Retire 549

549 (Hunter Academy Side Story 16) The Graduates_3

“For now, that’s as far as I’ve got. Any questions?”

Lee Seung-yeon gulped down water, her throat dry. She tried to look nonchalant, but it was obvious she was nervous.

Normally, her friends would have teased her or cracked jokes at her expense, but today, none of them felt like doing that. After seeing how much she’d prepared, it wouldn’t be right to make fun of her—not if they were really friends.

“So… this is your ultimate goal?”

“It’s not totally wrong, but… calling it the final goal is a bit much, right? It’s more of a means than an end.”

“But would the government allow it? I mean, even for existing Hunters, there’s not much incentive to join if they become government-affiliated.”

“That’s something we’ll have to work on. We’ll need to stay flexible and adjust as things develop. I didn’t write it down, but I plan to use the school.”

“The school? The Academy? How?”

“We didn’t start working as Hunters right after graduation, did we? Even college aside… let’s be honest, Hyun-wook, you and Han-seong only got into Daseon because the master is also the Academy’s director, right?”

Oh Hyun-wook fired off questions at Seung-yeon with enthusiasm. Han Eun-young idly flipped through Seung-yeon’s proposal, wanting to say something but unable to find the words.

All the laughter and catching up they’d shared, even grumbling about their two late friends, suddenly felt distant. There was a heaviness, as if a stone had settled in their chests.

“It’s a little embarrassing, but you’re right.”

“We were actually looking into interviews with other guilds. I guess that annoyed the teachers.”

“Why would it annoy them?”

Hyun-wook hesitated. He knew the reason, even if he didn’t say it out loud. Eun-young, who was planning to go to college, understood too.

“…Just because we graduated doesn’t mean we have much experience.”

“If anything, we have less than most Awakened.”

“Daseon is a safety net. Isn’t that right?”

It was something they’d heard so often it was practically worn into their ears.

They’d been told as much from the very start, even when they first enrolled. The Academy was a pilot school, designed to train young Awakened safely.

Eun-young had heard the same explanation from her brother, Han Tae-kyung, when she enrolled. Whether her own wishes had really factored in, she still couldn’t say for sure.

“Exactly! So I want to bring in graduates under the pretense of a safety net, too. Keep them for about five years, then let them go out into the world—good for them, good for us, right?”

“…So you’d train them here.”

“Like raising junior Hunters. By then, we’d be pretty seasoned ourselves… If we brought in the principal or Teacher Woo, even non-graduates would be tempted.”

“Why leave out Teacher Chae-min?”

“Ah… the archmage is too expensive. Besides, you or Jin-woo should become archmages.”

“And then we work for free?”

“Friends’ discount?”

Seung-yeon added, half-joking. Even though everyone laughed, it didn’t really sound like a joke. She probably meant it.

After that, Hyun-wook kept the questions coming. He even asked if he could share the idea with friends he’d gotten close to at his previous guild. Everyone knew he’d once planned to start a guild with them, so Seung-yeon nodded readily.

“This isn’t something we can do alone. The more people we have to work with, the better! If you guys make new friends, recruit them too.”

“What if they just steal your idea?”

“Come on. Who’d want to go through all this trouble? Only someone like me would take the lead.”

If she said it that confidently, there was nothing to argue with.

“Exactly! Anyway, I want to go beyond a high school club and make a real guild, and I want to do it with you guys.”

“Well… that was always the plan. Why else would we call you ‘master’?”

“I mean, that’s one thing. But who knows how great you’ll all become as Hunters…?”

“So you’re trying to lock us in early?”

“Oh, confident! Sure, but if I end up being a lousy master, what kind of Hunters would work for me? My pride wouldn’t allow it.”

Now they understood why Seung-yeon had put so much effort into her proposal, even being late for the meeting.

Eun-young looked over the proposal again. With the chaos of college life, when had she found time to make this? Seung-yeon laughed awkwardly, saying it was still rough, but anyone could see this wasn’t something you could throw together in a day or two. It was clear she’d been thinking about it for a long time.

Hyun-wook kept firing questions, with Han-seong chiming in. Park Seo-hyun joined in, and Soon Soon-jin sometimes answered for Seung-yeon. Even Choi Jin-woo and Yoo Hye-eun threw in sharp questions that made Seung-yeon squirm.

In the midst of it all, Han Eun-young thought:

‘Could I ever be as passionate as they are?’

She fell into contemplation.

Eun-young had never really considered Hunter as a career. She’d always thought she might awaken someday—her parents weren’t Awakened, but her brother was, and even with only half their blood in common, there was always a chance.

But she’d never expected to actually awaken.

‘…Eun-young awakened?’

‘Yeah. The school called today. Should we take her with us when we leave the country? If we ask Muhammad—’

‘No, Dad. If you just throw Eun-young into Hunter work, she won’t last. It suited me, but… I thought she’d made it through middle school without awakening, but in the end, you really are my sister.’

‘Is that an insult?’

‘Kyung, weren’t you coming back to Korea after you finished up there? Can’t you teach her?’

‘Well… Just because you’re Awakened doesn’t mean you have to be a Hunter. Mom, do you want Eun-young to be a Hunter?’

‘Not really… but accidents happen to Awakened all the time…’

Her brother, working as a Hunter in the Middle East, had become a bizarre man who never took off his sunglasses indoors. He hadn’t always been so strange, but every year he seemed to get weirder.

After failing to get him to take off his sunglasses, even their mother had given up, saying Hunters always had at least one odd quirk.

‘Eun-young.’

‘…What?’

‘Come on! Hit my palm!’

‘Ugh. Why?’

‘Just clench your fist and hit as hard as you can.’

Would she become as weird as her brother if she became a Hunter…?

Still, she knew her brother was a well-known Hunter. Even if he did weird things with that stupid cat, he wasn’t someone who said things he didn’t mean.

After her parents nodded and Tae-kyung urged her a few more times, seventeen-year-old Eun-young clenched her fist and aimed for her brother’s palm.

As a little sister, she couldn’t help but have some pent-up feelings toward her older sibling, and the chance to hit him in front of their parents made her heart race.

Remembering the taekwondo her dad had once taught her for self-defense, Eun-young smacked her brother’s palm with all her might.

‘……’

‘What the—’

‘Ah, you really are my sister.’

‘What?! That’s an insult, isn’t it?!’

‘Even if you don’t become a Hunter, you really need proper training. Mom, Dad, don’t tell anyone about this. Seriously. I’m helping set up a school right now. Not me—Hunter Hong Seok-young.’

Eun-young’s eyes widened at the mention of Hong Seok-young. Even if she wasn’t interested in dungeons or Hunters, she couldn’t not know that name.

‘There’ll be an official announcement soon. They’re recruiting students now…’

‘You want to send Eun-young there?’

‘There’ll be some trial and error at first, of course. But you know what kind of person he is, Dad. At least she’ll get proper training.’

After that, everything happened quickly. Her own opinion didn’t matter much. Her brother insisted she needed proper training, and her parents trusted his judgment completely.

Back then, she’d wondered if he was just trying to torment her, but now she realized he hadn’t been wrong. Her mother had said she could quit if it was too hard, so she went to the school.

Of course, Eun-young wasn’t as talented as Oh Hyun-wook or Soon Soon-jin, whom the teachers praised.

But it wasn’t so hard she wanted to quit, either. It was tough, but she could keep up. She was never the best, but she was always near the top.

So Eun-young kept going. She enjoyed hanging out with her friends, didn’t mind the regular classes. She’d worried when the school wasn’t officially accredited, but after that, things got better. And it felt good to be recognized by the teachers for her talent in planning raids.

But did she actually want to be a Hunter? That was another question.

She’d just gone with the flow. Unlike her friends, she didn’t have a burning ambition to do something as a Hunter, nor a desire to overcome a troubled background. Helping her friends? Sure, that was a good reason. But to endure the danger and filth of dungeons for that alone…

And now, there was one more reason.

“I have to prove what I can do!”

“If you say so, who are we to stop you?”

“Being at Daseon, I’ve learned that the master is really, really, really important.”

“Yeah. It’s the same in research. Stop just dumping work on us… Seung-yeon, don’t become that kind of adult.”

Eun-young envied her friends. It wasn’t jealousy. She didn’t want their extraordinary talents.

She could do anything at least a little above average. She’d never be the best, but no one would call her incompetent.

But she’d never truly been passionate about anything—not the way her friends were. Even her brother was passionate about that stupid cat. She teased him for always talking about copyrights, but she admired how seriously he pursued even that ridiculous goal.

‘Do I really belong here?’

Her good-natured friends would say yes.

But what about her?

Was it really all right to just drift along, doing what others told her, as she always had?

“Any other questions? If you think of anything later, just let me know! Where’s the menu?”

“The latecomer’s paying, right?”

“Hey, do you know how much you guys eat?”

“Trying to bleed the junior Hunters dry?”

“Hey, there are poor college students here…”

“Do you know how tough it is to work at school?”

“Ha… You guys, just because you found a sugar mama…”

Seung-yeon clutched her head in mock betrayal.

But soon she grinned mischievously and waved her wallet.

“It’s fine! I brought my aunt’s card just in case.”

“Ooooh!”

“Call me master!!”

“Master!”

“Best master!”

“Excuse me! Can we get another menu over here?”

In the midst of the lively chatter, Eun-young ignored the stone in her chest and laughed along with her friends.

Ding.

“……”

[It’s your brother! Why’d you call?]

Eun-young gripped her phone tightly.

Hiding the relief that, at times like this, she still had her less-than-reliable brother to confide in.