01. A sword for you (2)

“Add Java chips to the Chocolate Frappuccino and top with whipped cream.”

“… ….”

I looked at the profile of Yoon Seo-hee as she skillfully ordered, then looked at the menu board with her eyebrows narrowed.

I know that Americano and Caffe Latte are still coffee. But what is a frappuccino and what is a blended tea? What does cold brew taste like?

I always locked myself in the house and touched my sword alone, so the only coffee I drank since I was born was the instant coffee I ate at home. So even after reading the menu, I couldn’t understand the contents.

It’s strange. The text must be Korean.

“You don’t order? I have something to do earlier, so I will live.”

“… Please give me the same one.”

“Ah, I will earn points. Payment is smart pay.”

She opened the screen on her smart phone and finished the payment at the same time. She waited for a while, and the drink came out quickly, and since I didn’t know anything, I took a tray and sat down.

Since it is a famous franchise cafe located within the academy grounds, most of the customers are students. Looking around, I saw a group of friends or lovers, men and women, chatting in a cafe.

“… ….”

I cleared my throat lightly and let the conversation flow.

“So, what the hell happened?”

“Um, so…. Where should i start talking? Do you remember that I transferred school in April due to a late awakening?”

“You know that.”

Transferring to an academy is not common.

The second-generation awakeners born after the Outbreak awaken their skills between the ages of 11 and 13, when they escape from childhood and establish a sense of self-identity.

In other words, it is a very rare case to belatedly awakening skills at the age of high school students like Yoon Seo-hee.

I remember the time when Yoon Seo-hee transferred to our class, probably mid-to-late April. It’s the end of June now, so it’s already been about two months.

“I really didn’t know anything for a few days after I transferred. Even thinking about suddenly becoming an Awakener is confusing, but it’s hard to keep up with classes, and the kids have already made groups of themselves and run around….”

It was a common grievance of a transfer student. When it comes to making friends, the original time is important. If you miss the right time, they will already form their own group and it will be difficult to get in on the way.

“It’s still hard, but Lee Hyeon-woo, he keeps annoying me in every class.”

“I heard that name before… Are you famous?”

“Perhaps? In addition to being second in the combat department, he was the son or grandson of a company president… I don’t remember well, but he’s an annoying guy who boasts about money and family that we meet in class. He also drags a lot of takkari.”

I will follow you. Come to think of it, earlier he strangled me while asking if I was going to catch Lee Hyun-woo.

I rubbed my neck for no reason and continued.

“How can you be annoying?”

“At first, since he was a transfer student, he said he wouldn’t know, and he secretly clung to me saying that he would tell me. I rejected it because it was unnecessary and annoying, but from then on, I silently ignored it behind my back. That they didn’t learn because they didn’t know, that late awakeners are genetically inferior… Anyway, there are words like that.”

“Wow.”

There are still people like that these days. I don’t know why there is such a category everywhere. Suddenly, I’m trying to think of my elementary school days.

“Did you tell the teacher?”

“No. What are you doing that for?”

Yoon Seo-hee sipped her Chocolate Frappuccino and laughed fiercely with a confident expression.

“There is a swordsmanship class. At that time, she applied for sparring, caught me and half-killed me. Are you feeling cool inside?”

“Wow….”

It was the same exclamation as before, but the meaning was different. Yoon Seo-hee, I thought about it earlier, but you start out with your fists and your way of speaking.

“He’s also in the combat department, so he hit it one-sidedly like that?”

“Yes. Didn’t you tell me the day you transferred? I woke up late, but I did some exercise before. It’s the trick to using your body, because it’s all there.”

Anyway, a beginner who awakened several years before himself and trained his skills and magic won the battle and second place, a beginner who had only been awakened for a few months unilaterally won?

It is a tremendous talent. I looked at Yoon Seo-hee with eyes that saw something in her that was not human.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just… But he continues to harass you even after suffering like that?”

At my question, Yoon Seo-hee quietly shook her head.

“No. Now, in every class, it’s quiet without sarcastic remarks or scratching your nerves.”

But… Yoon Seo-hee’s face is filled with displeasure. A contemptuous look that reminds you of something unpleasant and repulsive.

“Since then, my things keep disappearing or being damaged… It would be better if it was a textbook or notebook, but the other day, when I returned from swordsmanship class, the uniform was gone. The cleaning lady found it after throwing it in the school dump.”

A school uniform?

… I felt sick.

“Are there any other guys besides their gang who would do that to me? But there is no physical evidence, and the bullying is getting worse… In the end, even the sword was stolen. On the same day that I had a matchup with Hyunwoo Lee for the final performance.”

“Mmm.”

It was a very blatant and vicious bullying.

Traditionally, academy battles and first-year final practice are practice sparring between students.

But what if the opponent comes out without a weapon in combat and final practice? It is not difficult to predict that a bye will result.

The academy does not recognize hand-to-hand combat as a primary weapon. Climbing the tower naked without any weapons is no different from committing suicide.

Even if you have a skill, whether it’s a sword, a shield, or a staff, even if you’re a bare-handed fighter, of course you’ll bring armor and gauntlets.

Because equipment is a hunter’s lifeline.

You secretly stole such a life-threatening weapon?

If this is discovered, expulsion from the academy cannot be prevented no matter what company president is above Lee Hyun-woo. Tampering with other people’s equipment is a serious crime that has nothing to say even if you are buried in the hunter industry.

By store here, the word literally includes a physical store.

On the contrary, to have committed something like that means that I had the confidence not to leave evidence at all, and that’s why Yoon Seo-hee must be suffering from such a headache alone like this.

“I’ve been thinking about going there and grabbing it… I gave up because I thought I would shamelessly stick out my flippers. And since private violence is subject to discipline, I was thinking of stepping on it properly again during the final exam anyway.”

“You don’t even have a sword?”

“I bought a new one. It’s cheap, but… But the bag was missing, and while I went out to look for it, it was also stolen.”

I thought of the broken lock, the messed up locker, and Yoon Seo-hee who came in late with a displeased expression.

She returned empty-handed, so her bag was probably never found after all. In that situation, when she returns to the classroom, the locker is open, and the new sword is gone.

And I was standing there just in time with no luck.

That’s how it happened. It was really amazing timing.

“Um… I know roughly what happened. So what are you going to do now? Are you going to buy it again?”

“I’d love to, but I’ve spent all my savings. It was already tiring to get new textbooks and school uniforms, but after I bought the sword, I really didn’t have a single penny left.”

What?

“Wait, maybe this drink… ?”

“Actually, that’s my dinner for tonight.”

I stared at my portion of chocolate frappuccino that I hadn’t even taken a bite of. Thinking it was the price of someone’s meal, this palm-sized drink felt very heavy.

“… Will this be refunded?”

“It can’t be. Idiot?”

“That’s right… Then money-“

“I said I live. It’s really fine, don’t worry about it.”

Yoon Seo-hee sips her drink while waving her hand as if telling her not to do that. I bit into the straw of the drink in front of me and drank in the same way.

Ugh.

Why is this so sweet?

I heard giggling and laughing from the other side of her, so when I turned her head with an astringent expression, Yoon Seo-hee saw me and smiled, shaking her shoulders.

“Is this your first time eating something like this?”

“Uh. Actually, this is my first time coming to a cafe.”

“Is that so? Then next time I’ll buy something less sweet.”

What’s next?

I thought I would never come to a cafe with someone twice.

Of course, these are empty words, but somehow I felt a little uncomfortable.

“Still, talking to someone makes me feel better. It was frustrating because there was no one to go anywhere and talk to.”

I asked, blinking my eyes in a puzzled mood.

“I’m the first one to say this?”

“Yes. I have no friends in the academy. Aren’t you embarrassed to say this to your friends before you transfer? At best, everyone congratulated me when I became an Awakener, but it’s a little hard to say that I’m being bullied here….”

Seeing her blurring the end of her words as if in trouble, I pondered for a while.

Seeing her in her classroom, always behaving her self-assuredly, her party, she vaguely thought that such a child of hers would have no inconvenience in her school life.

Because he never looked like he would be bullied, and unlike himself, he seemed like the type that would attract a lot of people around him.

But it wasn’t. That was just a guess.

School life enduring bullying is never easy. Even if you pretend to be confident and strong on the outside, you must have accumulated a lot of frustration or anger on the inside.

I somehow felt her identification with her.

“Thanks anyway. I’m sorry about what happened today, and I’m going to go in now-“

“Can I help you?”

A word that comes out of your mouth without thinking.

Then silence ensued.