Circumstances 2

People have innate natures.

There are unchanging tendencies given from birth.

The righteous are righteous.

The wicked are wicked.

The criterion that divides this is strength.

The degree of ability.

This was Lee Ha-yul’s value system.

Of course, Lee Ha-yul’s values weren’t like this from the beginning.

Lee Ha-yul is a genius.

She was born with a great talent that no one in the world could deny.

A powerful S-class ability.

Innate combat sense proportional to that ability.

In events like the Youth Hunter Camp, she never failed to take first place.

Some called her the most promising talent of the AG generation.

The media spotlight focused even more on the fact that she wasn’t the child of first-generation heroes, but was born and raised in an ordinary hunter family.

In other words, she was a dragon born from a small stream.

However, Lee Ha-yul at that time didn’t like being praised as a dragon born from a small stream.

It’s natural for a child to love their parents.

Lee Ha-yul loved her parents.

Her parents never spared praise whenever she achieved good results as a promising hunter.

People around her constantly praised her.

Lee Ha-yul worked hard every day.

It was for herself, and for her parents.

It was to make them smile, and to see their smiles.

The family smiled at each other every day.

It was a time of unending laughter.

It was a harmonious family that everyone would envy.

But at the same time, it couldn’t be an ordinary family.

Because while Lee Ha-yul was strong, her parents were not.

At some point, the smiles gradually disappeared.

Praise stopped coming.

Her father was an ordinary hunter.

An Awakener of the ordinary C-class rank.

A common South Korean office worker.

It was said to have happened on an ordinary day at work.

He was told he was too weak compared to his daughter.

That he was incompetent.

Words that started as jokes eventually became drunken truths, he said.

A small guild for C-class Awakeners.

He experienced unfairness, he said.

He received a huge emotional wound from party members he had been with for years, he said.

Among the sneers he heard, there were words like this.

There’s no way a genius like that could be your child.

Didn’t your wife have an affair somewhere?

Her father quit his job.

Sometimes, when drunk, her father would repeat those sneers to her mother as drunken ramblings.

Her mother cried.

She picked a day, and crying, tightly holding Lee Ha-yul’s small hand, had a paternity test done.

The result was, of course, a genetic match.

There was no doubt about paternity.

It’s just that the words that followed weren’t “I’m sorry for doubting,” but a suspicious “Why are you even lying about the paternity test?”

Her mother was an ordinary person.

A common South Korean housewife.

The sudden collapse that hit the family was difficult for an ordinary person to endure, she said.

A husband who quit his job and grumbles all day while drunk.

Asking who she had an affair with, how great an Awakener the other person was.

Small suspicions soon became irreversible.

The utterly ordinary mother was hurt no less than the father.

She was still young.

So where could she vent those wounds?

Well, there’s no need to spell it out.

There were many men better than a drunkard in the world.

Her father drank all day with his retirement money.

Her mother disappeared somewhere every day with a new man.

Only Lee Ha-yul was left.

And the media exposed Lee Ha-yul’s circumstances in detail.

There were no allies.

She became the target of finger-pointing.

Wherever she went, the finger-pointing didn’t stop.

It was because she showed weakness.

In a world of survival of the fittest.

People whispered in unison that her outstanding talent had ruined her family.

Some said they sympathized with Lee Ha-yul.

Some said they understood Lee Ha-yul’s parents.

Because she was too outstanding, she became a child who ruined her family, and was ostracized by people.

She became a loner.

No one cared about her.

“Hey.”

It was in the midst of this.

“What are you doing alone?”

Eight years old.

Lee Ha-yul met a girl with black hair and black eyes.

“If you have nothing to do, want to play hunter with me?”

A girl with a practice wooden sword at her waist.

That girl calmly approached Lee Ha-yul.

She didn’t know her name or age.

Just a girl who remained in memory as lively and kind.

To Lee Ha-yul, whom no one wanted to get close to due to her powerful ability and unfortunate family history, this child approached without hesitation, friendly.

“Since we just met today, I’ll specially let you have the hunter role!”

Pft, she laughed unconsciously.

Playing hunter?

What a childish name.

Judging by her hair and eye color, she was still an immature child who hadn’t even awakened.

Unlike this immature child, Lee Ha-yul had experienced.

Hardships unthinkable for a mere eight-year-old child.

“…It’s annoying, I don’t want to.”

“Really? It’s fun though? Playing hunter?”

How could she enjoy such a childish game of pretending to be a hunter?

“Raaawr! The strongest monster among monsters roared! It was super strong, the strongest among monsters! It beat all the hunters! It beat them all even if they all came at once!”

It was noisy.

It was irritating.

The unnecessary commotion was annoying.

Surely it was just a weakling coming to fawn over her, the strong one.

Lee Ha-yul ignored her.

Again and again.

“Hello! Want to play hunter today too?”

Despite being ignored again and again, that child approached.

“…Why don’t you stop?”

“Stop what?”

“If you have ulterior motives, just say it honestly.”

So she spoke bluntly.

She was strong, and not a coward.

“Ulterior motives?”

“Don’t play dumb!”

She shouted.

At a child younger than her.

“…I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”

The child just tilted her head.

“Okay. If you dislike playing together that much, I can’t help it. I won’t force you anymore.”

She tilted her head, and disappeared.

“…”

It was quiet.

There was nothing noisy around her.

Why was it?

It didn’t feel good.

Rather, it felt somewhat empty.

Had she gotten used to that noise?

“…Um.”

The child appeared again.

“You know, don’t you think it would be more fun to play together after all?”

Always with a smile, never losing it.

“…Why do you care about me?”

“Well, you looked depressed?”

Always smiling, she played together.

That child was strong.

Strong in heart, and kind.

Unlike her weak parents.

That child eventually became her light.

Even when her father was lost in alcohol and ignored her.

Even when her mother was lost in men and abandoned her.

Even when the media and public tore her apart.

“Well, since I’ve always been the monster, this time I’ll be the hunter!”

She could endure because that child was there.

That child who always gave her smiles.

“Lee Ha-yul. Is that right?”

That happiness soon came to an end.

“Here is the promised compensation. From now on, your parental rights and custody are revoked.”

They sold her.

Those incompetents.

Their child.

“Please do not associate with Lee Ha-yul again from now on.”

A strange man in a gray-white uniform said.

“Come now, Ha-yul.”

The government’s decision that they couldn’t leave a capable talent to domestic violence.

The parents casually sold their child.

“Ah, wait…!”

Without leaving a single word, Lee Ha-yul was separated from the girl.

Even that momentary happiness was taken away.

Why did it turn out like this?

The answer was simple.

Because Lee Ha-yul’s parents were weak.

It’s a world of survival of the fittest.

Where it’s natural for the weak to be weeded out.

Where it’s natural to be incompetent and worthless.

Because her parents were weak, they could casually do such a worthless thing.

She was bitten because she showed weakness to those who were once her parents.

…If that’s the case, fine.

It was what she wanted.

She would become strong.

She would become the best hunter.

The beasts wearing the mask of the weak sold their child.

They had no reason to be respected.

Those weak ones were just worthless humans who deceived others under the excuse of incompetence.

She would become the best hunter and someday cleanly erase the race of the weak from this world.

Isn’t there a saying about misfortune turning into blessing?

Fortunately, Lee Ha-yul reunited.

Though her hair color had changed, with that child from back then.

As expected, that child was also an outstanding Awakener.

Those with good character like this were outstanding, while those with bad character were inferior like her parents.

It seemed that child didn’t remember the past.

If it can’t be helped, it can’t be helped.

The separation was sudden, and they were young.

She wouldn’t let go this time.

She wanted to be with that child.

“Tsk. Confiscation of bean sprouts, 1000 times.”

“Ah, why are you doing this again!”

“Eating only bean sprouts is bad for your health.”

But.

“Eat meat. Meat.”

“You evil bourgeoisie! Enemy of the proletariat!”

But why.

“By the way, I’ve long since bought out all the bean sprout shops in this area. So stop arguing and just eat some nutritious food. Got it?”

Why is that kind child caring so much?

Putting Lee Ha-yul aside.

For that incompetent.

“No matter how much you puff up your cheeks, no means no.”

“…Hmph!”

Grind.

Lee Ha-yul ground her teeth.

It must be that cunning incompetent trying to leech off Han Seoyeon.

It was unforgivable.

A con artist trying to butter up her only friend.

The student council president of the Academy.

In that meritocracy, being the representative of the students was clear-cut.

The best Awakener among enrolled students.

A talent that will shine for South Korea.

“I want to know the reason.”

Such a talent frowned fiercely.

“Why is only that incompetent allowed to casually violate school rules?”

“Th-that’s…”

Killing intent unbecoming of a student.

The ordinary professors trembled.

They didn’t know either.

It was just a unilateral directive based on hierarchy.

“I’ll answer! It’s because the principal said so!”

The Academy was a strange place.

The terms ‘principal’ used in high schools and ‘professor’ used in universities were mixed.

No one pointed this out.

Because the hero named it so.

Who could object to the hero’s words?

The school rules were the same.

Ordinary professors had no right to speak about the rules.

“That’s not a reason, it’s a cause.”

“She said benefits are needed for excellent students!”

“Excellent student, you say.”

Everyone was mistaken.

That con artist was not excellent.

In the end, going round and round, the incompetent are inferior.

Even if they seem to have good aspects, the end will always be worthless.

It could only be worthless.

Just like her own parents.

“I understand.”

Miracles don’t happen twice.

It’s a miracle because it doesn’t happen twice.

Carol is the weakest among S-class monsters.

Lee Ha-yul could kill such a monster with one strike.

It was a simple story.

She would expose that incompetent’s true nature.

At the upcoming Complete Victory Festival.

In front of the eyes of the whole world.

In front of the hero.

“You seem quite lucky, Han Seo-yeon.”

“…Hello, Student Council President senior.”

In front of none other than Han Seoyeon.

“Try your best on the exam.”

She would make that ugly truth blatantly clear.

She was walking without thinking.

In the midst of that, she got caught up in a meaningless provocation.

“Try your best on the exam.”

It’s truly remarkable, if remarkable.

Han Seo-yeon was certain of this.

Indeed, a heroine thirsting for male attention selected by Forbes (※not actually).

However, it was strange if strange.

Lee Ha-yul was indeed a racist.

But in the original work, the bullying shouldn’t have started at this time yet.

In [The Falling Star Swordsman of the Academy], Lee Ha-yul started to seriously antagonize the protagonist from the latter half of the Complete Victory Festival.

It was from around the time when the protagonist’s foolishness prevented her from killing the terrorist.

There was only one possibility.

Was it Han Seoyeon after all?

That devilish blonde delinquent!

When did she seduce the heroine again without her older sister knowing!

As a result of that, unreasonable violence came to Han Seo-yeon, who doesn’t know the coolness of love.

‘…Well.’

Han Seo-yeon shook her head.

‘It’s not like I’ve committed any crime.’

A depressing story heroine.

In other words, a heroine who goes through the washing machine.

A heroine who can be washed.

Even if her ideology is completely twisted, she hasn’t actually acted on it yet.

In the end, she’s just a pubescent girl who hasn’t escaped from chuunibyou.

‘At least for now.’

The soon-to-come Complete Victory Festival.

There, Lee Ha-yul will face.

The opportunity she’s been dreaming of, to legally kill an inferior species.

The opponent is a villain.

A terrorist.

There won’t be a moment of hesitation.

It had to be stopped.

After stopping it, she’ll put her in the washing machine and spin her round and round.

So she becomes clean.

So she can return to that innocent child she met when she was about seven years old.