Curiosity (2)
After parting ways with Lim Yujin—still reluctantly tethered to her Visual Sharing—the obvious next stop was the Academy Church.
After all, even I had no desire to lug the trio's severed limbs, salvaged from the Collapsed Root Cave, all the way to the Archery Department training grounds.
“Here. One arm.”
“…What?”
Yoo Ahrin, roused from her sleep, looked up at me with a thoroughly flustered expression as I tossed her own right arm onto the hospital bed. There was something in her face that suggested a dozen thoughts were churning behind it, but I deliberately played oblivious and set down the mage girl's two legs beside her spot as well.
“And these are the two legs of the girl lying over there. Sorry, but I don't know her name.”
“That's Chae Eunbi… wait, fine, whatever, the arm I get—but why are you giving me these?!”
“You're the only one of the three who looks remotely like a leader. Who else would I give them to? Don't tell me you wanted me to hand them to Seo Woojin instead?”
“…Fuck. Don't you dare say that bastard's name again.”
Ahrin answered with her face twisted in genuine disgust. With that, my business here was done, so I turned on my heel and walked out of the hospital room where the three of them were admitted, without so much as a backward glance.
“They're preserved with holy water, so just ask for them to be reattached right away. They're not undamaged, but it'll still be a hell of a lot faster than regenerating them from scratch.”
“……”
“The least you could do is say thank you. I even carried them separately because they wouldn't fit in a material pouch.”
“Ah, th-thanks….”
Had it been Han Sora or Cha Eunju, their heads would have already been bowed in gratitude. But since Ahrin was a nameless extra in the original story, apparently she only managed her thanks after a pointed remark.
Still, of the three, she was the one I could actually hold a conversation with—better than the mage girl who'd checked out mentally and lay sprawled unconscious, or the shield girl who'd been trolling us right up to the end. Her mouth was a little too sharp for its own good, though.
“Send me your account number on CocoaTalk. I'll send over the material compensation separately later.”
“…Forget it. I don't need it.”
“Excuse me?”
“…You went all the way into the dungeon to bring these back, so just keep it as a service fee. Hayeon and Eunbi probably won't say anything about it either.”
…Leave it to an extra girl to start making a fuss over nothing.
Ahrin was trying to act on her own prideful whims, throwing a wrench into my plans, so I shut her mouth with slightly harsher words.
“I can't be bothered, so quit the cool-girl act and just take it.”
“Th-that's not—it's not an act…. God, whatever I say to you….”
“I'm skimming two tenths off the compensation as it is and splitting the rest three ways. How much do you think that even comes to, and you're talking about service fees? Or does handing this over mean you're no longer grateful for the arm and the two legs?”
“N-no, that's… that's not what I meant….”
“If it's not, then quietly send your account number. Even after the materials are paid out, you three still won't be able to cover your own medical bills.”
“…Fine. You always have to have the last word, don't you….”
“What, you have a problem with that?”
“……No.”
She must have known she had no argument left, because Ahrin shut her mouth meekly.
Honestly, what a hassle of a girl. All she had to do was accept a favor as a favor—why did she have to bait me into scolding her every single time?
I'd nearly derailed my whole strategy of deliberately putting her in my debt so she'd have to repay it with her body later. Because of Seo Woojin, the trio still had a definite role left to play, after all.
“I'll call in a priest I know from the Recovery Department, so get the treatment done tonight and start rehab tomorrow. And wake up the mage faking unconsciousness over there—or don't, whatever.”
“Her name is Chae Eunbi….”
“Anyway.”
What was the point of memorizing an extra's name? My schedule was already crammed full just handling the heroines.
After wrapping up that conversation, I had Yoon Selena reattach the stumps on my way out—and, while I was at it, slip her a cut of the reward money from the Jung Seokhoon subjugation.
I didn't bother mentioning that it came from killing former comrades of the Black Moon. I just brushed it off as pocket money from a master to his disciple.
Thank goodness I didn't set up Auditory Sharing too.
Even for Lim Yujin, sight alone couldn't tell her what kind of conversation Ahrin and I were having, or what my relationship with Yoon Selena actually was.
With my business with the trio swiftly concluded, I made my way to the Archery Department training grounds.
3:30 a.m. The Cheonmu Academy Archery Department training grounds.
It was the dead of night, when most of the training grounds stood empty. A single lamp flickered to life over one of the ranges, and the hollow twang of bowstrings began to ring out.
—Fweeeeng!
'Gehk!'
“…Whew.”
The arrow flew in a clean, straight line, skewering the goblin spearmen's throat and dropping the monster where it stood.
—Fweeng! Fweeeng, fweeng!
'Gehk!'
“Haah….”
Four shots. Two hits.
An accuracy rate that couldn't be called good even as a compliment—and Han Sora let out a disappointed sigh at it.
'Still, something's… lacking, somehow.'
Training alone made it hard to feel like she was really accomplishing anything.
And yet, even this was a marked improvement over her usual accuracy.
Under normal circumstances, hitting a moving target meant firing ten shots to land a single one—or walking right up to point-blank range before loosing. Her skill had been that hopeless.
And the person who had raised her ability to this level was none other than Lee Seonho.
“…Haah, seriously. What am I even thinking about now?”
They'd already explored the dungeon together twice today, and yet here she was, wanting to call him out again. What was wrong with her?
Even by her own standards, it made no sense. Seonho wasn't a Physical Enhancement Type, and she was asking him to keep her company at training until this ungodly hour.
For her own part, she'd have nothing to do even if she went back to the dorm early, so she simply intended to keep shooting at the range for a few hours before turning in.
And it wasn't good for her to grow accustomed to training that always leaned on Seonho, either. Telling herself this, Han Sora kept taking aim at the forehead of each goblin spearman that appeared before her—but.
—Twitch.
“…Ah!”
Perhaps because her mind kept wandering more than usual, she simply couldn't focus on the training itself.
She kept shooting for a while longer after that, until she finally let the last spearman within range land an attack on her, and the session ended there.
When she trained with Lee Seonho, she'd never once felt even a flicker of danger, even facing down goblin archers ten at a time.
Feeling the absence left in his empty place, Han Sora silently gathered up the arrows she'd loosed into the dark.
“What's this? You're still training instead of turning in, Sora?”
“…Seonho?”
At the sight of Lee Seonho abruptly pushing open the training ground door, Han Sora felt gladness—and, at the same time, a flicker of flustered surprise.
“…Did you come because you thought I'd be training?”
“Felt like if it were anyone, it'd be you. You barely got any real training in today, tagging along on the dungeon sweep with me.”
“Th-that's not why I missed training, okay? I just wanted to try a dungeon exploration myself, that's all. And it ended up being useful, so….”
“Still, it wasn't the same as your usual training, right? So now you're antsy about it, practicing alone here at this hour.”
“……”
“Am I wrong?”
“…Well. Maybe a little.”
She wanted to coolly deny it, but the words wouldn't come.
Because if she didn't properly admit that she was frustrated at not getting real training in, she'd miss her chance at a night session with just the two of them—her and Lee Seonho.
Because it was Seonho. Because he was the kind of boy who always thought of others first, always considerate, never once worrying about his own losses.
If she put the thought in his head—that she might be wasting her training time because of him… then maybe, just maybe, he really would help her train, even at this late hour.
It was a selfish thought. But at the same time, it was a temptation too sweet to give up.
Not the usual after-class session, but the dead of night. A date for two.
For Han Sora, who had already confessed her feelings, there was no ground left to retreat to.
“Actually, this works out. I was a little bored with just going back to the dorm anyway. I'll keep you company.”
“N-no, you don't have to. I—I was only going to shoot a few more and head in anyway, you really don't need to force yourself….”
“I'm not forcing anything. I always watch your training on Wednesday evenings, and skipping just tonight feels like a waste. Sure, it's already past midnight, so technically it's not Wednesday anymore.”
“……”
“Or… did I just interrupt your training?”
“Of course not….”
Her heart knew she should refuse.
And yet.
This was a night date enjoyed alone with Lee Seonho.
Of course, it wasn't a date—it was training. And more than that, it was an act carrying a small, private secret under the name of hypnosis training. She knew that perfectly well.
'And besides, Seonho came here to help me in the first place, didn't he…?'
He must have wondered if she'd be at the Archery Department training grounds, she thought—and had come all this way on a walk that might well have been for nothing.
“…Then, would you help me a little?”
And if that was the case, then refusing his kindness would be the truly rude thing to do—or so Han Sora carefully rationalized to herself.
The dead of night—at an hour closer to morning than to night, the secret tryst of Lee Seonho and Han Sora took place.
And there was one more person watching that tryst, through no intention of her own.
'Why is he meeting Sora's junior again? Didn't they just split up?'
Back in her dorm room, Lim Yujin sat with her eyes closed, quietly observing the information streaming into Lee Seonho's vision.
'Those kids he met at the Academy Church earlier must be the ones who fought the Poison Spike Wolves…. And that priestess with the black hair, I have no idea who she is….'
She'd been thinking, with mild disappointment, that this would just be another round of trailing him from place to place, cataloguing his connections—when the Archery Department training grounds came into view.
And there, face to face with Sora's junior once again, Lim Yujin felt a small question mark—and a spark of curiosity—bloom in her mind.
'I can't hear what they're saying. But judging by her expression, Sora's junior seems surprised.'
From her outward appearance alone, it was easy enough to guess that she'd been taken aback by the unexpected visit.
She couldn't make out the details of their conversation, but she could tell that Sora's junior's emotions were shifting in all sorts of colorful ways.
A completely different expression from when the three of them had been together earlier. Her face flushing, her gaze darting away, an awkward little smile—Lim Yujin quietly observed it all, keeping the Visual Sharing link alive for now.
'But why did Seonho's junior suddenly go to the Archery Department training grounds?'
There was no way a junior from a different department had just happened to run into Sora's junior at the range.
Maybe he and Sora's junior had some strange relationship from the start—or maybe Seonho's junior liked her, and had come to see her on purpose.
Lost in such innocent, girlish imaginings, Lim Yujin quietly watched their unheard conversation unfold. And then—Seonho's junior reached out and gently ruffled Sora's junior's hair once.
'……?'
And in the very next moment, staring at the back of Han Sora's head as it filled her shared field of vision, Lim Yujin's curiosity refused—quite stubbornly—to stop growing.