episode_0024

*****

The medical center is largely divided into two parts: aboveground and underground. The place I was just a moment ago was underground. It is one of the forefronts of biomagical engineering and is home to many research labs, and is also a place where treatments that are difficult to perform on the ground are carried out.

On the contrary, the ground level is a simple general hospital. Although treatment for heroes is given priority, ordinary people also frequently use it. Of course, unlike the underground, where security was tight and there were few people, the ground was filled with all kinds of people.

Especially after a big incident like now has occurred.

“Ah, Amiya! It’s here!”

Orange short hair with side tail. I found the now completely familiar figure of Raon in a corner of the waiting room. They were waving their hands as if they had seen me too.

Thanks to Shia, who calmed down, moved them in an instant, the lives of both Hwain and Raon were not in danger. In particular, Raon suffered from magical exhaustion, but was quite fine as he did not receive any direct damage.

This wasn’t necessarily the case for Hwain, who faced off against the Sword Demon.

“… What about Hwain?”

“I’m in the operating room now. Oh, even if it’s surgery, it’s not that serious. Since the villain’s magic power remains, general-purpose recovery magic doesn’t recover well, so he seems to be trying to project the magic power directly.”

My expression hardened a little as the injury was bigger than I expected. Like Raon said, the injury probably isn’t that serious… . My examination took quite a while, but if I had just entered the operating room, it probably meant that I had some time to spare.

I don’t particularly regret my choice to go to the square. If I hadn’t gone to the square, there would have been a real disaster there. If I could turn back time, I would have made ten of the same choices.

Still, when I thought about the purpose of coming to this school, I couldn’t help but feel a little bitter.

“I’m glad nothing much happened. The emergency call came in while the other kids were wondering whether they should chase you or not, so it wasn’t an uproar, really.”

“Sorry… .”

“It’s okay. You said you felt the presence of a monster? Teacher Sia told me in a message.”

Nice play by Sia. I was a bit worried about how to make an excuse, but it was resolved right away.

Of course, all that was resolved was an excuse,

“But if that was the case, it would have been better if you had told us.”

“… Sorry.”

Making excuses didn’t solve the problem that I had abandoned my teammates and ran off alone. I have committed a mortal sin… .

From Raon’s perspective, it would seem that I didn’t trust my colleagues and ran away alone. Actually, I was preparing in case the power I felt wasn’t a big deal, but I couldn’t say it because I would have to explain the divine power as well.

And in fact, it was a problem that went straight to the core. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but that’s just from person to person. It is a different story from trusting and relying on someone as a hero.

“If you can’t help it, you can’t help it. We haven’t been a team for a long time, and ARMY is strong.”

“… … .”

In the end, attitudes are revealed on the outside. Moreover, since I was virtually single for a long time, I may have lacked consideration for this aspect.

I am confident that we have achieved the best results, but being a team does not always depend on results alone.

“So tell me a little more about you. I will also tell ARMY my story. I heard that getting to know each other is the first step to trust.”

“… huh. Then.”

That’s why I was happy about Raon’s words, but at the same time, I felt guilty. Most of the things I can tell Raon about myself are lies.

I can’t believe I can only respond with a lie when my teammate tells me something that puts my trust in him. Being a hero isn’t always about doing the right thing, but…

ha.

… … .

Well, I don’t have any intention of saying that. Revealing my true identity here is not for the sake of the kids, but is a dereliction of duty that only makes me feel more comfortable.

Fortunately, Raon said he would bring up the story first today. As someone who has not yet thought about the past in detail, I am grateful.

“Memory loss?”

“Yes. I have no memories before February of last year.”

She said her first memory was of herself standing in the middle of the city. It is said that at first, without knowing anything, he was wandering around the streets and met Hwain. Whether it is coincidence or inevitability, it is a meeting worthy of a heroine and the main character of a novel.

Raon happened to have amnesia and had no one in common. It didn’t take long for Raon to end up staying in the same orphanage as Hwain.

Hmm, I feel something is out of place. The original knowledge in my head was like, ‘Oh, was it like this?’ And they are tackling me. Of course, I didn’t remember the details, so I just assumed I was confused.

“So you were able to use this level of magic in just 2 years? It’s amazing. They say magic is usually very difficult to learn.”

“Ahaha… . Not really. For some reason, the magic I use now is just something that was in my head.”

Pretending not to know information you already know is something I’ve done many times before. I asked knowingly, and the answer I expected came back.

It’s not just about magic. Language, world history, common sense, etc. Raon had the basic knowledge necessary for living from the beginning. I just didn’t know how to use it.

“Every day must be new.”

“That’s right! how did you know? When I tell this story, most people feel sad. I think it’s rather fun. Everyone should feel this joy of seeing in person what they only knew in their head.”

A girl who lives as herself as if whether or not she has memories is not that important to her. That was Raon as a character.

In real life, she also seemed to value the new things she had acquired rather than clinging to something she had lost.

“So, everyone is telling me to look up the past. Actually, I’m not that happy about it. My past probably isn’t that important anyway. At best, aren’t they victims of a monster incident?”

“Do you know anything? Is there an incredible secret of birth?”

“Ahaha! Like she was the secret daughter of a company or something? Hyeji says that a lot.”

Of course I know about her past. But that’s not something we can talk about now.

Perhaps, like Raon in the novel, the day will come when she too will have to face her past.

“Sorry, Raon. It took a long time──Huh, Army?”

“Hello. Are you feeling okay?”

“It wasn’t that big of an injury to begin with. I heard everyone is making too much of a fuss. Why did you run out so suddenly? No, I did hear the circumstances. Then, at least say a word to us——huh? What, why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

Raon and I looked at each other and smiled bitterly at the same words Raon had just said. In the end, do we all think the same?

“For some reason, you guys seem to get along well. That’s it? Raon was talking about memories, right?”

“Huh? huh. How did you know?”

“If Raon thinks you have become close to each other, she will bring it up without hesitation. They told me not to use it like a cheat key, so that’s it. We talked about it a lot, but the reason our relationship got better when we brought it up was because the kids who listened to it were all good kids. Usually, when you hear things like that… .”

“Ah─, I can’t hear──.”

Is it because there are few people around? The two of them talking a little more intimately than usual resembled family.

If it were me, I would probably feel like I should skip it since it is a scene where the main character and heroine of the original work get along well and leave the hospital.

“Ami~, Hwain is bullying me~.”

“Ha… , That’s it, that’s enough. Let’s eat something. They said all the other kids had gone. Ami, is there something you’re attracted to?”

“Why, buy it for me?”

“Avoid that and go. Oops! Hey, I’m a patient until tonight!”

I felt like I could stay in between now.

***

“So, you are saying that you have developed a friendship with the team, excluding me. It would have been nice.”

“Why do you say that again? Are you upset?”

“It’s annoying. I went shopping with the girls, ate with flowers in both hands, how could a guy like me be upset with a popular guy who was at the peak of his youth.”

“The latter is second to none, but the former was so terrible.”

Monday after the weekend. When I met Jeongyoung again, he was quite sulky.

The short guy even sulks, making him look like a real kid. Hwa-in seems to be making excuses for various things, but does he know that those excuses are fueling Assa’s hatred?

“Hello, Happy Monday.”

“Ami has finally arrived. Please tell me too. How terrible that shopping was.”

“If the girls even hear it, it will be a disaster. Rather than that, I have something to convey to two people.”

The word “delivery” drew both of their attention. Both of them look like they have no clue.

“Delivery message? If it came through you, then teacher Sia?”

“Yes. Everyone on our team asked us to come to the teacher’s office after regular classes and before lunch.”

It is said that because the teachers at Cheonmyeong High School also serve as heroes, they are given separate private offices rather than gathering in the teacher’s office. It’s called the teacher’s room. This is what I just heard from Sia this morning.

“Rare. Fine, what did you do?”

“That can’t be possible. If you’re talking about an injury, there’s no way you’re calling the whole team. Rather, it is more likely to be you. Didn’t you do something there again?”

“… No, I don’t think anything special happened this time. Amy, haven’t you heard anything?”

“If there was, I would have told you about it a long time ago.”

Even when I asked Sia, all I heard was that she would come and tell me later. Rather than saying it was something I couldn’t say, I felt like it was annoying to say it twice, so it might not be that serious.

What is going on? Talk about monsters? But if that were the case, they would have decided to keep it a secret, so there would be no need to call the entire team.

“Hello~! What are you all talking about like that?”

“Ah, good timing. I just happened to have something to deliver──”

I broke off my thoughts by sharing my message with Raon, who seemed to have nothing to do with the Monday morning gloom. As Sia said, I’ll let you know when I get there. Now is the time to fulfill your duty as a student.

“Ah, that. They told us to come too.”

One person intervened in the topic of the message that I thought was over. With heavily dyed blonde hair, pierced earrings, and a frivolous attitude. It was my first time seeing this gangster in the morning.

Even though I’m the type of person who makes a bad first impression, all three of them didn’t have a very good expression on their faces. Well, I don’t know how many people would like the gangster’s attitude. First of all, Hwain, the leader among the four of us, stepped forward.

“I was wondering why you came at this time today. Even a great demon trainer must be afraid of the Fairy Queen, right?”

“No matter how much I am, that teacher is still too much. Well, that’s not the only reason I came early today.”

Isn’t that the only reason? Before I could even think about what he said, Yangachi took a step closer. Pass Hwa-in and go towards me.

“Hey, kid. Don’t play with these guys, let’s do this with me. Because we are just boring people.”

“… ? What nonsense again. I don’t even know what this is.”

“Isn’t it obvious at a glance? Something like that happened yesterday, so what do our two teams have in common?”

The bully didn’t say anything more, but he seemed to know roughly what he was trying to say.

The only ones who could sense that monster were me and the gangster, so wouldn’t it be enough for us to just do it on our own?

“No work. I don’t even know exactly what you’re calling me for in the first place, but even if I did, I don’t want to do it with you.”

Of course, I had no intention of teaming up with this guy, so I flatly refused. I don’t like Yangachi as an individual, but my being on Hwain’s team is also a kind of mission.

Yesterday, I fell because it was like an emergency, but it wasn’t even that kind of situation, so there was no reason for me to fall first.

It was a fairly direct rejection, but Yangachi shrugged his shoulders as if he was used to it and went to his seat. Raon stuck out his tongue behind his back.

“Good job, Amy! Once a guy like that gets stuck, he’s persistent, so you have to cut him off mercilessly!”

“I didn’t mean to reject it that way. Anyway, they seem to be getting along pretty badly. What happened?”

There was a strange hostility towards the three that seemed like they were just treating someone with a bad reputation. Hmm, I heard there was a guy in the corporate world who was talking about the devil, so maybe that’s why.

“That’s true, but that’s not the reason. In the first place, he was a kid that even the corporate world gave up halfway.”

My guess was rejected by Jeong Young. Now that I think about it, I think we said something like that.

In the first place, Fine’s team was not particularly hostile to the corporate faction. Because I didn’t hate individual steel balls that much.

Then what is the reason? Just as I was about to let my imagination run wild, Hwain tapped my phone. indeed. It’s a difficult thing to say openly. I opened my phone and checked the messages.

[It’s just our guess, but that guy might be Genesis.]

And there is an unexpected reason! No, it’s not that unexpected. I was wary because I thought that might happen to me too. Of course, since the three people cannot feel demon energy, there must be another reason for the guess.

[Since entering school, the three of us have faced Genesis three times. And in all three cases, demon trainers were indirectly involved.]

Hwain’s message explained the reason. Umm. If you felt the same way three times, you might be suspicious, but wouldn’t it be a bit hostile? The question was resolved through the following messages from the other two people.

[How many points did I lose because of that kid? If not for that, other kids’ evaluations would have been a bit better.]

[Be careful, Amy! That guy is rumored to have a bad relationship with women! He said he saw him walking with other women on the street several times><]

Indeed, suspicion is mixed with personal dislike and reputation.

Even if we don't talk about personal life, grades are an important factor as a student at Cheonmyeong High School. If you interfere with that directly or indirectly, it will never look good.

Now that I know the reason, let’s get back to the topic.

"Ah, what is that? Now that I think about it, who is the Fairy Queen or something like that?"

Since I am someone who finds gangsters annoying, it was just a question that made me want to know their names, but all three of them looked at me with question marks on their heads.

Well, what is it? Did I say something strange?

"Who is the Fairy Queen? Do you really not know?"

A reaction as if what I don't know doesn't make sense. Now that you think about it, you said that the reason that bastard came early in the first place was because of the Fairy Queen, right? And it was Sia who called the bully.

… no way.

"Are you Sia’s sister?"

"Of course. What, you really didn’t know?"

That's because the hero name was originally spread by Changhyuk to create an image when heroes began to be called with embarrassing nicknames. I feel a bit reluctant about heroes of the same generation as me. So, there is no need to introduce each other with hero names.

It seems to be popular among the general public and the younger generation, but is this a generation gap?

Of course, I couldn't say that, so I quietly nodded. If you think about it, it was a very fitting name. Sia's potential is to create her own magic clone, and although she is not as tall as me, she is quite small.

So, if the small-sized Sia creates shining alter egos…

"You really look like a fairy. Puhahaha!"

"… Is it that funny?"

"That’s right. I'll be 30 in a little while, but being called a fairy is still a bit… , Hi."

It's a surprise. Ji, who answered just now? Isn't it Sia?

"Well, Fairy Queen Titania is the name of a hero who performed brilliantly before and after the stable period, so no one laughed or said anything… ."

"It’s okay, Hwain. I will tell this younger brother very well."

ruined. This is an angle that will result in huge retaliation later.

Desperately avoiding Sia's unsmiling gaze, I held my head at the thought of being teased later.

***

The topic of conversation on the way to the teacher's office after morning class was about Yangachi's team. It's quite surprising that it's not Dokgodai. Although it is questionable whether it will function properly as a team.

… It's not like I got caught doing what I thought. For some reason, as soon as the gangster team entered the teacher's office, they glared at me like a fool.

"Everyone was welcome. Let's get this over with quickly. So you can eat lunch too. First of all, the reason we gathered this time is──"

The conversation didn't take that long. All that Shia did as a messenger was to bring the two teams together and talk about matters that had already been decided.

The word from above is that for the time being, our two teams will have to split up and patrol each area after school. This is not just a joke called patrol, but real patrol.

As the gangster had expected, this was somehow related to that monster, so I secretly asked Sia the reason with my eyes.

[The information about the monster must have leaked to government officials. How much sanctification is being done while talking about safety and security. Even if this isn't a threat that comes up often, they don't understand it.]

It is said that the pressure to form a permanent patrol team was appeased by patrolling the places where government officials work or leave work for a week or two. Of course, it would be a big problem if it became known that the heroes were used for personal expenses, so on the surface, it was just for the purpose of patrol training for two teams.

[It's not even a child, how much it whines. Be careful though, senior. Since they are such ugly people, I can't rule out the possibility that they are really whining, but you know that, right?]

okay. Have we been stabbed in the back by politicians once or twice? I nodded, roughly conveying that meaning.

To a government comprised mostly of ordinary people, the Hero Association, an armed group of awakened people, would not be very palatable. Thanks to this, the country has become accustomed to this to some extent, as the muddy secret struggle has been waged many times since ancient times.

In any case, on the surface it is simple patrol training. The conversation ended simply with being assigned a patrol route. For me, the stares coming from the gangster's team throughout the conversation were rather uncomfortable.

"Why are they glaring at ARMY like that? Amy, what did they do to you?"

"Is it a prerequisite that I suffer? . Nothing happened. I'm also curious why it's like that."

Yangachi's team consisted of him and two girls. But for some reason, all three of them stared at me the whole time they were listening to the teacher. To the point where it was a bit difficult to suppress the magic that was boiling through my gaze.

First of all, you idiot. This guy's gaze always feels like something is going on. I think it's probably because of a mixture of different emotions.

I'm still not sure what this feeling means, but I'm thinking about it now. Jeong Young said that it was rare for a gangster to be interested in someone.

The second was a green-haired girl with endless maternal instinct. Really awesome… . … No, what are you trying to say, I.

Did you say the hero name was Mare? Is this person more surprised than glaring? Embarrassment? It was closer to that side. I had no idea at all and had nothing to say.

The last one I saw in class that day was a child named Marie, who was always lying face down with her hood pulled down. Unlike the other two, his gaze was quite easy to understand. Contempt, fear, disgust, self-destruction, etc. It could be said that it is truly a bargain of negative emotions.

On the contrary, those negative emotions were proving that the child was a very good and normal hero, so I had no choice but to believe that this was also the case.

"Do you happen to know what potential all three have?"

"As you have seen, trainer is the ability to control demons, and I heard that mare is an allusion to the spirit world. Marie… , I don't know. He always abstains from mock matches."

"Wow, this is a collection of potential that is perfect for being suspected of being a villain."

Summoning demons and sending souls to the mental world are all just potentials that can be used for crime. Of course, the image of him will not be very good.

"Yes. Not everyone there behaves well, so there are people who call the team a problem child. Except for the trainer, the other two are not bad kids… ."

If something happens while on patrol, I might have to fight with him, so it's a bit of a letdown to be left with this kind of anxiety. However, it was impossible to do anything about the other person's attitude because two people did not know the reason and one person had no idea what to do.

In the end, the four of us could only sigh and hope that nothing happened.

***

"Ah, I was surprised. I didn't know we'd suddenly run into each other there."

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"I was in contact with the branch because of the basic preparations for this operation. But there, I suddenly encounter my goal. When I thought about it, they probably wouldn't have thought it was me over there anyway, but I was so embarrassed that I habitually cast a charm on them."

"Hmph. I wonder if a low-level suggestion like fascination would work on an awakened person. How did things turn out?"

"It's so vulgar, but if I'm serious, I'm serious too──Hmm. Anyway, things went well. I think the congressman moved as requested. I think only the team that my possessed body belongs to and the team that has the goal will work separately."

"Hehehe, not bad. Okay, okay, let’s quickly move on to the next action… ! Now, come this way, um!"

"It was almost all a plan I planned anyway… , ugh. Yes, I will go, let’s go."

*****