Lee sent a quick thumbs up emoji in response to Rachel's text. Then he headed off towards the cafeteria.
'The current time is... 6 PM. Not too late for dinner.'
Lee was used to eating all the way up until 9 PM, so this would actually be better than his old habits were.
So, after putting his new halberd alongside his spear, he changed into some casual clothes and headed out towards the cafeteria.
"If I remembered right, it shouldn't be too far, right?"
The dorms had kitchens, obviously, but it was up to the students to supply them. That meant purchasing whatever food you wanted and stocking the fridge in your room by yourself.
Now, Lee wasn't dirt poor by any means. He wasn't sure EXACTLY what his 'past' self in this world did for work, but Lee DID know that he had roughly 3 million won in his bank accounts.
Lee didn't know what the conversion rate on that was to USD... and even if he did, he was pretty sure that the won was stronger than USD in this world, so it probably wouldn't help...
But either way, it seemed his 'past' self before he arrived here as Lee had saved up a small nest egg to use at Cube.
And considering how it was more convenient to both prep, cook, and eat in your room rather than heading to the cafeteria...
'Note to self: find out where the closest grocery store is.'
Meat, sweet potatoes, rice, and collard greens.
That should be plenty for Lee... Well, that in conjunction with the vitamins that he made sure to bring with him.
That aside though, cafeteria.
Since Cube's semester began in winter for some godforsaken reason, the weather outside was pretty chilly. Still, it was more than tolerable for Lee, so he just ignored it and went along his way, using his smartwatch to navigate towards the cafeteria.
But along the way, someone called out to him.
"Oh hey. You're the guy who picked up a halberd, right?"
Lee glanced over to see a guy who looked like he could be a KPop idol walking over. A handsome face, gentle eyes and smile, and then light brown hair... which was dyed blue for some reason?
'Huh.'
The hair roots on the guy were definitely brown, but it seemed like he enjoyed having blue hair, since it was dyed a midnight blue.
Must be hell on his towels, but Lee supposed everyone had their own sense of fashion.
The guy who called out smiled and then walked over, holding out his hand. "I'm Suho. Kim Suho."
Lee nodded and shook Suho's hand. "Lee Shin. My family name is Shin."
Suho's eyes widened and he said, "Shin? Are you related to Jonghak?"
"Nah." Lee chuckled. "The hanja's different. The 'Shin' in my name is 'belief' not 'god.'"
"Got it." Suho nodded. "But it's nice to meet you. I just wanted to chat a bit since you seemed interesting."
"Interesting?" Lee tilted his head, continuing on his walk towards the cafeteria.
"Yep." Suho chuckled. "Not only did you manage to sit down beside Princess Rachel without her running away, but she even seems to like you. That's rare, you know?"
Lee shrugged and said, "We vibe pretty well together."
From the VERY swiftly fading memories he had of his already vague recollections of the Novel's Extra, Lee had been under the impression that Rachel was cold and stoic. But it turned out that she was pretty relaxed. Fun to talk to as well.
Although that was probably because Lee had responded to her in what was definitely a Midwestern American accent.
The other Cube cadets didn't pick up on it, but Rachel DEFINITELY did.
'Funny how she didn't probe though...'
You'd think that something that stood out that much would become a point of conversation at some point... but maybe Rachel was just happy to not be stuck speaking Korean all the time.
What was it...?
Like how if you traveled overseas and saw someone from your home country, you two would pretty much click right away?
While Lee wasn't from England, the fact that he spoke English like a native speaker (because he WAS a native speaker) probably built up a lot of rapport towards Rachel from the start.
Definitely unintentional, but also DEFINITELY welcome.
"Vibe, huh?" Suho laughed. "That's one way to put it, I guess." He hummed and said, "You heading to grab food?"
"Yep. Pretty sure practical classes start up tomorrow, so gotta make sure I'm fueled up."
"Mind if I join you then? I was just about to grab food anyway before heading off to the training facility."
"Sure." Lee nodded. "I don't know anyone here and Rachel's studying, so I'm glad to make friends."
Suho laughed. "Well then, friend." He smiled and said, "Let's walk and talk. Get to know each other a bit. First of all..." Suho hummed and said, "Do you by chance use a sword?"
'Eh?'
Lee blinked and said, "What makes you say that?"
"Hm... call it my intuition?" Suho gave Lee a once over and said, "You look like that... and you know how to use that halberd. But it's strange." He stared at Lee and said, "...I get the itch to cross blades with you for some reason?"
'Was this guy always a hot head? I thought he was cool...? Ah, wait.'
Lee suddenly understood why Suho was like that.
'The Gift this guy had was Sword Saint, right?'
It was supposed to be a cheat-type Gift that made him the best in regards to swords and swordsmanship... or something like that.
Although Lee wasn't sure exactly WHEN this world diverged from the Earth he knew, he DID know that he functionally came from the 'future' where swordsmanship took a bit of a different route.
Fencing, HEMA, and other blade styles...
Back on Earth, they were retooled for more sportsmanship. As a result, there were flashier techniques, different evasive and defensive measures, and other aspects.
Similar, but different.
Lee was fairly sure the difference wasn't substantial enough for an ordinary person to pick up.
But for someone like Suho who was a cheat-level swordsman... it was probably fuel for a crucial enlightenment or something?
Still...
Lee laughed and said, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't use swords on friends, Suho. And even if we did spar, I'm pretty rusty."
That was a partial lie.
It wasn't so much 'rusty' as the body Lee had didn't have the muscle memory his old body did.
Lee Shin was very much a spearman through and through. That was evident in his Gift [Lightning Thrust]... Which Lee still had yet to figure out.
Honestly, at this point, Lee may as well just triple down into testing various mana manipulation theories. Like Peruta Circuit, guiding mana through a spirally pathway to form a vortex that could compensate for lacking internal mana.
Sort of like that one protagonist from an infinitely competitive dungeon society.
Suho sighed. "Of course... But." He didn't give up and said, "I'm fine sparring with you using a spear. It's good practice for spacing."
Lee laughed. "You wanna fight me that bad, huh?"
"I'm just curious." Suho hummed. "Getting Princess Rachel to be interested in you, choosing a halberd, which is completely different in combat to a spear, and then there's the fact that you're walking around completely relaxed... You're interesting."
Lee smiled. "Well, I could say the same about you. The 'walking around completely relaxed' bit, at least."
He probably didn't realize it, but Suho was walking around like nothing could hurt him. To put it into perspective... hm. Like a master martial artist? No, more like... His stance was deliberately open? Relaxed and deliberate movements?
Suho raised an eyebrow. "...Now I'm even more interested."
"Well, I'm interested in women, so I have to turn you down, friend."
"You're funny, friend. Very funny... but it's getting late. We really should hurry up. The cafeteria closes at 6:30 PM, you know?"
"WHAT?!" Lee started sprinting. "SAY STUFF LIKE THAT SOONER!"
Suho laughed and ran after Lee.