Creator's Favoritism - Episode 40

The PE teacher lost his grip on Jang Haeseo, who was thrashing like a mad stallion, and tumbled down.

“Still think I’m a pushover? Answer me!”

“Haeseo, get a hold of yourself!”

Gil Seungwon, along with Je Hyunbin, was sweating profusely as they restrained Haeseo’s limbs. Behind Ju Young-in, who stood watching the situation with her hands in her pockets, the first-years could barely breathe.

Even if the first-year had challenged the third-year first, did it really need to escalate this far?

“First-years, back to the classroom! Sun-woo and So-ra, take Ji-sang to the infirmary! Hurry!”

The PE teacher, wiping streams of sweat from his forehead, shouted in our direction.

Hong Ji-sang remained motionless where he had fallen. So-ra and I supported him from both sides as we headed to the infirmary.

The first group PE class ended in complete disaster. The school nurse, Park Hun-min nearly fainted when he saw Hong Ji-sang’s mangled face entering the infirmary.

Throughout the emergency treatment, Hong Ji-sang never explained why he had so boldly challenged the third-year.

「Tito draws Jang Haeseo’s backstory of going berserk and throwing punches after being called a ‘chihuahua’ by a senior. Thanks to rendering these past scenes in black and white, the work progresses slightly faster.」

As you can see, Tito was busy with that. Though it was clear I wouldn’t even appear in the corner of a panel if I stayed here, I felt uneasy about leaving Hong Ji-sang alone in the infirmary with his shirt covered in blood.

Taking advantage of a moment when the nurse stepped out, I carefully asked in a whisper:

“Have you been having a rough time lately? We barely see you at school either. Senior Changgyu said, that senior has a really bad temper.”

Hong Ji-sang, with a splint on his fractured nose, maintained his silence. The bruising and swelling, which had been horrific when we first arrived at the infirmary, had somewhat subsided thanks to So-ra’s efforts.

“Hey, I’ll keep it a secret from the teachers. Just tell me.”

I crouched in front of Hong Ji-sang, looking up at him. As soon as our eyes met, his expression turned fierce.

“Must be nice for you, huh? Having the luxury to worry about others.”

“What?”

What’s with him being so hostile today?

Though he was usually aggressive, the look in Hong Ji-sang’s eyes now was filled with pure rage.

“Sorry, but I don’t have that luxury. I don’t care if that senior is a third-year or has a nasty temper. I’m just taking on whatever comes my way.”

Hong Ji-sang grimaced as he pulled out the gauze from his nose. Glaring at the blood-soaked gauze ball, he spat out each word with emphasis:

“Do you know how much a D-rank hunter’s average annual salary is? It’s just basic wage level. There are tons of low-rank hunters who can’t get sponsorships. But I need to earn more than that.”

Hong Ji-sang was also a D-rank hunter. His eyes reflected an inferiority complex as he fired words like a machine gun.

“It’s only been a week since school started, but Lee Chan-yu and Yeo Wook have already developed manifestation skills, and Kang Chagyeong… well, he’s S-rank so whatever he does is fine.”

“That’s because of their ranks. The higher their rank, the faster they naturally grow, right?”

“Then what about you? Whether it’s good or bad luck, you’ve been to multiple gate sites, appeared on the news. People outside only talk about you.”

Hong Ji-sang’s cold eyes stared straight at me. He briefly glanced at Hyun So-ra, who stood awkwardly by the bedside.

“She’s the same. Even with a low rank, medical hunters are extremely rare, so there are plenty of places that want her.”

I couldn’t argue for a moment. The truth was, nothing Hong Ji-sang was saying was wrong.

Seeing me biting my lower lip, he lifted one corner of his mouth in a sneer.

“For an ordinary guy like me, rank is everything. That’s why I trained like crazy. But you saw how that tiny C-rank senior just beat me up? A D-rank will always be a D-rank, no matter what they do. There’s no point in trying.”

“Even so, you should act more rationally…”

“Hey.”

Hong Ji-sang cut off my attempt at a calm response. His eyes were full of inexplicable hostility.

“Don’t run your mouth when you don’t understand anything.”

He glared at me with bloodshot eyes, all the capillaries burst.

“You’re really pissing me off.”

The sight of his back as he left the infirmary was cold.

“He looked down on that third-year senior because he was short and skinny, right? Say it isn’t so if you can. But you can’t.”

What’s with this situation now?

In the center of the first-year classroom we’d belatedly arrived at, Yeo Wook and Hong Ji-sang were facing off in a tense atmosphere.

“Say whatever you want.”

“Anyway, I can’t stand people like you. Seriously.”

Yeo Wook’s expression was fierce as he spat out the words with disgust. Lee Chan-yu was flipping through her textbook with a disinterested face, while Kang Chagyeong was just sweating nervously, unable to intervene in the situation.

“Hey hey, what’s wrong? Why are classmates fighting? Let’s stop.”

When I hurriedly stepped between them, Yeo Wook’s cold eyes turned to me.

“Sun-woo. Don’t cover for him. What has he done right?”

Well, nothing really, but…

BANG!

Hong Ji-sang, his face clearly offended, cursed under his breath and kicked the desk leg in front of him.

That’s my desk though…

“Hey… why…”

As it fell to the floor with a crash, everything in the desk drawer scattered across the ground.

Even then, their glares continued to clash in mid-air. Hyun So-ra and Kang Chagyeong nervously picked up my pencil case and textbooks.

With even Yeo Wook, the only sociable one among the first-years besides me, taking such an openly hostile attitude, all that remained was chaos.

There wasn’t a single sunshine-like character that every class usually has.

I closed my eyes tightly, wanting to ask Tito if this was really the best he could do.

Ah… this is driving me crazy with worry.

I fell into contemplation while chewing the end of my ballpoint pen. I hadn’t been able to concentrate at all during regular classes these past few days.

「Tito sketches the title page to insert at the beginning before submitting the completed chapter. The title page, which changes every episode, is one of Tito’s favorite parts of the work.」

Title page?

I was momentarily confused by the unfamiliar term, but after seeing the following explanation, I could guess what it was.

「Tito sketches a box with the brand ‘Sugar Engine Doughnuts’ written on the side, colorfully topped donuts, and ‘Lee Chan-yu’ and ‘Maeng Sun-woo’ each holding a donut.」

Most webtoons use the same title design throughout. But some webtoons draw separate title illustrations for each episode. A variation on the title.

「Looking at the completed drawing with the title ‘Cramming Hunter Education’ placed on top, Tito admires it with a satisfied expression.」

After my character became fairly well-established within <Cramming Hunter Education>, Tito had been treating me well enough to include me in the title pages.

Naturally, this made me think of Hong Ji-sang, whom Tito hadn’t been paying any attention to.

‘Come to think of it, he said he needed to earn a lot of money.’

I hadn’t known that his circumstances were difficult enough for him to be under pressure to earn money.

And no matter how much I tried to stretch it, I couldn’t say my own situation was comfortable either.

Thinking we might be in similar positions, I couldn’t help but keep worrying about it.

During the short break between first and second periods, as I was walking aimlessly around the grounds trying to shake off my concerns, my eyes widened slightly.

I spotted a yellow cat that looked even whiter in the sunlight. Its tail swayed gracefully as it rested atop its neatly folded front paws.

It was my first time seeing a stray cat on Haniyeong’s grounds. I quickly went to the convenience store and bought a sausage.

However, the cat that had been leisurely sunbathing just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did it run away already?’

As I looked around searching for the cat, my gaze landed on the parking lot in the distance. I caught glimpses of what looked like wheat-colored fur gleaming under a car.

“Here kitty, you were here.”

I lowered myself and approached slowly so as not to frighten the cat. The cat, seemingly friendly, just meowed “aeong” without running away.

“Want to eat some sausage…”

The cat’s pupils, which had been leisurely licking its front paws, slowly turned red. I hid the hand holding the sausage behind my back and began backing away carefully.

The demon that slowly revealed its true form opened its maw wide. Seeing its mouth stretch impossibly wide for a normal cat made my stomach turn.

“What does it matter to you what happens to Hong Ji-sang?”

The demon spoke in a voice that sounded like a beast imitating human speech.

“…Why are you here again?”

“‘Again’? That’s completely wrong. I’m always by your side. Always, everywhere.”

A shiver ran down my spine at the demon’s casual words. When I openly frowned, the demon covered its snout with its front paw as if hiding a laugh.

“Anyway. What does it matter to you if that bastard is struggling because he’s D-rank? Survival of the fittest, natural selection, laws of nature. Don’t you know?”

My temples throbbed with pain. As the demon rambled on, the pain snowballed and grew.

“It’s troublesome when someone incompetent leeches off others like a parasite. Don’t you think?”

A headache so severe it blurred my vision suddenly struck. All I could do was crouch there groaning, making it impossible to properly respond to the demon’s words.

“My head hurts… shut up.”

“Just leave him be. Why are you so soft-hearted? Is this related to why you committed suicide? Think about it~”

“I said shut… up…”

The headache thrashed violently like someone driving a chisel into my temples. I couldn’t finish my words and squeezed my eyes shut.

“Sun-woo. I’ve been wondering something.”

A voice laced with laughter buzzed in my head. The unidentifiable girl’s voice carried uncomfortable curiosity, rudeness, and contempt.

“Can I ask you? Why did you apply for the consideration admission?”

It felt like someone was violently choking me, making it hard to breathe. I struggled to suppress the urge to vomit as I squinted my eyes open.

The peaceful parking lot scene from moments ago had vanished completely. Only me and some wet, black masses remained tangled together in an endless black void.

‘This is the demon’s doing. Just need to keep my mind straight…’

I gritted my teeth, trying not to lose consciousness. The sticky, tar-like masses covering my thighs, which had been writhing formlessly, gradually took on more precise shapes.

Eventually, the masses stood on two legs and took on completely human forms. The masses split from one to two, two to four, and formed a circle around me.

“Sun-woo? You’re good at studying, but honestly not good enough for that university. Without the consideration admission… Ah, never mind.”

“Honestly, how could she look good? Didn’t other students study hard too?”

“…So completely unfair…”

“Living life the easy way.”

“Sun-woo.”

“Must be nice?”

The faces of the students adding their comments one by one were all pitch black with their features smoothly carved away, making them unidentifiable. The only thing I could confirm was that they all wore the same school uniform.

I blinked in confusion and looked down at my palms. Somehow, I too was wearing the same design uniform as them.

A school emblem with the character ‘高’ inside a pentagon. Memories that had been hidden in thick fog began surfacing like a drowned corpse. I already knew this uniform.

It was from the school I originally attended, the one I would still be attending now if it weren’t for the demon.

As the buried memories vividly resurfaced, I pressed my thumbs against my increasingly painful temples as if trying to crush them.

♪♬♪…

I didn’t know how long I had been like that. The bell signaling the start of class rang from far away.

By the time I barely managed to gather my wits, the demon had already disappeared.