Chapter 61: That Night
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 61: That Night
“So don’t even try to play dumb.”
Hearing that, I stared at Jo Si-a for a moment before picking up my chopsticks.
“If I tell you the truth, will you stop bothering me?”
“Of course.”
She wore an expression of keen interest, as if urging me to hurry up and talk.
If that’s what she wanted, I might as well tell her.
“Do you know that Seo-ho has a younger sister?”
“You mean Ha Si-ho, right?”
“Yes. I’m the hunter manager at the company Si-ho belongs to.”
I stuck to the plain truth.
“Si-ho and I were pretty close, and then I happened to awaken and register as a hunter. She’s the type to worry a lot, so she asked her brother to look out for me. Is that explanation enough for you?”
At my words, Jo Si-a tilted her head.
For some reason, her expression was filled with disbelief.
When I looked at her as if to ask, What now?, Jo Si-a tapped her cheek with her finger before finally speaking.
“I already knew the first part. I did that much research, at least.”
I wish people wouldn’t just go around digging into others’ backgrounds like that.
“But you’re close? With the Snow Mountain Wolf’s sister?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“It’s not a problem, it’s just… strange. Ha Si-ho, Ha Seo-ho’s sister, is famous for being even colder and pricklier than he is. Actually, more than that, she gives off an aura of not wanting to get close to anyone in the first place.”
Hearing that, I recalled my first impression of Si-ho.
She certainly had been like that once.
She was always consistently indifferent.
But Si-ho and I had been through quite a lot together.
We’d spent a whole day together on a deserted island, going through all sorts of hardships, and we’d even fought a returnee together.
More recently, there was the whole incident with Kwak Sa-yeon involving Seo-ho. It was only natural that we’d become close.
Even now, she remained expressionless when others talked to her, but she would break into a bright smile whenever she saw me.
But I can’t exactly explain all that.
The returnee incident was top secret, to begin with.
The only reason I was able to get involved this far was because I knew Ahyu and because Baeksan was possessing me.
These were things that couldn’t be explained, even to an S-rank hunter.
Thinking about it, I suppose I’ve strayed pretty far from the standards of a normal person, but in any case, my circumstances made it difficult to explain things to Jo Si-a.
“We went through some things.”
“You wouldn’t be able to so easily say you’re close with Ha Si-ho after just ‘some things,’ would you?”
The mention of being close to Si-ho made her eyes sparkle even more.
“I wonder what your relationship is.”
“Boyfriend.”
Eunnamu suddenly spoke up.
Taking the spoon from her mouth, she wore an amused smile for some reason.
“Ha-chan is Si-ho’s boyfriend.”
What is this nonsense she’s spouting?
Startled, I tried to cover Eunnamu’s mouth, but she whispered in my ear.
“It’ll be easier for you if you just go along with this, Ha-chan. You can’t be stuck with this woman forever, right?”
As Eunnamu spoke, gesturing to the stares we were getting, I hesitated.
Of course, I didn’t want to draw attention either, so I wanted to refuse.
But still, Si-ho’s boyfriend?
She’s a minor.
“Boyfriend? Really?”
Jo Si-a’s gaze seemed to say, You?
Well, Si-ho was a natural beauty despite her young age, and she was Seo-ho’s sister, so it was an understandable reaction.
But that kind of look can easily hurt a person. And it can also stir up a pointless sense of defiance.
“Yes, that’s right.”
I said it with a feeling of resignation.
Jo Si-a looked surprised for a moment, but then a flicker of understanding crossed her face.
“Well, I guess it makes sense since you’re both S-rank hunters. In terms of ability, you’re not lacking.”
“I’m F-rank.”
“That’s a funny joke, Trainee Kang Ha-chan. If you want, I can run over to the instructors right now and announce that Trainee Kang Ha-chan is a talent with S-rank output.”
“Then I’ll lie on the floor, roll around, and cry that you’re bullying me, so you’d better think carefully.”
I was dead serious.
“…Do people normally use that as a threat?”
“In modern warfare, the one who cries first wins.”
You know what they say, the victim’s tears are the evidence.
“Now, may I ask you something?”
“Hm? What is it?”
She looked at me as if it were no big deal.
I’d been thinking about it for a while, but her interest in Seo-ho was beyond ordinary.
Just from what I’d heard, the scale of the S-rank hunter organization called Alterz was enough to sway the world.
After all, an S-rank hunter was the strongest card a nation could hold.
To casually cast aside Alterz just to be on the same team as Seo-ho was too risky a decision.
A simple-minded person might do it, but while she might have some misunderstandings due to a lack of information, she was definitely not a slow-witted person.
“Why are you so interested in Seo-ho?”
“Well, that’s because Ha Seo-ho and I are…”
“Even for a rivalry, there are limits. In fact, if you were rivals, you’d be more likely to create a different team. You wouldn’t want to join the same one.”
As I pointed that out, Jo Si-a’s expression hardened slightly.
And in that moment, I noticed her reaction with sharp clarity.
“…By any chance, do you like Seo-ho?”
Honestly, it didn’t matter to me whether it was true or not.
My plan was just to push her into a corner until she got sick of me and left me alone.
But her reaction was different from what I expected.
Her body froze like a stone, and her wide eyes met mine. She looked utterly shocked.
Her violet eyes stared at me for a moment before she began to rise stiffly from her seat.
“Uh, I, uh, have, some, thing, to, do.”
Seriously?
As she bolted, I stared in the direction she’d gone for a moment.
Mission accomplished?
I picked up my chopsticks again.
Time to finish my meal.
“Says the guy who’s so good at figuring out others.”
“You’re so good at reading other people.”
Then, as if on cue, Baeksan and Eunnamu spoke at the same time.
Even though Eunnamu shouldn’t even be able to see Baeksan.
Looking at him now, it seemed Baeksan had been thinking the same thing as Eunnamu while watching me.
Under their combined gazes, I barely managed to stop myself from flipping my food tray over.
I swear, I’m going to find out for sure whether Si-ho and Ms. Baek Seol-hyang actually like me or not.
And if it turns out they don’t… just you wait.
*
13
Having made that firm resolution and safely finished the day, I washed up and returned to my room.
Eunnamu was on her phone. At some point, she must have taken off her binder, because the front of her shirt was bulging significantly.
They were smaller than Ms. Baek Seol-hyang’s, but still bigger than Ahyu’s.
She displayed her chest with surprising confidence.
After excusing it as gynecomastia, Eunnamu would take off her compression undergarment as soon as she returned to the room.
I mean, given their size, I could understand how difficult it must be for her to wear a binder all the time.
The problem was that she was a girl pretending to be a boy.
Damn it, there’s nowhere to look.
And this was the men’s dormitory floor, and we were in the same room.
Just then, Eunnamu’s gaze turned to me.
I flinched and quickly turned my head away, but Eunnamu gave me a languid smile.
“So you really are into men, Ha-chan?”
“No, I’m not.”
“It’s just that you seem to pay way too much attention to my chest.”
As she said that, Eunnamu lifted her breasts from below.
Their weight forcibly drew my gaze, but I managed to tear my eyes away and speak.
“Stop joking around.”
“I told you, you can touch them to check.”
“No, I’m not touching them!”
Freaked out, I scrambled up to the top bunk.
From below, I could hear Eunnamu chuckling.
I wonder if she actually knows everything and is just teasing me.
This dorm room was supposed to be a place to rest, but I had no idea why it was so exhausting. With that thought, I lay down on the bed.
“Ah.”
In the middle of the night.
I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I woke up to the distinct air of early morning.
I checked the time on my phone. It was 3 a.m., the dead of night.
As I thought about going back to sleep and rubbed my head against the pillow, I heard a faint sound.
“…?”
Sensing something was wrong, I peeked over the edge of the top bunk and heard a pained groan from below.
The sound was, of course, coming from Eunnamu.
Startled, I quickly climbed down from the top bunk. There, under the covers, was Eunnamu, groaning and drenched in a cold sweat.
“Hhuk, euhh…”
Her contorted face was clearly not normal, and I quickly grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Eunnamu! Eunnamu! What’s wrong? Snap out of it! Are you hurt somewhere?”
Could she be having a nightmare?
Whatever it was, she was in a bad state, and I needed to wake her.
“Ha… chan?”
Just then, as I shook her, her eyes slowly began to open.
Her face, pitifully stained with tears, was a mess. Facing her, I spoke in an urgent voice.
“Are you okay? Should I take you to the hospital? I’ll call for an ambulance.”
“No, no. It’s not… like that.”
Eunnamu spoke in a broken voice, trying to sit up before collapsing back onto the bed.
Seeing her pained expression, I didn’t know what to do.
“Tch, what a fucking mess in the middle of the night. Kang Ha-chan, summon your aura.”
Just then, Baeksan, who had been watching from a distance, spoke to me.
He sounded like he knew how to solve Eunnamu’s problem, so I immediately summoned my aura. Seeing this, Baeksan jutted his chin.
“Just hold her for a bit.”
Wait, what?
As I stared at Baeksan in disbelief, he spoke again, clearly displeased with the situation himself.
“That kid came back from another dimension possessed by a bunch of shit, that’s why she’s like this. It dug into her mind while she was sleeping. Normally, infusing her with aura would solve it, but damn it, you can’t even control yours.”
Baeksan clicked his tongue and gestured with his chin again.
“So just hold her. It’s the same principle as how the curse on you was slowly broken.”
He meant how Kwak Sa-yeon’s curse had weakened just by having Ahyu near me.
Hearing that, I had no other choice but to wrap my arms around Eunnamu.
Her limp body was much lighter than I’d expected.
A returnee with a body like this?
What could she have gone through in the dimension she was sent to?
And why did she have to kill six returnees in Baeksan’s world?
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I held her close and patted her head, which was messy with cold sweat.
If this could help Eunnamu feel even a little better, I would do it a hundred times over.
She would occasionally thrash as if having a seizure, leaving scratches on my back and arms, but that was nothing.
“Hhuk, heuu…”
Was it working like Baeksan said?
Eunnamu’s sobs gradually began to subside.
And then, a while later.
When she was no longer in pain, Eunnamu spoke.
“…Ha-chan?”
Hearing her cautious voice, I knew Eunnamu had calmed down and tried to pull away.
Just then, her hand grabbed the collar of my shirt.
Anyone could see from her trembling hand that she was still frightened.
“It’s okay.”
I enveloped her arm in a faint aura.
“I’ll stay by your side until you calm down. You don’t have to be scared.”
I gave her a small smile.
Eunnamu looked up at me, then rested her head against my chest.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. Just a little, just a little longer.”
“Okay, okay.”
As I patted her back reassuringly, she stayed like that for a few minutes before slowly lifting her head.
She touched her tear-stained eyes for a moment, then looked at my arm.
On my arm, blood was beading up from the scratches her nails had left when she was thrashing wildly.
Perhaps noticing this, her eyes wavered for a moment.
“…Sorry. I had a bit of a nightmare.”
She didn’t seem to want to talk about what had happened to her.
Seeing this, I covered my arm as if it were nothing and stood up.
“Well, people have nightmares sometimes. Are you feeling stable now?”
“…Yeah. Thank you.”
Seeing her look particularly pitiful today, I stroked her head once.
“Do you think you can sleep?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll stay here until you fall asleep. Go on, lie down.”
Hearing my words, she struggled back under the covers.
Watching her, I got off the bed and sat on the floor, leaning my back against it.
“Ha-chan.”
“Yeah.”
“…Thank you.”
For some reason.
That last word sounded more sincere than anything I’d heard from her in the past few days.
Just hearing that voice made me feel like I’d done the right thing. I sat there for a while until I heard the sound of her steady breathing.
Only then did I feel relieved. I watched over her for a little longer before returning to my own bed to sleep.