First Gate (4)
“Haaah.”
I collapsed flat on the floor, utterly spent after wringing every last drop of stamina out of my body.
That maniac Yeon Hajin…
He never said it was going to be this brutal…
This is employment fraud…
My whole body felt like overcooked noodles. Just to keep myself going, I forced my attention onto the reward window floating in front of me.
I skimmed past the petty magic stones and junk drops and zeroed in on the rewards that actually mattered.
Gate cleared!
Rewards distributed!
Status Points +10
C-rank Magic Stone…
D-rank…
…
Title awarded.
“Oh.”
Experience-related titles were extremely rare. For someone like me who still had a long road ahead, this was a raindrop in a drought.
…But is that really all?
It was a solid reward, no question, yet after everything we’d gone through it still felt a little thin.
Wondering if I was the only one who felt that way, I turned toward the rest of the party.
The three of them were chatting among themselves. Whether it was because they were combat types or because I’d kept them topped off with heals, they still had energy to spare—standing, walking around, even gossiping.
I stared blankly at them for a moment until their conversation wrapped up and Yeon Hajin walked over.
“Hey. When I killed the boss I got selected as the top contributor, right?”
…What? Is he bragging?
“As the reward I got one item, and…”
…What? Is he trying to pick a fight?
“I think you’d make better use of it than any of us.”
“…Huh?”
The frown that had been tightening my brow slowly smoothed out at his words.
…This is the buildup to giving me the reward item, right?
I’m allowed to get my hopes up, right?
“The others all agreed.”
Yeon Hajin pointed at Chae Yujeong and Yoon Chae-ah standing behind him, then pulled a pretty silver bracelet out of his inventory.
◈ A bracelet prepared by the Empire for future generations.
◈ Equip Effect: Upon clearing a stage such as a Gate, Dungeon, or Tower, you gain experience proportional to the stage’s rank and difficulty.
My eyes widened a fraction as I finished reading the description.
If I was understanding this right, the item let you earn experience without dealing any damage to monsters at all.
“The rest of us can just hunt more monsters if we need exp. You can’t.”
Even as he said it, no one here could be ignorant of the fact that putting this bracelet up for auction would make the price shoot into the stratosphere.
Of course everyone had their own calculations. Yeon Hajin would rather see me grow with the bracelet and keep performing as his party member than watch some unknown third party wear it. Chae Yujeong, as the heir to a potion conglomerate, would worry about the problems that could arise if a major guild got hold of it and used it to mass-produce healers.
But whatever their individual reasons, the foundation of the decision was goodwill toward me.
It was genuinely heartwarming.
As for Chae-ah…
Well, honestly, she probably hadn’t thought about it much at all.
Which somehow made it even more impressive.
“Wow… I mean, this is just…”
As far as I knew, there had never been an artifact in this world that granted experience outside of monster hunting. Even the original novel never introduced an option like this.
The grade was low, so it wouldn’t hand out astronomical amounts of exp, but from my perspective even that was more than enough to be grateful for.
“You guys…”
I pushed myself up from the floor and looked at my party members.
Chae Yujeong snorted and turned her head away. Yoon Chae-ah kept her face down and only flicked her eyes up at me. Even so, I could feel the warmth of their goodwill in those tiny gestures.
I ran straight over and pulled both of them into a hug.
“Ack—!”
“Eugh—!”
They both startled at the unexpected embrace, but I only squeezed them tighter.
“Thank you so much, you two! Our friendship is forever, okay?”
“You crazy bitch…”
Chae Yujeong snapped at me with pure venom, but I had read the original. I knew she was just embarrassed and flustered.
Proof: both of them were stronger than me, yet neither tried to escape. They just stayed quietly in my arms.
Yeon Hajin—who had found the Gate, prepared the flag hidden piece, killed the boss, obtained the bracelet, and even been the first to suggest giving it to me—ended up standing off to the side by himself…
But I couldn’t exactly hug a guy, right?
I was sure he would bless our happy friendship from a distance.
I turned my head and met his eyes. When I beamed at him with pure gratitude, the faint smile he’d been wearing went a little blank.
Of course, gratitude was gratitude, but on the way back Yoon Chae-ah paid my portal fee as well.
Thanks to her, we made it back to the dorms before it got too late.
Chae-ah, unnie will definitely pay you back later!
I flopped around on my dorm bed for a bit, then opened my phone and fired off a message to Chae-ah.
Staring at the little “1” still sitting next to my messages, I tried to imagine what kind of tone Chae-ah would use online. In the original there were plenty of face-to-face conversations with her, but almost no texting scenes.
Knowing Chae-ah…
Maybe she mostly stuck to emoticons?
She barely talked in real life, so online her messages might be almost pure symbols too.
Or she might just never check her phone.
While I was running through every possible theory, the “1” disappeared.
Oh, she checks her messages faster than I expect—
“…?”
What? Did I accidentally text Chae Yujeong instead?
“…….”
…Right. Our little comfort doll who cheerfully paid the portal fee and even gave up an item could still hiss once in a while.
It was startling, but not incomprehensible.
Just because it never showed up in the original didn’t mean she couldn’t have a secret internet-warrior side, right?
I could take a pad-rip from Chae-ah and still hug her. Because Chae-ah was cute.
In the original, Yoon Chae-ah was the heroine who compensated for every flaw—low self-esteem, shyness, gloom—with pure cuteness. Around 150 cm tall with a rather modest chest, she was the type certain preferences absolutely adored.
The real-life friend Yoon Chae-ah I had met was no different. Her appearance alone made you want to dote on her nonstop, and she was kind enough to cover her friend’s portal and taxi fares without a second thought.
So I could generously file a slightly more spicy online personality under “adorable character points.”
I stared hard at Chae-ah’s last, unusually vivid reply, then turned off my phone.
Tomorrow when I see her, I’m going to dote on her rotten.
The next day, the moment Chae-ah walked into class I snagged her from behind.
“Chae-ah~”
The second she stepped through the classroom door I pulled her into my arms. She flinched hard.
See? You know you did something wrong.
Of course you’re allowed. After freeloading portal fees and taxi money, I’m not so trashy that I’d hold a little attitude against you.
I just had a sudden surge of doting energy, that’s all.
“You really startled me yesterday. Does Chae-ah always talk differently online?”
“Uh, th-that…”
“Uh-huh. That?”
“Th…”
“Th?”
“…….”
“I’m giving your words my full concentration right now!”
I spun the Chae-ah in my arms around so we were face to face.
“Chae-ah?”
“…….”
“You’re supposed to look people in the eye when you talk.”
She kept trying to drop her head, so I cupped both her cheeks and held her still.
“So? I’m still waiting for an answer.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Nooo, not an apology~ Someone’s going to think I’m scolding you.”
“S-sorry.”
Looking at the completely crumpled Chae-ah made my doting instincts bloom like crazy.
I couldn’t hold back.
Those watery eyes that barely managed to meet mine were so cute I started ruffling her hair with both hands.
“Eugh—!”
“Yoon Chae-ah, you’re crazy, you’re actually crazy. Who gave you permission to be this cute.”
Her little head bobbed back and forth under my rough petting.
“Eek—!”
“Who did you take after to turn out this adorable, huh? Chae-ah, is it okay to be this cute? Yes or no?”
When I finally let go and met her eyes again, her pupils looked like they were spinning.
Not good. I need to buy our Chae-ah something delicious.
“Chae-ah, want to hit the school store with me at lunch?”
“…Huh? I d-don’t have any money…”
What on earth was she talking about.
If the Sword Star’s granddaughter was broke, who in the world had money?
And saying it like that made it sound like I was shaking her down again.
“It’s fine~ I’ll treat you!”
“F-for real…?”
“Of course! What, you think I’d turn around and make you pay for me?”
“…….”
“Chae-ah?”
Yoon Chae-ah timidly met my eyes and opened and closed her mouth without sound.
I was about to press her one more time while holding her gaze when—
Clack—
The front door slid open and our homeroom teacher, Jin Soyoung, walked in.
“Everyone sit. Morning assembly starts now.”
At Jin Soyoung’s order I had no choice but to let Chae-ah go.
The second I released her she bolted for her seat without a word.
I watched her back for a moment, then headed to my own desk.
“Psycho bitch…”
I ignored Chae Yujeong’s muttered comment as I passed.
A few classes had already ended, but if I hunted her down every single break I was pretty sure Chae-ah’s mental HP would hit zero, so I left her alone for a while.
Since I wasn’t touching her, she spent every free period face-down on her desk.
Anyway, the current period was dungeon practice.
We stood lined up inside the large gymnasium, waiting for the instructor in charge to arrive.
A moment later the gym doors opened and a man walked in.
“Who’s making all that noise during class, huh?”
A man in a baggy tracksuit, face full of pure irritation and “I can’t be bothered.”
At a glance he looked like the type who would never actually teach and just make everyone self-study every day…
But of course, true to the cliché, he was the kind of real teacher who would throw his life away for his students.
In the original novel he sacrificed himself to protect Yeon Hajin’s group during the cult’s attack.
“Lee Jinwoo. Not that I’m happy to meet you.”
Lee Jinwoo, A-class Awakener.
Right before his death he even awakened to S-class.
“Since it’s the first class, we’ll keep it simple…”
And contrary to that listless attitude, he pushed the curriculum ridiculously hard.
“We’ll form the teams for next class’s dungeon practice.”
Hard enough that the very second class was already a full team dungeon run.
— Yoon Chae-ah Illustration —