The World’s Strongest Daughter.

Association Employee’s POV

[Breaking news. The two main suspects in the recent attempted Academy terror attack have died…]

Cold sweat ran down my face at the news blaring from the monitor.

Where could the information have leaked from?

Unless it was an inside job, there’s no way information could have leaked.

At that moment, Jeong Nan-do turned off the news and shifted his gaze toward us.

His eyes were sharp as blades.

I straightened my posture, startled by his intensity.

“Continue with your explanation.”

…Stay calm…

At Jeong Nan-do’s weighty words, I took a short breath to calm my nerves and slowly began speaking.

“…While interrogating the terror suspects Kim Ji-gon and Yu Sang-jae, both suddenly died while crying tears of blood.”

“Tell me more details.”

I swallowed hard before retrieving the information stored in my head.

“…Two of our department chiefs were conducting electrical interrogation when the unconscious terrorists suddenly woke up, cried tears of blood… and literally exploded.”

Jeong Nan-do let out a low grunt before casually asking a question.

“Was it a terrorist act?”

“No, sir. The autopsy showed nothing unusual in their bodies. However…”

“Hmm?”

I nudged my junior colleague beside me, giving him a meaningful look.

The dazed junior quickly moved to hand Jeong Nan-do a stack of documents.

“This is…”

I slowly explained while watching Jeong Nan-do holding the documents.

“…We discovered this during Yu Sang-jae’s autopsy.”

Jeong Nan-do glanced at me with a puzzled expression.

“Teeth?”

Yes. But not just any teeth.

“Yes, sir. You’ll find the details if you turn to the next page.”

Following my words, Jeong Nan-do read through the documents silently before looking up at me with apparent shock.

“What about Kim Ji-gon… no, Jeong Ho-mun?”

Jeong Ho-mun, the perpetrator of the previous Association terror incident.

“The autopsy is still ongoing, but we expect to find similar evidence.”

“…These bastards are truly insane.”

He clicked his tongue and continued reading the documents.

I understand why Jeong Nan-do was shocked.

I was quite bewildered myself when I first received the report.

These terrorists had removed their real molars and replaced them with fake ones.

And not just regular fake teeth, but hollow ones.

And inside them…

“…These pink hairs must belong to that ‘young lady.'”

Each contained strands of pink hair.

*

Monday morning arrived without fail.

Having gotten into the habit of staying up and waking up late, mornings had become quite uncomfortable.

On my way to school, while fiddling with my phone, I was startled by the news articles flooding the internet.

Huh?

The articles reported that the two terrorists who had infiltrated the academy had died.

I heard that the Investigation Bureau took them, but those vicious guys wouldn’t have deliberately killed them, so there must have been an accident.

Come to think of it, Jeong Nan-do had initially suspected me of being in cahoots with the terrorists.

He mentioned something about a cult called Rescue Religion or whatever…

Well, they’ll handle it themselves.

I have to take care of my wife and So-yeon.

Above all, I’m not even part of the Association anymore.

The high-and-mighty government officials and old folks at the Association will sort it out.

As I was walking absent-mindedly after putting away my phone…

“…”

I felt an inexplicable gaze from somewhere.

I glanced around but naturally saw nothing.

Hmm…

I could probably find something if I pushed myself.

If I spread my mana widely, I might catch something.

But while it might have been worth it in my previous life, it’s too inefficient with this body.

After brief consideration, I decided to ignore it and continued walking.

Unless there was hostile intent, I didn’t want to waste energy first thing in the morning.

The mysterious gaze continued until I entered the academy. Once I passed through the school gate, it vanished as if it had never existed.

…What a strange start to the morning.

I continued walking, trying not to dwell on it.

When I reached the classroom…

I could tell the classroom atmosphere was somehow different.

Students pretending not to look while stealing glances.

Others staring outright.

Being my first day back since the terror incident, I seemed to be drawing attention.

I ignored their gazes and headed to my usual corner seat.

Sitting down, I looked around to see if Min So-yeon had arrived yet…

Huh?

My eyes met with Kong Hye-sun as she entered the classroom.

Upon seeing me, Kong Hye-sun’s eyes widened in surprise, and she approached me with a friendly greeting.

“Ji-ji-hwan! Are you feeling better? Shouldn’t you still be resting?”

“I’m fine now. Thanks for worrying.”

“Is, is So-yeon okay? She, she was with you…”

“Yeah. She’ll probably come to school today.”

Seeing her concern for Min So-yeon, she seems like a kind person.

As I chatted with Kong Hye-sun, the empty seats in the classroom gradually filled up.

…Should I tell her?

“So, after the exams are over, we’re going on a field trip…”

Kong Hye-sun showed no sign of wanting to return to her friends.

She usually sat with them, but at this rate, she might not have a place to return to.

However, she looked so happy that I found it difficult to interrupt and send her away.

While I was contemplating what to do…

“…You probably don’t know the exam material well, right? If, if you’d like, I could help you…”

An unexpected topic came from Kong Hye-sun’s lips.

“…Exam?”

“Yeah. The midterms…”

“…Huh?”

Midterms…?

After apologizing to her, I learned more about the exams…

First, here’s how the tests would work.

Considering we’re first-years unfamiliar with handling abilities and mana, there were only two practical exams.

Namely, lighting mana stones and measuring combat proficiency.

Neither test seemed particularly difficult.

One requires infusing mana into a stone to make it glow; the other involves knocking down dummy figures.

Even then, they weren’t combat dummies, so you just need to land effective hits.

It shouldn’t be too hard if you’ve been training consistently.

But the next part was the problem.

There would be written exams in Hunter Theory, Korean Language, and History – subjects I’d been neglecting.

Hunter Theory was one thing, but Korean and History seemed useless, so I hadn’t paid much attention to them.

And now written exams…?

Do I really have to study at my age?

“…It, it won’t be that hard… The coverage is broad, but the content is easy, so you can do it quickly…!”

I tried to comfort myself with Kong Hye-sun’s words.

Right, it’s just high school level at most.

How difficult could it be?

With a little effort, I should be able to get through it quickly.

***

This is bad.

“The Red Arrowhead Gaiper is classified as oviparous, laying ten eggs at once…”

This was supposedly Hunter Theory class, but they were teaching completely unfamiliar content.

I know what a Gaiper is.

It’s a monster that lives in shallow waters, looking like a frog with feathers.

It only appears in low D-rank gates and has almost no aggression, so I never paid much attention to it…

“Unlike other Gaipers, this one has a red-tipped tongue…”

But now we have to study all these details?

I understand the reasoning since most students start at low ranks.

But for someone like me, who started at C-rank gates with my wife, this was all unfamiliar territory.

“…on page…, let’s look at the Brown Butterfly.”

While spacing out, I missed part of what the teacher said, and they had already moved on to the next topic.

Wh-which page was it?

As I was fumbling to find the page after missing the teacher’s words, Kong Hye-sun whispered softly beside me.

“Ji-hwan, page 65.”

I gave her a grateful smile before quickly turning to the right page.

“Now, this Brown Butterfly…”

Phew…

Thanks to Kong Hye-sun’s help, I was able to catch up quickly.

As I listened to the teacher and made some underlining marks, I glanced at the seat next to me.

Her skill with three-color pens and thorough note-taking showed considerable experience.

Not only is she cute, but she’s also kind, good at baking, and even studies well.

She must be every parent’s dream daughter.

At that moment, she noticed my gaze and looked at me.

When our eyes met, she smiled shyly.

Her lovable appearance made me smile involuntarily.

Whoever’s daughter she is, they’ve raised her well.

…Though not as well as my daughter, of course.

Just then, Kong Hye-sun, who had been stealing glances at me, put down her pen, suddenly turned to a back page in her notebook, and started writing something.

Then, she quietly passed the notebook to me.

[Is the class okay for you?]

A short message was written there.

Following her lead, I wrote a brief reply and returned it.

[I don’t understand anything]

Kong Hye-sun let out a small laugh at my reply before writing another message and passing it back.

[You don’t usually pay attention in class, do you?]

Her round, bubbly handwriting seemed to match her personality.

[It’s not that I don’t pay attention, the class is just too difficult!]

As we exchanged notes back and forth, class had ended before I knew it.

Though I barely heard anything from the lecture, I got a promise that she’d lend me her notes later, so it was basically a win.

She readily offered to show them to Min So-yeon as well.

She’s truly a rare kind of person in this harsh world.

During break time, I went to the bathroom and stood at the sink after finishing my business.

As I was about to wash my hands, something on my left wrist caught my eye.

“…Huh?”

Something long and curly.

Given its slightly pink tinge, it must be one of Kong Hye-sun’s hairs.

I brushed off the hair, rinsed my hands, and returned to the classroom.