Hunter Academy’s Battle God

EunAh was the one who brought YuSung to her room, but the atmosphere felt weird as he sat on her bed.

"Ehem! So... hey, isn't it hot?" EunAh gave him an awkward look.

YuSung scooted closer to her. "No, it's okay. Feel free to talk comfortably, EunAh. There was something you wanted to talk about, right?"

"Ah, y-yes..."

YuSung began wondering why she had called him away. Due to her past, she wasn’t used to talking about herself, but YuSung was more than just ‘someone else’ to her. She cared more for him than she did almost anyone else.

"Well, I might be overthinking things and worrying before it even happens... but I once fell into the water when I was seven and my brother saved me.

"By ‘the water’... do you mean the sea?"

"No, no! Just a place like a swimming pool. It doesn’t mean much now..."

EunAh said it was something that happened a long time ago and tried to play it off as nothing, but that strong act only lasted for a brief moment.

She ended up speaking honestly to YuSung when she saw his serious expression.

"When I was little… it seems like that was a bit of a trauma for me. I was, of course, scared of the water, but I also became fearful in general. If the Tower's penalty makes me synchronize with my past self..."

She seemed embarrassed as she idly scratched the bed. It wasn't just because she was alone with YuSung. She always acted strong before others, so being so honest with him felt weird to her.

"That's why... I might not be of help. Not only will I be unable to fight, but I will also be unable to use my Trait.

EunAh still remembered that day very well.

[That's why I said you shouldn't go to the deep part. Things almost became serious.]

[Ugh! I... Cough! Didn't know… it was... that deep!]

She’d flailed around in the water and only been saved by JunHyuk by a narrow margin.

She’d thought herself over it, but when she thought about it, that childhood trauma was still influencing her. She didn’t like the ocean or even the humidity in the air whenever it rained.

She said it was nothing, but she was even affected by those small things and vividly remembered the day she’d fallen into the water.

"Haa..." EunAh sighed and gripped the blanket.

If the Tower's penalty synchronized her with her past self, she believed she would be quite annoying.

She’d never tried hard to achieve anything for the past 10 years and had been born with so much that she never had anything like a goal.

"Why do things get so mixed up… when I try to put effort into something...?"

Right when EunAh thought she wanted to be helpful to the party, life played a different hand.

From the dungeon subjugation to the International Competition… She only ever found herself in unfavorable conditions.

"I also wanted to be helpful to the party and do things in a cool way..." EunAh said it in a low voice. After her strong appearance was peeled away, EunAh was just a normal 17-year-old girl.

Such honesty saddened YuSung.

"EunAh..." he mumbled in a low voice.

EunAh raised her head and looked at him. "Y-yes?"

She was nervous. YuSung, who always treated her warmly, looked firm.

"EunAh... you don't know how important you are to us."

For some reason, he seemed angry.

EunAh began giving excuses. "E-eh? No! We're obviously party members, and your achievements are also mine! But still..."

"You were upset, right?"

Unlike the firm voice he had just spoken with, YuSung's voice turned sweet.

EunAh nodded. "Yes..."

She was feeling strange. It was a reaction she'd experienced before, but it felt different when YuSung showed empathy for her.

In a sense, it was an incredible weapon.

* * *

* * *

YuSung, who used to be introverted, had changed after meeting many people. On top of that, thanks to her appearance and atmosphere, he was easily able to dig into her and figure out her emotions.

"If you hadn't defeated Angela and slowed down Lorelei, would we have been able to win?" YuSung's asked.

"Well, you have a point in that sense…” She lowered her guard and was starting to feel better, evidenced by what she said next. "But when you were in Italy… didn't you miss me? I mean... us?"

YuSung smiled at her question. "Obviously. I wanted to return to you guys."

She couldn’t help but start to smile when she heard his reply. "Really...?"

He was the first person of the opposite gender to whom she'd opened herself.

She wasn't aware of it, but she'd also started to feel jealousy, so each of YuSung's emotions had destructive power to her.

"Obviously. You guys are more than simple party members to me."

EunAh nodded at YuSung, who was still sitting beside her on the bed. "Okay... then it's okay."

Although she usually spent so much time with him, seeing him from so close was something else.

Still, she didn't want to move away from him. She liked that closer-than-usual distance.

"Hey, should I tell you what happened last time?" EunAh naturally brought up another topic. Rather than going out to the others again, she wanted to stay in her room with YuSung. "Members of the Shin-oh family came the other day. I made sure they didn't get the contract!"

YuSung laughed as she clenched her fists. He was surprised that she’d stood up for him like that, but he knew it wasn’t because her personality had changed.

He remembered how she had cried for her brother.

'As expected, she has a soft heart.'

She was the same as him in that sense and couldn't stand watching the people she cared for getting hurt. Rather than seeing that, she would prefer to get hurt first.

That was, in a sense, weak, and in another sense, pure.

When you peeled away her hard exterior, EunAh cared a lot about others and was very sensitive.

"Was that for me?" YuSung asked while silently getting close to her.

She nodded, her face stiff. "Of course... those people have abandoned you. Who do they think they are?"

EunAh began scratching her head before speaking to him in a low voice. "Hey, YuSung..." EunAh hesitated a bit but then continued. "What's family...?"

She didn't avoid looking at him anymore. Instead, she stared directly into his eyes.

"Abandoning someone just because you don't have the ability they wanted isn't what someone would call a family... If family are people you want to treat well unconditionally..." EunAh took a deep breath and slowly added, "Are we also... family?"

She hadn’t even heard his answer yet, but her eyes were already trembling. She was so nervous that she bit her lips.

They were just talking, but why was her heart trembling so much? Because of her nervousness, EunAh gathered strength from the tips of her toes. It was a habit she’d had since she was a child and was anxiously awaiting an answer.”

'Ah, what am I saying this early? Why did I get so serious...'

Her body began to stiffen as she waited for his reply. It was as if her blood was circulating poorly.

"Agh!" Like a fish jumping out of water, EunAh fell to the bed. "Ugh! Ouch...!"

Had she been tensing her legs too much? She got a cramp during such an important moment.

"YuSung! I! I… got a cramp! A cramp..." It seemed like it really hurt. EunAh was hitting the bed and tearing up.

"EunAh! Are you okay?!"

"Aghh! I'm not okay! My leg! No! Tight! I'm dying..."

YuSung stretched out her leg to lessen the pain.

"EunAh, in situations like this, you have to relax and—"

"It hurts, I can’t do it... Try to massage it a bit lightly!"

When EunAh's screams started to change to tears, the door opened.

"What are you guys doing...?" EunAh’s mother, YunHa, smiled at them. "I came here because the noise could be heard from outside... but you’ve been in here together since the sun was out!"

"Mom! It isn't anything like that!"

YunHa laughed while looking at EunAh's blush. "Fufu. EunAh, you really act like your father and me. It seems like you really are your mother’s daughter."

As YunHa smiled while thinking about the past, EunAh waved her hand. "It's a misunderstanding! YuSung was just massaging me!"

"Obviously! Mom won't misunderstand anything~ YuSung was just massaging your legs, right?"

If you thought about it carefully, massaging someone's leg while on their bed with them was a bit weird. Their positions on the bed were also easy to misunderstand.

YunHa smiled as if she was allowing herself to be deceived on purpose. "Okay! I understand! EunAh, you have to be careful, okay? After all, you guys are still students."

With that, the door closed.

While EunAh was looking at YuSung with a blank expression, the door opened again.

"Ah, also… Massaging for too long isn't good, so don't do it for very long, okay? I believe in you, EunAh~!"

Tap.

YunHa closed the door again.

"NOO! MOM! It isn't that!" EunAh shouted toward the closed door.

YuSung just laughed as he looked at her.

'As I thought, this is a fun family.'