Chapter 138: What Does This Look Like?
I confirmed that the hostile forces had successfully infiltrated Dungeon Island, but there was no need to be scared prematurely.
They should be quiet for now anyway.
During the mentoring period, the island was crawling with graduates which significantly restricted the enemy’s activities.
Whatever incident they caused would be quickly suppressed and ended, so they would have to wait for the right moment to maximize damage.
Until the first mentoring period ended and all the graduates left.
They’ll probably make their move around midterms.
The date mentioned in the cipher text was also around that time.
So, there was only one thing I could do now. Hone my skills.
Therefore, I called Dang Gyu-young over for the rest of the weekend and had sparring sessions with her.
When I pestered her with, “Senior-nim, let’s spar, let’s spar,” she grumbled about how annoying it was but still sparred with me.
But no matter what, I couldn’t monopolize the time of a third-year club president indefinitely, so I trained alone during the remaining time.
If the top priority was ranking up skills through the mentoring event, the next priority was refining my core in the Mana Cultivation Room.
The elixirs I received from Kim Gap-doo were [Great Blue Pil] and [Three-Hundred-Year-Old Ginseng]. I first consumed the relatively weaker Three Hundred-Year-Old Ginseng before starting my energy circulation training.
Of course, “relatively” weaker still meant that the energy contained in the B-rank elixir was immense.
I spent the entire weekend night in the special cultivation room, and by Monday morning, I still hadn’t absorbed it all.
It was a pity, but it seemed like I would have to complete my academic schedule first and then continue with the mana cultivation at night.
As usual, I intended to wake up Seo Ye-in and have breakfast together.
But surprisingly, I received a message from her.
[Seo Ye-in: (Peek-a-boo cat emoji)]
[Seo Ye-in: (Patting cat emoji)]
The sun must be rising in the west…
That human sloth actually woke up early and contacted me first.
Such a thing was unusual, but it wasn’t totally impossible.
[Kim Ho: Did you bake cookies?]
[Seo Ye-in: Yes]
[Seo Ye-in: (Chef cat emoji 1)]
[Seo Ye-in: (Chef cat emoji 2)]
[Seo Ye-in: !!]
[Kim Ho: (Cat licking lips emoji)]
[Kim Ho: Had breakfast?]
[Seo Ye-in: Not yet]
[Kim Ho: Let’s eat breakfast first]
I found a spot in the student cafeteria and sat across from Seo Ye-in.
Today’s menu was simple fried rice omelet.
The rice was perfectly stir-fried and wrapped in a very thin egg omelet.
The kitchen staff’s skills were fully demonstrated, making the food comparable to any popular restaurant.
Nevertheless, Seo Ye-in ate a bit more slowly than usual, not because it didn’t taste good but probably because she was already a little full.
She must have eaten a few cookies while baking.
I didn’t mind as long as she ate well and got the necessary nutrients.
Meanwhile, I shifted my gaze behind Seo Ye-in,
“…”
Ahn Jeong-mi sat quietly in an inconspicuous corner a little distance away.
Her posture was so composed that it was hard to tell if she was eating, but judging by her plate, the omelet rice was disappearing quickly.
Her spoon moved so fast it was almost invisible as she too took one bite after another.
While maintaining her poise and eating quickly at the same time, she occasionally glanced over to check if Seo Ye-in was eating well.
It was multitasking taken to the extreme.
I felt both respect and pity for Ahn Jeong-mi.
I must never become a butler.
And I should never consider joining Hye-seong Group.
After finishing our omelet rice, we moved to a quieter place.
We sat side by side on a bench there and Seo Ye-in rustled through a paper bag.
Finally, the cookies made their appearance.
She baked a lot.
The bag was bigger and packed fuller than last time.
Also, the aroma was even richer than before which could only mean that the taste had been upgraded as well.
When we visited the bakery in the downtown area, she had packed one of each type of cookie for research, and it seemed that research had been successful.
I could expect good things in terms of both quantity and taste.
However, with good news often comes bad news.
There must be more varieties too.
More varieties meant the cookie shape-matching challenge had become more difficult.
Moreover, Go Hyeon-woo who usually helped me out wasn’t here either.
I felt a bit nervous and started to think quickly.
When Seo Ye-in pulled out a cookie from the paper bag and handed it to me, I made my move.
“It looks delicious; your skills are getting better and better. Thank you.”
I quickly expressed my gratitude, snatched the cookie, and shoved it into my mouth.
If the cookie disappeared, there would be no challenge.
This was my strategy to finish it before she could ask.
But as if anticipating this, Seo Ye-in gently grabbed my hand just before the cookie reached my mouth.
She looked at me intently and asked,
“What does this look like?”
Operation “finish it before being asked” failed.
Once again, I was forced to participate in the shape-matching challenge.
I observed the cookie with a cautious attitude.
This curve looks like a crossbow… Penguin? No, it can’t be a penguin without a beak.
As always, its shape was truly mysterious.
However, this quiz had a time limit.
Taking too long was as good as admitting I didn’t know, so guessing was better.
After much deliberation, I was about to answer with penguin,
“……”
The air behind Seo Ye-in shimmered, and Ahn Jeong-mi quietly deactivated her invisibility and appeared.
She exchanged a secret glance with me and nodded her head. As if she was aware of my predicament and was ready to help.
After looking at the cookie once, she instantly figured out the correct answer and displayed her veteran butler skills.
The problem was how to convey it to me.
“……”
Ahn Jeong-mi pondered seriously for a moment.
Then, as if making a decision, she slowly moved.
She reenacted a few gestures with her hands and feet.
She had a businesslike expression as always, but a blush appeared on her face as if she was internally embarrassed.
Butler…
She had decided to reveal the answer for my sake, even at the cost of her dignity.
I didn’t want her sacrifice to be in vain, so I diligently interpreted the gestures she reenacted.
Swimming, playing ball with the nose, clapping.
Combining these with the shape of the cookie…
“Seal. Right?”
“……”
Seo Ye-in placed the cookie into my mouth.
This meant I was correct.
However, the shape-matching challenge was just beginning.
From the paper bag, Alien Lifeform No. 2 emerged.
“What does this look like?”
…Brachiosaurus?
But dinosaurs were already a failed guess in the past.
I looked to Ahn Jeong-mi for help, and she crossed her arms.
Then she pinched her nose with one hand and mimicked grasping something with the other.
The so-called elephant trunk pose.
When Seo Ye-in turned around, Ahn Jeong-mi quickly switched to a formal stance but her message had been clear.
“Elephant.”
Correct again.
Seo Ye-in nodded slightly and placed the brachio-elephant cookie into my mouth.
The shape-matching challenge continued.
Of course, the essence of the game had long since shifted to a game of guessing words based on Ahn Jeong-mi’s hand and foot gestures.
Anyway, after I got a few more answers right, Seo Ye-in was satisfied with her aesthetic sense, didn’t ask further, and started munching cookies with me.
Meanwhile, Ahn Jeong-mi with her face even redder kept fanning herself with her hands.
When our eyes met, I bowed my head slightly.
“Thank you.”
“…No, it is I who should be thanking you.”
When I asked what she meant with my eyes, Ahn Jeong-mi continued.
“The truth is, when the young Miss and Kim Ho-nim went to the downtown area, there was an opposing opinion that it might be excessive to give you B-rank coupons.”
Previously, as a gesture of gratitude for helping and motivating Seo Ye-in with her training, Ahn Jeong-mi had given me one B-rank item exchange coupon and another to get an item that Seo Ye-in might cherish.
However, it seemed that the opposing faction within the Future Strategy Office didn’t find this very acceptable.
There was also the risk of wasting the precious B-rank exchange coupons meaninglessly.
“But thanks to Kim Ho-nim’s performance that exceeded everyone’s expectations, I saved face. Thank you.”
Finding a bracelet that Seo Ye-in liked and giving her an A-rank item in exchange for the B-rank coupon must have silenced the opposition faction.
I anticipated that if I continued to achieve meaningful results with Seo Ye-in, the support from the Future Strategy Office would continue even after the mentoring ended.
“I heard you also got the same bracelet, Kim Ho-nim.”
“Yes, it dropped as a set of two.”
When Ahn Jeong-mi’s gaze dropped to my wrist, I summoned a storm cloud as if to show it off.
Pop!
A cloud that was the size of a fist floated around.
Seo Ye-in who had been watching quietly poked the cloud with her finger.
The cloud drifted in the direction it was poked, then floated back around.
Pop!
Seo Ye-in also summoned a white fluffy cloud.
The white cloud approached the dark cloud as if in greeting but the dark cloud didn’t seem very pleased.
When the fluffy cloud came close, the storm cloud shrank back slightly and then bumped it away.
However, the fluffy cloud persistently followed the storm cloud.
The fluffy and storm clouds bumped into each other and bounced around. As if they were playing a game of tag.
I watched them in silence and then asked Ahn Jeong-mi.
“How was last week’s mentoring?”
“It was very successful.”
The rank of her [Feather Walk] has been steadily climbing for a few weeks now, and it’s already at C-rank.
She had already surpassed the first-year average, and her proficiency had been raised enough to be useful in real-life situations.
I’ve heard that with such drastically increased mobility, she was able to dodge and get close enough to Kwak Ji-cheo to fire her shotgun.
If she could follow through well for the last week, it would be fine, but…
“It’s just…”
Ahn Jeong-mi looked at Seo Ye-in with worried eyes.
I also noticed something as soon as I saw her in the morning.
“She seems to have lost a lot of motivation.”
“… That’s right.”
The first week of mentoring drew Seo Ye-in’s interest by teaching her the new skill of [Feather Walk],
The second week was motivated by a promise to go out with me to the downtown area together on the weekend.
With the energy recharged from the downtown outing, she barely made it through the third week, but I don’t know what will get this human sloth moving this week.
It’s a problem that Ahn Jeong-mi can’t solve, so she will need my help again.
I thought for a moment with a cookie in my mouth and then answered.
“I will find a way.”
If I compared this week’s strategy battle sessions with my training schedule,
Perhaps a breakthrough might become clear.
