Why Is Everyone in This Dating Sim Trying to Kill Me?!

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: Sophia (1)

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Pant—

Pant—

Faint, almost collapsing breaths.

Her once lustrous golden hair was matted, and her smooth skin had turned rough and dry.

"Why on earth am I, why am I here…!?"

The blonde girl voiced the unfair question she had already uttered hundreds of times, but there was no one to answer her.

Sophia.

A hapa, born to a British mother and a Korean father.

She was originally a renowned model, active worldwide.

She had simply been diligently working as a foreign laborer in Korea, her father's homeland, for the past two years, ever since work came her way.

She couldn't fathom where she was, or why she was here.

No, actually, she had a hunch.

A year ago, she had suddenly awakened and naturally felt the urge to become a Hunter.

Being an action-oriented person who always acted before thinking, her deliberation was short-lived.

Immediately, she applied to the Velvet Hunter Academy and even took the exam.

She hadn't really expected much, as it was an exam she'd taken lightly, without any special training.

And to her surprise.

She had actually passed!

However, there were people who couldn't accept this.

Namely, her parents.

The Velvet Academy admission certificate and student uniform, delivered to their home.

Her parents had received them even before she did!

The night they received the acceptance letter.

Sophia had a three-way confrontation with her parents.

— Sophia, being a Hunter is a truly dangerous profession.

— Mama, I know that…!

— Sophia, you took the Academy exam without a word.

— Papa, that, that's…!

— How about you think about it again? Other children undergo professional training from a very young age. But you, you get scared just by seeing a monster from afar. It's not that I mind you becoming a Hunter, but approaching it with a light heart is an insult to those people.

— And what about your modeling career if you suddenly enter the Velvet Academy? You already have partners with finalized contracts, and the penalty for breaking a commercial contract is an astronomical sum. Do you have sufficient countermeasures for that?

Her parents desperately tried to dissuade her.

They lectured her on everything from practical reasons to the dangers of the Hunter profession, giving her no chance to retort.

As if they had prepared for days!

In fact, Sophia's parents were well aware of their daughter's personality,

and they had always been prepared for something like this to happen ever since she awakened, which made it possible.

— Alright, I guess there's no helping it….

Their meticulously thorough preparations paid off, and Sophia finally relented.

And so, despite being accepted, she never once went to the Academy.

In truth, her awakening was quite late compared to others,

and she was merely an ordinary person who had never experienced any real combat, so her parents' words weren't entirely baseless.

After that, she put aside her dream of becoming a Hunter and lived a life of soaring success as a model.

Occasionally, whenever news of the Velvet Academy reached her, a pang of regret would stir in her heart, but she would ultimately shake her head, telling herself it wasn't her path.

But then, what on earth happened?

After an early morning shoot, on her way home, she was suddenly abducted to some strange place, and standing before her were Maje and Lina, whom she had only ever seen online!

She soon realized that something was terribly wrong.

"Ugh, of all times, it had to be the first, so I couldn't say anything…!"

Originally, she had intended to protest to Lina after the exam explanation, saying something was wrong.

However, because she was the very first one to fail, she didn't even get a chance to open her mouth.

And so, now she was trembling as she roamed a deserted island.

"...My feet hurt, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I want to sleep… I want to wash…!"

It had already been two days since she was dropped onto the deserted island and started wandering.

Her stomach was practically glued to her back, and her throat was parched and cracked.

She hadn't gotten proper sleep either, so she had no strength left to move.

The only thing she had managed to bring was a pair of bright red high heels from after her modeling job.

But what could she do with a pair of high heels in this situation?

Sophia was currently aimlessly wandering, trying to find the 'shop' Lina had mentioned.

[ 2000 coin ]

Fortunately, having awakened as a Healer, she had received 2000 basic coins.

If only she could find the shop, her immediate problems would be solved.

"But where is it? I don't remember the map, and I don't even know where I am right now…!"

Blaming her foolish memory was useless.

At the time, she had been too flustered, and with the situation completely unclear, all she could do was stare blankly at Lina.

"What if a monster suddenly pops out?"

She clutched her high heels like a lifeline and scanned her surroundings.

Drip.

Drip—

Pouring down—!

"Rain!?"

To make matters worse, rain started pouring from the sky.

This might solve her thirst, but what then?

She had no knowledge of survival whatsoever, but she at least knew that getting soaked in the rain right now was dangerous.

Just then.

A cave caught her eye.

A cave on the side of a deep mountain.

"I wonder if I could shelter from the rain in there?"

She forced her reluctant legs to move, stumbling as she began to climb the mountain.

And a while later.

She stood before a pitch-black cave.

"Hellooo— Is anyone in thereeee…?"

She spoke with an awkward voice, cautiously looking around.

'Is no one here?'

Still, just in case, she tiptoed carefully inside.

Splash.

Splash.

'…Water sounds?'

Strange water sounds echoed from within.

Gulp.

Sophia swallowed dryly and walked deeper inside.

And then, the sight that met her eyes.

"Oh!?"

Sophia's golden eyes widened like lanterns.

Wet black hair shone lustrously like the night sky,

Muscles firmly set on skin as white as jade.

Somber black eyes.

A prominent nose bridge.

Even though she had seen countless men throughout her modeling career,

his appearance struck a heavy blow to her mind.

A man was taking a bath.

"...Whoa."

At the sight, which made her forget her fatigue, an exclamation escaped Sophia's lips.

And the man's dark eyes slowly moved to meet hers.

* * *

"..."

A blonde beauty, mouth agape, her gaze fixed on me.

My eyes widened as I looked at her.

The Tier 1 Healer, [Saintess] Sophia.

Right, I knew she would come here.

After all, I had set up here specifically to meet Sophia.

'But I didn't expect her to come while I was bathing.'

She was staring at me as if she had turned into a stone statue.

"Um, hold on, I need to put on some clothes."

At that, she spun around abruptly, her face startled.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't know anyone was here! I-I wasn't trying to look! I-I'm not a p-pervert!"

Sophia stammered, flustered.

"It's fine."

Splash.

I said, stepping out of the makeshift tub set up on the ground.

"Y-You're fine with it?"

"Yeah, as long as you don't keep sneaking glances."

"...I-I'm so sorry!!!"

Sophia turned her head away again, her posture stiff with tension.

I let out a small chuckle, dried myself, and put on my clothes.

"Alright, you can look now."

Sophia slowly turned her head.

And when she saw me, she had a somewhat… disappointed expression?

'Well, it's not important.'

"Who are you?"

Knowing she would come and waiting for her here was clearly odd, so I asked her.

"...I'm Sophia!"

"Sophia, huh. You must be an Academy student?"

"W-Well! I-I'm not exactly a student. I don't really know why I'm here myself…. Anyway, more importantly, your kkochu! That's a kkochu, right?"

'...What?'

I furrowed my brow.

Did she just see that? No, she couldn't have.

I was covered with a towel.

"I saw it in an article! The Kkochu on the Cliff!"

Ah.

Shit.

My moniker.

The Flower on the Cliff.

It had been a long time since I heard that moniker from someone else's mouth.

It seemed that moniker had spread outside the Academy.

"People just call it that… Since I'm a foreigner, I-I don't really know what it means."

Sophia added hesitantly, perhaps misinterpreting my expression.

'Come to think of it, wasn't her setting that she wasn't very familiar with Korean?'

The setting was that she spoke it quite fluently because of her Korean father, but having lived abroad for a long time, she sometimes confused certain words.

'I've seen scenes where that was used for comedy a few times, but it's dizzying when it happens directly to me.'

I shook my head and told her.

"...It means 'Flower'."

"Aha!? Flower! Kkochu! I love smelling those! I love looking at them too! I even have them as decorations in my house!"

Sophia said, closing the distance between us like an energetic beagle.

Everything's fine, Sophia. Um, you don't actually know, do you?

"...Just call me Jin Yuha,"

I said with a wry voice.

"Huh? Jin—Yuha?"

"Yes, that's my name."

"Oh, yes! Understood! Name! Jin Yuha!"

I stared at her intently.

Golden eyes, wavy blonde hair, long limbs.

She looked quite faded from the hardships of the past two days, but her beauty was still undeniable.

'To think she actually knew me.'

On second thought, it wasn't that strange. The Utopia Party's reputation was still spreading outside the Velvet Academy.

'...This might make things a bit easier.'

As I silently watched her, she couldn't bear the awkwardness and spoke first.

"I-I wasn't supposed to come here! I don't know how I got here!"

"You weren't supposed to come here? Aren't you a Velvet Academy student?"

I already knew her situation perfectly well, but I pretended not to and played along.

"Y-Yes, yes! I-I mean, I did take the exam and pass, but I've never actually gone to the Academy!"

"Then you are an Academy student."

"...Huh?"

"It means you're still registered as an Academy student."

"W-What do you mean? I haven't even applied for classes!?"

Sophia looked bewildered.

The Velvet Academy is fundamentally meritocratic.

They tend to believe that as long as you have the skill, you can enjoy as much freedom as you want in your Academy life.

That's why Kang Dohui could be so brazen during the initial course registration.

Otherwise, during various events, all the students would have to just attend classes.

To put it extremely, it was even possible to graduate without applying for any classes, like Sophia, by simply doing well on the midterm and final evaluations.

'...But for that, Sophia needs to rank within the top 3 in this midterm evaluation.'

In the game, Sophia never fails to rank within the top 3.

Why? Because she absolutely must to progress the game.

If she doesn't rank within the top 3, the next episode simply won't unlock.

In other words, it's an infinite loop of retries until she ranks 3rd!

However, now, if she doesn't make it into the ranks,

conveniences like 'retry' don't exist.

It literally means expulsion.

That's why I was waiting for her here.

"Why don't you rest for a bit? You look quite tired."

I said in a gentle voice, aiming to ease her tension.

"...Oh, uh, would that be alright? Weren't you already settled in here?"

"Well, I didn't make the cave. There's no reason for me to use it alone."

"...Ah."

"I'll prepare some food first."

"Even so, I can't possibly impose like this…."

Grrrrowl—!

Her stomach let out a mighty rumble.

Sophia buried her face, which had turned beet red.

"Just sit still. I'll make you something to eat."

"Okay…"

Right, raising this woman's favorability is the priority.

She was, after all, the reason I hadn't sought out another healer all this time.

'Hmm, what kind of dish should I prepare?'

I picked up the roughly made cutting board and dagger, and pondered.