Chapter 101
Even though he couldn’t understand why this was happening and felt puzzled, his heart trembled when he thought about being in contact with Baek Rak’s hand. Was it because of the kiss he received that morning? It felt like he was realizing anew that he liked that guy.
When Baek Rak walked for a while and arrived at a place with no people, he immediately let go of his hand. Seo Won tried to grab it again out of regret, but that attempt was thwarted because the guy turned his body.
Following that, Baek Rak, who had been silently staring at Seo Won’s hand floating awkwardly in the air, turned his gaze and asked.
“Just now, what was that about?”
“……What?”
“You used fire abilities.”
Mm, that’s right. He had created flames from his palm.
Seo Won tried to create flames again while recalling that earlier feeling. Then, unlike before, flames arose at once. It felt like he had quickly gotten the hang of it.
“This?”
“When did this become possible?”
“Haru said it earlier. That it seemed like I awakened today.”
“Don’t joke around and explain properly.”
Seo Won shrugged his shoulders as if feeling wronged and said.
“What am I joking about? Sol was in a dangerous situation earlier, and I think I suddenly awakened then. I was surprised too.”
“……”
“Haven’t other guardians experienced this?”
Seo Won tried controlling the flame, making it smaller and larger. The way it moved according to his will was amazing to see again.
“No.”
“Then why can I do it?”
“……”
Neither of them knew the reason. Then suddenly, Seo Won thought that perhaps he could use not just fire but other abilities as well. After all, he had received a total of three abilities through transfer for awakening so far.
Seo Won extinguished the flame and drew up Yu Sol’s ability, the power of healing. Then this time, white energy began rising from his palm.
Unlike fire, which was an ability with visible results, he couldn’t confirm it immediately, but judging by the color of the energy, it seemed he could use other abilities as well.
‘To know for sure, it would be good to make a wound…’
Seo Won looked around and discovered debris from a destroyed building. The sharp end looked like it would tear skin with just a slight graze. Thinking that would work, he moved toward it, but suddenly his wrist was grabbed.
“Where are you going?”
“Huh? Ah…, I was going to check something briefly.”
“What kind of check?”
“It’s nothing big. Just quickly…”
“This ‘nothing big’ wouldn’t be hurting yourself, would it?”
Was he being too obvious in his actions? It would be troublesome to wait until someone else got hurt, and since a small wound would be enough to confirm, it was better to try it himself.
“I’ll just see if it really heals.”
“No.”
“I won’t make a deep wound. Even if it doesn’t heal, I can ask Yu Sol…”
“Are you in your right mind?”
“No, I’ll really make it small.”
“I said no.”
“I’m telling you it’s fine.”
No matter how much he said he would only make a light wound, Baek Rak firmly refused. His expression didn’t look like it would soften, and he didn’t let go of the wrist he was holding either.
For some reason, feeling like he was receiving a lot of worry from Baek Rak made his insides tingle. Still, this was the only method, so he tried to remove the guy’s hand, but suddenly his wrist was pulled hard and his body swayed.
For a moment, he instinctively tried to maintain his balance, but Seo Won relaxed his body. Then he ended up falling into Baek Rak’s solid chest. Even he found it absurd that he had tried to satisfy his ulterior motives in that instant, but more than that, he was just pleased with the current situation.
But Baek Rak’s reaction was utterly cold.
“If you’re going to do something reckless, think about not just one but two people. Did you forget that Yu Sol can’t heal her own wounds?”
“……Huh?”
“Doesn’t it occur to you that if you get hurt, you might not be able to heal yourself?”
Come to think of it, Yu Sol could only heal other people, but healing herself was impossible. That’s why when she was injured, she had to fall into sleep for a while for self-healing. To think he had missed that. He had nothing to say even if Baek Rak scolded him.
“Ah, right.”
“Ah, right?”
“Sorry, I was short-sighted. I only thought that checking on myself would be best… I had forgotten.”
“You thought experimenting on yourself would be best?”
Baek Rak’s voice suddenly dropped a tone. Startled, he looked at the guy, but in that moment his body was pushed away and he staggered back several steps. It didn’t hurt, but the force was stronger than expected, leaving him bewildered. But then something unexpected happened.
“Baek Rak!”
Baek Rak, who had distanced himself from him, drew a sword and immediately slashed his own arm!
And it wasn’t a small wound either – it was a deep cut that went long from elbow to wrist, deep enough to show all the muscle.
Seo Won ran to Baek Rak with his face gone completely pale.
“What are you doing!”
“You said you wanted to check.”
“But why are you doing this to yourself! Are you crazy?”
He was so shocked and flustered that his fingertips trembled.
How could he inflict such a wound while in his right mind? It seemed like he didn’t take care of himself at all, making Seo Won feel wronged.
Most of all, seeing him not even blink an eye when it was obvious it would hurt, he looked far too accustomed to receiving such wounds. Although he was a hunter with good self-healing ability so scars wouldn’t remain, he could somewhat imagine how many times he must have been injured.
“Crazy, he’s crazy. How could he do this… No, a small wound would have been enough… There’s no middle ground, why is this guy like this?”
Even his voice was shaking, but Seo Won couldn’t notice because he was focused on looking at Baek Rak’s wound. Baek Rak was quietly watching that scene.
Seo Won grabbed the arm dripping with blood and made a tearful face looking at the torn flesh. If the wound had been just a little deeper, bone might have been visible. Just imagining it made him feel breathless.
Filled only with the thought that he had to heal Baek Rak, he forgot about controlling energy and poured it out as is. Then a dense concentration of truly white energy that he had never seen before flowed out and entered Baek Rak’s arm.
The healing power was so strong that the gushing blood quickly stopped and new flesh began to fill the torn skin. It didn’t even take 2 seconds to return to normal.
Seo Won very carefully stroked Baek Rak’s now smooth arm. Fortunately, he could use Yu Sol’s healing ability too, so he was relieved.
‘Still, I don’t want to see him do something like that again.’
Not just him, but Baek Rak was equally reckless.
“Stop doing strange things. I really thought my heart was going to drop.”
“……”
He scolded with worry, but Baek Rak still said nothing. While that seemed like him, it was also frustrating, so a sigh escaped. It would have been more comfortable if he had gotten hurt instead.
“Why won’t this blood wipe off?”
Even after wiping it several times with his hand, there was more blood than expected, and since it had quickly hardened, there were stains all over the skin. Seo Won, remembering there was a bathroom nearby, said to Baek Rak.
“Stay here, I’ll go wet some cloth with water.”
If he suggested going together, it was obvious he wouldn’t go, so it seemed better to go alone. But what if he disappeared when he came back?
There was enough possibility of that, so he couldn’t readily take a step.
When he glanced at the guy, he was looking at him with an unreadable gaze. Should he just go together? While he was having such concerns, Baek Rak brushed off his arm. Despite the silent pressure to let go, he had been holding on tightly, so finally the guy spoke up.
“It’s fine, so let go.”
“……I don’t want to because I feel like you’ll disappear again.”
“I won’t, so let go.”
“How can I believe that? You disappeared earlier too before we even made eye contact.”
“Then how long are you planning to stay like this?”
“……”
When Seo Won chose silence, Baek Rak rubbed his brow as if troubled.
“I’ll stay where you can see me from now on. It won’t do to have incidents break out every time we’re separated. Your case is the first of its kind, so I need to keep watching continuously.”
“……Really?”
“So let go.”
Only then did Seo Won slowly release Baek Rak’s arm. The guy stayed in place as if he had no intention of disappearing, just as he had said. That was at least fortunate.
“But is that a good meaning or a bad meaning?”
“What?”
“That my case is the first of its kind so you need to watch. Could it possibly mean… that I might not be able to awaken as a guardian?”
However, he felt an inexplicable uneasiness from Baek Rak’s words. He couldn’t be sure whether being able to use other powers while in the process of awakening as a guardian would work in a good direction.
Baek Rak looked into the distance for a moment at Seo Won’s question, then soon crossed his arms and said.
“Well… We’ll know that at the next awakening.”
It would be determined by whether he could receive abilities like before or not. In fact, even that was uncertain whether it could be properly confirmed.
After all, being ‘the first’ also meant not knowing what lay ahead.
Seo Won nodded and reached out his hand to Baek Rak again. For now, he had confirmed everything he could immediately, and he was trying to take the guy to wipe off the blood on both of them, but his hand wandered in the air.
When he turned his head, he could see that Baek Rak had turned his body.
“……What. Why are you avoiding me?”
“I said I’d stay where you could see me, not that you could grab me.”
“Are you really going to act like strangers with me?”
“……”
Baek Rak scrunched his face as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have. But this side was even more absurd. Was he planning to insist it wasn’t true until the end?
Actually, when Baek Rak and Han Seong Hyeon appeared, the first person who caught Seo Won’s eye was Baek Rak. Han Seong Hyeon was just being sensitive, but Baek Rak couldn’t take his eyes off him for even a moment.
The gaze that swept over his entire body, worrying if he was hurt anywhere, was so persistent it was almost hot. Han Seong Hyeon at least came to his senses and took care of Yu Sol and Poong, but Baek Rak only glanced at them and focused on him again. Then he finally dragged him out.
And now he was pretending it wasn’t so again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
