The Cruel History of Group Projects - 1
The profession of Hunter often forced you to work with others, whether you liked it or not. Solo Hunters who entered Gates alone did exist, but they were a small minority. Forming teams and going in together was simply how Hunters operated.
Jangwon University’s Hunter Department had an event designed to give students a taste of that reality ahead of time. College life was a never-ending cycle: finish one major task and the next one was already waiting. Once midterms ended, it was time for the workshop.
Every student from freshmen to third-years had to participate. The official line was that experiencing team play in advance would foster better cooperation. The professors always wrapped the workshop’s purpose in that neat packaging.
After the dizzying encounter with Professor Baek Seol-hee, I sat inside the Hunter Department’s grand auditorium. The massive hall took up two entire floors and was the go-to gathering spot for students. Groups had already formed everywhere, clusters of three or five chatting away.
I sat alone in a corner of the curved seating rows, staring blankly around. I scanned for Ji-ah but couldn’t find her. Disappointment settled in my chest. I, Ha Hyun-do, had no friends. There was no point denying it. From the start, I had been half an outcast.
I’d entered university at the beginning of the semester bursting with dreams, but the wall I hit was brutally high. The seniors who had approached me with warm smiles vanished the moment they learned my only special ability was Rigid Body. Their instant change in attitude left me stunned, but that was only the beginning.
The freshman class seemed to be made up entirely of Awakened who already carried some weight. The second the restrictions on using abilities were lifted, they held a so-called “friendly match” to sort out the hierarchy. In that caste-ranking disguised as a casual spar, I plummeted straight to the bottom. After that, I stayed alone until I met Ji-ah.
Thinking back on it soured my mood, but I quickly shook it off. I had Ji-ah now. And the professor. Plus, Ji-ah stood at the very top of the ranks.
“Alright, everyone, listen up! We’re just going to do the group draw and dismiss, so please cooperate!”
The Hunter Department club president jumped onto the stage and seized everyone’s attention in seconds. The auditorium fell silent. True to his role as the department representative, his bulked-up muscles strained against his dress shirt. They flexed and bulged without restraint, the product of years of relentless training. The man looked like he’d be more at home in beast hides than a button-up.
“This workshop will be conducted through group simulations! The drawing will be completely random right in front of you, so don’t complain to me later! Starting now!”
He clicked the remote in his hand. The lottery program appeared on the projector screen and began spinning. It seemed to categorize all participants at once. After a brief whirl, it finished.
“Okay, I’ll call the names. Remember your members’ faces and names clearly! When your name is called, stand up and show your face!”
The president began reading from the list. After several names, mine came.
“Ha Hyun-do! Lee Ji-ah! Eva Williams! Yoo Jae-hyung!”
I stood. Ji-ah was nowhere to be seen; it looked like she hadn’t come at all. The remaining two were a man with an incredibly bored expression and a blonde woman.
“That concludes the group drawing! Check each other’s faces, exchange contacts, and prepare properly! Dismissed!”
The moment the president gave the order, students began moving toward their new teammates. For the first time, I got a proper look at mine.
“Hey.”
“Hello. Please take care of me this time.”
The man who looked sick of the world spoke first. He wore a loosely draped checkered shirt and baggy jeans—the classic returning-student uniform. His messy hair looked like it had been grown without much care, and he scratched the back of his head.
“Ah, sorry to ruin things right from the start, but I’m dropping out. Just do it without me.”
“Huh?”
He didn’t wait for my reply. He simply turned and left. I stood there, stunned. Was he seriously bailing before we even began? What the hell?
The group assignments couldn’t be changed or appealed. The faculty’s policy was to teach us how to handle sudden incidents that occurred in the field. Still…
But ditching right at the start? Fuck!
Losing one member from a four-person team meant the rest of us had to cover the extra workload. Someone was going to bleed. At least Ji-ah being in the same group was a huge relief. I decided to write off the dropout and hoped the last person would be normal.
“May peace find you. I am Eva Williams.”
“Ah, yes. I’m Ha Hyun-do. Nice to meet you.”
It was the blonde woman I had noticed earlier. Despite the archaic, overly formal way she spoke, Eva wore black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black riding jacket. My gaze dropped to her glossy black worker boots that reached her ankles. The leather jacket was clearly an expensive luxury brand. Maybe she enjoyed riding motorcycles?
While I was quietly assessing her, Eva spoke again.
“Fear not. As long as this Eva is part of your group, defeat shall never visit us!”
What the hell was that?
…
After exchanging numbers with Eva Williams, I left the auditorium. One dropout and one extremely peculiar person. The only reliable member in our group seemed to be Ji-ah.
Right now I was eating with her in the student cafeteria. The place was loud, packed with noisy crowds.
“Hyun-do, how were your group members?”
“Ji-ah. You knew what they were like and skipped on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Oh, I got caught.”
She dragged out a cute “Sorry~” and apologized. Her giggling face was so adorably mischievous that my twisted mood unraveled on its own. This regressor had probably known from the beginning that the group would be full of weirdos.
“It was necessary, so don’t be too upset.”
“Yeah, if you say so. When’s the next one?”
“The last day of the workshop. The black robes.”
“……They’re showing up already?”
“I’ve adjusted all the variables. It’s certain. Don’t worry—this route had the highest survival rate.”
Ji-ah wiped the smile from her face at my implied question. Then, as if trying to reassure me, she began explaining about the figures in black robes. To summarize, they weren’t individuals but an organized group, and the identities of its members remained unknown.
No matter how noisy the cafeteria was, the conversation we were about to have wasn’t something others should overhear. Ji-ah stopped eating and looked at me with serious eyes. I pulled the information about the black robes from the back of my mind.
Suspicious bastards wearing black robes embroidered with gold patterns. They were the ones who had killed me during Ji-ah’s second regression.
I had expected to run into them eventually, but I never thought they would appear this soon. Jangwon University’s festival wasn’t until autumn, so I had assumed we wouldn’t cross paths for a while. I had no idea what those guys hiding under black cloth were after.
Ji-ah continued her explanation.
“I don’t know how, but they could open and close Gates at will.”
“Gates?”
“Yes. We’re still in the early stages, so it’s rare to see them now. But soon they’ll be running wild across the world.”
“They sound like terrorists.”
“The fact that we don’t know their goal makes it worse. They opened Gates indiscriminately. I’ve been investigating them for a while, but I haven’t found much.”
Ji-ah resumed eating. Every terrorist group in history had possessed its own clear purpose—religious, social, or otherwise. How had these people gained the ability to open and close Gates, and what exactly did they want?
The mood had grown heavy. Only then did I realize I had brought up the wrong topic at the dinner table. There was no need to sit here with long faces while eating.
I scolded myself inwardly and changed the subject.
“Ji-ah. Are you free tomorrow afternoon?”
“Hmm… I have no classes. Why? Want to spar?”
“No, I have some things to prepare. Let’s go together.”
“Okay. Where should we meet?”
She agreed more readily than I expected. She was probably assuming it was preliminary work for winning over Professor Baek Seol-hee.
Ji-ah had once told me to treat her as nothing more than a sex partner. But I had no intention of doing that.
She pretended to be indifferent and showed no signs of hardship, yet now that I looked closely, faint shadows lingered under her eyes. She was probably running around doing countless things for me in places I couldn’t see.
I couldn’t do much for her, but I at least wanted to create some good memories for this pitiful regressor who had lived through so many loops just to save me.