Unrecognizable (4)
On the day of the opening ceremony, the students briefly gathered in the classroom with excitement on their faces before being dismissed for the day. Karen, who had guessed what had happened with Eleanor during the vacation, poked his shoulder with a disgusting expression. Baek In-ha tried to convince them to go out to play, but Kang Shin-hyuk shook them all off and left the school alone. This was because he had an appointment with Shin Eunah at the Choin shopping center. He had used Lee Jinseok’s request as an excuse to contact Shin Eunah, who hadn’t responded to him. After specifying a time and location, he said that if she didn’t come, she could find him at Claire’s bar. She finally responded at that point. The meeting place was in a private room of the café they had first officially met in.
“Ha…grandpa.”
“Hi.” As he waited in the room, Shin Eunah had appeared with a tray carrying her own drink. Her cheeks were swollen in a rare expression even for Kang Shin-hyuk, who was used to seeing past the usual ice princess façade.
“There’s too much to do, grandpa.”
“I’m sorry if you were busy. But if that were the case, that is if you didn’t want to come…”
“I hated sending you to Claire more.” Well, he figured that would be the reason. Kang Shin-hyuk took his café mocha with extra whipped cream and worked on licking off the cream on top. Shin Eunah hid her blushing cheeks as she saw him.
“So, why did you ignore my call?”
“Ah…I’m sorry.” She was in granddaughter mode from the start, yet he felt a sense of distance between them that wasn’t normally there even when she was in her ice princess mode.
“So, why?”
“Okay…you might get angry?”
“Why?”
“Because I hugged you freely.” Well, looking at the skin-ship they had displayed, it wasn’t good to do that in public, but it wasn’t any different than what she had done to him before. His eyes narrowed slightly, finding her attitude suspicious. He eventually decided to ask her openly.
“Why did you hug me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you happy that I was okay?”
“I was angry. You fought a strong enemy alone.”
“No, I wasn’t alone.”
“Claire was just looking around.”
“She was protecting me with a drone…”
“That little girl weirdly pretends to be close to grandpa.”
“Because she’s my senior in the club I joined. We are somewhat close.”
“You didn’t tell me, and then you were all wearing the same uniform.”
“That was just a disguise.” By this point, Kang Shin-hyuk realized that the story had been derailed. Still, it was better than when she was staying silent, so he listened to her as he drank his café mocha.
“But it was cool.”
“Okay?”
“Huh.” Her anger was relieved after she let it pour out, her voice subsiding again. Her shoulders dropped, and she ran a finger around the rim of her cup.
“Everyone there thought grandpa was great.”
“Suddenly you reveal the situation.”
“I was jealous…couldn’t stop.” She returned to her senses and realized how dangerous it was to have acted that way. Right after that, there came a big wave of rumors about her and Shin Eun-hyuk, about them dating and all sorts of other conspiracies. The picture of them hugging had already become so widespread that people on the other side of the world had already seen it. The most popular theory, for reference, was that they were dating.
“So…I’m sorry.”
“I do want you to refrain from that in front of others.”
“Sorry.” Kang Shin-hyuk smiled bitterly as Halo’s advice came to mind. He put his cup down and stood up. He was worried it might be counterproductive, but the reason he couldn’t stop was that he valued Shin Eunah. He approached her, who had been sitting across from him, and carefully hugged her from behind. She jumped as if she had been struck by lightning but soon fell silent.
“But it’s okay because you didn’t do anything bad.”
“Ah, ah.”
“We’re close, so we can hug each other. But only when it’s just the two of us in the future, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s all okay now.”
“Yes.” Shin Eunah was sitting stiffly like a cat on a tall tree branch, nodding and repeating the same answer like a broken record. Kang Shin-hyuk let out a sigh of relief at the good advice of his friend Halo.
-I think the counterproductive effect will arrive. That is, she’ll hug you back.
‘Huh? Does the direction matter?’
-The direction matters. You are really stupid.
It seemed like the administrator was also broken. It was the first time he heard the administrator say anything like that. Maybe he also wanted a hug? But it wasn’t like he was a physical person, so how could he? He decided to think about it later.
“Then, shall we go eat? In fact, I have something to ask of you, so we should talk about it over food…”
“Yes.” Relieved that their relationship had recovered, he released her and tried to step back, but Shin Eunah shook her head and held him so that he couldn’t leave.
“A little more…”
“…Are you going to do it as soon as we reconcile?”
“Yes…huh.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but she let it go. Kang Shin-hyuk felt like the mood had somehow changed, but he didn’t dare ask about it. In the end, it was two hours later when the two finally went to eat. Shin Eunah didn’t call him grandpa once, for some reason, even though it was only the two of them.
***
Shinyoung’s second semester was at least five times more important than the first one. School festivals, exchange meetings, rankings, and other tests that could determine one’s future as a superhuman were all concentrated in it. There was also a graduation exam, in which prospective beginners were reborn as official superhumans. The first and second years were able to prepare for their turn by watching and learning from the third years. That was to say, most of the students were doing everything they could.
“This…does this make sense?!” Baek In-ha was indignant as he slammed his fists on the desk.
“The fact there are already a large number of couples covering the class in a pink atmosphere as soon as school starts…does this make sense?!”
“Chill out, idiot.” Kang Shin-hyuk tried to calm down Baek, but his anger wouldn’t subside. Kang Shin-hyuk had also felt a bit cold to see the couples showing off their affection in class, but Baek’s reaction was severe.
“The grades in the second semester will hit rock bottom. No, it has to be like that. All the guys holding hands in school should die…!”
“Hah, why is Baek…”
“It’s a waste of your good looks. Give them to someone else.”
“Isn’t Shin-hyuk being stained? He’s a handsome man, wouldn’t it be better to isolate from Baek?”
“What to do…?” After a while, the female students were now talking about Kang Shin-hyuk being handsome with blushing cheeks. If he were alone, that would be fine, but the problem was that Baek was sticking to him. He wanted to pretend to be someone else, but Baek wouldn’t let him go.
“Shinyuk, you won’t say anything, but I know you dated Algiers!”
“Calm down…” Rumors had been spreading throughout the vacation, but with the opening of the school, the fact that Kang Shin-hyuk had tamed a new wyvern for the Wyvern Knights became clear throughout the school. Of course, it was also known that Eleanor had accompanied him, so people were talking about how he would become the new vice-captain and that they were already dating.
“Shin-hyuk!”
“It’s a coincidence.”
“You’re a certified couple! Now you can’t get along with other girls other than the captain, you know.” Karen’s smile was too explicit. Kang Shin-hyuk narrowed his eyes at her.
“Did you spread the rumors?”
“Yeah!”
“It’s nice to be so honest.”
“Hahahah.” Karen was the first person in school that Kang Shin-hyuk could fight without hesitation.
“But Shin-hyuk, can I ask you something seriously?”
“To think you have the gall to do this and then ask for a favor.”
“You have a link to the association, right?”
“What…right.” That was something Kang Shin-hyuk actively wanted spread. If he had the protection of the association, no one would be able to touch him. In fact, he was already quite a big player, though he didn’t realize it.
“I told you last time, about who saved me…”
“I don’t know him.”
“…Wasn’t that answer a little too quick?”
“I don’t know anyway.”
“I want to talk about it once, so please! Somehow!” Karen blushed and put her hands to her chest. Kang Shin-hyuk, disgusted, distanced himself from her a bit. But she wriggled like a cockroach to quickly close the gap.
“I fell in love again after seeing the new video…he’s so cool! I’m ashamed to say this, but he’s my type. So, I want to contact him somehow…Shin-hyuk? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Don’t mind it. But I don’t know.”
“It’s too much…! You’re close to the Empress. How about you…oh, that’s right!” Karen laughed and jabbed him in the cheek.
“It’s because the Empress gave you away and changed to Shin Eun-hyuk, right? That’s why you got in good with the captain, huh? Yep?” Karen kept pricking him. It was like she had been perfecting how to piss people off. Kang Shin-hyuk smiled quietly. Today’s third class would be training for free skills. Given it was the first time in the second semester, there would be a battle.
“If you beat me in a duel today, I’ll tell you.”
“I knew it! It doesn’t matter who my rival is, I won’t lose! Not even to the Empress!”
“Don’t talk that way about senior Eunah.”
That was how time passed until the third class. Kang Shin-hyuk ignored the dissatisfied gaze of Gong Joonpyo, the teacher of the class, and pointed at Karen.
“Quick!”
“Kehek…it hurts so much!”
“You didn’t train your nerve reinforcement hard enough.”
“I mean, I did…! Oh, it hurts.” The students watching were overwhelmed by the scene. Even though Karen was a strong contender for the top ranks among the first years, she had been unilaterally defeated by Kang Shin-hyuk. They didn’t even see his attack, only Karen falling out of the ring.
“What…isn’t he stronger?”
“We trained during the vacation too, but Kang Shin-hyuk…”
“He’s been a training fanatic from the beginning.”
“Isn’t he just a freshman?” Despite being freshmen like him, Kang Shin-hyuk was strong enough to inspire jealousy in them. He had moved into a completely different realm over the vacation. It was no longer a competition, but rather now a point to be pursued.
“Isn’t he stronger than Baek In-ha?”
“It seems like it…”
“I heard he also tamed a Wyvern.”
“No, that has nothing to do with combat power.” Do Woojin stepped forward as Karen headed off to the health center.
“Kang Shin-hyuk, let’s fight next.”
“Then Karen can wait and go to the health room with you.”
“You…!”
“Wait a minute.” Do Woojin was about to step into the battlefield, clenching his teeth in response to Kang Shin-hyuk’s light provocation, but a hand stopped him.
“Shinhyuk, you’re with me.”
It was Baek.