Aftermath: The Drinking Session Of Regret (1)

Step, step.

Quiet footsteps were imprinted on the snowfield that had not yet fully melted.

The owner of the footprints was a beautiful woman with long purple hair, Moon Bora, who elicited admiration from everyone.

“……”

Having left the exam hall, she quietly sent a text message on her phone.

The recipient was Yu Seha.

She made an excuse, saying she had urgent business to attend to and would leave first.

‘…Phew.’

Naturally, she was meticulous about her schedule.

On a significant day like today, with the entrance exam for [Gonis Hunter Academy], there was no way she had any other errands.

So why did she come out here?

‘…I have no face to show.’

It was because she had no confidence to face Yu Seha.

She knew too well.

That this kind of avoidance was not right.

Even a three-year-old child knows the truth that if you make a mistake, you should apologize.

But as you get older, you come to realize.

That everything in the world is…

‘If it could be resolved with an apology…’

How wonderful would that be?

Moon Bora’s heart ached.
She felt pathetic for what she did.
She fell into delusions on her own and misunderstood Yu Seha as a demon.

Lacking the courage to say, ‘Please get tested.’, she took a long and winding path.

The foolish conclusion ended with seeing proof that he wasn’t a demon with her own eyes.

‘Still, I must apologize to him.’

However, she lacked the courage at the moment.

Moon Bora couldn’t be thick-skinned enough to smile and say, ‘Congratulations.’ to him, who approached her nonchalantly.

Apart from this, envy towards him surged within her.

‘…[Pasa’s Sword].’

The white flame latent within Yu Seha.

The power to punish evil and purify demons.

It was the power Moon Bora wanted so much as a child.

The reason only Moon Bora accurately identified it while everyone else misunderstood it as [Aura Sword] was that she had been researching the [Sword of Purification] for a long time.

How to obtain it.
What the latent flame inside was.
She wandered around, asked questions, sought advice, and even underwent training.

‘…The result was in vain.’

She couldn’t manifest it at all.
This was quite a shock to Moon Bora.
She thought she had some talent.

The fact that she was born with a natural rank of 4★ was proof of that.
The fact that she was born with the Epic skill [Frozen Tundra] from the beginning was a certainty.

But no matter how hard she tried, she could not grasp the [Sword of Purification].

‘…It was worth it.’

If she thought about it, it felt natural.

Right. It was quite natural.

Those who had ill intentions in their hearts were bound to doubt others carelessly…
Above all, there was no way a sublime white flame would smile.

Meanwhile, it was during the time that Moon Bora was undergoing thoughts of self hate.

Yu Seh and Ma Hana.
The two people were holding each other’s hands and stomping their feet.

“Meow, meow…”
“Meowi, calm down!!”
“Meow~ Meow!”
“No, are you saying you will definitely pass??”
“Meow~ Meow!”
“Ehh~ So what if they drop you? Who will they replace you with?”

I calmed down Meowi, who was so panicked that she could only say Meow.

After being with her for so long, I reached a point where I could roughly understand what she wanted to say from her ‘meow’.

Meowi’s two tails spun around like propellers.

Her cat’s ears were twitching back and forth…
She seemed quite tense.

“Hey~ It’s okay!”
“Meeeoow!”
“Meoww?!”

Currently, Meowi and I have finished our treatment and are anxiously waiting for the results.

‘As expected of the Academy.’

The level of the medical staff waiting was extraordinary.
With natural healing, it would have taken at least a month in the hospital.

Ah, at the same time, the healer was astonished.

―You were in a situation where you were using not only mana and energy but also life force. If you had continued a bit more, you would have truly collapsed.

’…Phew.’

It still gave me chills whenever I thought about it.
If Peng Jin-ah hadn’t stopped me back then…
Just thinking about it was terrifying.

‘Even so.’

The reward for stubbornly maintaining enlightenment through desperation was immense.

‘…Swordsmanship, agility, combat, and endurance levels have all increased by 1.’

The increase in abilities due to the level-up was also quite delightful.

Later, I found out that [Unprecedented Sense] had also leveled up.

It was definitely not just an Epic grade for no reason.
Leveling up was extremely difficult, but the increase in stats was significant.

‘This is why high-grade skills are so desirable.’

It was no wonder that hunters who awakened [High-grade Skills] from the start, the so-called born hunters, were given preferential treatment.

At first, it might not seem like much of a difference, but as the levels increase, the gap becomes more pronounced.

Of course, this wasn’t the end of it.

As expected of the majesty of the Legendary skill of the Chronicles.
I didn’t really intend to, but I ended up taking another one with me.
Originally, it was [Three Shot Stab], but maybe because I learned it on instinct, it came lower.
A skill one level lower got registered.

‘…It is a pity that there is no reward for acquiring it.’

It couldn’t be helped since not all skills provide ability correction.

Well, it didn’t really matter.

It was good as long as I had it.

The real main dish was something else.

‘…Wow.’

An exclamation came out naturally.

An Epic grade skill!

Moreover, it was the proper [Swordsmanship] that I had so desired.

The acquisition rewards were excellent, befitting an Epic grade.

And there was one more surprising fact.

‘…Level 25?!’

The average skill level of fully developed characters was 20.

This was the same for NPCs.

The fact that it was five levels higher indicated how much of a monster Professor Peng Jin-ah was.
Moreover, it was a ‘Skill Tree’ system where ‘Runes’ could be equipped.

Even if you just put one or two decent things in there, you could take down most of them.

Of course, you had to handle the mana consumption.

‘She really went easy on me.’

If she had shown even a little sincerity, I would have been minced meat on the spot.

I clapped my hands as soon as I saw it.

It looked ordinary, but having played GAL for a long time, I could tell.

‘…This is almost like hitting the jackpot in a gacha game.’

It was a skill I’d never seen before, but its performance was good enough to be positioned as the final [Swordsmanship] for melee dealers.

Another thing to note was the name ‘Peng Furious Wolf’ recorded in the derived skills.

It was the true name of the ‘Counter’ that had blown me away.

It seemed that my clumsy imitation was acknowledged and acquired.

Well, it would take a long time to use it freely, but the fact that I’d obtained it was important.

‘Wow~ This is quite fulfilling.’

I guarantee, if I show that I’ve obtained this much just through natural rewards without any paid currency, the community will go crazy.
They’ll throw all sorts of stones, telling me not to manipulate.

Anyway, this had also boosted my stats.

According to what I’ve found out, the ability score required for a C-rank Hunter was an average of 30.

Of course, this excludes divinity.

They say that stats like mental strength or magic, which were not usually the main focus for melee types, were somewhat overlooked.

‘…Just a bit more growth.’

It seemed like it would be good to take the exam right away.

It was while I was spending time with various idle thoughts.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket with a woong!

“Meow, meow! Meow! S-Seha! It’s here! It’s here!”
“Yes!”

It must be the text announcing the results.

Meowi and I nodded at each other as we looked.

We turned on the screens simultaneously.

“……”
“……”

And then we looked at each other without saying a word.

Tears welled up!

Tears began to pool in Meowi’s beautiful face.

I held Meowi, who was running toward me, crying ‘Seha~,’ in my arms, and spun around.

[Congratulations. Mister Yu Seha. Your acceptance…]
[Congratulations. Miss Ma Hana. Your acceptance…]

That night.

Moon Bora, who was walking on the snowy path, exhaled cold breath and pulled her fur coat tighter around her body.

‘…How ironic.’

A magician who specialized in [Ice] was actually weak to the cold.

If Yu Seha had heard this, he would have laughed on the spot, finding it absurd.

After a while.
Moon Bora checked the phone screen she had deliberately ignored.

[Congratulations. Miss Moon Bora. Your acceptance…]

An expected result.

It would have been stranger to fail, given her excellent performance in both the first exam, which checked the admission requirements, and the second exam.

However, this meant…
It would lead to a bit of an uncomfortable situation.

‘…I guess I’ll be seeing Mr. Yu Seha… quite often.’

[Gonis Hunter Academy] had many required courses that all first-year students had to take.

No matter how much one tried to avoid it, they would inevitably have to face each other.

This was something that didn’t make sense logically.
It was also the reason why Moon Bora stepped out into the cold night.

‘…It must be here.’

A few hours ago.

Feeling guilty, Moon Bora called Yu Seha, and the response she received was that he was drinking.

―Do you want to come too?
―Oh, huh?
―It’s a celebration of our admission. We should drink together. Oh, unless you can’t drink…
―Oh, no. I’m quite confident with my drinking capacity.
―I thought so.
―…Sorry?
―Nothing. I’ll send you the address, so take your time.

Moon Bora, as if enchanted by those words, set out.

It wasn’t long before she reached her destination.

This place was…

“A snack cart?”