Starting a Reversal in Life From the Time of Release

20 – Different Ways of Thinking (3)

“Shifu, are you okay?”

If it were someone else, they would have started with asking who it was.

As soon as Mari entered the house, she asked about my well-being.

I felt grateful and sorry for getting involved in unnecessary trouble.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Sorry? Don’t say that.”

She sat me down on the living room sofa and immediately walked to the kitchen.

Soon, Mari came back with two cups in each hand.

Even though it was instant, the fragrant smell of coffee tickled my nose.

“Have a cup for now.”

“Thank you.”

While I received the coffee and drank, Mari sat down next to me and drank her coffee shoulder to shoulder.

She still wasn’t used to the bitter taste, so she was adding sugar and drinking it.

“Shifu, can you tell me who that woman is?”

Just as the coffee cups were emptied, Mari looked at me and asked.

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about where to start and how to explain, and opened my mouth.

“Nambora. She belongs to the Nokyang Guild.”

“Nokyang… is that the Hunter Guild that Shifu was a part of?”

“Yes. We were in the same guild, in the same team. Since you’ve seen her once, you can probably guess what kind of personality she has, right?”

“Yes.”

Mari replied very briefly, as if she understood.

It was obvious that she was arrogant and had a high nose from just looking at her.

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“People like her are persistent when they feel like their pride has been trampled on, right?”

After a moment of silence, Mari’s gaze turned towards me.

I couldn’t help but sigh at her expression that seemed to be painful.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“In that case… she might come to see me tomorrow.”

Confidence emanated strongly from Mari’s gaze and voice.

The certainty that she would definitely come tomorrow exerted a powerful influence.

Since I also thought the same way, I was determined to push Nam Bora away.

“I will handle it firmly. There seems to be no other way.”

“No, Shihoo, please don’t step forward.”

Of course, it was a problem caused by me, so I wanted to solve it, but Mari drew a line and said that she couldn’t do that.

“What? Mari?”

“If a woman starts a fight, a woman should resolve it. It’s cowardly to leave it to a man and hide. And it seems neater if I step forward.”

I felt sorry for burdening Mari with my problem, but I also didn’t know why I confidently tried to stop her.

I felt like I needed to watch over her for now.

However, Nam Bora did not visit our house the next day.

Was it because of their wounded pride?

Or were they busy?

I couldn’t know as far as I was concerned, but it seemed like I could take a breath for now.

Thanks to that, I packed lightly and left the house with Mari, feeling relieved.

Today, we were planning to rent the training room in the association building to have a practice match.

It wasn’t because I didn’t trust Mari, but it was to synchronize our breathing.

And to synchronize our breathing, we needed to know how each other fought.

“Yes, Yu Shihoo-nim. It has been confirmed.”

After going through the procedure to use the training room on the first floor of the association building, I headed to the third floor.

Just as expected from a well-maintained building, there were shock-absorbing designs and artifacts installed, so there was no worry about the building collapsing.

Except, unless countless hunters exerted themselves and broke it.

“It’s quite small, isn’t it?”

Mari murmured as she entered the empty training room, looking around.

Although it was a training room, it wasn’t very spacious, so a slightly disappointed expression could be seen on her face.

“The upper floor is small, but the lower floor is quite spacious. However, you have to use it with multiple people.”

“On the other hand, here, we can use it only with the two of us, which is good.”

Mari nodded as if she understood and moved to a corner of the wall.

She held the borrowed sword from the entrance of the training room in her hand.

“For now, I will try using only my physical abilities without awakening.”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

I tightly gripped the dart in my hand and looked for an opening.

I had experience in large-scale battles, fighting awakening users in the darklands and clashing with hunters.

However, it was difficult to find an opening in Marie, who just stood there.

“I’m sorry, but I learned from the knights… so it’s a bit difficult to find an opening.”

As if reading my thoughts, Marie said with a bitter smile.

“Then I will learn at least a little bit.”

Instead of waiting for an opening, I had to create one.

So, clutching the dart tightly, I leapt forward.

In the blink of an eye, I reached Marie and swung the dart like a spear.

If I could pierce her with the speed of my running, it would be fast, but for some reason, I felt like she would evade it.

The tip of the dart was sharp and narrow like a thorn.

Kkaah! Marie’s sword, which she grasped in reverse, clashed with the dart, creating sparks.

“Haa, haa…”

It had been about an hour since we fiercely trained in a one-on-one battle.

My body was drenched in sweat, and it felt heavy, as if my shoulders were being pressed down.

“The difference in awakening abilities… whew! It’s really huge.”

Marie murmured, wiping the sweat flowing down her face with her sleeve.

I was also sweating all over my body, just like her.

The sight of my wet body sticking to the black sheer fabric looked provocative, so without realizing it, I subtly turned my gaze away.

At first, I fought using only my body without using awakening abilities, but I was suddenly in a hurry to dodge when I attacked first.

It was because my swordsmanship and body movements, which I learned and practiced properly, were different from other hunters.

That’s why I thought of a certain European swordsmanship school that specialized in training sword and body techniques.

I was truly terrified when a straight sword drew a curved trajectory.

Fortunately, from the moment I started using vibration abilities, the flow went quite well for me.

Marie also started using mana in earnest, but thanks to the abilities, the burden was considerably less.

Thanks to that, even though I wasn’t at a great advantage, I was able to dodge Marie’s sweat.

I let out a hot breath that was bubbling inside and said,

“Yes. If I didn’t have awakening abilities, I would have definitely died.”

“Maybe. But you’re really good at fighting, aren’t you? No matter how different the world may be, losing to a man like this hurts my pride…”

Marie mentioned pride but laughed playfully.

She seemed to be enjoying herself rather than being disappointed.

“Oh, by the way, why are you looking to the side while talking? I’m right here.”

Perhaps she didn’t like that I was awkwardly looking to the side while talking, so Marie confidently approached me.

As our distance closed in an instant, a fragrant scent tickled my nose.

How can there be such a scent when I’m covered in sweat…

“Because you’re sweating. Maybe you’d feel embarrassed if I stared too much.”

“Huh? Oh…”

When I turned my gaze away, I noticed Marie thoroughly examining her own body.

From her chest to her legs, she was meticulously inspecting herself.

Then suddenly, she reached out and forcibly turned my head towards her.

Not to the side but directly in front, so our eyes met.

“It’s not a problem if you want to look. We’ll eventually see each other’s naked bodies anyway.”

“…What?”

As soon as I heard the word “naked,” I couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

In response, Marie replied as if it were completely natural.

“We’re dating, right? We’ll get married, and we’ll have children.”

“Well… Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean we have to get married, right?”

“I have no intention of breaking up with Si-hoo. Why would I break up with a guy like him? It’s not crazy.”

Marie firmly held my face and squinted her eyes.

Her half-closed pupils were filled with sincerity.

From my perspective, it was quite embarrassing.

Maybe it was because she was approaching me so boldly, but I couldn’t help feeling like I should kneel and surrender involuntarily.

In a rather crude way, I felt like I had become a female.

“Si-hoo.”

Amidst the strange tension that made the back of my neck stiff, Marie called my name.

“Yes?”

“I don’t dislike you, you know?”

When this sudden question came, I felt a bit flustered, but there was no need to think of a separate answer.

“If you didn’t like it, you wouldn’t have gotten this close, and you wouldn’t have even considered dating.”

“Of course.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Marie released her hand with a faint smile, as if she liked the answer.

Thanks to that, her stiff neck found freedom.

“They say in this world, some people get physically close as soon as they meet… So, Si-hoo, do you have any intentions like that?”

Just when it seemed like the right moment, a question that made the back of Si-hoo’s neck prickle flew out.

Even in the midst of it, it felt strangely calm.

“To be honest, if I said I didn’t, it would be a lie.”

“Is that so? Well, feel free to tell me anytime. I’ll let you have your way.”

Marie pointed to her own lower abdomen with both hands, and the world before Si-hoo went dark.

Even beyond the black sheer fabric, her abs were faintly visible. How should he express this?

“…Thank you.”

Even as I said thank you, I couldn’t believe I was saying it.

I wonder if people like Mr. Alberto, who shared the same room, would mock me for this.

“You’re here.”

Clank! When I was about to leave the training room, Nam Bo-ra came in with a heavy door.

Did she go to our house and come all the way here?

“What are you doing here?”

“When you were a rookie, you used to roll around in the training room. It’s obvious. She said it herself.”

After speaking forcefully that it was obvious, she glanced at Marie, who was holding a sword.

From head to toe, as if checking the condition of her prey.

“Judging by the looks of it, you’ve been rolling around quite a bit. But your stamina doesn’t seem to be great, huh? Why are you sweating so much?”

“That happens sometimes. But what’s going on?”

Marie asked, brushing off Nam Bo-ra’s provocation without any care.

It wasn’t pretending, but a genuine indifference.

In a way, it could be seen as disregarding the person.

Nam Bo-ra, thinking the same, furrowed her brow and replied.

“Huh? I was going to tell you to join Yoo Si-hoo and Nok-yang. You know that there’s a world of difference between having support and not, right? Unless you’re quite ignorant… “

“Yes, I heard that.”

If you join a guild, you can receive support.

And the better the guild, the higher the level of support.

Support can become equipment or an opportunity to train with a higher-ranked hunter.

It seemed like Nam Bora was trying to appeal to that point to entice Mari, but I could tell that she didn’t have good intentions at all.

Perhaps she had thought about taking advantage of Mari after joining the guild.

But Mari didn’t seem particularly interested in that aspect.

Her voice of response was cold.

However, Mari never had any intention of joining a guild in the first place.

Of course, joining a guild could be helpful in getting to know this world, but the help wasn’t necessary.

Just the two of them traveling together would be enough, and it wasn’t like there was no way to gather information.

“It’s okay. I prefer to be with Shiho alone.”

Therefore, it was natural for her to refuse like this.

Although it was strange for her to emphasize me so much, anyway.

It seemed like Nam Bora didn’t like that attitude, as her voice became even more irritated.

“Hey, don’t you have any awareness? Are you only considering me because I’m pretty?”

“A straw? Ah…! It means to leech off someone, right? You express it very well.”

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When Mari clapped her hands in surprise, Nam Bora’s brows became even more furrowed.

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

“No. I’m genuinely impressed. However…”

While Mari tapped the floor with the tip of the sword she had put in her scabbard, her soft gaze and voice quickly turned cold.

It seemed that saying “leech off” had touched her pride.

“If you have any complaints, how about having a conversation?”

And with that cold voice, she provoked Nam Bora.