Memorize Chapter 216

“Su-Hyeon, we’ll head off now. Don’t worry too much about the clan members.”

“I’m sure you’ll handle it well. Please take care.”

“Oppa, bye-bye~.”

“Yeah, Sol, take care too. Be good and train hard.”

After reuniting with Go Yeon-Joo, we headed straight for the warp gate. Seeing them off until the end felt more reassuring than just parting at the main gate. Both Go Yeon-Joo and An-Sol flashed bright smiles as they said their goodbyes. I didn’t know about other things, but seeing Sol, who used to cry during farewells, now beaming with a blooming smile put my heart at ease.

After sending them off, I returned to the academy. After a simple dinner and revising my plans for the future, time slipped by, and night had fallen.

‘Is she not coming back at all today?’

After finding the name Cha Yuna on the new recruits’ list, I sighed and glanced around the room. A chilly air hung over Han-Byeol’s bed. I stared briefly at her belongings before turning off the light stone. I needed to sleep, after all.

The room was instantly engulfed in darkness. Throwing myself onto the bed, I let my eyes drift shut as sleepiness washed over me.

… … … … … …

Creak, creak.

The sudden sound of the door opening snapped my eyes open. I’ve always been a light sleeper (except when sharing a bed with Go Yeon-Joo or Jung Ha-Yeong), but lately, I've been dozing off more often. Taking a quiet breath, I felt the cold air lingering in the room rush into my nose.

I sensed someone hesitating near my bed before carefully lying down on the opposite one. I instinctively closed my eyes again. Asking if she was okay now felt awkward, and she probably preferred to let it pass as if nothing had happened.

Just as I sorted my thoughts and tried to fall back asleep—

“Sob… sob… hic…”

Han-Byeol’s soft crying drifted quietly to my ears. Even then, it was clear she was trying hard to muffle her sobs, likely worried I’d hear. A pang of sympathy hit me, but I ended up turning my back to her. The sobbing stopped briefly, only to start again moments later.

With her pitiful cries as a lullaby, I forced myself to sleep.

Suddenly, I wanted to cover my ears.

*

The next morning.

Nothing had changed between us. I treated her as if nothing had happened, and Han-Byeol acted as she always did. Her red-rimmed eyes caught my attention, but I ignored them and was about to leave the dorm when—

“Um…”

Han-Byeol’s small voice stopped me in my tracks. I considered just turning my head but ended up facing her fully. Her face was tinged with subtle anxiety, her slender fingers fidgeting. She looked like someone about to say something difficult.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“The training schedule for this afternoon… Could it be changed?”

“The afternoon schedule? That’s already set. Why the sudden request?”

“Well… there’s a mana talent training session, but they said there aren’t enough supervising instructors…”

“Not enough? That doesn’t make sense. It’s not even close-combat or physical training. As far as I know, it doesn’t include priest classes either.”

“…Please.”

Faced with a polite rejection, Han-Byeol lowered her head, her slender shoulders trembling slightly. She was almost showing signs of hysteria now. I clicked my tongue, then let out a heavy sigh before continuing.

“Tch. Alright, let me see the schedule.”

Taking the approval tablet from Han-Byeol, I carefully reviewed the day’s schedule.

‘Wait a second. Baek Hangeol was in the mana talent group, wasn’t he?’

Awakened Secret Class: Divine Shield. From checking the roster yesterday, Baek Hangeol was classified under the mana talent group. With Resistance, Vitality, and Magic as his primary stats, it was a bit ambiguous which group he should belong to.

Still, choosing the mana group wasn’t a bad call. In fact, it could be considered a great one. As I’ve said before, among all stats, Magic is the most critical. Given his ambiguous class, balancing his stats while focusing on Magic as a support role seemed the most reasonable approach.

I felt myself leaning toward changing the schedule. Sure, I’d probably crossed paths with him a few times before, but I hadn’t known about Baek Hangeol back then. As Park Hwan-Hee had implied, I hadn’t realized he was intentionally keeping a low profile. I’d been so focused on checking the info of high-performing recruits that I’d completely missed him.

Since my instructor duties were fairly evenly distributed, changing the schedule wasn’t a big burden. Pretending to scrutinize the tablet, I put on a thoughtful expression before speaking in a reluctant tone.

“…Alright. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Ah…!”

At my approval, Han-Byeol let out a small gasp. As I handed back the tablet, I noticed a faint flush of relief on her face. She quickly clutched the tablet to her chest, hesitating before continuing.

“Um… Also, Senior Executive Park Hyun-Woo asked me to pass on that he’d like to have a meal with you sometime.”

“A meal? What for?”

“He said he has something important to discuss. If you’re busy, he’d like to arrange a time after this week’s training is over…”

‘Mule, it’s probably about the Beech Tree issue.’

It had been overshadowed by other matters, but it was something that needed addressing eventually. In fact, things had been quiet for a bit too long. I nodded again, and seeing my response, Han-Byeol gazed at me with a faint look of gratitude. I could sense a trace of goodwill in her eyes, likely because she thought I was being considerate of her situation.

“Don’t worry about the rest, but next time, let me know about the instructor schedule changes earlier. It’s better to adjust in advance than scramble at the last minute.”

“Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. Thanks to you, I’m managing pretty comfortably. Anyway, let’s go grab some food.”

With the conversation wrapped up, Han-Byeol and I headed to the cafeteria. As we walked, I could sense her footsteps behind me were a bit lighter.

After breakfast, I joined the close-combat group training as a supervising instructor, as planned. The instructor for this session was Execution Princess Yeon Hye-Rim, with whom I’d grown quite close over the past two weeks. She was formal in important settings (like when Han So-Young was around, as she’d told me), but otherwise, we were casual enough to speak informally.

Despite her prickly personality, almost as tough as Han So-Young’s, she’d been the one to approach me first—perhaps because of something she’d heard from a clan lord. Having shared meals with Yeon Hye-Rim for a long time in my first life, getting along with her wasn’t difficult.

Even now, during a break in the training, we were chatting and laughing together.

“For real? That girl… I mean, she really cried like that?”

“Cried? More like wailed.”

“That murderous aura? Giggle! No way, that’s insane. I can’t even imagine it. She glares at me like she wants to kill me every time we meet. Though, when I saw the record of Mercenary recruiting Go Yeon-Joo, it caused quite a stir. There was even a rumor that you won her over with your size and technique! Pfft!”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Anyway, she’s so adorable. You wouldn’t get it unless you saw and heard it yourself. She was screaming, ‘Waaah!’ and I couldn’t help but hug her tight.”

“Waaah? Waaah? Hahaha! Oh, my stomach hurts. That’s too good. Such a shame. You said she was at the academy yesterday? I missed a prime chance to tease her. Hehe.”

‘This girl’s asking for trouble. Teasing her? You’re lucky if you don’t end up with a knife fight.’

Yeon Hye-Rim was doubled over with laughter, as if it were the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Her topics of interest were Go Yeon-Joo and sex. In my first life, she often made crude remarks about Go Yeon-Joo, and that strategy still works now.

Of course, our recent conversation wasn’t about degrading Go Yeon-Joo sexually. I’d only shared a bit about our bedroom encounters, the kind of joking that’s generally acceptable in Hall Plain. 

At first, Yeon Hye-Rim maintained her usual aloof demeanor, but as time passed, her eyes sparkled with keen interest. She hadn’t changed a bit, and I couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

The other supervising instructors around us were warily watching our exchange. A top-tier instructor and the lord of the rising Mercenary Clan—their eyes screamed they were dying to join in, but they couldn’t bring themselves to and just lingered awkwardly nearby.

After finishing the morning training, I had lunch with Kim Duk-Pil from the Reverse Clan. He had a bad habit of always mooching my cigarettes after meals, so today I just handed him a whole pack. To my surprise, he refused, spouting some nonsense about how cigarettes taste better when stolen, which got a laugh and agreement from the other smokers around. 

I knew it was his way of being friendly, but as a smoker, I couldn’t help feeling annoyed. Carrying that sour mood, I finished lunch and finally headed to the afternoon training session.

The mana talent training today was led by the Northern Clan, which has a friendly relationship with the Golden Lion. After the first week, most training sessions were handled by clans not participating in expeditions, but they still held about 20-30% of the sessions. Compared to before, the situation had almost completely flipped.

Before the training started, I entered the classroom first. I needed to set the mood before the instructor arrived. The moment I stepped in, the noisy room fell silent instantly. I didn’t even need to exert control.

There were 38 trainees in the mana talent group. No other supervising instructors had shown up besides me, but with such a small group, it wasn’t a big issue.

I scanned the room and stepped onto the central platform. All their eyes were fixed on me, with occasional whispers floating around. It seemed, as Park Hwan-Hee and Baek Hangeol had mentioned, the instructors had talked about me a few times. Honestly, I hadn’t noticed before—probably because they only discussed me when I wasn’t around.

The first person to catch my eye was Park Hwan-Hee. He was seated slightly above the center and bowed his head when our eyes met. I nodded back briefly in acknowledgment before scanning the faces of the players sitting around him.

Turning my head to the left, I spotted Baek Hangeol at the far end. It was clear he was deliberately sitting as far from Park Hwan-Hee as possible. He looked nervous, but when I glanced at him, he flinched and bowed his head. Unlike with Park Hwan-Hee, I responded with a faint smile.

Seeming thrilled that I acknowledged him, he grabbed the arm of the female player next to him, looking excited. That must be his girlfriend, Cha Yuna. Given that she was in this training, she was likely in the mana talent group as well. I calmly studied her face.

I’d heard she was devoted to Baek Hangeol, but my first impression was that she seemed a bit cold. She had a refined, pretty face, but her raised eyebrows and cat-like eyes gave off a haughty vibe. If I had to compare, she reminded me of Yun-Jung.

‘Though, to be fair, our Yun-Jung is way prettier.’

I wasn’t just being biased—Yun-Jung really was prettier.

Dismissing the silly thought, I kept my gaze on her and activated my Third Eye.

(Player Status)

1. Name: Cha Yuna (Year 0)  

2. Class: Normal Mage Beginner  

3. Nation: -  

4. Clan: -  

5. True Name · Nationality: The One Who Proved Her Worth · South Korea  

6. Sex: Female (20)  

7. Height · Weight: 167.3 cm · 52.7 kg  

8. Alignment: Good · Ambition  

[Strength 22] [Resistance 16] [Agility 25] [Vitality 28] [Mana 47] [Luck 39]  

‘Nothing special… Good and Ambition, huh?’

It wasn’t a stark contrast, but the alignment could be considered somewhat conflicting. Cha Yuna tightly held Baek Hangeol’s hand as he pulled her arm, then subtly turned her head. But she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was directed toward Park Hwan-Hee.

In that moment, I could sense a subtle emotion in her eyes.