Chapter 394 – Two Secret Meetings (3)

From now, about three days ago.

That senior Cheon Ji-hee is feeling romantic feelings for Hye-eun.

About that, she had a temporary secret meeting with Hye-eun.

“… Hello?”

“Yes, Hyeeun. Are you busy now?”

“Huh? Oh no. Just finished today’s event and was resting at the dorm for a while.”

Around the time when I thought it had been a while since I hadn’t seen Hye-eun’s face as she was busy with her part-time job, I had a fairly long phone call with Hye-eun, who had some spare time after a long time.

While asking about each other’s well-being, I thought it was a good opportunity, so I talked with her about Cheon Ji-hee’s case.

About the content about senior Cheon Ji-hee having a crush on Hye-eun.

“… Do you think Ji-hee likes me, Tae-kyung?”

“It’s not like that, I’m sure.”

“Isn’t that too prescriptive? Of course, Ji-hee’s expression of her affection is a bit excessive, but it’s a little too much to be sure…”

“There are a lot of things I do only to you, not to Mina or Yuri, to say that it is an excessive expression of affection. Have you ever seen senior Cheon Ji-hee put her arm on Min-ah or Yuri-ssi’s shoulder or hug her from behind?”

“I’ve never seen anything like that before…”

“Of course, it would be presumptuous for me to say such a thing since I just entered the party, but no matter how much I think about it, I think that Ji-hee Cheon’s feelings for Hye-eun are a little more dangerous than ordinary friendship.”

“…”

The silence continued briefly as if he had heard my words and began to ponder.

Perhaps Hyeeun also had some suspicious circumstances before I brought up this story.

However, since it was a matter related to his position as the party leader and the continuation of the Azure Shield right now, he couldn’t have made hasty decisions before he was a little more certain.

Before I join her party, it will be quite difficult for the Azure Shield to maintain its position as an A-class hunter party the moment the A-class Hunter avant-garde named Chun Ji-hee is removed from the Azure Shield.

However, by recruiting me recently, even if Chun Ji-hee leaves the party, the position of the A-class hunter party itself can be maintained.

As much as the space that was created like that, Hye-eun should also have the space to look back a little more objectively between herself and Cheon Ji-hee.

“Surely…”

“Huh.”

“Certainly, it was a little strange. Because he always seemed to be too attached to me and showed no interest in Yuri or Mina at all. I thought it was just an act that came out of feeling close to me because you’ve been active with me for the longest time…”

“If that was all there was to it, the other two would have at least had a similar attitude. It is said that the time spent with you is the longest, but hasn’t it been more than a year or two since Mina and Cha Yu-ri were also active in Azure Shield?”

“Minah’s been around a year and a half, and Yuri’s been a little over two years…”

“Isn’t it strange that, like Mina, she doesn’t show any emotion to someone she approaches first in a sad way, while Hyeeun only shows interest in you?”

As soon as I finished my words, there was a brief silence over the receiver, and then Hye-eun gave a slightly puzzled answer.

“I thought it was a bit strange, but I had quite a bit of it before… It was like that too…”

“I guess I didn’t do it at all.”

“Huh… Every time I thought about it, I didn’t think it was a big deal and moved on…”

The appearance of Hye-eun, who gradually becomes convinced of Cheon Ji-hee’s feelings for herself only after hearing the story directly from the mouth of another person.

It was not too difficult for her to make Hye-eun understand her current situation, probably because she had already stimulated the part of her that she was vaguely feeling.

However, her reaction after that was unexpected even for me.

“So, what do you want Taekyung to do?”

“Huh?”

「Do you want Jihee to leave Azure Shield? Or do you think it’s better to hide your feelings for me and remain as the vanguard of the Azure Shield?」

As usual, I was handing the question I should have asked Hye-eun in reverse, so it was only natural that I was momentarily speechless.

It was a matter directly related to her rather than me, so I thought it would be right for Hye-eun to make future decisions.

I was just giving her the information I learned from her third-person perspective to make her decision a little easier.

It was also Hye-eun’s right to be expelled from the Azure Shield if she felt a new displeasure at Cheon Ji-hee’s actions from an objective point of view.

It was also her choice to pretend not to know if she didn’t care as much as before and maintain it with the power of the Azure Shield.

In the first place, the leader of Azure Shield was not me, but Hyeeun.

However, even though I conveyed these words over the receiver, Hye-eun still seemed to seek my opinion.

“… Still, I don’t know, so can’t Tae-kyung choose you?”

“Huh?”

“Even though Ji-hee is a woman like me, it is certain that she has romantic feelings for me anyway. If Tae-kyung feels uncomfortable with Ji-hee liking me, then I think it’s okay to release Ji-hee.”

“Still, she is the senior who founded Azure Shield with you, but she is barely able to release with just my opinion…”

“If that’s not good, it’s okay to just keep Ji-hee at the avant-garde and continue to work as before. To be honest, Ji-hee’s feelings are a little burdensome, but considering that she’s been through so far, she doesn’t really pay much attention to her.”

“… Okay?”

“In the first place, the only thing I love is you, Taekyung, but I don’t mind a little bit of hugging from a woman, not a man.”

The appearance of Hye-eun casually spitting out words that would have shocked her if Ji-hee Cheon heard it.

Her statement that if I was displeased, she would release her for that reason alone was scary, but the afterword, ‘It doesn’t matter as much as she is now’, was rather a reference to her senior Cheon Ji-hee. Her sympathy bloomed.

It meant that her Hye-eun, who had been her crush for almost three years, was just feeling ‘nothing’.

It was an answer that, in a sense, was likely to be taken as much more shocking than unpleasant.

“So, which one do you like, Taekyung?”

“Well, it seems a bit like drawing conclusions right now…”

“Actually, Taekyung doesn’t think you have to decide anything about Jihee.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have a vague feeling while working with Ji-hee recently, but I have a vague feeling that Ji-hee seems a bit weak these days compared to when she was active in her prime.”

“… Did you say that it weakened you?”

At least with the skills I’ve seen so far, I think I’ve only seen the appearance of a hunter who is an A-class fighter.

If a person who can still crush an adult white crystal spider with only fists and kicks has become weak, then how much stronger was he in his heyday?

Since I was imagining the past of senior Cheon Ji-hee, whom I can hardly imagine, Hye-eun’s supplementary explanation continued over the receiver.

“Taekyung, you recently joined the party, so I don’t know, but two years ago, Jihee was in her prime as a Hunter. Currently, five people, including Mina and you, are entering the A-class dungeon, but in the early days of Azure Shield, I, Jihee-san, and Yuri-san included three people to clear the dungeon.”

“When you say that, I think I know roughly how good you are.”

“Of course, since a searcher is needed, other hunters would come in and out of the Azure Shield a few times if necessary, but most of them had no combat skills, so it was actually a party of three until Mina came in. At that time, Yuri-san was also before her awakening ability weakened, and Ji-hee-san was on a completely different level compared to now.”

“That’s about it… ?”

“In his heyday, he was capable enough to become an S-rank hunter. You didn’t take the promotion test, so you’re still active as A-class. I’ve heard that he refused by saying that he shouldn’t become S-class, but I don’t know the details.”

“…”

Maybe she didn’t want to go up to the S class, leaving Hye-eun alone.

If she goes up to S-rank Hunter, the party leader of Azure Shield will naturally change from Hye-eun to herself, so maybe she didn’t want that part, so she didn’t take her promotion test on purpose.

There was a good chance that Azure Shield’s party leader did something like she always thought she had to be Hyeeun, not herself.

It may be a bit of a leap forward, but it wouldn’t be strange to show any kind of obsession at the point where I’ve been unrequitedly in love with Hye-eun, the same sex for three years in the first place.

However, Hye-eun had no feelings for Cheon Ji-hee, and she seemed to say that she would release her if I wanted, so it was a cruel reality that was hard to believe for her.

Even if Hye-eun didn’t send it out, Cheon Ji-hee’s departure from the azure shield was counting down.

If she could somehow find a way to resolve her own sexuality, it would bring her awakening ability back to its prime and remain in her azure shield.

It was virtually impossible at the point of loving Hye-eun, who was of the same sex, not the opposite sex, who already had an owner.

Even if it were possible to sort out her feelings for Hye-eun and find another man with whom she was compatible, the moment that happened, the reason for senior Cheon Ji-hee to remain in Azure Shield would disappear.

The only reason why she gave up even the chance to rise to her S-class Hunter and was satisfied with being a member of her A-class party, the Azure Shield, was because of only one Hye-eun.

“Um…”

At this rate, I wonder if the past few days of worrying about the relationship between Hye-eun and Cheon Ji-hee were meaningless.

Another unexpected question came back from Hye-eun over the receiver.

“… There you go, Tae-kyung.”

“Huh.”

“If you don’t like Jihee-san leaving Azure Shield, how about this?”

“How?”

“… What kind of method, Taekyung, you know very well.”

The moment I tried to ask if he was saying the way I was thinking, Hye-eun’s next words came back right from the other side of the receiver.

I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded for a moment at her slightly embarrassed words.

I never imagined that I would hear this proposal that only I was thinking of from Hye-eun’s mouth.

“Just have sex with Ji-hee, Tae-kyung. That’s the simplest solution.”