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Memorize - Episode 41
041 Make an Offer
As training entered the 9th, 10th, and 11th weeks, the users seemed to be getting on track to some extent. Users who found even simple long-distance running difficult in the first week could now be seen easily running over twenty laps while smiling. Seeing them digest all the training without a single dropout, I smiled contentedly.
The current number of remaining people was over 80. Having over 80 people graduate from the User Academy was an exceptional occurrence. As such, as the final 13th week of graduation season approached, a peculiar atmosphere was circulating within the academy.
The first thing to change was the attitude of the instructors towards the new users. The instructors weren't necessarily all Golden Lion Clan members. Seven-tenths were members of the major city's representative clan, while the remaining three-tenths were selected users from general and small city representative clans who came on business trips.
The instructors who were shouting harshly at the beginning were gradually becoming more gentle. It was almost commonplace for them to secretly call out one or two people and treat them to delicious meals. From the start, you could often see them openly making offers right there after training ended. Of course, this was limited to users with some level of skill.
Even looking at the newly assigned instructor under the pretext of being a life coach was quite a sight. They assigned beautiful female instructors to the male users' dormitories, and conversely, handsome male instructors to the female users' dormitories. Anyone with some sense could immediately recognize the intention behind such personnel moves.
As training ended earlier, the time for the group to meet naturally increased. These days, whenever Ahn Hyun, Ahn Sol, and Yoo-jung met, they would only look at me, regardless of what direction they were talking about for their future careers.
"What are you thinking of doing, hyung?"
"Oppa, what about you? You must have received a lot of offers. Do you have any plans to join somewhere?"
"..."
I thought it was good that they wanted to follow me, but this wasn't right. At the very least, if they had their own thoughts and spoke, it would be different, but I needed to quickly get rid of this blind dependence. Conveying this intention as gently as possible, Yoo-jung replied with a pouty face.
"Who said we're not thinking? We just want to hear your thoughts first, oppa."
"I'm still thinking about it. What if your thoughts and mine are different?"
"What do you mean? Of course, I'll follow you, oppa."
"That's right, that's right. I trust hyung too. Fighting, hyung."
Ahn Hyun, who was listening from the side, also nodded and chimed in. These kids seemed to be treating me like rice cakes these days. When I asked why they were acting like this, Ahn Sol answered with a bright smile, "If we just listen to Su-hyun oppa, rice cakes appear even when we're sleeping."
I shook my head with a bitter smile. It seems my dedication during the Trial of Passage and my reputation at the User Academy had created a tremendous synergy effect on the kids. On one hand, I felt grateful that they trusted me so much, but for now, I wanted to hold my tongue. I would open my mouth before graduation, but I felt it wasn't the right time yet.
Kim Han-byeol wasn't even showing her face anymore. I heard that even when she saw Yoo-jung, they would pass by each other without speaking. It seemed that several clans were drooling over her as well, as she showed potential to rank among the female users.
While users who showed some promise like this might be proudly weighing the clans that had made offers, there were also many users who hadn't received any offers. As graduation season approached, these individuals were showing increasingly restless behavior.
If they went out, they might find clans suitable for small cities or general cities, even if large clans were out of reach. However, there were users who still clung to hopes for large clans, thinking "the redder the better." From rumors I heard, there were even some quite bold female users. As they had gotten closer to the instructors, there were cases of them approaching by seducing with their bodies, showing how fiercely they were pushing and pulling each other.
Seeing the kids becoming increasingly relaxed, I nagged them to focus on training as it was still training season. There was a reason why the User Academy period was set at 3 months. The golden period where ability scores can be raised quickly varies depending on the user, but it can be seen as between about 90 to 100 days.
The kids grumbled, but when I told them that later they wouldn't be able to raise their scores even if they wanted to, they immediately shut their mouths. I also devoted myself more to training to set an example. Until I reached the realm of Sword Master in the past, I had never skipped a day of training.
And so time flowed on, and graduation season was steadily approaching.
Training had moved into the 13th week, and we were one day away from graduation. The users were also gradually wrapping up their academy life. The instructors, who were strict during training, were quite lenient at other times. During those times, users would do personal maintenance or gather in small groups to chat.
That day also passed quickly, and soon night approached. As it was the last day, users sharing the same dormitory had a simple dinner party. The instructors also turned a blind eye to some extent, saying just not to go too far. This wasn't just the case for my dormitory, but for others as well.
It wasn't an extravagant dinner party, just dried meat from supplies and some drinking. Still, users who hadn't seen alcohol in a while were excitedly chattering and drinking with their eyes rolled back. Ahn Hyun and I nodded slightly at each other while facing each other and stood up from our seats. At Yoo-jung's suggestion, we had agreed to sneak out of the dormitory separately and have our own celebration.
Ahn Hyun and I, who had quietly risen from our seats, successfully slipped out the door. Everyone was already in a tipsy state anyway, and they were putting their arms around each other's shoulders, shouting "We did it!" With all that commotion, sneaking out was as easy as eating cold porridge.
Habitually rummaging through my pockets, I realized I didn't have any tobacco. It seemed I had left it in the dormitory. I told Ahn Hyun to go to the meeting place first and turned back. Ahn Hyun said it didn't matter if I didn't smoke, but as a heavy smoker, I had a habit of always smoking when drinking.
After sending Ahn Hyun ahead, I returned to the dormitory to get my tobacco and then headed out again. The meeting place was in a corner of the Academic Information Center. It was quite a bold move, but at this point, even if we got caught, there was a high chance we'd get off lightly.
The deep night sky was spreading twilight over the dark ground. I was hurrying my steps across the large, empty field towards the visible building. And just as I was about to pass by the bathroom next to it...
"Ahh... ugh... ang..."
A strange and excited moan leaked out from inside the bathroom. My keen hearing must have caught it well. Curiosity raised its head, and I carefully opened the tightly closed bathroom door. Although I opened it as carefully as possible, a creaking sound from the door echoed around. However, before I could worry about the noise, the sultry heat emanating from inside the opened door enveloped my entire body.
"Uwaaaaang... ang... hueong!"
Hueong. The inside was a mess. The first thing that caught my eye was clothing strewn about and a user wearing an instructor's hat. And beneath his belly, I could see a woman moaning. Her jet-black cut hair was spread out, touching the floor, and her legs with beautiful thigh lines were spread in both directions, flailing in the air. That face... I seemed to have seen it once or twice before.
The man riding on top of her was definitely an instructor. Every time he thrust his hips down with all his might, the woman's body flopped like a fish, letting out unrestrained cries of pleasure.
"Be... quiet! Your... moans... are... too... loud!"
"Ahng...! It's because you're being too intense, instructor... hueng... uh... ung...!"
He moves his hips rhythmically at the end of each syllable. The instructor, who had been mercilessly thrusting his member down, seemed to be getting tired and stopped moving after giving one big swirl of his hips while still inserted. Then the woman's body writhed and could be seen tightly embracing him.
They savored the afterglow in that state for a moment. Then the lips of the woman lying underneath with an ecstatic face opened.
"You promised, right? You said you'd let me join your clan..."
"Don't worry. Wait after the graduation ceremony tomorrow. I'll take you there."
They finished speaking and started moving their hips again. Lewd moans filled the bathroom. Having roughly grasped the situation from their conversation, I closed the door again. While there was no semi-forced behavior like in the Western Continent, ultimately such incidents couldn't be completely prevented. Even in the Northern Continent with its strict discipline, there was nothing to be done if a new female user willingly initiated such acts using her body as bait.
I thought I should quickly go to the Information Center and turned around. And.
"Huk."
"..."
I inadvertently let out a gasp. Han-byeol was staring at me from behind, having arrived at some point. Even though I had let my guard down and wasn't actively sensing, I was surprised that I hadn't felt the presence of someone approaching so close. It seemed I had been too focused on the scene of male-female intercourse I was seeing after a long time(?). I quickly composed my expression and spoke calmly.
"You startled me. How long have you been here?"
"I went to your dormitory because I had something to talk about, but you weren't there. So on my way back, I saw you going back into the dormitory and coming out again, so I followed you."
"Then, inside the bathroom too...?"
The words "Did you see?" were omitted, but she seemed to understand roughly. She blushed slightly and avoided my gaze, which suggested she had seen everything from the beginning. I felt like something had been discovered, but since I hadn't done anything wrong, I decided to act confidently. First, we needed to leave this place for their enjoyable time.
I muffled my footsteps and slowly moved. The direction was towards the Academic Information Center. She also followed behind me, taking small steps, and soon matched her pace beside me. And so, she and I walked side by side under the cold moonlight. Perhaps due to the awkwardness from earlier, silence fell for a while. Han-byeol was the first to break the silence.
"The female user we just saw inside there was probably a person named Lee Ji-young."
"Lee Ji-young... I think I've seen her once or twice."
"You don't know her?"
Looking at Han-byeol, who was asking with round eyes, I tilted my head. Of course I don't know her. She's not particularly skilled, and we're not close, so how would I know? Her face is quite pretty, but honestly, after seeing Yoo-jung, Sol, and Han-byeol, she was just average. I answered with a matter-of-fact face.
"I don't know her. How would I know? I've never even spoken to her."
At my words, Han-byeol's face changed to an expression of relief. I became increasingly curious about this user named Lee Ji-young. Who on earth was she that Han-byeol would react like this when I said I didn't know her? Before I could continue my thoughts, Han-byeol's voice was heard.
"It's better that you don't know. She doesn't have a very good reputation among us either. As you just saw... there were rumors like that going around. I didn't think I'd actually see it myself though. But why were you there, oppa?"
"We were planning to have a graduation celebration dinner with the kids inside the Academic Information Center. On my way there, I heard a strange sound from the bathroom, so I opened the door and that's what was happening. Anyway, since we've met, do you want to come too?"
I wanted to say "You're coming too, right?" but given how distant Han-byeol and I had been lately, I couldn't say it so readily. She lowered her head at my words and stared blankly at the ground. Suddenly, I thought how cute her ears looked, peeking out from between her jet-black straight hair. While I was having these trivial thoughts, I could see her lips slowly opening.
"I... want to talk for a moment."
Come to think of it, didn't she say she had something to say? Since there was no particular reason to hesitate now, I nodded willingly. Now that I think about it, it had been a long time since I had talked with her alone like this.
"I received an offer from the Golden Lion Clan."
"...Yeah."
"They usually almost never accept new users right away, but this time they said they're specially increasing the numbers. Especially since my job is in the magic category, they said they could provide a lot of help in growing. And... they said if I join, they'd recommend me as a candidate for an executive position."
The moment I heard those words, I let out a strong sigh. I had expected her to come at me with a fastball from the start, but the words that followed certainly surprised me. I couldn't understand what they meant by saying they could help a magic category user grow. Setting that aside, the mention of an executive recommendation made me doubt my ears. No matter how promising Kim Han-byeol was, an executive recommendation was an excessive condition for a new user.
Unless she had a secret job or a rare job... As I thought this, a thought struck my mind and I stopped in my tracks. Han-byeol looked at me with strange eyes as I suddenly stopped walking, but regardless, I immediately activated my Third Eye.
『 User Information (Player Status) 』
Name : Kim Han-byeol (0th year)
Class : Jewel Mage (Beginner)
Affiliated Nation : - (Unsettled)
Affiliated Group : - (Unsettled)
True Name · Nationality : One who originates from stars · One who handles beautiful light and luster · Republic of Korea
Gender : Female (22)
Height · Weight : 170.5cm · 45.0kg
Disposition : Order · Chaos (Lawful · Chaos)
『Abilities』
[Strength 44] [Endurance 52] [Agility 64] [Vitality 48] [Magic Power 82] [Luck 62]
"Oppa...?"
Lost in thought, I reflexively and reluctantly nodded at Han-byeol's call. Why? How? These thoughts chased each other, but I needed to gather my wits first.
Certainly, if she was a Jewel Mage, she would need the clan's help to grow in the early stages. Given that she uses jewels as magic catalysts, it would cost an enormous amount of money. However, that wasn't the important thing right now. Kim Han-byeol hadn't told me that she had obtained the Jewel Mage job. And the fact that she was recommended as an executive of the Golden Lion Clan meant there was a high possibility she had revealed her job to that guy.
For a moment, I gritted my teeth at the inexplicable sense of betrayal rising inside me... but then I immediately relaxed. When you think about it, I had decided to treat her as a connection, and I was prepared to let her go if necessary. The fact that such emotions surged momentarily showed that there was still some lingering attachment in a corner of my heart.
If I had known from the start that she had one of the secret jobs, Jewel Mage, my attitude might have been different. However, I had no intention of rationalizing now by only considering my position. That was the behavior I hated the most.
Excluding emotions and filling my mind with cold reason, I quickly caught my breath and composed myself. From now on, I would treat her as a user, not as a younger sister who had acted together with me.
"I heard the Golden Lion Clan made an offer to you too, oppa."
Looking at Kim Han-byeol, who was still speaking with a calm face, I also answered with a composed expression.
"I said I'd think about it."
"Have you made a decision now?"
"Yeah. I'm going to decline. I have no intention of joining a clan."
"...Why?"
The moment I said I would decline, I could feel her body tremble slightly.
I paused for a moment and started walking again. She also moved her feet to follow me. As we walked, we continued to stare into each other's eyes. In our gazes, there were indescribable, subtle, and complex emotions.
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