episode_0015

That time when I was frozen in a daze at the unexpected appearance of Im Ah-rin.

She looked at me carefully and asked me how I was doing.

“… how have you been doing… ?”

Fingers wiggling anxiously and eyes shaking back and forth, lost.

Seeing her showing anxiety with her whole body must have made me feel weak for a moment, and contrary to my intention to treat her coldly, her calm tone came out.

“… What’s going on?”

Im A-rin then squirmed as if she had been scolded, carefully raised her eyes, made eye contact, and spoke.

“Ha, I have something to say… .”

“… To me?”

A strange feeling surrounds me.

I don’t know what she has to say to me, and I don’t know why she pays attention to the subject of being the victim.

“What do you want to say?”

Im A-rin pursed her lips as if she was about to say something, then glanced at my feet and spoke carefully.

“That… . Can we talk inside… ? I thought this story would be long… .”

That moment.

‘ah.’

I realized too late that another customer had already arrived.

“… Oh, why not… ?”

Whether it was intentional or not, Lim A-rin was secretly pressuring me with a delicate expression that aroused my protectiveness.

Seeing her like that made me feel a little weak, so I rolled my eyes and thought about how to deal with this situation.

and… .

*

“… … .”

Bang Hannah, who had left the house without noticing the sudden appearance of a guest, was walking down the street alone.

Perhaps because it was the peak of a weekend afternoon, there were more couples walking around on the streets than usual… .

Every time I saw a couple passing by, for some reason, the image of Im Ah-rin and Do Ji-hyuk flashed before my eyes.

‘What’s going on… ?’

It was a short meeting with barely a greeting, but Bang Han-na clearly felt like there was something between Im Ah-rin and Do Ji-hyuk… .

To be precise, I thought that Lim A-rin also had feelings for Ji-hyuk.

The evidence was countless.

The moment she first greeted Arin Lim, Hannah Bang felt sharp gazes on her entire body.

It was a gaze that often appeared between women when they were checking each other’s level.

Thanks to her extraordinary body, Bang Han-na, who had attracted many eyes since she was young, was able to detect the faint alertness of Im Ah-rin.

It was not difficult to figure out that this was a defense mechanism of a woman who had a man she liked by her side.

The way I looked at Do Ji-hyuk was like that.

Her eyes looking at Do Ji-hyuk looked like a woman in love.

It would be an understatement to say that honey was dripping from his eyes, so it was even more strange that he could not recognize that he had feelings for her.

‘… I said I’ve known you for a long time… . I guess it’s natural… ?’

Bang Hannah sighed sadly and imagined the two of them dating without realizing it.

Good men and good women.

I didn’t think there was anything more fitting than this.

“… … .”

Bang Hanna subconsciously thought that she was jealous of Im A-rin.

Without even realizing why you are jealous or what the feeling of envy means.

I was just jealous of Im Ah-rin, who could date a man like Do Ji-hyuk.

*

“… … .”

After leaving the room, only awkwardness remained.

Lim A-rin, who had been quietly looking at the spot where Bang Hana had been sitting for a while, slowly made eye contact and spoke carefully.

“… No?”

Her eyes are filled with strange earnestness.

“That’s what I think… . No… ?”

There was no subject.

However, I could immediately understand what she was saying.

“No. Things are a bit long… . It’s absolutely not like that.”

I had some doubts as to why I was explaining this, but somehow I felt like I had to explain it to her.

“As expected… .”

Lim A-rin smiled faintly as if she believed what I said, and then lowered the corners of her mouth and readily apologized.

“… I’m sorry I came to you so late. I should have come here earlier… .”

I couldn’t understand why she was apologizing to me.

No, I could guess the reason, but I couldn’t figure out why the sudden change of heart occurred.

Arin Lim probably thought I was the trash that appeared in that video.

Like Hong Yu-ra or Seol Joo-hee.

That’s why they didn’t believe my unfairness and wouldn’t even contact me.

But why is he belatedly apologizing now?

“… … .”

When I kept my mouth shut, Im A-rin looked as if she was scared, then got off the sofa and knelt on the floor.

Then, in an instant, she shed thick tears and began to desperately ask for forgiveness.

“… Ji, Jihyuk… . I’m sorry… .Because I can’t trust you… . really… Sigh… . Sorry… .”

“… Arin… .”

I was very embarrassed by Lim A-rin’s sincere apology.

It’s definitely worth apologizing for not trusting your friend, but it’s not to the point of getting down on your knees and begging like this, and since it was evidence that could have fooled me in the first place, I had no intention of blaming the three of them.

however… .

“… I… .Sorry… . Sigh… . I did it wrong… .”

As I prayed desperately like this, I began to feel strange sympathy for her.

“… Arin. It’s okay, so get up quickly.”

I approached her with the intention of getting her up and seeing her.

“Black… . Really, I’m always wrong… .Hmm… . I’m really sorry… .Ugh… .”

Im A-rin then shed thick tears as if she was even more sad, and I wiped her messed up face and calmly comforted her like I always did.

“No, it’s okay. It’s really okay, so stop crying now. Huh?”

“… Ji, Jihyuk… .”

Im A-rin, who was looking at me with moist pink eyes, silently fell into my arms.

I reflexively stroked her hair and calmed her down in silence… .

Maybe it was because of my mood, but I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

It felt similar to the day when she apologized for shattering my leg and said she would take responsibility for it for the rest of her life.

“… … .”

How long had it been since I hugged and comforted Lim Ah-rin like that?

After finally getting her emotions together and stopping crying, she was told shocking news.

Another story was that someone had sent me a video.

“… What?”

A-rin Lim handed me a USB containing a copy, saying she had received it from Gooseok-il, and I immediately connected it to the TV to check the contents.

and.

‘… What the hell is this… .’

After watching all the videos, I was greatly shocked.

This time, the person in the video was obviously ‘Do Ji-hyuk’, and he was showing an even more trash-like appearance than in the previous video.

“I think this video was manipulated… ! Even if you really are a bad person, I’m on your side unconditionally… !… I don’t know what the other kids are like… .”

Nevertheless, Lim A-rin took my side, saying that she would trust me unconditionally, and even cheered me up by saying that she would try to change the hearts of Seol Joo-hee and Hong Yu-ra.

“… thanks. After all, there is only Arin.”

The tip of my nose becomes numb from the overwhelming emotion.

Before I knew it, I had forgotten all the memories of being abandoned by her and raised the corners of my mouth and discussed ways to express my unfairness.

“I’ll make a place for you!”

“Are you okay? The kids won’t like it… .”

“No! Even Joohee and Yoo will want to trust you deep down!”

“… Is that so… ?”

“Yes! I’m sure!”

“Okay… . Then, let me ask you a favor.”

“Just trust me… !”

I even heard that they would try to arrange a meeting with two other people in the near future.

*

After a while.

Team Seoul City Hall’s training day.

“Hey, Jihyuk!”

“Why.”

“How did you roast and boil that person?”

“What?”

“The market! What on earth did they say, spending the budget like this!”

As if he had received some information from his superiors, Kim Jun-hyung smiled and asked me the whole story.

“Just… . I said I would work hard.”

“Don’t play around.”

“No, really.”

“That’s really shameful… .Tell me a little bit!”

“You did everything.”

While I was arguing with Kim Jun-hyung and checking the training schedule, Han Gyu-ri approached me and delivered unexpected news.

“Permission to use our external training ground has been revoked!”

The use of the external training site that we applied for yesterday was immediately approved.

“Wow… . After all, power is good. It’s just a free pass for everyone!”

“Producer. Are you going to move it today?”

“Is it available from the afternoon?”

“Yes! They say there are just three seats empty!”

After finishing morning training at the gym we were previously using, we immediately moved to the newly purchased hunter training center.

This is not a typical training ground for hunters… .

It was a top-class training ground used by top teams.

“F, producer! Are we training here now!?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh my god… !Hannah! Look over there! It really looks like a monster!”

“Wow… . It’s so big… ! It’s the same as what I saw in the book… !”

“Junhyung! Look at that! Ranking 9th is Team Crocodile! Hey… Really handsome… .”

“The facilities are really good.”

The team members responded with surprise, as if they had encountered a new technology, but it was not that difficult to understand because the difference was so great from the regular gymnasium they were using previously.

‘I have money, so there’s no reason not to spend it.’

After winning a budget of 6 billion won from Lee Sang-heum, I changed the team’s tight plan, and the starting point was the training ground.

This place was different in size from the typical hunter training center where I had my first interview.

The training booth, made of the highest quality bulletproof glass, was large enough to fit the entire team, and the training robot that could be used was also made in a form very similar to an actual monster.

In addition, it has the advantage of being able to record all battles that occur within the training booth as data, which is a great help in building its own database.

It was literally a training ground that symbolized the phrase ‘training equipment is bad’.

“Just because the facilities have changed, doesn’t mean what we do will change. Everyone, fill your remaining quota and don’t forget to add magic power to the magic stone. Got it?”

“““Yes!”””

Afternoon training began in earnest like that.

Since it was still early days of training, it started with individual training assigned to each person, and I walked around the booth and gave feedback to the three people.

“Suin. The tip of the sword is shaking. I put too much pressure on my hands.”

“Oh, I’ll do it again!”

Jeong Soo-in, who wields a rapier, seemed to have quite a bit of trouble handling the sword delicately.

Perhaps because he was originally bigger than others, he felt like he couldn’t control his own strength.

“You need to relax your fingers a little and put more strength on your back.”

“… Okay!”

After passing by Jeong Soo-in’s booth, we arrived next at Kim Na-rae’s training booth.

“Garat… !”

The low-level flame spirit who received Na-rae Kim’s instructions created a small fireball and fired it at the dummy.

Whoa whoa! Pass…

The sparks that flew out with excitement collided with the pile and scattered helplessly, and Kim Na-rae tilted her head as if wondering, and then began preparing a new attack again.

“Gaaraat… !”

Fuuuk—! Pass… !

She must have remembered the feedback she gave her previously, and showed an improvement over her previous attack.

‘You’re doing well.’

Leaving Kim Na-rae’s training booth behind, we finally arrived at Bang Han-na’s booth.

Cooo!

Bang Hanna, a shield expert, was blocking attacks from robots of a higher level than herself.

“Kkeut… !”

She looked like she was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but by my standards, she still seemed relaxed.

‘My posture is awkward, but… Is it because they are good at distributing power? It’s quite stable.’

Bang Han-na is not the type of genius who understands ten things when you tell her one thing, but when she tells you one thing, she is the type of person who always carries out that one thing, so it felt like she was portraying the role of a ‘tanker’ as a character.

“Hannah! Let’s lower our posture a little bit!”

“Yes… !”

As I watched the three training, I expected that they would be able to conquer the first gate faster than expected.

“… Huh? What is that all of a sudden… .”

“… Sorry.”

Some time later, until Jeong Soo-in left the team.