episode_0018

Cheon Soyul was strolling through the academy grounds. In one hand, she clutched a black bag from the convenience store, her expression somewhere between sulky and dissatisfied.

‘…How annoying.’

The words she muttered to herself perfectly reflected her true feelings.

She was annoyed. She didn’t like it. She simply found everything displeasing.

The target of all these negative emotions was just one person. Her classmate, friend, rival, competitor… in short, a male student to whom all sorts of epithets could be attached.

Lee Hyunjin, the perennial second-place student of the current 9th batch.

Of course, Cheon Soyul had always found Lee Hyunjin displeasing, and their relationship wasn’t harmonious enough to avoid arguments at every turn, but…

What she was feeling now was a completely different kind of ‘displeasure.’

Last year at the academy. To be honest, it had been quite enjoyable. So much so that the ennui she’d felt before leaving her family home had completely vanished.

There were likely many reasons for that, but she couldn’t deny that Lee Hyunjin’s presence played a significant role.

So, to Cheon Soyul, Lee Hyunjin was, for better or worse, a ‘friend.’ Her closest friend. A rubber-band-like relationship that quickly recovered even after a fight.

She had never openly admitted it because it was embarrassing. But Cheon Soyul had always genuinely enjoyed the time she spent with him. Definitely.

That had been broken.

Because of what happened just three days ago.

Of course… she couldn’t say that they hadn’t had similar fights before.

They had often fought over trivial matters, and there had been many times when one of them would get sulky or hurt and not speak for days.

“…”

Nevertheless, the feeling now was a little different.

Cheon Soyul was, yes. Feeling uneasy.

She recalled her memory. Three days ago. The battle between Lee Hyunjin and Kim Yijun during the ranking match. Kim Yijun’s surprising counterattack and struggle…

…and Lee Hyunjin’s technique that lightly dodged Kim Yijun’s final move.

Cheon Soyul knew what that was.

She could tell. She just knew.

After all, wasn’t she the only one in the academy who knew about his strange and ridiculous ability?

That’s why, regardless of whether other students passionately debated if it was an invisibility spell or something else, she naturally became certain of the truth.

It was undoubtedly the power of his unique trait.

That absurd yet truly mysterious trait that allowed him to acquire one of an opposite-sex partner’s abilities through intercourse.

Click-

As she unlocked the door to her room on the 4th floor of the dormitory, Cheon Soyul thought. Lee Hyunjin had probably ‘done it’ with some Awakened person.

That ‘act’ he had done with her about a month ago, while they were drunk, he had probably done it with someone else.

Cheon Soyul paused for a moment at the entrance.

Because she had suddenly imagined it.

She imagined Lee Hyunjin, naked as she had once seen him. Rolling around in bed with another woman, not her… that kind of scene.

Cheon Soyul suddenly felt her mood drop. Her shoulders slumped immediately.

Kicking off her shoes, and hanging only her jacket on the hanger, she flung herself onto the sofa without even changing her clothes.

Thud! The plush sofa embraced Cheon Soyul’s small frame with excellent elasticity.

“…Hmph.”

After burying her face and letting out an unintelligible moan for a while, Cheon Soyul eventually started swinging her legs and kicking the innocent sofa.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

Cheon Soyul, her eyes squeezed shut and her face covered by her hands, twisted her body and screamed.

“That’s it! I don’t care anymore…!”

She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to care anymore. What business was it of hers?

It was his freedom whom Lee Hyunjin had sex with, where, and how.

Even using explicit words she wouldn’t normally utter, Cheon Soyul expressed anger, trying to hide her complicated feelings.

Right, wasn’t it just a month since they had their first time together, and he had already done ‘that’ with another woman?

‘Hah…! He’s really good.’

She didn’t like it. What’s more? She was very angry. Lee Hyunjin was utterly despicable!

…But it absolutely wasn’t that she was hurt by Lee Hyunjin’s behavior of abandoning her and getting involved with another woman…!

‘There’s no way I’d be hurt by something like that. Right. There’s no reason to be.’

Cheon Soyul, who had been pouting for a moment, suddenly sat up as if remembering something. Then she picked up the black bag.

She began rustling the plastic and pulling out the contents. Inside were two bottles of soju purchased from the convenience store and some snacks.

…She wasn’t someone who typically enjoyed drinking. She had only become an adult exactly one month ago, and aside from that brief time with Lee Hyunjin, she had only touched alcohol once or twice at most.

Considering that those instances were drinking with her family back at her main home, one could understand how little interest Cheon Soyul had in alcohol.

That’s why, at this very moment, it was even easier to tell how abnormal Cheon Soyul’s state was, as she had casually tossed aside the snacks she bought and started to open a bottle of soju.

There was no one by her side now who could stop her at a reasonable point.

Naturally, Cheon Soyul boldly poured out a bottle of soju. And began to drink it down.

It was as if she was putting on an act of a heartbroken, pitiful girl.

Pouring, drinking. Clink!

Pouring again, drinking. Clunk!

After a short break.

Pouring and drinking again.

Clink.

Clunk.

Clink.

…

…

…

“Ugh.”

Cheon Soyul had, before she knew it, neatly emptied two bottles of soju. The alcohol quickly rose to her head, making it throb. Her vision was blurry too.

She decided that she couldn’t think straight in this state. With a low sigh, Cheon Soyul carefully manipulated her mana.

Hum-

Decomposing only the alcohol flowing through her veins was not an easy task, but Cheon Soyul’s mana control ability was on par with that of most A-class mages.

Her flushed face quickly regained its composure. Relatively, of course.

It was undeniable that a certain amount of tipsiness still lingered, but that was precisely what Cheon Soyul desired.

Because she didn’t particularly want to sober up completely.

Cheon Soyul, now slightly more rational, leaned back deeply into the sofa and regulated her breathing.

A low panting sound echoed.

“…You bastard.”

The words she soon muttered were an insult. The target was Lee Hyunjin. It was a curse mixed equally with genuine dislike and mere petulance.

Even so, why did he have to do it precisely while she was away at her family home?

He wasn’t so lacking in self-control. He was a mage, for goodness sake. Where did his ‘calm mind and clear water’ [a state of serenity and mental clarity] go?

…Or had he met such an attractive woman? Attractive enough to forget someone like her in a few days.

‘Is that all I am?’

She felt her pride wounded somehow. Cheon Soyul gritted her teeth and huffed quietly.

To reiterate, Lee Hyunjin had committed no particular sin. Cheon Soyul knew that well.

Wasn’t it she who, the day after they had been intimate, needlessly showed off and rejected his offer to take responsibility for their act?

So, even if he quickly sought out another woman, she had no right to complain.

That was his freedom. Conversely, if she sought out another man, that too was her freedom.

“…”

That might be true, but.

This was just spite.

She had put on airs, claiming she wasn’t a woman so incapable that she had to depend on him, yet when she returned home, she blurted out nonsense to her mother about a son-in-law coming to live with them.

Jumping the gun and making a fuss. It was nothing more and nothing less. Truly pathetic behavior.

She was foolish for harboring unnecessary expectations. Honestly, she hadn’t seriously imagined a future marrying him, yet she had fantasized, inflated, and become aroused by all those delusions…

In the end, this wasn’t annoyance directed at Lee Hyunjin. While it wasn’t entirely absent, her astonishment at her own frivolous actions was greater.

…It was awkward and embarrassing. She had been foolishly planning a rosy future all by herself, in a situation where she wasn’t even sure if she had romantic feelings for him. Frankly, she was an idiot.

It meant she was clearly showing that she hadn’t had a single relationship during her ten-plus years of school life.

Cheon Soyul, who had been staring blankly into space for a moment, once again buried her face in the sofa.

“Uwaaah, seriously! Ughhh…!”

She suddenly wanted to die.

She needed a rope to hang herself.

Ding-dong!

“…Huh?”

It was at that very moment that the dormitory doorbell rang.

Cheon Soyul, who had been throwing a fit, froze as if a machine had been forced to stop.

Cheon Soyul rolled off the sofa and landed with a thud on the floor, then weakly lifted her head to look at the intercom on the wall.

Lee Hyunjin was standing there.

Vehemently appealing to the camera by holding up a plastic bag with a chicken restaurant’s logo.

Cheon Soyul blinked weakly, then slowly turned her head left and right.

Outside the window, it was dark. Probably already evening, or night. It was an awkward time for a male student to visit the 4th floor of the female dorms.

After assessing the situation, Cheon Soyul went through a three-step thought process.

First, she quickly touched both her cheeks, making a gloomy expression.

I haven’t washed yet.

Second, she carefully pulled down her school uniform skirt a little.

What underwear did I wear today?

Finally, third, she stared intently at the desk drawer attached to the wall.

Condoms, were there any?

“…”

Cheon Soyul, having finished her internal debate, forced her wobbly body to stand up.

She approached the front door.

For now, yes. Chicken had done no wrong.