Chapter 46 – The Steps that Signaled the Start. The Time to Move.

I spent time at the dorm with Ban Hana, and texted Yoo Hayeon.

–Are you training at night? I’m off to train too.

It was a text message that merely stated she was training.

Hayeon went to train right away, so there was a high chance she wouldn’t see my text. All I could do was receive the one-sided notification.

I should hurry up and go practice already. 

I finished getting ready for the training ground, and was about to head outside when Hana grabbed my sleeve as she anxiously looked at me.

“Sijoon. If I wait, you’ll give me a reward, right?”

“Have you ever seen me lie? I’ll be back.” 

As I patted her head and reassured her, Hana concealed her unease. 

Her dependency on me was to the point you might think she was addicted to rewards.

I began to brood over it.

Is there a way to change the reward to something else…

A distorted reward that came out of this distorted relationship.

I was also a person, so I did feel a sense of guilt.

If I kept kissing Hana as a reward, would I be able to kiss other women for survival?

It was pricking the conscience within me.

But I still have to live. Is it inevitable?

The existence of a contract connected to my past self.

And the lost lifespan.

I left the dormitory while having such concerns. 

***

The Hero Academy had decent facilities for students to train their abilities even in their personal time.

For students who were polishing their skills with close-range weapons, they would battle holograms of heroes ranked from D to S.

For students who were honing their skills with long-range weapons, they would train to hit moving targets depending on the level of difficulty.

For students with exceptional innate abilities, a free space was provided for them to release their potential with no inhibitions so that they could increase their magic levels.

If students put their heart into it and worked hard, even lower-ranked students could graduate with good grades. 

And the training ground’s facilities were of the finest quality to do just that.

I thought as much, did I come a little too late?

The training ground was packed with students.

What I had to practice was hitting the target with a gun. 

As I walked over there, a holographic battlefield where you could hone your close-range weapon skills caught my eye.

The one battling the holograms was my childhood friend, Hayeon.

She was going up against a B-Rank difficulty hero, without using her ability.

What the…? Since when has her skills improved that much?

Was that the same Yoo Hayeon who went “Boong Boong” as she swung around twigs with both arms when she was young?

When she entered the academy, she relied on the brute power of her swordsmanship. However, the current Yoo Hayeon, was using swordsmanship without putting much power into it, yet it could fatally wound her opponent.

Raising the weapon proficiency quickly or slowly was determined by your own talent.

Had she raised her proficiency in the duration of three weeks to the point I couldn’t recognize her?

From my point of view, it looked like Hayeon’s proficiency was fairly high.

This is why I dislike the gifted.

But still, it’s different if the said gifted was my childhood friend.

If I were in danger, wouldn’t she use her talent to protect me?

I’d seen her talent for a long time now, I don’t know about the past, but I felt no inferiority whatsoever right now.

I’ll just do what I can.

In order to be on board the same ship as Hayeon in the future, trying my best was the only thing I could do.

The moment I was about to leave after observing her, I saw a familiar, deep navy-blue hair.

Her lips were pursed as she watched Hayeon train.

“Damn wench…”

Lee Seolha.

Having been handed down first place by Hayeon, she growled towards her direction.

Her deep blue eyes were burning full with jealousy.

I felt a sense of kinship seeing Seolha like that.

I know that look in those eyes the best.

I was often compared to Hayeon in the past so my feelings had been hurt.

When I used to look in the mirror while harboring such feelings, and comparing myself to her as I felt envious of her talent, I would look jealous like that.

Well, not anymore.

 At present, I acknowledged I was weak, and was trying my best.

I didn’t hold the slightest jealousy towards Hayeon.

Since she and I were a pair.

Her doing well was good news for me too.

As I had been jealous of Hayeon before, it occurred to me that the current Seolha resembled my past self.

Perhaps she sensed my gaze, Seolha turned her head and looked at me.

She spoke to me in a cutting tone.

“You got something to say to me?”

“No. You were staring at my childhood friend, so I was wondering if something was up.”

“Childhood friend…”

The moment she heard those words, she looked at me even more on guard, as if she knew who I was.

As someone with strong pride, she might have viewed Hayeon as an enemy, which made her recognize me as an enemy too.

“Get lost. I have nothing to say to you.”

She scowled as she distanced herself from me.

Then again, in her position, she would want to avoid even speaking with me.

She was someone who absolutely abhorred men touching her after all.

It was blatant that she detested even talking to me.

Misandrist.

Lee Seolha played a starring role in V. AGE, so her past was also detailed.

She had the talent, but grew up in an underprivileged family.

She was quite obsessed with money while holding a strong sense of pride and not lending her shoulder to others.

I assumed that it might be due to her abusive father back at home.

On an instinctive level, she never forgave a man for touching her body with his hand.

I wanted to talk more though, too bad.

I would be seeing her in episode 2.

As someone who knew how to cure her, I felt regretful but I decided to get lost as she told me to.

But not without saying one thing.

“I think you and I are similar.”

“What…?”

“Just because. It’s like that.”

Seolha gave me a dumbfounded response, looking at me as if to say “What do you know about me?”

If you were a V. AGE player, there was no way you wouldn’t know of the existence, Lee Seolha.

I bid her a short farewell, then moved to the training ground where I could improve my long-range weapon skills.

If I could reel in Lee Seolha, it’d be nice. There’s no bad ending either.

I did that while I thought about stuff connected to my life.

***

Target training was simple.

 
Just pull the trigger towards the visible target, and that’s it.

It improved agility-related abilities like your vision and the speed of your reaction time. It was a training method that resulted in raising your proficiency with a firearm.

This was easy to say, but it required one hell of a concentration in practice. 

“Green stone.”

I switched the Magic Golem’s power to agility and increased my body’s agility.

As a result, my pupils turned green as well.

My vision was better than usual.

I could see the flow of the moving objects, familiarizing me with the sensation of pulling the trigger.

Bang!

The sound of the gunshot rang out as the circular object popped out.

If you hit the center, the score was high.

If you hit the edge, the score was low.

It was a training system that judged your skills based on your score of hitting the object at a slotted amount of time.

I fully concentrated with my eyes and kept pulling the trigger.

Bang!

Bang!

Still, was it because I used the green stone to increase my agility to 3?

Unlike when I sparred Na Yoona before, the bullets didn’t stray off in another direction.

On the inside, I slightly expressed my disappointment.

If I could imbue magic to the bullet, it would be even better. What a shame.

Because the Magic Golem’s core did not allow you to use two stones at once, I couldn’t use magic-imbued bullets because I increased my agility with the green stone.

That fact was a deadly awakening to me, so I was truly disappointed.

The best thing was gaining Fenrille’s power… 

But if by chance, I followed what Fenrille said and pursued more than four, five, up to six girls, I could obtain a magic ability of a S-Rank, and my probability of clearing V. AGE would shoot up exponentially.

Originally, Fenrille’s master, who was a S-Rank hero, wielded power capable of that much.

But is that possible…

Living together with Ban Hana.

And practice dating with my childhood friend, Yoo Hayeon.

If those two got entangled, it would be backbreaking to work out.

But to increase it to 4, 5 women?

That’s insane.

If that happened, then I seriously wouldn’t have a guilty conscience about cheating.

I’d just have to put a steel plate on my face.1

Now then, I wonder if I could do that?

It might be possible…?

I don’t know if it was because of my pride, but if I had to be honest, I felt like I could do it.

Should I just be the devil and go for it?

“For starters, let’s train. Since I still have two years to live…”

I had time to spare.

As the day of the field trip approached, I just had to continue training until episode 2 began.

I used the green stone to increase my vision and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Bang!

My gunshots echoed at the training ground every day.

 ***

The sound of the gunshot rang out as I repeated my days of training to raise my weapon proficiency.

As Hana spent more time at the academy, it was safe to say that she had practically adapted to school life now.

Although every day was the same as usual, there was tension in the air.

The day of a school field trip.

So that I could depart, I packed all my bags and was about to leave the dorm, when Ban Hana exclaimed right then, “I… I want to go too! Sijoon!”

“Hana, I told you yesterday. That you won’t be able to go…”

Hana clutched onto my sleeve as she gave me a pitiful look.

But I couldn’t go and bring her with me as I pleased.

Hana, who had discovered the outside world, was still someone who needed to be protected from the Black Dawn.

Unlike me, she wasn’t in a position where she could leave the academy yet.

I patted her head as I reassured her.

“Still, Ms. Sihwa said she would stay and look after you. It won’t be too lonely.”

“…”

Hana sat on the bed without saying a word. She knew things wouldn’t change no matter what she said to me. And so, the only thing she could do was make a future promise.

“Then, after you come back, reward! Give me more! Keep giving it to me! Until Hana’s heart is full!”

“I-If…you do that much, I can wait! Because Hana is a good girl!”

She shouted, declaring that she would be good while I was away.

So you’re growing up, Hana.

Unlike the first time I saw her, she was equipped with patience.

I had no choice but to promise to do that.

“Alright, I’ll be back.”

“Bring back gifts! Gifts!”

After I placed my lips on Hana’s forehead, I headed out the dormitory.

I wonder if I’ll be able to do well?

No.

I had to.

And I’m confident.

Episode 2.

The starting point where V. AGE officially kicked off.

An A-Rank gate would open up during the academy’s field trip.

I recalled the attack strategy for that gate as I took the first step toward clearing the world.

Footnotes:

1Putting on an iron/steel plate on the face is a Korean idiom for being thick-skinned or brazen.