Brown hair. Eyes tinged with a slight red hue.
Yoo Seo-ah sat on the bed, swinging her legs back and forth.
She looked happy.

Han Si-hoo had returned to the dormitory, but she didn’t seem to notice.
As he debated whether to greet her, Yoo Seo-ah spoke.

"Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to die."

She was still smiling faintly.
It sounded like a casual comment, and her expression didn’t change.

"...Si-hoo?"

She noticed him.
Han Si-hoo wondered if he had heard wrong.
It wasn’t the television.
He needed to tell her she couldn’t die.

I’m sorry, please kill me.

It was a bad memory.
He felt his mind start to fog, but he pulled himself together.

"Welcome back."

The conversation with Seo-ah had ended.
It had been decided that Han Si-hoo would keep the medicine he brought from home.
He could forcefully take or restrict the medicine if needed.
Since he had control of the medicine, Yoo Seo-ah would have no choice but to listen to him.

But that didn’t seem right.
It would make him no different from the doctor.

There were many questions to ask.
Too many, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice them.
He was afraid of what might come out of Yoo Seo-ah’s mouth.
He wondered if she was even aware of the state of her house.
When he first mentioned the broken glass, she hadn’t immediately realized it.

In Han Si-hoo’s mind, thoughts of all the bad things that might have happened to Seo-ah swirled.
He couldn’t stop them, no matter how hard he tried.
The wrecked house, the scars on her body, the drug addiction.

Could it have been... ■■ or something like ■■■?
No, surely not.
But the worst-case scenarios came rushing in faster.
Han Si-hoo hoped it was all just his imagination.

He walked into the living room, feeling parched and poured himself a glass of water.

Seo-ah was staring blankly at the television again.
Since using the medicine earlier, she hadn’t asked for more.
She seemed to have some level of self-control.
Though he wasn’t sure if injecting herself several times a day could really be called restraint.
It seemed she had her own limits.

Han Si-hoo hated himself for letting Seo-ah end up like this.
He also hated the other factors that had caused it.

That doctor, or whoever he was.
He had to be dealt with.
Han Si-hoo would handle it personally.

Last time, he hadn’t been able to act because Seo-ah was there, but next time, he would confront him properly.
He couldn’t let Seo-ah be taken hostage again.

"But why Seo-ah, of all people?"

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out the doctor’s motive.

The doctor could have killed Seo-ah right in front of Han Si-hoo if he wanted to.
Knowing that had made Han Si-hoo cautious in his actions.
The doctor had let Han Si-hoo rescue Seo-ah, almost as if his goal was to get her addicted to the drugs.

As if to taunt him, saying, What were you doing while your childhood friend was suffering?
It was an act of extreme cruelty.

So Han Si-hoo knew what he had to do.
He needed information.
He should start by investigating the medicine he brought.
He had already taken a sample and given it to Yoo Ram.
All he had to do now was wait for a response.

...But it was too quiet.
Had there ever been a time when things were this quiet with Seo-ah around?
She sat still, staring at the screen, faintly smiling.
Han Si-hoo couldn’t tell if her eyes were focused on anything.

Maybe it would be better to talk.
What did they used to talk about?

As he sat at his desk, lost in thought,

Buzz.

His phone vibrated.

[Lena: Si-hoo?]
[Lena: What happened?]
[Lena: Are you okay?]

The one who had accidentally attacked Seo-ah.
Lena was probably struggling with her own guilt.
Stabbing a civilian was weighing heavily on her.

"Hah."

He wasn’t okay.
But he couldn’t blame Lena.
She had just followed the basics of handling a threat.

[I’m fine.]

They both went to the Academy. It was likely she would meet Seo-ah again.
He could already predict how Seo-ah might react.

"...Damn it."

Seo-ah flinched at his words, startled.
She must have thought it was directed at her, and she lowered the volume on the television.

"...Sorry. Did I disturb you?"

"Huh? No, it’s not about you, don’t worry. I’ve never thought of you as a disturbance. Just relax."

"Okay."

She cautiously turned the volume back up.
Even though Han Si-hoo wanted her to be comfortable, she couldn’t seem to fully relax.

What should he do?
How could he fix his relationship with Seo-ah?
They had been best friends, but even if that bond was broken beyond repair, at least he could try to restore her to normal.

Buzz.

His phone vibrated again.

[Yeon-hwa: Thanks again for helping me back then.]
[Yeon-hwa: Did you get the gift I left?]

Ah, the gift.
The paper bag was still unopened.
He had saved Yeon-hwa during the last city dungeon incident.
It wasn’t strange to receive a thank-you gift, but he felt self-conscious with Seo-ah nearby.

[Yeon-hwa: Some girl accepted it on your behalf. Who was she?]

It was hard to explain.

[She’s a friend.]

He opened the gift bag.
A few simple snacks.

[Thanks for the gift. I appreciate it.]

That was enough.

"Oh."

He suddenly remembered he had something for Seo-ah.
A ribbon he had found at home.
He had brought it without much thought, but now, seeing her, he wanted to give it to her.

"Seo-ah."

"Hmm?"

He should probably get her a proper gift next time.
It felt awkward giving her something he had just picked up, so he couldn’t call it a real gift.

"A present."

He handed it over playfully.
They used to joke around like this, giving things they already had back to each other.
He tried to keep it light-hearted.

"...Huh?"

Seo-ah hesitated, taking the black ribbon.

"Where should I put it?"

Good question.
Han Si-hoo hadn’t thought that far ahead.
There was no place to attach it to her simple Academy uniform.
If only it were a school uniform.

A uniform.

"Let’s go shopping for clothes."

"Outside?"

"Yeah."

He realized that the original plan had been to buy clothes.
He hadn’t known her size, so it made sense to take her along.

"Where do we buy them?"

She asked again.

"There are some shops inside the Academy. They stay open even during break."

Han Si-hoo answered.
There were plenty of clothing stores in the Academy’s shopping district.

"We should probably get your uniform fitted too."

"Okay."

Seo-ah nodded.

"Let’s grab lunch while we’re out. I’ll get you something to wear for now."

Han Si-hoo had offered to buy her clothes.
She felt guilty about taking so much from him.
She hadn’t done anything for him in return.
She felt like a burden.
She should give him back the money he had given her for medicine.

"There’s no one here."

They hadn’t passed more than three people on their way to the clothing store.
Even those seemed to be Academy staff.

"It’s break time."

"That’s good."

[Warning: External stimuli may reduce the time limit.]

That message had been popping up again.
The more she interacted with people, the faster the effects of the medicine wore off.
Nobody liked feeling bad.

They needed to get the uniform fitted and head back quickly.
Once the break was over, there would be more people around, so she would need a plan.
Maybe she could refuse classes.

"No staff here either."

"It’s automatic as long as you have your device. They just leave the store open during breaks."

"That’s amazing."

She had known there were clothing stores in the Academy, but she hadn’t expected them to be unstaffed.
She hadn’t imagined an automated system for purchases either.
High-tech.
Well, it was the country’s top institution for nurturing talent, so it made sense.

"They have uniforms in every size over there."

The uniforms were mostly neutral colors with red accents.
The ties and skirts had a subtle plaid pattern.

She remembered being punched in the stomach out on the street.
Those guys had been wearing the same Academy uniforms.
What if she ran into them here?
Would they recognize her?
What would she do if they did?

She pushed the bad memories aside and focused on choosing a uniform.

"Why are there so many uniforms?"

There were far more than she had expected.
Did everyone get their uniforms here?

"Students ruin them all the time during training."

"Ah."

"Even outside of training, there’s a lot of physical activity."

It made sense.
With students constantly using swords, spears, and magic in their battles, the uniforms didn’t stand much of a chance.
The Academy wasn’t exactly peaceful.
It had been created to combat the constant threat of monsters.

As she picked out a uniform, something odd caught her eye.

Shock Absorption 3 / Mana Resistance 2.

The tag had strange numbers on it.
Was this a performance chart for the clothing?
The Academy, with its focus on Awakened students, even made its uniforms special.

"How much does one of these cost?"

She inspected the uniform. It looked expensive, but there were no price tags anywhere.

"Students can get up to five free uniforms."

"What about the sixth?"

"You’d have to buy it or wait for the next distribution."

"I see."

She’d have to be careful not to ruin her uniform.
Then again, she doubted she would be doing anything as intense as the other students.
Hadn’t someone said she’d be given special consideration?

Special class, was it?
It certainly was special.
There was no way she could fight like the other Academy students.
Unless she took another 100-hour dose of the drug.
The lingering memories of the euphoria remained in her mind.

"Did you find something?"

"Yeah."

She picked out what looked like her size—a skirt and pants.

"You can try them on over there."

"Okay."

She went into the dressing room and tried on the uniform.
As she was changing, she noticed something felt off.
It would be better to have underwear.
She’d need to ask Han Si-hoo to buy some too.
For now, she made sure the uniform fit.

The uniform was good enough.
Now she needed other clothes.
Something to wear on a daily basis.

She looked at the price tags and chose something suitable.
Nothing too feminine; that didn’t feel right.
She didn’t think it suited her.

She picked clothes that wouldn’t get in the way when injecting herself.
If necessary, she’d have to inject through the clothes.
Nothing too thick.

A shirt and a pair of pants.
When she started looking at underwear, Han Si-hoo seemed to freeze up.

"What should I get?"

She wasn’t sure.
There were too many options, and she didn’t know much about it.
Wasn’t any type fine?
It was a problem that there was no staff around.

"Oh, uh... yeah, well..."

Han Si-hoo seemed flustered.
He wasn’t much help in this area.
But it would have been odd if he had been.
It didn’t really bother her.

"I’ll just pick something."

"Okay."

She chose something simple.
Luckily, long sleeves covered most of her scars.
She wasn’t a fashion expert, but looking in the mirror, she thought she looked decent enough.

"I’ll pay you back later."