Could tailing someone be this much fun…?
Whether something unknown to her was awakening or what, Baek In-hwa, who had followed Yeon-woo while listening to the sound of her pounding heart, couldn't help but be slightly disappointed.
‘……Hunter's Guild?’
She had followed him with the expectation that he might do something bad, but she didn't really want Choi Yeon-woo to do anything bad.
She just wanted to tease him by saying, "What are you doing?" if he did something slightly bad.
When she followed him to the city, she even worried, "What if this boy smokes in a back alley or takes someone's money by force, or commits some terrible crime?"
She couldn't imagine how she would face a classmate who had done such a thing from the day after tomorrow.
Fortunately, her worries were unfounded. But… even if this expression wasn't appropriate, it was true that it was a boring destination.
Going to the Hunter's Guild on the weekend was, if anything, the behavior of a model student. Managing your career from now on? It wasn't impossible, but it was more advantageous to do it after graduation.
Of course, Yeon-woo simply needed money, but as someone from the Ice Palace, whose financial resources were second to none, she couldn't understand it at all.
‘……Is there some good information?’
She didn't know anything about Choi Yeon-woo, but maybe because her first impression of him was bad, only negative thoughts came to mind. The two concepts of Choi Yeon-woo and pure effort somehow didn't match.
‘…I was bored anyway, so should I ask him to go with me?’
***
Silver hair that reached her shoulders, blue eyes that resembled a clear lake. Instead of the beige school uniform she had seen before, she was wearing a hoodie and shorts that seemed to focus on mobility.
Her outstanding beauty, which could have made her look like a boy, was sublimated into a neutral charm that could be found even in a crowd.
“Huh? Baek In-hwa?”
“…Choi Yeon-woo.”
Choi Yeon-woo's face was filled with question marks at the unexpected encounter.
He thought he was the only one who would come to the Hunter's Guild on the first weekend, but what was she doing here? An awkward silence flowed between them. In the meantime, Choi Yeon-woo realized something and spoke to Baek In-hwa.
“Baek In-hwa, are you registered as a hunter?”
The Ice Palace was located north of Siberia. The characteristic of the vicinity was that it was impossible to tell whether the environment was like this because a gate had exploded or not.
Cold places usually had gates that contained a cold environment. So even if a gate exploded and the environment of another world was overwritten, it wouldn't be very noticeable.
Of course, there were occasional cases where a mountain range suddenly appeared.
And naturally, there were few hunters who ventured into such a harsh environment. The reason why the North Sea Ice Palace, which used to be a secluded martial arts sect, was praised as one of the great families was because they were taking care of all the gates in the area with their own power.
Considering the environment she grew up in, it wouldn't be strange for Baek In-hwa's hunter rank to be higher than that of an academy freshman.
Baek In-hwa, who had been pondering with her white finger on her lips, soon nodded.
“D-rank.”
“Hey, I'm really sorry, but can I ask you a favor?”
Choi Yeon-woo, who brightened up as soon as he heard the answer, asked Baek In-hwa.
D-rank. D-rank at this age, this girl was really something else. Thinking so, Choi Yeon-woo decided to ask her for a favor, figuring he had nothing to lose.
“I need to earn tuition. Could you possibly accompany me on my first request?”
“…Right, tuition.”
Baek In-hwa, who had widened her eyes in surprise at Yeon-woo's words, nodded once more.
Was she pitying him?
Yeon-woo didn't pay much attention to her reaction, as he didn't have such a miserable family history that he would shout, "Don't pity me!"
“Thank you so much. I'll split the reward properly. It's a gate near the Seokseongsan Mountain Range, we should be able to go and come back within today.”
“I don't know the way, so lead the way.”
At Baek In-hwa's blunt words, Yeon-woo smiled inwardly.
She might be a bit blunt, but she was a good kid after all.
He felt strangely relieved. Come to think of it, he had heard that Baek In-hwa had died in his previous life because a gate had opened in the middle of the city.
She had been caught up in trying to save people from the suddenly appearing gate and died without being able to clear it.
Although she had met her death, her heroic actions had resonated with hunters and civilians alike, raising awareness among hunters and leading to a sincere procession of mourners for her, so the overall atmosphere of society hadn't been bad.
“…Do you know how to use movement technique?”
“…Sorry, I don't. I was planning to take the bus.”
Baek In-hwa sighed softly and gestured with her chin for him to follow her outside.
…….
The city had a dome-shaped barrier with an open ceiling. This was to prevent small monsters from sneaking into the city.
Basically, all academies were located on the front lines of the war against monsters.
They built academies on the terrain overwritten by gate explosions and built cities around them. Naturally, the names of the cities were derived from the names of the academies. That's why the name of the city they lived in was Harmony City.
Raising talents on the front lines and deploying them directly to the front lines had achieved quite a lot of success.
In the early days of gate occurrences, when only major cities across the country remained, Korea had achieved its current peace by filling the gaps between cities with front-line cities centered around academies.
Harmony City was built on a grassland. To the west was a forest, to the north a mountain range, and to the south a river flowed. As it was the closest academy to Seoul, roads extended in various directions. The fact that they could build infrastructure without transmission towers was thanks to the benefits of magical civilization.
Anyway, Yeon-woo was standing on the grassland outside the south gate of the city. Baek In-hwa was standing next to him. A date with the most beautiful girl in the city, damn it~.
Of course not. She had said she would teach him some movement technique. Naturally, Yeon-woo had accepted it right away, thinking it was a lucky break.
He wondered why she was giving him this opportunity, but Baek In-hwa's expression revealed nothing. The dreaded Ice Golem poker face.
But when they actually came outside, Baek In-hwa just stared at him silently without saying anything. It was a very unfamiliar attitude.
“…How do I teach this?”
“What?”
“I didn't say anything.”
He felt like he had heard something very ominous in her muttering. As Yeon-woo was receiving some very clumsy-feeling instruction from Baek In-hwa for about ten minutes, a young boy's voice came from somewhere.
“Ah, that's not how you do movement technique.”
