Chapter 290: The Colleague Sunbae Who Hates Me (2)

Areum, upon seeing the spearhead that exploded due to my and Cha Yuri’s linked magic, was momentarily dumbfounded, but ultimately, she accepted the repair request without much hesitation.

In the first place, the shaft part was just a mass-produced item attached, and the only part that required direct work was the spearhead, so recovering the spearhead alone from a 500,000 won spear was practically equivalent to preserving 400,000 won worth of value.

“By the way, who on earth is this junior of yours, Unnie? Where do they swing a spear around to have wrecked it like this?”

“Uh, it’s… something like that…”

“Well, you wouldn’t know, Unnie. Still, if it’s their weapon, they should fix it themselves. Why are you having Unnie do it?”

“…I’ll tell them to be careful next time.”

It seemed like the fact that I can even use spear techniques should probably be revealed soon.

If it stays like this, Areum’s imaginary junior will unfairly take all the undeserved criticism.

Or perhaps, if they don’t come to entrust their weapon themselves, she might not accept it.

“So, can you fix it?”

“Seriously. It’s just a matter of attaching a new shaft, this isn’t even a repair. The cost for the shaft and the service fee will be one large bill.”

“…Okay, I’ll leave it then.”

Is one use of explosion magic worth 100,000 won?

Although the material value of the Sandstone Sentinel obtained from that one blast far exceeds it, it was still a price that couldn’t be used carelessly.

Besides, using it required coordination with Cha Yuri. At least while active as the Sky Blue Shield, I wouldn’t be able to use it due to Cheon Jihee Sunbae’s scrutiny, so the situations where I could use it were limited.

…Cheon Jihee Sunbae continues to weigh on my mind here too.

“…Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Okay, Unnie! Come pick up your spear when it’s all fixed!”

“Yeah. See you next time, Areum.”

With complicated thoughts swirling in my head, I slowly walked away from Areum’s workshop.

If only I could reveal to Cheon Jihee Sunbae, at the very least, that I am a multiple awakener, many aspects of the Sky Blue Shield could be resolved, and we could move forward.

How could I possibly persuade someone who has thought poorly of me since our first meeting?

When I revealed the details about multiple awakenings, would she actually believe me and view it positively?

With such complex thoughts, I started moving in the direction of the company for now.

Just hesitating and sitting around wouldn’t change anything anyway. Because nothing would change regardless.

For now, I had to move somewhere and try something for the story to progress.

Even by chance, it would be good to get a chance to meet Cheon Jihee Sunbae at the company and talk, or to roam the company’s B or A-class dungeons for personal training, or at the very least, to fulfill the minimum attendance days for the company guild.

To get anything moving for now, it was better to go to the company than the union.

Even if I started work in the afternoon, as long as I submitted sufficient results, the company would recognize it as work.

Although I had achieved the major goal of changing companies, it wasn’t time to rest yet, as there were still many problems to solve.

So many, and so very tricky problems.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Eun & Ok Co., Ltd., Gangdong District Branch.

In the Sky Blue Shield conference room on the 14th floor, three hunters were in the midst of writing a report about the ‘Ancient Underground Cave’.

“…And, was there nothing in the seventh room here?”

“Ah, as soon as I entered there, I disarmed the traps first. You know that suspicious drawing shaped like an X in the middle of that room? There were several unsafe stepping stones around it.”

“Really? Then, Min-ah, you write this part. Jeehee-ssi and I are clueless when it comes to traps.”

“Okay~. What I wrote earlier about the seventh room… Ah, here it is.”

“Hye-eun~. I finished writing the report for the fifth room~.”

“Ah, thank you, Jeehee-ssi. Then the report for the Ancient Underground Cave is almost complete.”

“Hye-eun, are you on the last page of the report too? Should Unnie help you a bit~?”

“…It’s okay. Please stay a little further away, Jeehee-ssi.”

Kang Hye-eun, Han Min-ah, Cheon Jihee.

The squad of the Sky Blue Shield, composed of three members, meticulously checked their words and wrote the report on the B-class dungeon they had just finished exploring.

Generally, hunter party hunts that clear monster dungeons involve following pre-existing strategy guides and submitting only the final result report.

Occasionally, going around lower-level dungeons like this and writing reports on strategy guides was one of the main tasks undertaken by company-affiliated hunter parties.

Generally, dungeon investigations conducted by the company itself considered monster levels or terrain, etc., only confirming the approximate dungeon grade, and usually, detailed materials like specific hazards or monster response methods were not created.

For such dungeons, it was common practice for higher-ranked hunters to visit and create easy strategy guides. This was the standard method for dungeon攻略.

And then, lower-ranked hunter parties would quote and use the strategy guides created that way. This was how it was done.

True to the company guild’s safety-first principle, this method was famous for resulting in almost no casualties.

Of course, even amidst this, dungeons of S-rank or higher with unclear strategy guides still remained tricky challenges.

Unlike the typical hunts performed by hunter parties, writing strategy guides was a somewhat tedious task, so there were parties that disliked or outright refused this duty.

At least these three people, including the party leader Kang Hye-eun, rather enjoyed the task of lower-level dungeon strategy guides.

For Kang Hye-eun, it was because they could be referenced when tackling higher-ranked dungeons.

Han Min-ah, because the more her written strategy guides were cited, the more performance bonuses she received.

And Cheon Jihee… because during the time spent writing reports, she could freely talk with Kang Hye-eun.

Cheon Jihee, the A-class brawler hunter of the Sky Blue Shield.

The fact that she showed particular favor towards Kang Hye-eun was already well-known within the Sky Blue Shield.

Even Cha Yuri, who usually doesn’t care much about others’ affairs, could immediately tell that Cheon Jihee’s attitude towards Kang Hye-eun differed from her attitude towards others, so it goes without saying how deep her favor towards Kang Hye-eun was.

Of course, Kang Hye-eun also noticed that Cheon Jihee’s feelings towards her were a bit excessive, but she herself considered these feelings to be merely ‘excessive friendship’.

Whenever the opportunity arose, Cheon Jihee would try to cling to her, but it wasn’t to an unpleasant degree that crossed the line, and on days when Kang Hye-eun wasn’t feeling well, she would carefully read the room and not bother her.

Furthermore, even after hearing that Kang Hye-eun had recently gotten a boyfriend, Cheon Jihee maintained a consistently similar attitude, making it difficult to imagine that she had developed romantic feelings for her because of it.

If her attitude had changed even slightly, Kang Hye-eun might have suspected her previous feelings, but if the feelings were based on friendship, it was normal for them not to change.

Therefore, Cheon Jihee’s unrequited love, unnoticed by anyone, continued to grow within the Sky Blue Shield.

How the two of them became so close was unknown even to the other party members.

Even Han Min-ah, who frequently went on assignments to other parties and boasted a wide network within the company, even she didn’t know.

Because, when Kang Hye-eun and Cheon Jihee first met, Han Min-ah was still just a D-class hunter.

Recognized for her talent, Kang Hye-eun worked as an apprentice hunter since high school, becoming a C-class hunter upon graduation, and started working in the same party as Cheon Jihee shortly after joining the company.

Rather, after Kang Hye-eun officially formed the Sky Blue Shield, Han Min-ah and Cha Yuri joined relatively later.

Han Min-ah, who sometimes observed the two from a third-party perspective, had caught glimpses of Cheon Jihee’s feelings a few times, but that was as far as it went.

‘Well, if Hye-eun really disliked her, she would have kicked Sister Jihee out from the start. Or she would have explicitly warned her not to get close.’

Always blocked by thoughts like these, Han Min-ah’s speculations always remained at this level.

Thus, within the conference room filled with mixed emotions and hidden feelings, the Sky Blue Shield’s dungeon exploration report was completed before they knew it.

Kang Hye-eun, standing up from her seat, declared their dispersal to the other two.

“I’ll submit the report to the Dungeon Research Department and head home. You worked hard, Jeehee-ssi. And you too, Min-ah.”

“You worked hard~. My Hye-eun~.”

“I’m planning to leave early today too. Let’s go together, Hye-eun.”

“Would you like that?”

Kang Hye-eun, who stood up gathering her report and belongings, looked at Cheon Jihee, who remained in the conference room, and asked.

“Are you heading home too, Jeehee-ssi? Tomorrow is a group expedition day where Cha Yuri-ssi and Taekyung… Sung Taekyung also comes to work, so I recommend not overdoing it and resting in the afternoon.”

Sung Taekyung.

At the name of a man spoken by Kang Hye-eun, Cheon Jihee’s movements momentarily stopped.

The new male hunter who recently caused a stir in the company.

Also, receiving a B-rank right from the start, a new member who joined the Sky Blue Shield.

And, the detestable man who stole the Hye-eun she loved.

Hearing the three characters of Sung Taekyung’s name from her lips, Cheon Jihee immediately harbored competitive feelings towards the unseen man in her heart.

Surely, it was I who had worked alongside Hye-eun as a hunter for a long time. It was definitely me.

Instead, Hye-eun seemed to pay much more attention to that man who joined later, so seeing that sight, Cheon Jihee couldn’t help but feel her insides twist.

If only his skills were lacking, she could have argued he wasn’t suited for the Sky Blue Shield, but even after just one group hunt, Sung Taekyung clearly showed his skills, and he did.

Seeing Hye-eun and the other colleagues, whose burdens were eased thanks to him, she found herself unable to bring up such objections.

Towards Cheon Jihee, who stood frozen with a stiff expression, Kang Hye-eun called her name again.

“Jeehee-ssi?”

“…I think I’ll do a bit more training before heading home.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“It’s fine. I’m just planning to warm up.”

Even though her chance to be Kang Hye-eun’s first experience had already been stolen, she absolutely had to be by her side for the finale.

Cheon Jihee could never back down from this competition, and to do that, she had to definitively prove her presence to Kang Hye-eun.

‘Even without that man, so that Hye-eun doesn’t feel his absence, I need to become strong enough to cover at least two frontline positions.’

Although she knew it was a love unlikely to be returned, she had no choice but to strive in a vague direction.

Because that was the only way Cheon Jihee knew how to love.