# Chapter 28
After thinking various thoughts, that’s how far my mind wandered. I was wondering if my visit during Shim Woo-jin’s violin playing time would disturb his training, since playing the violin was also part of his training. Still, I planned to ask for his understanding.
The last performance I heard stayed in my mind for a long time, and I wanted to hear it again.
But when I arrived, Shim Woo-jin wasn’t there.
‘Did he go somewhere else?’
The schedule of an S-class Esper was quite flexible, so it was possible.
Just as I was about to leave, Shim Woo-jin appeared.
“Ah, Eunwoo. What brings you here?”
He hurriedly approached while holding his violin.
“Esper Lee Ha-min is busy, so I came to see if I could listen to your playing. I thought I missed you and was about to leave.”
“Really? We almost didn’t meet then.”
“Can I watch you play? It must be training for you, Esper.”
“Actually, I was thinking of asking you for a favor. As you said, it’s training, but my playing doesn’t always go well. When I say it like that, it might sound like it usually goes well with occasional failures, but the truth is it rarely goes well, just once in a while.”
He said with a slight smile, as if it was difficult.
“But while you were around, my playing went well. I’m not just saying that; it really did. So I was going to ask, if it’s not too difficult, would you mind training with me while I play?”
“Does it really help? Then of course I should be here. That’s great. I thought I might be disturbing you.”
“What were you going to do if I said you were disturbing me?”
“I would have pretended not to listen and hidden somewhere within earshot.”
At that, Shim Woo-jin burst out laughing.
“Is there any performance you’d like to hear?”
“I don’t know much about classical music. Hmm, Air on the G String?”
“Good.”
He smiled at me once and then began playing the violin.
As the melody spread, when I closed my eyes, an image naturally appeared.
It looked like a vast misty forest spreading out, and I opened my eyes wondering if it was an illusion he created.
The scene continued even after I opened my eyes.
I tried to dispel his illusion without my sword, and after several attempts, I finally could see Shim Woo-jin playing the violin in front of me.
He noticed that I could see him clearly and stopped playing.
This is the most difficult part.
I don’t know where to look.
I shouldn’t look at him, but almost instinctively, my eyes meet his.
Shim Woo-jin now seemed to realize that I could definitely dispel his illusions.
“…Eunwoo.”
Would he let it go if I pretended not to notice again?
But that was unlikely.
“How do you do it?”
“I don’t know. It seems like it doesn’t work well on me. But it works well on monsters, so that’s what matters, right?”
When I forced a cheerful smile, Shim Woo-jin didn’t ask any further questions, as if he wouldn’t push if I didn’t want to talk about it.
“Do you like violin playing?”
I appreciated Shim Woo-jin bringing up a different topic, knowing that I was uncomfortable, though he probably wanted to ask about something else.
“I haven’t had many chances to listen. I only know a few famous pieces. But the sound is really good. I’ve only heard recordings before, but I think you play much better, Esper.”
“That’s actually true.”
“…What?”
That’s Shim Woo-jin for you.
I thought I’d misheard.
“If it weren’t for my awakening, I would have conquered the world with the violin.”
No, even so, that’s a bit too…
I definitely only thought it in my head, but he laughed as if he’d heard my words.
“Would you like me to teach you how to play the violin?”
“No, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“It’s easy. And I’m a good teacher.”
This.
This is the same technique I used to persuade Ha-min.
A professional can’t fall for this.
“I’ll just listen attentively.”
“But you hear as much as you know, so why not learn?”
If I had no interest at all, I would have just ignored it, but that wasn’t exactly the case, so I wavered.
I had thought it would be nice if I could play while listening to Shim Woo-jin’s performance.
Noticing my hesitation, he gave a triumphant smile.
“Trust me. I’m really good.”
“Alright.”
Shim Woo-jin’s words weren’t a lie.
“Place your left hand on the strings to control the notes, and move the bow with your right hand to make sound. Like this.”
That was the only part I properly understood.
He said he would teach me the basics of the violin, but then showed all kinds of difficult techniques.
From dazzling arpeggios where his fingers moved too fast to see, to pizzicato where he plucked the strings with his fingers.
In a short time, my eyes widened at the techniques performed on the violin.
Until then, Shim Woo-jin and I knew each other, but we weren’t close enough to joke casually. Yet during that time, I was beaming with a big smile without even realizing it.
I laughed listening to sounds like water droplets bouncing, and when he played with a tree branch instead of a bow, I couldn’t take my eyes off him, amazed.
While I was completely absorbed, he played pieces I had never heard before.
“It’s not a well-known piece, but I think Eunwoo would like this one too.”
As he said this, he played songs that I didn’t know.
“Can you explain exactly how you attack monsters, Esper?”
When I asked him, Shim Woo-jin looked at me for a moment.
As far as I knew, he had never spoken about this to anyone else before.
It was my impression that even the Center director and other S-class Espers didn’t seem to know.
Still, I asked because I thought I might be able to suggest a method to him, but after blurting it out, I realized he might not answer.
I thought it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t answer, but then he spoke.
“I confuse them and make them lose balance. I make them unable to see the Espers in front of them.”
“And then other Espers attack while that’s happening?”
“That’s right.”
“But why did you only take me that day? And you showed me the illusion too. That wouldn’t allow coordinated attacks, would it?”
“Monsters will commit suicide when their pain is maximized. Just like anything else, when they feel there’s no way to escape from extreme pain, they try to escape through death. If I show them illusions that are unbearable, sometimes monsters kill themselves.”
“Could you show me those illusions?”
He shook his head.
“You won’t be able to bear it. No Esper can, not even S-class Espers.”
He was confident.
What Shim Woo-jin described was certainly remarkable, and the idea of killing monsters in that way was astonishing.
But if he would allow it, I wanted to experience it.
“It will be dangerous. Really.”
Shim Woo-jin tried to persuade me, and I looked at him and asked again.
“I won’t die under any circumstances. I won’t commit suicide. I can promise that. I have things I need to do. I won’t die until I’ve done them. Please show me.”
“Why? Why are you going this far?”
“There might be a way I can help. Esper Ha-min also got stronger by training with me.”
“…”
Shim Woo-jin sighed.
Without explaining in detail and just talking like that, I might have looked like a child throwing a tantrum with eyes closed and crying.
But he eventually nodded.
“If anything feels wrong, scream. I’ll be watching.”
“Yes. Thank you, Esper.”
He shook his head as if unsure whether he was doing the right thing.
Then he put the violin on his shoulder.
He moved the bow and the performance began.
I thought that if it had been someone other than Shim Woo-jin, even if they had awakened this ability, it would have been difficult to use it to this extent.
I understood why he was an S-class Esper.
As his violin began to play, I quickly became immersed and had my emotions controlled as if hypnotized.
In an instant, a terrible scene unfolded before my eyes.
A hideous monster I had never seen before opened its mouth like a huge door, and a chilling reptile sprang out from inside.
Although there was still some distance, it approached me at lightning speed.
I thought I could easily avoid it with my speed, so I launched my body, and it missed me.
Similar things happened a few more times.
What appeared before my eyes was just an illusion, and although I thought it would be impossible to step on it and climb up, I tried and confirmed that it was indeed an illusion.
However, even knowing it was an illusion, I couldn’t help but react to what my eyes saw. No matter how much I tried to think of it as an illusion and react differently, it wasn’t easy.
The reaction was already happening regardless of my will.
I realized this was how Shim Woo-jin pressured monsters, and unlike his initial concerns, he seemed annoyed that I overcame his illusions too easily, so he suddenly seemed to increase the intensity.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Once I knew the pattern of his attack, I no longer needed to be afraid.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
