.｡.:✧ Chapter 2 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Realizing that everyone’s eyes were on her, Ha-rin quickly gathered her stationery with her hands.

“So… Sorry.”

Despite her finishing organizing her pencil case, some of the boys couldn’t take their eyes off her.

I could understand their feelings too.

After all, she was the woman who would later be called the flower of the academy.

She possessed unparalleled beauty that would be praised as the academy’s greatest.

Even thinking about it now, the fact that I was able to marry Ha-rin.

The fact that I was her first love felt like a miracle.

Reaching the destination of marriage with one’s first love was never an easy thing…

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

…I hesitated to approach Ha-rin again.

If I continued to show no interest in her like this, we would probably live parallel lives, never crossing paths again.

Because in my past life, I had worked ardently to win her heart, captivated by Ha-rin’s warm personality and flower-like beauty.

Ha-rin eventually allowed us to date after my persistent courtship, and we made a name for ourselves as the most popular couple in the academy.

Seeing her in her uniform reminded me vividly of the photo we took on the last day of the academy, at graduation.

* * *

It was a spring day when cherry blossoms were fluttering.

After the graduation ceremony ended, our juniors gathered us at the academy’s main gate, saying they would take a photo.

Ha-rin, who seemed to refuse politely but was inwardly pleased, shyly linked arms with me and leaned against me.

One. Two. Three.

Following the juniors’ cue, she and I made a V sign and congratulated each other’s graduation with bright smiles.

I thought nothing could separate the two of us…

But it was none other than myself who separated her and me.

I found out I couldn’t get her pregnant less than a year into our marriage.

It was truly shocking.

No matter how much we tried, she didn’t get pregnant, so we ended up going to the hospital.

The doctor diagnosed that I could never have children.

Wanting to deny reality, I visited several other hospitals, but the answer that came back was the same.

I… had a body that couldn’t have children.

That’s when all the misfortune began.

Since there aren’t many S-rank hunters worldwide, their marriages often become a huge topic of social interest.

Of course, it could be seen as interest in these individuals’ personal lives, but there was one more important background to this.

It was the fact that children’s talents as hunters were determined by their parents’ ranks with 99% probability.

Children born between hunters awakened as stronger hunters than their parents.

The theory that the ability to resonate with the spirits that grant hunters power is more intensely inherited by the child is currently the most widely believed theory.

Therefore, a marriage between S-ranks is the confirmation of the birth of another super-star hunter and many people exaggerated, saying it was the birth of a hero who would save humanity.

At the same time, the social atmosphere was such that an S-rank hunter’s inability or refusal to leave descendants was considered a waste and disgrace of resources, beyond the national level to the global level.

The fact that we, an S-rank hunter couple, couldn’t have children was something we couldn’t easily reveal to the world.

That day when we painfully told my in-laws.

My father-in-law’s first words after listening to my story silently with a cold expression were heavy.

[Get divorced.]

[Dad!]

Ha-rin was startled and tried to dissuade her father, but his attitude was like an iron wall.

[If I had known this beforehand, I wouldn’t have given Ha-rin to someone like you in the first place. It’s not too late even now. Let my daughter go.]

Shocked, I couldn’t say anything that day and left my in-laws’ house.

[It’ll be okay… In-wook… I’ll… I’ll… try to figure something out…]

Nothing was okay.

And the one who had to find a way somehow wasn’t Ha-rin, but me.

Of course I tried all sorts of procedures, and ate all the delicacies that were said to be good for virility every day without exception.

I never neglected exercise, and diligently made love with my wife every day without skipping a single day.

But… in the end, we couldn’t bear fruit.

As the days went by, the intensity of Ha-rin’s parents’ divorce recommendations grew stronger.

The day they declared they would cut ties with Ha-rin if we didn’t get divorced.

Ha-rin told me, crying.

[Honey. Can we really be happy?]

Silently hugging her, I answered.

[Honey.]

[Yes?]

[…I’ll prepare the papers.]

Unable to see my spouse suffer anymore because of me, I was the one who brought up getting divorced first.

If it had been a problem I could solve somehow with my efforts, I could have endured and persevered, but this wasn’t an issue of that level.

There was no need for Ha-rin’s life to be ruined because of me.

She told me over and over to think about it a little more, that there would be a way, but I knew.

What the right choice was.

Until the last day we went to court to submit the papers, she cried and tried to dissuade me.

[Don’t go. In-wook. Don’t go.]

[You have to meet a good man. Ha-rin.]

And so, leaving behind our short newlywed life, I left the place that had been our home.

* * *

Being the first day, the homeroom teacher explained what a hunter is and what kind of work they would do.

It was all content everyone knew, but I had no choice but to listen.

It was about 15 years ago that ‘gates’ appeared.

The door to another world that opened in the sky began to pour out countless monsters.

Even the most advanced weapons made with the essence of modern science couldn’t land effective hits on those with terrible appearances.

Their ruthless slaughter of the military gave the impression that the end was approaching for humans.

But they say there’s no law that says you must die. With the appearance of monsters, some humans were granted the power to defeat them by spirits.

There was still nothing revealed about what criteria the spirits used to select people.

And today, those selected by spirits are being trained as specialized personnel to fight monsters, and we call them hunters.

Graduation from the Hunter Academy is essential to become a hunter.

Here, the selected learn all the basics of being a hunter, and upon graduation, they are assigned a rank and gain the qualifications to be a proper hunter.

In the case of me in my past life, I achieved S-rank right after graduation. The same went for Ha-rin.

The year I graduated, the academy produced an exceptionally high number of S-ranks, setting a record that would go down in its history.

And so, the first day’s schedule at the academy ended with an orientation consisting of obvious explanations.

As I was packing my bag to go home, someone approached my seat.

“Um… Excuse me…”

A familiar voice.

No. The owner of the voice that would only be familiar to me.

It was Ha-rin.

“Yes?”

She hesitated, brushing her black hair back.

In my previous life, I don’t think she said anything to me on the first day of admission.

I couldn’t guess the reason she was talking to me.

“Choi… In-wook. Right?”

I nodded.

How did she know?

Did she memorize my name when the homeroom teacher was messing around with my test results earlier?

She abruptly extended her hand.

“I’m Yoon Ha-rin.”

Was she asking for a handshake?

Not knowing what to expect, I also reached out my hand and grasped hers for now.

“…Please take care of me from now on.”

Her words seemed to carry a hint of hesitation.

Her expression was a bit too complex for a greeting between classmates meeting for the first time.

“Oh… Oh! Yeah… Let’s get along well… us.”

I thought we would just quickly shake hands and be done, but for some reason, her hand gripped mine a bit too firmly.

“That… hand… um…”

I told her with a slight smile.

“Ah… Sorry.”

Her hand fell from mine limply.

I stood up from my seat with my bag on my back.

“I’ll get going. See you tomorrow.”

Finding it too awkward to continue the conversation, I bid her farewell and quickly left the classroom.

When was the last time I had looked at Ha-rin’s face for this long?

Meeting her again after returning to my younger days, she still shone brightly.

She was the one I had spent the longest time with out of all my wives.

The saying that a man never forgets his first love must be referring to someone like Ha-rin.

As I trudged down the stairs, I looked around here and there inside the academy.

Ha-rin’s traces were imprinted everywhere.

The back of the 1st floor auditorium where we had our first kiss.

The fence we jumped over when I first took Ha-rin to play hooky.

The road lined with trees near the back gate where I walked her even though our homes were in opposite directions, not wanting to part.

They were no longer our memories, but had become only my memories.

After returning home, I had a long conversation with my family even after finishing dinner.

Because there were many things left unsaid. Because I wanted to see my mom a lot even now.

They were talks about nothing special, but I kept chattering on and on until they told me to go in and rest now.

Back in my room, I lay on the bed and blankly stared at the black ceiling.

How on earth did I come back to life?

Could it be that everything I thought was my previous life was just a long nightmare?

Pondering the unresolved questions, I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

[Open your eyes. Choi In-wook. There’s no time.]

An unfamiliar, heavy voice woke me up.

There was nothing to be seen in front of my eyes.

At least it was certain this wasn’t my room.

[Who are you?]

I had no weapon but inwardly prepared to engage in battle at any moment.

Only a voice came from the formless darkness.

[I am the Primordial Spirit. The one who desires the protection of Earth from the invasion of other worlds.]

The Primordial Spirit…?

Very little was known about spirits.

The only thing that could be known was that they lent power to hunters for some reason.

I had never even heard of anyone having a conversation with a spirit.

[Remember. The time given to your second life is only 4 years.]

4 years…? 4 years later was the year I held my wedding with Ha-rin after graduating from the academy.

[You must succeed in marriage and have a child. Otherwise…]

I couldn’t hear the rest properly.

It seemed to be saying something, but the content didn’t reach me.

[□□□ □□□ □□ □ □□ □□□ □□ □□ □□□□]

[What?]

[Don’t forget. It’s 4 years.]

With those words, the voice cut off abruptly and I woke up from sleep.

The loud sound of the alarm clock filled the room.

The voice that remained too vividly in my mind to call it a dream.

And above all, the voice knew that I had returned.

If what the one called the Primordial Spirit said was true…

Within 4 years, I had to choose my bride inside the academy.

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