Chapter 38
Part 6. The Dragon’s Shadow (7)
‘What kind of threat could an F-rank possibly be?’
I gave a bitter smile inwardly. But it seemed Lee Sanghee didn’t see it that way.
She soon turned her head and walked out into the hallway. Her head was still lowered, her steps timid as ever.
When lunchtime came, the hallway grew crowded with students. Groups of friends headed toward the cafeteria or the convenience store or stayed behind in classrooms to eat their packed lunches.
I took a sip from my water bottle and stepped into the hallway. A few classmates asked me to come with them, but today, I wanted to be alone. Lee Sanghee’s gaze from earlier kept bothering me.
‘Am I just being oversensitive?’
I leaned against the window at the end of the hallway and looked down at the campus.
The relaxed lunchtime scenery. Students eating lunch on the grass, others reading on benches, and professors walking toward the dungeon studies building.
It was peaceful.
But that peace didn’t last.
“Hari!”
I turned at the voice calling from behind.
It was Lee Sanghee.
As always, her head was slightly lowered, her face half-hidden behind her hair. She was holding a lunch bag in her hand.
“Uh… yeah?”
I smiled awkwardly, unsure how to respond.
Lee Sanghee approached one careful step at a time, like a frightened bird.
“Um… maybe… would you like to eat lunch together…?”
“Huh? Ah, I was planning to eat at the cafeteria…”
“Oh, I-I see… s-sorry…”
She quickly bowed her head. Her face flushed red.
Was she embarrassed at being rejected? Or was she just that easily flustered by nature?
‘This didn’t happen in the original story.’
In the original, Lee Sanghee only focused on Yoo Hanseong. She barely interacted with other students, especially not someone like Jin Hari.
So why was she asking me to eat together now?
“Oh, no, it’s fine. You don’t need to apologize. Let’s eat together next time.”
I answered with a polite, social smile.
Lee Sanghee lifted her head and looked at me. Her eyes wavered briefly, as if she were judging something.
“I-I see… then next time…”
She turned around and walked toward the other end of the hallway, her head still lowered, her steps small.
Watching her back, I frowned.
Something felt off.
Her behavior didn’t feel natural. It was like she was trying to confirm something.
‘Did she test me?’
No. That was too paranoid.
She was probably just shy and bad at making friends.
I shook my head and started heading down the stairs to the first-floor cafeteria.
That was when I saw a crowd gathered halfway down the stairs.
About ten people. They were classmates from my class.
“Oh, Hari!”
Someone waved at me.
“What’s up? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, we were just talking about what to eat for lunch. Want to come with us?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I naturally joined the group.
Being in a group felt safer. Less noticeable.
We walked down the hallway together, chatting and laughing. It was ordinary, everyday life.
Then, as we turned a corner—
“Huh?”
Another group was standing there.
They were boys from our class.
And in the middle of them—
Yoo Hanseong.
More precisely, boys surrounding Yoo Hanseong.
They were asking him things, probably about dungeon strategies. After all, he was an S-rank dealer.
“Hey, Hanseong, you’re S-rank, right? Not A-rank or something?”
Yoo Hanseong didn’t answer and just kept walking.
The boys didn’t give up and followed him anyway. They seemed used to his blunt personality, not bothered by his lack of response.
Our group and theirs met in the hallway.
Naturally, the two groups merged, making the corridor even more crowded.
“Hey, are you guys heading to the cafeteria too?”
“Yeah, you too?”
“Then let’s go together.”
Students flooded forward together.
I was naturally pushed toward the back.
There was no reason for a Frank like me to be in front, and honestly, the back was more comfortable.
But when I glanced behind me—
Yoo Hanseong was there too.
He walked behind the group with his usual expressionless face.
Not mingling with friends, but not completely alone either.
‘Why is he walking alone like that?’
The distance between us was now about two meters.
I deliberately turned my gaze away.
If I stayed close to Yoo Hanseong, Lee Sanghee might misunderstand again. Lee Sanghee, of all people.
Then, suddenly, someone appeared ahead in the hallway.
It was Lee Sanghee.
She stood in the middle of the corridor, looking at our group.
More precisely—
She was looking at Yoo Hanseong.
“Huh? Lee Sanghee?”
Someone in our group recognized her and greeted her.
She flinched and bowed quickly.
“Ah, u-um… h-hi…”
“Are you going to eat lunch too?”
“Y-yeah…”
She answered with her head still lowered.
But her gaze kept drifting toward Yoo Hanseong, stealing glances through her hair.
Did Yoo Hanseong see her?
No.
He didn’t even look at her.
He simply walked past, as if she didn’t exist.
Lee Sanghee’s face went pale. Her hands trembled slightly.
‘Ah…’
Seeing that, I understood.
Just how deeply Lee Sanghee was obsessed with Yoo Hanseong.
How desperately she wanted him to notice her.
But Yoo Hanseong had no interest.
Or rather, he didn’t seem to have the luxury to care.
He had a more important goal.
In the original story too, Yoo Hanseong didn’t open his heart to anyone early on.
Our group passed by Lee Sanghee.
I glanced back.
She was still standing there.
Head lowered. Fists clenched.
Then she lifted her head—
And our eyes met.
‘Oh no.’
Her gaze had changed.
It was no longer timid or anxious.
It was cold, sharp, and resolute.
And it was directed at me.
More specifically, it felt like she was calculating the distance between Yoo Hanseong and me.
‘Why is she looking at me?’
My heart sank.
I had nothing to do with Yoo Hanseong. I just happened to be walking in the same group.
But that didn’t seem to matter to her.
I hurriedly looked away and moved closer to my friends in front, increasing the distance between me and Yoo Hanseong as much as possible.
‘Please don’t misunderstand…’
But instinctively, I knew it was already too late.
Lee Sanghee had already recognized me as a “variable.”
Someone who could interfere between her and Yoo Hanseong.
A chill ran down my spine.
On the way back to the classroom after lunch, the hallway was still crowded.
I walked with Hyun Iseo and Hui, talking about the next class.
“What was the afternoon class again?”
“Dungeon practice theory.”
“Oh, right. What a pain.”
“But isn’t there a C-rank dungeon practice next week?”
“Yeah, they said it’s the Ongdalsam Dungeon.”
The Ongdalsam Dungeon.
The moment I heard the name, I stopped walking.
‘The Ongdalsam Dungeon?’
I recognized it from the original story.
A C-rank dungeon with low difficulty, often used for first-year training.
A dungeon modeled after the Golden Axe and Silver Axe legend.
Approach the mountain spirit, safely retrieve the iron axe, and clear it. Simple.
‘Did Lee Sanghee participate in that too?’
My memory was vague. The Ongdalsam Dungeon hadn’t been a major scene in the original.
“Hari, are you okay?”
Yoo Hui looked at me with concern.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Nothing. I’m okay.”
I forced a smile and kept walking.
But something felt wrong.
The Ongdalsam Dungeon.
That place was scheduled to become the Azure Dragon dungeon.
‘And there’s more to it than that.’
That uneasy feeling became reality when we turned a corner.
Lee Sanghee was standing there.
Right where our group would pass.
As if she had been waiting.
She lifted her head and looked at me.
No—she looked at all of us.
But her gaze was fixed on me.
