Collapsed Root Cave (1)
Bang, bang!
"Whew… ha…."
Slumped on the floor of the track, gasping for breath, Lee Seonho tipped back the water bottle she'd handed him and drank deeply.
"……"
Choi Mari looked down at him in silence for a moment, lost in thought.
My junior's in a really pathetic state today.
Professor Shin Youngjoo's class wasn't until tomorrow, so where on earth had he gone and drained himself this time?
She'd finally managed to put some flesh and stamina on him, and seeing him shuffling around all weak-kneed left her mildly dissatisfied.
Maybe it's about time I switched his training back from cardio to strength work.
He was taking the exercise mechanics course, so lately she hadn't been pushing him into strength training herself—but if he was going to wobble around like this, a restart might be in order.
They'd known each other nearly two months already, since before the entrance exams, so whatever else could be said of it, Choi Mari was the one who cared most about Lee Seonho's physical conditioning.
The problem was that her training method was, by her own standards, barely dialed down at all—which meant for Seonho, just keeping up was a struggle in itself.
"Haah—h-here, senior…."
"…Right."
Truthfully, with a bit more weight on him than before, he'd started looking rather presentable these days. Calling him handsome was still a stretch, but there was something oddly gentle about his face now.
Gazing at those strangely reassuring eyes, Choi Mari brought the water bottle—the very one his lips had touched—to her own and drank.
Glug.
…Wait. Isn't this an indirect kiss?
She'd lived her whole life paying next to no attention to that sort of thing, so the realization came a beat late.
…Whatever. He's Seonho's junior anyway—so what?
Besides, the kid didn't seem like the type to fuss over such things either. If he had been, he would have hesitated back when he first took the bottle from her.
And if he wasn't bothered, then it would be strange for her to be bothered. Shaking her head, Choi Mari forced the feeling out of her mind.
"Done resting? Let's cut the running short today and head to the conditioning room instead."
"What?"
"Your base stamina's dropped way too much. Today I'm scrapping cardio—you're doing strength training in the conditioning room, and I'm going to supervise. Come on."
"…We've only got an hour left before first period, though?"
"An hour means you can lift for forty. Five minutes from the conditioning room to the dorm, another five from the dorm to the lecture hall. Time to spare."
"…What about food? And a shower?"
"I'll give you one of my meal drinks for nutrition. And you guys can wash up in five minutes, can't you?"
"…Fine. Yeah, I guess we can."
And so, once again, Choi Mari failed to notice that she was diligently stacking 'obedience points' in Lee Seonho's favor.
So because he'd woken up a little earlier than usual this morning, she was actually going to make him do strength training in the conditioning room.
It was a fresh reminder of Choi Mari's sheer stubbornness. Not that he was admiring it in any positive sense.
At this rate she's basically a mini Shin Youngjoo.
No—actually, at least that professor adjusted the training while watching how the other person was holding up, which might make her better than Choi Mari.
Either way, thanks to her, he'd skipped a proper breakfast and was now late for his very first class. Mercifully, the Monster Ecology professor was the leisurely type.
"Hah… hah… s-safe…."
"…You're late."
"Seonho? What took you so long?"
Do Yoonchae flicked a glance my way, then turned her eyes away as if nothing had happened. Beside her, Han Sora watched me with a look that was equal parts puzzlement and worry.
I slipped naturally into the seat between the two of them and served up a suitably convenient excuse.
"Overslept, that's all."
"Huh? Yoonseong said you left before dawn this morning, though?"
"I went out for a morning run and figured I'd just nap for a bit since I was tired. Ended up sleeping straight through."
"…Pathetic. You're telling me a light jog in the morning drained your stamina?"
"……Yeah, something like that."
"…What's with that look just now?"
What do you think? I just find it hilarious how shameless you've gotten the moment you're outside the dorm.
Only two days ago she'd been throwing a fit, demanding I grope her chest or whatever—and now she was sitting here with an almost comical level of composure.
In a way, that was a relief. If Do Yoonchae leaked as freely outside the dorms as she did inside, the whole academy would know she was a woman in less than a semester.
"Th-that's no way to talk! Seonho's in the Combat Support Department, so you should cut him some slack if his stamina's a bit lacking!"
"……"
"It's fine. It's not like I want special treatment just for being in Support."
"Ah—sorry…. D-did that upset you?"
"Not at all. Nobody understands where Support-types stand better than a Support-type himself."
Even in the most trivial of conversations, I made sure to slot another guilt point onto each of Do Yoonchae's and Han Sora's ledgers without letting the opening pass.
While we were chatting, the Monster Ecology professor walked in, and first period began.
Still, I really can feel the stamina deficit, huh.
Five climaxes over two days, and his condition was shot the next morning.
To be fair, it wasn't just the women—there was the fight in the underground tunnels, plus the accumulated fatigue from regular classes. Nothing to be done about it.
…Looks like I'll need to get my hands on some stamina-related items ahead of time.
Come to think of it, the dungeons opening up to freshmen should be expanding around now.
For the first two weeks, only dungeons with literally zero risk of death were open—but starting this week, there'd be real opportunities to explore dungeons that were actually dungeons.
Complete with proper 'monsters' and proper 'rewards.'
The sooner I secure the items, the better.
Stamina-related items in particular—the greatest weakness of Combat Support Department Lee Seonho—were best acquired as early as possible.
Even if I couldn't raise my strength to the level of those Physical Enhancement Types, I at least needed enough vitality that it wouldn't hold me back.
And keeping my daily routine of rotating through women unimpeded—well, that mattered too.
Today was supposed to be archery training with Han Sora, but….
Using 'live-fire practice is better than the range' as an excuse to drag her into a dungeon—honestly, not a bad idea.
…And well, it's not like a dungeon offers no opportunities for anything fun.
Cheonmu Hunter Academy, being the setting of the original Surviving the Hunter Academy, was full of hidden opportunities to be seized within its walls.
The campus itself was enormous—you could explore buildings that had fallen out of use, clear unpopular dungeons, or simply rob the various villains who cropped up inside and outside the academy.
Naturally, items that boosted physical conditioning were entirely obtainable within the academy, provided the conditions were met.
D-Rank dungeon. Collapsed Root Cave.
A dungeon with a miserable environment and miserable rewards—practically first on everyone's avoid-at-all-costs list.
As I recalled, the original story's Seo Woojin had acquired the Seed of Manaroot here—an item that permanently raised a hunter's base stamina and regenerative capacity.
And the dungeon had probably opened up to freshmen only yesterday or the day before.
"An academy dungeon?"
"Yeah. They're opening practical dungeons to first-years starting this week, so I was thinking we'd check one out this afternoon."
"Isn't that a little dangerous for freshmen to do alone? Or at least, shouldn't we put together a proper party first?"
I'd proposed it figuring Han Sora would surely agree, but what came back was a warning to hold off because it was too dangerous.
That caught me slightly off guard, but chewing it over, it wasn't exactly an unreasonable answer.
After all, the original Han Sora was careful by nature—it had been her role to rein Seo Woojin in whenever he acted on impulse.
In a sense, my current position mirrors the original Seo Woojin's, doesn't it.
Usurping the seat of that so-called original protagonist was proceeding smoothly.
But that didn't mean I could give up here. Like I said, stamina-related items had to be secured the moment they became available.
Especially if they ended up in that bastard Seo Woojin's hands like in the original story—that would be a real headache.
I'm the one who stole Han Sora and the other girls away from him. It'd be flat-out unfair if he got to soar again over a single lost item.
"Ah—n-no, it's not that I don't want to! Like you said, I've been wanting to try some live combat training too."
"I know. And you're right, Sora—we do need to shore up the front line a bit."
The easiest person to call on in situations like this was obviously Park Cheonho, but regrettably he was still injured from his fight with Jung Seokhoon a while back.
And honestly, he's not even a cadre—I didn't want him tagging along on a simple dungeon exploration event either. I simply couldn't stand listening to him boil a locomotive furnace beside me the whole time.
Park Hana still wasn't close enough to call on casually either, so the pool of candidates with decent rapport who could fill a vanguard slot narrowed in an instant.
"Yoonseong."
Do Yoonchae.
Reasonably friendly, not loud, and—crossdressing aside—a heroine through and through underneath.
She was even in my morning classes, so there was no need to go track her down. By every measure, the ideal candidate.
"…What is it?"
Do Yoonchae, mid-conversation with Han Sora, seemed to bristle slightly the moment I called her name.
"Do you have class this afternoon?"
"……No."
"Then would you come explore an academy dungeon with me during your free period?"
"…Me. With you people?"
"Yeah. You said you had no afternoon classes."
"……"
Do Yoonchae's eyes darted around, visibly wavering at my offer.
She was probably deliberating. No classes, sure—but she'd have her own personal training schedule to weigh.
And her guard around me was likely near its absolute peak right now, which meant there was a real chance she'd eye every single suggestion I made with suspicion.
Then again, the whole reason she's coming along is because it's 'with Han Sora.'
The reason Do Yoonchae treated me like some serial rapist and kept her guard so high had a lot to do with my relationship with Han Sora, after all.
But the current Do Yoonchae was in no position to refuse my requests, so her answer was already decided.
"…Well. Fine. I've got nothing scheduled anyway."
"Oh, really? You'll come?"
"…Yes."
Right. Of course she'd come. Refuse me and she'd just spiral into paranoid delusions on her own for no reason.
Do Yoonchae might come off a bit of an airhead, but she was still the top of the Swordsmanship Department—so Han Sora had no real reason to object either.
"With Yoonseong joining… mm, I think that works out fine."
"It's just a trial run anyway. We're not going anywhere too dangerous."
"…Right. Seonho's probably right."
…Though saying that out loud is, generally speaking, the kind of remark that plants a flag for something to go very wrong.