Chapter 47. After the Trouble (3) (1/2)
Koong. Koong. Koong.
Every time the tires hit a rock, the HUV shook violently. Just how much of an old model was it to not even have a steady driving module? Yoo Yeonha was both confused and shocked.
“Ehew.”
‘Why did I ask to follow them?’ Five minutes were enough to make her regret her words.
“…So why are you here?”
While she was steadying herself from the constant bumps, Kim Hajin, who was sitting next to her, asked. Yoo Yeonha glanced at him and retorted.
“What use is going on vacations? You have to see things, hear things, and feel things to advance forward.”
“Oh.”
Kim Hajin quickly accepted Yoo Yeonha’s words and faced front again. Yoo Yeonha stared at him fixedly.
He was average-looking no matter how many times she saw him. If he had glasses, his face would be the average face of all salarymen.
“Hm…”
But, there weren’t just one or two things that were suspicious about him. Rather than suspicious, he was full of secrets. Unfathomable… was too grand of a word to describe him, but he was still mysterious.
When Yoo Yeonha was having such trifling thoughts, she felt her smartwatch vibrate.
It was a message from Chae Nayun.
[Alright, I’ll take on his bet. Looks like he needs to be put in place.]
She seemed quite angry. With a snicker, Yoo Yeonha initiated a conversation.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“Nayun says she’ll do it. The bet.”
At that moment, Kim Hajin’s smartwatch also vibrated. Yoo Yeonha was curious.
“Show me too.”
Kim Hajin displayed the message without complaints.
[Sure, let’s fight. I’ll give you a month. I’ll bet my everything that I’ll win. What are you going to bet?]
A duel between an archer and a gunman was thus established.
Yoo Yeonha found the situation quite ridiculous, but was also curious.
“…By the way, why are you doing this?”
Of all people, why was he so bent on provoking Chae Nayun?
Kim Hajin stared at Yoo Yeonha. He then spoke as though it was an obvious truth.
“Chae Nayun’s real talent isn’t in bows.”
Yoo Yeonha couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“If she gives up on using a bow, she can advance much further.”
Kim Hajin added those words somewhat bitterly. At least, that’s what Yoo Yeonha felt.
Yoo Yeonha then began to see what was going on.
Without interest, there was no criticism. One had to carefully scrutinize something to see its flaws. In a way, giving proper criticisms was harder than giving compliments.
In that sense…
Just how long has this man been watching Chae Nayun to be so sure of his thoughts? Three months? Half a year? A year? Or perhaps even longer?
‘…Come to think of it.’
During the third year of Agent Military Academy, Kim Hajin was in the same class as Chae Nayun. They were both only 11 years old. From then until now, six whole years had gone by.
Could it be that for six years, this man…
Clunk!
“Ak!”
Suddenly, the HUV shook violently and stopped. Yoo Yeonha hit her head against the headrest of the front seat.
“W-What’s going on!?”
Yoo Yeonha was inexperienced with such things, but both Park Soohyuk and Kim Hajin weren’t. Park Soohyuk turned off the engine and spoke.
“This is the monster point. We’re getting off.”
“Monster point?”
“Ah, yes, it’s a place where many monsters appear…”
“I know what it means, but how do you know that this is a monster point?”
“End of April is when monsters start to get more active. The weaker ones will be pushed out of their territories, and this is a natural escape route. There are a few more places like that, but those places are famous so they’re always bustling with people.”
Park Soohyuk replied without hesitation, causing Yoo Yeonha to stare at him in surprise.
But her gaze quickly fell back on her smartwatch. She had received a message.
“Hmm… Well, I’ll be going now.”
“Huh? Didn’t you want to hunt with us?”
“Something came up just now. Plus, I said I wanted to come with you, I didn’t say anything about hunting together.”
Yoo Yeonha got off the car.
From the distance, Essence of the Strait’s guild members came running.
“Then, I’ll be off.”
“Yeah, see you later.”
“Yes, see you back at Cube.”
After taking in Kim Hajin’s average appearance once again, Yoo Yeonha turned back.
“Ah, by the way…”
But almost as though she forgot something, she quickly turned around and reached her hand out to Park Soohyuk.
“Can I get your business card?”
**
For a week, I focused on hunting and training. I went to Wonju every day and hunted an average of 15 monsters per day.
The combination of Aether and Desert Eagle was undoubtedly overpowered for a weakling like me. Even if I didn’t aim at a vital point, I could one or two shot any monster under low-intermediate rank grade 6.
“Hm… It’s not going up by much.”
Now, it was Wednesday.
Classes would restart in two days. Cadets were returning, and the archery bet between Chae Nayun and me was already widespread.
===
▷「Master Sharpshooter」
[Low-intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Evolving — Grade 7] [Proficiency EXP 75%]
===
Master Sharpshooter was only 25% away from grade 6. I’ve been shooting monsters for an entire week, but the proficiency didn’t even increase by 10%. It was because the amount of EXP needed to rank up increased exponentially.
“Will I be able to hit grade 6 in a month?”
Now that the bet was happening, I had to win, but I felt a bit uneasy at just grade 7.
Drrrr—
At that moment, the room suddenly rumbled.
Was it an earthquake?
I quickly looked around. For some reason, it felt like I was at the epicenter of the earthquake.
“Eh?”
I found something strange. The seed I had placed on my desk was shaking fiercely. Looking at it closely, I noticed that the blood disappeared from the gauze I wrapped it with.
“…Is it hungry?”
When I asked, the shaking stopped. I was dumbstruck, but I still took out another gauze soaked with Rachel’s blood. I pulled the seed out of the whitened gauze and placed it on top of the new gauze. Immediately, the seed trembled as though it was happy before burying itself into the gauze.
“Interesting.”
Was Rachel’s blood that delicious?