“What should I do…”
Yoon Seul-hye sat in her seat and groaned, wringing her head.
She had never imagined that things would go so wrong when she first received the order.
“So annoying, really…!”
She bit her nails roughly, grumbling, and threw her phone at the wall in frustration.
She leaned her body on the cushion nervously and started to calmly sort out the thoughts that came to her mind.
The first thing she thought of was herself, Yoon Seul-hye, a person who could not be easily valued even if she priced herself harshly.
A well-known idol who was popular worldwide.
A representative hero of the association and a member of the training team.
A young sprout whose future was bright and promising in a few years.
A possessor of numerous connections, including celebrities, heroes, hunters, politicians, and business leaders.
And, although she was reluctant to say it herself, a beauty who could be called beautiful for her very pretty face, skin, and figure that she maintained through constant care.
But…
“So annoying…”
Yoo Ji-hyuk.
Everything faded in front of him.
A member of the main family of the World Tree clan, which only had two members.
And the person with the highest possibility of becoming the next leader, as he received the absolute favor and support of the current leader.
That alone was enough to trample on everything she had achieved and still have more.
Was that all?
Not only the World Tree clan, but also the Ten Strongest, and even the heirs of the giant group Ewon Group, Ahn Joo-hyuk and An Do-hoon, were friendly to Yoo Ji-hyuk.
When he was hospitalized, all of the Ten Strongest visited him, and some even stayed at the hospital as if they were guarding him.
That story was well-known in this field.
She was surprised that the media, which must have smelled something provocative, did not produce a single piece of news.
And more than anything, she knew well that the people of the Ten Strongest were not the kind who would cling to someone just by looking at their background.
There must be something that she didn’t know about Yoo Ji-hyuk.
And Choi Joon-hyung was probably approaching him so hard because of that ‘something’.
“…”
She was curious about what it was, but Yoon Seul-hye soon decided to give up her curiosity.
She knew well that it would be dangerous to stick her face into something that was none of her business.
And besides, if she got caught doing that…
Choi Joon-hyung would never leave her alone.
“Uh.”
Yoon Seul-hye unknowingly grabbed her trembling body tightly.
As soon as she imagined the future of being out of his sight, her whole body shook like crazy.
She knew Choi Joon-hyung well enough to know that he had more than enough.
If that happened…
“No.”
She had to somehow pull out Yoo Ji-hyuk as he ordered.
At least, she had to befriend him, or if that was too hard, she had to lure out someone close to him.
But…
“Hoo…”
She remembered clearly that she had planted hostility and wariness in him as much as possible at their first meeting.
Instead of approaching him recklessly, Yoon Seul-hye stepped back and investigated his surroundings. She sighed without realizing it.
“He’s not some frail princess. How many people are clinging to him?”
Han Soo-young, Jin Ye-seul, Choi Hyun-woo, Ivan Hunt, Lee Yoo-na.
At least one of these five people was always by his side.
Especially Lee Yoo-na, who also glared at her with daggers in her eyes whenever she showed up, probably because of what she had said to her before.
And the boys were not easy to befriend either.
Choi Hyun-woo, who was so handsome that she was stunned when she saw him, treated her with a firm and dry attitude, as if he had built a wall. Ivan Hunt looked friendly, but he also gave her a creepy look, as if he was piercing through her.
Especially the way Han Soo-young and Jin Ye-seul looked at her…
It was so terrifying that it almost stopped her heart.
“…And there are more than just those five.”
Kas Ryle, Kang Yeon-kyung, Shin Woo-seok, who was an external advisor, and even An Do-hoon.
And Lee Ye-eun, who was too busy with the clan’s affairs to come to the academy.
She had no idea where to start digging to lure him out.
“…”
Her ability, which she had always trusted without doubt, did not work at all.
And Manchas, who was so confident, did not even contact her.
He must have been caught and killed.
Yoon Seul-hye, who had thought of that, really wanted to throw everything away if she could.
“Ah!”
In the midst of that, she suddenly had a great idea and jumped up from her seat.
She had another weapon that she could use besides her ability.
“Hello, Maxim? It’s me, Yoon Seul-hye.”
She quickly called the richest man among the trainees.
And as soon as he answered the phone, she blurted out without checking properly.
“It’s urgent. Please donate some money to the academy quickly.”
Enough to twist the education schedule and hold a small festival.
“It’s a miracle.”
Ahn Joo-hyuk, who was looking at my body condition, was silent for a long time and then uttered only that word.
“I know how irresponsible this sounds, and I didn’t want to say this either… but in your case, Ji-hyuk, we had no choice but to leave it to heaven.”
I just lay in bed and listened to his words.
Ahn Joo-hyuk muttered like that and then nodded his head cautiously, covering his mouth with his hand as if he was really relieved.
“Really… it’s really a relief. I’m ashamed, but there’s no other word to express it than a miracle.”
It was actually because the penalty of the Thorn King had disappeared over time, but I didn’t say anything.
Ahn Joo-hyuk looked at the chart that recorded my body condition with emotion.
“Your physical abilities have almost returned to normal. To be honest, the overall numbers are low, but this much will recover quickly if you do some rehabilitation exercises for a few days. And your mana circulation and emission are fine, and so is your mana system… and most importantly.”
He scraped off some of the medicine that was stuck on the stick and applied it to the inside of my elbow.
Then he looked at me blankly, but when I didn’t react at all, he quickly wiped it off and said.
“This is a toxic medicine that stings when it touches the skin… you don’t seem to feel anything.”
“Oh, that’s…”
“It’s okay.”
He nodded his head and glanced around.
There was only him and me in the hospital room.
“Did I develop a resistance to poison…? My skin doesn’t seem to be numb. I think it’s because I wore the blood of that seven-evil beast… But this is also hard to explain in detail.”
He scratched the back of his head as if he was embarrassed after saying that.
“This is it, even if you say I’m pathetic, I have no excuse. But there were very few people who were fine after wearing the dragon’s skin. And even then, the phenomena that occurred in their bodies were all different… That seven-evil beast looked like a dragon, but I can’t be sure that it was a real dragon.”
[Minerva would have been furious if she heard that. Then what, was she a lizard?]
Svangali muttered in a gloomy voice.
[But she was once called the king of dragons. She had hundreds of dragons in her stomach. At that time, no one, not even humans, could oppose her. Every time she flapped her wings, hundreds of dragons followed her.]
That was a sight to behold.
As he muttered, Svangali coughed with a still gloomy voice.
[Then one of the dragons below accidentally touched her horn. As a result, she became enraged beyond control, and thanks to her anger, hundreds of dragons literally evaporated and became famous.]
As he brought up the old story, he seemed to be amused and said with a chuckle.
[And if you’re going to mock her for being baseless, you should tease Margo and Yuno! Margo was nothing but a rag with weird things stuck on it, and Yuno looked like something I didn’t know. Honestly, her personality was a mess, but her appearance was really beautiful…!?]
He shut his mouth as soon as he said that, startled.
I wondered why he was acting like that lately, and I felt something restless under my feet.
There was only Henir’s shadow below.
“…”
[…]
But when I looked down, it was as if it was just my illusion, and it was quiet.
Something was strange, and as I was thinking that, Ahn Joo-hyuk slammed the chart and said.
“Good, I don’t have to ride a wheelchair anymore. But just in case, I should avoid any vigorous exercise or activity for a few days…”
Ahn Joo-hyuk also recited some precautions, such as he would prescribe painkillers and antibiotics, but it would be better not to take them if possible, and if anything abnormal happened to my body, I should let him know right away.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry for making you come all the way here…”
“Huh? What are you sorry for? It’s only natural when the patient is in a bad condition.”
Ahn Joo-hyuk, who visited the academy to check on my condition, showed an expression that it was nothing.
And then, as he was thanking me for going along with his coercion, he suddenly looked like he remembered something.
“Hey, what is it? Can I ask you something if it’s okay?”
“Yes? Oh, yes. Sure. I’ll answer if I can.”
At my answer, he asked me with a serious expression.
“Ji-hyuk, do you like baseball?”
“Baseball? No, I don’t really like baseball. Why do you ask?”
“No, it’s nothing… What do you think of a kid who had no interest in baseball suddenly buying baseball uniforms or cheering tools?”
Ahn Joo-hyuk muttered with a very serious expression.
“And that’s for a team that’s always at the bottom.”
“Well…”
I answered nonchalantly.
“Just, I don’t know, maybe he got hooked on baseball somehow. Or maybe he saw a cool game scene and got interested.”
“And then?”
“Uh, or maybe… he likes someone who likes baseball and wants to make some conversation with them?”
Hearing that, Ahn Joo-hyuk widened his eyes and then made a very serious expression that made it hard for him to speak.
“Could it be…? No, but still…”
“I, then I’ll be going now. Thank you.”
As he muttered with an irresistible atmosphere, I got out of the wheelchair and walked away as if to escape.
He seemed to have not heard my greeting.
“Oh, Ji-hyuk!”
As I opened the door of the ward and left, Hansuyoung and Jin Ye-seul greeted me as if they were waiting.
Then, Choi Hyunwoo, who was sitting in his seat, smiled slightly, and Yuna raised her hand awkwardly.
“Can you walk now?”
“Well, he said not to overdo it for a few days. But he also said to do rehabilitation exercises, so I think I can loosen up my body a little.”
At that, Hansuyoung glanced at Choi Hyunwoo.
Choi Hyunwoo made an expression as if to say why.
“Just try to ask Ji-hyuk to spar with you.”
“No, hey. Do you think I would do that to a patient?”
Choi Hyunwoo muttered as if he was wronged, and Yuna nodded slightly next to him.
And then, Namji.
She whispered in a small voice as if to whisper.
“Shall we eat some cake to celebrate your recovery?”
Jin Ye-seul gently grabbed my hand and pulled me, saying.
“We have things to talk about.”
“Yeah, we have a lot of things to talk about.”
Hansuyoung carefully grabbed Jin Ye-seul’s body and pulled it back, nodding.
She was holding my bag, and when our eyes met, she smiled shyly and said.
“Oh, Ji-hyuk. I’m sorry… I dropped your stuff by mistake earlier.”
“It’s okay. There was nothing but books or blankets in there.”
“…”
As she was saying that, I could see Yuna’s expression sink strangely.
What’s wrong, I thought, and as Hansuyoung said he would carry it himself and put the bag strap on his shoulder.
“But Ji-hyuk, you have a very unique taste.”
As we walked together, Hansuyoung came close to me and whispered.
“Huh? What is it?”
“No, um… I didn’t want to see it, but. When I picked up the fallen stuff, I just happened to see it?”
Hansuyoung said that and put his hand down as if to say don’t misunderstand.
“The first page said, ‘You who hold this book have the qualifications.’…”
“…What?”
As I looked at her, unable to understand her words, Hansuyoung nodded her head as if she understood everything, and smiled smugly.
And then she said in a small voice that the others wouldn’t hear.
“Hehe, I know. Ji-hyuk, you wanted to write a fantasy novel, right? Do you want me to help you? I’m pretty popular with the novels I wrote.”
She said she had even received an offer to publish, that she had put too much effort into the introduction, that her main genre was romance, but she had read a lot of fantasy, and so on, but I couldn’t focus on her words at all.
There was only one book in my bag.
Only the ‘nameless book’ was in there.
