With final exams and summer vacation approaching, Hankuk University was once again turned upside down.
Just three months after Kim Do-jin passed his B-rank Hunter exam, a large number of new qualifiers emerged.
If they had been fourth-year students on the verge of graduation, this wouldn't have been so surprising.
The problem was that they were all second-year students, or third-year transfer students who had only been there for a year.
Adding to that, the fact that all the successful candidates were from the same team utterly astonished them.
Thanks to this, wherever you went, conversations about them bloomed like flowers.
"So... Kim Do-jin's entire team are Hunters?"
"That's right."
"Fuck... is that even possible?"
"No, it's not. That's why it's the first time something like this has happened since Hankuk University was founded."
Kim Do-jin's exam success, after he had already stood out with astonishing speed since his special admission.
And Son Seo-yeon's success wasn't really that surprising either.
"Even if we assume Son Seo-yeon's genes are just different from ours... what about the others?"
The truly astonishing part came next.
Shin Yu-jeong, Elena, Im Na-eun.
While they had certainly shown impressive abilities, maintaining top-tier grades until the last midterms, if you asked if those abilities were good enough to pass the Hunter Qualification Exam, you'd have to scratch your head.
All of them acquired C-rank licenses, and not just barely, but with high scores.
Given such an unbelievable outcome, rumors even started circulating.
"Could Kim Do-jin have bribed the Association?"
The theory was that Kim Do-jin had pulled some strings to get his teammates to pass.
However, that rumor quickly died down.
"Hey, does that even make sense? What kind of place is the Association?"
The Hunter Association.
Even that organization, where people ultimately work, couldn't be entirely free of corruption.
In fact, they were stained by corruption every now and then, just when you'd start to forget.
Yet, even for them, tarnished by various stains, there remained one clean corner.
"True... whatever else, they do run the qualification exams cleanly."
The Hunter Qualification Exam is held quarterly.
A Hunter is both an individual's profession and a national asset.
In the present, as society has entered an era where Awakened Ones are prevalent.
Because it's their responsibility to both cause problems and resolve them.
Therefore, while the Hunter Qualification Exam is administered by the Association, it is overseen by the state.
In other words, if you tried to pull off some clumsy corruption, you'd be buried alive.
Ultimately, the conversation returned to square one.
"So, in the end, their skills must have dramatically improved in a short amount of time."
"Exactly."
"How could that be possible?"
How could they have become strong enough to pass the qualification exam?
The answer to the question in the hearts of all those chattering people was simple.
"Kim Do-jin?"
Wasn't Kim Do-jin, the leader of the newly qualified team members, the answer itself?
The moment these rumors spread like wildfire.
A storm once again began to rage at 'Heonjahwi,' the club that served as Kim Do-jin and his teammates' hideout.
"Please, just let me join the club!"
"I'll do anything if you just let me in!"
"I'll even bark like a dog if you tell me to, woof woof!"
"..."
The club, where he was the president, was swarming with people trying to join.
What's more, it was even worse than before.
"Back then, I don't think anyone offered to bark like a dog..."
"Yeah, you're right."
A faint smile played on the lips of those who were stuck in the clubroom, unable to move.
It was annoying.
But more than that, it felt good.
Because they had become so outstanding that all the talented students gathered at Hankuk University looked up to them.
As they looked at the Hunter licenses they had received, each of them reaffirmed their resolve.
"Hehe... now I can stay by Master's... no, Do-jin's side forever."
Im Na-eun soothed her anxious heart, which had been worried about being separated from her master.
"Now, all that's left is to make money...!"
Elena was filled with the thought of earning a lot of money to support her family back home.
Shin Yu-jeong, who also held a license in her hand, just like them.
"..."
Her gaze wasn't on her own license, but on someone else.
"Do-jin, can you tell me about this?"
"What is it?"
"It's a video of my dad, and this part here is bothering me a bit."
"Ah, this is..."
At the end of her gaze, Kim Do-jin and Son Seo-yeon were sitting close together, talking.
'What's with that close proximity?'
The atmosphere flowing between the two of them had changed.
Just a few days ago, both of them clearly felt a distance from each other.
'They suddenly got close.'
Now, that distance had vanished without a trace.
It was as if a wall, built to prevent them from approaching each other, had crumbled overnight.
She could easily figure out why that had happened.
'The amusement park...'
Son Seo-yeon had used the wish she earned from the qualification exam to ask Kim Do-jin to go to the amusement park with her.
And last weekend, the two of them had spent the entire day together before returning home.
Luna Land.
That dangerous place where, if a man and a woman go together, even non-existent love can blossom.
'He definitely said nothing happened.'
Kim Do-jin had said so, but something must have happened.
Otherwise, why would a woman who was notoriously awkward at talking to others approach him so closely and actively initiate conversation?
"Fuck..."
A low curse escaped her lips.
Even though she held the Hunter license she had so desperately wanted, she felt no joy.
It was because her heart had changed.
Her primary goal of becoming a Hunter as great as Son Si-woo had been pushed to a lower priority.
The three characters of Kim Do-jin's name had taken up far too much space in her heart.
'This can't go on.'
Alarm surged at the sight of the two of them so close.
The thought that if things continued like this, she might lose him to Son Seo-yeon, or to another woman, made the hair on her body stand on end.
She gritted her teeth.
'...I have to do it.'
Shin Yu-jeong finally accepted it.
That Kim Do-jin's presence had grown too large for her to simply embrace him tightly with her own hands.
That to be by his side, she needed to change her approach.
In the car, on the way home after finishing classes and training.
Sitting in the passenger seat, she pondered for a long time before finally opening her mouth.
"Hey."
"Hm?"
"Let's do that."
Kim Do-jin, not understanding what 'that' referred to, asked back, taken by surprise.
"What's 'that'?"
"...You know, that thing we talked about last time."
Then, a conversation with her suddenly came to mind.
At this, Kim Do-jin asked her back, his eyes wide.
"...Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
A resolute answer.
Soon, she continued.
"But... promise me one thing."
"What is it?"
"If I try it once and don't like it, I'm never doing it again."
As if she wouldn't allow any counter-arguments on the matter, her tone was utterly firm and unyielding, and Kim Do-jin quietly nodded.
Every weekday morning, the routine of getting ready for work.
As always, after a light workout and a shower, she stood before her closet, put on a well-ironed suit, and left the house.
"Eung-heu-heungâ¬"
A humming tune emanated from her nose throughout the drive.
It continued even during work, and her colleagues, noticing her unusually bright expression today, barraged her with questions.
"Ji-an, you seem to be in a particularly good mood today?"
"Ahem... did I seem that way?"
"Yes. It's the first time I've ever seen you look so happy, Ji-an."
"That's right, that's right. Did something good happen?"
"Hmm... I wonder."
She answered vaguely, but their words were true.
Today, her mood was so good it felt like it could pierce the sky.
The reason was simple.
'A date after a long time...'
Because a message had arrived from the person she had waited and waited for, asking her out on a date.
It flickered in her mind.
Dining face-to-face with him, sharing drinks, strolling through the night streets, and finally...
"Eum...!"
She forced herself to push away the suggestive thoughts that relentlessly burrowed into her head and heart, and focused on her work.
No matter how happy she was, doing her work carelessly was not in her nature.
Even with her excited heart, she handled her work perfectly, as usual.
"I'll be clocking out now."
As soon as quitting time arrived, she rushed out of the Association.
The place she was meeting him was none other than Gangnam.
Although the newly developed Gangnam area had become quite vast, making the distance considerable, she chose to walk instead of taking a car.
'If I have a car, drinking will be a bit inconvenient...'
Desire raged in her mind.
She wanted to have an intimate meal.
She wanted to clink glasses in a dimly lit place.
Stumbling drunkenly, leaning on each other, they would enter a hotel.
There, their bodies, heated with passion, would intertwine like beasts...!
"Ji-an!"
"Ah...!"
At the voice from afar, Yoon Ji-an snapped back to reality and lifted her head.
It seemed she had been too deeply immersed in her recent fantasies.
Through her slightly unfocused vision, she saw him.
His wild physique, felt beneath his casually dressed slacks and pristine white shirt.
And his gentle face, an image contrasting with his body.
But she knew.
How wild and sensual that face became in bed.
"Ugh..."
She barely managed to control her uncontrollably heated body with a deep breath, then walked towards him.
Just as she was about to start a conversation with a light smile and the conventional question, 'Have you been waiting long?'
"Hi, long time no see?"
Suddenly, a blonde-haired young woman popped out from behind him, waving her hand.
Yoon Ji-an's eyes widened at the sight.
"Shin Yu-jeong, why are you here...?"
Seeing her appear behind him and greet him as if she had been waiting, it didn't seem like a coincidence...
She looked at Kim Do-jin as if asking what was going on, and he replied with an embarrassed laugh.
"It looks like the three of us, including Yu-jeong, will be hanging out together today... Is that okay?"
"Ah, yes... that's fine."
Her eyes, as she said it was fine, were trembling so violently that she couldn't hide it.