The Strange Signs
"I'm sorry. Last night, I think I went a bit crazy."
"Eh? Ah, no! When you've had a little too much to drink, things like that can happen..."
"Thank you for saying that. So, shall I head back to work?"
"Yes... yes."
The next day.
Sunwoo immediately approached Haewon, bowed his head, and apologized.
Haewon, with no lingering resentment, smoothly accepted the apology without friction.
"Harin-ah. Do you want to cosplay again? I mentioned it before, but isn't the Lightning Spirit's control issue whether you take charge or not!"
"Kyaaaaauuuuuk....!"
Training was also no major problem.
Although the past awkwardness from work lingered, Sunwoo, acting as coach, personally took care of every single member of Nature.
He was diligent and bright.
Smiling warmly.
He scolded them sternly when necessary and guided them faithfully.
It was as if he placed an actual textbook right there and demonstrated.
"Yeonhwa, you do have good instincts, huh? Even so, it's about time you pick a direction. The skills you've honed as an awakener and the ones as a spirit contractor clash a bit. Apart from that, there's nothing major to fix."
"...I see?"
"Right. What's up? Got something on your mind?"
"Uum... I don't know. It's like... something's off."
Yeonhwa tilted her head quietly.
It was Sunwoo, after all. But there was something... off.
Still, she couldn't quite pinpoint what.
If she asked whether it was distance, no— they still bantered just like before.
Something had changed, but she couldn't figure out what.
A subtle shift.
A sense of alienation coming from it.
Yet, when viewed through the lens of "the usual Sunwoo," it didn't feel drastically different.
An eerie, bizarre sensation. Something. An indescribable strangeness.
"Um... Coach-nim...?"
"Sujin-ah. Even if you hate it, you have to do what's necessary."
"...Coach-nim."
"...Hm?"
Sujin had sensed it perfectly. She had no choice but to feel it.
It was like ripples spreading when even a tiny pebble falls on the surface.
From her past of isolating in a hikikomori lifestyle, growing sensitive to people's footsteps because she feared others.
"You... you got angry...?"
She simply couldn't pretend not to notice.
...
..
.
"It's different."
After Sunwoo left work.
A small gathering of the women members of Nature and Haewon.
And
"Yes. It's different. Sunwoo-nim."
Yun Ayoung.
This time, she was there too.
"Finally, it feels like I've gotten my Sunwoo-nim back... It's been such a long time since I've felt this way."
"""".............""""
Ayoung spoke calmly.
The incident from earlier that day.
[You worked hard today too, Ayoung-ah.]
"...Even being beside me feels too much."
The Academy days.
And the days when she stepped out into society with the NTR Party.
The warm gaze Sunwoo once gave her surfaced.
It felt like a steady support, as if even the self she was being shown was being uplifted.
That's it.
She didn't know what happened last night.
But Ayoung could smile and be happy that Sunwoo had returned to being Sunwoo.
"Really?"
"Yes?"
──But Sujin denied Ayoung's words.
Sunwoo had returned. Back to the way Ayoung knew him.
In other words,
"Coach-nim. You didn't even peek at my chest today..."
The Sunwoo that the Nature members didn't know was right there.
"...Isn't that the normal thing, Sujin?"
Of course, from a rational perspective, it was a socially questionable judgment.
But.
"That's true, but... I used to peek a lot! Right, sister Yeonhwa?"
"I glanced at your thighs often too, didn't I?"
At least it was clear that Sunwoo had changed.
"Is that so...?"
"Sir?"
It was true for the Nature members.
"The usual Sunwoo oppa was, in a word, 'a good person.' The sight of that Sunwoo oppa peeking at women's chests and thighs... I can't even imagine."
"""........."""
That wasn't the case for Haewon or Ayoung.
"Ever since, Sunwoo oppa was diligent about that part. In the Academy, he showed signs like his peers."
"After the Light Spirit was with him, I never saw such behavior from Sunwoo-nim."
People who had watched Sunwoo for a long time.
People who had observed his actions for ages.
To them, this version of Sunwoo felt familiar.
Not a man who peeks while making crude remarks about women's breasts or backsides.
Rather, the image of an upright, innocent hero straight out of a textbook or fairy tale.
That was closest to Sunwoo's current self.
"Um... about that part."
And Yeonhwa spoke.
"That's not just words— that's full-blown mental illness."
"".....Huh?""
"Seriously. In your twenties, full of thoughts about seducing girls, but here you are surrounded by nothing but girls with zero thoughts? Even the signs are gone?"
Unless you're a saint, that's impossible.
And the proof that Sunwoo wasn't a saint was already confirmed last night.
At least the lingering scent of night-blooming flowers in Haewon's bathroom proved it.
"I was confused at first, but now it makes sense."
"I... I think so too!"
Following Yeonhwa, Sujin raised her voice.
"It was just like the feeling I had with my friend from middle school who drifted apart. On the surface, we seemed fine, but I felt like an invisible line had been drawn... Even if I disappeared, I'd bet he wouldn't care!"
"Sujin too."
Haewon was still ambiguous.
Did Sunwoo really change?
The Sunwoo before her was exactly the familiar one she knew.
She didn't understand.
So she couldn't accept it.
Especially in a situation where understanding itself was impossible.
"...I think I can understand what she's saying a little."
Harin nodded slowly.
"I'll be honest. I still don't know what she meant by Coach changing. But logically, it makes sense."
That guy who messed up last night.
Would he suddenly walk up tomorrow and act normal like before?
Impossible.
This wasn't about mental issues.
It was about relationships between people.
"Saying sorry and accepting the apology means we can go back to normal? That's not how it usually works."
"But Sunwoo oppa is..."
"That part, I'll borrow sister Yeonhwa's words."
If a person could change so easily with just a few words,
"That's... close to mental illness."
"............"
Haewon's expression grew serious.
Maybe. Thinking about it, it was right.
The things they'd glossed over with "because he's Sunwoo," "because of Sunwoo," "because he's Sunwoo."
In a normal world, those were things that should never be accepted.
Yet, if there was a reason they could be accepted and accepted and accepted,
"That's exactly one of Sunwoo-nim's amazing points. The things everyone else would call unreasonable, Sunwoo-nim treated as natural."
"Ayoung sister...?"
Sunwoo had shown it through action "since the beginning."
"A person who can accept someone's apology. A person who can forgive and embrace others. Because of that Sunwoo-nim, I... I might not even know I've been saved."
Ayoung said.
For a normal person, yes.
But because he's Sunwoo, it's different.
"Isn't that just a misunderstanding?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Just. I'm not denying Ayoung-sister's words, but..."
On that, Yeonhwa spoke.
"If we take Ayoung-sister's words at face value, in the Academy days, someone her age suddenly turns into a saint after growing older? Isn't that even weirder?"
"Everyone grows up, after all."
"Growing up. In dungeon-clearing terms, even psychopaths and sociopaths get counted as growth."
"...Yeonhwa. Are you insulting Sunwoo-nim?"
"Well. No particular thoughts. Anyway. True."
...Coach-nim. Must have been pretty tough, huh?
".............."
"I'm not insulting anyone, so relax your eyes?"
"What. Words. Do you want to say?"
"So? Even without thinking much? Maybe because an old memory came back."
Old memories.
When they entered the dungeon and cleared it.
"If the party members lose their grip, the party leader ends up as one of two options."
Either dump the party,
Or, alternatively, exhaust oneself to that extent.
"The party with Coach-nim had only four women, right? In that situation, with only one man left... a combination that shouldn't allow for mental issues."
"Stop saying weird things. Our party has been maintained for ten years."
"Ten years? Holding on with that combination for ten years? What, did you have a girlfriend in the party?"
"....No."
"What, did you sleep with them?"
"Sunwoo-nim isn't the type to do that."
"Then, after growing older, spending ten years constantly with women, still a virgin at his age...
...At that point, wouldn't mental issues creep in even if virginity accumulated?"
"Virginity doesn't accumulate."
"Well, that's what the words say, words."
Wow... really.
Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa....
Yeonhwa shook her head in disbelief.
As if she couldn't accept it under her own common sense.
At the same time, Yeonhwa turned to Haewon and asked.
"Sir. If you look at it, does the current situation make sense?"
"....But Sunwoo oppa is..."
"But but. This is crazy. Whether a party member is crazy or the party leader is crazy, one of them is definitely insane."
"............"
Yeonhwa let out a long sigh and lowered her head.
Haewon also quietly lowered her head.
No. Because he's Sunwoo, it's special.
It might have been easy to overlook that way, but last night, Haewon had experienced it with her own body.
Even in one moment, the sincerity she felt from Sunwoo. His true self.
Because Haewon faced it, she couldn't deny this one question even more.
'If... if...'
If he had been hiding that behavior all along.
If, for everyone, to maintain the party, to hide and suppress his true self, his sincerity, to turn a blind eye—
And now, as the party shackles had disappeared, that heart had surfaced...
"Haewon-nim. Don't waver. We're people who don't know Sunwoo-nim well yet. We only met Sunwoo-nim a little over a year ago."
"The guy on the white horse from the fairy tale is a drama or a mental patient in front of you."
"Sunwoo-nim is different."
"No. He's the same. Isn't he the exact same person?"
"We know nothing about Sunwoo-nim...!"
"Why would ten years of knowing someone not notice something that's obvious to anyone who knows nothing?"
The air grew heated.
Arguments flying back and forth.
And as the debate neared its end.
"Let's go on a cherry blossom viewing party!"
"""""......"""?"
Sujin's sudden outburst.
"Apparently, bad stats are overcome by outdoor events!"
"Oh...?"
It has logic...!
By the way.
"Then let's decide on this day—"
"Wait just a moment."
While deciding the cherry blossom viewing date.
"That day... is a day with no baby sitter..."
"Ah..."
Both Nature and Haewon could go, but Ayoung alone would have a tough day.
Heart wanted to include Ayoung too, but.
"It wouldn't be the time for cherry blossoms to fall by then..."
"............"
In the end, Ayoung was decided not to attend.