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The next day, Lee Ha-yoon secretly met with Lee Chae-rin.

Since Lee Chae-song probably wouldn’t spill anything due to her personality, she chose Lee Chae-rin, who had a looser tongue.

“What on earth happened? It seems like Ha-yoon did something….”

“Well….”

The story that came out of Lee Chae-rin’s mouth was somewhat shocking.

It felt like something the elderly and pregnant women shouldn’t hear.

It all started on the day all the students returned to the academy.

As soon as Lee Ha-yoon came back to the academy, she nearly killed a second-year senior.

“It was chaos back then… She pierced their limbs with magic, grabbed their hair, and dragged them around… No one even dared to stop her.”

“…Are you serious? Ha-yoon went that far?”

“It’s hard to believe unless you saw it yourself. Thanks to the potion, the wounds healed well, but that senior hasn’t been able to hold their head up lately. They’ll probably drop out soon.”

“….”

The corrupted version of Lee Ha-yoon was beyond my imagination.

“After that, she didn’t let anyone who talked about you or the incident that day off the hook.”

“Didn’t the instructors or the disciplinary committee intervene?”

“In front of the instructors, she was the same old Ha-yoon… And the students she beat up all kept their mouths shut, so nothing happened. As for the disciplinary committee… they actually seemed to like it?”

Obviously, they felt their workload decreasing.

A 14-year-old girl going down a bad path, and instead of disciplining her, they’re happy because their work got easier.

The disciplinary committee needs to be disciplined.

Ha-yoon turning dark… I feel like it’s somehow my fault.

Suddenly, I started imagining Ha-yoon’s sister pulling out a sword and charging at me to execute me.

‘That’s a bit….’

This can’t go on.

Our Ha-yoon is supposed to be pure, white, cute, pretty, and lovable.

She can’t become a corrupted, blackened version of herself.

“Thanks for telling me, unnie.”

“Yeah, don’t ever tell Ha-yoon I told you!”

“Of course, don’t worry.”

And then, I returned to the dormitory with Lee Chae-rin.

To wake up Ha-yoon as usual….

‘Wait.’

How did Lee Chae-rin wake up so early?

And… was Ha-yoon asleep until Lee Chae-rin came to find me?

Something’s off.

It doesn’t add up.

The immediate problem is…

‘Ha-yoon finding out that Lee Chae-rin told me everything.’

Considering how close they usually were, she probably wouldn’t beat up Lee Chae-rin too, right?

Probably….

“Unnie, just in case, grit your teeth when you go in. If Ha-yoon’s asleep, go straight to bed and pretend to sleep.”

“Huh?”

“There’s something like that, don’t forget to grit your teeth when you go in.”

“…?”

I’d step in before things got bad, but I kept in mind that fists might be faster than words.

I waited in the hallway for a bit before going in, and sent Lee Chae-rin into the room first.

But… Ha-yoon seemed to already be awake.

A heavy, gloomy voice started coming from inside the room.

“Unnie….”

“H-Ha-yoon?”

“Where did you go? At this early hour?”

To be precise, it was 7:30 AM. Not exactly early morning, but for them, it was still time to sleep.

“W-Well, I had to discuss some family matters with Chae-song unnie.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! It’s true, it’s important so I can’t tell you!”

Judging by her tone, she clearly didn’t believe it, but Lee Chae-rin, oblivious, thought her lie worked and got excited.

But that only lasted a few seconds.

“But why do you smell like Gyeoul?”

“Eeek!”

Lee Chae-rin’s voice fainted at Ha-yoon’s follow-up.

She didn’t even think of excuses like hugging Chae-song because we share a room or the smell sticking to her clothes.

‘Is she stupid or just naive….’

Lee Chae-rin, completely scared, started confessing everything.

“Well… Gyeoul kept saying to meet….”

“…You’ve said enough.”

“I’m sorry….”

“…That’s too much.”

“I’m sorry… Wait, I said I’m sorry! Don’t come closer! Stay away!”

Oh no.

Even Lee Chae-rin is about to fall victim to the blackened Ha-yoon.

I rushed into the room in a panic.

Ha-yoon was approaching Lee Chae-rin, about to attack… or so I thought?

“S-Stop. I like guys, okay?”

“Stay still.”

I saw Lee Chae-rin, unsure of what to do, being held by Ha-yoon.

What are they doing?

“…Gyeoul?”

“Oh, uh, hi. Good morning.”

“…You were standing in the hallway, right? You rushed in because you thought I’d do something to Chae-rin unnie?”

The blackened Ha-yoon is quicker to catch on than the pure Ha-yoon.

“Hahahaha.”

“Tch.”

I awkwardly laughed it off.

The blackened… no, Ha-yoon seemed a bit sulky, but that’ll be fixed if I carry a game in the Rift.

Anyway, that’s that.

“Gyeoul, wait a bit, I’ll get ready and come.”

“Okay, take your time. We woke up early, so we have plenty of time.”

Thanks to calling Lee Chae-rin early and waking up Ha-yoon, we had plenty of time.

I probably won’t need to witness the incredible combat readiness of middle school girls who solve everything in 6 minutes.

And then, back to the same routine.

But the blackened Ha-yoon that Lee Chae-rin described wasn’t visible.

Instead…

“Wanna go to the snack shop? I’ll treat you.”

“Really? Yay.”

Suddenly acting like a generous, pretty unnie.

“Gyeoul, eat more of this.”

“Really? Yay.”

At lunch, she gave me some of her pork stir-fry.

“Wanna go to the Rift? I’ll win for you.”

“Really? Yay.”

Suddenly driving the bus.

Hmm.

Do I really need to fix this?

Maybe it’s better like this….

After all, once she becomes a hero, she won’t be able to stay the pure, innocent, kind, angelic, and pretty Ha-yoon anymore.

Even if she’s corrupted and blackened, living as a pretty blackened version doesn’t seem so bad.

It’s definitely not because she buys me snacks and drives me around.

Really.

Anyway, I rationalized it and scrapped the Ha-yoon discipline plan before it was even written.

‘I don’t like Ha-yoon because she’s white, I like her because she’s Ha-yoon. Even a blackened Ha-yoon is fine. I just like Ha-yoon.’

I rationalized to the point where I didn’t even know what I was saying and decided to enjoy the day.

And so, I spent a happy academy life with Ha-yoon, who was only nice to me, as time passed.

Before I knew it, there was about a month left until vacation.

Hwarang Kim Yu-shin, my mentor and the academy’s president, summoned me.

‘Suddenly? What, he said he’d teach me swordsmanship in three months, is he planning to teach me now?’

Anyway, if I’m summoned, I have to go.

***

Jeong Gyeoul headed straight to the president’s office.

Guided by the secretary, she entered the room….

Hwarang Kim Yu-shin’s desk was piled high with documents.

‘…Is he just lazy?’

“Hello!”

“You’re here, sit down. Let me finish this and we’ll talk.”

“Okay. Take your time.”

Jeong Gyeoul sat on the chair as suggested by Hwarang, unsure if she was facing her mentor or the documents.

‘…Isn’t it a problem that the documents are taller than his sitting height?’

She sneakily checked the contents of the documents.

-Monster attack situation….

-Support for searching the Satan Church….

-Budget for strengthening the academy’s security….

-Reevaluation of condolence payments and family support for deceased staff….

-Renovation of half-destroyed buildings, 3rd draft_Final2_Final(3)_Really_Final_Fin….

The titles alone were overwhelming.

‘Ugh, let’s stop looking.’

Just then, Kim Yu-shin signed the document he was looking at and closed the folder.

He pushed the stack of documents aside and faced Jeong Gyeoul.

“So, how’s your training going?”

“Well. Haven’t you come to watch sometimes? I’m now doing 30,000 swings as a warm-up before weights.”

“…Hmm, maybe you should slow down a bit.”

“I can’t do that! I’m very fragile, you know? If a villain comes and whacks me, I might just die! I need to train hard!”

“…Isn’t it the opposite?”

“Huh?”

“No, never mind.”

Kim Yu-shin muttered the last part, so Jeong Gyeoul didn’t catch it.

‘He said something about the opposite, what was that?’

It was about Jeong Gyeoul going to a villain and getting whacked, but he didn’t want to give his disciple too much confidence, so he held back.

“Anyway, I need to go to Gyeongju.”

“Okay, have a safe trip.”

Jeong Gyeoul gave a disrespectful look, as if wondering why she was called here for something like that, and answered casually.

“…It’s not me, it’s you and Ha-yoon who are going.”

“Whaaaat? We have classes, though?”

“Honestly, you two don’t need to attend academy classes, do you? In terms of skill, you can even match the instructors.”

“…That’s a bit.”

Thinking Hwarang was exaggerating, Jeong Gyeoul desperately denied it, sensing something troublesome was about to happen, but Hwarang ignored her and continued.

“I thought it would be good for you two to gain real experience, so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Of course, you can refuse if you want.”

“Then, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to refuse….”

“Early graduation.”

“…Huh?”

Jeong Gyeoul and Ha-yoon wanted to shorten the 3-year course to 2 years.

Early graduation required the president’s approval.

Hwarang knew this, so negotiation was impossible.

“If you don’t do what I say, I won’t let you graduate early.”

“Wow, isn’t that abuse of power?”

“Then what are you going to do, report me to the Education Office?”

“…Fine, I’ll do it. Why are we going to Gyeongju?”

“You’ll find out when you get there. If I tell you in advance, you’ll prepare thoroughly through your impressive connections, and it’ll lose its meaning.”

It had only been a little over a month since Kim Yu-shin became her mentor.

He had already figured out a lot about Jeong Gyeoul.

“I’ll arrange for your classes with Teacher Choi Ye-na to be conducted remotely.”

“Ugh….”

Jeong Gyeoul’s expression turned gloomy at those words.

‘…You’re being considerate in the wrong places.’

If you ask what the best part of field experience learning is.

It’s skipping classes. Jeong Gyeoul, who was ready to answer that, couldn’t help but be disappointed.

“And here’s a card, all expenses will be covered with this.”

“…Really?”

“If it were my card, I’d tell you to eat snacks in moderation… but it’s the school budget, so eat to your heart’s content.”

“…Shouldn’t it usually be the opposite?”

She thankfully kept the disrespectful thought that her mentor was lazy and stingy to herself.

“Do we leave tomorrow morning?”

“Yes. Get a good rest today and leave tomorrow.”

With the president’s permission to use the card freely, she planned to head straight to a premium beef restaurant after leaving the academy.

‘Yay, jackpot.’

Not knowing what awaited her in Gyeongju, her first long-distance trip as a girl.

There were many things to prepare, things to tell Ha-yoon, things to tell Jeong Ha-yul.

The list of things to do was piling up, but for Jeong Gyeoul, the most important thing was the beef she’d eat as soon as she left the president’s office.

‘Yay, big win.’

 

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