watched that boy thrash around long enough to know that. He could congratulate him for awakening, even if it was an irregularity.
Still—
“It’d be troublesome if he got greedy for anything else.”
It would be a problem if he started reaching for things above his station.
Tap, tap.
Yu Jin put a cigarette between his lips and quietly drew in a mouthful of smoke.
Soon after, his gaze sank into a chilly stillness.
* * *
Right after following Irene inside, Lee Jinwoo said as soon as we entered the room:
“……What was that?”
He looked like he’d misheard. At his disbelieving question, Irene answered calmly.
“……You didn’t hear me?”
“No, I mean, I heard you, but…….”
Had he heard her correctly? He just couldn’t make sense of it.
So Irene repeated herself once more.
I found traces of the God of War….