Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Unspoken Distances
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“Guess so. Hey, aren’t you going to study?”
Song Seung-ah shot Choi Seo-yoon a sharp glare as she spoke. Choi Seo-yoon looked back at her and gave a curt “Sorry.”
She seemed about to pick up her pen and start studying again, but before long, she drifted off into thought once more.
“...Did I come on too strong?”
Choi Seo-yoon just couldn’t focus on her studies. Her mind was entirely filled with Kim Sun-woo.
The subtle change in how he’d been treating her lately.
She could feel it.
That Kim Sun-woo was putting distance between them.
It had started right after the fireworks festival. She must have gotten swept up in the mood and said something unnecessary.
Why did I do that? I want to go back in time.
“Ugh...”
“Argh, seriously. If you need to go, just go to the bathroom already.”
Choi Seo-yoon let out a sigh instead of answering. Song Seung-ah set down her pen and crossed her arms.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Is it because of Senior Kim Sun-woo?”
“Huh? Oh, no?”
Song Seung-ah narrowed her eyes at Choi Seo-yoon’s stammering response. Then she tossed out a casual remark without thinking.
“You didn’t happen to get rejected at the fireworks festival, did you?”
Choi Seo-yoon’s shoulders twitched at that.
Rejected?
She hadn’t confessed, so it wasn’t rejection. Rejection required a confession in the first place.
But thinking about it, wasn’t this basically the same as being rejected?
The fabled zero-confession, one-rejection.
When Choi Seo-yoon didn’t respond, Song Seung-ah looked surprised instead.
“Whoa. No way. For real?”
“N-No. I wasn’t rejected. What would I even get rejected for?”
“You were. I can tell. You got caught up in the vibe and said all sorts of weird stuff.”
“...No, I wasn’t.”
Choi Seo-yoon buried her face in her book as she said it. Song Seung-ah looked down at the top of her head with pity.
“Sigh. Whatever. Forget it. These things happen. But that senior’s got high standards. Skipping over Choi Seo-yoon, of all people.”
High standards.
Yeah, probably. Just looking at the people close to him—Yoo Ah-ra senior, Yoon Ha-young senior.
...And Park Min-ye senior, who Kim Sun-woo had once liked but was now dead.
Come to think of it, when Park Min-ye senior was revealed as a demon...
What had Kim Sun-woo senior felt?
“Seung-ah.”
“Yeah?”
“...What if someone you liked treated you well, but then you realize they were just using you? What do you think that’d feel like?”
“What? Were you being used?”
“No, just hypothetically.”
“Well, you’d stop trusting people, obviously.”
Yeah. I’d probably feel the same. Close off my heart and start suspecting even small acts of kindness.
So maybe... Kim Sun-woo senior too...
Choi Seo-yoon, wanting to escape reality, sank back into deep thought.
Late at night.
After finishing all my training, I waited for someone under the park lights.
“Sun-woo!”
I turned at the sound of my name. Yoon Ha-young came running over with a bright smile.
“What’s this about?”
“Well, the exam’s coming up soon. I’ve got something to tell you about that.”
Yoon Ha-young gave me a puzzled look.
“You know you can bring a partner for this exam, right?”
“Of course. But why?”
“Let’s team up for this one.”
“Ah.”
Yoon Ha-young nodded.
“Sounds good to me. But positions are random, so we might not even meet.”
It was a fair point, but I shook my head.
“We can set a meeting spot in advance.”
“A meeting spot?”
I pulled out my smart student handbook and tapped the screen.
“It’s the map of the dungeon that got released.”
The revealed dungeon map looked like an ant colony, branching off in all directions.
If we wanted, we could all gather in one spot.
This was all designed for the demons’ plan.
“Look closely—there are a few points where paths inevitably converge.”
Yoon Ha-young peered at the screen and looked mildly surprised.
“Huh. You’re right.”
“Let’s meet here.”
I pointed to one spot with my finger.
It was around the center of the dungeon. No matter where we spawned, we could join up there anytime.
Yoon Ha-young studied the screen, then nodded.
“Sure, I don’t mind. But I’m a little worried I might arrive late. That’d just hold you back. What if it delays your clear time?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
The scores wouldn’t count anyway because of the terrorist attack.
“Oh, and this is random, but... if you run into anyone in the dungeon...”
Yoon Ha-young looked up at me curiously.
“Unless it’s someone I can really trust, like Lee Seo-jun or Yoo Ah-ra, be on guard no matter what.”
The next day after school, after finishing my 1:1 practical session with Choi Il-hyun, I lay flat on the floor, catching my breath.
The training intensity seems to be ramping up. And he keeps forcing pure physical techniques instead of magic, so it’s brutally tough on the body.
Even with my sky-high stamina stat, I’m feeling it, so that says it all.
[‘Basic Reinforcement Physical Techniques (C)’ proficiency has greatly increased.]
[Due to ‘Teaching,’ Basic Reinforcement Physical Techniques evolve into ‘Choi Il-hyun-Style Physical Techniques.’]
[Senses sharpen and grow keener!]
[‘Physical Technique Acquisition’ achievement unlocked.]
[2,000 points acquired as reward.]
[Stamina +1!]
As I lay there resting, a bunch of mysterious messages popped up.
I blinked and stared at them.
...What’s this now.
A trait evolved.
Choi Il-hyun-Style Physical Techniques.
Changed from the lame Basic Reinforcement Physical Techniques to this equally lame name.
It didn’t seem much different—just sharper senses, like the message said.
Am I not noticing because I learned it myself?
Tch. Feels like a letdown, but points are points. I’ll take it.
I glanced over at Choi Il-hyun.
Despite the intense stamina training, his face was as serene as ever.
Our eyes met. Choi Il-hyun stared right back, stroking his chin beard.
“Hmm. Weird.”
“...What is?”
“Your skills and senses aren’t bad, but... how do I put it? You lack talent more than I thought.”
Yeah, talent’s my weak spot. That’s why I obsess over points.
“Well, I kinda like that about you. I don’t care for kids overflowing with talent anyway.”
“Ah, okay...”
Nothing much to say, so I shut up. Then I casually got to my feet.
“Phew. Training’s over for today, right?”
“Yeah, we’re done. Go if you want.”
I nodded and gathered my stuff.
“I’ll head out then.”
I left the training ground and headed straight for the dorms.
Beep.
Time passed, and I arrived at the dorm. Gretel bounded over with a happy face as I opened the door.
“Gretel, been waiting?”
Gretel nodded. I scooped her up. Has she gained weight? She feels heavier than before.
Has her body grown?
Looking closely, she was a bit bigger.
And the branches on her head, which barely had leaves at first, were now lush and green.
“Gretel, you... you were born blessed, huh?”
Gretel tilted her head, not understanding.
“Means you’re special.”
“Ngah.”
She beamed happily at being called blessed. I smiled back and set her down.
Then I headed to the shower and washed up thoroughly.
“Phew.”
After showering, I grabbed a beer from the fridge and chugged it. Bliss washed over me.
“Ahh. Refreshing.”
I flopped onto the sofa.
Gretel eyed the beer can curiously.
“No way.”
She nodded obediently when I said it firmly.
Wondering what to do with the rest of my time, I opened my smart student handbook.
No new messages.
I idly checked the profiles of the main characters.
They all had confident shots of their faces.
Lee Seo-jun had a training photo; Lee Hyun-joo had one with him from Ghost Island.
No filters, and they still look ridiculously handsome and pretty.
Scrolling through, my finger paused on Choi Seo-yoon’s profile.
Come to think of it, she hasn’t messaged lately.
She used to send one every day.
She must have picked up on my attempts to create distance, sharp as she is.
“...Hm.”
Felt weird.
I didn’t want things awkward with a main character like Choi Seo-yoon.
Maybe I’m overthinking it. It’s probably nothing, just my imagination.
Selfish rationalization, maybe. But my finger automatically tapped her messenger profile.
Her usual selfie with Song Seung-ah was gone.
The chat hadn’t moved since I left her on read five days ago.
Scrolling up, mostly read ignores or one-word replies. And yet she kept messaging steadily.
“...Maybe I should send one.”
First time initiating with her, I think.
[Special class tomorrow. Let’s do our best.]
Short and to the point. Should be fine. Sent.
“Hm?”
No “1” by the message. Meaning she read it right away.
“What the...”
Was she already in the chat?
[Character ‘Choi Seo-yoon’ is greatly flustered by your action.]
[500 points acquired as reward.]
Then a message from her popped up.
[? From senior?]
[I was just about to message you]
[Coincidence lol]
Messages kept flying in, like she was panicking.
Time flew by. Just ordinary days, nothing special.
The only difference was heading to special class assembly, then visiting the special training facility with Yoon Ha-young to train my Demon Extermination power against demon-type monster dummies.
Oh, and as I’d feared, articles about Kim Jin-woo and Han Se-yeon’s relationship popped up.
Not quite a dating scandal, but stuff like “close friends” and “drinking buddies” started appearing.
Malicious comments aimed at me piled up too.
[They’re not dating but that girl’s too good for him]
[Guy’s seriously the worst lol honestly Han Se-yeon wouldn’t hang with Kim Jin-woo if she was sane kekeke]
[Ah, drinking buddies with Han Se-yeon. Kim Jin-woo you bastard, makes me wanna curse]
[World’s Worst Mage Kim Jin-woo]
Earned a decent pile of points from it. More than from catching villains or solving incidents.
One article with Han Se-yeon alone netted 8,000 points.
The public’s obsession with her exceeded my expectations.
[Jin-woo oppa, sorry for dragging you into this mess.]
She kept apologizing, feeling bad about the situation.
From my side, it was pure profit, so I was thrilled.
Even considered fueling more articles, but the old ‘Park Je’ incident came to mind, so I dropped it.
Didn’t want to cause her trouble either.
Anyway, time marched on, and the day of the second midterm arrived.
Theory exams were done yesterday; now just the practical.
“Alright, we’ll now begin the main event of the second midterm: ‘Group Dungeon Conquest.’”
The 150 students gathered in front of the school’s brand-new artificial dungeon.
I scanned the crowd, eyes landing on Won-hyeok, the key figure in this incident.
He stood expressionless, listening to the teacher.
“Ugh, dungeon exam’s such a pain.”
Shin Young-jun stretched beside me, grumbling.
Lee Seo-jun laughed next to him.
“Yeah. Why a dungeon conquest, of all things.”
“Huh? You lacking confidence for once?”
“There’s the dungeon conquest pro right there.”
Lee Seo-jun glanced at me and muttered. Our eyes met, and feeling awkward, I spoke up.
“Hey. Forget first place—focus on clearing safely.”
I meant it given the upcoming danger, but Lee Seo-jun took it wrong and smirked.
“What, trying to psych me out?”
“...Psych out, my ass.”
I muttered and surveyed the surroundings.
Time to identify the villains for this incident.
I used Character Insight on each of the 150 students, sniffing out the demons hiding behind disguised faces.
Total of three.
Excluding Won-hyeok, they were B- and A-Rank.
Might seem few, but considering their ranks, it wasn’t.