Became a Swordsman Genius in a Pretty Girl Game

375. An Ordinary Man (3)

I woke up in the morning to a 5,700-character message from Shin Sehee that left me gaping in bewildered shock.

“…What the hell is this.”

I read the message once, twice, three times.

No matter how many times I read it, I couldn’t understand the situation.

How did things get like this?

In the message Shin Sehee sent, there was a Jin Yuha from another world line.

A hero Jin Yuha, crushed by the burden, ruthlessly belittling himself and agonizing.

‘So… what? Sophia managed to pull out a few words I mumbled amidst the interference, and she posted them on the cafe, and then they wrote a whole novel out of that?’

A chuckle escaped my lips.

From a few fragmented words, the party members concluded that my self-esteem was in the dumps.

I was flustered, but I kept reading through the message.

It detailed Sophia’s commitment to strengthening internal control, and how the story was currently unfolding.

– You can tell the party members whenever you feel like it. Though, just my personal opinion, I think it might be a bit too early. You still need a bit more time to prepare your mind, right, Jinyuha-ssi?

I nodded at that.

Right. Honestly, my thoughts weren’t quite sorted out yet.

The previous day, caught up in the mood in front of Shin Sehee, I’d chatted away freely, thinking that maybe it’d be okay to tell the party members too,

but after returning to my hotel room and giving it some thought, I got worried.

How would my relationship with the party members change after I told them? What attitude should I take?

I wasn’t ready for any of it.

It was already complicated enough just trying to savor the afterglow of my first kiss.

So, I’d planned to take it slow with Shin Sehee’s advice…

Then, the postscript that Shin Sehee had left at the end caught my eye.

– Um, so, about that…even if the party members are a bit strange today…could you try to act as natural as possible?

‘Strange…?’

*Ding—♪*

Just then, another message popped up, covering Shin Sehee’s message.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[NotSoup] – Jinyuha, shall we all meet up today?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

* * *

Del Luna, a luxury hotel in Hawaii. Top floor.

I paused for a moment in front of the door.

The sweet scent and soft music trickled out from under the door.

And the sound of hurried footsteps.

– Jin Yuha’s coming up now!

– What!? Al, already?

*Rip!*

– Hey! Kang Dohee! Control your strength!!!

– I said, let’s just hire someone.

– Then where’s the spirit of caring for your junior?!

– Ah, why’d you call me so early!

– We thought it was all done a minute ago!

‘What’s this?’

The murmuring voices from inside made me tilt my head, then push open the door.

*Creak.*

And the scene that met my eyes made my jaw drop.

In the center of the table stood a towering ten-tiered cake.

Each layer was decorated with a different color, becoming more and more crooked as it climbed higher.

At the very top, a small figure holding a sword was perched.

All around it, dishes made by the party members themselves were piled high.

Western, Japanese, Korean, and even some unidentifiable dishes with a faint burnt smell.

A banner, hanging lopsidedly on the wall, read [Utopia’s Party Cliff-top Flower, Jin Yuha Fighting!]

Balloons were stuck haphazardly to the ceiling.

A bright red carpet stretched from the door, and candles lined its edges.

But the red carpet was crumpled, not spread out neatly, and several candles had gone out.

As I appeared, the entire party froze, as if time had stopped, all their eyes fixed on me.

“…”

And then, a song started playing in my ears.

[ You were~ made to be loved~ ]

I stared blankly at the scene.

“Pffft!”

Since it already broke, I burst out laughing, a full, satisfying laugh.

I couldn’t hold it in, no matter how hard I tried.

Seeing that Kang Dohee was wearing a dog-ear headband on her head was just too out of balance.

“Nrrrhgh… Don’t laahf.”

Kang Dohee, knowing I was laughing at her, glared at me with fierce eyes as she spat out those words.

But the droopy dog ears, swaying adorably, only made me laugh harder.

“Hing… We were gonna surprise you when the new junior arrived…”

“B-but, we worked so h-hard on prep, you know… How is it?”

“Eun-in.”

Just as I was about to say something,

Ichika took my hand and pulled me to a chair on top of the table.

“Sit.”

Uh. Okay.

I was led by her hand, awkwardly plopping down into a seat.

Then, the party members, who’d been eyeing each other, all swarmed around me at once.

“Jin Yuha-ssi, this is the pasta I made.”

“Nureongi, here’s steak.”

“Instructor, it’s a salad.”

“My benefactor, sushi.”

“Junior. Try my egg tarts too.”

“Jin Yuha-nim, shouldn’t you soothe your stomach with some soup first?”

‘…Seriously, anyone would think I heard the whole explanation. Anyway, Shin Sehee, shouldn’t you not be acting like that over there?’

I looked at her with that meaning, but Shin Sehee just stubbornly held onto the pasta.

I was flustered by the food being shoved in my face,

then, my gaze landed a bit away, on a plate with something burnt black on it.

The owner of that plate was Lee Yuri, face bright red.

I picked up a spoon and headed for Lee Yuri’s plate.

“E-Eh! Ji, Jin Yuha. Y-you don’t have to eat th-that─”

Maybe she didn’t expect me to choose hers first, Lee Yuri was flustered.

But I, with a nonchalant expression, scooped up the black burnt thing with my spoon and brought it to my mouth.

Munch munch—

Okay.

“Hmm.”

‘Kimchi fried rice? It’s not bad, actually?’

Maybe I turned up the heat too high, the chili powder burned a little and gave it a slightly bitter taste, but I kinda liked it.

It was like, the bitter and the sweet of the carbs mixed together, like a red ginseng candy made into rice?

It was a pretty challenging flavor.

‘I could probably use this myself later, actually?’

“It’s good, though?”

“Y-you think it’s good…?”

“Yeah, like rice made with red ginseng candy.”

Everyone’s faces went blank.

“……Oh, right.”

“Yeah, your taste… you’ve always been like that.”

“Ah.”

Whatever, let’s just ignore their reactions.

Even though I heard about this from Shin Sehee beforehand, there’s no way they’d know that, so this whole thing is kinda backwards.

So I asked,

“But, what’s the occasion today?”

Then, like she just realized it, Senior Gaeul made an “oh crap” face and opened her mouth.

“Well, uh…. It’s just, we were thinking we’ve been taking our junior for granted all this time…”

“So, we were going to express our gratitude to the Instructor, and we decided to prepare it ourselves…”

Alice surveyed the party venue, decorated in an avant-garde style that was nothing like she’d expected.

‘So, they thought I was intimidated, and they put together this event to boost my spirits?’

*Tch.*

A chuckle escaped her lips.

Well, it wasn’t like they *could* do it well.

In this gender-reversed world, they’d spent every day wrestling monsters and mastering real combat skills. Suddenly asking them to do something this cutesy? It was bound to go sideways.

On one side, Shin Sehee was making a face, looking sorry she hadn’t been able to give a more detailed explanation.

But it seemed like she’d also been genuinely invested in this.

The only response I needed to have here was simple.

“Thank you.”

To express genuine gratitude to them all.

“I mean it.”

For today, I decided to accept all their consideration to the fullest extent.

And the faces of my party members brightened considerably.

After that, I sampled each of their dishes, enjoying myself.

Kang Doyee’s steak was, as usual, perfect, and Ga-eul sunbae’s egg tart was delightfully sweet.

Ichika’s sushi was a bit lacking, but the fresh seafood flavor was there, and

Alice’s salad was exceptionally fresh.

Shin Sehee’s pasta tasted like it came straight out of a restaurant.

*‘They all really put in the effort.’*

I could feel the warmth in my chest, a real sense that my party members had put in the effort, had really prepared this whole day just for me.

The clumsy decorations and crooked handwriting somehow felt even more heartfelt.

Then, it was when the day had started to dim a bit.

“Jin Yuha-nim.”

Sophia suddenly spoke to me. There was a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Yeah?”

Could she be bringing up the thing about the cafe post about Mua?

‘But that wasn’t a secret… was it?’

I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Sophia clasped her hands tightly, as if mustering courage.

“Uhm, w-would you like to, like, watch a movie with us?”

At Sophia’s words, the other party members began to look up, one by one.

It was like they had all been waiting for this moment.

“……A movie?”

“Yes, it’s a documentary.”

At Sophia’s words, Yuli casually raised a remote control.

“Sure.”

The moment I agreed, the lights in the party space suddenly went out.

And then, a screen began to appear on one side of the wall.

A title appeared, and the video began to play:

〈Utopia – An Ordinary Man〉

‘Sindorim Station’ – the image of a subway station flickers on the screen.

“…that goddamn Hyeji b*tch, she took the entrance fee and ran, leaving me to take the fall. Shit, as if I wasn’t broke enough. I gotta save as much as I can before heading to the Academy… Once I go in, I won’t be able to do any hunter work for a while. Gotta hit a jackpot today no matter what… Is that guy gonna be any good, even though he’s a dude? Still, he’s a cadet-in-training, so he should pull his weight, right? He’s not lying about being a cadet, is he?”

A woman’s muttering voice could be heard.

But the video doesn’t show the woman herself, just alternating shots of Sindorim Station and a blank phone screen.

Then, a man’s voice is heard.

“I am an Academy cadet, though?”

And then, a man’s face appears.

Black hair, pale skin, but a still awkward expression.

It was ‘me’ from the day I first met Lee Yuri.

I stared at the screen, looking shocked.

‘…But, I don’t remember filming a video that day?’