Side Story 3. Free flight (5)

Though they made excuses about the watching students and such, in the end, their true motivation was competitiveness.

For Han Tae-un, Jin Soram fell into the broadest category of 'loved one'. But the starting point was admiration. A hero and senior sitting on a distant mountain peak that he reached out and ran towards. Soram was both his loved one and his goal. Soram, too, felt a sense of pleasure in some aspects when looking at Tae-un, as if watching a well-grown junior.

However, he was still an active hunter with a bright future ahead, too much so to let himself be caught up to even once by a genius junior. Moreover, with so many eyes watching here.

"Hup..."

The problem was that he was gradually being pushed back by a terrifying strength. ...Well, it might be a bit cowardly, but there was no choice.

"Han Tae-un."

"What?"

Soram puckered his lips right in front of Tae-un's gaze and winked one eye.

It was both a charm offensive and Jin Soram's precious display of aegyo.

Faced head-on with a face that could easily grace the ending stage of a K-pop performance, Tae-un's eyebrow twitched, and he pushed his hand with a grunt. Soram's hand tilted towards the floor.

No, this bastard. To regain the balance he almost lost in an instant, Soram pressed completely against the center of the table. Tae-un also moved closer, their foreheads almost touching.

"Hey."

"...Fight fair."

"Fair fight my ass, you, damn it."

As they both exerted more strength, the muscles from their clasped hands to their shoulders convulsed roughly. Even if the force couldn't be directly felt, the aura emitted by two 1st-grade hunters was palpable, causing several people to step back.

"Wow, the atmosphere is incredible."

"You don't need to go this far..."

"Come on, can't you tell? They're probably trying extra hard to make it fun."

"Law department juniors of Han Tae-un, don't misunderstand. This isn't an act, we're really fighting...!"

Though he answered with a smile, Soram was gradually losing his composure. If they continued fighting fair like this, honestly, it was only a matter of time before he lost.

But did they think he would lose so easily! There was just one variable in this game that seemed like a pure test of strength. It was the table that looked like it would collapse at any moment.

Soram pushed the hand clasped with Tae-un in his direction. Tae-un immediately responded, but the crack drawn on the table side invaded under Tae-un's elbow with a creak.

"...!"

Tae-un, realizing Soram's intention, responded in the same way. As always, his speed of absorbing and learning was faster than anyone's. A long crack extended towards Soram's side as well. He tried to endure and transfer the force, but.

'Hmm, as expected.'

Crunch―...

"Ah, ah! The table's going to collapse!"

Soram said to Tae-un, who hadn't loosened his grip until the end:

"Be careful not to let it hit the students."

"Don't worry."

Crack!!!

The table, unable to withstand two 1st-grade hunters, folded completely in half.

Crash!

The half-broken table collapsed to the floor. At that moment, blue mist and white light emerged from Soram and Tae-un's bodies, holding back the fragments that were about to scatter in all directions.

Their hands, which had been gripping each other so tightly they were pale, slowly loosened. While Tae-un showed a faint smile and Soram snorted, silence briefly fell around them.

"Ah, a draw, it's a draw! A round of applause for the two hunters!"

The president, quick to read the situation, shouted to wrap things up.

They reached out to clean up the mess, but Tae-un was faster. He tucked the plastic lump that had completely lost its function as a table under his arm, gathered the fragments manually, and took them all out of the tent at once. Left alone to monopolize the attention, Soram placed his hands on his hips and looked around.

"Well, since you've enjoyed a good show, please fill the seats. I'll pay for everyone who's here now."

"Hup."

"Oh."

"Uwah!"

With a commotion, students competitively filled the empty seats as if fighting over chairs. Some students sat on others' laps to secure a spot, while three squeezed onto one chair, barely perched on the edge.

Soram scanned the suddenly packed tables and tapped on his phone in front of the sign with the law department's student council account number.

"President, please confirm the bank transfer. I've added 50,000 won per table. Enjoy your meal."

"Heok, wooaah!"

"Thank you!"

"Soram-, ah, huk, Lecturer, aren't you going to eat more?"

"No. I have another lecture."

Soram gestured with his chin to Tae-un, who had just returned, as he walked out between the tables.

"Let's go. You've filled your quota, right?"

"...Yeah."

Tae-un also took off his prosecutor's robe without hesitation, said goodbye to his department members, and left the booth. Meanwhile, Soram high-fived and shook hands with several people who reached out to him as he made his way out.

***

Tae-un deeply empathized with the exclamation "His star quality is insane..." that came from the booth behind them. Jin Soram was born with the talent to gather people's attention and the ability to maximize his own charm in front of the public. Even if he wasn't aware of it himself.

If the gazes fixed on Soram now were visibly expressed, he would be dangling as many things as a Christmas tree. Soram, completely oblivious to this, stretched out fully.

"Ah, that was fun. Maybe I should have used my left hand. My arm's tingling."

Tae-un also had muscle pain left from the arm wrestling. As he belatedly rubbed the back of his arm, Soram strode forward in front of him.

"Student Han Tae-un, be my guide for the time left until the next class."

"Alright."

"Honestly, I don't think you'll do well."

"You're right."

When he tried to take Soram to the plaza, squeezing out his hazy information, Soram said he had already been there. The fossil of a returning student, with information similar to that of a new lecturer, pondered for a moment before heading to the second plaza.

Even on the way there, Soram kept his eyes wide open and exclaimed in admiration. It was enough to make even Tae-un, who hadn't been very interested in festivals even as a freshman, look around wondering if it was really that fun. Though to him, it still seemed just like a bustling day.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like that before."

"..."

Tae-un's gaze was caught by Soram again. ...Thinking about it again, it wasn't bad. Soram's appearance in the midst of the boisterous festival was enough to change his impression.

As lunchtime approached, the surrounding noise grew louder along with the increasing crowd.

At the moment it reached its peak, simultaneous screams were heard from afar.

Soram, who had been staring blankly at the face painting booth, turned his head with a start. His expression, which had been excited while looking around the festival, hardened in an instant.

"Han Tae-un, did you hear that?"

"Yeah."

"It seems to be from over there. Something must have happened!"

"Soram-ah, wait a moment."

He grabbed Soram's arm as he was about to urgently lift his feet off the ground.

"Why!"

His expression showed he didn't understand why Tae-un was doing something incomprehensible when time was of the essence, so Tae-un explained quickly.

"It's probably cheering for a stage performance."

"...Performance?"

"Yeah. There's an outdoor stage over there."

Soram mouthed the word 'performance' as if retracing an unfamiliar term.

"During performances... do people usually shout?"

"When a famous celebrity appears on stage, or when an exciting song comes on."

"..."

Soram's shoulders, which had tensed up, gradually relaxed.

"...I see. I didn't know."

Soon, he made an embarrassed expression and scratched the nape of his neck with his fingertips. Then he smiled brightly.

"That's good. Let's continue looking around then."

Soram walked out again, looking around in the complex crowd. Tae-un, watching the back of his head turning busily left and right, widened his stride to come slightly ahead of him.

The shirt and pants with color instead of a jet-black suit, an expression unseen on Hunter Jin Soram, and the festive atmosphere around.

All of that entered Tae-un's eyes simultaneously.

Tae-un's hand lightly touched Soram's face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"What's with you, doing this with people around?"

"They'll think I'm brushing something off your face."

As his thumb traced a diagonal line across Soram's cheek, Tae-un's expression gradually softened. He knew the foolish face he hadn't wanted to show Soram yesterday was appearing. But he just didn't particularly want to restrain his current emotions. Soram also stared blankly at Tae-un's face before turning his head.

"Han Tae-un, no wonder you were the most popular and received confessions endlessly in your first year."

"That's really exaggerated. It's not true."

"No wonder your technique when you pursued me back then was so direct..."

"I'm telling you it's not true. I swear."

"Hmph, everything was really a first for Soram."

"No..."

"You've been caught. I'm going to bring this up every time we fight from now on."

Soram put his hands on his hips and strode forward. Tae-un followed behind with a troubled expression.

It was when they had made a round and reached the edge of the plaza. Soram's eyes suddenly turned towards a single point. This time, Tae-un also hardened his expression and looked in that direction.

A small gap flashed like black lightning at a point high in the sky. It wasn't too far from where the cheers had come from earlier. Soram, narrowing his eyes, muttered:

"Did you perhaps fervently wish to avoid this situation, Han Tae-un..."

"That's too harsh an accusation."

"This isn't also something that's normally part of the festival that only I didn't know about, is it?"

"Of course not."

Tae-un also glared at the black gap that had started to gradually increase in size.

"Is it inside the school?"

"Hmm... It seems to be precariously straddling the road, but more of it appears to be inside the school fence."

Soon, Soram let out a sigh and put his arm around Tae-un's shoulders.

"Even though everyone seems to be enjoying the festival excitedly, I guess there are people who can't stand the sight of it."

Well, that's life. Soram nodded.

"Let's go. As a lecturer, I can at least help ensure the festival passes without incident."

"My sword is in the car. Should I go get it?"

"Yeah. That would be better. I'll check out the situation around here. Come straight there."

"Got it."