Friend 1

Twenty years have passed since the first Gate appeared.

Hunters have aged, started families, and had children.

Among them, great Hunters have achieved fame comparable to chaebol chairmen or famous celebrities in the old world.

Naturally, their families often received public attention.

Particularly famous were Han Joon-hyuk and Baek Kang-hyuk.

Both had performed brilliantly in their active years, almost rivaling Lee Yeon, and were parents who had enrolled S-class awakened children in the Academy.

Han Joon-hyuk was universally praised.

He had lost his wife at a young age but had admirably raised his only daughter without succumbing to sorrow.

In contrast, Baek Kang-hyuk faced criticism.

People said he was raising his daughter too indulgently, that even for the AG generation, it was excessive.

A slightly cringeworthy way of speaking and a hint of chosen people ideology.

There were enough elements to dislike.

“I’m home, Father.”

“Ah! Our princess has returned!”

However, such public opinion was worthless to a doting parent.

Seeing Baek Da-eun return home for the weekend, Baek Kang-hyuk raised his voice.

“Is our princess doing well at school? No difficulties?”

“…Um, could you stop using the term ‘princess’ soon, Father?”

Objectively speaking, Baek Da-eun does use cringeworthy language.

“Of course! If our princess wishes, it must be so!”

However, she wasn’t at the level of Baek Kang-hyuk, who called a seventeen-year-old maiden ‘princess’.

“By the way, are you really okay? If there are any terrorists or such, tell me anytime! Daddy will sweep them all away!”

It was overprotection.

Overprotection with a reason.

What parent wouldn’t be outraged when their daughter was attacked by terrorists?

Baek Kang-hyuk took in the sight of his lovely daughter.

Something didn’t quite fit.

“Ah, right. Come to think of it, aren’t you wearing the coat?”

“…”

The coat.

The one his lovely daughter had suddenly said she absolutely needed.

As it was his lovely daughter’s request, rejection wasn’t an option.

Baek Kang-hyuk had prepared an expensive item, even by chaebol standards.

“That…”

Baek Da-eun isn’t the type to lie to her parents.

So, what should she say?

“…Well,”

How should she express it?

About Han Seoyeon.

“I gave it to a friend. As a gift.”

“A friend, you say?”

Friend.

It was a somewhat unfamiliar word to the Baek family.

This was the first time Baek Da-eun had mentioned a friend.

“…As a gift to a friend who saved my life.”

Moreover, twice.

“…”

But thinking back after saying it, it was a somewhat awkward sentence.

Baek Da-eun is rich.

She has enormous wealth.

However, suddenly saying she gave away such an expensive coat as a gift was clearly strange.

Depending on the interpretation, it could even be seen as Baek Da-eun being a victim of school violence, with the perpetrator taking her belongings.

“What did you say…!”

Baek Kang-hyuk asked again.

“Our princess has a… friend?”

However, it wasn’t a question.

It was pure amazement.

“My, my goodness! To think our Da-eun has made a friend…!”

As a parent, this was an undeniable fact.

A first friend, for his precious daughter!

“If I had known this, I should have ordered an even better coat…!”

He only felt regret.

If it was a gift for a friend, he should have procured the best coat in Korea somehow.

“If that was the case, you should have told me earlier!”

“Yes…”

“No, this won’t do! How about inviting that friend to our house sometime?”

An outrageous suggestion.

Baek Da-eun’s eyes widened.

“Th-That’s a bit…!”

“…Oh, is it not possible?”

Dejected.

Baek Kang-hyuk hung his head.

“…”

Baek Da-eun hesitated to answer.

The act of inviting a friend home.

In a sense, it was something Baek Da-eun herself desired.

Baek Da-eun remembered Han Seoyeon and Michaela’s joint absence.

Both were said to have had some circumstances, and even the student council president had recognized their attendance.

But that couldn’t be all there was to it.

It was Han Seoyeon, who had been constantly showing affection towards Michaela.

Something must have happened.

Something Baek Da-eun didn’t know.

Something just between the two of them that someone like Baek Da-eun didn’t need to know.

That was only natural.

After all, Baek Da-eun was an outsider to the two of them.

Yet why did it bother her?

If she could have it, she wanted it.

Baek Da-eun too, wanted time with that girl.

“…”

But was that okay?

Wasn’t it only due to Han Seoyeon’s one-sided kindness that she was considered a friend?

Did she have the right to invite a friend home?

She was a liar, after all.

She should refuse.

It wasn’t courteous to Han Seoyeon, that kind girl.

“…I’ll try.”

“R-Really!”

Simply because no daughter wants to see her father’s gloomy face.

Baek Da-eun reluctantly said so.

It was a dirty excuse.

From the moment she couldn’t firmly refuse.

Baek Da-eun inadvertently began to hope.

How happy would she be if she could play at home with that girl?

“Tell her she’s welcome anytime! Daddy welcomes her wholeheartedly!”

She had consciously used her father as an excuse for a defense mechanism.

It was truly disgusting and repulsive thinking.

However, if she could have time alone with her even by doing that, she would─.

Han Seoyeon is in a good mood.

A very good mood, at that.

One for avoiding the most terrible event from the original story.

One for being able to keep the children from dying.

One for the hidden quest reward.

And the clearly closer relationship with Michaela that anyone could see.

The noticeably different sense of distance from before.

“…Hehe.”

She said it was okay to rely on her.

She said it was okay to trust her.

Isn’t this a green light?

Isn’t it?

Isn’t it!

Thanks to that, her smile wouldn’t stop.

Han Seoyeon had been smiling all day.

It’s close.

It’s not far off.

An intimate slugfest with senior─.

“We’ll be parting briefly for this weekend.”

“Huh…?”

A bolt from the blue strikes.

Han Seoyeon, not surprisingly, miserably defeated again.

“It might be boring alone, but it can’t be helped.”

“Wh-Why…!”

The golden weekend of a high school girl in puberty.

The words that came from Michaela were of parting.

“…Did, did I do something wrong? If so, I’m really, really sorry. If you tell me what it is, I’ll fix it right away. So,”

“It’s not that.”

One should always listen to the end of what people say.

“It’s the workplace experience period, isn’t it? For second-year students, during this weekend.”

“…Ah.”

Only then did Han Seoyeon feel relieved.

Workplace experience period.

An event that Hunter Academy students experience once a year.

The order is third-year, second-year, first-year students.

It was something Han Seoyeon would experience soon too.

The reason she didn’t notice was that in the original story, the second-year workplace experience period had no meaning for the story progression.

“…Senior is always too mean to me.”

Above all, when the person you love suddenly whispers about parting, it’s impossible to think normally.

“Hmph! I’m sulking!”

“If I was mean, I apologize. Is there something you want?”

“Wa-Want…!”

Han Seoyeon’s eyes sparkled.

“A-Anything is possible?”

“As long as it’s not an unreasonable request.”

It was an unexpected stroke of luck.

Han Seoyeon was overjoyed.

The gloom she just felt completely vanished.

A request.

Such a thing was already decided.

Haven’t we not touched it recently?

That large and beautiful shape of the heart.

“Well, I can pretty much guess what you’re going to ask.”

Michaela closes the distance.

No, being this proactive is too flustering─.

“Hick…!”

Kindly.

Gently.

Michaela, as before, patted Han Seoyeon’s head.

“Hu, ah, uh…!”

It’s different from what she thought.

Han Seoyeon’s primary goal should have been that large heart.

She wasn’t being touched, she was trying to touch.

“Hu, huuh…!”

Her face turns red.

‘This is weird, this is weird…!’

It’s just having her head patted.

It should be, but at this rate.

‘I, I’m not passive, I’m active…!’

To be happy about being patted.

At this rate, she’s clearly not active but passive, isn’t she?

She should refuse.

She should push away.

And then proudly declare.

That Han Seoyeon is active.

That she’s not the one being touched, but the one touching.

“Se-Senior, I─”

“Is this enough?”

“N-No! It’s still far from enough!”

Because she definitely couldn’t be passive.

“I, I won’t be able to see you for two days! So, pat me more…”

…Because she couldn’t be.

“You’re quite spoiled.”

“Oh, is it not okay…?”

“No. It’s not a problem.”

For a long time after that, Michaela stroked Han Seoyeon’s hair.

She touched each strand of hair delicately.

“…Uuh.”

Her body was honest.

Too honest.

“Senior is stupid.”

“…I don’t understand.”

Their relationship was still just friends.

On the surface, for now.

“It’s a rare weekend. How about going out somewhere? With your friends, perhaps.”

“Well…”

Other friends, huh.

With the date and skipping school, Han Seoyeon hadn’t been paying attention to those two for a while.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Suho in a while…’

Baek Da-eun showed her face during lunch time.

She was there during classes too.

Han Suho wasn’t seen.

Since the first day of the Complete Victory Festival.

Was he busy?

Well, as the heir to a major corporation, he couldn’t help but be busy.

Didn’t they say he won the Complete Victory Festival too?

As expected, he was my proud brother.

“Senior.”

“What is it?”

Anyway, putting that aside.

“Suggesting I play with other people like that, what if I get netorare’d or something!”

She was a bit dissatisfied.

She understood the intention of not wanting her to be bored, but isn’t this leaving a girl with a crush too defenseless?

“…What is ne, torare?”

“What─!”

It was a blind spot.

Michaela, who had lived a life completely disconnected from internet culture as Europe’s hope, couldn’t understand what Han Seoyeon was saying at all.

“Well, it means having your lover stolen away…”

“Aren’t we friends?”

“…Well, that’s true, but.”

“Moreover.”

Michaela declared.

“That won’t happen.”

“You, you can’t be sure of that!”

This time, Han Seoyeon didn’t back down.

Push and pull.

It was a chance to raise Michaela’s affection.

“I can be sure.”

“…Based on what?”

“You are not a woman who would turn her eyes away from me just because I’m away for a short while.”

“─!”

Ah, this won’t do. This is.

The match has been decided.

“Don’t disparage yourself with such words.”

“…Okay.”

Passive.

Maybe, it’s not so bad.

It might even be good.

“It’s just a brief parting. Wait for a little while. I hope you’ll enjoy your weekend without saying self-deprecating things either.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll do that.”

Han Seoyeon nodded mindlessly.

Michaela was right.

The person she had fallen for was one of a kind in this world.

There was no way she would look elsewhere.

Probably.

“Han Seoyeon.”

Baek Da-eun asked.

“Would you like to come over to my house this weekend?”