Chapter 53

No matter how much I look at it, it’s so obvious that it’s cheap, it’s giving me a headache.

“Huh, Seo-ho, Ha Seo-ho. You’re crazy. You must be crazy.”

“I won! I won!”

Everyone in my class except me was thrilled to death that Seo-ho became the instructor.

Why can’t I be happy too?

“Your Seo-ho is acting like a younger brother. You should be nice to him.”

Only Baeksan, the third party, was clapping his knees and laughing.

‘He must be blaming himself for causing trouble.’

Seo-ho, being an S-class Hunter, is a busy man.

The fact that he came all the way to the Hunter Training Academy for me must mean he thought I suffered because of him.

He’s always been a responsible guy.

At least he wants to help in any way he can within his limits.

‘Well, it’s a good intention, so…’

It wouldn’t be right for me, as his senior, to scold him too much.

“Class C, please gather over here.”

Right on time, Seo-ho started calling people over.

Those who had confirmed they were in Class C scurried over to Seo-ho, and he looked at everyone before turning to me.

If Seo-ho acted like he knew me, it was clear how much I’d suffer for the next two weeks, so I put a finger to my lips, asking him to keep quiet.

Seo-ho nodded understandingly and began explaining the schedule at the Academy to everyone.

Since it was Ha Seo-ho, the Seollsan Iri, speaking, everyone listened intently with sparkling eyes.

Seeing this, I realized just how famous Seo-ho really is.

I only know him because he’s Si-ho’s older brother.

“Seo, Seo-ho Instructor! Can we take a picture?”

“That’s not allowed.”

I’ve never seen such a sharp side of him before.

Would I get rejected if I asked for a picture too?

I’m curious, but I’ll hold back.

After that, we were immediately guided to the dormitory.

The first day was mostly about distributing supplies and explaining the facilities, so there wasn’t much to do.

“Hello? We’re in the same class.”

As I was following Seo-ho to the dormitory, I suddenly heard a voice from beside me and turned my head.

There was a man who had been sitting next to me earlier.

Was he in the same class?

“Ah, yes, it seems so.”

“Nice to meet you. Shall we introduce ourselves? I’m Eun-namu.”

Eun-namu? That’s quite a unique name.

“Eun-namu? Wait, hey, hey, why is she here?”

As I was about to respond for the introduction, Baeksan, who was walking ahead, suddenly turned his head sharply towards us.

“Crazy, she changed her face, her gender, hey! Kang Ha-chan, don’t you dare get close to this girl!”

What’s going on all of a sudden?

Wait, more importantly, a girl?

This person is a guy.

I was momentarily flustered, but I had to respond first for the introduction.

“I’m Kang Ha-chan.”

“Ha-chan, Ha-chan, your name is funny.”

Who’s calling whose name funny?

“Our names combined make Ha-chan the tree. That’s funny.”

The voice didn’t sound like it was laughing.

Eun-namu, with an awkward smile, turned away from me after saying that.

“And you really do know Seollsan Iri.”

Hearing that, I stiffened.

Eun-namu’s back, walking away, gave off an uneasy feeling even before Baeksan’s warning.

“Baeksan, so what’s the deal?”

Since I was a bit behind in the line, I asked quietly so others wouldn’t hear, and Baeksan crossed his arms with a displeased expression.

“Don’t try to find out. It’s better not to know.”

“Don’t you know basic human psychology? If you say that, I’ll get curious and approach without thinking.”

“Damn it.”

Baeksan gritted his teeth and let out a long sigh.

“Before the regression, there was one person you couldn’t save.”

A person I couldn’t save?

Looking at Baeksan with curiosity, he frowned as if hesitant to speak, then finally told me.

“Because of me, she has no relation to you now, but anyway.”

Eventually, he spilled it out.

“She was your ex-girlfriend before the regression.”

It seems I had a girlfriend without knowing it.

“So, tell me more.”

After being assigned a dorm room.

I lay on the second-floor bed with my phone to my ear, trying not to look suspicious to my dorm mate.

Seeing me like that, Baeksan clicked his tongue and answered my question.

“I also heard it from you. You said you dated a girl when you were around 17. Middle school? You knew her since then.”

“Was I popular in that world?”

“Is that important now?”

A girlfriend.

I thought such a thing was a mythical creature, but it seems even straw shoes have their pairs.

“And she’s also the one who gave you trauma.”

“Trauma?”

“Eun-namu was caught in a dimensional movement and went missing. Right in front of you.”

“Huh?”

“And she came back the next day.”

The flow of time between dimensions is different.

Just like how Orzia and I returned from the Joseon era to the modern era.

Conversely, no matter how much time passed there, only a little time passed here.

“And you went to find Eun-namu and got dumped right away. You said you had only been dating for a day.”

“Wait, why did the story turn out like that?”

I suddenly felt sorry for the me living in Baeksan’s world.

Dating a girl I knew since middle school and getting dumped after a day.

It might not have been a day for Eun-namu, but for the me in that world, it was a day, so the shock must have been huge.

“The problem isn’t that. Eun-namu disappeared and reappeared at the age of 20, starting to hunt down Returners.”

“What?”

I looked at Baeksan with a shocked expression.

“Your sister Kang Mari was also a target. The result was Kang Mari’s victory, but Eun-namu died. Also in front of you.”

I opened my mouth.

And had to make a vague expression.

“……Baeksan, why did you say Eun-namu’s face and gender changed?”

“I saw you carrying a photo in your wallet, and I asked about it. After that, you didn’t date anyone, no, couldn’t date anyone.”

Is that what trauma is?

But there was something strange.

“I’ve never heard of a Returner hunting down other Returners. Besides, this is the first time I’ve heard the name Eun-namu.”

“I don’t know about that either. The future has changed. Maybe you didn’t know because Kang Mari disappeared and you went to a different middle school.”

Just one thing, my sister disappearing, changed everything that much.

The butterfly effect really exists.

“And maybe it was only talked about among Returners. Ordinary people wouldn’t know about Returners’ affairs.”

“Then maybe she’s still hunting Returners now.”

“Maybe. That’s why I told you not to approach her. There’s more than one or two Returners around you.”

Now Baeksan’s warning is starting to make sense.

“Let me say it again, don’t think about approaching. Stay away. When I returned, she was already dead, but she had killed six Returners.”

Six.

That’s a huge number.

“Changing her face is suspicious too.”

“Couldn’t that be her real face? Maybe it’s someone else with the same name.”

“No, it’s definitely not her real face. I could faintly sense aura from her face. And do you think there’s another Eun-namu with such a unique name? Among those who changed their faces?”

That makes sense.

Baeksan boasted that unless it was someone of his level, they wouldn’t recognize her.

Anyway, summarizing Baeksan’s words, Eun-namu was actually a girl and came to the Hunter Training Academy after changing her face.

“How much has changed?”

Baeksan’s face darkened, perhaps worried about how much the future had changed because of him.

“It’s okay. Who knows? Maybe things have changed somewhere, and she’s not going around assassinating people.”

“Still, be cautious.”

“Got it.”

I had no intention of getting close to danger either.

Thus, the first day at the Hunter Academy was coming to an end.

But those who know, know.

There’s a fate that entangles people no matter how much they try to avoid it.

“Ugh!”

The next day, Oh Cheol-gi, a fellow trainee sharing the room with me, started complaining of stomach pain.

When I hurriedly took him to the infirmary, the nurse said something absurd.

“It seems like appendicitis? Go to the hospital for a proper check-up.”

Do Hunters get appendicitis too?

Apparently, he wasn’t a high-level Hunter, so he was immediately taken to the hospital.

Suddenly left alone in the room, I plopped down on the second-floor bed.

Well, it’s nice to have the room to myself.

Knock knock-

While enjoying the comfortable room, I had to get up at the sudden knocking sound.

“Yes.”

When I opened the door, there was a dorm supervisor and.

‘Eun-namu.’

Originally a girl but disguised as a boy, Eun-namu was standing there.

I could already hear Baeksan shouting beside me, but I tried to ignore it and asked.

“What’s the matter?”

“Ah, trainee Oh Cheol-gi was taken to the hospital for appendicitis, right?”

I had a bad feeling.

“The male side is odd-numbered, so trainee Eun-namu is using the room alone. So we’re thinking of combining rooms, is that okay?”

Why is this happening?

Although it’s a coincidence, I felt a slight headache coming on, but I couldn’t find a reason to refuse.

From the Hunter Training Academy’s perspective, it’s obviously easier to manage if trainees share rooms.

Moreover, since I originally used a two-person room, if there was a reason to oppose, I wouldn’t have used a two-person room in the first place.

“Refuse! Say you caused the appendicitis, and your ability is to cause inflammation within a one-meter radius!”

Where in the world does such an ability exist?

Looking at Baeksan, who was no help at all, I could only smile bitterly.

“Yes, come in.”

“Haha, thank you. Come in, trainee Eun-namu.”

As the dorm supervisor spoke kindly, Eun-namu bowed her head to me and entered.

Carrying her luggage, Eun-namu entered and gave me a lazy smile.

“Nice to meet you. We meet again.”

“Indeed.”

“Somehow, Ha-chan and Eun-namu ended up in the same room.”

Eun-namu still laughed at incomprehensible parts.

I wonder what the me from Baeksan’s world saw in her.

Since morning had passed and it was time for the morning class, Eun-namu seemed to postpone organizing and started roughly putting her clothes in the personal closet next to the bed.

As I stared at Eun-namu, she closed the closet door and turned to me.

“By the way, we don’t know each other’s ages. How old are you, Ha-chan?”

“I’m 26, and you?”

“We’re the same age. How about we drop formalities? We’ll be sharing a room for this week.”

Damn, if this continues, it feels like we’ll get entangled without any way out.

I felt a bit troubled, but again, there was no reason to refuse.

It’s awkward to refuse when someone of the same age suggests dropping formalities.

“Okay, nice to meet you. Eun-namu.”

And Baeksan started getting louder.