September.
Even though the Start of Autumn (Ipchu) had long passed, the heat was still raging fiercely.
Haze rose from the asphalt.
Sunlight mercilessly stabbed the skin.
The air hung hot and humid like a steam room.
Heatwave warning messages kept piling up in the smartphone inbox.
It was the kind of weather where stepping outside for just a few minutes left the whole body drenched in sweat.
Yet despite the sweltering heat, the university campus overflowed with energy.
Students wandered everywhere, hand fans in one hand and iced coffees in the other.
I was one of them.
“Something…… feels like it’s been an incredibly long time.”
Female students emerged from the bookstore with arms full of major textbooks.
Couples giggled inside the café.
Physical education students played basketball shirtless.
Male students roamed in groups wearing matching department T-shirts.
Scenes that once felt like ordinary daily life now seemed strangely alien.
Perhaps the experience inside Maslow’s Tower had completely rewritten my standards of normal and abnormal.
It had been exactly one week since the Haeundae incident ended.
I was running nonstop, juggling the Demon Spear’s quests and the Hunter Association’s missions at the same time.
On top of that, I’ve even added my university student status to the mix.
Fortunately, I had successfully registered for second-semester courses, so I only needed to come to campus twice a week.
In exchange, the schedule was brutally packed with no free periods at all.
Lectures ran back-to-back from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. without even a proper lunch break.
……At least being a Hunter makes it manageable. In the old days I definitely couldn’t have handled this.
I could skip two or three meals and still keep going. Even with only three or four hours of sleep, fatigue barely registered.
When the elevator was crowded, I simply took the stairs, leaping three or four steps at a time.
The comfort was on an entirely different level from before my awakening.
Soon I checked my smartwatch.
[AM 11:55]
Five minutes remained until class started.
The professor was notoriously strict about attendance, so I needed to hurry.
Just as I turned toward the lecture hall—
“Hasang sunbae—!”
Five or six female students waved at me.
Familiar faces.
They were juniors from the same liberal arts class last semester.
Kim Yerim was among them.
“Sunbaenim—! It’s lunchtime, aren’t you eating?”
“Hasang sunbae! You promised to buy us lunch last time~!”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s already been several months since that promise…… I’m starving, heuk heuk……”
I vaguely remembered making that promise during first semester.
“Sorry. I have to head straight into the next class. I’ll really treat you next time. Or I can just send money through KakaoPay so you can all go eat together? How much is the school cafeteria meal these days……”
The juniors waved their hands in panic.
“Ey! How can you say that! We have to eat together!”
“If sunbae doesn’t come, what’s the point?”
“Right! Let’s go together when Hasang sunbae has time~.”
“Then instead of food, can you buy us drinks? A new strawberry makgeolli place just opened behind the school!”
I nodded.
“Alright, got it. See you next time then.”
With that, I sprinted full speed toward the lecture hall.
***
Cha Hasang vanished to the far end of the corridor in the blink of an eye.
Watching him go, the female juniors murmured.
“Wow, he runs fast too. Was he on the track team?”
“He exercises well. And he’s capable. This is serious trouble, for real.”
“Anyway, last time Mijeong asked me to introduce her to Hasang sunbae.”
“His hardworking vibe is kinda cool, right? Feels like a truly respectable sunbae.”
“Does Hasang sunbae do any club activities? Should I ask him to join something with us?”
The girls chattered noisily, kyak kyak.
Meanwhile Kim Yerim wore a sullen expression.
Making up all those excuses. You just like him because his face is handsome.
She was exactly the same.
Still, she considered herself the straightforward type who didn’t beat around the bush.
Kim Yerim stared blankly at Cha Hasang’s receding back.
His back is really broad…… Does he work out or something?
Why couldn’t she look away?
Since when had this started?
At some point her mind had become filled with nothing but thoughts of Cha Hasang.
She still couldn’t understand why she hadn’t noticed him right after admission.
Why did I act like that?
When no one else recognized him, I should have snatched him up immediately……!
Of course the other girls were probably thinking the same thing.
Throughout the entire afternoon lecture, Kim Yerim’s head was occupied solely by Cha Hasang.
What are his hobbies?
Favorite food?
Music he listens to?
What kind of woman is his type?
Does he already have someone he likes?
Suddenly one face flashed into her mind.
When they had run into each other at the department store’s luxury section, Cha Hasang had been with a breathtakingly beautiful woman.
Long, lustrous black hair.
Flawless white skin. A slender yet toned figure.
Even the unrivaled Kim Yerim had felt intimidated that day.
Who on earth was that woman?
Don’t tell me…… his girlfriend?
After class ended, Kim Yerim wandered the campus in a daze.
Thoughts kept chaining together endlessly.
Then—
“Huh? That’s……!”
The chance came sooner than expected.
She had spotted Cha Hasang standing in front of the Humanities Building.
He was staring intently at the bulletin board outside.
Even from afar his tall frame was unmistakable.
Wearing only a plain white T-shirt and jeans, he still gave off a model-like aura.
Even the back of his head looked handsome.
Kim Yerim quietly approached on tiptoe to surprise him.
Then—
“Sun…… bae!”
She shouted wak! and tapped his shoulder.
Yet Cha Hasang’s expression didn’t shift at all.
“It’s Yerim. Heading back after class?”
“Ah, yes…… Sorry for suddenly pranking you. I was just so happy to see you that I…”
“It happens.”
Cha Hasang gave a silent smile and turned back to the bulletin board.
Such complete non-reaction went beyond awkwardness and straight into heartbreak.
What on earth is he looking at?
Kim Yerim scanned the Humanities Building bulletin board.
Scholarship notices. Study-abroad notices. Volunteer notices.
Employment and startup notices.
Posts from every category were plastered haphazardly across it.
Among them, Cha Hasang was staring fixedly at one particular exhibition poster.
History, art, music, theater—various fairs and exhibitions were advertised.
So Hasang sunbae is really into art? Hmm, that side of him is cool too.
Soon Kim Yerim spoke.
“Um…… Hasang sunbae. Can I ask you just one thing?”
“What?”
Cha Hasang’s eyes remained glued to the poster.
Even that indifferent attitude made Kim Yerim’s heart flutter.
“You know, that time at the department store. The person who was with you, sunbae…… was she your girlfriend?”
“Huh? Ah…… Not my girlfriend. If I have to classify it, it’s a business relationship.”
“I see…… I asked because you two looked really close……!”
Kim Yerim’s voice brightened instantly.
She pressed on without pause.
“Then, sunbae. Would you like to go see a musical with me this weekend?”
A direct fastball with everything she had.
Pushing and pulling was something only amateurs lacking confidence in their charm did.
If she wanted something, she seized it aggressively.
That was Kim Yerim’s life philosophy.
Soon Cha Hasang turned to look at her.
“A musical all of a sudden?”
Perfect. He had finally taken the bait.
Kim Yerim smiled sweetly.
“Sunbae, do you know the musical Kinky Boots? The director is a friend of my father’s, and he sent me two tickets inviting me to watch the show.”
Kinky Boots.
A famous musical praised as the best across every medium.
Tickets sold out within one minute of going on sale because of its insane popularity.
Since Cha Hasang clearly had a strong interest in art, he would definitely be interested in Kinky Boots.
Besides, no man had ever refused one of her date invitations before.
In fact, Kim Yerim was usually the one turning down date requests.
She looked at Cha Hasang with a triumphant expression.
But—
“Kinky Boots? Sorry. I’m not really familiar with musicals.”
The reaction was completely unexpected.
Not only that.
“Thanks for inviting me, but I have too many things to do. I don’t think I’ll have time to go anywhere.”
Cha Hasang was different from other men.
He had refused.
Kim Yerim’s date invitation!
Kim Yerim stood frozen, unable to process reality.
Regardless, Cha Hasang took out his smartphone and started photographing the bulletin board.
Click click click—
“Then I’ll head off first. See you next time.”
Cha Hasang left without looking back.
“Uh…… uh……? Uhhhh……!?”
Kim Yerim creaked like someone still half-asleep.
No one had ever treated her this way in her entire life.
She had never received such treatment from a man before.
However—
……I will definitely seduce him no matter what!
Instead, her fighting spirit ignited.
His iron-wall rejection had lit a fire in Kim Yerim’s competitive heart.
Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will win every battle.
To defeat the opponent, she needed to gather information about him.
By the way, what are sunbae’s interests? What should I study?
Games, movies, comics, anime, webnovels, webtoons, soccer, baseball.
Anything was fine.
She would simply study everything from A to Z without missing a single thing.
Soon Kim Yerim looked up at the bulletin board.
What had he photographed so diligently earlier? Let’s see. It was the poster Hasang sunbae had been taking pictures of.
“…………”
Kim Yerim examined the poster Cha Hasang had been staring at.
-<Regarding the Warriors Who Left Their Footprints in the Martial History of the Korean Peninsula>
-The exhibition of relics belonging to great figures who had protected the Korean Peninsula from foreign invasions—from Gojoseon all the way to the Joseon Dynasty—would be held at the Ilsan Convention Center starting in September……