Young-ah! (1)

Right after the sudden call from Peng Jin-ah, the chaotic morning briefing ended with the addition of the unexpected variable, Ju Na-young.

Me, Meowi, and Moon Bora.

The three of us came out to the city for a meal, in preparation for the first week’s training starting at 1 PM.

I could see crowds of people bustling around here and there.

Judging by the fresh faces, they must be prospective freshmen like us.

“So, what should we eat?”

The age-old, deeply rooted meal dilemma.

We all fell silent for a moment.

Then, the first to voice an opinion was the most reliable one and the brain of the group, Moon Bora.

“The first week’s training is mostly filled with physical conditioning. Therefore, it’s best to eat something light that won’t burden our bodies.”

“Oh, as expected of Bora Bora…”
“Meeeooow. Bora Bora…”

“…Please don’t give me those strange nicknames, okay? Anyway, in that sense, how about ‘there’?”

“That place?”

As expected of Moon Bora.
We understood each other.
Meowi, who had been watching from the side, tilted her head.

After a while, the three of us managed to enter a restaurant with a sign, and each of us ordered from the menu.

“…Meeeooow, S-Sehe, Bora.”

Had Meowi been pondering something since earlier? She scratched her cheek with a puzzled expression.

“Isn’t rice soup… light?”
“It is light.”
“It is nice yet light.”
“…Meow.”

In less than ten minutes, three bowls of rice were served.

“Meowi…”

Uh?

As I was picking up the spoon, Meowi, who was sitting next to me, tapped me on the shoulder.

Her eyes were glancing at Moon Bora, and her expression seemed to be saying,

’Meow, no matter how I look at it, Bora doesn’t fit in such a place…?’

I do understand her thoughts.

Just by looking, Moon Bora seemed like the kind of person who would go to a high-end restaurant, hold a fork and knife, and pair a steak with a glass of wine.

But I winked to mean that it’s okay.

Meowi, who was puzzled, soon looked a bit surprised at the sight of Moon Bora.

Moon Bora tied her hair into a ponytail, pulling it back so it wouldn’t be cumbersome.

First, she tasted the bland broth with nothing added, then lightly seasoned it with salt to her liking.

She continued eating, adding some seasoning.

She mixed her rice thoroughly, carefully adding chives and garlic.

At the end, she even added some radish kimchi juice.

‘…I knew it, but seeing it in person, it’s really strange.’

In the original world, a beautiful girl with looks that could overshadow celebrities would eat like a neighborhood uncle…

Finally, she dipped green peppers, carrots, and cucumbers in doenjang¹ in order and took a crunchy bite.

“What…?”

Only then did Moon Bora notice the vacant stare directed at her.

“…? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, meow… sorry. It just doesn’t match your image.”

Moon Bora brushed it off nonchalantly.

“It’s a dish my grandfather loved. I learned how to eat it while traveling with him in my childhood.”
“Aha…”

As the meal progressed with light conversation, it eventually led to Ju Na-young’s story.

Moon Bora wiped her mouth with a napkin.
She spoke slowly.

“Mr. Yu Seha. The person who visited suddenly is Ju Na-young. And she is–”
“A natural 5★, right?”
“…You knew?”

When I nodded, Moon Bora went ‘Aah~’

“Well, it’s stranger not to know since she’s a celebrity. She was even featured prominently in the news for propaganda.”

Huh, I didn’t know that… propaganda?

‘…Is she sponsored by some famous organization?’

Ju Na-young was a character whose background or family was not explained in her personal story.

I thought slowly while taking a hearty bite.

As you might have noticed, Ju Na-young.
She was also a beautiful girl character from ‘GAL.’

At the same time, she was a typical scam character recognized by all supervisors and was a natural 5★.

‘A great character that always maintains S-rank on the tier list.’

‘GAL’ was a gacha game.
Naturally, there were performance determination titles called breathing rights, citizenship rights, and nobility rights.

Among them, the most important was, of course, the breathing rights.
It’s a term coined because if you can’t breathe, you die.

Usually, characters labeled with breathing rights play a role at the forefront of farming the core resources for growth.

GAL had been in service for as long as six years.

Of course, there were several breathing rights characters recommended for newbies, and all the supevisors unanimously recommend ‘Ju Na-young’ as the easiest and most convenient.

GAL could progress through the story early on by ignoring gimmicks based on paid currency and gear advantages, known as ‘scams’.

But this was only a story for the early stages.

From the mid-game onwards, it’s influenced by factors such as enemy matchups, terrain effects, and the synergy and chemistry between characters.

There was no need to go far. The [Garden of the Pearl Spitting Tortoise] was a representative dungeon that was heavily influenced by terrain.

‘It gets even more ridiculous later on.’

There were many crazy places where lava flowed, you had to fly, deserts, blizzards that inflicted all sorts of debuffs, and so on.

Consequently, characters with raw specs eventually fall behind.

This was based on GAL’s evil sales tactics of drawing several characters to boost revenue.

Anyway, Ju Na-young was one of the few characters who survived in the harsh meta.

Even among dealers, her versatility was inevitably low.

Of course, she wasn’t without flaws.

For the extreme late stage, there was Yu Seha, who fully bloomed the [Eyes of Reversed Heaven].

Compared to top-tier characters like [Song Hwa Nidia], who I drew just before I got possessed, she was weak.

But that’s a story for later.

Now that GAL has become a reality, it doesn’t matter at all.

‘This is troublesome.’

Therefore, this became quite annoying.
Ju Na-young was needed in the party I envisioned.
That’s why I kept an eye out to somehow make contact during training.

And I thought recruiting would be easy.

Who would have thought she could be the quintessential pretty girl character subject to GAL’s law?

Fundamentally, she’s good-hearted.

Crucially, Ju Na-young was particularly weak to ‘desire’ compared to others.

This was because of the special blood flowing in her body, but let’s move on.

There were many types of desires, but the easiest one was ‘gluttony’.

In other words, it’s easy to get close to her if you give her snacks she likes.

The problem was that she had a grudge because of the incident with Peng Jin-ah earlier.

‘Come to think of it, in Ju Na-young’s story, it was mentioned that she was saved by a mysterious hunter in her childhood and admired them…’

No way, that hunter turned out to be Professor Peng Jin-ah.
It really makes you feel how small the world is.

“Yu Seha? If you’re done eating, let’s get up. Training will start soon.”
“Ah, already?”

At Moon Bora’s words, I stood up from my seat.

Well, if I approach her slowly, it’ll work out somehow.

Beep!

A high-pitched whistle echoed loudly.
At that sound, the gaze of the trainees who had changed into training uniforms naturally focused.

The one who blew the whistle was a beautiful woman with a cool, beige appearance.

It was Professor Peng Jin-ah.

“Attention, everyone! We will now begin the first week of training. As you might know, every part of this training process is meticulously recorded by the association. It also counts towards mandatory military service, so please participate sincerely.”

Peng Jin-ah then pointed to the spacious training ground right next to her.

“Since today is the first day, we will proceed with running without any restrictions or obstacles. The maximum number of laps is 40. Now, everyone, get ready.”

At Peng Jin-ah’s words, trainees started warming up here and there.

Among them, there was one trainee who stood out the most.

It was Ju Na-young, a beauty with long red hair tied back, reaching down to her hips.

Her green eyes, contrasting with the blazing flame color, shone like starlight.

“Phew!”

Ju Na-young took a deep breath.

As soon as the starting gun sounded with a bang, she pushed off with all her strength and sprinted forward at full speed.

In an instant, she overtook all the cadets and took the lead.

Like well-meshed gears moving relentlessly, her calves formed bulging muscles, exerting explosive power.

At Ju Na-young’s sprint, not only the cadets but also the other observing professors exclaimed in surprise.

Some of them expressed concerns.
This wasn’t a short-distance race aimed at reaching the destination quickly.

Rather, it was endurance training, requiring forty laps around this massive track.

The original purpose of the training was to improve basic physical strength and stamina.

Therefore, I wondered if she might collapse from exhaustion midway.

Everyone was stunned by the increasingly rising number above their heads.

The system recorded the number of laps completed by each individual in an artifact.

Ju Na-young’s number had reached an overwhelming figure of 20, following 5 and 10.

Most of the professors, except Peng Jin-ah, were dumbfounded at this sight.

“Unbelievable… It’s only been 40 minutes… and already 20 laps?”
“…Her speed hasn’t decreased at all. That red glow on her legs… Is it the [Sprint] characteristic?”
“Regardless of that… her basic physical strength is just overwhelming. At this level, she could not only compete with the first-years but also the top-tier second-years…”
“As expected, the only one with a nickname like <Snow Ice> is <Flame Dragon>…”

This was natural for Ju Na-young.

A born 5★, a lump of overwhelming talent.

As someone who chased after Peng Jin-ah from a young age, she didn’t neglect her training.

There was never a lack of support.

Consuming expensive elixirs and growth items as if they were water, she maximized the stats that could be raised at her age.

‘…I have to at least do this much!’

Ju Na-young, with the number 25 engraved above her head, slowed down briefly.

She exhaled her rising breath with a whoosh and lifted her head.

In the distance, she saw Peng Jin-ah, arms crossed, looking elsewhere.

Surely, she was watching…
That incredibly handsome guy she saw this morning.

Ju Na-young felt a bit of frustration at the sight.
Still, she composed herself.

‘…Of all people, it’s Peng Jin-ah unnie… no, professor, who chose him.’

She also had ears and eyes.

From the beginning, even if she didn’t want to know, the team leader of [Cadet Team 2] would pass along information about the promising ones.

The one who stood out the most among them was the only male, Yu Seha, who made a meteoric appearance and performed great feats.

Ju Na-young couldn’t hide her surprise when she first read the record.

The report stated that he clashed swords with Peng Jin-ah, and even made her drop her sword.

Moreover, she heard the word ‘pass’ directly from her mouth.

Surely, it was undeniable that he was extraordinary.

Therefore, Ju Na-young thought he must have already run at least 20 laps.

He had to do that much for her to recognize him as a worthy rival and feel the thrill of facing him.

‘Shall I check it out?’

Ju Na-young turned around.
Numbers were displayed above the heads of the cadets running here and there.

Soon, her eyes wavered.

“…Young-ah… what’s this?”

That pitiful number.