Chapter 129
“Wow, Eve, you’re a total celebrity.”
“Ehehe….”
Because our delinquent teacher, Baek Sangjun, showed up late to class again today, the Hunter class spent the entire first period goofing off.
We lounged on the super-soft mattresses in the gym, scrolling on our phones and chatting, or just watched the other Hunter class over on the far side of the gym actually taking their lesson seriously.
“Did something happen to Teacher Sangjun again?”
“Feels like he just doesn’t want to teach and is skipping class.”
“Fair point.”
“Mwahaha.”
Among the stories we talked about was the one where I went into the Invaded Outpost, and after seeing the photos, everyone asked a bunch of things like, ‘Who on earth is that giant grandpa? Who’s the cool-beauty maid beside him? And where did that giant wolf come from?’
“Ah, this wolf... is actually Daengdaeng.”
“Daengdaeng? The one you always carry around?”
“Yep.”
“Wait, it can get this big? That’s amazing.”
“Could you show us once? I’m curious.”
“Hmm….”
Daengdaeng was also lying on the mattress and rolling around, so it wasn’t like it was impossible.
“Daengdaeng, come hereee.”
ㅡBeep?
“Want me to power you up and show off your cool form once?”
ㅡBeep..!!?
“No, I mean there isn’t anyone to fight or anything, just the powered-up form?”
ㅡBeep!
“R-really..? Hm-mmm….”
Daengdaeng suddenly started saying that if it transformed, it should at least fight once, and that if you pulled out a radish, you ought to at least slice it with a knife. But there wasn’t anyone to fight right now, so what was I supposed to do?
“Eve, what’s Daengdaeng saying?”
“It says it only transforms when there’s someone to fight.”
“Really? Then fight Byeongho.”
“Why me? You fight.”
“I’m a mage.”
“Then you can fight together.”
After Senior Gyeongwon and Senior Byeongho kept trying to push the sparring off onto each other, Senior Yeonwoo, who was beside them, simply told both of them to fight. And so Senior Byeongho, the tank, and Senior Gyeongwon, the mage, decided to practice sparring against Daengdaeng together.
“Go, Eve~ Go, Daengdaeng~”
“Win it~~”
Choa and Yeonwoo unnie cheered for me.
“Byeongho-hyung, surrender now while you still can.”
“Gyeongwon-hyung, just hit Byeongho-hyung from behind.”
The others started trash-talking Senior Byeongho and Senior Gyeongwon instead. No matter what, there wasn’t a single person cheering for them....
“Ugh, mages are so broken. They just stand in the back.”
“If you’ve got a problem with it, go awaken magic yourself.”
Senior Byeongho looked bothered that Senior Gyeongwon was just firing magic from the back. But the two of them always sounded like they were just joking around anyway—last time, Senior Byeongho had even said that if Senior Gyeongwon’s parents and a Black refugee fell into the water together, he’d save the Black refugee first.
He said property was more precious than people, maybe. Probably just a joke....
“T-then we’ll start!”
“Yeah ㅡ !! Start!”
Senior Byeongho was the classic tank with a shield and sword, while Senior Gyeongwon’s main attacks were wide-area ranged magic. I didn’t know whether Daengdaeng could win on its own, but it fought absurdly well. Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Daengdaeng get hit at all. It dodged and weaved around so easily.
“Daengdaeng! Ready?!”
ㅡBeep-beep!!
“Got it! Mana infusion to Daengdaeng!”
ㅡFwaaah..!
Blue mana flowed down through my fingertips and flew toward Daengdaeng like a swarm of fireflies, sticking to it.
“Answer the princess’s summons! Royal Watchdog Fenrir!”
ㅡGrrrr..!
Come to think of it, Daengdaeng’s powered-up version is kind of similar in vibe to a summon skill that calls the original creature forth. There’s no material component, but it feels like you just spend that much more mana to enhance it.
“Whoa, it’s really huge.”
“Byeongho, protect me no matter what. Offer your life if you have to.”
“This bastard.”
The two of them bickered, but they were both skilled fighters with solid fundamentals and textbook positioning. I was curious how far they could go with Daengdaeng’s power, too.
“Daengdaeng, use as much mana as you want! Smash those seniors to bits ㅡ !!”
ㅡGrrrr!!
The tips of the white wolf mane began to shine blue, and in an instant Daengdaeng charged at Senior Byeongho. It was so fast I wondered if it might slip past him and hit Senior Gyeongwon first instead, but—
“Hup..!”
ㅡTHUD!!
Its forepaw claws, sharpened by mana, slammed hard into Senior Byeongho’s shield. The impact was stronger than expected, enough to shove his body backward with a huge jolt.
At the moment Daengdaeng’s body was blocked by Senior Byeongho’s shield and floated up into the air, Senior Gyeongwon seized the opening with a magic attack. An ultra-compressed air sphere, about the size of a baseball, shot toward Daengdaeng at high speed.
ㅡGrrr!
“Hwaeek!”
But Daengdaeng used the air as a foothold in midair and double-jumped, actually surging farther forward.
“What the heck is that..!”
“Move, you punk!”
Daengdaeng dropped like a dive bomb, aiming for Senior Gyeongwon. But Senior Byeongho quickly raised his shield toward the sky and poured mana into it, and a wide hemispherical barrier formed to block the falling attack.
ㅡClack!
Daengdaeng landed stylishly with a backflip.
“S-slow down, Daengdaeng!”
ㅡGrrrr!
Blue flames began to flicker at the tip of Daengdaeng’s long tail, and then suddenly Daengdaeng started doing that thing. You know, what wolves do.
ㅡAwooooo!!
“Hwaee..!”
A howl packed with mana. More mana poured out than I expected, and I was surprised Daengdaeng had a technique that used this much mana.
“Uh, what is this?”
“My body’s getting heavy!”
“Graaah! Gravity—”
“Hey, hey, hey.”
It was the predator’s skill, one that crushed the body of a designated target. And then blue flames began to spill from Daengdaeng’s mouth....
“Br, Breath!?”
A breath attack, the exclusive privilege of dragons... or not, actually.
“A sword..?!”
“Do dogs carry swords these days..!”
Daengdaeng clamped a sword wreathed in blue flames in its mouth.
“Gaaah!! That’s so cool ㅡ !!!”
ㅡGrrrr!
“Hey, Buya! Isn’t this a little too vicious!”
“Buya! What did the oppas do wrong!”
“Uh, wha..?”
With the sword clenched in its mouth, Daengdaeng suddenly blasted blue flames from its paws, shot up into the air, spun its body once, and swung the blade.
ㅡFwoooosh..!!
A huge blue flame flared like a sword slash, crashing into the barrier that held Senior Byeongho and Senior Gyeongwon inside—boom!
Just as the barrier began to crack apart with a sharp creak, something was clearly wrong.
ㅡWhoooosh!
A strong wind of mana blew in from the entrance, and the blue flames dwindled before fading out completely.
“What are you two doing?”
“Good grief!! I thought I was going to die, Buya!!”
“D-Daengdaeng! That’s enough now!”
“Whew, that was brutal.”
Teacher Baek Sangjun must have used a skill at just the right time, because once the mana supply shut off, Daengdaeng turned back into a tiny phone-sized Daengdaeng.
“Hey, Daengdaeng, if you start using dangerous techniques like that.... Ugh, my head’s spinning.”
I never would’ve guessed Daengdaeng could eat through that much mana on its own. What Ophelia said must have been true after all—I thought I’d be able to handle Daengdaeng at full power with my mana, but it gulps mana down like crazy.
ㅡBeep!
“Did you have fun...? Oh, geez... okay, okay.”
“Eve, were you dead set on roasting the seniors or what.”
“N-no.... That’s not what I meant....”
“Baek-ssi, I didn’t think you were like that. You’re scary.”
“It was an accident....”
In truth, I got scolded by Teacher Baek Sangjun, who wasn’t showing up right on time at all and was actually super late. So Daengdaeng had been severely limiting how much mana it used normally.
“Sir, what were you even doing that you’re only just getting here?”
“Work. Do you know how busy I am?”
“You always have work, don’t you?”
Senior Byeongho, who had been grumbling beside them, got smacked on the crown of his head, and the other seniors who had been resting shuffled over and gathered in a little cluster on the mattress.
“Daengdaeng fights really well, huh? It looked cool~”
ㅡBeep! Beep-beep!
“Hey, Daengdaeng. You like it when the pretty older sister praises you again?”
ㅡBeep....
Daengdaeng went all gooey over Senior Yeonwoo’s praise. Once the seniors had gathered and sat down one by one, Teacher Baek Sangjun, who was sitting with one leg cocked and both hands shoved in his pockets, let out a burp toward the air and waved it away with his hand.
“Sir, please. That’s seriously disgusting.”
“My burps are clean.”
“Your burps even smell like cigarettes.”
“Gyeon Daehoon, go over there and drop into a push-up position.”
“Wow, that’s a bit much.”
“Come over here and stand so you can listen.”
“Seriously.”
And so Teacher Baek Sangjun’s story began, with Senior Gyeon Daehoon serving as his chair while he lay there in a push-up position.
“Now, our school has a few sister schools. You kids probably don’t know, right?”
“We know.”
“Yu Choa, name them all.”
“Kyoto Kannagi High School in Japan and Battleworks Academy in Seattle, USA. And France’s Arcadia Lycée Specialized Hunter Academy. And Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar Tengri Hunter Academy.”
“Ugh, I hate smart kids. They’re no fun to tease.”
“Since Choa got it right, shouldn’t you be the one doing the push-up position, sir?”
“Byeongho, out. Come here and do the push-up position.”
“Yes, sir.”
Teacher Baek Sangjun, who now even had a footrest, continued his story.
“Starting from the second week of May until summer vacation, exchange students will be coming to our school. I heard they’re already taking applications over there.”
“Oh, that’s what you meant.”
“Come to think of it, we didn’t do it last year, did we?”
“Really?”
Apparently, exchange students usually come around this time every year and stay for about two months, up until summer vacation, and then we send exchange students over around October in the fall and get them back at the end of November.
But last year there was a bit of unrest inside Korea, so they couldn’t do the exchange-student event. And the reason for the unrest was, of course, China.
Even Teacher Baek Sangjun, the senior-most teacher among them, got called out to the West Sea, and Guild Nova, the number-one guild, kept clashing with the Chinese side.
“I see....”
“Which school is it this time?”
“Please let it be France this time. I want a French blonde beauty girlfriend too.”
“Byeongho, with a face like yours, they’d think you were an animal and hunt you down even if you went to Mongolia.”
“Really, sir?”
“Yep.”
Senior Byeongho let out a deeper sigh. Anyway, the exchange students were coming from here.
“It’s Kyoto Kannagi High School.”
“A Japanese girlfriend would be nice too. I could even take a menhera.”
“They’d probably mistake Na Byeongho for a yokai and exterminate him.”
“Yeonwoo....”
“Don’t call me by my first name only. It’s gross.”
“Alright, quiet down. Anyone know who’s at Kannagi right now? Let’s have smart little Yu Choa guess.”
“There are probably hundreds of Kannagi students. How would I know, sir?”
“There’s one kid who’s internationally famous right now, isn’t there?”
A famous high school hunter—who could it be? While I was thinking for a moment, Sana unnie, who’d been listening quietly beside me, muttered softly to herself.
“Tennoji Utaha. The shrine maiden’s daughter, maybe.”
“Utaha..?”
Right, there was Utaha unnie.
“That’s right, Eve. Correct.”
“Ah, yay.”
“They’ve got an S-rank student over there. We’re still Korea’s top academy—how can we be stuck with nothing but these low-rank kids?”
Teacher Baek Sangjun said that while tapping Senior Gyeon Daehoon, the one he was sitting on, and Senior Byeongho, his footrest.
“I’d be too embarrassed to show these guys off, right? Huh? The teachers are in a state of emergency.”
“But won’t Hunter Tennoji Utaha not come? She’s S-rank—can she really stay abroad for two whole months?”
“We thought so too, but apparently she’s decided to come. We don’t understand it either.”
“Whoa.”
Mega shock. World-famous Japanese high school beauty and S-rank hunter Tennoji Utaha coming to Korea as an exchange student for two months? That was big enough news to boost the tourism industry.
“Finally, a girlfriend!!”
“Byeongho, wake up. That’s not happening.”
“I know that too, Gyeongwon. A guy can dream, can’t he?”
But what do exchange students actually do when they come?
“And this exchange program is homestay. Honestly, even the teachers think the dorms are a bit sketchy.”
“A real girlfriend!!”
Homestay means the exchange student stays and lives in a local student’s home. Which means....
‘Utaha unnie at our house..!?’
Of course, it’s only possible with same-sex students, but....
“Hnn-nyang-mung….”
I really hope it’s us. Really, really.