Chapter 738: Week 9–10 Midterms (17)

Meanwhile, the shock Hong Yeonhwa received was no less than Song Cheonhye’s.

Th-That’s, ki, ki......!

Ki......! ssss......!

She had heard Seo Ye-in’s story the night before, and she had also had a full day to digest the shock.

So she had thought she might have built up some degree of resistance by now.

But hearing about it and imagining it was worlds apart from seeing it directly with her own two eyes.

The atmosphere between them, the feelings passing back and forth, all of it reached her without any filter.

Hong Yeonhwa recalled Seo Ye-in’s “hint” and thought,

She said it wasn’t a peck.......

It really was different.

Even though it had only moved a few centimeters from the cheek or forehead.

To the point that everything she had done with Kim Ho until now felt like child’s play.

If the person watching had such a flood of impressions, how much more intense must it be for the people involved?

Soon, the two who had been kissing parted, and the moonlight shone over Seo Ye-in’s face.

Unlike usual, both her cheeks were flushed red.

It was a face neither Hong Yeonhwa nor Song Cheonhye had ever seen before.

Looks like she gets embarrassed too.

I thought she was a robot because she’s always expressionless.

Then if I ki, ki...... kiss too, I would......?

While she was thinking that, Kim Ho opened his mouth with a smile.

“You’ve gotten a lot more natural.”

“Practice is the only way to survive.”

“Is this really something to burn that much fighting spirit over?”

“Kissing is war.”

Seo Ye-in spoke in a firm tone, as if making a declaration.

At that, Kim Ho shook his head as if there was no stopping her.

“Anyway, let’s go. The others might look for us.”

“Let’s go.”

Soon, the two began walking while talking quietly, and before long, they disappeared completely from sight.

Only then did Hong Yeonhwa and Song Cheonhye release the breaths they had been holding.

“Haaah—”

“Phew.......”

The kiss-watching had ended a while ago, but the shock and lingering impact still felt vivid before their eyes.

It felt like they would not be able to endure unless they talked to someone right away.

So Hong Yeonhwa duck-walked over to Song Cheonhye and crouched beside her.

Then she stared blankly up at the night sky and murmured,

“That was incredibly....... incredible.......”

“I know....... The two of them already.......”

Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in had always been extremely close, and even holding hands or giving pecks was ordinary for them.

But to think their progress had advanced further in the brief time they had not seen them.

Song Cheonhye muttered as if talking to herself.

“I do wonder if that isn’t too fast.......”

“Too fast?”

“They’re still students. That, that.......”

“Kiss?”

“Yes, ki...... kissing does feel like crossing a line.”

At those words, Hong Yeonhwa bristled without realizing it.

The people Song Cheonhye was pointing at were obviously Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in, but Hong Yeonhwa heard it differently.

—Kissing is still too early for you.

—If you’re a student, don’t cross the line and be satisfied with pecks.

But she could not show that, so she pretended to be as neutral as possible and said,

“I think people can do it. If they like each other.”

“Then are you going to do it too? With that person?”

Hong Yeonhwa flinched for a moment at the question, sharp as a hedgehog’s spines.

With Kim Ho....... Is she asking if I’ll do it?

The scene she had witnessed moments ago replayed in her head again.

Only this time, she was in Seo Ye-in’s place.

And Kim Ho’s face came closer, his lips came closer too,

And then, and then......!

Hong Yeonhwa’s face turned red enough to burst.

In that state, she lowered her head and answered in a mosquito-sized voice.

“Maybe....... later......?”

“You’re going to?”

“Then, you aren’t?”

Hong Yeonhwa answered bluntly.

By now, her mood had started to twist.

She also wondered why she had to watch herself around Song Cheonhye.

But the next moment, something occurred to her, and she asked back.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t done it, right? Anything.”

“What do you mean anything? With that person?”

“Yeah. Pecks or holding hands.”

If Song Cheonhye was not even at the early stage, then Hong Yeonhwa could understand her saying it was too early for students and drawing a line.

At that, Song Cheonhye’s face twitched.

For some reason, admitting it felt like losing.

“......I have, you know? We do it all the time, you know? A lot?”

“Really? I’ve never seen it once.”

“That’s because we only do it when it’s just us.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Hong Yeonhwa did not see through the lie.

She was not especially perceptive to begin with, and she was a beginner in this field in particular.

Kim Ho might have done pecks with her too.

But even as she accepted it, another question raised its head.

“And yet you draw the line? You don’t go further?”

“No, that’s, I.......”

Song Cheonhye opened and closed her mouth, fumbling over her words.

The lie she had thrown out of stubbornness was snowballing.

But she had already mounted the tiger—no, the Kim Ho—and could not get off, so she continued bluffing.

“I only said that. Lines are....... drawn so you can cross them.”

“You suddenly got bold.”

“I was just flustered earlier. Lips...... are something I saw for the first time too.”

When Song Cheonhye trailed off, Hong Yeonhwa nodded as if she understood.

Then, as if afraid someone might hear, she lowered her voice even further and said,

“But from what I heard....... the lips aren’t the end.”

“......What? There’s more?”

“They said you use your....... tongue?”

“!?”

Song Cheonhye’s mouth fell slightly open in shock.

Likewise lowering her voice, she asked,

“Tongue? Why on earth?”

“I don’t know. I only heard that you use it.”

At that, Song Cheonhye’s mind entered a state similar to Hong Yeonhwa’s the night before.

Questions chased question after question, and one imagination after another rose and vanished in succession.

But that was cut off for a moment.

RUSTLE.

Because a sound came from a nearby patch of grass, along with the sense of someone’s presence.

“!”

“!!”

Hong Yeonhwa and Song Cheonhye flinched and turned their heads.

As they drew their respective weapons, they communicated with their eyes.

......It’s a monster, right?

We have to hope it is.

It’s definitely a monster.

It has to be.

If it was a monster, they could just beat it down. But if it was another party member or participant, they would be properly adding a black-mark memory to their records.

If, by any chance, it’s a person.......

And if they heard us talking.......

They’ll have to disappear.......

Rarely enough, an eerie air swirled in both Hong Yeonhwa’s and Song Cheonhye’s eyes.

But as the saying went, ominous premonitions never missed.

When the two of them took another step forward with their weapons raised,

RUSTLE.

The bushes shook again, and something popped up.

Its identity was none other than Seo Ye-in’s face.

At that, the two of them screamed loudly enough to shake the Great Forest.

Uwaaaaah!!

Kyaaaaaaah!

But by a miracle, the screams did not leak out of their mouths, because at the last instant, they reflexively stretched out their hands and covered each other’s mouths.

While the two calmed their startled hearts in that state,

Seo Ye-in was tilting her head as she looked at them.

As if asking, “What are you two doing here?”

Perhaps thanks to that, the two regained their composure surprisingly quickly.

Only then did they realize that the Seo Ye-in before their eyes was actually a mirror image.

Since it differed completely from an ordinary clone, it seemed to have remained even after the original left.

Or perhaps Seo Ye-in had deliberately left it behind.

Either way, one fact was clear.

She heard everything.......

Black-mark memory.......

And because it was [Mirror Image], they could not even attempt anything like silencing the witness.

Seo Ye-in could simply resummon it.

The two covered their faces with their hands.

Meanwhile, mirror-image Seo Ye-in was still tilting her head.

As if saying they still had not answered her question.

At that, Hong Yeonhwa and Song Cheonhye reflexively tried to pour out excuses.

We weren’t trying to watch~

We just came out for a walk and saw something~

I came because I saw this person here~ and then unexpectedly, other people too~

But soon, they closed their mouths at the same time and exchanged glances.

Let’s just....... be honest.

That would be better.

They did not know how exactly this [Mirror Image] skill worked, but it was only a matter of time before Seo Ye-in learned this.

No, she might already know everything.

Kim Ho’s and Seo Ye-in’s eyes for details were beyond comparison.

They were the sort of people who could glance at a formation and break it by saying, “I sense something off......”

Had they really passed by without noticing their stealth?

There was a fairly high chance they had deliberately pretended not to know.

So Hong Yeonhwa and Song Cheonhye sighed deeply at the same time and offered honest apologies.

“Sorry. After hearing what you said yesterday, I got too curious and followed you.”

“I apologize as well. After hearing the ‘hint,’ I really wanted to find the answer.”

At that, mirror-image Seo Ye-in seemed to stare at them for a while longer, then slowly nodded.

—Magnanimous heart.

Fortunately, it seemed she intended to let it pass without making a big issue of it.

She was not the type to go around talking about things either, so their black-mark memory probably would not spread.

Just as the two let out sighs of relief,

Fast-Luckless abruptly spread both arms wide to the sides.

Then she spoke as if making a declaration.

—Undisputed first place.

“!?”

“!?”

—Agree?

“......?”

“......?”

Under the gaze that carried a strange pressure, Song Cheonhye and Hong Yeonhwa ended up nodding without realizing it.

*****

The next day.

I looked back and forth between Song Cheonhye and Hong Yeonhwa.

Whether because they had tossed and turned all night, both of them had hollow eyes.

On top of that, whenever their eyes met mine, they subtly turned their heads away and pretended not to notice.

They saw.

Last night, when I had stepped out for a bit with Seo Ye-in, I had sensed something strange from the bushes.

As expected, it seemed to have been those two.

Then it made sense that they had a lot on their minds.

For now, it’s right to leave them alone.

It was probably something they had done because they could not overcome their curiosity, not because they had any bad intentions.

Neither Seo Ye-in nor I cared much either.

That was why we had not bothered digging through the bushes last night, and I had no intention of bringing it up now either.

Unless they came forward first.

Wasn’t it best for everything to flow naturally?

So I glanced over the two of them, then looked around at my party members and the Discipline Committee members.

“Let’s discuss how we’ll move today.”

“Can we not simply continue as we have been?”

Geum Johan asked back as if it were obvious, meaning we could just keep circling the B-rank zone and sweeping up crystals and cards.

Go Hyeonwoo answered in my place.

“The number of monsters has clearly decreased.”

“They must be respawning.”

“It seems they cannot keep up with the rate at which we are hunting them.”

Geum Johan seemed to agree with that point as well and closed his mouth.

If we hunted ten, then at best only one or two respawned.

I nodded and added,

“If we dig a little more out of it, we should consider the B zone finished too.”

“Then what would be best? The lower zones seem likely to be in an even worse state.”

“Right, those places are probably dried up too.”

By now, most participants should have reached C- or D-rank, and the competition for hunting in those zones would also be incredibly fierce.

Wouldn’t they be more likely to run into each other and start fighting than to hunt monsters?

Soon enough, this B zone would become the same.

Of course, the answer had already been decided.

“Let’s start preparing to move up.”

To the long-awaited A zone.