"Hey. You’re an orphan bastard too, right? Ah, so that’s what it was—because you felt a sense of kinship~."
"..."
Sihyun let out a sigh at the absurd situation unfolding right in front of him, covered his forehead, and lowered his head.
The next day. Sihyun sat his ass down in the corner seat he always sat in to take the morning class, and today too he was getting stressed out by the squid’s chorus that never failed to yap.
But like always, it was the kind of level he could just let go in one ear and out the other, yet the line-crossing bullshit that had just burst out even rubbed Sihyun the wrong way. Still, he had no intention of losing his mind and playing along with words meant to deliberately piss him off.
"You were talking fine yesterday, but did you turn mute in one day? Hey, say something."
Even though the lecture was about to start and the classroom was already packed, this wide space was eerily quiet except for the noise of the squids barking.
Maybe they felt it too, but instead of being embarrassed, they were actually puffed up—yet even that look was so pathetic that the small anger he’d been holding was cooling off into something cold.
Discriminated against?
Whether it was small or big, there wasn’t a single person who lived without being discriminated against. Sihyun didn’t want to accept some backstory that was nothing but a kid’s whining.
Even if they didn’t have that kind of “reason,” these guys would’ve had the same trash personality anyway.
Click—
Just then, the professor in charge of "Understanding Gates" pushed the door open without hesitation and walked in.
"That student there! Go sit in your seat!"
And frowning, he pointed at the guys standing around Sihyun and sneering.
If it had been some easy pushover of a professor, they might’ve talked back, but the Hunter Cha Minseong standing at the podium had a pretty strong reputation, so the situation wrapped up fast.
"Hoo…. Alright. We’ll start class right away. Last time, we learned about the first Gate, the so-called God’s Mine. Of course, there are still a lot of parts we don’t know, and it may not even be something we ‘know’ at all. That’s why Hunters are still working at it."
Sihyun focused on the crisp, ringing voice and lifted his pen. Sure, part of it was to look like he was working hard, but honestly, the content itself was kind of interesting too.
At first, he’d thought it would be nothing but boring, and it seemed like most of the students really did think so.
But from Sihyun’s perspective, it was all stuff he was hearing for the first time, so everything was fascinating, and maybe because the professor had good delivery, it wasn’t hard to understand either.
"In the beginning, Gates only existed up to B-rank. But later, A-rank Gates appeared. What do you think that means? It means that someday, Gates higher than that could appear."
Sihyun, who had been nodding while making meaningless doodles on the open notebook on his desk, suddenly met eyes with a squid sitting in front of him who’d subtly turned his head back to glare. After staring at nothing but beautiful things, running face-first into that crushed-up face made his mood turn to shit all over again.
Of course, looks had played a big part in why Sihyun had started calling them squids.
After that, the lecture didn’t go into his ears well. The guy kept spitting out insulting words with his mouth, and when it got to talking about parents, Sihyun almost sprang up without thinking, so he had to grip his pen hard enough to crack it and turn his gaze away.
"Alright! That’s it for today. We’re about to start practical training soon, right? I hope you all make it back safely. It’s F-rank so it won’t be dangerous, but every now and then there are students who come back with things like trauma."
In an instant, the classroom went quiet, like someone had hit mute.
"So if combat doesn’t suit you, it’s important to give up early instead and look for another direction. That’s enough nagging. Good work."
Hearing the professor’s final goodbye, Sihyun finally realized how much time he’d let slip by meaninglessly and let out a sigh.
Just as the anger that had been piling up started to simmer quietly, the phone he had in his pocket vibrated, and he felt a check-in message coming in.
At the vibration that stopped his irritation from overflowing, Sihyun silently pulled out his phone and checked the text on the screen. And only then, at the content written out so neatly one character at a time, he smiled a little.
[Hello! I’m Seo Yujun. Um…. The white hair. Yesterday things were hectic so I couldn’t properly say it, but first of all, thank you so much.]
"Hah…. You talk fine over text."
Sihyun completely ignored the guys who were raring up again to mock him, moved his feet, and quickly called Seo Yujun.
-H-Hello…?
"Have you eaten?"
-N-Not yet….
"Your classes are done too, right? Wanna come up to the cafe on the 7th floor? Let’s eat together."
-R-Right now?
The moment he called, the kid’s speech got short again and his voice got smaller, and Sihyun snickered as he dragged the hesitant Yujun outside.
Then he glanced at the squids following behind him, turned the corner in front, and used the Thunder Escape Form.
The martial art hid his presence, but it didn’t erase him completely, so Sihyun pressed himself against the wall in the shadow. And right away, five men appeared and looked around with blank, confused faces.
"Huh?? Where’d he go!"
'Right in front of you, dumbass.'
He wanted to just smack each and every one of those idiots in the back of the head, but Sihyun clicked his tongue and looked at them like they were pathetic, then turned his back on the guys as they huffed and left, and walked off comfortably.
"H-Hello."
"Oh? You’ve got white hair today?"
Sihyun had been sitting in the corner of the cafe, and at the familiar voice he heard softly, he lifted his head. And seeing the hair that was even whiter than yesterday, he blurted out a question instead of a greeting without even realizing.
"Ah…. Actually, the white hair was t-too noticeable, so I dyed it black…. Even though it ended up like this…."
"Ahh…. So it was hair that changed because of your ability."
Hearing that, it made sense. The reason Hajung kept her bright-red hair even though she hated red so much was also because the hair color that had changed with awakening couldn’t really be changed properly with physical methods.
Sihyun sat Yujun down in the seat across from him even though he was still standing there awkwardly, and handed over the three sandwiches he’d bought in advance.
His limbs were so scrawny he looked like he hadn’t even been able to eat watery porridge, so it bothered Sihyun for no reason, and he couldn’t just leave it alone. If it were up to him, he would’ve gone to a restaurant and eaten meat or something, but because of those noisy bastards who would definitely have gone straight to a restaurant if he did, it left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Eat all of it."
"T-That’s too much…."
"Kids are supposed to eat a lot."
"...I’m still a middle schooler, though."
Freeze.
Sihyun, who’d been quickly peeling it open and shoving one side of a sandwich into his mouth, pulled the sandwich back out without even managing a real bite, and in the heavy silence that dropped, he recited curses to himself.
"I thought you were in elementary school… No, sorry…."
"N-No…. It’s fine…. Everyone sees me that way, so it’s okay."
From talking a bit, it turned out Seo Yujun was fifteen, but because of his circumstances he hadn’t been able to eat well, so his growth seemed stunted.
Honestly, Sihyun had just thought he was a slightly mature elementary school kid—he’d never once expected this kid to be that terrifying second year of middle school.
"So…. Y-You can talk comfortably with me too, hyung."
"Huh? S-Sure, should I?"
"How old are you, hyung?"
"Uh, thirty-thr— No. Twenty-six…?"
"Ah. I see."
Sihyun ended up dropping honorifics a little like he’d gotten swept along, and scratched his head lightly. Then, at a question that suddenly occurred to him, he opened his mouth again.
"Hey, but why haven’t I seen you this whole time?"
"Ah…. Well."
What came out of Seo Yujun’s mouth was this.
On the first day, Yujun, who didn’t know anything, wrote on the questionnaire that he was someone who had awakened through Dreamwork, and after the association officials found out, he got moved somewhere else late.
But for a Dreamwork Awakener, the length of his dream path was very short, and because of that his skills weren’t anything special, and even those he wasn’t good at.
Most importantly, he said his rank came out lower than expected. A few more tests followed, but in the end, Yujun got moved to the general education building.
In other words, he’d become useless. Even though Yujun was still a young student, when it came to things like this, he picked up on the vibe as fast as any adult. Because he’d lived like that his whole life.
"Hehe…. I actually had my hopes up a little. But I’m… well, me…."
Sihyun frowned with a dissatisfied face. Then he set down the sandwich he’d been eating, crossed his legs, leaned back into the chair, and stared at Yujun.
"Being a Hunter isn’t the only job, so don’t think like that."
"But…. I have to become a Hunter…."
"Why?"
"M-My parents…. They died because of a Gate Break…. I want to prevent accidents like that, even just a little…."
He didn’t say anything more, but Sihyun felt like he understood Yujun’s heart, so he didn’t pry.
He’d heard that after the first Gate appeared, the number of people who lost parents—or lost children—increased exponentially. Yujun was probably one of those people too.
"I’m sorry."
"What? No! I-It’s not even a big deal. It’s nothing, seriously!"
Yujun’s face reddened a little, and he flailed with the sandwich in his hands like he didn’t know what to do, then hurriedly waved his hands. Vegetables from the sandwich plopped down, and Yujun panicked at even that and shot to his feet.
Sihyun’s eyes widened a little, and then in the end he burst out laughing and nodded like, okay.
"Alright, so hurry up and eat. You can’t go until you finish all that."
"Ah…. I’m full…."
"You can’t even eat two? Tsk…. Fine, then wrap it up and secretly eat it when you’re hungry."
Watching Yujun nod hard like he was relieved he didn’t have to force it down right now, Sihyun checked the time and slowly stood up.
Then as now, lunch was only one hour, and weirdly enough, this hour always passed fast, like someone had hit fast-forward.
"If something happens, call me. I’m heading out."
"Yes…. Hyung…."
Sihyun smirked faintly, then lightly ruffled Yujun’s head, which came up to just past his chest, and moved his feet.
***
"Alright! Today’s the last day of weapon skills. You know that, right?"
Sihyun was standing in a line with dozens of students, listening to the professor’s explanation.
Theory aside, something as simple as basic weapon skills was so easy for Sihyun that, honestly, it was hard to focus.
Still, class attitude counted in the evaluation, so he had to pay some attention.
"Up until now you’ve each trained on your own, but today we’re going to pair up and spar. Alright, anyone have questions?"
"Can I personally designate who I spar with?"
At that moment, Jang Myunghoon grinned and shot his hand up high. In an instant, Sihyun narrowed his eyes at the goosebumps crawling up his forearm and stared hard at the squid captain’s face.