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

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: Conclusion (2)

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'I'm tired.'

Baek Seol-hee had been deployed to the sudden S-rank Gate explosion in Pohang.

If it had been a Gate 'conquest,' there wouldn't have been a need for all instructors to move.

An S-rank Gate was something Maestro Rina could handle alone.

But this wasn't a conquest; it was an explosion.

When monsters burst out of a Gate, the work multiplies tenfold.

Since an S-rank Gate had exploded, the monsters were high-level, and the civilian casualties were too significant to ignore.

Even with Rina using psychokinesis to mend the collapsed buildings in the area, Hunter Management Bureau agents conducting rescues, and Baek Seol-hee along with the Demon Slayers exterminating monsters, the tasks piled up endlessly.

─ C-Captain! Too, too fast!!

─ I-I'm going to die?!

─ Stop whining. You're worse than first-year cadets.

─ No, I'm really going to die!!

─ Quiet.

Baek Seol-hee's handling of the situation was so demanding that even the Demon Slayers, veterans of nightmarish training, were whimpering.

But the more they complained, the more fiercely Baek Seol-hee sliced and diced the monsters.

─ Kiiieeeek! Glurgh?!

─ Th-Thank you. Thank you— Huh? Wh-Where did she go?

She felt a pressing urgency.

An inexplicable anxiety kept urging her on.

If she didn't go to the mid-term evaluation site right now, she would surely regret it later.

Her intuition was telling her so.

Therefore, after furiously cutting down monsters,

and having mostly cleared out the noticeably dangerous ones,

she went to Rina and said,

─ I will return to the examination site first.

Rina raised an eyebrow and asked back,

─ ...Return?

─ Yes, with the Demon Slayers and the Director General here, the remaining situation can be handled.

As Baek Seol-hee spoke those words, she braced herself for a considerable reprimand.

She knew better than anyone how foolish that sounded.

For the captain of the Demon Slayers to leave alone in the middle of a mission?

Was that even a sensible thing to say?

Just because Rina usually treated her with an easygoing familiarity didn't mean it applied during work.

However.

Rina gazed at Baek Seol-hee for a long moment.

Then, without hesitation, she nodded.

─ Alright, go. I'll mark the location for you. I'll teleport you to the closest point.

Rina's attitude was a little surprising, but Baek Seol-hee merely nodded.

And now.

Baek Seol-hee clicked her tongue as she saw Jin Yu-ha standing in the midst of the horrific scene of slaughter.

'I generally understand what happened.'

* * *

"Your sword is wavering."

A level voice, familiar yet unexpected, came from behind me.

I stopped extending my sword towards the demons and whipped my head around.

"M-Master…?!"

Normally, Director Rina would only return to the deserted island after the mid-term evaluation was completely over.

The instructors, too, would return with Rina.

'But she came back in just one day…?'

I looked around her, but neither the other instructors nor Rina were visible.

I stared at Baek Seol-hee with a dazed expression.

Her torn clothes, her face splattered with blood, her slightly closed eyes indicating fatigue.

Her usually impeccable attire was a mess.

She clearly looked like she had pushed herself considerably.

"Don't be swayed by your sword. Haven't I taught you that?"

Click.

Click.

Baek Seol-hee brushed back her hair and approached me.

"Emotion is a potent driving force. A sword imbued with emotion is like an arrow. Its explosive power is intense for a moment, but once shot, it cannot be recalled."

"...Ah."

"Is this battlefield truly one where you should pour out your emotions?"

Baek Seol-hee met my eyes and asked in a serious voice.

"...No."

I shook my head and replied.

"Are you that angry?"

"..."

"Hmph, truly… As they say, too much affection can be a weakness."

Baek Seol-hee wore an ambiguous expression that was neither worry nor pride as she gently stroked my head.

"But you did well. Thanks to you, despite the major incident of the demons' appearance, no one died. All of it was your doing. Be proud."

"...Yes."

It was then.

"M-Master?! Yes! Then you're that academy instructor!!! Please, stop that crazy bastard!!!"

"H-How can an academy student kill people so easily! What on earth did you teach them?!"

"Right! You human butcher, you bastard! Control your student better!"

"We'll surrender quietly! P-Please, just stop him already!!!!"

These words, ironically, came from the demons who had been cornered.

They seemed to think that since an academy instructor had arrived, they wouldn't die here.

"These scumbags still have plenty to say…"

Baek Seol-hee swept her gaze over them with utterly cold eyes.

"When you kill, it's not murder, but when an academy student kills, it is?"

"B-But! Attacking an enemy who has lost their will to fight! Is that what a hunter should do—"

One demon, with a severed arm, protested as if wronged.

"Utter nonsense."

Baek Seol-hee cut him off immediately.

"From the start, weren't you trash who murdered civilians who held no power, not even enemies? And did you truly think I wouldn't know what you were planning?"

*Shing—*

She drew her sword with an utterly languid gesture.

"If you had merely escaped from this place, you would have tried to take those students hostage to threaten my disciple. All to provoke this child's tender heart."

*Flinch.*

The demons trembled at her resolute voice.

And I did too.

'…Uh, well. Not really…? It was just because of Gukbap.'

I looked at her with an awkward expression, but Baek Seol-hee continued to speak.

"Because of you, my disciple almost walked a path too soon. From that moment, your end was already decided."

Then she turned her head and looked at me.

"Hmm, my current condition isn't great, but… there's a lesson I can give you now."

"Here, a lesson, suddenly?"

When I asked with a bewildered expression, Baek Seol-hee nodded slightly.

"Yes, shall we swing our swords together?"

* * *

Baek Seol-hee's appearance.

Only one instructor had appeared in this chaotic scene, but the watching students felt a deep sense of relief and sighed.

The sight of Jin Yu-ha ruthlessly cutting down enemies, as if wringing their necks, was satisfying to watch in a way, but…

To be honest,

it was terrifying.

The killing intent Jin Yu-ha exuded wasn't directed only at the demons.

Of course, the intensity of his killing intent was incomparable, as the demons were directly responsible for Lee Yu-ri's condition.

But even the students who had merely stood by idly until Lee Yu-ri reached that state, even if they claimed ignorance, were also targets of Jin Yu-ha's resentment.

The students, who had been terrified by the dense killing intent, gradually regained the light in their eyes at Baek Seol-hee's words.

Then, a wave of emotion washed over them.

"...We were almost taken hostage?"

"So that's why he was so angry."

"I, I didn't even know that…"

"Towards Lee Yu-ri, and towards Jin Yu-ha, we were all just burdens… But for our sake…"

They realized that Jin Yu-ha's furious slaughter of the demons was not only because of what happened to Lee Yu-ri, but also to stop the demons' vile schemes.

And Lee Min-young, who was among the students, felt a resonance that seemed to pierce her soul.

'...Ah.'

Someone who strives so desperately to protect, just like that.

He was truly an utterly noble person.

How had we been looking at him…?

Though her personality had subtly changed from before, its foundation remained.

Despite always sparring with Jin Yu-ha, she still judged him solely by his appearance, ultimately refusing to acknowledge him and treating him with hostility.

Yet, he threw himself into a bloody battle against the demons to protect us.

So how had we been looking at him?

'…At the very least, at the very least, I shouldn't look at him like this.'

Lee Min-young bit her lip tightly.

She turned her head and shouted towards the students.

"All of you! Watch this battle clearly! We all owe that man our lives! To remember that fact, we must not miss a single moment!"

And the students, shedding their terrified gazes, watched Jin Yu-ha and Baek Seol-hee's battle with serious eyes.

Lee Min-young felt a tingling sensation in her chest and looked at Jin Yu-ha's back with eyes full of longing.

Lee Yu-ri's conviction,

unyielding like a giant tree, standing firm

even if the whole world rushed at her, undaunted.

Jin Yu-ha's will,

not seeking favor from anyone,

stepping alone into the abyss.

All of it felt so incredibly brilliant.

'I want to join the Utopia party too.'

Lee Min-young couldn't help but think to herself.

*

A sword dance performed by master and disciple, united as one.

Beneath the brilliant moonlight, two swords swayed like flowers.

One sword was dynamic.

The other was static.

As the moonlit blades danced together, carving through the air,

the two swords began to resemble each other.

The sword that had burned fiercely gradually refined itself, sublimating into sharpness.

The sword, cold and desolate as winter snow, gradually embraced vitality.

Every scene coalesced into a single, beautiful painting.