“I didn’t expect a draw.”

She said, retracting the sword aimed at Kaede’s neck, and looked at her.

Kaede also looked at her for a moment, then returned the wooden sword to its place and came back.

She probably knew it too.

That the result of this sparring was her defeat.

“Thank you for accepting the sparring match.”

“Don’t mention it, and don’t be too disheartened. You’re not primarily an offensive Hunter, are you?”

In the first place, an open space like this sparring arena was practically the worst possible place for Kaede.

“Still, losing is losing. I’ll be going now, see you tomorrow.”

With those words, she disappeared in an instant.

I was admiring her speed, which was barely visible even with Hver’s Evil Eye activated, when.

[The Constellation, ‘Dark Return’ shouts, asking why you’re discouraging us.]

……?

Another Constellation?

Suddenly, a message from a Constellation with a chuunibyou-esque name, ‘Dark Return,’ popped up.

Somehow, the Constellation was saying something very motherly.

I was taken aback, but quickly regained my composure and walked, asking the Constellation.

“Are you perhaps Yami Kaede’s Constellation?”

[The Constellation, ‘Dark Return’ shouts loudly, saying yes.]

[The Constellation, ‘Moon-Cleaving Flash’ shouts, saying it’s noisy.]

[The Constellation, ‘Dark Return’ plays the blame game.]

Looking at these Constellations’ messages now, I couldn’t help but think one thing.

‘They’re like children….’

‘Dark Return’ was truly like a child with chuunibyou.

It’s kind of childish.

“Constellation, I was wrong, can you please leave now?”

[The Constellation, ‘Dark Return’ says that your power tomorrow is Kaede’s power, so it will withdraw for now.]

“Ah, thank you…”

[The Constellation, ‘Dark Return’ threatens to place a 500-year-old curse on you if Kaede gets hurt.]

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt, so don’t cast such a curse.”

With those words, the message disappeared again.

Relieved, she also returned the wooden sword she was holding to its place and left the sparring arena.

A day passed since then.

The time when Ha-yeon opened her eyes was 10 AM.

It could be said that she slept a lot, but on a day like today, sleeping a lot was actually beneficial.

The operation starts at 5 PM, so there are exactly 7 hours left.

“Should I eat lunch first? I’m hungry.”

After roughly combing her tangled hair and tying it up in a ponytail, she put on comfortable sweatpants and a black t-shirt from her carrier.

She couldn’t wear dolphin pants here, so she just brought some sweatpants.

Besides, she wasn’t going to wear them much, so she brought them casually.

After changing into both of those clothes, she left the bedroom, and just then.

“What are you doing right now, your hair is a mess!”

“…..?”

The door of the accommodation next door opened, and Ellen Maiasa appeared.

She was also in comfortable clothes, but… there was something elegant about her.

No, more than that, my hair is a mess? I tidied it up quite a bit before coming out!

“I usually go around like this….”

“That can’t be, Jin Ha-jeong sent a picture of you looking much neater.”

“…..?”

A picture?

Would Jin Ha-jeong have any reason to send Ellen a picture of me?

‘Because I’m an S-class?’

Since it’s not a normal situation, she might have sent a roughly taken picture.

She roughly pieced it together and asked Ellen.

“Then what should I do?”

“Come to my room, I’ll fix your hair.”

“Pardon?”

“What are you doing, come in quickly.”

Ha-yeon, who had been frozen for a moment at her words to come into her room quickly, moved quickly and went behind Ellen.

And what she saw when she followed her into the room was.

‘Kaede? And even Hongyeom?’

It was a bizarre scene.

Why are those two even here?

“No, why…?”

“The two of them also had messy hair, so I called them to fix it.”

The two of them too?

They look neat to anyone! Where exactly is it messy?

She had those questions, but before she had time to think, she was guided and sat down on one of the chairs scattered around the room.

“Hello…”

“Kaede? Ah, yes, hello.”

She acknowledged Kaede’s greeting next to her, but she was still out of it.

In the midst of that, another voice was heard.

“I saw your face yesterday, but this is the first time we’re talking directly. Nice to meet you, I’m Jaina Veronica.”

“Nice to meet you too. Baek Ha-yeon, Sword Demon.”

Veronica, as I said before, was a red-haired ice beauty.

Passionate-looking red hair that reached her waist.

And contrasting with that, cold-looking eyes and white skin.

Seeing them now, they’re really incredibly beautiful.

Kaede, Veronica, Ellen, and even me.

Just as I was thinking that, I felt my hair being pulled back.

“Ah!”

“Why are you tensing your neck? You’ll keep getting pulled back.”

“I understand.”

As Ellen started fixing my hair, I felt a little pain and my neck being pulled back.

When I tensed my neck, the pain went to my scalp.

The pain wasn’t that noticeable, but there’s a feeling, isn’t there?

“Why is it so tangled? Don’t you use conditioner?”

“Conditioner? I don’t…”

Thwack!

Suddenly, I felt something on my back.

I felt a stinging sensation and turned around to see a demon.

And it was the form of an evil Yaksha!

Goosebumps rose.

“No, why don’t you even think about taking care of such beautiful hair?”

“I’m sorry…”

Are all older sisters who are older than me this scary?

‘I need to be careful.’

It was a pity that she had acquired incorrect knowledge, but there was no one to correct it.

Anyway, Ellen, who seemed to have calmed down to some extent, started fixing my hair again.

At the same time, I felt the sensation of cold water.

“I’m using my ability to untangle your hair, so stay still.”

So that’s it.

The cold water that untangled the delicate areas with water disappeared after a while, and she combed my hair with a comb she brought.

“Having hair like this and not taking care of it is no different from deceiving other women, so you should take care of it, okay?”

“I’ll have to buy conditioner as soon as I get back to Korea.”

I made up my mind to buy it for sure, and after a while, the combing was over, so Ha-yeon got up and went to sit next to Kaede and Veronica.

“More than that, there’s not much time left until the big battle, but this is the first time I’ve seen people so relaxed.”

Ellen smiled slightly and replied to my words, which I blurted out thinking that they were being too relaxed.

“It’s a kind of unspoken rule. If you have a big battle coming up, don’t be gloomy and live cheerfully. It might become your grave, so at least have fun before that. You haven’t been an S-class for long, so you might not know.”

“There was such a rule….”

It was a fact I didn’t know.

I hadn’t fought such a big battle since becoming an S-class.

I fought the King of Annihilation, but to be honest, it was a 1-on-2 battle, not a large-scale battle like now, so I was less nervous.

Large-scale.

And they’re higher-ranked than the King of Annihilation.

If I’m careless, it’s straight to hell.

The abyss of death.

I was feeling gloomy for a moment, feeling the death.

“Puh-ha!”

“I told you not to be gloomy, smile.”

A lump of water sprayed towards my face.

It was a lump of water that Ellen made.

My face was covered in water because of it, but she took the water away again, and my face became soft and fluffy.

I was flustered by the two things that happened suddenly, but there was nothing I could say.

“We met like this, so how about the four of us meet up for a drink after the operation?”

Veronica spoke to me while I was still dumbfounded.

“Drink?”

“Yes, our family has very good alcohol. If you have time, I’ll invite you and give you the finest alcohol stored in our family.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!”

“…I like it too, I have nothing to do after this anyway.”

“Ha-yeon?”

Alcohol?

And from the Veronica family, which is called a prestigious family?

This is…. of course!

“Of course I’ll go. Why wouldn’t I? It’s a chance to drink the finest alcohol!”

The three of them, who had raised the corners of their mouths at that sight, smiled slightly and said.

“Then shall we go eat something first?”

After that, the four of them went straight to the restaurant.

For reference, the menu was steak, which I had never eaten before.

A lot of time has passed since lunch.

The current time is 4:30 PM.

There was about 30 minutes left until the operation started.

Well, that’s the start of the full-scale operation.

The move is from now.

Each group divided into teams and boarded the helicopter, and the helicopter began to fly towards Brighton.

My heart, which was excited and nervous about the first large-scale operation.

It was shattered in just 25 minutes.

Bang!

The helicopter shook violently.

Startled by that, I grabbed the seat tightly, and Fallen, who was in the same helicopter, moved quickly to check the external situation of the helicopter.

And the words that came out of his mouth.

“New King Church…..?”

What?

What the heck is that?

“New King Church? What’s that?”

“You might not know much about it because it hasn’t been very active in Korea yet.”

Even while saying that, he moved his mana greatly and used a skill.

At the same time, a huge barrier was created around the helicopter we were in.

It was his signature technique, Absolute Defense.

Anyway, after defending to some extent, he began to explain.

“The New King Church is a kind of cult. The problem is that it’s a cult with quite a strong force.”

I understand just from hearing this.

I think I’ve gotten caught up in a pretty troublesome situation right now.

Damn it.