Chapter 120 – A Brief Respite (2)
Academy morning. The school gate system asked the man passing through the main gate the purpose of his visit.
[Please enter the purpose of your visit.]
The man’s name is Kim Hyun-ki. He swept his long hair and stroked his messy beard. And while contemplating what to write the purpose of his visit, he wrote:
[Registration recovery]
[Thank you for your cooperation. The ‘registration recovery’ procedure can be carried out in the Academy Student Office.]
Kim Hyun-ki nodded his head and walked forward. He was awkward in the suit he hadn’t worn in a long time. His tie was tight, and his clothes seemed to constrict him. Kim Hyun-gi twitched his lips and looked at the academy.
This was not the first time he had applied for reinstatement. However, the only answer given by unmotivated students and staff to him, who was accused of student negligence, was ‘impossible’. He said that the academy could not provide educational services because he had not been able to attend classes and had been taking classes unfaithfully.
But then and now, he had a lot to say. At that time, Kim Hyun-ki was properly present. He said that he was insincere in class, but in the first place, most of the academy classes were field classes with no elements to be ‘insincere’.
There was only one reason why he was stuck with ugly hair. It was because when Jang Ji-wan Hunter was the president of the academy, he was going to participate in the Rookie of the Year.
Because of that one reason, Kim Hyun-ki’s life was tangled like a tangled skein.
“Excuse me.”
With the student who hadn’t come in a while, he still gave off a fussy and rude air. Employees were sitting in front of computers, manicuring their nails or grinding their teeth, leaning back on their backs and watching the clock at work. Kim Hyun-ki sat in the middle of the reinstatement procedure and said.
“Hello.”
A glance returned to the polite greeting. The employee secretly checked the list of new students, and even skimmed the list of ungraduated students and mentors. Then I asked Kim Hyun-ki.
“What did you come for?”
“I came to apply for academic recovery. Six years ago, she attended the Academy, when she was expelled for a record error.”
“What is your name?”
“I am Kim Hyun-ki.”
Even going through the paperwork process, there was no inspiration. There was no anticipation. She knew it wouldn’t work, but she just did it, it was a pointless move. Haven’t you ever been like that? ‘The door is locked,’ she says, and even if a friend shakes the door in front of me, she never dares to open it.
Then, the other side would say something like this.
‘I knew that.’
The same ridicule was circulating in Kim Hyun-ki’s head right now. The student department staff looked at his face with a startled look and asked.
“That… Maybe your name is Youngmi…”
“You’re right.”
The employee said with a twitch.
“Ah yes. He was expelled due to lack of attendance and lack of sincerity in classes. You have applied for student registration several times, 3 years ago or 5 years ago. Yes. You may have heard the explanation then, but this is now an academy…”
Kim Hyun-gi didn’t listen to the answer anymore. He got up from his seat. I heard the employee behind me muffled and gasping for breath, then chatting with other employees. He lit a cigarette as soon as he left the student room.
He remembered the day he was expelled. At that time, he was caught in an accident during a group study training conducted at the academy and was in a coma for two months. He couldn’t even remember what the accident was. Because accidents happen inside the gate for various reasons.
After coming to his senses, what flew to him was the compensation of about 30 million won, which was left after deducting the ‘exit’ treatment and hospital expenses due to the lack of attendance days. The person who gave the reward was Jang Ji-wan’s secretary. He said in a stern tone that the academy and you don’t get along.
It was because, at that time, Jang Ji-wan was very concerned about the ‘honor’ of the academy.
He didn’t want to graduate when he was the president of the society, a person with the nickname ‘Youngmi’s pussy owner’.
At the time when he was still 20 years old, Kim Hyun-ki thought 30 million won was a lot of money. He thought it was good because he didn’t have to take the annoying academy classes. He thought it would be okay to find a small rented room with Youngmi and live comfortably while working.
“I didn’t know it would turn out like this.”
Kim Hyun-ki said that and turned off the cigarette. He made his way to the car. He hadn’t even expected it, but he had a bitter taste when it came to reality.
When Kim Hyun-ki first became a Hunter, he was 19 years old. Having become an Awakener in the middle of an ambiguous summer, he did not enter the academy until the following year. He had a girlfriend, ‘Park Young-mi’, whom he had been dating since high school, and Young-mi’s nickname since middle school was sex machine.
She meant that she was such a worn-out woman, but Kim Hyeon-gi still loved Young-mi wholeheartedly. Young-mi also sincerely loved Kim Hyun-ki. The two were people who held each other tightly, had vulgar conversation, and enjoyed vulgar sex.
He was pointed out as a sloppy and unlearned human being, and he actually spent half of his life in entertainment and smoking, but Kim Hyun-ki still liked Young-mi. Because there was no iron, love burned so hot that it didn’t even leave a residue.
The fact that Kim Hyeon-gi wrote his nickname as ‘Young-mi-boji owner’ was also an insult because he was immature. He thought, with similar logic to Ada Bomber, that he too would just change his nickname later.
Even the phrase “You can change it” Was a subjunctive law. Because he had no intention of changing. After his nickname, Young-mi said that she would also match Kim Hyun-ki, and had a tattoo on her back that said, “Current Reporter Ji-ju-in.”
When people saw these two people, they said that they were really playing with each other.
******
There was a picture of Young-mi hanging in Kim Hyun-ki’s car. The photo with the spring staring at the driver’s seat, when he accelerated, he wiggled his head from side to side as if he was doing a charm, and when he stepped on the brake, he stopped and stared at Kim Hyun-ki.
That’s why Kim Hyun-ki was running with Young-mi. The place is Diamond Club. It was a place where Jang Ji-wan was now an S-class hunter. Kim Hyun-ki thought while driving her car. He really thought it could all be his fault, that he shouldn’t have been given a nickname like that in the first place.
“You didn’t know it would turn out like this. Yes?”
Kim Hyun-ki looked at Young-mi’s picture and asked. It was as it was said. The future has always been uncertain. No one knew that the gate would open near the house where Kim Hyun-ki and Young-mi lived. No one expected that Youngmi would be seriously injured by being swept away by the monsters that appeared from the gate, and that she would contract a special disease that only comes from gate monsters.
Because of that, no one thought that even with medical insurance, hospital bills would cost hundreds of units a month. And it wasn’t until then that Kim Hyun-ki learned that Hunter, who had been expelled from the academy, had a hard time finding work.
Drop out of the academy. His nickname is ‘Young-mi-boji owner.’ Who will entrust him with work? Kim Hyun-ki is a hunter, but he worked more at the construction site, and he never ate all three meals a day because of his hospital bills. In his exhausted body, he only accumulated resentment against him day by day.
He applied for registration several times, but since he received the compensation, he could not be put back in school. He would spit out 30 million won, so he begged to let him go back to school, but Jang Ji-wan remained silent.
To speak objectively, the cause was in him. However, Kim Hyeon-gi did not want to think that all the tragedies were caused by his own sins. It was because he felt so unreasonable that he had to go through such a tragedy just because he had a nickname wrong.
Tragedy is a chain reaction. In order to roll the cog wheel, someone first has to hold the handle and turn it. Kim Hyun-gi did not want to think that his nickname was Knob. I wanted to think that Jang Ji-wan’s selfishness and desire for honor were the starting point of all these tragedies.
Kim Hyun-gi asked for a cigarette. At the end of the road, I saw the building of the Diamond Club. Kim Hyun-gi said while looking at the picture.
“Youngmi. Sometimes I just, really think that I’m doing something wrong. I am trying to dispel that thought every time.”
The photo of Youngmi was smiling. Kim Hyun-ki always tried to smile when he saw the picture and talked about it. It didn’t mean anything, but it was because she felt she had to. Kim Hyun-ki’s car stopped in front of the club. In order to meet Jang Ji-wan, an S-rank hunter, he planned to wait here from now on.
Kim Hyun-ki threw a cigarette into the driveway and said.
“If it was really my fault, how will I see you when I die? Huh?”
Kim Hyun-ki said while sweeping Young-mi’s picture again.
“I will be sure to apologize. I want to hear a word of sorry. Huh?”
His gaze turned to the jagged horizon made of buildings. Jang Ji-wan’s luxury car was slowly going to the club’s parking lot. Kim Hyun-ki jumped out of the car and ran towards his car. The guards guarding the Diamond Club reached out to stop his sudden action.
“Huh?”
However, the guards’ hands only crossed the air. Kim Hyeon-ki, who permeated the asphalt floor like water, broke through the guards and popped out in front of Jang Ji-wan’s car. Jang Ji-wan’s face was seen in the back seat of the car that stopped in a hurry. Kim Hyun-ki faced Jang Ji-wan and his face with his hands in his pockets.
The car window opened and Jang Ji-wan poked his head out and said.
“What’s going on? Who are you?”
“Six years ago, in the Rookie of the Year match, there was one Awakener who couldn’t leave because you were extremely against it, right?”
Zhang Jiwan narrowed his eyes at those words. He nodded and stretched out his hand, barely holding on to the vague memory.
“Ah, that vulgar bastard! You remember who you are! So, what did you come here for?”
“Didn’t you trick me into cheating on me with a small amount of money and block my path and even restore my academic records? Right?”
Jang Ji-wan replied to Kim Hyun-ki’s question.
“Did you think of graduating with a nickname like that? Hey, he’s like a madman.”
“If only I had been able to do my hunter job properly, my wife would have been able to get her surgery sooner. Did you read the letter I explained to you? Did I get down on my knees and beg you? I’ll fix my nickname as soon as I get a B grade, so please restore your school registration or ask for a job, right? You killed that you killed.”
Jang Ji-wan’s eyebrows twitched. He rolled his eyes for a moment and then replied to Kim Hyun-ki.
“Everything, more than your business. Stop talking nonsense and go away. I am not in a good mood right now.”
Kim Hyun-ki let out a sigh. He clicked his tongue and left the club parking lot again.
There was no excitement. There was no anticipation. It was a meaningless act of doing it even though I knew it wouldn’t work. Haven’t you ever been like that? Even if a friend shakes the door in front of me saying, ‘The door is locked,’ have you ever dared to open the door?
Then, the other side would say something like this.
‘I knew that.’
