Episode 12. Running as an Active Schoolgirl
Episode 12. Running as an Active Schoolgirl
After that, nothing special happened.
After removing the needle from my arm, I roughly completed the procedures and returned home.
The hospital bill?
Seyeon took care of it all.
"......"
I genuinely bowed my head and thanked her, but Seyeon just said it was fine and told me to take good care of my health.
'Seyeon is a goddess......'
She said she'd provide dinner every evening and also make me exercise.
It can't be easy to take care of someone to this extent. It's something you can't do unless you're exceptionally kind.
'I'll definitely repay her later.'
As Seyeon said, whether with money or with my body?
Of course, repaying with my body was a joke.
"Hoo......"
When I arrived home, it was already late at night due to the time it took from fainting to getting here from the hospital.
'Well, I got an IV so I'm good for food.'
It wasn't that I was 'good'—there was nothing to eat anyway, so I had no choice.
Since I'll start visiting Seyeon from tomorrow, I have to spend tonight in this shabby house.
'I should just go to sleep.'
Seyeon's mention of exercise comes to mind. Apparently, my physical strength and abilities are too lacking for a Hunter Academy student, so it seemed like she wanted to supplement that.
In other words, starting tomorrow, Seyeon and I will be doing about twice as much training as others.
To endure that, I need to get a good night's sleep starting today.
I turned off the light.
Turned off the light...?
"......?"
Huh, for some reason I feel strange.
Like I need to do something...?
'What is it?'
But since it was just a feeling, I soon went to bed and fell into a deep sleep.
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"Ughhh......"
After showering and changing from my gym clothes into my uniform, I let out a pained groan.
'You call this training? It's nothing but sparring.'
Sparring, feedback, sparring, feedback...
This process repeated endlessly.
Especially me—my feedback sessions were much longer than the other kids'.
Still, after gaining some experience, my abilities did manifest, but they were obviously woefully insufficient for practical application.
The teacher evaluating me seemed to be barely holding back from saying, 'How did you even get into the Hunter Academy?'
'I don't know either, really......'
As some self-loathing and a sudden sense of reality washed over me, I blankly stared at the ceiling when Seyeon lightly grabbed my shoulder and spoke.
"Yubin-ah, today at 7 PM. Remember?"
Seeing Seyeon's gentle voice and slight smile made all the depression I just felt seem to melt away.
"Yeah!"
"Good. Come on time, okay?"
My eyes sparkled as I nodded.
After returning home like that and resting briefly, I went back out.
Perhaps because winter had just ended not long ago, it gradually grew dark as 7 PM approached.
'I wonder what's going to happen...'
For some reason, my heart is pounding.
Meeting a classmate privately in the late evening—it's my first time since I was born.
My steps gradually quickened with excitement. The white light from the streetlights whizzed past the corners of my eyes.
And so I arrived at the school.
I must have been overly excited, as I arrived thirty minutes earlier than the promised time.
I decided to walk to the dormitory Seyeon mentioned first.
The Hunter Academy was several times larger than other schools, purely because of the training ground.
Since hunters are a profession that requires physical training, the training ground was made ridiculously large to ensure there'd never be a lack of space for practice.
'There are some people here.'
Walking along the path next to the training ground and looking around, I saw several students gathered together.
From the intermittent banging sounds and flashes of light, it seemed like they were sparring too.
'Everyone's working so hard like that.'
Seeing that made it hit me anew that I've entered a novel world.
Though the word 'hunter' still feels unrealistic to me—literally something that would only appear in a novel—to those students, it's reality.
Something they can write in their career aspirations, something they can have as a profession.
"Hmm......"
Besides my new body, there was something else I had to adapt to.
Anyway, I passed the long training ground (I was already out of breath by this point) and crossed a slightly elevated hill.
"Hoo, hoo......"
After catching my breath for a moment, I looked up to check my location.
"Wow......"
There was a quite luxurious building. Wide horizontally and tall vertically. I could see warm light flowing from the square windows.
Since there's nothing within the grounds besides the school building and the training ground except the dormitory, the identity of that building was obvious.
'They must use it for all grades from 1st to 3rd year.'
Otherwise, it wouldn't be that big.
Suppressing my envy, I decided to walk to the front of the dormitory.
"So Yesul yesterday—"
"Oh really? Is she crazy?"
Several kids were gathered around the dormitory, chattering noisily.
I passed through them alone in silence.
'Being a loner isn't something to be ashamed of......'
Though I thought that in my heart, I was walking with my head deeply bowed, hair covering my cheeks, in a gloomy outfit.
"......Ah."
At the dormitory entrance, I saw a familiar person expressionlessly using her phone.
"Se, Seyeon-ah...!"
Seyeon gently raised her head, confirmed it was me, and then lightly ran over.
"You're early."
"Yeah. I wanted to meet you quickly......"
"......"
Seyeon's eyes widened.
"Ah, no. Not that......"
"I know what you mean. Are you hungry? Let's go eat first."
"Uh, yeah......"
I'd unintentionally said something embarrassing.
Why suddenly?
'Is it because I'm really hungry?'
Anyway, I followed closely behind Seyeon and entered the dormitory.
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The cafeteria was in the dormitory's basement. Like a food court in an outlet mall.
"Today's menu is......"
The dinner menu Seyeon recited was rice, soft tofu stew, tteokgalbi, stir-fried vegetables, and radish kimchi. Yogurt for dessert was a bonus.
"Gasp......"
Already moved.
Seyeon bought two meal tickets and handed one to me.
The meal I received was neatly and cleanly prepared. So much that it was hard to believe it was provided by the school.
'Touched...!'
I ate so deliciously that Seyeon seemed taken aback.
I could finally have a full night after so long.
After finishing the meal, we went to the training ground.
"We really need to get this altered or something, Yubin-ah."
Seyeon poked me and laughed while looking at my gym clothes.
Since you can enter the school at night with just a student ID, I changed into gym clothes inside and came out.
'So embarrassing......'
These stupidly large gym clothes.
Even during sparring in class, it felt like everyone was only looking at me.
At least it's good that there aren't many people now since it's night.
"Yubin-ah, first stand up straight. Just spread your arms a little."
I did as Seyeon said.
"Hmm......"
Seyeon's eyes narrowed.
"Can I touch you for a moment?"
"Wh, what?"
"Your body."
For a moment, bewilderment rose up, but since Seyeon wasn't the type to do anything weird, I obediently nodded.
Once I agreed, Seyeon immediately moved.
The first place Seyeon's touch reached was my arm. With gentle, not rough movements, Seyeon slid both hands over my arm, poking and prodding. The strange sensation made me shiver slightly.
Next was my chest and abdomen. Of course, she didn't directly touch my chest, but she did press firmly around it.
"Hft......"
"Ah, sorry. I pressed too hard."
Seyeon punched the line from my solar plexus to lower abdomen—pam, pam! Sometimes she hit so hard it felt like 'hitting,' making me frequently gasp for air.
Last were my legs. This was similar to my arms. Seyeon meticulously kneaded from my thighs to calves as if giving a massage.
'Why am I sweating from this...?'
I hadn't even started exercising yet, but my back was already drenched in sweat.
Maybe I'm a little nervous.
After finishing all the work, Seyeon took a slight step back and looked at me.
Then she said with a laugh.
"Yubin-ah, you really haven't exercised at all, have you?"
"......"
"There's not a single muscle on your body—it's all soft. Felt like I was touching marshmallows or jelly."
"......"
"And you're already sweating and panting just from me touching you. Anyone would think you're not a hunter aspirant."
"......"
"I need to... exercise, right?"
"Yep......"
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"Heeek, heeeeeeek, heeueoeueuek......"
"Let's run just 30 seconds more!"
The training ground bathed in white moonlight.
I was running laps around the track. With Seyeon.
'I'm pretty sure it wasn't this intense when we started...?'
I remember what Seyeon said while doing warm-ups.
"I'll lead and run slowly first, so follow along as far as you can. If it's too hard, you can stop for a bit."
But why am I now running like crazy beyond 'as far as I can'?
Actually, Seyeon didn't lie.
Seyeon ran slowly. Enough to call it jogging. So even with my poor stamina, I could manage at first.
The part about being able to stop if it was too hard was also true. Seyeon let me rest if I looked too exhausted.
'A bit.'
Rest periods were short, and running times were long.
"Damn, shit, hwuuk, hueoeuauk......"
I couldn't bring myself to swear, so I just stared wide-eyed at Seyeon.
She was brightly smiling as if enjoying my suffering.
Of course, that couldn't be true, but......
From all the running, my head felt dazed.
I could see the black sky and the moon.
How good must the moon's stamina be to circle the Earth every single day without fail? Just like running laps on a track.
I was so out of it that such nonsense came to mind automatically.
Thankfully, Seyeon stopped the running exactly at 30 seconds. Though it felt like an eternity to me.
Simultaneously, I collapsed onto the track as if falling.
"Haa, haa, haaaa......"
"Breathe through your nose, not your mouth. If you hyperventilate, it'll be trouble."
Hss, hss-
The sound of my breathing grew quieter.
As time passed and I calmed down a bit, I looked up at Seyeon.
Of course, Seyeon wasn't a wreck like me. Just slightly flushed cheeks and a slightly shortened breathing rhythm.
Her long hair was tied back, and I could see sweat droplets trickling down her nape. The chest of her training outfit rose and fell.
That appearance was, how should I say... looked really healthy. The complete opposite of me, who looked half-dead.
"Here, Yubin-ah."
I don't know where she got it from, but Seyeon handed me a 1.5L bottle of drink. An ion drink?
Anyway, after drinking a few sips, the exhausting feeling seemed to fade somewhat.
I handed the drink bottle back to Seyeon and said.
"Are we doing this tomorrow too...?"
"Of course."
"Gasp......"
"Of course, we won't do it this intensely every day."
Ah, so today was specially tough.
Somehow feeling drained, I plopped down flat on the ground.