OMH Chapter 12

Okay, It’s Gang Hana, again.’

Kim Sanghyuk, the incarnation of truancy, seems to be skipping morning training again today. Is it morning now? Could it possibly be afternoon? While I was checking the wall clock, Kim Sanghyuk had already reached my hospital bed.

“Gang Hana! Are you okay? I heard you were stranded in a landslide and survived for seven hours using your ability?”

Kim Sanghyuk made a noisy entrance, providing information that didn’t necessarily need to be shared. Moreover, the information was slightly incorrect.

I was trapped because of another team member’s ability mistake, you know? He was so blinded by monster extermination rather than searching for the missing that he destroyed the ground.

Because Kim Sanghyuk spouted unnecessary information, a correction process ensued, and Woojin’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit. I guess he didn’t know how I had an ability overexertion.

Wooreen seemed to remember meeting Sanghyuk and acknowledged him.

“Oh? It’s Sticker Uncle.”

“Huh? Oh?! You’re Wooreen? Have you practiced a lot with your brother playing ddakji?”

“My brother says he can only do that if he has ddakji. He doesn’t have any.”

“Ddakji are precious treasures. I’ll lend them to you next time you come play with me. Is that your brother next to you?”

Sanghyuk, who had been chatting with Wooreen, finally noticed Woojin. Please don’t say anything unnecessary.

“You’re Cha Woojin, right? It’s nice to finally see your face. Hana has been singing praises about how handsome you are, so I really wanted to meet you. You certainly have the looks of Wooreen’s brother.”

Damn it, Kim Sanghyuk. If Woojin wasn’t here, I would have put him in stocks.

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Cha Woojin. I don’t know who you are, though.”

“I’m Kim Sanghyuk. Gang Hana’s best friend and partner. I look forward to working with you.”

“……Yes.”

Woojin had an awkward expression because of that Sanghyuk. Why did that guy come to visit me and tell Woojin about all the praises I had showered him with?

There is not an inch of lie or embarrassment in my words that Woojin’s nose is like the Himalayas, his eyebrows are like a stroke drawn by a master calligrapher, and his eyes, nestled between long, lush eyelashes, are like a winter lake.

‘But! I didn’t want those words conveyed to Woojin like this. Woojin is easily embarrassed, you know. What if he’s too shy to even make eye contact with me?!’

But surprisingly, Woojin doesn’t seem embarrassed. I guess he knows he’s handsome.

While it was noisy because of Kim Sanghyuk, Lee Hwayoung, who had left after Sanghyuk came in, knocked again and entered.

“Hana! Your team leader is here.”

Since it was inconvenient for Woojin to move, I was about to go out to see the team leader, but she entered the hospital room faster than I could. The team leader didn’t seem to care much about Woojin and Sanghyuk being in the room and got straight to the point.

“Great Monster Extermination Team member Gang Hana, are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“I think you already know, but the accident you suffered was caused by the negligence of Esper Oh Sein from the attack team, so as the team leader, I feel sorry. You will receive a certain amount of compensation.”

Getting paid for being injured makes me feel like I’ve become a fraud. But it wasn’t my fault, so I should gratefully accept it.

According to the team leader, Oh Sein was also writing a Statement of Circumstances.

Oh Sein is an A-grade Nature-Type Esper. Setting fires is his specialty, so his personality is fiery as well. I thought he was likely to cause an accident because he doesn’t listen to others, but I didn’t expect to be the victim.

The team leader also told me that because I protected Guide Cheon Yuha and he wasn’t hurt at all, I would receive an additional bonus.

This makes me happy. The team leader said that there would be no monster extermination missions for a while due to this mission, so she encouraged me to rest well and prepare well for the Martial Arts Tournament.

With her encouragement, the team leader coolly left, and Woojin asked me.

“Um… I’ve heard you mention the Martial Arts Tournament before, but what kind of tournament are you participating in?”

“The Association holds a Martial Arts Tournament every year to evaluate the combat abilities of Espers. Many Espers participate because monster activity decreases in the winter.”

“Woojin, you should come watch! If you bet on this guy, you’ll definitely win money. It’s a good way to earn some pocket money.”

“I’m not an Esper, though.”

“It’s okay. Anyone can watch the tournament! Espers come, but Guides and civilians can also come and watch.”

Sanghyuk is trying to persuade Woojin to gamble.

‘Woojin hasn’t been at the Central Center for long, so he doesn’t have any money, does he?’

But the thought that Woojin might come to watch my Martial Arts Tournament makes me a little excited. If Woojin wants to gamble, I’m willing to lend him money. That’s what I earned money for.

Come to think of it, my Smartwatch is broken, so I need to buy a new one. The EGA Association only distributes Smartwatches for free when they’re first issued, and then they charge money for them. They’re so stingy, even though we use them to receive mission notifications.

The next day, after being discharged from the Medical Bureau, I left the Medical Center and went to the Research Center to buy a Smartwatch. You can buy them at the Central Center, but they’re a bit slow in delivering the goods. However, if you know someone on the research team, you can see the goods directly and choose. The power of seniority comes from conveniences like these in everyday life.

I went to Na Yeri, who works in the research team, looked at the Smartwatch inventory, and bought one. After registering the biometric identification number provided separately by the Association, it was immediately linked to the one I had been using.

‘Thankfully, all the albums are still there.’

As I was happily putting on my new Smartwatch, Na Yeri made an unwelcome suggestion.

“You haven’t had your physical examination yet, have you? Now that all the lower-grade Espers have had theirs, you should go soon. Since you’re B-grade, you can get examined right away.”

Ah, I had forgotten, but my turn has already come. The examinations before the Martial Arts Tournament are conducted in order from F-grade. This is because they have the largest number, the examinations are relatively simple, and the Martial Arts Tournament starts with the F-grade matches.

The Martial Arts Tournament starts according to type and grade. F-grade Enhancement-Types, Nature-Types, Mental-Types, and Special-Type Espers compete in a tournament, and the final F-grade winner earns the right to compete against an E-grade Esper of the same type.

They proceed with the tournament while raising the grades in that way, but unfortunately, it rarely happens that an F-grade makes it to the E-grade finals.

Anyway, everyone has already been examined because the Martial Arts Tournament is starting soon. I said I would get examined slowly when I had time, but she grabbed my wrist and dragged me over.

In the end, I came to the examination room. I took a number and waited my turn in the waiting room with dozens of other Espers.

‘Everyone has a dark expression, just like me.’

After about 15 minutes of waiting, it was my turn. Since people of the same grade and type are examined at once, about 10 people enter the examination room at a time. I entered the examination room with the feeling of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

It started simply with drawing blood. I just watched because I couldn’t draw blood due to my ability. After the basic urine and stool tests that followed, we began the full-scale physical examination. These basic health checkups are not the research team’s concern.

First, we had a light physical fitness test. They made us run at full speed on the treadmill for 5 hours. After that, they made us hold our breath underwater for 15 minutes and then gave us the good news that the cardiopulmonary endurance measurement was over. I had only finished one thing, but the sun had already set.

The perverted researchers liked it, saying that it was fun to measure B-grade Enhancement-Type bodies. After finishing easy physical fitness tests like the flexibility test, these perverts put us in a freezer at -50 degrees Celsius, then put us in a room at +70 degrees Celsius, took us out, and scribbled diligently.

Then, they said they would do a reflex test, told us to catch them well, and shot rubber bullets from all directions. Enhancement-Type Espers usually don’t get hurt even if they get hit by this much, but it hurts when they do get hit. After doing my best to catch the bullets, they said the examination was over.

It’s a simple examination because it’s just for participating in the Martial Arts Tournament. I skipped dinner because I was getting examined, and it’s already 11 PM. Exhausted, I just went to my dormitory and went to sleep.

*

I woke up at 2 PM.

‘Wow, it’s been years since I’ve slept in this late. I think it’s the first time since I was experimented on at the Research Center.’

Even though I slept for a long time, my head was still dizzy. I was extremely tired, probably because I had overworked my body continuously.

I didn’t want to get up, so I kept lying in bed. Then, I just closed my eyes for a moment and opened them, and the sky was already dark.

‘Wow, you can spend a whole day sleeping like this.’

But I still didn’t want to get out of bed. I was thinking about just continuing to sleep when the screen of the Smartwatch on the bedside table lit up and vibrated. Since it was vibrating on the bedside table, the vibration sound was very loud.

I picked up the Smartwatch while still lying down. It’s Sanghyuk’s call. I put the Smartwatch next to my head and pressed the call button.

“Hey- is that you, Sanghyuk?”

-Why does your voice sound like that?

“I just woke up. Why did you call?”

Sanghyuk said that he started getting examined this morning and just finished now. We talked for a long time about the atrociousness of the Research Center, which torments people all day long and doesn’t even give them food.

Then, the story jumped to my bonus.

“Hana, and you know, shouldn’t people be generous when something good happens in such a difficult daily life? In that sense, you should buy us a meal with the big bonus you received this time.”

“…….”

In the end, was this the purpose? On top of that, he wants to eat with the others. Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since we gathered and ate together. I readily agreed.

※ The rights to this work belong to the copyright holder. Copying, reproducing, modifying, or distributing this work may result in criminal penalties and civil liabilities.