07:36 A.M. - Southwest of the Hunting Ground in Wonju.
"Hah... It's finally over!"
Kim Hajin threw himself on the ground, his arms open and glistening with sweat.
"Now just put those things in the magic bag and you're done."
Next to him, Park Soohyuk was breathing heavily, leaning on one of the trunks of a fallen tree. Both were covered in dust, dried mud and the marks of dead monsters.
"That was tiring. But incredibly productive."
Soohyuk muttered, wiping his face with his sleeve.
He looked at the pile of bodies stacked in the center of the ground. Some creatures had long fangs and shiny fur, others had long beaks and dark wings.
"Three different species... And a total of twenty monsters. Not bad for a first hunt, Mr. Hajin."
Hajin let out a satisfied sigh, lying on the ground with his hands folded behind his head.
"É. With that, I think I can pay off my debt and have a good bit of money to spare."
Park Soohyuk laughed, pulling out a bag from who knows where. From what I could tell from my senses, this magical bag had space-expansion magic in it.
"Let's put these carcasses away and get back, from what I can see, you two want to be back before school starts, right?"
Park Soohyuk stopped in front of the pile of monsters and stretched out his arm, ready to pull out one of the bodies and throw it into the magic bag. But before he could do that, I raised my hand and interrupted him.
"Wait a minute. Since we're going back, it would be good to get this dirt off you."
With a simple wave of his hand, the dust, dried blood and mud that covered Hajin and Soohyuk disappeared as if they had never existed.
"Hah..."
Soohyuk let out a half-disbelieving laugh.
"It's truly amazing, Mr. Theo. Seeing you do these things makes me question the world I was born into."
Today was more than surprising for Officer Park Soohyuk. Every time I used a skill like creation, tracking, flight, reinforcement or magic cleaning, he seemed to need a few seconds to process it. Now, he didn't even react properly anymore. He just accepted it, like someone who sees a miracle for the tenth time and no longer tries to understand it.
"Hey, Theo!"
Hajin called out, panting.
"Can you give me a hand here? These guys are a lot bigger than me."
"Okay. Just leave the bag open. The rest is up to me."
With another simple gesture, the bodies began to float up one by one and gently into the magic bag that Hajin held in both hands. They looked like sinister balloons being guided by the invisible wind.
"Ahaha!"
Hajin laughed, shaking his head.
"This life as a broken character must be pretty cool, huh!"
"Not broken at all."
I replied, not looking at him as I shrugged, after all I wasn't that strong.
"It's just an optimized build."
...
After putting all the monsters in the magic bag, and helping Park Soohyuk return to the city to take care of all the necessary hunting, Hajin and I returned to the Cube, this time not using the teleportation portal, but using my teleportation magic instead.
In the blink of an eye, we were back.
Hajin took a deep breath, as if only now was the weight of the hunt beginning to fall on his shoulder.
"Thanks Theo, if it hadn't been for you I'd have been in trouble. Thank you very much."
"No problem. It was just a way of compensating you for the trouble I caused you."
"If all compensation comes with a magic weapon like this and full support in the field. I think I did more good than harm in the end."
A weapon that could be compared to legendary artifacts was not something that anyone would get so easily as a gift.
"Don't overthink it. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."
Kim Hajin nodded, already relaxing his body as if he could finally throw himself on the bed. Since he had decided to take a leave of absence today, he would spend the rest of the day in the dormitory.
"Hmm!"
Before I could walk away, I turned around once more.
"Oh, just to warn you... there's over five thousand rounds of ammunition stored in dimensional subspace. Don't go around buying more and thinking you've run out."
His eyes sparkled with surprise.
"Really? That'll help a lot."
"It has ammunition with the four classic attributes, fire, water, wind and earth, as well as some special ones: light, darkness, electric destruction and anti-magic."
Hajin whistled, clearly impressed.
"...You really didn't skimp."
"If you want more later, just come and talk to me and I'll charge you a good price."
Hajin let out a short laugh, understanding what I wanted.
"I knew there was a catch somewhere. You're just trying to find a potential client."
I nodded and kept walking, neither denying nor confirming anything.
Once I was in an area with few cadets, I used my magic to change my clothes and put on the Cube uniform.
...
Walking towards the main complex, where the classroom was, I opened my smartwatch with a gentle swipe of my finger. I tapped on the conversation with Nayun and quickly typed a message.
[I'm back. On my way to the classroom].
I sent it and kept walking, the sound of my footsteps echoing faintly through the still half-empty corridors. The sky was completely clear now, and the Cube was beginning to come alive with the movement of cadets starting another day.
My eyes lit up for a second when I saw a familiar tone appear in my vision.
"Fuu!"
I slowly approached the girl walking in front of me and blew into her ear.
She stopped immediately, her body stiffening as if she'd been shocked and her cheeks changing color, it was a funny sight to see.
She clenched her fist, a mixture of indignation and embarrassment that she was trying to hide was visible in this small action.
She finally turned around, staring at me with an expression undecided between murder and aggression.
"Theo..."
She said in a low tone, staring at me with a closed face, but the slight redness in her cheeks completely broke her façade of anger.
"Hi, good morning to you too, Yoo. Did you sleep well?"
"You're asking to die, aren't you?"
"Considering your face now, I'd say my mission is accomplished, the 'Indifferent Princess' has blushed."
She widened her eyes for a brief second, surprised by the nickname, before closing her face even more.
"I didn't blush. It's the sun. It's beating down."
"Oh, sure... the famous "UV" ray concentrated only on the cheeks, but this UV ray from the lights around us, it's really strong, huh?"
Yoo Yeonha pressed her lips together tightly, trying to hold her pose, but she couldn't avoid the vein that almost popped out on her forehead. For a moment, she took a deep breath, trying to maintain her dignity... and patience.
"You... are unbearable."
"And you're adorable when you try to pretend you don't care about me."
She made a point of slapping me on the shoulder, but stopped mid-motion and just huffed loudly.
"Go ahead. Before I lose control and turn you into a statistic on Cube's medical bulletin."
After I finally told Nayun about my desire to have a harem, and survived to tell the tale, I began to think more seriously about who, in the end, I could take the next step with.
Rachel, well... we've only exchanged a few words so far. Kind, polite, but there's still a wall of formality between us. Perhaps curiosity? But nothing concrete.
Hazuki, she still sees me as a reliable teammate and nothing more, maybe some other group tasks could bring us closer together.
Yoo Yeonha, on the other hand, who was supposed to be totally impassive with me at this stage of the story because of her platonic love, was the one who showed the most reactions, blushing and embarrassing herself frequently as we talked, very different from the girl I read about in the digital book.
'But what caused it?'
My impassivity? No.
My little flirtations? Also no.
Curiosity? Maybe, but that's not all.
There must be something else... Some other reason.
And then, like a flash, it all made sense.
'Ah! that's it....'
It's not what I do.
It's what I don't do.
I treat her as an equal, even if she shows she's unhappy.
I don't bow my head to her. I don't drool or try to pull her down like the others.
I'm not afraid to tease her, to play with her, to take her out of her comfort zone.
And maybe, just maybe... That's all she's ever had.
...