Chapter 42
Chapter 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 042
Chapter Title: Kang Ha-neul (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kang Ha-neul arrived exactly one hour after the phone call ended.
Kang Ha-neul was a woman with an unremarkable appearance. Black hair and black eyes, the most common combo in Korea. She was reasonably pretty, but her plain face somehow lacked any strong impression, paired with average height and an average build. She was the kind of woman with no standout features.
Her looks were ordinary, but her vibe was anything but.
Dark circles shadowed her half-lidded, tired eyes, accentuated by heavy eyeliner. Stray hairs stuck out from her unkempt hairstyle, and her clothes were rumpled and sloppy.
From her emanated a decadent allure that didn't suit her age. She was clearly a fresh-faced freshman, yet the atmosphere she gave off made her look like a job-hunting senior on the verge of graduation.
"Get to the point already."
She sat down without even ordering a drink and cut straight to the chase. Her expression screamed that she didn't want to spend even a single extra minute here.
Was she annoyed at being dragged out like this? That was my first thought, but it didn't seem like mere annoyance. It felt closer to displeasure, tinged with a strange unease.
"Before we dive in, may I ask why you've decided to drop out of Green House?"
"...Just because something else came up that I want to do instead of being a hunter."
A slight hesitation before her answer. My gut told me it wasn't the truth. She was hiding her real reason for dropping out.
It wasn't all that strange. From my conversation with Han Gyeol-wol, her reason seemed to be fear of combat—hardly something you'd proudly admit to a stranger.
But to stop her dropout, I needed to know the exact reason. Only then could I figure out how to convince her.
"Something else, huh. What is it?"
"...Do I have to tell you?"
"No, if it's hard to say, you don't have to. But it's a bit surprising. Even if you have something else in mind, is there really any need to drop out?"
I briefly explained the various career programs in Green House's curriculum. Kang Ha-neul listened with a consistently listless expression.
"...In short, Green House's curriculum has programs for almost every job a superhuman could pursue. It's not an exaggeration to say that, since it's the top academy in the country."
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"I don't know what new career path you've chosen, but if it has even a little connection to superhuman society, Green House's curriculum and diploma will be incredibly useful. In other words..."
Our eyes met. Hers looking at me radiated strong rejection.
"There's no need to drop out. At least, if you plan to live in superhuman society—"
"Excuse me."
That's when Kang Ha-neul interrupted me mid-sentence.
"I get what you're saying, but I don't understand this situation. Why is the Academy Security Force so obsessed with my dropout?"
"I'm just trying to tell you that dropping out isn't the only option. As I mentioned earlier, even if you're not aiming to be a hunter, Green House offers many paths—"
"No, fuck, why do you care?"
"Fuck?"
Chae So-yeon, who had been quietly sitting there, lifted her head at the profanity from Kang Ha-neul's mouth. Her lips twitched as she started to rise, but I firmly pressed down on her shoulder.
"...If I've offended you, I apologize. I had no ill intent. I was just thinking of your future—"
"No, fuck, who cares about my future? I'm dropping out, so why do you give a shit?"
"This little bitch has been asking for it since earlier!"
"Chae So-yeon, stay put."
Chae So-yeon shot me a frustrated look, but there was no helping it. If she started arguing with Kang Ha-neul now, it'd be a headache we didn't need.
"Ha. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous this gets."
Despite my efforts, Kang Ha-neul was already fuming.
"...Hello? Don't you think it's a nuisance to keep bothering someone who's already made up their mind?"
"Keep?"
What did she mean by "keep"? This was the first time I'd ever met Kang Ha-neul.
"What do you mean by 'keep'?"
"You must know what your academy's been up to. Fine, whatever with the advisor, but now some scholarship officer I've never heard of keeps showing up at my house, and now the security force is nagging me about dropping out. Seriously, why are you all so desperate to hold onto one student?"
Kang Ha-neul said it like I should know, but it was news to me. Min Chae-ryeong hadn't mentioned any scholarship officer.
I wanted to ask about this scholarship officer, but she was so pissed she didn't look like she'd answer.
"So I'll say it clearly: stop coming to me."
"I'm not interested in diplomas or curricula or future careers or research scholarships or whatever. My mind's already made up. I don't care about superhuman society—I'm not setting foot in anything related to superhumans, so just leave me alone. Got it?"
"...Even so, you're still a superhuman. Why go to such extremes to leave superhuman society?"
"Why? Because I know my place."
Her words left me flustered.
"I know my place." Considering her original personality, she would never say something like that. Kang Ha-neul's core was her pride and unyielding ego.
"By sheer luck, I was born with top-tier physical abilities among superhumans and one of the most powerful superpowers out there."
But that's all.
She added that and suddenly asked me a question.
"Do you know which has the higher average lifespan—regular people or superhumans?"
"...Regular people, I think."
"Right. It's ironic. Superhumans should live longer thanks to our robust bodies and slower aging, but in reality, we die about ten years earlier than regular people. You can guess why without me explaining, right?"
Not every superhuman dies young. But plenty don't live out their full lifespans.
In a world where 60% of superhumans become hunters fighting monsters, and hunters have the highest mortality rate of any job.
It shaves more than ten years off what should be a much longer superhuman lifespan.
"I just want to live normally and die after a full life. I don't want to rely on mediocre abilities, strut around, and end up dying alone on some cold dungeon floor."
Kang Ha-neul stood up, as if she had nothing more to say.
"So don't contact me again."
With that, she turned to leave. Watching her back, Chae So-yeon let out an incredulous sigh. Between Han Gyeol-wol and now Kang Ha-neul, she grumbled, all these new students these days had no manners.
At that moment.
-Zzzt.
A noise tickled my ears, and a system message appeared in my vision.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ === [ 엑%rodlq■라 dms스天트slr 발#@생 ]
=== But something was off. The text in my vision was garbled like a computer glitch, and the constant zzt noise buzzed in my ears without stopping.
What the hell is this?
Flustered by this first glitch since possession, the broken text began to slowly reform.
📜 EXTRA QUEST 📜 === [Extra Quest Occurred] [Prevent Kang Ha-neul's dropout. Build rapport with Kang Ha-neul. Keep Kang Ha-neul by your side. Her presence will undoubtedly benefit you.] <Rewards> 1. Guard Rate Increase 3% (Current Guard Rate: 8%) ※When Guard Rate reaches 10%, the effect of <Skill: Academy Guard> will allow you to raise one stat rank by 1 step.
=== A quest type I'd never seen before: Extra Quest. And the message's tone felt subtly different from usual.
As doubts arose about the change, the system message vanished from my vision the moment I finished reading—like it was trying to hide from someone.
What the...?
I had no clue what was going on. My confused mind flashed with countless words, rising and sinking.
Let's sort this out step by step.
First off, it started with Min Chae-ryeong's order. To make up for killing the woman behind the succubus incident, she tasked me with stopping Kang Ha-neul's dropout.
But Kang Ha-neul dropping out wasn't in the original story. And the Kang Ha-neul I'd just met was a completely different character from the original. On top of that, some scholarship officer had approached her separately to reverse her decision. And as she left, suspicious noise hit, followed by this unfamiliar Extra Quest.
It was chaotic. I couldn't make sense of it. Min Chae-ryeong's intentions, Kang Ha-neul's change, the mystery scholarship officer, the Extra Quest—all unknowns.
This is getting annoying.
The lack of information was infuriating. Things I didn't know kept popping up, leaving me reactive instead of in control.
Looking back, it'd been like this since possession. Even though I'd transmigrated into a novel world I knew well, I'd been passively dragged along.
It was unavoidable. The Ahn Su-ho I'd possessed was detached from the original plot. The characters I met, the surroundings, the events—all unmentioned in the original. And even the parts I knew were constantly altered by Blissful Heavenly Demon's meddling or my butterfly effects.
Despite transmigrating into a novel, I'd been informationally disadvantaged the whole time. Right now, I knew nothing about Min Chae-ryeong's motives, Kang Ha-neul's true feelings, the scholarship officer's identity, or the Extra Quest.
If this keeps up, I'll just dance to Blissful Heavenly Demon's tune.
Blissful Heavenly Demon was clearly manipulating things around me with malice. From the possession-day interview to the recent succubus incident—the convoluted events proved it. Reacting passively to his schemes would eventually corner me.
He wanted my suffering. To defy that, I had to ditch passivity, seize control. And for control, information on the situations I faced was paramount.
I couldn't uncover novel-external stuff like the Extra Quest on my own. But for internal matters—like Kang Ha-neul's real dropout reason, Min Chae-ryeong's intent, or the scholarship officer's identity—I could use the novel's tools.
In this situation, the info source I can use is... Guess I need to go see that character.
Decision made, I stood up immediately.
"Chae So-yeon, head back to the office first and report to the team leader. I've got somewhere else to be."
"Somewhere else? Where?"
"The bathroom."
"Ah."
She nodded, convinced on her own. Of course, the bathroom was the last thing on my mind.
"If you're telling me to go ahead, must be a big one. Take your time."
"Yeah."
I answered Chae So-yeon and left the cafe right away.
"...What? He said bathroom, but where's he going?"
Her baffled mutter faded behind me.