Chapter 4
“Crazy….”
“What was that, miss?”
“…Nothing. I was talking to myself.”
Talking to myself, my mind was tangled up in all sorts of things.
The engagement, which should never have gone through in the first place, had somehow succeeded (?) after all.
Maybe I had gotten something wrong.
That obnoxious bastard must have thought he had something to gain from this engagement and approved it.
Otherwise, a man who only ever thought about his own interests wouldn’t have used Yoo Seol-a, whose worth was so high, like this.
Yoo Seol-a was a woman, so her family could use her for political purposes at any time.
Political marriages had been a useful card for so long that they had a long history.
But if such a marriage was called off, even if the man was at fault, rumors could still reflect badly on the woman, so they generally made political matches with reliable people.
It seemed Kim Hye-seong had met some requirement in this regard.
A condition that obnoxious bastard would find satisfying.
“Oh? Miss, someone’s calling you.”
“A call? I don’t think anyone would call me.”
While I was thinking over this and that, Yura told me I was getting a call.
I checked the phone, which had been tossed carelessly on the table where the TV sat, and saw an incoming call from a contact saved as ‘Mr. Hye-seong.’
—It was Kim Hye-seong himself calling.
“It’s my fiancé calling.”
“You met yesterday, and he’s already calling the very next day??”
Honestly, that wasn’t very normal.
Even if we’d gotten engaged, it was still only an engagement.
We weren’t actually set to marry, and we weren’t close enough to contact each other privately like this, so calling so soon was unusual.
—Why was he calling?
“This is Yoo Seol-a.”
“Miss Seol-a, this is Kim Hye-seong.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“I was wondering, would you be free tomorrow?”
“Pardon?”
This turn of events felt strangely familiar.
“I feel like we didn’t get to talk in more detail yesterday. If it’s all right with you, would you like to have a cup of tea and talk?”
This was basically an invitation to a date.
Since I was his fiancée, I supposed he wanted to take good care of me.
“I’m sorry, but I have personal training scheduled tomorrow.”
“Oh, is that so…?”
Of course, meeting him today was out of the question.
I had to train on my own to survive in this world.
There was only one year left. No, to be exact, only about half a year, so I had to step up my training even more.
I probably wouldn’t be able to see him until next year.
“Then I can work around your schedule, so could you tell me which date would be convenient for you?”
But he generously offered to work around my schedule.
“You’d work around my schedule…?”
“Of course. If you’re busy, then as your fiancé, I should be considerate of that.”
Was this what it meant to be a male lead?
In the story, his kind image had made him popular with many people, both as a Hunter and as a person.
Nudge, nudge.
Then, perhaps hearing the conversation, Yura came over and lightly nudged my shoulder.
“Just a moment, Mr. Hye-seong.”
“Oh, sure.”
So I briefly muted the microphone and turned to look at Yura.
“What is it, Yura?”
“That’s an invitation to a date, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Don’t turn him down. You should meet him at least once. He seems considerate, and it would be good to have a proper conversation and get to know each other.”
Yura encouraged me to go on a date with him.
Personal training was important to me, but I couldn’t ignore Yura, who was so precious to Yoo Seol-a.
—To Yoo Seol-a, Yura was like an older sister and a mother.
“Okay. I will.”
“That’s a good decision~! The more allies you have, miss, the better. Hehe~.”
As Yura said, if Kim Hye-seong, who would become an S-rank Hunter and hero in the future, became a reliable ally on my side, I might be able to prepare for what was to come.
And so—
“You’re free today?”
“Yes. I can train tomorrow, too. Let’s talk today.”
“Oh, yes! Thank you for making time for me, Miss Seol-a! I’ll text you the meeting place, so let’s meet there!”
“Yes. Let’s do that. See you later, Mr. Hye-seong.”
I told Kim Hye-seong I could meet today instead.
Right after that, Yura came over with a brush and a makeup set and beckoned to me.
“All right, then I’ll help you get ready to go out! Come over here. Heh. Heh. Heh.”
“Yura…, your eyes are scary.”
“There’s no need to be scared. I just plan to make you look pretty for your fiancé.”
I wouldn’t mind just a light touch-up…, but Yura, unaware of how I felt, did my makeup with tremendous energy.
Then I headed to the meeting place to see Kim Hye-seong.
“All right, get in.”
I got into Yura’s car.
‘Come to think of it, my first romance is with a man…. Haha….’
◈
“Over here, Miss Seol-a~!”
When I arrived at the meeting place, Kim Hye-seong was standing in front of the fountain, waving at me.
His face was lit up with the most harmless, sunny smile imaginable.
Thanks to that, the gazes of everyone around us began turning our way.
Even I could see why people would stare: a handsome boy was waving at my incredibly beautiful favorite character.
There we were, showing everyone how people in the same league could get together and date.
Before even more eyes turned our way, I approached him with light, graceful steps so we could get out of there.
“Did you get home safely yesterday, Mr. Kim Hye-seong?”
“Yes. You said the area around the Sword Emperor family was dangerous at night, so my father had an escort accompany me. I got home without any trouble.”
The Sword Emperor family’s estate has private land extending roughly ten kilometers around it. To train the family’s Hunters, they deliberately let Gates run rampant, making the area extremely dangerous.
Because of that, important guests have to give at least a week’s notice before visiting the estate. Until then, the Sword Emperor family brings the Gates they’ve allowed to run rampant back under control.
Even so, removing every monster released in the surrounding area is practically impossible, so people were advised to avoid going outside at night, when monsters were most active.
So, just in case, when that obnoxious bastard sent Kim Hye-seong home, he had Hunters from the Sword Emperor family escort him all the way to the huge wall built to keep monsters from getting out.
“The Hunters of the Sword Emperor family all have such an incredible presence! I guess that’s what you’d expect from a Hunter family representing South Korea!”
“All the Hunters of the Sword Emperor family are B- or A-rank.”
“Miss Seol-a, you’re being trained by such skilled people. I can’t wait to see what an amazing Hunter you’ll become once you awaken your ability!”
He had no idea.
That Yoo Seol-a always trained alone.
By this point, Yoo Seol-a had already learned everything from her personal maid, Yura, and mastered it. Until she awakened her ability, she designed her own grueling training programs and trained on her own.
I knew this because she sometimes recalled it in the story, and now I was doing it myself, so honestly, it was killing me.
“Shall we stop talking here and go somewhere else to continue?”
I decided to wrap up our conversation here for now.
If we stood here talking any longer, more people would gather.
“Oh, you’re right. We didn’t meet just to stand around and talk. Haha~.”
He must have noticed those gazes too, because he glanced around before agreeing with me.
Swoosh.
He reached out his hand to me.
“Allow me to escort you, Miss Seol-a. There’s a dessert café I know. Let’s go there.”
“I’m not quite ready to hold hands yet. Let’s just walk like this.”
“Ah…. Is that so?”
I just couldn’t bring myself to hold a man’s hand, of all things.
I felt bad for him, but I thought I could only do that after I’d properly prepared myself mentally.
“I guess I’ll have to try harder. That’s a shame, but let’s go like this.”
With a slightly disappointed expression, he started walking ahead.
I followed behind him, and we arrived at a dessert café that looked like the sort of place girls would love.
“Welcome. A table for two?”
“Yes. Do you have a private room?”
“A private room? They’re a little expensive for students….”
“The price is fine. I’ll pay the room charge upfront.”
He handed the clerk a black card.
“A-a black card…! R-right this way!”
Using a black card, a symbol of wealth, in a place like this… He had to be completely insane.
In this era of Hunters, flaunting your wealth was practically telling shady types that you were an easy target.
Even in a country with such good public safety, they couldn’t cover everything, so it was better to keep your finances discreet.
‘Does he have an escort nearby?’
He’d better.
Because both he and I could be in danger.
“Order anything you want. It’s all on me.”
“Even so, I can’t let you do that. Let’s just split the bill.”
“No, no! You had to cut into your training time to come out because of me! Please let me treat you as an apology for that!”
“Ah…. If you insist….”
“Thank you, Miss Seol-a, for accepting my offer.”
I turned my gaze away from his radiant face and toward the menu.
Looking at the menu, I saw cute slices of cake, muffins, cookies, and so on, as you’d expect from a dessert café.
There were all sorts of other desserts, of course, but the especially cute ones caught my eye.
‘Come to think of it, Yoo Seol-a especially liked sweet things, and cute-looking ones…’
Perhaps because of Yoo Seol-a’s instincts, things like this stood out to me more than anything else.
“Mmm~♪”
Just as I was making a sound I normally never would and continuing to debate what to eat—
WEE-OOOONG—!
A loud siren suddenly began blaring.
And this was one of the sound effects I’d seen most often in the story.
“Miss Seol-a, this is a Gate appearance alarm!”
That’s right.
This was the alarm that always sounded whenever a new Gate appeared.
And the reason it was sounding was simple.
“Monsters are going to come out of the Gate, so let’s get out of here! We’re still aspiring Hunters who haven’t even awakened our abilities!”
The alarm sounded to warn people to evacuate, because newly appearing Gates always spewed out monsters in droves.
Who would have thought something like this would happen today?
We were incredibly unlucky.
I should’ve just said we’d meet tomorrow….
“Let’s go, Miss Seol-a!”
“Ah, yes…!”