Yawns kept coming from the morning.
I dragged my heavy body as I headed to school, recalling the moment yesterday when I had hurriedly left Ban Eunhyeol’s house.
I had been sprawled face-down on the table, sleeping like the dead, when I suddenly twitched and snapped awake.
But Ban Eunhyeol, who noticed me, visibly startled and couldn’t hide his embarrassment.
His behavior was suspicious to say the least, but since it was already late and I needed to head home, I hurried on my way.
Ban Eunhyeol, who was seeing me off, kept fidgeting strangely.
He kept touching his hair and clearing his throat repeatedly—actions obviously suspicious to anyone watching.
I thought maybe someone had doodled on my face while I was asleep, but checking in the mirror proved otherwise.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
His behavior kept nagging at me, so as soon as I woke up, I tried to guess why Ban Eunhyeol acted that way.
The fact that finals started today didn’t even register.
I had been worn out lately from running around closing gates, so naturally, my interest in exams had waned.
Even though I had rushed to get cram tutoring from Ban Eunhyeol, I ended up dozing off during it.
‘I’m doomed, completely doomed.’
I shook my head and quickened my pace. I wanted to get to school as soon as possible to catch even a little sleep before the test began.
“Good morning.”
When I entered the classroom, the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon had already arrived early and were studying.
I was about to greet them as usual but stopped short, seeing the two burning with academic zeal.
‘They really are amazing friends.’
Eunbada and Yeon Ha-yeon were mumbling through their summarized notes as if competing with each other.
“You’re here?”
Ban Eunhyeol greeted me as he pulled out my chair.
I nodded quietly while observing the atmosphere and had just placed my backpack on the desk when Ji Ganghan glanced back to check my condition.
“At this point, isn’t it time you’re dreaming already?”
At his words, Han Jibin turned around, looked at my face with a very concerned expression, and said,
“Dana… don’t you look awful? You could jump rope with those dark circles.”
“Is it that bad?”
I took out my hand mirror from my bag and hurriedly checked my face.
Sure enough, the darkness under my eyes and the dullness in my gaze resembled how I looked when I was exhausted from running around closing gates.
Back then, my complexion had been bad enough to worry everyone around me.
I put on a bright smile, pretending nothing was wrong, looking at the worried Ji Ganghan and Han Jibin, who wore raised eyebrows and anxious eyes.
“I’m fine, really. I just want to review one more thing before the test.”
The two turned away reluctantly.
[Are you really okay?]
At that moment, Ban Eunhyeol scribbled a note in his squiggly handwriting on my desk.
Instead of writing back on the desk, I silently looked at him and nodded.
Though my eyelids still felt heavy, I could manage the test.
Once it was over, I’d go straight home and sleep as much as possible before nightfall.
“Put everything on the desk away.”
Soon after, the teacher came in and the exam began.
Holding onto my consciousness that threatened to drift off at any moment, I barely read through the test papers.
I lost track of time.
Two days had passed out of the total three days of exams, and when the last day dawned, I silently cheered inside and just waited for the exam to end.
“Ugh.”
When I finished marking my answers on the OMR sheet for the last period, the bell rang, and the teacher collected the papers and left.
I collapsed face-down as if I had fainted.
“I was planning to go to karaoke today, but maybe Dana should just rest at home, huh?”
Han Jibin’s voice came from beside my head.
“I’m fine, I can go.”
I couldn’t relax at home until I fell asleep, whether because of closing gates or just sheer exhaustion from everything.
The Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon exchanged looks and, reluctantly, they took me into town.
***
We had definitely come to karaoke to hang out with friends after exams, but why was I standing inside a gate?
“Eeeeek!”
“Get away!”
Suddenly, a C-rank random gate appeared inside the karaoke, dragging in all the students from the adjacent room.
When it was finally my turn to grab the microphone, my hand was no longer holding the mic, but an unidentified fruit-shaped creature.
‘They really go all out.’
I crushed the small monster in my hand with irritation and looked around.
There were tiny monsters easy enough to squash with my hands, but some were alive and moving, like a tree-shaped monster.
The sight of a pretty tree in full bloom swinging its branches to attack people was strangely amusing.
This place was a dungeon with a few white-flowered trees planted on a lush green field, and fruits rolling around beneath them.
“What a mess.”
“But the fruits rolling around are kinda cute, huh?”
There was no need for me to jump in. While the Four Heavenly Kings killed off monsters, I stayed back with Yeon Ha-yeon to protect the people.
Since the gate had just appeared right after exams, all those caught in it were students in school uniforms or gym clothes.
We stood chatting casually as if this wasn’t serious, and the people hiding behind seemed to relax a bit.
“Stay still if you don’t want to die.”
One student who tried to sneakily pick up a fruit monster rolling nearby was grabbed by Yeon Ha-yeon by the nape and dragged over.
At Yeon Ha-yeon’s fierce warning, students who had been twitching from interest in the fruit monsters instantly froze.
I watched this scene, then turned my gaze to the Four Heavenly Kings.
They were casually playing with the monsters as if warming up.
Of course, since we had people to rescue, they weren’t truly relaxed.
“Let’s kill these fast and get out. I’m tired.”
Lately, having closed so many gates, even being caught in a sudden random gate drained my energy.
When I urged them to hurry up and leave, their monster killing speed visibly increased.
Ban Eunhyeol, in particular, burned the grass as if to wipe out all the monsters nearby at once.
“Hey!”
Just as I thought I could nod off standing here, someone pointed at us and shouted.
I opened my half-closed eyes and saw a tree branch flying toward me.
‘That tree is pretty flexible.’
I thought unnecessarily and took out a spear to cut the branch.
Though it happened in an instant, my quick reaction must have impressed the others because cheers came from behind.
“Wow, did you see that speed?”
“If you want to hang out with the Four Heavenly Kings, you have to be that good.”
“I want to awaken too!”
Lately, I’d been killing monsters alone in the off-hours, so compliments like that were rare.
Hearing cheers after a long time made me shrug my shoulders.
It seemed to wake me up a bit.
“Wow, is that thing buried in flowers or what?”
Yeon Ha-yeon, who was watching carefully if other monsters would attack me, glanced over and said.
Turning my head, I saw a huge monster that really looked like it was buried in flowers.
Judging by its size, it was the boss monster.
‘They really come in all shapes and sizes.’
Though I’d seen many strange monsters, this was the first time I’d seen a flowering tree monster rampage like this.
Since the Four Heavenly Kings would handle it quickly anyway, I lost interest and played only with the fruit-shaped monsters rolling at my feet.
While I was busy kicking around a fruit monster, suddenly,
The ground bulged and a root burst through the earth, shooting upward.
I almost got pierced by the root.
Of course, I dodged quickly just in time.
“What? It has more roots?”
Curious, Yeon Ha-yeon bent down and began poking various spots on the ground with his foot.
But the boss monster, which I thought was just extending its roots far away, suddenly split into two.
The protruding root transformed into a figure identical to the boss monster the Four Heavenly Kings were fighting.
“…A clone technique?”
I looked at the fake boss monster in disbelief.
It seemed very angry to be treated like a fake and attacked Wugongli furiously.
Fully bloomed flowers became sharp weapons and flew in dozens.
I blocked the monster’s attacks with my shield and took out an axe.
There was no better weapon than this axe for fighting tree-shaped monsters.
Gripping the axe handle with both hands and putting all my strength into it, I struck down the monster’s base.
“Ugh, what is this!”
A sharp sensation ran up my hands.
The boss monster’s body was tougher than I thought—not for nothing was it a boss.
I glanced at Yeon Ha-yeon, who was fighting the clone boss monster alone.
Though he was handling it easily, he didn’t look like he had strength left to help.
It seemed better for me to take care of this one by myself.
They were close to finishing off the monsters, but the prideful Four Heavenly Kings wouldn’t let me finish the job before them.