"Hey, hey, that's Yubyeol-ha."
"Ah, that famous...?"
A commotion broke out as I was walking along.
I pulled my eyes away from my phone.
I was sure I'd just heard a familiar name.
I stopped on my way to school and looked straight ahead, quickly spotting the source of the noise.
The spot where I stood was the gateway to Cuvette Psi High School.
So, the people around me were mostly students in the same uniform as mine.
But the girl drawing everyone's attention right now was the only one dressed differently.
She was clearly a student wearing a uniform, but it wasn't the Cuvette Psi High School uniform.
"If it's Yubyeol-ha, she's from Arcana, right? So why's she here?"
A black uniform.
The kind of solemn, neat attire you'd see on cadets at a military academy.
Wearing that uniform marked her as a cadet from the Arcana Dimensional Beast Hunter Academy.
Among the students in Academy City Arc, they were the ones aiming for a career fighting Dimensional Beasts.
In other words, aspiring hunters.
Arcana cadets were the only ones in Academy City who focused on learning how to fight.
Having gone through rigorous tests and selection processes, their combat prowess was unmatched anywhere in the city.
In the story, whenever incidents broke out in 'Academy City,' the ones handling them were almost always cadets from the Arcana Dimensional Beast Hunter Academy.
Red Ark's protagonist, 'Kim Si-hu,' was an Arcana cadet too, so it was basically the school with the biggest role in the game.
To compare it to the famous manga Jujutsu Kaisen, Arcana would be Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High, while Cuvette was more like the supporting Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High.
So, it was only natural that a school full of cadets with epic titles like 'Academy City's Strongest' or 'Academy City's Irregular' stood out.
And among those Arcana cadets, there was one girl who reigned at the top...
"..."
Yubyeol-ha.
An S-rank Psyker, the girl with the potential to become Korea's third Special-Class Hunter after 'Hell Dog.'
The girl who killed Baek Do-hyun—the guy who tried to murder me, the protagonist, in the prologue.
One of the heroines who'd become the protagonist's staunchest ally, a celebrity in Academy City Arc, and a petite girl with her red hair tied in twin tails—she stood there at the gateway with her arms crossed.
Yubyeol-ha paid no mind to the students' burdensome stares.
It felt like looking at a statue in a temple.
The moment I recognized Yubyeol-ha, I swallowed hard and narrowed my eyes.
Why the hell was that girl standing in front of someone else's school?
This felt ominous.
I was possessing the character who'd gotten his heart pierced by that girl in the prologue.
The system message had mentioned building an alliance with her or something.
But unlike other characters, facing a murderer who'd taken out five people (weirdos, sure, but still) right from the prologue made me uneasy.
Yubyeol-ha was a relentless hunter.
If she found out I was a monster, she'd chase me even into hell.
And sure enough, Yubyeol-ha's golden eyes shifted.
They locked straight onto me.
Our gazes met.
My heart started pounding.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
Did Yubyeol-ha know I was a monster?
It was just a brief eye contact, but it felt like I'd been hauled into an interrogation room at the station.
In a crowded place like this, she wouldn't attack me outright, but if she knew my identity...
Something horrific I didn't even want to imagine would happen.
Yubyeol-ha's footsteps began to move.
She was heading my way.
I stood frozen in place.
Tension had rooted my feet to the spot.
Think.
Even if she knew who I was, she couldn't harm me here.
Unlike her flashy appearance, Yubyeol-ha hated drawing attention.
So why would she risk standing out in a place like this?
Was it a simple threat? Or was she testing my reaction...?
"You—"
As the distance closed and we were close enough to talk—
"Gasp!"
It wasn't Yubyeol-ha's voice. It was another girl's.
"My goodness... You're from our school."
I turned toward the voice and saw Han Cheong-ah.
She must've run from quite a distance, panting heavily.
"I see. This must be what they call 'fate.' I regretted not even asking your name last time, but it seems the goddess of luck has smiled on us. She's granted you another glorious chance to chat with a beautiful girl like me..."
Han Cheong-ah spat out her words faster than her ragged breaths.
Her pronunciation was spot-on, like she could've passed for a hip-hop artist.
Her sudden appearance flipped the heavy atmosphere.
Thanks to her machine-gun barrage of words, I managed to slip away from Yubyeol-ha.
She'd missed her timing and clicked her tongue, shot me a glare, then brushed past, ignoring me completely.
Once Yubyeol-ha was gone, the focused stares faded, and the students went their separate ways.
As things settled, I grabbed Han Cheong-ah's shoulders.
"Thanks..."
Really.
From the bottom of my heart.
Right now, you were my hero.
I looked at her with grateful eyes, and she tilted her head.
"Are you dating that girl from just now, by any chance?"
"Where'd you get that idea...?"
What the hell was this girl saying to someone who'd just escaped death?
"In dramas, that's the exact look a girlfriend gives her cheating boyfriend."
I think she needs to cut back on the dramas.
"I'm a total loner, not nearly social enough to be involved with an Arcana cadet."
I let go of her shoulders and said.
"Sigh... You look perfectly fine, though..."
I felt a pitying gaze from Han Cheong-ah.
For someone like me, who'd stayed single for 25 years due to various circumstances, it stung more than any insult.
So what if I'd lived solo in this era of record-low birthrates...?
"Whew, Han Cheong-ah! What the hell, your legs are way too fast!"
As I chatted with my savior Han Cheong-ah, someone came running up, out of breath.
"Oh, a new face. Hi there?"
Her name tag read 'Fujiwara Miyuki.'
Green tag like mine and Han Cheong-ah's, so same grade.
In Red Ark, where hair and eye colors were boldly vibrant once you awakened as a Psyker, she was a rare sight—a girl with black hair and black eyes.
For reference, Red Ark's world had this setting where awakening as a Psyker made your hair and eyes flashy.
Anyway, unlike the smiling 'Fujiwara Miyuki,' I couldn't return a friendly grin.
This was the terrifying protector of Han Cheong-ah I'd mentioned before.
Real name: Lee Gyeo-ul. Codename: Hell Dog.
She looked like a high schooler in the same uniform as me, but she was actually 28.
A member of the Korea Hunter Association and one of only twenty Special-Class Hunters worldwide.
Five years ago, during the worst disaster in human history—the Fifth Wave—she single-handedly exterminated hundreds of Dimensional Beasts and saved Seoul, the one and only hero to do so.
She was also the person Red Ark's protagonist 'Kim Si-hu' and heroine 'Yubyeol-ha' admired most.
Just searching her name on a portal site flooded you with info.
Unlike her heroic feats, her real personality was ice-cold and merciless, infamous among those around her.
If you tried kidnapping Han Cheong-ah or pulled some other idiotic crime...
You'd experience the miracle of having all twenty fingers and toes severed, repeated ninety-four times.
Knowing the true nature and identity hidden behind Lee Gyeo-ul's friendly face, I couldn't just smile comfortably at her.
But I didn't let it show.
In Academy City right now, only Han Cheong-ah and Chairman Hong Seung-hoon knew who Lee Gyeo-ul really was.
"By the way, Cheong-ah. Is this the guy you mentioned from yesterday?"
"Yes, it is."
The guy from yesterday...?
"The one who drew my portrait."
Ah, that story.
I'd thought Han Cheong-ah had noticed something off and snitched everything.
This must be what feeling ten years older is like.
One crisis after another, no time for the cold sweat on my back to dry.
"Hmm... Oh, he's handsome. What's your name?"
"Baek Do-hyun."
"Name tag says same grade. I'm Fujiwara Miyuki. My Korean's pretty fluent, huh? Oh, right. Cheong-ah, I've got something urgent, so I'll head to class first. Wrap up your chat and come back! Hehe!"
Of course you're fluent—you're a native Korean speaker.
Lee Gyeo-ul giggled like it was the funniest thing, said her piece, and vanished in a flash.
"Phew... She's gone."
I let out a sigh of relief.
Class hadn't even started, but the new semester morning had drained me completely.
What sin had my past life committed? I felt so wronged.
"She's always been a bit of a free spirit. Anyway, Do-hyun, right?"
"Yeah. Cheong-ah, nice seeing you again."
"Ah, I was about to say that first..."
"I already knew your name from the name tag on your uniform yesterday. I figured we went to the same school from the uniform, but I didn't expect to run into you again so soon."
I scratched my hair vigorously.
"I told you. It's fate."
She said it so casually, straight-faced, the kind of line that'd embarrass anyone overhearing.
It looked cute in the game, but experiencing it firsthand as the person involved? A little embarrassing.
"As a commemoration of our fated meeting, can I ask you one favor, Do-hyun?"
Han Cheong-ah leaned in close, flashing that same gentle smile from when I'd given her the drawing, since I was avoiding her eyes.
Talking face-to-face with an undeniably pretty girl like that was bound to be awkward.
I subtly put some distance between us and nodded.