Kim Hajin POV | Continuation from Rachel's POV
I was grilling the meat I collected on the way from hunting monsters when I heard a sound from the Bush. I turned around and to my surprise, it was the same blond princess that I knew, one who's beauty could be compared to even elves. Standing there, staring at me with those blue eyes that seemed to be staring at my soul.
"Rachel-sii?"
She stared at me without answering, than shifted her stare to the meat that was being cooked. It seemed that she was hungry and came here guided by the smell th--
*Growl~*
"..."
"..."
"Want to eat?" I said while smiling, trying to hold my laughter.
"Umm... s-sure." She said, probably embarrassed that she made such a sound.
"You can sit there." I said while pointing at a tree lying on the ground. She proceeded as I said while I went near the grill and resumed cooking. The atmosphere was really awkward, she was staring at me as if she wanted to start questioning right away, but held it as much as she could. She probably wanted to ask me about the fight earlier.
Well, it was normal. I had saved her again out of nowhere and she had no means to thank me, not that I want her to do that... . Trying to lift up the awkwardness in the atmosphere, I started a conversation.
"Did you come here following the smell?" I asked already knowing the answer, but still asked for the sake of starting a conversation.
"Partially. I was hunting some rabbits near the river and decided to follow the flow of water. After some walking, I smelled something being cooked and out of curiosity went up. So, I decided to follow the smell." She explained politely, but seemingly in a hurry.
"Ah, Ok. Well... no need to be afraid. I won't do anything."
"I know you won't" She answered , almost immediately.
"...I'm glad that you think that way, but you shouldn't trust me blindly you know, we're still in a test." I replied back, thinking that she trusted me too much.
"But you saved me more than once already. Unconditionally at that, Hajin-sii... I think I can trust you" She said while smiling.
"..."
I swear, that smile is unfair. But I shut myself up knowing that I couldn't answer back to what she said.
"O-Oh look, the food is ready, here" I said as I saw that the meat was already perfectly cooked. There were 12 sticks, with 4 pieces each. I gave her 6 as she stared at me wanting to say something.
"How many points?" She asked.
"Hmm? Ah, you don't need to. I already have plenty of points and food." I replied.
"Huh? No! You don't need to be kind, Hajin-sii." She retorted.
"That's not it. Rachel-sii has already helped me by keeping my involvement in the fight a secret." I answered while smiling, trying to be as polite as possible.
"..." She kept staring at me. After some seconds, she quietly began eating the grilled meat while making an expression that told that she was pouting... probably.
I also sat back on the chair that had come with the camp set.
**
We had just finished eating. Rachel was now looking at me as if she wanted to ask some questions, but thought that I might get angry or not answer them.
"Mmm... You know you can ask any question, Rachel-sii." I said, trying to reassure her as she was probably nervous.
"Than... why you helped me? And did you know about the Djjins? And how is your rank so low even though you're so strong? And---" She began bombarding me with questions.
"W-wait! Please slow down Rachel-sii! One question at a time." I said as I tried to slow down Rachel who had tried to ask all the questions she had in one go.
"Umm, than... were you the one who shot the bullets from afar...?"
She asked, still nervous. Should I tell her? I had previously wanted to hide my identity as much as possible and keep a low profile. If I told her this, that won't be possible anymore. It could even alter the story line at a huge scale since Rachel was a major character in the Novel that I wrote.
But I had decided to not continue that. If I did that, than although I wouldn't get noticed, I would also miss a lot of opportunities and would not be able to fight properly under the gaze of others. That was a mistake. If I did that, I would also not get as strong as I wanted, and would probably face difficulty in the story. There were many characters coming in the future that could easily kill me. Not to mention that there was also the "Creator" who had gifted me with Power, seemingly looking for entertainment.
My guts tell me that if I want to survive, I have to do what he says, and for that, I have to stop hiding. It had its bad sides, but there were also benefits. I could also gain great amounts of power. There was also the question that 'would I go back to my world when the story of this novel is over?' That itself was a problem. If I wanted to go back, completing the story was a must. And for that, I must have the power to survive.
In the first place, what if I can't get back? If that happens, I would have no choice but to stay here. And seeing that there would be more powerful enemies in the future, ones that had been buffed by the Co-Author, there was little chance of me surviving in that way. Therefore, I had decided to stop hiding as it held me down too much.
Back to the present, I took a deep breath figuring out my thoughts as I decided on what I should answer.
"Yes. It was me who killed those Djjins back than." I answered.
"...than, why did you help me? And did you know this would happen? I mean, Hajin-sii could just go on his own away wanting his own business." She asked.
This was the critical point. One that would decide our future relationship. And it was best for it to be friendly, as there was no need to face enmity of the princess, and also the entire country. I doubt she would hold any grudge, but I needed to make this progress in a positive way.
"Well... to begin with, I didn't know. I was just hunting like usual at the second day when I noticed some people acting suspicious. I decided to spy on them. When I tried to use one of my skills, I noticed that their magic power was different. It was high. In fact, it was so high that it seemed impossible for a cadet to have." I took a deep breath and than resumed,
"This only added to be suspicion. Soon, I found out that they were actually Djjins. I decided to follow them and found out that they were chasing you. I stayed quiet seeing that they weren't attacking you. Once they did, I thought that you would be able to handle them. But when I saw that you couldn't, I decided to intervene." I concluded my explanation.
"..." She stared at me, seemingly looking as if she didn't believe in what I said.
"Do you think I'm lying?" I asked, actually sweating inside seeing that she didn't believe me.
"...No. I don't think you're completely lying Hajin-sii. But I get the feeling that you're hiding something from me..." She said as she told me her thoughts on what I said.
"..." (Hajin)
"..." (Rachel)
Silent. I had only made up that story and didn't have some big evidence to support it. For all I knew, she could be thinking that I am just be another Assassin trying to kill her while getting closer. I had to erase that thought somehow. It seemed that she still hadn't trusted me fully.
What should I do? Should I tell her the truth? Or should I make up another story? But I hadn't prepared any other story to tell. However, If I told her the truth, there was a huge chance that she wouldn't believe me and began to think of me as a Weirdo. I didn't care about the latter.... ok maybe I did, but that would be to risky. I didn't want rumors to be spear about me, especially when it could actually cause major affects unlike the rumors spread by Shin Jonghak's lackeys.
"... You got me." I said as I sat still, not averting my eyes that were locked with Rachel's.
"Than... how did you know." She asked. Wait, I have an idea. Although it was not completely the truth, it wasn't a lie either. It should answer her questions.
"Well... how to say it..."
"..."
"...I'm one of your fans." I answered as I finally averted my eyes."
"...HUH?" She exclaimed in surprise as she heard me say that.
'This is gonna take a while...'
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