We put aside Jin Sahyuk’s story and focused on quelling the situation. After all, we needed to prevent this from blowing out of proportion.

— Breaking News! Rumors say that the precious child of Daehyun, also known as the rising star of Cube, Chae Nayun has been discovered to be living with her partner…

“What should we do?” Chae Nayun asked.

The news already made it to television.

“What do you mean what should we do? You should go home for now.”

“What? Why should I go home? Also, what are you going to do if the assassin shows up?”

“I’ll be fine if I’m with her,” I replied while pointing at the sofa.

Jin Sahyuk was comfortably sleeping on the sofa. She seemed quite tired and was already snoring.

Chae Nayun frowned and retorted, “

Ah

, are you kidding me? No, I can’t agree with this. She could be the assassin for all we know!”

“Then she would have probably killed me as soon as she got here.”

“Forget about it. We’re the losers if we separate now! I can’t do that!” Chae Nayun exclaimed before switching her smartwatch back on.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

We were used to the alarms by now and it no longer bothered us. She checked a few of her messages and suddenly flinched after reading one.

I used

[Hacking]

to see the message.

[Is it true?]

It came from her father.

“First things first… let’s say living together is a misunderstanding and we’re just dating.”

I furrowed my brows at her words, “Do we have to?”

“They have countless pictures of us together. Besides, think about it this way. Dating and living together are two completely different things. Let’s just say that we’re dating for now. Then we can explain that we had no choice after we catch the mastermind behind the assassination. Also… just in case… if you change your mind later… we can continue being a couple…”

“Shut up,” I snapped back and stood up to check the calendar.

Only four days left before our vacation ended. I knew we were short on time, but we were really short on time.

“Hmm…”

I started to think.

First, I looked at Jin Sahyuk sound asleep and snoring on the sofa.

Chae Nayun followed my gaze and asked, “Right, what do you plan to do with her?”

“Beats me…”

I knew what Jin Sahyuk wanted. There was a high probability that it had something to do with Kim Chundong, but I had no idea if she just wanted to confirm something or if she wanted full closure.

“Let’s just monitor her for now.”

Jin Sahyuk still had value.

Then she suddenly shot up, “

Waaaah!”

“

Whoa

, that scared me.”

Jin Sahyuk looked at me and Chae Nayun after waking up with a blast. She haughtily scoffed before saying, “I don’t think it’s the right time, so I’ll be heading back for today. I’ll be waiting for you, so you better show your face later.”

To be honest, I had no idea what she was talking about.

Jin Sahyuk opened the window and jumped out.

Whiiiiik!

Her silhouette flew away like a bird and descended at a great speed before turning into a dot and disappearing from view.

I stood dumbfoundedly with Chae Nayun after seeing Jin Sahyuk’s flashy exit.

***

Summer vacation finally ended and it was time to return to Cube. A huge crowd of reporters waited at the portal station, so the place had to be barricaded. We had to take a boat to Cube instead.

It took us two hours from the East Sea to reach Cube. We could tell from afar that Cube was crowded as well. A ton of cadets waited for us at the portal station, which forced us to disembark like a pair of smugglers and clandestinely make our way to the Pharmacy Club.

Ddreuk…

We sneaked through the hallways and safely reached our clubroom. Then we opened the door and found the rest of the club members waiting for us as promised.

Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, Yi Yeonghan, and even Rachel were there. All of them looked at us with eyes demanding an explanation.

“So, you’re finally here,” Yoo Yeonha said with her arms crossed over her chest.

Kim Suho and Yi Yeonghan looked naive as usual while Shin Jonghak openly expressed his discomfort. Meanwhile, Rachel watched in awe as if she found the entire thing amazing.

“So, what happened is…” Chae Nayun sat on a sofa and began explaining.

I followed suit and sat on the sofa.

“Pfft! Pfft… Huehuehue… Pffaaaaah…!”

Kim Suho and Yi Yeonghan did their best to suppress their laughter.

“Hey, can you guys shut up? Just listen to me first. It’s not a happy story as you make it out to be. So what happened is… as you might be aware too, Kim Suho,” Chae Nayun started explaining.

Kim Suho’s smile disappeared and a serious expression replaced it as Chae Nayun talked about the incident that happened after we left the island.

“So that’s what happened… Some strong fella is aiming for this guy, but that fella seems to be wary of hurting me. That’s why I had no choice but to stay with this guy.”

“

Hmm…

I see… Assassination attempt you say…” Yoo Yeonha muttered.

She easily understood the entire situation and rubbed her chin in thought.

I had a strange feeling that she knew something about this situation.

“

Ha…

What a mess… do you really have to protect that guy even if it tarnishes your reputation?” Shin Jonghak gritted his teeth and asked.

Chae Nayun glared at him and seemed to say,

‘You got a problem?’

Then she replied, “I’m doing it because I want to. Why? Is there a problem?”

“I don’t understand why you would do that!” Shin Jonghak retorted.

The atmosphere was starting to get tense, but Yi Yeonghan laughed and stood up to diffuse the situation.

“Hey, hey, shouldn’t you have told us if something like that happened? What did you hope to achieve alone? I mean, what are friends for, right?”

“All of you will be in danger if I didn’t do it. Our opponent is no joke.”

Shin Jonghak seemed to disagree and stormed out of the room. His temper flared for the first time in a long while.

Right after he stormed out, a bright light shone from my chest. A gentle breeze slowly spun faster and faster until it became a whirlwind around me.

Everyone was shocked and I knew very well why.

“Is it magic? Kim Hajin! Kim Hajin!”

“It’s not, so shut up.”

“

Ugh…”

Chae Nayun screamed and tried to cling onto me, but I shoved her face back. I took out the small seed in my breast pocket.

The light and wind were coming out from the cracks forming on the seed.

“

Ah

, this is…”

“No way…”

It was the long-awaited birth of Evandel. All of the club members stood flabbergasted at what was going on.

The seed fully opened and a life form appeared from it.

“Oh…”

“

Heup!”

All of us gasped and held our breaths.

It was an adorable child who looked exactly like Rachel. Her mana spread all over the room as she curiously inspected her surroundings. I didn’t dare think anything in this world would be more adorable than this little girl innocently blinking at us.

“… Fwah!”

The child breathed out before smiling and turning to us.

“Kyah!”

She looked at me with an adorable smile and turned to Rachel.

The little girl smiled even brighter before exclaiming, “It’s me!”

***

We renovated the clubroom into Evandel’s temporary residence and she also needed a guardian.

“But can you make sure we won’t get caught? I mean, you’ll have to be here the entire time, you know?” Yoo Yeonha asked.

She seemed quite concerned. Chae Nayun and Rachel also shared her sentiment.

“It’ll be fine,” I confidently replied.

I looked at Evandel and asked, “Now, Evandel. What should you do when someone suddenly comes in?”

“Like this!” she exclaimed before transforming into a puppy.

She turned into a Pomeranian with flowing golden fur. Everyone in the clubroom froze after she turned into a puppy.

“Cute…”

“Ah…”

Rachel seemed a bit dazed as she approached Evandel and hugged her.

Evandel dug her face into Rachel’s chest and giggled, “

Hehe

, did Evandel do a good job?”

“Yes, you did good, Evandel,” Rachel replied and started spinning in place.

The two of them seemed to be in a world of their own as they spun like a top.

“… Hey, Kim Hajin,” Chae Nayun pulled my sleeve as I watched them spinning.

I looked at her, “What?”

“No… it’s nothing.” She smiled and asked, “Should we go train?”

“Do you think that’s even possible? We’re going to get swarmed by people in three seconds.”

I looked at Evandel and wondered how someone could be that adorable… but Chae Nayun stood in front of me and blocked my vision. I tried to move so I could look at Evandel, but Chae Nayun kept pestering me.

“Hey, what’s your problem…?” I grumbled.

“Let’s go train. Let’s go.”

She continued pestering me and even started to pull my arm. Of course, our massive difference in strength left me no choice as she dragged me away.

“Hey, wait a minute, Evandel! I… Evandel…”

“Hajin, have fun!”

“See, even Evandel is telling you to go.”

If Chae Nayun was an elephant, then I was a monkey. There was no way that I, the monkey, would be able to break free from the elephant’s grip.

I was helplessly dragged to the shooting range like a ragdoll.

***

The first day of classes.

Every pair of eyes in the classroom darted towards me when I entered. I could tell that they were looking at me inquisitively.

Silence descended in the entire room as they watched me walk to my seat. Then they whispered among themselves.

“Wow, it’s really amazing. Did he really land Chae Nayun? How did someone like him get someone like her? But Chae Nayun can be quite the handful… Yeah, I agree. That Kim Hajin must be good at receiving whatever shit she throws at him. Well, he is smart and composed. Is it because Chae Nayun is dumb?”

The gossip instantly disappeared after Chae Nayun entered the room and sat beside me.

“

Phew…

It’s quite nerve-wracking, right?” Chae Nayun said as she insensitively leaned on my shoulder.

I tried to push her away, but it was already too late as the room erupted in whispering once again.

“Can’t you just stay still…?”

“What? I’m staying still, aren’t I?”

“…”

I gave up on debating with her and opened my book.

Our first class was the

[Theory of Body and Mana]

, so I browsed through the book in preparation. Professor Kim Soohyuk entered as soon as the clock struck eight.

“It’s good to see all of you again. I hope you enjoyed your vacation,” Kim Soohyuk greeted the cadets.

I had no idea if he knew about our scandal or not, but there was nothing special about his demeanor. He went on to tell us that it would only get harder from now on. We had to do our best in both theory and practical tests. We would have to achieve a perfect balance to become a good hero, etc.

“Also, I will announce the new rankings.”

He acted quite strange in the sense that he placed great emphasis on things none of us cared about before nonchalantly delivering the news that all of us wanted to hear.

“Now… don’t get too caught up in your rankings and continue to do your best,” Kim Soohyuk said before he taped a large piece of paper on the board and left.

All of the cadets shot up and ran towards the paper.

“Wow, Kim Hajin. What’s gotten into you? Rank 401st? Your rank doubled!” Chae Nayun said while tapping my shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess…”

1. Kim Suho

2. Shin Jonghak

3. Rachel

4. Chae Nayun

5. Shen Yuan

…

…

8. Yoo Yeonha

9. Yi Yeonghan

…

…

…

401. Kim Hajin

“Alright, get back to your seats!”

The theory professor entered and the cadets dispersed. All of them returned to their seats with different looks on their faces.

It seemed that the scandal between me and Chae Nayun had been wiped from their minds.

“So, there was a big incident recently, right? I was surprised after hearing about it.”

However, that imbecile known as a professor just had to bring it up again. Everyone’s eyes darted to me and Chae Nayun.

“

Hahaha!

I think it’s a great synergy if Hajin can use his brains and lead Chae Nayun in her studies, but dating so openly is ill-advised and could lead to penalties. I suggest you pretend to break up for a while.

Haha!

”

Everyone, including Chae Nayun, laughed at the imbecile’s joke except for me. I simply tapped my mechanical pencil on my open book.

“Then… let’s do ten pages today since all of you just got back from vacation.”

“Boooooo! Boooooo!”

The cadets jeered, but the professor didn’t seem to care at all.

Thus, our first class began after returning to Cube.

***

The mere ten pages the theory professor gave us took nearly one hundred fifty minutes to complete. All of the cadets were in a daze after the mental torture they just underwent.

Our practical class for today was

[Improving Mana Control]

. It was a class where cadets used their mana under the supervision of an instructor and a magician.

“Hello, everyone. It’s been a while. I heard that there was a huge incident over the break…” Kim Hojun said while looking at us.

I had a feeling that this was going to be everyone’s one-liner before classes started for at least a week, and I was barely able to suppress the sigh welling up inside of me.

“I hope that both of you are prepared for the consequences?” Kim Hyojun said.

He and the rest of the cadets broke into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

Then, he went back to looking serious and continued, “Anyways, I will introduce a new instructor today. Magician Lee Jinjun was supposed to be your instructor, but he unfortunately got injured. We have requested another magician in his stead. This person has a stellar track record and career, so please give a round of applause to welcome her!” Kim Hyojun exclaimed.

A magician wearing a hood appeared in the sky and all of the cadets started clapping.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

She skillfully landed on the ground and pulled down her hood.

“Wow! Whoa! Woot!”

The male cadets cheered after seeing her face.

Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail and her eyes were as fierce as a predator. Our instructor for today was a tremendous beauty who gave off the scent of the wild.

“H-Huh…?”

Kim Suho muttered and trembled.

Chae Nayun’s eyes shot wide open too.

“Nice to meet you… My name is Jin Sahyuk.”

I was surprised as well, but soon understood what was going on. Jin Sahyuk certainly did say that we would meet again soon. I just never imagined that we would meet in this way.

“I am your instructor for today,” Jin Sahyuk said as she looked over at me, Chae Nayun, and Kim Suho. She flashed an ominous smile and added, “It won’t be that easy, so you guys better brace yourself.”