"Myunghoon, you can just join your dad's guild, right? I'm jealous—you're fine even if you don't study."
"Yeah, I guess. But my ability has to be really good. I'm scared other guilds will come running at me."
"Wow. That's fucking cool."
So they’ve got guys like this here too.
As soon as class ended, Sihyun started walking toward the cafeteria, spotted a few groups blatantly puffing themselves up in loud voices so everyone could hear, and shifted his steps to the side.
Naturally avoiding them, Sihyun kept moving away, slowing down little by little as that ear-splitting racket kept getting hammered into his eardrums whether he wanted it or not.
It was annoying enough that they were being that loud in a crowded place, but the content was also just… unbelievably low-level.
From the way they were yapping about "dad's guild" and whatever, they were probably the same tier as the later-generation disciples from some influential sect—guys with connections. It was almost impressive how even their manner of speaking was copied-and-pasted.
"But I heard there’s some bastard this time who awakened through Dreamwork—aren’t you gonna have all the hype stolen by him?"
Tsk tsk. There’s always at least one idiot everywhere who just runs their mouth without thinking.
Shaking his head slightly, Sihyun put even more distance between himself and the group still walking the same direction.
"…Who said that? Dreamwork only makes you strong if you go through at least a few months. I heard the bastard who came in this time only went through like a week. That’s small fry."
And sure enough, he was trying hard to act like he didn’t care, but the voice that had gotten a few decibels louder was leaking inferiority he couldn’t hide.
"Kuhah. Yeah, true. Anyway, those Dreamwork-awakened bastards act like they're nobles. If he gets cocky, I gotta deck him."
"Or should we get to him first? I heard he’s a total fucking loser."
As those over-the-line words flew around—so full of confidence it crossed into arrogance—Sihyun finally scrunched his brow hard.
How was every single syllable of their speech so goddamn obnoxious? It made him remember, all on its own, those guys from back then who’d mouthed off like that at an inn, acting like colts, running their mouths at Taewoon—only to get beaten until dust came off them.
He thought they’d been later-generation disciples from the Namgung Clan and the Jeomchang Sect. There’d been that incident where, while Sihyun was away checking the room he’d be staying in, they treated Taewoon—who looked shabby back then—like a beggar and insulted him.
Sihyun, still in his mid-twenties at the time, hadn’t been able to swallow his rage. He’d kneaded them into dough until Taewoon stopped him, and they’d had to flee Anhui like they were running away.
'Ha. Now I don’t even have the strength, or the reason. Let’s just eat.'
Thinking back on that slightly pleasant memory, Sihyun let out a small snort of a smile.
He had absolutely no idea he’d end up doing something similar again later.
***
The first week was incredibly peaceful. Maybe because people still weren’t familiar with each other, nobody was running their mouths about useless crap or swarming around in packs, and like he’d heard before, most people seemed to take this training pretty seriously and were putting in real effort.
"…Well, except for the squid family."
Sihyun muttered quietly as he methodically packed what few belongings he had into his bag.
Squid family. That was the term Sihyun had chosen on his own for that group. Centered around Jang Myunghoon, they were the only ones here ruining the atmosphere—the kind of guys people would call schoolyard bullies.
Even if they’d only just turned twenty, they were adults, so why the hell were they like that? But thinking back, even when he’d been working at a company, guys like that always existed regardless of age, so he ended up accepting it without trying.
And it wasn’t like they’d done something that directly harmed him yet, either.
Still, whenever they subtly poked at instructors who didn’t have much experience, using their father's name, his hands would itch like he wanted to flick them in the forehead.
And yet, like they still wanted good grades, they acted obedient and pretended to work hard in the classes that seemed important.
But even that was just the result of stealing the notes from the kids who actually studied well, so without even realizing it, Sihyun’s dissatisfaction kept stacking up inside him little by little.
Walking down a sparse hallway to avoid the crowds, Sihyun let out a heavy sigh. He couldn’t believe it had only been a week.
That was when fate—like it wanted Sihyun to suffer—dragged one incident into his path.
"S-sorry."
"Huh. What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong. Heehee."
From a small passageway cut into the side of the wide corridor Sihyun was walking through, he could sense several people’s presence. He’d known from quite far away that a few people were over there, but he’d just assumed they were students and stopped paying attention.
But as he got closer, the voices told him they weren’t in there with good intentions.
Even then, Sihyun walked past the passageway that was now right in front of him like he didn’t notice. His original goal was to spend his time quietly, so he figured he’d call security and have them removed, and kept walking.
"An orphan bastard got lucky and went through Dreamwork, but you’ve got zero skills? That make sense? If it were me, I’d be too embarrassed to even act like I’m gonna be a hunter. Didn’t your parents stop you? Ah, right. No parents."
"Pu-hah. Isn’t he like, the most useless ever?"
But after only a few more steps—
A familiar voice burrowed into Sihyun’s ear and flicked the rage switch that had been sitting inside him.
Sihyun stopped dead in his tracks, fists clenched so hard his knuckles went pale. Then he whipped around and retraced his steps.
"Your mouths are filthy as hell, you little shits. What is this, a gutter?"
"W-what the hell!"
At the large shadow that appeared without even a hint of presence, five men jolted and shouted.
Sihyun watched their exaggerated, desperate attempts to hide their surprise, smiled like something rotten, and walked into the passageway with steady, unhurried steps.
"Leave while I’m still asking nicely, kids. Before you beg me to slap you with demerits."
Sihyun showed them the camera-enabled smartwatch screen once, then deliberately made a mocking face, shrugged, and taunted them.
Naturally, there was a demerit system here too. Since an evaluation sheet would be written up after a month, multiple categories were combined to produce a final score.
So stuff like this took a huge hit in the character section, and of course it could affect your evaluation pretty badly.
Sure, some people didn’t care about grades or guilds and went wild anyway, but it was still a rule that worked as a deterrent to some extent.
Sihyun could’ve just hit them a few times according to his temper, but if he beat up guys who believed they were some kind of higher power, they’d obviously latch on and pester him endlessly, talking about revenge and whatever else.
It would be easier to just blow their heads off quietly, but he couldn’t do that here—and he wanted to finish this training without trouble—so he figured this was the best tool.
"What the hell is with that crazy guy."
"Tch… hey, hey, let’s go."
"Why! Let go, fuck!"
"You crazy bastard, if Myunghoon gets demerits, we’re fucked. Did you forget what his dad said?"
They were whispering to each other, but to Sihyun—who’d sent inner power to his ears to sharpen his hearing—that entire conversation punched in perfectly.
In the end, even guys who acted that tough were still just immature students who needed their scores.
When Sihyun was young—hell, even in the game world, and even now—no matter where you went, the weak got ignored and bullied.
Sihyun planted both hands on his hips and let out a deep, exhausted sigh with a face that said he was sick of it. Then he slowly walked over to the kid sitting on the floor with his head bowed.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yes…."
"Hm? You’re…."
But when the boy lifted his head a little, Sihyun froze at the identity he hadn’t expected.
"Uh…. h-hello…."
"White-haired kid?"
"W-white-haired…."
Sihyun stared blankly at the boy who clearly had the same face, but now had light brown hair. He’d been searching everywhere and couldn’t find him, and now he was running into him here?
Feeling weirdly happy to see him, Sihyun smiled slightly, grabbed the boy by the waist, and hoisted him up to his feet in one go.
Maybe the boy was startled, because his body went stiff as a board. He made a small "uhh" sound and flailed a little, and it was kind of cute—so Sihyun’s mouth corners ticked up and he let out a quiet snort-laugh.
"No, seriously—why didn’t you show up this whole time? Do you know how much I looked for you?"
"M-me…? Why…."
"Why? Because I said I’d pay your cleaning bill. Ah, right. But I don’t have my wallet on me right now…."
When Sihyun scratched his head awkwardly and darted his eyes around, the boy—who’d been stiff this whole time—let out a tiny laugh, so small you’d miss it if you weren’t listening.
"It’s really okay…."
"Hm. Fine, I’ll pay you later. But why the hell were those guys doing that to you?"
"Ah… probably because I’m a Dreamwalker…."
"Dreamwalker?"
Not really understanding, Sihyun echoed it.
And what Yujun said next made Sihyun click his tongue in pity.
Like always, some people wanted to divide even their own world into ranks, and especially people like that lived with the belief that they, at least, wouldn’t be at the bottom.
The things born from that bled into the hunter world too, and it showed up as the deification of Dreamwalkers.
Even if it was less extreme now, no matter how hard ordinary awakened tried, their effort got undervalued, while a Dreamwalker’s actions got overpraised.
It seemed like Jang Myunghoon especially hated Dreamwalkers for that reason, but no matter what, Sihyun didn’t want to understand harming a kid this small.
"They’ll probably stop eventually… it’s okay."
When a scrawny elementary-school-looking kid acted like he was fine, like nothing happened, it made Sihyun feel uneasy and gross for no reason. And Sihyun knew better than anyone that advice like, "Fight back," "Don’t just stay quiet," "Say something," was completely useless.
It wasn’t like you could change someone’s personality in a short time like this, and instead of telling him to act out, it seemed better to give him the help he actually needed right now.
Sihyun grabbed the boy’s hand, registered his number into the smartwatch on the boy’s wrist, then let go.
"If they mess with you again, contact me. I’ll help."
"Uh, I… thank you."
"It’s Jeong Sihyun. Call me hyung. And for now, go in quickly."
"Ah, y-yes…."
Sihyun pinned down the "hyung" address before the kid could call him "mister," and showed a satisfied smile. Then he turned around and headed back toward the dorm, leaving the boy staring at him from between strands of brown hair.
"Ah, right. Come to think of it, I never asked his name…. Well, I guess he’ll tell me whenever."
Only then, as he trudged along, Sihyun realized it and blurted it out—but then he smiled and walked on lightly.
Either way, things had worked out the way he wanted, so he felt kind of refreshed.
But that refreshment was stained by rage before even a full day had passed.