Chapter 6
Cha Eun-joo, an applicant to the Magic Department of Cheonmu Hunter Academy.
At this moment, she could not hide the fluttering emotion blossoming in her chest, accompanied by a strange tension.
She couldn't help wondering whether the fateful encounters she'd seen only in comics and novels might be coming true for her now.
‘Lee Seonho…was it?’
She was applying to the Combat Support Department. Her Awakening ability was a mental-type buff.
Above all, hearing that he could use a buff that instilled ‘courage’ in other people made Cha Eun-joo’s heart pound.
The very buff that instilled that ‘courage’ was what she needed most with her practical exam approaching.
‘Maybe our first meeting wasn’t simply a coincidence after all.’
He had found her struggling and guided her to the examination hall, and they had happened to take the exam in the same hall.
The two astonishing coincidences had fallen into place, as if the heavens had decided from the very beginning that she was meant to meet him. To Cha Eun-joo, who enjoyed comics and novels, meeting Lee Seonho felt just like a fateful encounter from fiction.
‘If Seonho is there, maybe I could, too….’
Maybe I could use magic properly in actual combat without getting nervous.
The Combat Support Department had no combat abilities, so during the practical exam, its applicants had to form pairs with applicants from other departments. If only Seonho would team up with her.
Because Cha Eun-joo imagined that she could definitely pass if she took the practical exam with him, she couldn’t help repeatedly thinking of Lee Seonho’s face even while taking the written exam.
To the point that it was becoming difficult to even imagine anyone other than him as her partner.
‘Seonho is kind, so if I ask him to take next week’s practical exam with me, wouldn’t he agree?’
The written exam… Seonho would probably pass it, too.
She had no idea why, but she had that feeling. The Combat Support Department exam paper she had briefly glimpsed just before submitting her answers had been filled in fairly thoroughly, too.
If kind Seonho—who had helped her before she could even ask while she was struggling in front of the bulletin board, and had bent down to pick up her stationery before she could when she dropped it—was willing, then perhaps.
…Maybe the Awakening ability he possessed could solve her chronic problem of being weak in actual combat.
“Phew, haa, phew, haa….”
The thought that she mustn’t make a mistake kept making her heart pound, so she let out tense sighs again and again.
If she failed to ask Seonho properly, she felt she might solve the written exam perfectly only to fail the practical exam outright.
Next week’s practical exam. If you don’t already have someone to take it with, take it with me. I’ll definitely repay you. Please, Seonho.
She memorized the sentence in her head over and over, unsure whether she could say it properly.
For Cha Eun-joo, who found it difficult to talk even to people she knew well, let alone strangers, this was a considerable act of resolve.
…That was how important getting into Cheonmu Hunter Academy this time was to Cha Eun-joo.
‘He won’t just leave by himself after the exam, will he…? I even sent him a proper signal with my eyes….’
Blink, blink, blink-blink-blink. First, go out.
Blink, blink, blink, blink. I’ll wait.
Yes. She had definitely conveyed it properly. If Seonho, who was connected to her by fate, had seen it, he would have understood without fail.
People in comics usually have conversations with nothing but their eyes like this. Yeah.
Lost in her groundless delusion, she stood in front of Hyesung Hall and waited for Lee Seonho to come out for about thirty minutes.
-Step, step.
‘I-I’m out…!’
After spotting him coming out at a slow pace, Cha Eun-joo approached him first.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“D-did your exam go well…?”
“Cha Eun-joo…?”
…Why had she suddenly popped up here?
Given Cha Eun-joo’s personality, she would normally go straight home as soon as the exam ended to watch anime, or stop by a manga shop to buy one of her favorite comics before returning home.
I couldn’t understand why she had suddenly waited for my exam to end and then come over to speak to me.
‘Could the favorability I’d built up already be having an effect?’
It had only been twice, but perhaps those encounters had made a fairly strong impression on Cha Eun-joo.
Or perhaps it was simply that Cha Eun-joo was a character easy for Lee Seonho to win over, and that was already coming into play. Either way, Lee Seonho was essential for making use of her ability until she overcame her shortcomings.
‘Whatever the reason, there’s nothing bad about Cha Eun-joo approaching me first like this.’
As planned, I could have a meal with her to grow closer, then bring up next week’s practical exam. I didn’t particularly care why, as long as the result was good.
“W-what’s wrong…?”
“Huh? What is?”
“D-did you perhaps do poorly on the exam…? Your expression doesn’t look very good….”
“No, I think I did well. I managed to write down answers to all ten questions, at least.”
“I-I see…. That’s a relief….”
I briefly wondered why my doing well was a relief to her, but Cha Eun-joo’s next answer naturally resolved that question.
“U-um, y-you know….”
“Hmm?”
“N-next week’s practical exam! I-if you don’t have anyone to take it with…!!”
“……Yes.”
“C-could you take it with me…? Y-your Awakening ability is absolutely necessary….”
“My Awakening ability?”
“P-please…. If you’ll just take it with me, I’ll definitely repay you….”
Judging by how earnestly Cha Eun-joo was pleading in that trembling voice, she must really have been worried about this practical exam.
For Cha Eun-joo, it was probably a request that required her to summon as much courage as she could. She found it awkward to ask even close friends for anything, yet she was pleading this earnestly with me despite having met me only a few hours ago.
The word ‘repay’ that Cha Eun-joo had used made me feel a pointless stirring of excitement below the waist. If I demanded repayment for becoming her teammate and taking the practical exam with her, how far would she go?
…Sex would probably be too much, but wouldn’t she somehow allow me to touch her breasts?
‘Cha Eun-joo, forced to let me touch her breasts while saying that a promise was a promise… She’s pretty arousing in her own way.’
It was true that such a thought had crossed my mind, but I had no intention of making such a request in reality.
I could take advantage of Cha Eun-joo’s gentle personality to touch her body quickly, but if I did something like sexual harassment, her favorability toward me would naturally fall.
Since I wanted to make her heart completely mine as well, I could only leave it as a fantasy.
Rather, her words had given me several more ideas for raising Cha Eun-joo’s favorability, so there was no reason for me not to pursue them.
“Why are you so nervous about asking a friend for this? I can do that much for you without a problem.”
“F-friend…?”
“If we enroll in the academy next year, we’ll be attending together, so of course we’re friends. From what I can see, I think someone like you should be more than capable of passing.”
“I-I see…. T-then Seonho and I are friends…right?”
“That’s right. And you don’t need to repay me, either. I didn’t have anyone to take the practical exam with, anyway, and I’d feel much more comfortable doing it with a friend.”
“R-really?! T-then you’ll do it with me?!”
“If you want, agreeing to do it with you wouldn’t be difficult…but first.”
“……Yes?”
“Why don’t we visit a training facility in the city first? We should test our teamwork once before deciding.”
“Ah, y-yes…! N-now that I think about it, Seonho, you’re right…!”
By being the first to call her a friend, plus one point.
By adding that I wanted to do it with her and didn’t need repayment, plus one point.
By showing that I was taking her proposal seriously, plus one point.
“Let’s have a simple meal before going to the training facility. There are plenty of places to eat near the station over there.”
“O-okay! Since you agreed to help me, I’ll buy lunch!”
“You don’t have to go that far…but let’s go.”
Looking at Cha Eun-joo now, it seemed I’d already earned at least an above-average favorability score, but there was no harm in raising my score further whenever I had the chance.
She was exactly what one would expect of a heroine who was easiest to win over—at least for Lee Seonho.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
After deliberately catering to Cha Eun-joo’s tastes and having a simple meal at a Japanese ramen shop near the station, we immediately headed on foot to a Hunter training facility near the academy.
It was still dangerous to use Cha Eun-joo’s magic in an open lot or park where people were walking around, and neither she nor I was an official Hunter, so we still had no way to enter a dungeon.
“A medium room for two. We’ll rent it for two hours.”
“Yes, a medium-sized training room for two hours, correct? I’ll show you the way.”
The facility was fitted with various safeguards to prevent Awakening abilities from leaking outside, and it could even create virtual enemies for mock battles.
The rental fee was accordingly not cheap, but it didn’t particularly matter. The Lee Seonho of the original story wasn’t the sort of character who worried much about money.
“It’s e-expensive…. W-wouldn’t it have been better if I paid…?”
“Then you can pay next time, Eun-joo. I’ve already paid today, so let’s forget about it.”
“B-but….”
“Friends don’t nickel-and-dime each other over every little thing. Got it?”
“O-okay…. Since we’re friends, yeah….”
Although I said that, I had no intention of making her pay the training facility fee next time, either. Cha Eun-joo spent a lot of money on subculture-related goods, so her finances weren’t exactly comfortable.
I planned to keep the cycle going as it was now: she’d buy me a meal, and I’d pay the training facility fee. That way, I would gradually instill a sense of indebtedness to me in her heart.
…Because human nature dictates that when the thought of owing someone a debt is in the back of one’s mind, one will reluctantly accept even somewhat burdensome requests.
“Your rental period is two hours. After two hours, an extension fee will be charged in thirty-minute increments, so please keep that in mind.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Y-yes….”
After listening to the staff member’s warning, we entered the training facility, and I immediately had Cha Eun-joo try using her dark magic. Since we could only use the room for two hours, we couldn’t afford to waste even a minute or second.
“Let’s start with about three goblins. Try using your magic the way you usually do.”
“I-I don’t normally use it, so I’m not sure….”
“Then use it however you feel. This is to figure out how skilled you are and what kind of buff you need.”
“O-okay….”
Speaking in an unconfident voice, Cha Eun-joo stepped into the center of the training area and prepared to use her magic.
Once I confirmed she had entered the training area, I summoned three goblins—the weakest available—and watched the battle for a while.
I needed to see at least once how skilled Cha Eun-joo was without Lee Seonho’s assistance.
‘Keh-heek!’
‘Kerrk, kerrk!’
‘Kihieek!!’
“H-hiiiiiek…!!”
Even though they were only three goblins rendered as holograms, Cha Eun-joo was frightened at the sight of them, clutching her head and curling up where she stood.
Then, without even properly checking their positions, she began haphazardly firing black spheres from her palms.
“Sh-shadow Ball! Shadow Ball…!! Sh-shado…?! Kehk…!!”
In her panic, she even bit her tongue and began to lose control.
One of the black spheres she hadn’t even aimed properly happened to kill a goblin, and Cha Eun-joo’s solo mock battle ended in an anticlimactic defeat.
“…Hik, higggh….”
…Her condition was even worse than I’d expected.
It was the moment I once again realized why Cha Eun-joo had been a heroine so dependent on Lee Seonho that it bordered on an addiction in the original story.