Chapter 6 – The Difference Between You and Me (1)

I reached for the book that was still floating in front of me to clear my memory.
Conscious of that memory, he activated mana.

Parala Rock~

The bookshelves were turned over in clumps at once.
I’d rather count the pages from the back

=======================

Shin Hye-yeon had her heart pounding.
Sungkyu Choi…

How desperate was that name?
It’s already been 15 years.

It was safe to say that she was a completely different person from the person she was then and the person she is now.
How many things happened in between.

Even the names they used were different.

Leah God.

She went to study in France, where she works in the Hunter world, and she took this name naturally.
Because the French had a hard time pronouncing the name ‘Hyeyeon’.

As the name Leah Shin is more known in the industry, she decided to use this name even after she returned to Korea.

So Choi Seong-gyu would not know that he was Shin Hye-yeon at the time.

How would you know?
He was just a passing person in his life.
Twenty…

Her fresh sensibility at that time revived and Shin Hye-yeon closed her eyes for a moment.

There are also many painful memories.
Especially, the memory of loving Choi Seong-gyu was like that.

But at the same time, it was also a beautiful memory because he was there.
Surprisingly, she still misses him.

We walked different paths because we couldn’t reach each other, but maybe now…

They belong to the same industry and are known to some extent.
You could create a completely different relationship now.

That kind of heartbeat made her flutter.

“You waited long? Forgive me for being late.”

While Shin Hye-yeon was in a daze, she was startled when she saw the man approaching her.

“Choi Seong-gyu…”

She uttered the name without realizing it.

“Yes, that’s right. I am Choi Seong-gyu.”

Choi Seong-gyu smiled brightly and held out his business card.
Shin Hye-yeon accepted it blankly.

Choi Seong-gyu has hardly changed.
Of course, there were signs of age on him too.

But it was hardly different from what I had imagined in my head, how I thought he would be now.
He was still cool and still the type to draw attention.

I could see the women in the cafe looking at me and whispering.

‘It’s always been like that.’

Choi Seong-gyu was popular with women.
He was the only one who didn’t know about it.

“Mr. Leah Sheen, is that right? It is an honor to meet you.”

It was a meeting place for guild affiliation.
Leah Shin, who built a reputation in France, made a golden return to Korea.
There were many guilds and companies that wanted to partner with her newly created guild.
In particular, because of the interviews with the media, which he had given several times, he became quite famous against his will.

“No. I am truly honored.”

Shin Hye-yeon put a smile on her face.

This joy.
It’s no different than back then.
In front of him, she herself was still a twenty-year-old girl.

The difference is that there is no existence called Seulgi Lee between the two.

She left a big scar on both herself and Choi Seong-gyu.
By her disappearance, she would be able to enter into a whole new relationship.

‘It should be different now.’

In the past, she couldn’t courage herself to the end and hid her heart.
She vowed not to do that anymore.

“You haven’t ordered coffee yet. What would you like to eat? This house has delicious slices of cake. How many would you like to try?”
“Yes, that is good.”

Also, Choi Seong-gyu did not recognize himself.
However, Shin Hye-yeon felt happy about this whole process.
She meant to say it all if she met the right timing.
Her new relationship with him was pictured in my head like a beautiful drama.

But then…

I found something on Choi Seong-gyu’s finger, calling out to the employee.

Seeing this, Shin Hye-yeon bit her lip.

‘Of course.’

15 years have passed.
Both herself and Sungkyu Choi were now in their mid-thirties.
It’s an old enough age to get married.

I don’t know how time passed.
Shin Hye-yeon spent a short time with Choi Seong-gyu as if she was lost, and the conversation between the two was business-related.

Naturally, Choi Seong-gyu did not recognize himself until the end.

After leaving the cafe, he held out his hand.

“I hope to go along well. Originally, I wasn’t in charge, so from now on, someone else will come out to see Leah Shin. Still, you don’t know what will happen to a human connection, so please remember it next time you see it.”
“Yes, of course.”

Shin Hye-yeon held Choi Seong-gyu’s hand.

She knew
That this would be my last meeting with him.

She still loved him.
And it hurt her when she was still with him.

But…

I didn’t want to go through the same pain again.

Just like she did 15 years ago, she muttered to herself as she watched Choi Seong-gyu walk away.

“I like you…”

I loved you.
Bye…

Suddenly Choi Seong-gyu turned his head and shook his hand.
Shin Hye-yeon also smiled and shook her hand.

=======================

“…”

It was as expected.

I had met Shin Hye-yeon again.
5 years ago from now.
It was a long time after I graduated from school.

‘It must have been the god Rhea…’

She was well known in the industry.
She was a person who made a name for herself in France, which was famous for not giving up its seats to foreign hunters.
The guild she created in Korea continued to build a reputation.

I felt my heart choke.

I didn’t know that Shin Hye-yeon liked me.
So she didn’t have to feel responsible for her feelings.
But reading her feelings in writing was like digging through my scars from the past.

The pain she suffered was qualitatively different from what I suffered.
But I could understand her heart.

‘It should be different now.’

Knowing the truth about her meant that her relationship with her would change in the future.
I’m not sure exactly how that would be.

#

‘It’s been a while.’

I was soaked in emotion as I went to school.

It’s been a long time since I graduated from school, but walking around the campus breathing the air of a long time ago brought back the sensibility of that time.
I felt that I had become young again and had a new life.

The first lecture this morning was ‘Combat Practice’.

In fact, spending my new life at school was considered a waste.
Because I already knew everything I was going to learn at this school.

But somehow it felt inevitable.
The school I attend is not an ordinary place.

It is a so-called school for hunters.
The graduates who completed this school gained merits commensurate with their later life.
Of course, not everyone was like that, and students with excellent grades were supposed to enjoy more benefits.

A typical example is scouting in a guild.

They took the top-performing students first.
The better your grades are, the more scouting offers you get from bigger and more famous guilds.

I also started working that way as soon as I graduated.
At that time, my grades were in the top 10%.

I lived my school life diligently in my own way, but there were definitely barriers I couldn’t overcome.
Because the level of the hunter is determined by the grade.
Grade first, then the rest.

Still, my grades were among the best among students in the same class.

After that, my life went smoothly.
Except for being cursed by NTR, I could say that I lived a life that others could envy.

‘It’s not just because of the future life.’

While attending this school, I made many friends.
The NTR experience, which can be said to be the core of the second round of life and the part that needs to be corrected, was also centered on school.

In order to turn a curse into a blessing, you have to confront it head-on, even if it’s something you don’t like.

“Hi Sunggyu, how are you?”
“You look good today? Did you sleep well?”
“Are you going to class? Would you like to eat together later?”

There were many students who talked to me.
Sometimes I had a hard time remembering the names of the kids, but most of them didn’t take long.

Overall, I had a good friendship, but if you think about it, I think I had very few really close friends.
The reason was the speciality of ‘Hunter College’.

Because competition is inevitable.

There was also an atmosphere that seemed to be divided by rank.
It was difficult to remain in a good relationship until the end because of each other’s envy, jealousy, and sense of superiority and class consciousness.

The ‘combat practice’ lectures were held in specially designed classrooms.

Because of the giant hologram system, students sometimes had hands-on battles with monsters shaped as holograms.

Although it was difficult, I could say it was the most helpful lecture after graduation.

I haven’t seen Seulgi Lee since I arrived at school.
Perhaps she was taking another class at the same time.

Because my career path is office work.
There weren’t many classes that overlapped with me.

It was better for her, she thought, since she had no intention of running into her.

“Huh?”

Sitting on a chair in the lecture hall, I suddenly felt a stinging gaze on the back of my head.
The habit of sensitively feeling the gaze was acquired through a long life as a hunter.

I went back in time and became D-class again, but it still remained a habit for me.

There was a familiar figure in the place where I turned my gaze.

A person whom I encountered more through sentences after returning.

When Park Jong-gil met my eyes, he smiled with an awkward expression.

At this point we weren’t friends.

I kept looking at him.

He hesitated and lowered his head, avoiding my gaze.