Chapter 19

"Soram oppa, I'm here."

Soram felt his body being shaken and opened his eyes. Ayoung was looking down at him. Seeing Ayoung casually waking him up, he realized the newly regressed life was not a dream.

"Ah... is it already 4 o'clock?"

"Yeah. You didn't respond since lunchtime, did you sleep the whole time?"

"I think so. Ayoung, you..."

Soram frowned and sat up groggily.

"You went to school like that?"

"Like what?"

"Aren't you cold?"

In March, when it was too chilly to even call it spring, Ayoung was only wearing her school uniform. Even if it was the day she moved up to a new grade and she would come back early, still.

"Wear a padded jacket. You have that white long padded jacket. They said it's still below zero in the mornings. Who goes around like that these days? Ugh, just looking at you makes my legs cold."

"Ah, nagging again! Oppa, you're worse than my mom."

"Then do things well in advance so I don't have to nag. If you take care of things on your own, there won't be any reason to nag..."

"Ahhh!"

Ayoung, who felt like there was another mom in the office in addition to the one at home, covered her ears and shook her head.

If the two had the same pattern, it would be understandable, but it was not. The mom at home wanted her to focus on both her hunter work and studies simultaneously, but knowing that those two things were difficult, she didn't touch anything else at all.

On the other hand, this mom's nagging was mainly about wearing warm clothes, organizing her bag well―even a pig pen would be cleaner than this!―and not eating too much flour or carbonated drinks.

"I'll take care of it myself. I will! Take care of it myself! Leave me alone! Don't stress me out."

"...Just wear warm clothes when you go out."

"I said I got it."

The word "stress" spoken by a high school senior immediately made him back off, just like her mom. Ayoung took out a large workbook from her bag.

Unlike Soram, who had awakened during a national emergency, Ayoung was able to balance her hunter activities and studies. However, those studies were limited to regular classes. After school, she had to come straight to the Rift Management Headquarters and rush out when she received a dispatch signal, so she couldn't participate in supplementary classes or self-study sessions afterward.

For that reason, Ayoung's exam preparation took place here. Soram had never seen this side of Ayoung in his previous lives.

"I should start with math today..."

Perhaps the previous Ayoung had been uncomfortable and unaware. While living as a 1st-grade hunter and receiving a considerable amount of money and privileges, there was no one to ask if it was okay to do her own work here during standby time. So she would secretly flip through a palm-sized vocabulary book and quickly hide it when another team member appeared.

At that time, Soram also had no time to treat Ayoung as a young student. Naturally, there was no consideration for personal circumstances. A team leader who prioritized the hunter's work and a taciturn team member like Han Tae-un were not good members for Ayoung to work with.

"Oppa. I'm putting in my earphones. If you say something and I don't seem to hear it, call me."

"Okay. Work hard. Fighting."

"Fighting!"

It was difficult to evaluate Soram's current life as having done well for a life that had been revived after getting three chances. It was the most indolent of the four lives and had not prepared any countermeasures for the Great Rift. As a result, he spent each day with the mindset of a marathon runner who had fallen in front of a longer path to run and was only looking at the distant course.

However, at least his relationship with Ayoung was the least regrettable of the four lives.

Soram leaned his head on the desk again. The sound of Ayoung's mechanical pencil moving on the desk came like white noise.

About 30 minutes later, the door to the cozy Team 7 office opened and Tae-un entered.

"What are you doing, Jin Soram ssi?"

The question was directed at the person who had a blanket pulled over his head in the office. Soram raised only his eyes like a turtle inside its shell.

"Practicing for the flood dungeon."

"What do you mean?"

"The flood dungeon flows..."

Tae-un seemed to give up on understanding and turned his gaze to Ayoung. Ayoung took out one of her earphones and said,

"I'm not really affected by the study environment, so it's okay. If Soram oppa keeps talking nonsense, you can go somewhere else."

"..."

For a moment, Tae-un felt like a parent looking at a troublesome eldest son and a sister who had grown up sharply because of him.

"Han Tae-un ssi, how many places did you go for dispatch today?"

"8 places."

"Ah, then don't sit down and come in after thoroughly dusting off your outerwear in the hallway. It must be covered in a lot of dust."

"..."

Tae-un went outside and vigorously shook his black suit jacket. His expression remained the same, but there was a slight emotion in the force of his shaking.

"I'm done."

Tae-un returned to the conference table and sat with Soram and Ayoung. Once again, the three of them were together. Soram rested his chin on the table and smiled brightly.

"Good work today."

"I also received a call around 6th period today and went to handle one before coming back. Only Soram oppa played today."

"I didn't play. It's a disciplinary action. You said the number of calls you received at school decreased, but you got one today?"

"Yeah. They said it was 250m away from the school, so I went and came back. But 8 places in a day is a bit much... This is because of Soram oppa, right?"

Tae-un, who had been dealing with a troublemaker's mess all day, silently affirmed. Soram made a puzzled face.

"That's true, but it's not entirely my fault that Han Tae-un ssi worked hard today. The strategy department probably instructed to increase exposure in advance because Han Tae-un ssi is scheduled to be introduced as a new 1st-grade hunter at the regular press conference at the end of this month."

In March, April, and May, the Rift Management Headquarters discloses some of its tightly kept internal information in line with the spring season. The contents include newly discovered research results about rifts and dungeons, partial disclosure of hunter training within the Rift Management Headquarters, and press conferences with affiliated executives and hunters.

Among them, what people are most interested in are naturally the hunters who enjoy popularity like celebrities. It starts with the press conference held at the end of March.

"Ah, oppa. I don't want to go to the press conference at all this time."

"Why? If you don't want to do the interview, you can be excluded. Min-ki will be coming up, so go and watch with Ga-eul."

"We'll meet during training anyway. I want to prepare intensely for the midterms, so I think I'll regret it if I go."

"Midterms?"

"Midterm exams. It's at the end of April, but the grades for the first semester of the third year have the highest weight."

"Ah, exams? You said you have some in a few days too. How many exams have increased in a few years? It's the end times."

"...That's the March mock exam, and the 3rd mock exam existed even when oppa was in school."

Huh? Soram looked at Tae-un with a questioning gaze, and Tae-un...

"It existed."

He answered, leaving Soram at a loss for words.

"Okay. If you're skipping because of studying, no one can say anything. I'll let the PR department know."

"Yeah. Thanks. Then can I use the team leader's office until I go home?"

Soram waved his hand, signaling her to go ahead, and Ayoung took her workbook and pencil case and entered the team leader's office. The way she naturally sat in the spacious chair of the team leader's office and spread out the workbook on the desk didn't seem like a movement she had only done once or twice.

"Han Tae-un ssi, if you have something to focus on later, use the team leader's office too. It's always empty when Ayoung isn't there."

In other words, it meant that the team leader's office was used like a private study room.

"Don't you use it, Jin Soram ssi? You're the team leader, aren't you?"

"I've used it enough to be sick of it, so I'll just work here too."

Team 7's office was the smallest among the field operations bureau's offices, but it was more than enough for three people to use. There were unnecessarily six partitioned office desks. Tae-un didn't even know which of the six seats he was assigned to. In the first place, he had never sat anywhere other than this round table.

"Ayoung stays here until 10 o'clock and then goes home. Because she's a minor, calls are prohibited after 10 o'clock unless it's a disaster-level emergency. Han Tae-un ssi, go up to the dormitory in time for the 6 o'clock quitting time. Instead, we adults are on call 24 hours a day."

Soram shook his left wrist. It was something that was tied to the wrist of every hunter in the field operations bureau.

"What about you, Jin Soram ssi?"

"I haven't finished writing the statement. I'll stay here until 10 o'clock while writing it."

Rather than the statement, it would be to wait with Ayoung until she went home. As proof, the laptop had not been turned on yet, and Soram was leaning his cheek on the desk with a drowsy face.

"Ayoung says she wants to become a veterinarian."

"Ah."

To enter a veterinary school, the scores had to be high purely based on one's own abilities. It was the reason why Ayoung, who would have an impressive school record just by recording the rifts and dungeons she had cleared so far, was constantly immersed in studying. Especially for the medical field, all scores, including school grades and the CSAT, had to be comprehensively good.

"There was a reason she was diligently taking care of her grades."

Soram looked at him blankly and said,

"Ah, come to think of it, Han Tae-un ssi, you were a good student. A law school student."

Han Tae-un's other identity was a second-year law student at K University who had taken a leave of absence midway. This solid educational background also played a part in the popularity Tae-un would gain later on. The public always goes wild for a perfect hero who lacks nothing.

"What is Han Tae-un ssi's dream? A judge? A prosecutor?"

After a brief pause, Tae-un said,

"I don't know if I will return to school in the future."

"Why? What a waste. Han Tae-un ssi, you're still young. If you attend school, they'll consider your work hours like Ayoung. The university shouldn't be far from here."

"I..."

His thick fingertips slid slightly on the table.

"I had something I wanted to do, and at that time, becoming a legal professional was the closest direction to my goal. But living as a hunter like now seems to be a way to get closer to what I want to do."

"..."

Soram was about to ask what he wanted to do but decided not to. Somehow, it seemed like it wouldn't be something pleasant for him to hear.

He should slowly continue writing the statement. He sat up from lying down and opened the laptop. The text he had been writing soullessly appeared on the screen. What more should he write here...?

"Don't you have anything you want to do, Jin Soram ssi?"

A question was heard from beyond the screen. Han Tae-un was looking at him. Because he was so tall, his face and shoulders were visible above the laptop screen.