I’ve felt warmth many times before.

Ever since I started living on my own, I always fell asleep wrapped in a thick blanket.

Even if it meant going hungry for days, I’d crank up the boiler during the cold winter.

I bought a good quality comforter for coziness. It might have been considered a luxury, but I didn’t regret it.

I used the best fabric softener, and I always kept a diffuser on hand.

So, I always slept in a good bed.

But I had never felt this kind of warmth before.

My face buried in Hong Yeon-hwa’s chest. Even through her clothes, the warmth and softness were transmitted vividly. This was the first time in my life that I had been held by someone.

The hand gently stroking my head conveyed an emotion that was hard to describe. This too was a first. I didn’t remember ever being stroked on the head…

‘……’

My mind was hazy.

I just numbly felt the warmth and the touch, then lightly patted Hong Yeon-hwa’s back, as if to signal that I was now okay.

With a dazed expression, Hong Yeon-hwa looked puzzled.

“Huh…? Ah, ah!”

It seemed she finally realized our position and made a startled attempt to leap up but then hesitated and carefully laid me down before flopping down onto a chair herself.

Upon closer inspection, her eyes, hair, and face were all flushed with an indistinguishable color.

‘…What happened?’

While Hong Yeon-hwa fanned her face to cool down, I checked my own condition.

I was in a terrible state. My whole body was drenched with sweat. My clothes and even the bed were soaked through.

I tried to comb back my sweat-laden hair and pondered the situation, but I couldn’t understand why this was happening.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better…”

Hong Yeon-hwa, whose face had returned somewhat to its usual look after fanning herself, wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“While you were asleep, you were moaning in agony, so I stayed by your side… but then you suddenly stopped breathing at the end, and I was really scared.”

“……”

“Did you… have a bad dream?”

Hong Yeon-hwa asked cautiously and with concern about the dream, and I wore a blank expression.

‘Moaning in agony?’

I didn’t think that in the dream. Was something painful enough to make me gasp? It wasn’t. Even if I took the memories from my childhood strangely, it wasn’t shocking enough to stop my breath.

A dream is just a dream.

At most, it’s a repeat of the past, not my current situation. The past can’t harm me now.

I overcame that damned past long ago. The pathetic parents are dead and gone, they can’t touch me anymore. Loan sharks also can no longer find me and harass me.

Furthermore, the world has changed. Even if by a one-in-a-thousand chance, they cannot find me and interfere.

So, what is there to be afraid of?

Absolutely nothing can harm me.

“By the way, do you remember what happened right before you fainted?”

While I was calming my insides, a voice came from beside me, causing me to reflexively turn my head. Hong Yeon-hwa was looking over with a gloomy expression.

I nodded, and she buried her head deeper, exuding twice the gloom.

“…I’m really sorry. It’s all my fault.”

The apology followed.

“I was too excited and didn’t see around me… No, that’s not it. Sorry, that was an excuse.”

Seeing her usually confident demeanor gone, replaced by rambling, she seemed to be not in a normal state either.

I silently shook my head, then a thought struck me, and I projected a hologram from my smartwatch.

[It’s okay. You’ve already apologized.]

Thanks to the normalization of my spatial perception, I could see the hologram projected by my smartwatch.

“…Sorry.”

Looking blankly at the hologram, Hong Yeon-hwa apologized again with a dejected expression. It made me wonder.

Right before the welcome party, was it deliberate when she knocked me down? I’m not sure. But according to her, it was a mistake, and she apologized.

The duel at the end of the welcome party, when she flung the duel opponent at me like a baseball? That was a mistake too, and she’s apologizing now.

But why is she acting like this? As if she’d made an irreversible mistake, with a dejected look as though I hadn’t accepted her apology. I didn’t understand.

Dark thoughts kept surfacing. My thinking was skewing in a negative direction.

[Why are you sorry?]

“Huh…?”

Above all, I didn’t quite understand why she was apologizing.

[With your background, shouldn’t you be able to ignore such trivial matters?]

Was it a mistake? Just apologize and move on, right? If she doesn’t accept the apology? Well, what can I do… Can I, someone like me, do anything to Hong Yeon-hwa?

If it was intentional. Intentional harassment… Similarly, could I possibly stand up to her?

The heir to the Gop-hwa clan.

Not just a mere collective of superhumans, but one of the pinnacle clans that effectively control the nations situated at the forefront of the current world powers.

She’s that heir. Later on, she would become one of the world’s most powerful figures.

And if she simply realized her already confirmed potential, she would become a top-tier power user… So why does she need to show such an attitude towards me?

‘Special admission student.’

The first student to be personally selected by the chancellor of Shio-ram.

Thinking about it, maybe it’s because of that title.

The label of ‘special admission student’ is a tag that brings envy and jealousy, but at the same time, it’s a shield for being chosen by the chancellor.

Even if I couldn’t do anything about petty and murky harassment, would it be because seriously trying to kill me could incur the wrath of the chancellor?

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been staring blankly at the hologram I uploaded, suddenly reached out and grasped my cheeks firmly. The warmth transferred to my cheeks, bringing a sense of reality.

“?”

“Hayul-ah.”

She pressed my cheeks with her palms, making my lips pout out like a fish. Seeing myself with my lips pouting out through spatial perception, I looked utterly ridiculous.

As I dumbly pouted my lips, Hong Yeon-hwa looked pitying… but at the same time determined as she spoke.

“It’s only right to apologize when you’ve done something wrong.”

“……”

“I don’t know exactly what environment you were in. I don’t know what you’ve been through, what you’ve lived.”

She bit her lip, indicating something didn’t sit right with her as she continued.

“What I do know is that I’ve wronged you. That… I initially pushed you over, said hurtful things, and now, I’ve caused you this trouble.”

“……”

“I’m really sorry.”

It’s only natural to apologize when you’ve done something wrong.

As I heard those words, my hazy mind seemed to awaken in an instant. It was as if a fog had been burnt away, giving me a sense of liberation.

My disjointed thoughts finally started to function properly.

‘Oh, oh…’

I became aware of the foolish things I had been doing.

An indescribable embarrassment overwhelmed me.

I had awoken from the dream and hadn’t resisted Hong Yeon-hwa’s embrace. Instead, seeking warmth, I had burrowed into her embrace…

Asking why she was apologizing, why she felt sorry, spouting such foolish words, and then hearing the obvious admonishment…

My face flushed with blood. Just a moment ago, my body felt as cold as a frozen fish, but now it was warm above the neck. It felt as hot as a heat pack might be.

“Ah, did it hurt?”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been pressing down on my cheeks, saw my reaction and asked if it hurt, which made me even more embarrassed.

Startled, she relaxed her hand and the gentle touch stroking my cheek felt both grateful and embarrassing…

[No, it didn’t hurt. I suddenly got a fever. Honestly, I’m not hurt.]

“You mean it didn’t hurt? That’s good…”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who seemed worried that I might have been in pain, placed a hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief. Watching her, I was enveloped in a strange empathy.

There had been no such scene of Hong Yeon-hwa in the original work.

The record holder for the most villain eliminations certified by the Association.

The embodiment of Gop-hwa and the maddening flames, who would burn everything, including herself.

A relentless warrior who would confront even a second-tier monster without giving an inch.

To the player, Hong Yeon-hwa was such a character. I saw her goodness and the positive evaluations from those around her in the sub-stories, but they didn’t resonate with me.

To a player, Hong Yeon-hwa was merely an endlessly annoying enemy when choosing an evil route.

I chewed on my lip. I was about to blurt out words of gratitude when I remembered the curse of silence and closed my mouth.

[Thank you.]

“I’ve said it before, but it’s my fault. You don’t have to be thankful.”

Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head and looked at the smartwatch.

“It’s already this late. How are you feeling? Should I take you back to the dormitory? Or you could stay here and go tomorrow. I don’t have any plans for tomorrow.”

[I’ll stay here then. I don’t have the energy to go to the dormitory.]

The truth was, I was still feeling dazed. Maybe it was because my spatial perception had changed, but my head was throbbing.

Maybe it’s because there’s more information with the addition of colors and contrasts. It seemed like it would take some time to adapt.

I buried my face deep into the pillow. The soft touch snugly enveloped my face.

But it was rougher than before.

…Recalling the sensation of burying my face there earlier, I felt my temperature rise. I turned over so my face wouldn’t be visible and pressed it down firmly.

My mind drifted away instantly. I was more tired than I thought… I… more…

* * *

“He’s fallen asleep.”

The orange glow of the sunset streaming through the window bathed the infirmary.

Inside the infirmary, a heavy silence flowed quietly. Only the occasional knocking of the wind against the window made any noise.

On the bed.

There lay Lee Hayul, who had fallen asleep, breathing comfortably.

His face half-buried in the pillow, he seemed to be deeply asleep by the steady rhythm of his breath.

“Phew…”

Hong Yeon-hwa stared blankly at him for a moment, then caught herself and let out a deep sigh. She had been watching him for a while in case he had another nightmare, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of that.

‘Is that… a relief?’

Hong Yeon-hwa massaged her forehead as she reminisced about a few hours earlier.

She had been absorbed in the duel.

Pushing over Lee Hayul and spewing harsh words. The fault was clear.

Lee Hayul was a unilateral victim, and Hong Yeon-hwa was the offender. She knew that, but still, the stress accumulated.

Apologizing was not enough, was it? When should she apologize again? Should she offer some compensation along with the apology?

Such trivial concerns. Even during the welcome party, these thoughts revolved in her mind. Then came the offer of a friendly duel.

The opponent was a promising Japanese participant. Not only was his skill decent, but he also happened to use the sword, so she quickly accepted, hoping to lift her mood.

Losing? She hadn’t thought of it. And indeed, that’s how it went. She enjoyed the duel as fun, and she never lost the upper hand.

After driving him to the end, she finished the duel with a satisfying blow.

…The problem was that the one struck by that blow ended up crashing into Lee Hayul.

While she was feeling the exhilarating thrill of victory, Lee Hayul collided with the opponent and lost consciousness.

Even now, thinking about it made her head turn blank as if crumpling a white sheet of paper into her brain, cutting off her thoughts.

Put yourself in Lee Hayul’s shoes.

In the morning, she pushed him over and picked a fight, asking if he couldn’t see in front of him.

Then she apologized, saying she was sorry and that she would make it up to him later, asking him to tell her if he needed anything.

Just looking at this would make her seem like an ordinary crazy woman.

But… having apologized like that, she didn’t even wait a few hours before flinging her duel opponent at him, knocking him unconscious.

The same person who had pushed him down in the morning and picked a fight with him! In just a few hours! Again!

“Gulp…”

‘Apologizing for a mistake is the right thing to do,’ she had said with some semblance of pride, but inside, she was sweating coldly.

From Lee Hayul’s perspective, he could see it as malicious torment meant to deceive him, and he wouldn’t be able to argue against it…

Clear grudges and debts.

Full of neither favor nor resentment, abundantly.

The family motto passed down since the clan’s founding.

It was a belief that every member of the Gop-hwa clan carried in their hearts, and despite her prickly nature, Hong Yeon-hwa was also trying her best to uphold it.

She had made a mistake in the morning. Before she could even make amends, she made! The same! Mistake again! To the same person!

Fortunately, the kind-hearted Hayul accepted the apology…

But if he had refused the apology and closed his heart…

“Ugh…”

Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head, brushing her disheveled hair behind her ear.

Of course, she had no intention of treating the apology as a mere formality. She had not only caused inconvenience but also hurtful remarks, so she planned to compensate and apologize several times over.

With that resolve, she got up. Now that she had confirmed he wasn’t having a nightmare, she thought it was time to leave.

“……”

As she checked his condition one last time, her eyes inadvertently drifted upwards.

The sunset draped over him like a blanket as he slept, and the combination with Lee Hayul’s fairy-like appearance created a scene believable as a painting.

His eyes were round, his face itself fine-lined and smooth. His actions also exuded fragility, invoking a protective instinct in people.

No wonder female cadets were particularly drawn to him during the welcome party.

Even the feel of his hair was like a drug, making her stroke it absentmindedly.

He had a huggable frame, and he smelled so good…

‘What the heck.’

Before she could continue the thought, she slapped her own cheek.

She rubbed her burning cheek.

…Then, as thoughts circled back, stabbing her conscience was the fact that she had pushed over, insulted, and ultimately knocked unconscious a man like him.

“Cough.”

After clearing her throat, she turned to leave, but noticed the blanket had come undone. It must have happened when he moved a little in his sleep.

I should cover him up before leaving.

With that thought, she lifted the blanket.

At the same time, Hong Yeon-hwa’s body stiffened.

“……”

The infirmary, which had felt warm just a moment ago, was now enveloped by a chilling silence. Her eyes wandered, yet fixated on one spot.

For a warrior, eyes are life. Without eyes, one can’t follow the opponent’s attacks nor land their own.

As a warrior, Hong Yeon-hwa doubted her own eyes. It was as if her brain refused to accept what she was seeing.

Her body turned to stone. Her breathing became ragged, and her chest felt tight with dizziness.

She wanted to just walk away. But she couldn’t.

Her intuition screamed that it was not the right thing to do.

Hong Yeon-hwa reached out with trembling hands.

Lee Hayul’s gloves. She hadn’t thought much of them. Maybe they were just for fashion.

But beneath them, beneath the disheveled glove, she saw a scar.

A grotesque burn mark. This much was painful… but understandable. She could think of offering to heal that scar as a gesture of apology.

“…Oh, uh…”

Gop-hwa.

The unique ability passed down from her ancestors.

A flame that burns both the owner and the world, leaving nothing but ashes in its hatred.

Gop-hwa enhances the user’s body from within and, when desired, relentlessly consumes the foe without an easy end.

It burns to the last unless it’s absolutely necessary to die down. But even then, Gop-hwa doesn’t disappear gently.

If it does extinguish, it leaves a terrible scar on the target. It is a kind of brand that cannot be properly erased even by healing abilities.

A hideous mark covering from the fingertips to halfway down the forearm.

Hong Yeon-hwa was very ‘familiar’ with such marks. She had seen them when facing monsters and even when she eliminated villains.

She had even carved them herself.

“…Gop-hwa.”

That was a trace of Gop-hwa.