Grade Evaluation (1)
Yu Cheong's excited face as she called her mom crumpled into a pout.
"Yeah. Once this is over, Mom will go with you. Until then, just observe from a distance, okay?"
"But they're only human..." A faint sigh drifted from the other end of the phone.
"Tch... Fine. I'll just watch from afar for now."
Even her mother's soothing words couldn't smooth the frown from Yu Cheong's face.
On the way back from teasing Yu Cheong and buying Choi Ahyeon a doll, I confessed to her that I'd bought additional artifacts once we reached the dormitory.
Her reaction was immediate.
"Are you insane! Insane! Do you know how much that cost? What the hell were you thinking?!"
She grabbed my collar with a look of total mental collapse and shook me violently.
"Let's go return it right now! It's not too late!"
"I'm not returning it. And I didn't buy it with team funds, so don't worry about that."
"Aaaargh! That's not even what I'm upset about!"
The way she clutched her head told me she was seriously pissed off.
"Haa..." She let out a deep sigh and plopped down on the floor, then patted the spot beside her. "Sit here."
Her expression was dead serious. Without a word, I sat down next to her.
"Seonghyun. Imagine one day some girl shows up and says she likes you."
"Yeah?"
"And then she keeps giving you ridiculously expensive gifts. How would that make you feel?"
"Obviously it'd feel burdensome."
"See! You know exactly how it feels, so why are you doing this?!"
Watching Choi Ahyeon huff through her nose and point accusingly at me only left me more confused.
What the hell is wrong with her?
She seemed to have completely misunderstood the situation. I gave her a bitter smile.
"Don't tell me you think I like you or something?"
"N-no! That's not... I mean..."
Her face flushed bright red as she stammered incoherently. Then she stared straight into my eyes and asked,
"Then why did you buy me such expensive weapons? It's like putting pearls on a pig..."
"Hey, we've got a bond. How could I just abandon someone like that? Right?"
"Well, that's true, but... haa..."
When I gave her a vague answer because explaining further felt like too much hassle, Choi Ahyeon let out a long, drawn-out sigh. Then she leaned against the wall with a defeated expression.
"Your future wife is going to be so jealous. If you're this attentive to a friend, I can't imagine how you'll treat your wife."
"If you're jealous, why don't you just become my wife?"
"No thanks."
Heh. Our silly banter melted the awkward tension between us.
"Anyway, since I already bought them, let's make the most of it."
"Sigh. Fine."
And so began the full-scale Choi Ahyeon Gear Project.
I fed her the Bridge of Wind and Sky and had her wield Feriona's Dagger.
At first, Choi Ahyeon couldn't understand why I was giving her a blade with such a worn edge, but she soon learned the reason.
"Whoa... It's so pretty..."
After consuming the Bridge of Wind and Sky, Choi Ahyeon's wind affinity had reached its peak. Feriona's Dagger responded to that affinity and began to transform.
A sleek, razor-sharp black blade paired with a pure white hilt that gleamed like white jade. It looked like a black swan and a white swan spreading their wings together.
"How is it? Do you like it?"
"Yeah! It's seriously so pretty! I have to post this on Insta~."
"......"
Choi Ahyeon, completely uninterested in its performance. What an honest kid.
I should probably save the Wind God's Orb for later.
She still had a long way to go before she could properly use the Wind God's Orb. With this level of equipment, she could handle E-rank monsters just fine, so I'd give it to her around the time of the D-rank test.
I grinned and pushed her training even harder.
A week of this not-quite-suffering later, Han Yuri finally returned from visiting her family.
She stood watching Choi Ahyeon swing her dual daggers in the training room.
"Grrrrraaawr!"
"Hah!"
She was fighting evenly against the hologram of an E-rank Junior Wolf.
The synergy between the unique skill Choi Ahyeon had revealed—Faster Than the Wind—and Feriona's Dagger was working beautifully.
It lets her accelerate faster than any wind blowing within a 1km radius, right?
It was a shame she could only use it once per day, but still... Compared to last time when she couldn't even land decent damage on an F-rank boss, this was a massive improvement.
Han Yuri looked at her with an expression that went beyond disbelief and straight into exasperation.
I put on my thickest face and asked playfully,
"What do you think? She's improved a lot, hasn't she?"
"This is fucking ridiculous..."
Choi Ahyeon had gotten stronger. That was an undeniable fact.
But this—
"She's not actually stronger. She's just boosting her attack power with gear. This kind of thing won't last long."
"You're right about that. Still, this should be enough for her to pass the test, don't you think?"
"Sure, she'll pass E-rank. But what about D-rank? And C-rank after that? Do you know how hard it is to trade party members once most first-years hit E-rank?"
"I do."
"And you still made this decision? Spending your own blood money? With that kind of cash, you could've climbed several ranks yourself."
Han Yuri's expression grew colder and colder. Her eyes frosted over like ice in the middle of a glacial age.
She stared directly into my eyes.
"Do you like Choi Ahyeon?"
Something that wasn't Han Yuri pierced straight through me. My senses—which hadn't even reacted to a dragon's Dragon Eyes—screamed a warning.
Watch your mouth.
I glanced sideways.
Equivalent Exchange -20%
During this past week, I hadn't exactly been sitting idle. I'd been steadily accumulating pain just in case something like this happened.
So I deliberately curled my lips into a smirk.
"What if I said I do?"
Han Yuri's lips twisted into a grotesque smile, cold and murderous.
"Then I'd gouge out my own eyes. How can someone reach twenty and still have such terrible taste in people? The future looks bleak."
"......"
"My patience isn't deep enough to tolerate keeping a brain-dead simp who loses his mind over a girl as a teammate."
One step. Two steps. Han Yuri closed the distance until we were close enough to feel each other's breath.
The faint scent of her perfume and body heat tickled my nose. She never broke eye contact as she spoke.
"Explain yourself."
"I have a plan. So don't get so worked up."
"Explain."
"It's too long to explain. Can't you just trust me and let it go?"
"So you're telling me to shut up and follow along?"
"Pretty much."
"Haa..."
She scrunched up her face like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then she bit her lip and glanced at Choi Ahyeon, who was still swinging her blades.
"I don't get it. Why you're so obsessed with Choi Ahyeon. Why you're so damn confident about this."
"......"
"Anyone can see she's dull. Anyone can see she's defective. Yet you keep trying to drag her along? What the hell are you—"
Looking at?
Her voice was thick with frustration. But I didn't answer.
Han Yuri sighed and rubbed her face.
"Fine... I'll let it slide this once. In a way, this is also a way of testing you."
"Good. If you'd just said that from the start, things would've been so much easier. Let's keep it friendly, yeah?"
"Fuck... If only you couldn't talk."
When I responded playfully, Han Yuri ground her teeth.
"Hurry up and go down to greet her. It's been a week since you last saw each other, right?"
"I was going to even if you didn't tell me."
With a complicated expression, Han Yuri headed down to the training room, her steps heavy.
What was she thinking? What was she feeling?
Even after being tormented to the point of nausea by those crazy bitches in my previous life, I still didn't understand witches.
Anyway, I got past the biggest hurdle.
Since I'd cleared the tallest mountain—Han Yuri—the E-rank test was practically already in the bag. Now I could take my time clearing quests while waiting for Choi Ahyeon's growth.
But first, there's something I need to do.
Ding.
The moment I picked up my phone, a text arrived.
Grade Evaluation Implementation Notice
It had finally arrived. The opportunity bomb.
That evening after training, I showed the two of them the text I'd just received.
Choi Ahyeon's eyes widened into perfect circles.
"Huh? Grade evaluation? Wasn't this optional?"
"It is, but I think getting some experience wouldn't hurt."
At my words, Han Yuri's face turned icy.
"Experience my ass. You think I don't know you're trying to raise your contribution for better rewards?"
"The rewards are secondary. What we need right now is combat experience. Don't you agree?"
"You really are good with that mouth of yours."
"So what do you two think?"
They both closed their eyes and thought it over. But the hesitation didn't last long.
"I'm okay with it. I've been wanting to see how the other kids hunt anyway."
"I'm in too. I have some things I want to check."
As she spoke, Han Yuri glanced at Choi Ahyeon. She'd given permission for her to come along, but she still seemed a little uneasy.
"Okay. I'll go submit our application then."
With their quick approval, the corners of my mouth naturally rose.
The grade evaluation awarded differential rewards based on how many monsters each party killed. So who would end up receiving the most rewards?
Lee Seol.
I remembered how that bitch had swept up every last crumb in my previous life. That's how she turned into an even bigger monster.
Not while I'm around.
Stopping Lee Seol's growth was the same as making myself stronger.
The first-place reward was the Wishing Stone, right?
An absolutely broken artifact that let you obtain the skill you desired most. No matter what, I couldn't let that slip away.
With an excited heart, I submitted the application to the first-year supervisor professor and headed back to the dormitory. Han Yuri was sitting on a bench outside, as if she'd been waiting for me.
The moment she saw me, she stood up.
"What? Were you waiting for me?"
"Don't flatter yourself. I just came out for some air because I felt suffocated."
With that, she turned and started walking toward the mountain behind the dorm.
When I didn't follow and just stood there watching, she stopped, turned her head slightly to look at me, then kept walking. She stopped again and looked back. She repeated the whole thing several times.
What the hell is that idiot doing?
When I stared at her in disbelief, Han Yuri reluctantly pulled out her phone.
Ring ring.
It was a call.
"What?"
"You need a pack mule to go up a mountain?"
Silence. She just kept glaring at me without saying a word.
Tsk.
Normally I would've refused without hesitation, but there was the matter with Choi Ahyeon earlier. I sighed and walked over to her.
Only then did she start walking up the mountain again, acting like she hadn't just called me.
She's seriously a crazy bitch.
Her way of thinking wasn't human.
After following her for a while, a pavilion on the mountainside came into view. Han Yuri had already taken a seat. I sat down across from her.
The cool night breeze swept over us. We spent five minutes in complete silence, just watching the night view.
Then Han Yuri broke the ice.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Show me your status window."
"...Huh?"
"Can't you hear me? Open your status window."
Fuck. I'm screwed.