Is It Wrong to Seek Treasure Chests in a Dungeon? (3)
-Squirm, squirm.
"Ugh, uhhh…."
Im Yujin, president of the Is It Wrong to Seek Treasure Chests in a Dungeon? club, was glancing around the room with an uncomfortable expression, gauging her surroundings.
-Tremble, tremble-tremble….
"Hoo, hooooo…."
Fidgeting fingers. Legs shaking unnaturally. Having endured the urge for quite a while already, it was only natural that a faint thread of anxiety was slowly blooming in her chest.
Why did Jaewook have to pick that exact moment to come along with me…?
She had planned to say she was stepping out for some fresh air instead of admitting she was headed to the bathroom—that would have been just a little too embarrassing.
Her junior truly had zero tact. It was the same with how he never failed to tease her about their height difference, the one thing she hated most.
Thanks to that tactless junior, she'd ended up leaving without relieving herself and was now idling in the outside air, and roughly ten minutes after returning to her seat, she was beginning to feel that she was reaching her limit.
I really, really can't hold it much longer….
But if she went out for fresh air again so soon after just coming back in, wouldn't that seem strange?
And there was no guarantee another junior wouldn't tag along next time either. Something told her that if anyone would show up without a clue again, it would be Jaewook.
Yet announcing now that she needed the bathroom was, as always, embarrassing. Especially since today there was another male junior present.
But… I'm hitting my limit….
…Still, it was better than actually having an accident.
The very moment she could no longer resist the mounting urge and moved to rise from her seat, Lee Seonho, sitting diagonally across from her, met her eyes and spoke.
"Uhhh, Yu, Yujin-sunbae…?"
"Y-yeah?!"
"Haah, could you maybe buy me one of those hangover relief drinks…? My head's kind of hurting…."
"Oh, oh really…? Did you drink a lot…?"
"Yeah… I mixed my drinks earlier, so I think it's catching up to me…."
It was common enough for freshmen to misjudge their tolerance and get drunk right away. She still remembered her own freshman days, when she'd cluelessly mixed beer and soju and suffered through the hangover the next morning.
But Lee Seonho, who had seemed perfectly fine just moments ago, suddenly clutching his head and slumping over was… no matter how she looked at it, a little suspicious.
"Hey, that's what you get for drinking without even knowing your own limit. Why should Yujin-noona have to buy it for you?"
"N-no, it's fine…! I'll buy it for you. That's part of my job as president, after all…."
"Then I'll come with you. It's dangerous for a girl to walk around alone at night…."
Han Jaewook rose from his seat yet again, as if trying to block her from using the errand as an excuse to slip away to the bathroom.
…His tactless interruptions rattled Im Yujin all over again—but fortunately, her worries turned out to be for nothing.
"Pl-please, go ahead…. Here's my card…."
"I'll take it, Unnie. I'll go with you."
"……Huh, what?"
"It's dangerous for a woman to walk around alone, so I'll come with you. I was just thinking I wanted some fresh air anyway."
"…Nayeon, I said I was going with Yujin-noona."
"Jaewook, you already went out for air earlier. It's stuffy staying inside all the time, so I'm stepping out for a bit too."
"W-well, if you say so…. We'll be right back, Jaewook…!"
…If she had to admit she needed the bathroom anyway, another woman was the better choice.
Thinking that Ma Nayeon, as a fellow woman, was at least preferable to telling Han Jaewook or Lee Seonho, Im Yujin hurriedly grabbed her hand and headed out of the bar.
And just as she was about to ask Ma Nayeon for her understanding and start walking, a considerate remark came from the other girl first.
"N-Nayeon, I…."
"You're going to the bathroom, right? I'll buy the hangover relief drink."
"Wh-what…?"
"Seonho told me earlier. He said he'd give me his card later, and asked me to pretend I was going to the convenience store and step out with you for a bit."
"……R-really?"
"Han Jaewook's the only one with zero awareness who keeps acting like this. It's nothing to be embarrassed about, so go ahead, Unnie."
"O-oh, um, right…! S-sorry, and… thank you for covering…!"
…So it was Seonho's consideration from the very beginning.
Only now understanding why he had suddenly pretended to be drunk and collapsed, Im Yujin silently thanked him in her heart as she hurried toward the bathroom.
I-I'm grateful and all… but that means he knew all along, doesn't it…?
…The fact that something she'd deliberately kept hidden had been found out did make her a little embarrassed, though.
Weekends at Cheonmu Hunter Academy were considerably quieter than weekdays.
Unlike weekdays, when outings were banned to keep students focused on their studies, the weekend allowed free movement in and out of the Academy grounds.
Which also meant it was the only chance to hold events outside the academy that were impossible during the week.
For instance, spending time meeting girls like Min Ye-won who attend other academies.
Girls from academies other than Cheonmu—like Myeongwol Academy—were fundamentally only available on weekends.
So logically, the correct play would be to meet academy-born heroines on weekdays and use the weekends to visit heroines and other women outside the academy.
…Well, that could wait for another opportunity. Today I had a schedule more important than Min Ye-won.
"You want my help buying a weapon, Seonho my junior?"
"Yes, Sunbae. I figured the opinion of someone like you, Mari-sunbae, who enrolled at the Academy a whole year before me, would be a big help."
"Well, sure. I didn't have anything planned this afternoon anyway. Can't very well turn down a request from my favorite junior, can I?"
That went down easier than I expected. I'd accounted for a real chance of rejection and prepared a few more excuses as backup, too.
Well, I suppose it was only natural—we'd been working out together and seeing each other morning and night for close to a month and a half now.
From Choi Marie's perspective, I was her very first academy junior, so of course she'd want to look after me a little.
"Oh, Mari-sunbae."
"Hmm? What?"
"Is there a gym or something at the Academy, by any chance? I was thinking of dropping by now and then during free periods or after dinner."
"Huh? The fitness training room in the basement of the Combat Department building."
"Isn't that a place only Combat Department students can use?"
"Since when does a training room have a designated major? Combat kids are the ones who use it most, sure, just because of where it is, but it's not like other departments are barred from it. Use it whenever you like. That's where I train too, normally."
"Ah, really? I had no idea at all."
Well, I did know. It was where the original Seo Woojin first met Choi Marie, after all—the basement training room of the Combat Department building.
I'd simply scattered a little bait to keep Seo Woojin and Choi Marie from ever crossing paths. As long as I dangled the lure of showing my face at the training room, Choi Marie would have no reason to pay attention to any other first-year junior.
With her interest already completely captured by me, there was no way she'd fall for Seo Woojin even if he did show up—but with things like this, you had to nip the possibility in the bud just to be certain.
"And here I was wondering why a guy who supposedly trains never once showed his face at the training room. Turns out you just didn't know it existed?"
"How would I go if I didn't know? This is exactly the kind of thing you're supposed to tell me, Sunbae, as it comes up."
"Ohhh~? That was a little cheeky of you just now, wasn't it~?"
-CHOMP!
"AAACK, S-Sunbae! I'm sorry! AAACK!!"
"Don't think I'm letting that one slide! Where'd you learn to talk to your senior like that, hmm~?!"
-CHOMP CHOMP!
"AAACK, Mari-sunbae! It hurts! I said I'm sorry!"
Thanks to Choi Marie's chest cushioning one side of my temple, it didn't hurt in the slightest—but the more theatrically I reacted, the longer she kept my face wrapped in her arm.
This was the extent of the skinship I could savor for now, but once the real conquest began in earnest, opportunities like this would become scarce. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted.
-Sliiide.
"Uuugh, Sunbaeee…."
"You never stop fooling around, do you."
As I deliberately pretended to be in pain and rubbed my temple, Choi Marie watched me with the faintest hint of a smile on her lips.
In any case, today I had no time to spare for the likes of Min Ye-won, not with Choi Marie here.
The event that would finally kick off her full training in earnest was about to begin—I couldn't waste time on swallowing some villainess tramp.
A weekend at Cheonmu Academy.
Choi Marie normally started her day earlier than everyone else thanks to her morning workouts—but right now she was stuck inside her dorm room, agonizing without being able to step out.
"What are you doing, Mari?"
"Just… picking something to wear."
"Huh? You're picking out clothes, Mari? Since when? You always just head out in a hoodie and jeans?"
"……"
Well, because they were the most comfortable.
Choi Marie normally couldn't have cared less about other people's gazes, so she always wore whatever felt least restrictive on her body.
She had no particular desire to impress the opposite sex, and besides, dressing a little carelessly had never once reduced the number of men who bothered her anyway.
So she'd bought several sets of workout clothes in near-identical designs, and unified her entire wardrobe outside of training into hoodies and jeans.
"……"
But for this rare outing beyond the Academy with her junior Seonho—something so close to a date—she wanted to transform her style, just a little.
"What's there to agonize over? Don't tell me you've got a boyfriend or something?"
"It's nothing like that."
"'Nothing like that' means there's a possibility, though?"
"……"
At her roommate's words, Choi Marie let herself imagine it for a moment—but no, that wasn't it either. Lee Seonho was a diligent, likable junior, but if asked whether he was her type, he wasn't.
The man she secretly hoped for was someone sturdier than herself, someone whose back she could entrust herself to without a shred of worry.
By that measure, Lee Seonho was a good person, but fell a little short of someone she could rely on completely.
He wasn't a Physical Enhancement Type, after all—and his department was Combat Support, a track with almost no combat ability to speak of.
Then again, it's not like I have feelings for Seonho or anything. Why am I even agonizing over what to wear?
Charitably speaking, he might not be a bad candidate for romance—but he was a man she'd struggle to take seriously when picturing a future with.
"…No. Not at all."
The pause in her answer came from spending those long seconds evaluating Lee Seonho—but her roommate interpreted it very differently.
"What, why'd you have to think that long? You actually had to consider it?"
"It was just a passing thought. Now that I think about it, a hoodie would be fine."
"No, it would NOT! If you show up to a date in a hoodie, whatever you've got going for you is going straight out the window! I'll lend you my clothes, so wear those!"
"I told you, it's not a date and he's not my boyfriend."
"This is the first time in your life our Mari has shown even this much interest in a man—that's basically dating already! Enough, go change!"
"…I'm telling you, it's really not."
But when her roommate forcibly pried the hoodie from her hands, Choi Marie couldn't quite bring herself to put up serious resistance.
And so, unable to break her friend's stubbornness, she ended up heading to the meeting spot dressed in clothes that fluttered and flowed—utterly unlike anything she usually wore.