10 - Chapter 8: Group Project
Group projects weren't exactly fond memories in my previous life either.
Even in a world where people wielded mana and fought monsters, that apparently hadn't changed, judging by the groans erupting from all around.
The Instructor ignored those groans and continued speaking.
"First, we'll divide into groups."
The project required groups of four, and I ended up with hunter trainees named Jeong Hae-in, Jeong Hae-yeon, and Jeong Hae-seo.
'I've been grouped with celebrities.'
As their shared last name suggested, they were sisters. Triplets, no less.
Of course, they weren't famous simply because they were triplets. Being beautiful triplets would certainly make them a topic of conversation, but the real reason they were famous lay elsewhere.
"Su-hyeon? Your name is Han Su-hyeon, right?"
Three girls with jade-like, shimmering aqua hair spoke to me.
The three of them were certainly beautiful. However, something else caught your attention before their beauty did.
First, the pupils of their golden eyes were slit vertically, and the teeth that occasionally peeked out when they spoke were sharp and pentagonal.
Compared to ordinary humans, the tips of their ears were noticeably elongated, and they had almost no earlobes. And above all, the skin on their arms and legs was bluish-gray. Their fingernails were sharp and black. Their toenails were probably the same.
Just as orcs as an entire race are willing to smash anything, there are plenty of people with bizarre fetishes among humans as well.
The triplets, Jeong Hae-in, Jeong Hae-yeon, and Jeong Hae-seo, were hybrid mermaids born from one of those deviants sticking it in a mermaid.
And a Great White Shark Mermaid, at that, apparently. Talk about having balls of steel.
Even if large sharks, not just killer whales, surprisingly have a habit of not attacking humans very often.
For reference, just because they're called mermaids here doesn't mean they have a fish's lower half. They look like a human head attached to a fish's body.
Anyway, when I nodded, one of the hybrid mermaid triplets patted my shoulder.
"Let's get along well during the project. I'm Jeong Hae-in. This is my older sister Hae-yeon, and that's Hae-seo."
"Ah, I see."
I nodded at Jeong Hae-in's introduction. Although they were identical triplets, they didn't wear the exact same clothes, making them easy to tell apart.
"Alright, quiet, quiet. Attention."
After deciding everyone had finished introducing themselves to their group members, the Instructor lightly tapped the podium and spoke again.
The noisy classroom instantly fell silent, and all eyes focused on the Instructor. Looking satisfied, the Instructor continued speaking.
"Now that the groups are divided and you've gotten to know each other, I will announce what the project is."
Saying so, the Instructor picked up a marker and wrote something on the whiteboard.
On the whiteboard, the words 'High-level Gate Subjugation' were written.
Basically, it meant stop just closing the lowest-rank gates and band together to take care of the tougher gates they're dumping on us.
After finishing the morning classes, it was lunchtime.
As I was walking to the cafeteria like everyone else, someone fell into step beside me. It was Seo-yun.
"Are you going to eat?"
I looked up at Seo-yun standing beside me and nodded.
"Yeah, we've all got to eat to live, after all."
"Want to eat together?"
"Sure, why not."
I entered the cafeteria with Seo-yun, who had fallen into step with me. We chose our menus from the vending machine and printed our meal tickets. Kimchi fried rice for me, and the home-style meal set for Seo-yun.
After receiving our respective orders, we sat down in a quiet corner.
We chatted about this and that while we ate.
"How is Su-in doing?"
When my sister, currently living like a shut-in, suddenly became the topic of conversation, I hesitated for a moment.
Even if I wanted to tell a polite lie, it was hard to say she was doing well, so I glossed over it.
"...Yes. She's doing well."
At those words, Seo-yun looked slightly relieved.
"Really? That's a relief. Su-in is so shy, unlike you, so I was always worried about her."
"Well, you were close with my sister, after all."
"Yeah, even though she has a B-rank mana rating, she's strangely clumsy and makes me so anxious that I just couldn't leave her alone."
"Haha..."
Starting off by asking after my sister, we talked about various things. Most of it was just pointless, idle chatter.
"Do you remember back then? When the three of us went to catch beetles, and Su-in picked up a cockroach thinking it was a beetle, and she started crying and throwing a huge fit."
"Ah, I remember. That was hilarious."
"It's because you kept laughing that she felt even more miserable and cried harder."
"Did she?"
As we chatted, before I knew it, our plates were almost empty.
Scooping up her last spoonful, Seo-yun murmured wistfully, as if talking to herself.
"Things were really nice back then."
"I think everyone feels that way."
Honestly, looking back, there's no time in life as easy as childhood. Naturally, once you grow up and get beaten down by life, you're bound to miss those days.
At my words, Seo-yun slowly nodded.
"Back then, I thought everything would turn out fine for all of us. My shoulder was perfectly fine, too."
Ah.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy. Knowing that silence was better than clumsy comfort, I kept my mouth shut.
"Oh, right."
Soon, realizing the mood had become too heavy, Seo-yun smiled to clear the air.
"Do you want to drink this?"
At the same time, she held out a bottle of Yakult that had come with her meal set.
"You used to love this when you were little. Whenever you got money to buy a drink, you'd buy a whole pack of Yakult and drink them all by yourself."
I did do that when I was a kid.
Did she still remember things like that?
Even I had forgotten about it.
I bowed my head slightly as I accepted the Yakult she held out.
"Thank you. I'll enjoy it."
"Don't mention it."
Watching me finish off the kimchi fried rice, peel off the foil lid of the Yakult, and gulp it down, Seo-yun made a suggestion.
"Hey, um, could you give me your phone number?"
Come to think of it, I had missed the chance to exchange numbers earlier and hadn't been able to do it since.
I readily nodded and replied.
"Then please give me yours too, noona."
The theory classes continued into the afternoon.
After fighting a battle against post-lunch drowsiness and sitting through all the classes, I headed home. A short distance away, I saw Seo-yun waving at me.
"Su-hyeon..."
"Hey, Han Su-hyeon."
Just then, someone cut in. A bluish-gray arm slung over my shoulder, pulling me into a side-hug.
It was Jeong Hae-in, one of the hybrid mermaid triplets.
Looking around, I saw Jeong Hae-yeon and Jeong Hae-seo standing a little further away.
"Do you happen to have time today?"
At Jeong Hae-in's question, I slowly nodded.
"Well, I've got plenty of time to spare."
When I replied like that, Jeong Hae-in looked pleased.
"Then should we go on a hot date with your noonas?"
"Huh?"
At my questioning look, Jeong Hae-in giggled.
"Just kidding, just kidding. Still, we're in the same group, so shouldn't we coordinate our teamwork and bond a bit?"
Ah, if it's for that, then sure.
Still slung under her arm, I gave Seo-yun a nod of farewell.
Jeong Hae-in also noticed Seo-yun's presence and spoke up affably.
"What's this? Was there a prior engagement? It's fine if we borrow him first, right? Since he's in the same group as us."
"Oh, y-yeah."
Seo-yun nodded passively.
"See you tomorrow then, Su-hyeon."
"Yes, you too, noona."
After a brief farewell, she turned around and left the school first.
"Alright, shall we head out too?"
"Where to?"
"Hmm, how about our place?"
I figured that would be better than going to my house, where Han Su-in was cooped up.
"Sure, why not."
When I agreed to the proposal, Jeong Hae-in smirked and teased me.
"Oh my, look at him. Accepting right away without even a second thought? Did this cheeky little guy want to see his noonas' room that badly?"
"No, not really."
"Aw, don't be shy."
As she said that, she slyly pressed and rubbed her voluminous breasts against me.
"Hey, Jeong Hae-in. How long are you going to keep teasing the kid?"
Her behavior ended when Jeong Hae-seo, who had been standing with her weight on one leg waiting for our conversation to finish, interrupted.
At Jeong Hae-seo's interruption, Jeong Hae-in pulled away from me and grumbled playfully.
"Calling your older sister 'hey'? Seriously."
Jeong Hae-seo also snorted and playfully shot back.
"What do you mean 'older sister' just because you were born ten minutes earlier? Besides, I heard some people say the one born later was actually conceived first in the womb, so they're the real older sister."
"Let's call it a draw then."
And so, guided by the three of them, I went to their house.
"Alright, here's our house."
"It's really spacious, right?"
Just as Jeong Hae-yeon said, it was certainly spacious.
The problem was that it was extremely run-down, and no matter how you looked at it, it didn't seem meant for residential use.
The building at the location the triplets guided me to looked like nothing other than an abandoned warehouse.
"Come on, let's head inside."
Jeong Hae-in took the lead and unlocked the padlock on the warehouse's main door. Jeong Hae-yeon, Jeong Hae-seo, and I followed behind her into the building.
"Oh."
Contrary to its exterior, the inside of the warehouse was actually quite well-renovated. There was a kitchen and a bathroom, and above all, a massive swimming pool.
Hearing my exclamation of awe, Jeong Hae-in proudly added an explanation.
"We're classified as a vulnerable social group, so we got government support. The government renovated all of this for us."
At any rate, it seemed like a suitable place for hybrid mermaids to live.