06. Midterm exam (8)

Diriri. T-ri-ri.

Click.

I woke up to the sound of the alarm clock ringing at 7:00 AM. I lifted my eyelids, which were hard to open, and looked up at the ceiling.

My familiar home. And this was my room.

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Get up slowly from the bed and stretch.

“Keep it off!”

My whole body aches and there are no places that don’t hurt. It’s not very good. It must have been severe muscle pain. Even though the weekend is over and Monday is already approaching, the still sore is how much the muscles have been overworked. It’s been a long time since my whole body was shaking so much.

Certatus’ combat aid was as sure as effective, but the aftereffects were too severe. I chewed hard on Kertatus in my heart, crawled out of bed, and barely finished getting ready for school.

“Oops, it’s a sakshin….”

It felt like my muscles were being squeezed like a dried rag. The only 10-minute walk to school felt much longer than usual.

The weekend went by so quickly.

It’s already been a day since I returned home from making a prototype of the gunblade at the Claprot Mansion. Of course, it was a long, long way from completion. Now, only the quenching of the blade part is finished.

I can finish the parts that require a blacksmith, but I cannot make a gunblade by myself. This is because Klaproth’s skills must be included. Specially crafted cylinders and handles, and crafted magic stone bullets… It took a lot of time for Yuna to produce exactly what I asked for.

I decided to make only the parts that were possible for now and ask Yuna for the rest. Once all the necessary parts have been made, all that remains is to assemble the rest, so the work is smooth.

“… ….”

When I think of Yuna, I naturally think of what happened that night as well.

When I think of that time, I still feel confused, so I tried to clear my head. It’s because it’s not a problem that can be solved right away by thinking about it alone.

You should get some counseling from Byungjun later. Won.

When I managed to get to the classroom by forcibly moving my legs that did not move well, there were already familiar faces sitting in their seats.

Not only Yoon Seo-hee, but also Lee Byeong-jun, who rarely arrived early, so I lightly exchanged greetings and took my seat.

“Hello, Kim Yi-jin. It’s a little late today.”

“Is that so?”

As it turns out, I just arrived later than usual. I arrived in 20 minutes from a 10-minute distance, so it was worth it. After walking that for a while, I was so exhausted that I lay my head on my desk.

In front of my eyes, long black hair hung like a curtain. When I glanced up, Yoon Seo-hee was examining my complexion with a worried expression.

“Lee Jin-ah. It’s okay? You look unwell.”

“It’s okay. I’m just a little tired.”

“It looks like it hurts a lot for something like that… Are you having muscle pain?”

Um. I hid it, but I can’t fool the eyes of the youngest S-class.

I don’t know about Baek Ji-soo, but Yoon Seo-hee is the kind of person who would be very worried if I said I was overdoing it, so I didn’t want to make her friends worry too much. It’s true that she’s honestly sick, but she’s not going to die. I nodded slowly.

“Uh. I guess I overworked myself a bit over the weekend. It stings all over the place. It’s nothing serious, though.”

“Really? You never know Shall I take you to the health room? Would you like to lie in bed and get some rest? I will tell Teacher Songha.”

It went too far. It’s enough to go to the health room later, whether it’s break time or lunchtime, and get a pass. He lightly waved his hand and waved his hand.

“It’s embarrassing to lie down just because your back hurts. It’s not to the point of skipping class, so it’s really okay.”

“Huh? Waist? Why does your back hurt? Aren’t your shoulders and arms sore?”

Ah. Yoon Seo-hee might think so. You’d think I’d overworked my muscles because of the blacksmith work I was making.

But the most serious part right now was the lower back. In order to explode the muscles of the body to the limit, the most important part was the core muscles that act as the axis of the body, especially the waist area.

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Just as the foundation is important to build a high building, the core muscles had to be firmly supported in order to squeeze the muscles for efficient combat. Because of that, until now, my stomach and back were tingling and numb, and there was no sign that the bent back was straightening.

I said, tapping the back of my hand with the back of my hand.

“Somehow, I had to use my lower back.”

“Waist exercise… So much sore muscles… ?”

Yoon Seo-hee’s bright smile was cracked. Confusion filled her eyes, which had hardened into a smile as she thought about what she was thinking.

“Lee Jin-ah. What the hell is that-“

At that moment, the bell announcing the morning ordinance rang, and teacher Song Ha opened the front door of the classroom and came in at the exact time.

“Hi guys! Mondays are horrible. Right? I also had a hard time coming to school today. Still, I have to cheer up and start the week, right? Now! Everyone who is still standing, go back to your seats! I’ll start the ordinance~”

The conversation ended vaguely at the words of teacher Song Ha, who clearly pointed to Yoon Seo-hee. Yoon Seo-hee looked at me with a confused expression, then went back to her place with an awkward smile.

It’s strange. Why are you looking like that?

It was something I couldn’t figure out even if I thought about it. I prepared for the morning class straightening my swollen back as I did.

–

“So what the hell is going on?”

I called Byeong-jun for counseling. It’s the second place now, so I’m used to the rooftop. I answered while holding a piece of bread from the store in my hand and sucking on some milk.

“Don’t be surprised and listen.”

“What is it? Did Yoon Seo-hee even confess?”

“No. It’s not like that… Are you sure she won’t tell you where to go?”

“Hey. Look.”

Lee Byung-jun clenched his fist and stretched out his thumb and little finger. It was a truly bizarre attitude.

“… ??”

“I don’t tell anyone. Now tell me.”

I nodded, hesitated, then slowly opened my mouth.

“I was confessed to by Yuna.”

“Poop!”

Lee Byung-jun spewed out the milk he was drinking just like I did. Then, as if he had heard a cough, he cleared his throat and looked at me with devastated eyes.

“Cough, Cough! Kheuheouk! What? Who? Yuna? 2Nd class Yuna? Did he confess to you?”

“Uh.”

“Why not? Confessing that it’s been a few days since you transferred? Already? To you?”

“That’s how it turned out….”

“You bastard!”

With a sudden curse, Lee Byung-jun put a headlock on me. It wasn’t a gesture with malicious intent, and since Byung-jun was a magician anyway, his physical stats were weaker than mine, so he wasn’t particularly choking or anything like that.

“How many women do you have? Uh? Wait a minute, you couldn’t have confessed? You can’t do that! Yoon Seo-hee, since when did he like you? !”

“No, no! I didn’t get it! I just said I would think about it!!”

Only then did Lee Byung-jun let go of the headlock that had been hung around his neck and said as if he was dumbfounded.

“Then it’s fortunate… her. It’s been a week since you transferred, and you confessed right away?”

If I had to question it, a week had passed since we first met at the fair, but it had been less than a week since we actually had a proper conversation. I was surprised and embarrassed, so I had no choice but to gloss over the spot.

I had to consult with Kertatus to tell him to shut up and fuck him, to make up a pre-existing fact, or to talk about obscenity that was hard to hear in my mind. I couldn’t expect it at all.

“Tell me more. What did you confess to?”

“I asked if you would like a boyfriend….”

“Wow. Is this European style? Maybe it’s because he’s a kid who ate foreign stuff, so he’s very active. Were there any other words? You know where you like it or how you fell for it?”

“I never said that. I did say something else.”

“Another word?”

I remember the night I spent with Yuna. Although she herself revealed her skin, whenever I looked at her, she was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do.

“I heard you want to be a contract boyfriend, not just a boyfriend.”

“… What is that?”

I slowly told Byung-jun the story that Yuna had brought up to me that day.

In order to do business in Korea, he has to attend as many social parties as possible because he still lacks his position.

And that such a social party needs a male escort, even for the sake of face.

You would normally ask Philip, but since he betrayed you, you need someone else.

And that I am the best choice out of people I can trust right now.

Excluding things that are too sensitive to tell others, I only told Byeongjun what I could say.

“… So, to sum it up, you need a guy to take you to a social party, right? And since there are no men around, he said he would take you too.”

“Well, it will be like that if I organize it.”

“Then there is nothing to see. Refuse.”

“Reject?”

“I don’t even really like you, do I? Even if you pretend to be an escort, do you really need to pretend to be a boyfriend? And what benefits do you get from that contract?”

This is the benefit I get.

Yuna explained a lot about that part as well. She said that she could meet all the high-ranking people in society that she would not normally have a chance to meet, and that she would arrange her personal connections if necessary. But that part didn’t really appeal to me.

There was, however, one thing that stuck.

‘Claprot is a traitor to humanity.’

That word Baek Ji-soo said.

To be honest, I don’t think Yuna is a traitor to humanity. However, the Klaproth group betrayed humanity in the future and became attached to the devil and participated in the apocalypse.

With that in mind, she thought it would be a bad idea to accept Yuna’s offer and reject the opportunity to get closer to the internal affairs of the Claprot group. So I put it on hold for now.

And… If you can get close to the upper class of society, wouldn’t there be frequent opportunities to contact Cha Soo-hyeok of the Suseong Guild? Because he said that he too would become a traitor to humanity. There were also such tricks.

Looking at my troubled appearance, Lee Byung-joon furrowed his brow.

“What are you so serious about? Suppose you accept the contract boyfriend offer. Then, even if it’s fake, won’t you pretend to be Yuna’s boyfriend?”

“Would that be?”

“Then what about Yoon Seo-hee? If you stick around Yuna, she won’t feel bad.”

“Ummm….”

I want to be considerate of Yoon Seo-hee’s feelings.

However, Yuna’s cooperation is necessary to prevent the coming apocalypse. Of course, since we are friends, we want to help the most, but even so, the more people who can help, the better.

“Wouldn’t they understand if I explained the situation well?”

“Will that work?”

I can’t do that either.