“Watch your mouth, Chen Meiling.”

The moment Rune spoke her name, Meiling’s eyes widened.

“You… know Meiling?” I asked, surprised as well.

“I heard a rumor during break. That a transfer student from Gwangcheon would be coming here. That was you, Chen Meiling. Though it looks like that plan was canceled.”

Rune glanced briefly at me, then turned his eyes back on her.

“If you tried to switch from Gwangcheon to Magica, you must be pretty confident in your magic.”

He crossed his arms, lips curling upward.

“Or maybe it had nothing to do with magic at all. Maybe it was just your father’s power. With the president of Forward Magical Engineer pulling strings, his daughter could get into any academy she wanted. Well… except Crystal.”

Damn. That’s the one thing you shouldn’t touch.

I cast a sidelong glance.

Sure enough—

Meiling was raising her wand.

“Meiling. No.”

Seo Yui had noticed too. She quickly grabbed the hand holding the wand.

“M-Meiling…” Lumina’s eyes trembled with fear as she looked between her and the Magica students.

“Wow. She’s really about to go off?” Zen muttered, looking stunned.

“In a dungeon, even pretending to attack another Hunter is grounds for retaliation. Guess a rich girl has nothing to fear, huh?”

I almost groaned aloud.

“Seo Yui. Let go,” Meiling said, glaring at the twins.

Normally, her face turned red when she was angry. But now her skin was pale white. She had already gone past her threshold.

“Meiling, calm down. You’ll face them properly later, at the right place. Hold it here.” I stepped in front of her.

“What are you talking about, Nam Yein?” Rune asked.

“We four are Gwangcheon’s HAUT selections.”

At my words, the twins and the Magica students behind them widened their eyes.

“…So that’s it. No wonder you’re here.” Rune’s gaze slid from me back to Meiling.

“Then we’ll see soon enough—whether you’re just a spoiled rich brat or if you actually have the skills to earn HAUT.”

“No need to wait. I’ll show you now. The moment your head catches fire, you’ll understand.”

Blue energy began gathering at the tip of Meiling’s wand.

“Sorry, Meiling.”

“Huh!?”

Seo Yui snatched the wand from her grip and threw it to the floor. Then, in one smooth motion, she hoisted Meiling up over her shoulder.

“S-Seo Yui!? Put me down!”

“No. If I do, you’ll fight them.”

“You wanna die, Seo Yui!?”

“No. I wanna live.”

“Arghhhh!!”

Meiling screamed in fury as I bent down and picked up the wand.

“Well then, we’ll be going. Lumina, help her out.”

“Uh? Uh, l-like this?” Lumina scrambled to grab Meiling’s kicking legs.

“Thanks, Lumina. That helps a lot,” Seo Yui said, locking down Meiling’s flailing arms.

“Both of you let me goooo!!!”

“Let’s go.”

Dragging Meiling’s shrieking form, we left the Magica students behind.

Once outside the dungeon, Meiling was thoroughly sulking.

She kept her mouth clamped shut, head turned away, refusing to even look at us.

Lumina sat sweating bullets in front of her, while Seo Yui simply stared at her in silence.

“Cool off, Meiling. Attacking Hunters in a dungeon is the kind of thing trash does. Don’t lower yourself.” I spoke calmly.

“…You’re not even angry?”

“About what?”

She whipped her head around and glared at me.

“They saw you and the first thing out of their mouths was ‘what are you doing here?’ They completely dismissed us! And you’re not even mad!?”

“What’s there to be mad about?”

“What did you just say?”

“Normally, if Gwangcheon kids show up on the 4th floor, anyone would assume they wandered in by mistake. What do they actually know about us?”

“Even if they don’t know, talking down like that is—!”

“You can’t expect too much from children who are still immature.”

The moment I said it, all three of them froze.

Ah, crap.

I’d forgotten. Possessing Nam Yein’s body meant I was younger than they were. To them, my words must’ve sounded absurd.

Their reactions made perfect sense—

“Pffft.”

But then Meiling burst out laughing.

She doubled over, holding her stomach, “Hahahaha! You’re right. You’re absolutely right, Nam Yein!”

I stared blankly as Seo Yui stepped up beside me and nodded.

“Maturity doesn’t come just from age. Yein, you really do have depth.”

That wasn’t what I meant at all…

“Wow…”

I turned at the sound of awe. Lumina’s eyes shone as she gazed at me.

“Yein is so mature… I want to be like you too.”

“…”

I looked at the three of them for a moment, then said:

“Let’s show them who we are at HAUT.”

“Yeah.”

“Mm!”

Seo Yui and Lumina nodded firmly.

“In that case, we’d better use our spare time for more training,” Meiling said with a sharp grin.

“I’ll make those two kneel before me.”

Phew. Looked like it ended well enough.

“Please. Just once. Let me talk to my friend. Please.”

The man bowed his head.

“Please.”

I sat silently, staring across the café table at the two people before me.

One was Ahn Jiyeong, the woman who had visited me before. The other was a man named Miyamoto.

Both were from Forward Trading’s Item Division.

On the table sat an inventory case. Inside were a level-30 rare piece of gear and several magic items—together worth tens of millions of won.

“This isn’t all,” Miyamoto said, meeting my eyes.

“As I explained before, while you attend Gwangcheon Academy, your tuition will be fully covered. After graduation, we’ll secure you a place in Jeonjin’s own pro-Hunter guild, Black Hound. Beyond that, we can supply you with equipment and items monthly from our division. With those, it’d be no problem for you to take top marks in academy training—”

“That’s enough.”

I cut him off. It wasn’t worth listening further.

“I was curious what you’d say, since you came to me again even after I already refused. But it’s no different from last time.”

At my words, both Miyamoto and Ahn Jiyeong’s faces stiffened.

“Before you go back, I’ll tell you something your friend asked me to pass along.”

I rose from my seat, "If you bother me or my friends even once more, I’ll just join Crystal outright. Take that as a promise."

Both of them sucked in a sharp breath.

"P-please, anything but that…" Miyamoto stammered.

They had to know that Platinum Wings used to be inside the Crystal Hunter Mall before going independent. Which meant, on paper, the Mysterious Craftsman wasn’t affiliated with Crystal. Even if there were private connections, the shop wasn’t supplying the Crystal Hunter Mall.

If because of them the Mysterious Craftsman ended up moving into Crystal’s mall, these two would be writing their resignations the same day.

"Can you promise you won’t come to me about this again?" I asked, looking from one to the other. It was less a question than a warning.

Ahn Jiyeong looked like she’d already given up. Miyamoto kept staring at the table for a long time, then finally nodded.

"Understood. I’ll be going, then. Thanks for the coffee."

I left the café, turning my back on the two of them.

"Ugh." Afternoon sunlight stabbed at my skin like needles.

That should finally keep them away.

It had been over a month since Ahn Jiyeong visited the academy. With no contact or follow-up, I thought they’d given up—until they suddenly showed up today.

"Haa…" I raised a hand to shade my eyes.

The sun was so fierce it hurt to keep them open. The streets at midday were almost empty—everyone had fled indoors for the air conditioning.

Even with an Awakened body, heat is still heat, huh.

An Awakened body was remarkable. It barely tired, and even injuries bounced back quickly with rest or an HP potion. Their recovery was so fast that torn muscles or broken bones could heal without surgery—and hardly any scars.

Not my personal experience, but I’d seen enough of Lumina and Seo Yui’s injuries to know.

If I still had the ordinary body from my pre-dungeon days, even a level 3 monster would’ve torn me to shreds without resistance.

If we’re that tough, you’d think heat or cold wouldn’t matter… Wait. Don’t Awakened stats include resistances to heat and cold?

I was mulling that over on my way back toward Gwangcheon when—

"…!!"

I stopped dead.

Far ahead, someone was lying on the ground.

A person sprawled on sun-baked pavement in this blistering heat.

The instant I saw it, a sick dread curdled in my gut. It wasn’t irrational.

Once meat is cooked, it never returns to raw.

Bodies aren’t so different.

I sprinted to the fallen figure.

What I noticed first: navy-tinted, long curly hair, and a long-sleeved dress far too warm for today’s weather, and a chest impressively, almost absurdly, large.

"!"

Recognition hit me again.

A familiar face—more precisely, a face I knew from the game.

Just in case, I touched the Lens of Lavzahi in my pocket. Status windows bloomed.

As I thought. Bella.

Bella Ball.

A Hunter candidate from Ucheon Academy, one of the companion characters. In the game she was a year older than the protagonist—so a year older than Nam Yein.

But why is Bella collapsed here?

Her home was west of Seoul, and the only thing around this area was Gwangcheon Academy. She had no reason to be here.

I scanned the status windows again. I still didn’t know why she’d come, but I could see why she’d collapsed.

Bella was suffering from three status conditions: Poisoned, Burned, and Paralyzed.

There were no signs of an attack. That left only one likely cause.

First things first—get her conscious.

I propped up her upper body.

"Ugh." Heat rolled off her in waves.

Sun hammering from above, pavement cooking from below—no surprise there. Everywhere exposed—face, arms, legs—was red and inflamed.

"Uuugh… u-ughheooo…" Bella half-opened her eyes and looked up at me, as if to ask who I was.

"I saw you collapsed while walking by. Can you hear me?"

"Aiyo…"

She murmured something and shut her eyes again.

I pulled out an Antidote, a Paralysis Cure, and a Burn Ointment from my inventory. One by one, I fed them to her.

You can apply them topically, but personally, if I’m not in a dungeon, I’d rather not get drenched in potion. So—down the hatch.

"Uuurrgh!"

Her body twisted with a pained expression.

Most of Latessia’s potions taste vile. Downing three different kinds back to back must have been torture. But the movement was a good sign—the status effects were receding.

"Hang in there."

I didn’t pull the last bottle away until I saw every drop reach her mouth. Then I set the empty vials aside and stood.

"Hrrr… mmmph!"

Bella pressed a hand over her mouth, grimacing. After a moment with her head bowed, she reached out a hand to me.

I took it and helped her up slowly.

"Fuuuu… Thank you for the help. Your name…?"

"Nam Yein. And you?"

Her eyes widened, then she smoothed her expression.

"Ah. My name is Bella Ball."

She smiled—so bright it was hard to believe she’d been suffering moments ago.

"Why were you lying out here?"

"Ah, well…" Bella tapped a finger against her chin.

"I was trying to get to the Hunter Market, but I got off at the wrong bus stop. I figured it was walkable, so I started walking… and it was so hot. I stopped to rest for just a moment, but my throat was parched, so I couldn’t stand it. I drank a homemade potion I had with me, and then my body just stopped doing what I told it to. I didn’t realize it would have that kind of side effect. As a poison, though, it’d be amazing."

As expected. Exactly what I’d guessed.

Then Bella looked up at me with a sunny smile.

"The reason I was headed to the Hunter Market was a shop called Platinum Wings. But I don’t have to go anymore."

"What?"

"That potion just now—it was made by the Mysterious Craftsman, wasn’t it?"

Her smile curled from sunny to sly.

"Nam Yein. I want to meet your friend."

(End of Chapter)

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