Kim Suho headed to Cube’s cafeteria after his evening training. Cube had several restaurants and cafes, but cadets could eat for free at the cafeteria. As such, Kim Suho and other non-wealthy cadets frequently ate at this place. Only a few cadets remained because of summer break. Kim Suho ordered a dinner set and headed to a random seat.

“Huh? Why are the both of you here?”

However, he found two unexpected people. Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun whispered among themselves when Kim Suho startled them. They awkwardly dodged each other’s gazes.

“O-Oh, you’re here.”

Chae Nayun spoke up.

“What were you two talking about?”

“Nothing.”

Kim Suho sat next to Chae Nayun as she sniffed him. “Did you come from the fitness center?”

“What’s the point of sitting around, right?”

“You’re obsessed. Can’t you take a break for a day?” Chae Nayun narrowed her eyes at him.

“Rather than that, why are you here? I thought you didn’t like cafeteria food.”

Kim Suho couldn’t understand why Chae Nayun was here. She always ate every meal at restaurants, so no one would’ve expected her at the cafeteria.

“Well… I realized during the final exam that my pickiness could be detrimental.”

Chae Nayun spoke in a grave tone, but Yoo Yeonha jabbed in.

“You stopped eating after three spoonfuls.”

“… I wasn’t hungry.”

Kim Suho lightly smiled as he picked up his spoon. Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun glanced at him, then made eye contact. In truth, they had talked about what one would expect from girls their age. The topic of their conversation was the mysterious Kim Hajin. Suddenly, Yoo Yeonha had a mischievous thought. She tapped Kim Suho’s shoulder.

“Kim Suho.”

“Hm?”

“Are you close to Kim Hajin?”

Chae Nayun strongly reacted to Yoo Yeonha’s question. She frowned and glared at Yoo Yeonha. Meanwhile, Kim Suho answered.

“No, I’m not that close.”

“But you’re probably the closest one out of all the male cadets.”

“Huh?”

Kim Suho tilted his head. Yoo Yeonha smiled as she continued.

“Isn’t it weird? Only a few in our class have talked to Kim Hajin. Whether it's a guy or girl, Kim Hajin never approaches them and coldly drives everyone away.”

Chae Nayun’s face contorted. Yoo Yeonha seemed like she planned on telling Kim Suho everything.

“But Kim Hajin always shows interest towards a certain person. Can you guess who?”

Kim Suho stared at Yoo Yeonha before slightly smiling.

“Of course, I’m not that dense.”

“Really?”

“Haa.”

Chae Nayun sighed with mixed feelings and massaged her temples. Yoo Yeonha’s face filled with enthusiasm.

“Who is it?”

Kim Suho looked at Chae Nayun without answering. They made eye contact, which was enough of an answer.

“Agh.”

Chae Nayun clenched her head and leaned against her chair. Then she faced Yoo Yeonha with sparkling eyes.

“Wait, Yoo Yeonha, wasn’t Kim Hajin close to you first?”

However, Yoo Yeonha instantly shot her down.

“He approached me because he wanted something.”

Kim Hajin had approached her first, but his interest disappeared after receiving the Desert Eagle. Yoo Yeonha wasn’t disappointed since she preferred the transparent exchange. Then she asked Chae Nayun again.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Do what?”

Chae Nayun didn’t answer because of Kim Suho. She glanced at him and tried to make him jealous.

“Hey, what do you think?”

“About what?” Kim Suho innocently replied.

“Oh yeah, you’ve been single your entire life.”

“So have you.”

“What? No, I haven’t. I’ll have you know when I was 7…”

“Oh, you guys are here too?”

Yi Yeonghan appeared out of nowhere and sat next to Yoo Yeonha. She scooted to the side in displeasure.

“Yi Yeonghan, you didn’t leave yet?”

“Yeah, and it looks like I came just in time for the interesting part.”

“You should’ve left.”

“Aren’t you being too mean?”

The cafeteria door opened again. Speak of the devil, Kim Hajin walked in. He came from the fitness center like Kim Suho as brushed his wet hair and pulled out a meal ticket. Yi Yeonghan chuckled.

“He’s here too. At least he’s working hard, right?”

Yi Yeonghan spoke condescendingly, which made Yoo Yeonha irritated since he had no idea.

“You should work hard yourself.”

“Huh? I am! My semester grades are higher than his.”

“Sure, just focus on your grades for the rest of your life.”

Kim Hajin received his food in a to-go box and turned around. He stared at them for a moment before leaving. Yoo Yeonha made a big fuss even though he only looked at them for a split second.

“You see that? He looked at Nayun just now.”

“Okay! I get it! Can you stop talking?”

Chae Nayun yelled, half-embarrassed and half-annoyed. Yi Yeonghan widened his eyes and joined in.

“What? Chae Nayun likes Kim Hajin?”

“What, where did that come from? Screw off, Yi Yeonghan.”

Chae Nayun reacted sensitively since Kim Suho sat next to her. Since Yi Yeonghan was a loudmouth, Yoo Yeonha gave him more fuel.

“No, we think it’s the other way around.”

“Ah, really? Kim Hajin likes Chae Nayun? But didn’t you argue and fight? Oh, is it like what happens in dramas? You know, love sprouting from fighting. Uh, I guess the gap in strength is too far for that, right? Rank 4 and rank 934 are too far apart.”

Yi Yeonghan quickly changed his tune from Chae Nayun’s killing intent.

“Screw off.”

Chae Nayun blurted and glanced at Kim Hajin out of curiosity. Kim Hajin just happened to look at them again, and their eyes met. She quickly averted her gaze and awkwardly scratched her face.

***

— The gap in strength is too far for that, right? Rank 4 and rank 934 are too far apart.

“What are they talking about?”

I only listened in at the end. I was just glad they didn’t notice I had two people’s worth of food. I no longer cared about what others said behind my back.

I took the to-go boxes and returned to my room. Evandel ran up to me as soon as I opened the door. I quickly shut the door.

“Daddy!”

“Not Daddy, Uncle.”

I placed the to-go boxes on the kitchen table after picking Evandel up.

“I brought food, but let’s test what we practiced before eating.”

“Un!”

I placed Evandel on the couch. Although she didn’t need to eat, she loved the taste of food.

“Okay, first, try this one.”

I projected a picture of an adorable cat from my smartwatch. Evandel transformed into the cat. She looked just like it, except for her blonde hair.

“Oh, great. Next is this bird.”

Evandel immediately transformed into a cute crow-tit. She was a bit big, but within an acceptable range.

“Well done!”

I patted her tiny head. Evandel transformed back and giggled.

“Did I do well?”

“Of course.”

Was it because she inherited Rachel’s blood? She was a good listener. My smartwatch suddenly rang as I showered her with praise.

[Guilds have released their selection of cadets for the Guild Experience Program. Selected cadets will be contacted via their smartwatch.]

The program allowed cadets to spend their break observing heroes at work. However, it didn’t concern me. Korean guilds could select three cadets from the first and second years. Most first year cadets had to be in the top 300 to have a chance. No matter how well I performed on the final exam, it wasn’t enough to put me above rank 300. No one would've picked me. My smartwatch rang again as if to prove me wrong.

[Kim Hajin – Essence of the Strait] [Contact us if you would like to turn down this offer.]

“Huh?”

Essence of the Strait chose me? Why?

“Ah.”

Soon, I figured it out. A certain girl had a strange fantasy about me.

“It was Yoo Yeonha.”

She had the authority as the guild leader’s daughter. Wasn’t this abuse of power? I hoped it wouldn’t cause trouble for her as the successor.

***

I enjoyed the warm weather in Seoul under the blue sky and sun. I only worried about leaving Evandel at home. I sternly told her not to leave the room, but still felt uneasy. Was this how every father felt?

“You’re here.”

I waited at Gwanghwamun Plaza as Yoo Yeonha arrived. She tilted her head at me.

“Wow, this is unexpected.”

“What is?”

“I thought you’d reject the offer.”

I planned to at first, but suddenly grew curious about heroes. I wanted to know about more things I hadn’t set in this world.

“We’re still waiting for one more person, but it’ll be a while. Should we go first?”

“I don’t care either way.”

“Then let’s go.”

A limousine parked in front of us. It looked long and luxurious like the movies. The driver came out and opened the door.

“Get in.”

I got inside with Yoo Yeonha. The car seats felt extremely comfortable. Just sitting in it made me drowsy.

“Let’s go.”

The driver drove off at Yoo Yeonha’s order. The limousine moved without a tremor, and we soon arrived at Essence of the Strait’s guild building.

As expected, the world’s second ranked guild looked spectacular. Each part of the building had been carefully designed with cutting-edge magic engineering and technology.

“Let’s head inside.”

Yoo Yeonha led me into the building. The lobby alone looked as huge as a concert hall.

“Offices for heroes are on the second floor and up, but there isn’t much to see on the first four floors. The real exciting stuff begins on the fifth floor. The first floor has the lobby you see here, a lounge, a training room, and a sparring room. Ah, there’s a sports field too.”

I was utterly absorbed in looking around the first floor, which Yoo Yeonha claimed didn’t have much. The interior looked sleek with marble flooring. I could see the indoor sports field in the distance with a grass lawn the size of a soccer field.

“First, let’s go meet the hero in charge of the program.”

“Oh, right.”

I came here for the Guild Experience Program. I almost thought Yoo Yeonha was the one in charge from her familiarity with everything. We stood in front of the elevator together.

“Ah, by the way, the person who isn’t here yet isn’t Chae Nayun.”

“Huh? Uh, okay.”

What was she saying out of the blue? I muttered thoughtlessly, but Yoo Yeonha looked at me and snickered. Ding— The elevator arrived, and we hopped onto the third floor. The third floor had a large circular lobby and office doors spaced out along the walls.

“Follow me.”

Yoo Yeonha guided me to an office labeled A-35.

“Honestly, you won’t be doing anything special. You’ll just look around the building today and interact with other guilds starting tomorrow. You might also shadow a hero exterminating monsters.”

Yoo Yeonha opened the door to a spacious office. The owner of the room seemed like a gentle character with all the flower pots under the window sill and documents neatly stacked on the desk.

“Have you heard of Park Sangho?”

“Uh, I think so.”

“Sangho is a very high rank hero.”

Honestly, I knew him better than Yoo Yeonha. Park Sangho acted as Yoo Yeonha’s right arm, but was sly and devious on the inside. He wasn’t a djinn, but would later betray Yoo Yeonha.

“Oh right, I saw that you did well on the final exam.”

“Please, I only had 67 points.”

“If you wanted to stay around the average mark, you should have given away 20 or so points. Now other guilds are starting to pay attention to you.”

“…”

“You don’t like being the center of attention, right? I’m just letting you know.”

I decided to just ignore the strange things she sometimes said.