I turned my head away as soon as I recognized Kang Do-hee.

Shin Se-heehad a playful look on her face.

“I know all the restaurants Do-hee frequents.”
“So, you’re going to chase her down and ask to eat with her?”

This was no different from what I did when she smoked.
I gave her a look that asked if this was really her plan.

“Hey, it’s not like that. If I asked her to eat with me, she’d obviously run away, so I just wanted to say hi first. Isn’t greeting each other the first step to getting close to someone?”

Shin Se-hee whispered, then raised her hand to Kang Do-hee.

“Do-hee! Are you here to eat?”

She greeted her cheerfully with a loud voice.
Immediately, people’s gazes shifted towards them.

“Huh? Is it really her, Cheonhwa?”
“I was wondering if it was really her, but I never thought she’d come to a place like this… But it really is her.”
“Who’s the guy sitting with her? Wow, he’s handsome.”
“……He’s the male quota student.”
“What?”

Murmurs filled the room.
What was Shin Se-hee thinking?
Kang Do-hee was the type to be embarrassed by this kind of attention.

“Hey, what are you looking at?”

Kang Do-hee, feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, glared at the people around her.

“It’s Mad Dog!…”
“Hey, don’t call me that. You crazy btch… Call me Fighting Dog!”
“Fighting Dog, she usually comes here.”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t bite if you don’t provoke her.”
“But you provoked her, so it’s a problem. Hey, bitch, watch your eyes!”

The atmosphere quickly calmed down.
Kang Do-hee bit her lip.

Stomp.

Stomp.

Kang Do-hee approached us with an obvious look of discomfort.

“Hey, Flower Garden. What’s your game?”
“Huh? What do you mean, my game?”

Kang Do-hee’s displeasure was evident, but Shin Se-hee acted as if she had no idea what she was talking about.
Kang Do-hee’s veins popped out on her forehead.

“Yeah, you never deigned to come to a lowly place like this, so why are you here now?”
“Hmm, I heard that Jin Yuha likes this kind of food…”

Kang Do-hee’s gaze shifted to me, who was sitting next to Shin Se-hee.

Hmm, this was a little embarrassing.
I had told her before that I didn’t want to get close to Shin Se-hee, and now here I was, eating with her.

“Hi.”

I casually raised my hand in greeting.
Kang Do-hee stared at me for a moment, then placed her tray on the table with a thud.

“You guys can eat all you want.”

She grabbed the hamburger and cola from her tray and stormed out.
I turned my head to the side.

“……Hey, is this really a good idea?”
“It’s fine, Do-hee will be fine.”

Shin Se-hee didn’t seem concerned at all.

“So, we’re here to eat too, let’s order quickly.”
“……Yeah, I guess. We’re here now, so we might as well eat.”

We ordered and received our hamburgers.

Munch, munch.

“Wow, this is even better than I expected…”

Shin Se-hee’s eyes sparkled as if she had discovered a new world of flavor, and she happily exclaimed her delight.

People around them snapped photos and commented on how cute she was. I opened my mouth to speak.

“Shin Se-hee, are you planning to eat with Kang Do-hee again tomorrow?”
“Hmm, I think it will take about three days, maybe even less. It depends on how she reacts.”
“Can you tell me about this plan of yours?”
“Hmm… I think it’s more effective if you don’t know about it. You’re not really the type to act, are you?”

Slurp.

Shin Se-hee sucked on her finger, which had gotten some sauce on it.

I had nothing to say to that.
It was true that I wasn’t very good at acting.

I took a bite of my hamburger.
Munch.

Hmm, franchise hamburgers were worth the money.

I decided to bring Soup later and see how she reacted to this kind of food.
I wondered how she would react, since Shin Se-hee seemed to like it so much.

.

.

.

After lunch, it was time for position training again.

Instructor Baek Seol-hee approached me and said

“I saw you training yesterday.”

“Yes, I wasn’t sure what to do…”

“It’s good that you came up with the basic training on your own. It wasn’t much different from what I was going to teach you. What you need now is a solid foundation.”

Fortunately, the method I had started on my own yesterday didn’t seem to be wrong.

“Always carry that wooden sword with you.”
“Huh? The wooden sword?”
“You need to get used to it. From now on, whether you’re training, sleeping, or eating, never let go of that wooden sword.”

It seemed like she wanted me to always have the wooden sword in my hand.
Well, that shouldn’t be too difficult.

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“Take your stance.”

I held the wooden sword and took the same stance as yesterday.

With the sword in front, one foot slightly forward, chest and shoulders straight, and eyes forward.

Baek Seol-hee made some slight adjustments to my stance.

“That’s it. Remember this stance and try swinging the sword at a normal speed.”
“Yes.”

I recalled the path I had drawn yesterday in my mind and lifted the wooden sword up before bringing it down in a swift motion.

Whoosh─!

Since I swung it quickly, it wasn’t a perfect straight line.
But I could definitely feel that it was better than the wild swings I had made yesterday.

“You still have a long way to go. It’s better to continue this training until you can swing the sword at a normal speed with the correct path.”

I thought I was doing okay, but in the eyes of this strict instructor, I still had a long way to go.

Well, what could I do?
I had to follow her instructions.

“Yes, I understand.”

Without arguing, I began swinging the sword.

Whoosh─!

Whoosh─

Whoosh…

.

.

.

My eyes naturally closed.

I still couldn’t keep my eyes open and see the path clearly.
In my mind, I imagined a perfect straight line, and the sword lost its speed, returning to the state it was in yesterday.

The sword stopped just above my head.
Baek Seol-hee looked at Jin Yuha and smiled faintly.

‘In just one day, his sword path has improved.’

She knew very well how absurd this was.
Not the quantitative change of building up a new sword technique,
but a qualitative change in the sword strike itself.

Forgetting to eat and sleep, and going crazy over the sword for a few months,
the path of the sword was not something that could be improved so easily.

Whether one had been learning the sword for a long time or was a beginner,
humans naturally tended to swing the sword in a way that felt comfortable to their body.
In fact, it was even harder to correct the path of the sword for beginners.

After all, how could one correct something when they didn’t even know what the correct path was?

Baek Seol-hee herself had only started to pay attention to the correct path of the sword after learning the sword formally for five years.

‘It’s his naturally excellent sense for the sword, but also… this concentration that made the impossible possible.’

Yesterday, during the individual position training, when Jin Yuha had started his self-training not long after.
Even then, he was already completely immersed in the sword, forgetting everything else.

The talent of self-forgetfulness.

Not only did he forget all distractions, but he even forgot himself, achieving a complete concentration.

It was something Jin Yuha possessed.

During the combined training, even amid the loud explosions and the ground shattering under the power of the special cadets, his concentration did not waver.

‘……It seems like he has a trait that allows him to sense his surroundings and completely shut them out. This is something that talent alone cannot achieve.’

It seemed that for the time being, the combined training would have to continue without Jin Yuha.
Anyway, even if he joined late, he would be able to catch up quickly.

Baek Seol-hee watched him for a moment, then left to check on the other students.

.

.

.

When I opened my eyes, it was night again.

“Hey, can’t you at least tell me when the combined training is going to start?”

There was supposed to be combined training in the evening, but I had forgotten about it while swinging my sword, and the day had passed with only position training.
At this point, it felt like they didn’t want me to join the combined training at all.

Grrrr…

My stomach rumbled.

‘I’m so hungry.’

I had skipped dinner again while training.

‘I should go to the convenience store.’

I didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night feeling hungry, like I had the night before.

So, I quickly went to the convenience store, bought two triangle kimbaps that caught my eye, and started walking back to the dormitory.

‘Hmm?’

Something caught my detection.

-Hey, hey. He’s here. He’s here.

-What? That bastard. Why is he so late?

-Hey, is that him?

-Damn, he’s got a pretty face.

-What?

-Shut up. Cheonhwa is just too nice. She’s just putting up with him because he keeps bothering her.

A little further away, there was a group of guys hiding.

I frowned and walked towards them.
The guys were surprised to see me approaching, their eyes widening.

“……Hey, who are you guys?”

And then I saw the scene in front of me.

“Ugh…”
“Ugh…”

A guy was sitting on top of two male students.

He had a square jaw and a rugged look, and he was a big guy.
He was an extra, but I recognized him.
He was the guy who had been following Shin Se-hee in her personal story.

I looked down.

Familiar faces came into view. I could see clearly even in the dark night with my [Awakened Eye] trait.
The floor was splattered with bloodstains.
They had been beaten up pretty badly.
Their faces were bruised and swollen, and their clothes were torn to shreds.
They trembled and groaned in pain.

They were the male quota cadets.

“You guys should’ve just stayed put. Stop wriggling around like insects.”

The square-jawed guy pressed the quota cadets’ heads to the ground.
Then he looked up at me and asked,

“Hey, are you the Jin Yuha who’s been following Cheonhwa around lately?”