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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“In-wook.”
“Yeah?”
I was mentally reviewing what training I should have done at home today if I didn’t have plans with Ha-rin.
“Do you have to go home right away?”
“No. Not really.”
Of course, I remembered that it was a day I had to do upper body exercises at home, but I decided not to be too obsessed with it.
That excessive diligence. I wanted to reject it in this life.
“Then, do you want to walk with me to my house for a bit?”
“Your house?”
You mean my ex-in-laws’ house.
Indeed, if it was this location, Ha-rin’s house was less than a 20-minute walk away.
Well, that’s fine.
“Okay.”
“Thank you.”
Ha-rin smiled brightly.
And so, we walked along a slightly hilly stone wall path.
Was it telling me with my whole body that it was spring?
The roadside trees along the street were budding with white plum blossoms.
“Pretty, right?”
“Yeah.”
I’ve seen these flowers bloom and wither as many times as the number of springs I’ve experienced with you.
But still, the flowers are beautiful and you are lovely.
Ha-rin.
In the early days of dating her, I always walked her home along this path.
[I’m really fine, In-wook.]
[No. It’s dangerous.]
[My house is less than 10 minutes from here, and there are quite a lot of people on the street.]
[I’m the one in danger, not you.]
Ha-rin laughed as if asking what that was.
[Why are you in danger?]
[I’m in danger of regretting not seeing you a little longer on the way home.]
[What~ That’s~]
She didn’t seem to dislike my blabbering.
Memories of my younger days came back vividly.
“What are you thinking about?”
Was I too immersed in nostalgia by myself?
Ha-rin tilted her head and looked up at me.
“No. Just. Old memories.”
“You weren’t listening to me, were you?”
She spoke to me in a slightly sulky tone.
“Ah. Sorry.”
It seemed I hadn’t heard her when she spoke to me.
“What did you say?”
“It’s nothing. What old memories were you thinking about?”
Memories of dating you.
I couldn’t answer like this.
“Ah. There are plum trees like this in my neighborhood too.”
“Really?”
For some reason, she had a doubtful expression.
Hmm… Do I have such low credibility?
I didn’t know why she had that expression.
“Yeah. There’s one in front of my house too.”
It was a lie.
But I thought Ha-rin, who didn’t know my address and had never been to my house, wouldn’t know this.
Ha-rin squinted her eyes.
“Oh~ I see~ I really want to see it later.”
“Oh… Yeah. Sure. Come and see it.”
I felt like I was being doubted, but I guess it didn’t really matter.
I had no plans to invite her to my house yet.
We turned in the direction of Ha-rin’s house, walking side by side.
Unlike the bright atmosphere of the street a little while ago, it was a quiet alley.
Our footsteps sounded particularly loud.
“We’re here.”
The fine-quality concrete wall informed me that she had arrived in front of her house.
“So this is it. It’s huge.”
I guess I should act a little surprised here.
The gate was too high to accept it nonchalantly.
She seemed pleased with my reaction.
“Eh~ It’s not that much.”
Unlike her humble words, I had already seen the slightly raised corners of her mouth.
“Alright, Ha-rin. Go inside quickly, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for walking me here.”
Was there something she wanted to say?
Ha-rin couldn’t turn her back on me and just kept looking at me.
“Is there something you want to say?”
“Ah… No. I’ll go in.”
Only then did she grab the doorknob.
“Take care, In-wook.”
“Yeah. See you at the academy, Ha-rin.”
After making sure she went inside, I walked back the way I came to take the bus.
Leaning on the bus seat, I felt fatigue wash over me.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
* * *
When I got home and checked my phone, there was a call from an unknown number.
But the strange thing was that it was recorded that I had answered this call.
6:53 PM. It was the time I was with Ha-rin, but I don’t remember receiving a call, so I wondered what happened.
Hmm… Could it be that Ha-rin answered it when I was away for a moment?
No. But then, why didn’t she tell me there was a call?
Suddenly, I remembered the scene of her looking down at my phone with a serious expression when I came out of the restroom.
I picked up the phone again and called the unknown number left in the call history.
[Hello.]
It was definitely connected, but I couldn’t hear anything.
[Hello?]
[Choi In-wook.]
A familiar voice.
It was Si-hwa.
So did Ha-rin answer Si-hwa’s call?
[I’m sorry I couldn’t answer the call earlier.]
[Why couldn’t you answer?]
[I was out for a bit.]
Si-hwa didn’t respond for a while.
[With whom?]
[With my pair. Ha-rin.]
[…Is that so?]
She didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
[This is my number, so save it. I just called to tell you that.]
[Ah. Yeah. Got it.]
The business seemed to be over, but Si-hwa didn’t hang up.
[…Hello?]
[…I want to meet you outside too.]
It felt like competitiveness was triggered in a strange way.
[Si-hwa. I’m telling you this in case of misunderstanding. Meeting with Ha-rin today was strictly related to pair activities…]
[So you’re saying it can’t be done?]
…It’s awkward to answer when you ask like that.
In fact, there was nothing that couldn’t be done at all.
In my previous life, my evening hours were filled with training, and on weekends, dungeons.
I used to endlessly spin in this routine, but in this life, I planned to do that only as much as necessary.
I had a lot of free time.
[It’s not that I can’t, but…]
[Then what’s the problem?]
When I hesitated to answer, Si-hwa bluntly nailed it, as was her personality.
[Saturday, 6 PM. Let’s meet in front of Hongdae.]
With those words, the call ended.
What? Did she really hang up?
She had this personality in her previous life too, but it seemed her pushiness was even more intense when she was an academy student.
The screen showing the disconnected call was dyed red.
…Honestly, it would have been fine to refuse.
There was no significant reason to meet like with Ha-rin, and I could have made up excuses and said I was busy if I wanted to.
But the reason I couldn’t refuse Si-hwa was probably…
Because I heard about her situation after our divorce.
After finishing a meal with Ye-na, I went up to Seoul and heard news about Si-hwa.
The downfall of her, who had stood at the forefront more than anyone else and dominated the hunter world with me, came as a shock.
Si-hwa, who had maintained thorough self-management and an overwhelming career.
I couldn’t help but feel guilty when I learned that she had also left the hunter world not long after I went into hiding.
Because I believed she would be shining brightly in a higher place after leaving me.
…I had ruined her life.
Of course, the Si-hwa of this life wouldn’t know anything.
Rather, if she knew, there was no way she would treat me favorably like this.
I thought there was no way she would look at a man who had told a terrible lie and sent her life into the abyss with lingering feelings.
Sigh…
I let out a deep sigh and looked out the window.
…Of course, I knew that the Si-hwa of my previous life and the Si-hwa of this life were different people, but I still hoped Si-hwa would be happy.
If she would be happy with a small request to make time on the weekend,
I didn’t know what her true intentions were, but for now, I wrote down my appointment with Si-hwa on the calendar and found 2 unread messages.
The first was from Ha-rin.
[Did you get home safely?]
The content was ordinary, but I really couldn’t get used to her name saved as ‘Lifelong Pair Yoon Ha-rin♥’.
I casually replied that I got home safely and checked the next message.
It felt more like it was sent to multiple people rather than just to me.
[This is Hwang Tae-su, the head of Deforme! We will hold a welcome party for the new students who joined this time, so all new students must attend! I know you existing students are also unemployed bums, so make sure to come. I’ll split the bill even if you don’t attend. You’ve been warned. The time is 6 PM on Friday after the academy classes end! Come to the club room!]
Wow. Splitting the bill even if you don’t attend, the club atmosphere seemed more brutal than I thought.
He said it’s on Friday, so… Today is Thursday. That means it’s tomorrow?
Honestly, I thought it would be annoying and tiring to socialize with a lot of people, but the club was a bit different.
Because Ye-na was there.
While Si-hwa and Ha-rin showed excessive interest in me, Ye-na was rather too cold to me, so I felt Ye-na was difficult.
I wanted to at least talk to her, even if I couldn’t become close.
Actually, I wondered if Ye-na had lost her memory in her previous life and was reborn as a different person, becoming a gentle cafe owner.
But then I shook my head.
“No. This place is a different world from where I was.”
It was my way of thinking that was strange, trying to forcibly link her with my previous life.
Anyway, tomorrow I was determined to become close to Ye-na. I went to bed early.
* * *
Listening to lectures was really a confusing thing for me.
I felt bad for the teacher who was giving a passionate lecture about the types and characteristics of level 1 and 2 monsters, but it was content I already knew. And it was content that didn’t matter even if I didn’t know.
Today was filled with only theory classes, so time passed terribly slowly.
I blankly stared at the blackboard and waited for the class to end, and as soon as it did, I headed to the club room.
[Deforme]
…The name was cool, but the activity content was not at all.
I liked it.
I took a deep breath in case Ye-na had arrived before me.
Alright. Today, I will definitely…!
“What are you doing? Not going in?”
…Ye-na was looking at me holding the doorknob with a pathetic look.
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