123. My Buff is a Drug
'It's already over...?'
Ahn Se-rin was so stunned she couldn't even find words.
She ranked among the top first-year students in terms of skill.
She was still B-rank, but only because she hadn't yet built up the test scores required for the first-year promotion exam. Going by skill alone, she could have advanced to A-rank at any time without anyone batting an eye.
She had actually fought an A-rank second-year to a draw once before.
And yet, when this version of herself had attacked with genuine intent, she hadn't been able to break through his shield.
It wasn't just that she failed to break through.
That relaxed expression.
That attitude that said nothing of consequence had happened at all.
It was absolute.
That man, judging by his shield alone, possessed skill on par with A-rank or higher.
That first shot, the one with no power behind it at all, had been nothing more than a leisurely prank born from sheer composure.
Realizing she had been toyed with, fury boiled up inside her.
But she forced it back down.
'...I hate it, but I have no choice but to acknowledge it.'
Because of her past, Ahn Se-rin carried an abnormally large reservoir of hostility toward men, but she was the type to acknowledge the facts and move on.
He was outstanding.
A man of outstanding skill.
From now on, whatever choice the young lady made, she herself had no right to object.
She could only endure.
'Damn it...'
Should she consider it fortunate that, at least, Choi Hye-yong didn't seem to possess any offensive abilities?
But to think she would have to have a vile experience with a man whose eyes were so lecherous.
Still, it wasn't something she couldn't bear.
As long as the young lady didn't cast her aside.
"Choi Hye-yong...!"
Yoon Eun-ha's voice was thick with intrigue.
"Yes."
"Your true skill... have you ever shown it anywhere besides here?"
"Hm... I think this is the first time."
Yoon Eun-ha's expression flooded with delight.
'The other groups don't know yet. I'm the only one who knows.'
In her mind, Choi Hye-yong was more than enough to serve as a joker card to catch opponents off guard.
Yoon Eun-ha was the type of person who collected exceptional things and savored the sense of superiority they brought her.
Someone who had hidden his power until now, whose official rank was still only D-rank, yet who could instantly cast a powerful protective shield the moment danger loomed — Hye-yong was practically the ideal talent Yoon Eun-ha was currently seeking.
"I can't possibly consider your ability as merely D-rank. Is there a reason you've been hiding your power?"
How should he answer this?
Hye-yong deliberated, then replied in a way that came out slightly flippant.
"I figured I'd just take it easy and enjoy school life until second year, but lazing around has started to get boring."
Ahn Se-rin grimaced, visibly disgusted.
'A low-life slacker. With that kind of ability, no less...'
However, Yoon Eun-ha smiled, satisfied.
'So confident in your own skill that you could afford to laze around for three semesters? I like that even more.'
Her mind was already leaning toward recruiting Hye-yong as the personal bodyguard who would stand directly at her side.
"Very well, Choi Hye-yong. Our Eunha Group would like to offer you the position of personal guard directly to me, Yoon Eun-ha, the head of the group."
So it was happening after all.
'A position I bled and worked so many years to obtain... and he gets it in a single day. And so easily, at that...'
Ahn Se-rin felt a misery unlike any she had ever known.
Starting tomorrow, she and that man would receive similar treatment?
She had anticipated it and braced herself, but hearing it directly was far more devastating than she had prepared for.
She couldn't possibly resent the young lady, so the hatred born from that injustice naturally honed itself on Hye-yong.
— Oh. Already over?
'I will get my revenge.'
Ahn Se-rin ground her teeth.
"I assume you're well aware how prestigious this position is, Choi Hye-yong."
He had no idea, actually?
"In exchange, there is a condition. Except when I give a specific order, I want you to hide your power as you have been..."
She spoke as if he were already a member, but Hye-yong had no such intention.
"Ah, I'm sorry, but I don't think Eunha Group suits me."
"Welcome to the Eunha Group... Excuse me?"
Yoon Eun-ha, who had naturally assumed Hye-yong would accept the condition, couldn't hide her bewilderment.
'Cute.'
Hye-yong, who found the flustered Yoon Eun-ha peculiarly cute, held back the laugh threatening to escape.
'Did he... just refuse? My offer?'
Yoon Eun-ha almost thought she had misheard.
Becoming her personal bodyguard was tantamount to becoming an Awakened directly affiliated with the Yoon Jun family's main line.
A level of support ordinary Awakened couldn't even dream of.
An annual salary that would leave anyone who heard it speechless.
The position of a directly affiliated Awakened of the Yoon Jun family, and specifically Yoon Eun-ha's personal guard, was practically a model career that over ninety-nine percent of South Korean citizens would envy.
Was he saying he would kick away a path that was guaranteed to be a highway to success?
'A refusal...? Why?'
Even Ahn Se-rin looked at Hye-yong with surprise in her eyes.
Yoon Eun-ha's offer could truly be called unprecedented.
It was practically offering the highest position achievable from this kind of skill verification.
Han Chae-hyun, who had been silently observing without a single word, also asked in shock.
"Wh-what's this? Choi Hye-yong. Are you out of your mind? You're refusing an offer this unprecedented? Think about it again. Maybe you don't fully understand what it actually means to become Lady Eun-ha's personal bodyguard..."
Han Chae-hyun immediately launched into an explanation.
How tremendous it was for an academy student to become Yoon Eun-ha's personal guard, what kind of benefits he could receive from the Yoon Jun family, what kind of standing he would have after graduation, and so on.
Hye-yong listened attentively out of courtesy.
'It certainly does sound appealing.'
If he were an ordinary academy student hoping for worldly success.
But from the start, Hye-yong's goals were different.
Success? Sure, that was fine.
But if it meant restricting his freedom, that was a hard no.
Behind Hye-yong stood Mina, who — though slightly clumsy and inexperienced from having only been born recently — still considered herself the creator of this world in her own way.
She had promised to let him do anything once the Virus was completely eliminated.
Whether it was Yoon Eun-ha's bodyguard or an Awakened of the Yoon Jun family, none of it mattered.
If he could toy with a young lady like Yoon Eun-ha at will, that might be a different story, but being a bodyguard itself held no particular appeal.
'Conveniently, that Se-rin girl just gave me an excuse to slip out naturally.'
Thanks for the offer, but I can't do it because that girl hates me.
He figured if he said that, they would surely give up.
No matter how much she liked him, he didn't think she would go so far as to cast out her existing bodyguard just to recruit him.
That was a judgment Hye-yong made because he didn't know the relationship between Yoon Eun-ha and Ahn Se-rin, nor Yoon Eun-ha's disposition.
"...So that's how it is. Think it over again."
"Hm."
Yoon Eun-ha's expression relaxed as she saw Hye-yong's face, which looked like he was pondering after listening to Han Chae-hyun's words.
'It's understandable if you didn't know. Now, hurry and accept my offer.'
However, Hye-yong was merely pretending to think out of courtesy.
Feeling he had put on enough of a show, Hye-yong finally opened his mouth.
"I've thought about it carefully, but I really can't do it. Thank you for the offer, but it's a bit too much for me."
"Too much? What do you mean?"
Hye-yong glanced briefly at Ahn Se-rin as he spoke.
"Even if I became your bodyguard, that student would still remain your guard, correct?"
"Of course?"
"I'm the type who can't stay long in the same space as someone who hates me. I don't know the reason, but it seemed like your current guard dislikes me immensely... A rolling stone gathers no moss, but since a rolling stone can't dislodge a set stone, I'll have to be the one to leave."
Silence filled the room.
"Then, goodbye."
No one stopped Hye-yong as he exited through the otherworld crystal.
Ahn Se-rin, having heard and understood Hye-yong's words, felt her mind go blank within the lingering silence.
'What... because he's the type who can't stay long with someone who hates him? Just because of something like that?'
She didn't care in the slightest whether that man disliked her or not.
Did he think she would be fazed just because some man hated her?
If she had minded that, she wouldn't have shown her hostility in the first place.
If it were personal — if it were a problem she could handle alone — then, as she had said, it wouldn't have mattered.
The problem was the young lady.
Ahn Se-rin couldn't lift her head.
She felt a stare boring into the back of her skull, but she was too afraid to turn around.
'Agh...'
That man's final words were far too blatant.
Thanks for the offer, but I don't like it because of you.
Until you're kicked out, I absolutely won't do anything like being a bodyguard.
He was clearly saying that.
The remark about a rolling stone not being able to dislodge a set stone was the same.
If you want me, remove the set stone.
In other words, he was telling them to cast her, Ahn Se-rin, aside.
'Low-life bastard... He only met the young lady today, and to go this far...'
I've been by her side much longer.
I've admired her for so much longer.
I swore I would dedicate my entire life to the young lady!
'Daring to try and drive a wedge between us like this...'
Ahn Se-rin's face grew even darker.
She clenched both fists tight.
The injustice was unbearable, but in the end, it was her own karma.
Karma for having belittled Choi Hye-yong's ability.
If she had just suppressed her feelings, no matter how much she hated him, and not let it show — it wouldn't have come to this.
Ahn Se-rin thought desperately, as if trying to escape this reality.
'No matter what, the young lady wouldn't cast me out just to recruit that man.'
There was the loyalty she had dedicated all this time.
There were the years they had spent face to face.
Compared to some man she had only seen for a single day — a wastrel who had shamelessly admitted to lazing around as an F-rank — her own presence surely held more weight.
But there was an undeniable fact.
Choi Hye-yong had clearly stated that he wouldn't join Eunha Group because he disliked her.
If she had shown even the bare minimum of courtesy as a fellow human being.
If she hadn't displayed any hostility, would Choi Hye-yong have reacted like that?
Ultimately, her own attitude had caused great harm to the person she served as her master.
'After swearing to stay by her side forever, I've gone and caused damage to the young lady.'
She couldn't turn back time, so regret was useless.
She couldn't muster the courage to face Yoon Eun-ha directly.
Thinking that she had chipped away huge chunks of the trust she had built through blood, sweat, and tears, it hurt as if flesh were being carved from her body.
"Chae-hyun, would you step out for a moment?"
"Yes, my lady."
As soon as Han Chae-hyun left the otherworld, Yoon Eun-ha called out to Ahn Se-rin.
"Se-rin, look at me."
The young lady's order.
Se-rin forced her body, which utterly refused to obey, to move and face Yoon Eun-ha.
Above the spectator stands.
The gaze Yoon Eun-ha directed down at her was colder than it had ever been before.
For Ahn Se-rin, it felt as if the world had dropped out from under her.
Her vision spun, and she barely managed to hold herself upright as the strength drained from her legs and she nearly collapsed.
It was because she had never, in her entire life, received a look like that from Yoon Eun-ha.
"When did we first meet?"
Five years.
No — to be exact, twelve years ago.
It was a day Ahn Se-rin could never forget until the moment she died.
"April 1st, 2021."
"What were you doing that day?"
"On that day, I... killed six people."
The aftermath of the war still lingered even now.
Not every South Korean citizen enjoyed an ordinary daily life within stable public safety.
The unrestored outskirts.
The cities of the old era the government saw no need to rebuild.
There were certainly people who had no choice but to live in lawless zones that were practically hotbeds of every imaginable crime.
When her ability first manifested, Ahn Se-rin was surrounded by six men and on the verge of being violated.
Though she hadn't realized it herself, she was already an Awakened, so her physical abilities were enhanced. When she resisted fiercely, even the strength of grown men couldn't easily subdue her.
But in the end, it was still the body of a skinny, malnourished girl who hadn't eaten properly.
A fist smashed into her face. Again. And again. Her consciousness grew hazy.
As if intending to knock her out completely before they began, the flashing impact of fists showed no sign of stopping.
At this rate, she would definitely die.
When that thought crossed her mind, she was struck by a sudden intuition: maybe she could kill these bastards with her own spilled blood.
Shink-!
The intuition was correct.
Ahn Se-rin's ability manifested, and she killed the six men who had tried to assault her on the spot.
Even the ones who sensed something wrong and tried to run. All of them.
She turned the blood she had shed from being beaten into awls and stabbed them dozens of times.
And that scene happened to be witnessed by Yoon Eun-ha, who was just passing near the alley.
Yoon Eun-ha was the type of person who delighted in the fact that she had been born special.
From childhood, under the pretext of personally seeing and feeling those she would later bestow favors upon, she often toured the city outskirts with a reliable escort in tow.
Of course, that was just an excuse.
Watching the destitute struggle desperately and hurt one another made Yoon Eun-ha keenly aware of the immense blessing she had been born into — and she liked that.
Ah, I don't have to live like that.
Born into a prestigious family, possessing an ability most of the world would envy, I can enjoy wealth and glory until my dying breath and live with others beneath my feet.
While inspecting the slums and basking in that sense of superiority, she discovered Ahn Se-rin, staring blankly at the dead men and the awls made of her own blood.
"My lady, be careful!"
"An unregistered Awakened has committed murder. Subdue, subdue her!"
Yoon Eun-ha stopped the frantically moving bodyguards.
"It's fine. Stop. I want to see for myself."
She had become intrigued by Ahn Se-rin's battered appearance and her ability.
"But, my lady..."
"Isn't she my age? I do have the ability to protect myself, you know. Surely you don't think I, who received the Yoon Jun family's education, would lose to that child?"
"We don't think that. Still, there's the one-in-a-million chance, my lady. If anything were to happen to you..."
"If you don't step aside right now, I will tell Grandfather to replace my bodyguards."
"..."
In the end, Yoon Eun-ha stubbornly insisted and stood before the crumpled Ahn Se-rin.
Meeting her eyes, Yoon Eun-ha asked.
"You. What's your name?"
Ahn Se-rin stared vacantly at Yoon Eun-ha.
Beautiful green eyes like jewels.
Platinum-blonde hair that seemed to sparkle.
A gentle smile that radiated complete composure.
She was someone from a completely different world than herself.
'She's so pretty...'
That was the very first thought she had upon seeing Yoon Eun-ha.
She seemed to have a halo shining behind her.
Despite appearing similar in age, Se-rin, who had lived in darkness, felt an instinctive awe.