Chapter 38.1

Feeling like I had acted like a pervert, I waved my hands furiously.

“Nothing at all. Really. I just arrived.”

“……really?”

Arkhan’s brows wrinkled in doubt at the look of mortification on my face.

“Yeah, I swear.”

I nodded strongly, before asking the question that had just popped into my head.

“But why are you changing here?”

“I left my shirt outside.”

Arhan grumbled, saying that he had not expected anyone to be here.

I scratched my head and nodded as I said, “Oh, got it.”

The atmosphere grew awkward as we stood.

Cough, cough.

I cleared my throat a couple of times, while turning my head. My hand unconsciously moved to hold the back of my neck.

“Why do you keep scratching your neck? Did you get bitten by a mosquito?”

“Hmm? Ah, it’s nothing.”

My reply sounded suspicious, even to me. But there was no way I could tell him that all I could think of was sunbae touching the back of my neck.

“Here.”

Sitting on the bench, Arkhan laid out his coat on the bench for me.

“Oh, thank you,” I said, carefully sitting atop the coat. A nice, refreshing breeze blew as we sat on the bench chit-chatting.

“That reminds me, do you know Gloria sunbae? You are in the same faculty.”

In the department of swordsmanship, the students often trained and competed together, so even students in different grades had a lot of interactions with each other.

“Of course. She is quite famous, afterall. I trained with her once, and I swear, I thought I was going to die.”

Arkhan shuddered slightly as he spoke.

“Really? Do you want me to scold her for you?”

“You, noona? Scold her?” At my confident words, Arkhan scrunched up his face, as if he was saying, ‘don’t be ridiculous.’

This little bastard.

“You too know each other.”

“Yeah, same club.”

“Hmm?”

Arkhan, who had been guzzling water, paused and frowned. He gulped down the rest of the water and tossed several questions at me in succession.

“You’re in the same club? The book discussion club? That Gloria sunbae?”

“Yes, I know, she doesn’t seem like the type to. But she’s pretty good.”

Different from how she might come off, Gloria sunbae was very forthright and sincere. I’d thought she was bumming around at first, but she always read the books and commented well on them too.

“Wow, who would’ve thought?” Arkhan said, his crimson eyes frowning.

“But why the book club though?” he continued. “There is a swordsmanship club too.”

“Who knows? I even wondered whether it was because of me.”

I tilted my head as I spoke, a small laugh escaping my lips. It might be narcissistic of me, but it was true that, to Gloria sunbae, I had become an existence she couldn’t live without. Ugh, it sounds weird even just thinking about it.

“Sunbae is a bit unusual, but she is quite fun,” I said with a small smile. Next to me, Arkhan frowned and hummed.

“Hmm.”

“Why are you making that face?” I asked while pinching his cheeks. Arkhan feigned pain and rubbed his cheeks.

“It just feels like I’ve got more competitors.”

“What are you on about now? It’s not like I can’t hang out with you because I’m friends with her,” I said, chuckling while ruffling his hair.

“Oh, earlier, I saw a bird in the back gardens over there.”

I tapped Arkhan on the shoulder and continued, remembering the blue bird that had flown away earlier.

“Do you remember? When we were kids, you hit a bird’s nest with your slingshot and broke the baby bird’s leg. Then we carried it all the way to the village while crying. That bird was a blue bird too.”

Arkhan laughed as he replied, “how could I ever forget that?”

“Grandma fixed the bird up in the end.”

That memory opened the floodgates, and we continued talking about our childhood.

“You know……”

Arkhan fiddled with my hair, smiled and said.

“If you don’t mind, noona, would you like to meet here some other time? Our encounters are always so irregular.”

“Oh, sounds good. I always pass by here on the days I have book club.”

“In front of the boys’ changing room?” Arkhan asked, his eyes narrowed. I rolled my eyes and replied sullenly.

“I mean, that just happens to be where the road is.”

“All right, all right,” Arkhan said, smiling playfully. Then he waved.

“See you next time, then.”

* * *

Whenever I passed by the Academy’s back gardens, I always felt like I had become a royal or something. It was the most majestic of the Academy’s corridors, and the gardens right beside it were as well maintained as the gardens in any noble mansion. I walked ahead with light steps, hugging the book in my hand to myself. The cool breeze fluttered my hair and put me in a good mood.

But right then……

I heard a faint sound; it sounded like a baby crying, but also like an animal whining. Scared, I turned around, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was nothing.

“Hmm.”

Was it just an auditory hallucination?

I rubbed my ears, frowning.

It was probably nothing.

But a few seconds later, I heard the sound again.

……no way.

I recalled the ghost stories that had been shared around the Academy. It was said that, once upon a time, a student had fallen into the pond in the back gardens, and if anyone passed through the back gardens on their own, that student would appear and drag them into the pond. Or some cock-and-bull story like that. The pond wasn’t even deep enough for a person to drown in, and was not so stupid as to believe in ghosts. So I’d always laughed it off and continued on my way. Now, I remembered that ghost story and chills ran down my spine.