19 – Hero (2)

“Even if you buy a meal ticket, you’re stubborn…”

“I have a conscience too, how do I get it every time? Baek Chi-yeul and I told you to go and eat together.”

“Why am I going with him? I’d rather starve to death.”

“…I’ll be sad if I hear Idiocy Fever.”

Today, I politely declined Baek So-ah’s consideration and decided to grab a meal at the canteen.

Think of it as a pre-answer feeling.

Knowing the terrain or the structure of a building in advance would be helpful when evacuating people.

“Rather than that, this bread sold at the canteen is also quite delicious. It tastes cheap.”

“Pizza bread tastes good even after its expiration date.”

“…do you eat spoiled things? If you’re hungry but don’t have money, call me. I will buy you.”

“That’s what it says. I also don’t eat anything past the expiration date of more than 10 days.”

While sitting face-to-face with Baek So-ah on a chair in front of a table outside the canteen, while chewing bread and talking.

“Huh, huh. Guys why are you leaving me… I haven’t been to the restaurant for a long time. If you hadn’t seen the text, you would have eaten alone.”

Baek Chi-yeol ran and gasped for breath.

I’m afraid to misunderstand, but I never intentionally dropped it.

I simply forgot.

After arriving at the store, I remembered that I had left Baek Chi-yeol behind, so I even sent a text message.

“sorry. I was hungry, so I came without thinking.”

“I managed to find it too. What is a tick?”

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Judging by what she says, Baek So-ah seems to be intentional…

So stop asking Baek So-ah every time what kind of relationship she has with me.

It’s all Baek Chi-yeol’s karma.

Since I keep asking if I’m dating, it’s not like my liking level has plummeted.

Every time Baek So-ah heard that, he was furious and completely denied it.

I must have hated it for a while.

Even if I were a woman, I would feel bad if I was tied up as a couple. It’s not the external appearance that’s the problem, it’s because the reputation is garbage.

“Are you both pizza bread? Then I should eat pizza bread too.”

“Don’t follow me.”

“why? Is it for couples only?”

“Do you want to disappear later without knowing mice or birds?”

look at me

Even while frowning, he blatantly shows that he doesn’t like it.

I’m a man too, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bitter… Still, I was just grateful that you and I were friends. If you see someone approaching you first and giving you a favor, you mean it’s okay as a person even if you don’t like it as a member of the opposite s*x, right?

I hope it’s not because I’m sorry.

…isn’t it?

“Is it more suspicious to be angry? They say a strong negative is a strong positive.”

“Speak nonsense one more time. I really won’t let you go.”

Avoiding Baek So-ah, who threatened Baek with a clenched fist, Baek Chi-yeol giggled and headed to the checkout counter.

Baek So-ah’s face, staring at the back, was as red as persimmon. It seems that the heat has spread a lot.

“Baek Chi-yeol is really dumbfounded. What kind of couple are you?”

“Otherwise, I’m sure they’re joking around to get closer, but don’t be so offended.”

“I didn’t say I was offended.”

“…Then I’m glad.”

“…”

“…”

The atmosphere became awkward because Baek Chi-yeol made unnecessary noises.

We stuffed the rest of the bread into our mouths, staring unnaturally elsewhere.

Baek Chi-yeol is turning bread in the microwave with a bright smile, perhaps not knowing the atmosphere here. I wanted to hit him hard on the back of the head.

In the ensuing silence, I stared into the distance without focus, lost in thought.

‘Mmm. Since there are a total of three entrances to the store, I don’t think there will be any problems when evacuating… Since it is the beginning of May, there will be an incident within this week, right?’

I don’t know when the dungeon break will happen, but it certainly wasn’t today.

Unlike me, Kim Soo-han knows the exact date.

He’s a guy with an extremely good memory.

In any case, Kim Soo-han did not show any sign of gathering the academy students and professors in the morning, and as soon as it was lunchtime, he and Cha Yu-ra rode out of the academy in a black sedan.

Today was proof that an extremely peaceful day would last.

‘If the incident had happened today, I could have gotten help from Baek So-ah, but it’s a bit unfortunate.’

It’s a shameless thought, but…

As long as Baek So-ah was by her side, even if the monsters attacked, it was possible to solve it in an instant. There is no need to evacuate people, it is over if the monsters attack and burn them to death.

However, unfortunately, it was an impossible strategy.

‘Was Baek So-ah leaving tomorrow? Isn’t it Moraine?’

I heard it last week, so it’s a long time.

I broke the silence and carefully called Baek So-ah.

“Hey.”

“···yes?”

“So, did you say you were going to be dispatched?”

“Ah, yes. Deployed as an apprentice in the operation area to recapture Hokkaido for a week. My dad told me to gain some experience.”

“When did you say you were leaving?”

“I’ll probably get ready tomorrow morning and leave early in the morning.”

it was tomorrow

This is why I can’t ask for help.

In the original work, Baek So-ah was only mentioned in one line about the upcoming incident. He said he was on a short-term leave of absence due to personal reasons.

It connects like this

I fell for it when I went to Hokkaido.

“But why all of a sudden?”

“just. I want to be lonely starting tomorrow.”

“…”

“You have idiocy fever, so you think it’s okay? It’s good that you made another friend.”

Even the tiger will come when I say it. Baek Chi-yeol bought a lot of bread and returned and sat down.

“What did you buy so many?”

“If you’re a man, you should eat five basic meals!”

It looks insignificant, but it is surprisingly gluttonous.

Where does it fit in that small body?

Baek Chi-yeol folded the pizza bread in half twice and ate it in one bite.

I eat very happily.

“Umm…, but…”

Baek Chi-yeol, who swallowed the bread in his mouth, glanced somewhere and said.

“Why are they looking at me like this from earlier? I don’t think it’s looking at me… but Hyunseong seems to be looking at you?”

“who?”

I followed the direction of my gaze.

Two women nibbling at salad boxes in the corner of a concession stand.

‘…White hair or pink hair?’

Albino and pink retriever.

It was a light of reason and letters.

Come to think of it, they were also regulars at the canteen, right?

Neither of them came from wealthy families, so they preferred the cheaper canteens to restaurants.

‘If Kim Soo-han has a harem, I’ll take him with me.’

He’s a guy who doesn’t really have a sense of justice.

If you take Cha Yoo-ra with you when you go to a high-class restaurant outside, what will happen?

Thinking about that, I looked away.

“Don’t you see this?”

“Keep watching. Are you secretly looking at me?”

The moment I turned my head again at Baek Chi-yeol’s words.

“…!”

“Hmm!”

Poof!

Their eyes met, and they hurriedly averted their gazes, pretending not to be looking this way.

“What are those bitches?”

Baek So-ah also glared at them, frowning as if she had witnessed the scene.

“Hey you guys! Why do you keep glancing at me in a bad way!? Do you want to go back?”

Baek So-ah shouted in a voice filled with anger.

Perhaps embarrassed to have been caught spying on her, Lee Yu-na got up from her seat and quickly ran away.

What is it really?

***

Lee Yoo-na and Seo Han-bit escaped from the canteen.

Next to Lee Yoo-na, who was making a decaying expression, Seo Han-bit stroked her forehead and pondered her doubts about Lee Hyun-seong.

‘That’s strange.’

She recalled Lee Hyeon-seong during the last Dalian.

There are no specific regulations,

Hitting an opponent’s head is implicitly taboo.

Seo Han-bit only focused on that and urged Lee Hyeon-seong to apologize for his mistakes.

I didn’t expect

I thought I would definitely snort and ignore it.

‘Or I thought I’d get angry on the contrary…’

However, Lee Hyun-seong’s reaction was unexpected.

The way he handed over his apology and left without hesitation was so foreign.

It was said that he had his help, but he even reconciled amicably with Baek Chi-yeol afterwards.

‘Is that really Lee Hyun-sung?’

I felt a sense of alienation.

Even though people have changed, they have changed too much.

He seemed to be a different person than Lee Hyun-seong, whom he had seen so far.

‘I was never that kind of person…’

Lee Hyun-sung’s past moves pass through my mind like a panorama.

The image of a brute-like man who is arrogant, indolent, and flirts with any woman is naturally drawn.

‘I’m a little handsome, so I’m going to have a good time… What a trash man he was.’

that he has changed

smoking weed.

I’m drunk

slut guy

The adjectives referring to Lee Hyun-seong no longer suited him.

‘…the person I hated so much changes in an instant, so it bothers me.’

Seo Han-bit did not like Lee Hyeon-seong.

So every action was seen negatively.

If you think about what happened during Dalian calmly, Baek Chi-yeol’s side did the wrong thing first, but he hated Lee Hyun-seong to the point of scolding him with resentment.

Of course, looking back on that action a few days later, I felt apologetic.

Anyone would have been angry if they heard that they had no parents, but I was embarrassed that I did not consider the other person’s feelings. As a child from an orphanage, he could have understood the anger he felt, but he regretted making the wrong decision just because he was a person he didn’t like.

So, when Lee Hyeon-seong was alone, he visited and apologized.

Lee Hyun-seong smiled benevolently and accepted the apology.

[Fine. Because I was wrong.]

Saying that, he left without hesitation.

‘What is it? It’s too suspicious to be suspicious!’

His actions only confused Seo Han-bit even more.

‘···That person is a fake. Hyunseong Lee didn’t use honorifics for me!’

Maybe it was stolen by a parasitic monster?

I don’t know if there is such a thing as a parasitic monster, but I couldn’t come up with an answer other than that.

‘I’ll dig it up.’

Seo Han-bit decided to stalk Lee Hyun-sung by monitoring his every move.

In order to reveal the identity of the false mask of the assailant wearing Lee Hyun-seong’s mask.

***

Two days have passed since Baek So-ah was dispatched.

‘Looks like today.’

this morning.

Kim Soo-han summoned the top students.

The title is a party to promote friendship.

I couldn’t explain that a dungeon break would happen, so I made an appropriate excuse.

‘I’m sure they’ll do the main story on their own.’

Characters other than the story should be left out at this point.

I hurriedly made my way to the store.

*

‘There is only one person wearing a school uniform…’

With the exception of one student, everyone in the canteen was normal.

In a way, it was natural.

Most of the professors and students don’t use the canteen, and sometimes the students who do use the canteen have been invited to Kim Soo-han’s friendship promotion party.

‘But why does the back look so familiar?’

It wasn’t just because they were the same first year students.

A rear view that is beyond familiarity and is extremely familiar.

As I got closer, I realized what familiarity really is.

“Paekchi fever?”

“uh···? Hyunseong?”

The student who answered the call was Baek Chi-yeol, who had been suffering from a headache since the morning and was resting in the health room.

“Why are you here when you’re not in the health room?”

“ah. My head hurts so much, I’m going to buy some painkillers…”

“Painkillers aren’t going to be in the health room.”

“The staff at the health room was away… There are many medicines, but I didn’t know what to take, so I just tried to buy them at the store.”

Baek Chi-yeol’s eyes, which were always lively, are dead.

It seemed that he had a severe headache.

‘Wait a minute. Then he…’

I looked around.

As expected, there are only two of us academy students.

Apparently, the first-year student who was supposed to die while evacuating people today was Baek Chi-yeol.