Chapter 2. Encounters and Opportunities (4)

After diligently filling my stomach in the middle of the night, I returned to my room and slept soundly.

It’s good to have a young and healthy body. If it were before my past life, my stomach would have been upset, and I wouldn’t have been able to sleep comfortably.

Or, as Ria said, perhaps my body was even more exhausted because I used my special powers.

“Good morning…”

Well, even though I slept soundly, the morning wasn’t exactly refreshing.

It’s March, but it’s a bit early to say spring has fully arrived. Yellow forsythias were blooming, but it was still a time when the sun hadn’t fully risen in the early morning, and I, who am particularly weak in the mornings, found it a bit difficult to wake up before the sun had even risen.

In the summer, it will be hot, but the sun rises early, so waking up will be a little easier.

In any case, the weather in this country is bothersome because as soon as you think it’s okay, you start noticing one or two things that aren’t.

“Goo-ood mo-ning- Pfft!?”

Ria, who was getting up from her seat to greet me, let out a sound as if she had been ambushed.

“…What?”

Isn’t it usually rude to burst into laughter upon seeing someone’s face right after waking up?

I touched my face with my hand, wondering if I had drooled in my sleep, but Ria, understanding that it wasn’t a pleasant thing, managed to catch her breath and stop laughing.

“Go to the bathroom.”

At Ria’s words, I stumbled to my feet and headed to the bathroom.

And I was horrified when I looked in the mirror.

My face was puffy.

It seemed like eating too many carbohydrates before bed last night was the problem. Yes, I had a hard time opening my eyes for some reason.

…And Ria saw this face head-on.

Perhaps I should refrain from eating ramen late at night from now on.

I thought with a sigh.

*

After washing my face with cold water to reduce the swelling while showering-unfortunately, it didn’t completely subside- and finishing my morning routine, Ria and I followed the Nun Superior towards the patient room.

Although I didn’t have professional medical knowledge, I had developed a decent eye for patients from seeing them so far.

Unless it’s a case contaminated with magic, one treatment is enough, unless there’s a peculiar creature like the parasite I saw once before. Especially in the case of this patient, it wasn’t a peculiar injury, but simply many deep wounds on the body.

I had properly heard the stories from other witnesses after I fainted. It seemed that a hunter, lacking combat experience, had become like that when a monstrous beast- as the witnesses described it- suddenly emerged while patrolling beyond the gate.

Coincidentally, a female hunter who had known the male hunter for a long time was with him at the time, and the male hunter desperately threw himself in front of the female hunter to protect her, it is said.

Again and again. Until there was no uninjured part left on his body.

Until higher-ranked hunters came and somehow drove away the beast.

Fortunately, the place where the gate appeared was near Bukhansan. If it had appeared on a mountain ridge, he would have died from excessive bleeding before reaching here, but fortunately, it was near a road, so he was able to get here quickly.

“…Huh?”

Wait a minute.

This story sounds familiar.

I don’t mean that the people here told me.

It’s a common tragedy for a high-level monster to suddenly appear from a low-level gate and massacre nearby hunters, or for an overwhelming monster to be lurking deep beyond a gate that was judged to be low-level. It was also natural for a loving hunter couple to be involved in such a situation.

However, even considering that, the story is familiar.

The protagonist who sacrificed himself for his childhood friend, even with his body covered in blood, multiple times. And then, a saint heals such a protagonist-

“Anna?”

“Ah, yes.”

I had stopped walking without realizing it, so the Nun Superior, who was walking ahead, was looking at me with a strange expression.

Ria, who was walking beside me, was the same.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

Ria asked.

“No, it’s not that.”

I shook my head.

Right.

It must be… well, it’s not. I don’t have much evidence, but I want to believe it’s not.

The male side, whose facial skin was almost peeled off, was naturally impossible to identify by face, but in the midst of that chaos, I faintly remembered the female side.

Unlike in the novel, her hairstyle wasn’t a ponytail.

So, well, it’s probably not.

Isn’t that right? In the original web novel, the heroine’s hairstyle usually doesn’t change until the end of the novel. Even that hairstyle is treated as a kind of ‘attribute,’ so it’s natural.

At this point, the heroine near the protagonist is not the long-haired heroine.

Of course, even before the main story, the protagonist already owes his life to the Saint heroine, and the childhood friend heroine is mentioned to be nearby, and the protagonist repeatedly throws himself in danger to save that childhood friend- the childhood friend, who had a hunter rank one level higher than the protagonist, was injured and could do nothing but watch- this story is mentioned once in the novel!

Perhaps because of that, the protagonist completely trusts the Saint’s abilities and can entrust the rear to her! But somehow, she gives off an atmosphere of trusting the Saint more than the childhood friend, which is frustrating!

The main story begins in the season transitioning from autumn to winter, doesn’t it? There’s still a lot of time left until then… I believe there is!

“Uh… are you okay?”

Ria asked me with a serious expression. The Nun Superior, perhaps after hearing such a story from Ria, was also looking at me with a slightly worried expression.

“Sister Anna, if you’re tired, you can go and rest. The wound from yesterday was serious by general standards, but it wasn’t contaminated with magic.”

“That’s right. If you’re tired, why don’t you just go back to your room and rest?”

“Ah, no.”

I shook my head and refused their offer.

“I need to confirm something.”

That’s right.

I had to confirm whether the two people I met yesterday were the protagonists of the novel I knew.

Probably not, but that’s why I’m not exactly a Saint, but rather a Saint candidate, so it’s not really that, but if I don’t check how the situation is unfolding, I won’t know how things are going.

I took a deep breath and moved my feet.

The Nun Superior and Ria, who had stopped as if startled, also followed me a moment later.

Creak.

As I opened the patient room door and entered, I saw numerous beds, almost all empty, as usual.

The only patients occupying the beds were the two at the very end.

One was a woman, and the other was a man.

The woman still had long straight hair. Good. Then, I’ll let that slide for now.

“Ah, Sisters-“

The man lying at the very end, who was about to greet us happily and express his gratitude, was smiling brightly at me.

Around him, as always, nuns and a priest were already present to protect me.

But this time, I didn’t keep my distance and hide. I walked past the startled nuns and priest, who were confused by my unusual behavior, and stood in front of the man.

Perhaps because the entire process flowed so naturally, the people around me didn’t have time to express their surprise.

“Hmm.”

I stared intently at the man’s face.

Compared to yesterday, when his facial bones were almost visible, he looked like a completely different person.

White, soft skin. A face that looked like the result of the being above trying desperately to express handsomeness on a human face.

But the face of the male protagonist I knew was an SD. So, that alone wasn’t enough to distinguish him.

Dark, shining eyes, check.

Dark, glossy hair, also check.

“Hmmmm.”

“Uh, Sister?”

Seeing me lean in and tilt my head, the man spoke in a bewildered voice.

Good. His manners are good, unlike some previous patients. He didn’t grab me abruptly.

I stepped back and said,

“Excuse me, Brother, could you perhaps push your bangs back like this?”

“What? My bangs?”

“Yes. It’s very important.”

Unlike in novels, real hair moves easily. Ponytails and side tails are easy to keep in place once tied, but bangs and side hair can be blown away by the wind.

“Uh, uh…”

Seeing me touch my bangs, the man awkwardly moved his hand.

Frustrated by that, I touched his bangs and tried to shape them.

“What!?”

The woman lying right next to him let out a scream, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Uh, excuse me, Sister!?”

The man was also extremely flustered, but I managed to mess up his bangs and create a slightly messy but subtly neat hairstyle.

And I took a deep breath, then exhaled again.

“Brother, what is your name?”

My voice trembled slightly as I asked.

“Ah, um…”

The man’s eyes darted around, appearing nervous from the gazes of those around him, and he replied with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“My name is Lee Si-yoon. I’m ashamed to be like this on my first mission, but I’m a Rank 7 Hunter-“

I didn’t hear the explanation that followed.

His appearance and name were enough.

As I put my hand on my forehead and stumbled backward, Ria quickly supported me.

Ah, I see.

So, the incident that happened yesterday was the very incident mentioned in the novel-

Perhaps, I thought, I had become the one pushing away the childhood friend heroine I had so strongly supported.

…This is how I came to meet that man, the protagonist Lee Si-yoon.