Chapter 27: Take Responsibility

"Phew..."

"Ugh, fuck."

A slightly erotic breathing sound and the voice of someone looking at it with extreme disgust rang out in the living room.

"Jin-wook-ah, please."

"Why?"

"No, I mean..."

From the speaker, song lyrics like [ How much did I like you to be like this~ How much did I love you to be like this~ ] flowed out.

And the sound of someone sucking something back into their mouth with a "Slurp" echoed in the living room.

"Fuck, no, why do you eat that crap!"

"Are you looking down on Min-Cho (Mint Chocolate) right now?"

"Yeah. Looking down on it heavily. I wonder whose head the idea of mixing toothpaste and chocolate came from."

It's the story of Jin-wook eating Mint Choco ice cream deliciously, and me looking at him with extreme disgust.

"Just let me catch you, fuck. I'll break your head."

"Is that a crim..."

"Want to get broken first?"

"Wow, threatening a civilian now."

The green ice cream I opened without thinking because Jin-wook recommended it saying it was delicious was shocking from the visual alone.

It was only fortunate that the shape was somewhat like normal ice cream, but the color was a combination of green and brown.

It was the color of something weird sprouting on food.

"You knew this and fed it to me on purpose, didn't you?"

"No, I'm telling you it's really okay?"

"Ugh, I hate it so much."

Actually, when I first accepted it, I thought it would be delicious because the name was 'Mint Chocolate.'

The freshness of mint.

I had expectations that it would be a perfect item possessing the pleasant sweetness of chocolate.

Of course, after eating it, I was destroyed like a dog.

Just one thing.

I shuddered at the taste similar to children's toothpaste I might have used sometime.

"Strange. The girls in my department seem to go crazy for it."

"Am I the same as them, fuck?"

"You're not?"

"I'd rather eat peppermint candy and chocolate separately."

I don't usually speak this roughly.

That 'Mint Chocolate,' which is like the second coming of Satan, ruined me.

"Take responsibility."

"What?"

And there was a moment of silence between me and Jin-wook because of the words I spat out without thinking, which I should have only thought inwardly.

"Take responsibility" coming from a woman's mouth?

Depending on how you hear it, it's a phrase sufficient to cause a misunderstanding...

"Take responsibility for what? You act like I should give up my liver just because you ate one wrong spoonful of Min-Cho."

In the end, I had no choice but to put Jin-wook in a headlock.

Several days passed since that day.

University freshman year.

Final Exams.

That would bring down the curtain on my first university life.

The magic word that drives countless college students exhausted by assignments into the final despair before vacation.

'Hah, which department should I transfer to?'

And for me, who is considering changing majors, it is the final gateway to meet the school regulations.

In fact, my grades, having spent my first and second years of high school only as a Hunter, were miserably destroyed.

I thought college was a story irrelevant to me.

Until I received an admission offer from the university I'm currently attending.

'Yes?'

It was quite a surprising event for everyone, from my homeroom teacher to the principal at the time.

They didn't expect a freshman spot (TO) to be given to a kid who slept all the time, just for one promotional effect.

'I wonder if they know I attend here now.'

Even in the school promotional materials that changed slightly back then, it was printed in huge letters: [ Hunter Department, chosen by an incumbent S-Class Hunter ]. Plus, after admission, rumors spread throughout the school.

That an S-Class Hunter is entering our school, but who the hell is it?

"What's up? Are you going to another department?"

While I was sitting alone in a cafe, searching through the homepages of each school department on my laptop.

I flinched and turned my head at Kang Tae-woo's voice from behind.

"Ah shit, you startled me."

"I didn't mean to look, but you were focusing so hard."

"I got it, so make some presence when you walk around."

Kang Tae-woo, already holding a coffee in his hand, naturally sat in front of me.

Seeing that he got it to-go, it meant he was planning to leave quickly but sat down upon seeing me.

"Well, since you quit being a Hunter, there's no need to stay here anymore."

"Wouldn't you learn more at the Guild than at school anyway?"

"Even so, you can't ignore the school name value in Korea yet. And there are quite a few things to learn here too."

Wondering how much he would annoy me today, I spoke in a slightly complaining tone.

Kang Tae-woo, still wearing a good-natured smile, spat out something I couldn't understand from my perspective.

After all, if you're a Hunter, entering a Gate and smashing everything inside is everything, so it's practice over theory.

"Right."

"Since you're from S-Class, you might not have anything to learn."

"Are you mocking me?"

I don't really have many chances to experience that 'practice' anymore.

And I've already smashed almost every kind of dungeon.

"Oh, right. I heard a new department is opening next year. How about going there?"

"What department."

"Hunter Education Department. A new Academy is opening next year, right? Since our school is the only one with a Hunter Department so far, it seems they're making a Hunter Education Department here too."

So such an education department is being created because of the Hunter Academy.

Currently, they use general teachers for general subjects or specially scout incumbent Hunters for education.

As a result of looking up related information because of Jae-hyun...

If it goes according to the plan the government guys are devising now, there was a high possibility of driving countless novice Hunters to their deaths.

It was funny that I was thinking this when I wasn't even participating.

"Hmm."

"Seems you haven't received any contact."

"I'm just an ordinary college student, you know?"

"Since you're a former S-Class, wouldn't you be worth scouting as a practical instructor at the Academy?"

"For that, the gap between the actual combat novice Hunters will experience and the combat I experienced might be too big. I was S-Class from the start."

"Ah."

Of course, I knew quite a lot about monsters' weaknesses, characteristics within dungeons, and short-term survival methods thanks to my father's influence.

But I wondered if that would really help Hunters entering the Academy to receive education.

Surviving from monsters right now would be more urgent for them.

"You were born with a golden spoon in your mouth."

"Bullshit."

"By the way, where did that Senior (Sunbae) go? The one who always sticks with you."

"I don't know. He's a total recluse right now."

Unlike how he acts toward me, Jin-wook had talent in art and was enrolled in a design-related department.

Among them, he encountered digital drawing early on, so his skills in that area were apparently the best in his department.

"He played hard, so now he comes home late every day preparing for finals with piled-up assignments."

Thanks to that, I was spending a very enjoyable life for me—stuck at home alone without anyone to hang out with, playing games with delivery food like a game-addict.

I felt like I had become a huge surplus (bum), but since I had done a lot in the past, I thought it was okay to live like a surplus now.

"Then why does your face look so good?"

"Me? Hmm. Maybe because I skip assignments appropriately?"

"That's not something to brag about."

"But anyway, even if I open the textbook, almost all subjects like 'Practical Research on Dungeons' are things I already know. And you know too."

I had seen several times in lectures that when I gave a different opinion, the professor accepted my opinion quite easily, limited to me.

In the first place, those professors were in a position where it was hard to easily ignore my opinion.

In the first year of the Hunter Department, we learn practical knowledge about dungeons.

But basically, I am almost an expert in this area.

I had to crash into dungeons with my bare body from a time when 'strategy guides' couldn't be shared, and I survived until now doing so.

In a way, it might be natural.

Even if you are S-Class, you can only clear the dungeon if you adapt to the dungeon environment first and know about the monsters.

"If you think about whether to go to a dungeon with a professor or with me, who has meager abilities but possesses the current knowledge, the answer comes out quickly."

"That is true."

"There was also something like this. Since I only play games and had nothing to do, I got bored and did a few assignments and brought them in. But then I got a call from the professor."

"Why?"

"Asking if he could use it as reference material for the thesis he's writing."

I might get sworn at for being a Bitik (Humble-bragger).

No, I might hear, "Why did you come to college if you have that much knowledge in the first place?"

But the one who said, "We'll give you a scholarship, so please come here," was the president of this university, you know?

"Wow, suddenly you look super annoying."

"That's why I skipped lectures like crazy in the first semester to ruin my relative evaluation grades on purpose. To give even one more rank to kids who work hard."

"Aren't you the overall runner-up (2nd place) for the first semester?"

"Ah, right. Hey, about that, I'm so fucking aggrieved."

Recalling what happened in the first semester, a sigh came up naturally.

I didn't know about anything else, but regarding grades, it was too unfair.

"I don't know why they are bullshitting at me when the professors gave me good grades because they were scared of me simply due to my background."

"What kind of sound is that?"

"The kids were swearing behind my back so much, looking at my name, asking why I'm the runner-up when I always skip lectures. It even went up on 'Everytime' (University community app), didn't you know?"

"Where would I have time to look at that crap? I'm busy training."

Spouting words like a carefree model student.

Students wouldn't know because they don't have access authority.

But perhaps because my S-Class Dungeon clear experience and the achievement of stopping an S-Class Dungeon Break were listed in the Association's official data...

Professors who saw that and gauged my strength tended to be somewhat afraid of me.

Considering that the S-Class Hunters currently making a name for themselves in Korea are all crazy people, it was understandable though.

"But you got sworn at like that?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, you're totally amazing."

"What is."

"Think about it. Consider if those kids who swore at you knew you were S-Class. How could you hide that for a whole year?"

That's because I did 'Ilko' (Acting like a normal person/Cosplay) extremely well because I wanted to live a bit comfortably.

Skipping lectures, and when I happen to attend, I catch up on lacking sleep diligently, and the professor just says one word and stops.

Unlike my pretty appearance, during break times, I'm always looking at my phone watching internet broadcasts or reading web novels.

"If it were you, would you want to get close to a kid who watches streams where people curse while playing games during break time between lectures?"

"Yeah. Men would want to get close to you no matter what you do."

"So I drove them all away by cursing. I don't know what they had in their eyes, but they kept trying to do something with me."

Thanks to that, it's quite comfortable now.

Just as I was about to be proud of myself, thinking I lived my life well.

Thwack!

Along with the sound "Proud of yourself," a finger flick flew to the back of my head.

Turning around at the sudden sting, I saw Jin-wook looking at me with an expression that said I was hopeless.

"Hey, you shi..."

"Senior, long time no see."

"But you said a Hunter Education Department is being newly established?"

Then, as if his interest was piqued by the Hunter Education Department, he asked Kang Tae-woo in a slightly elevated voice.