#098
“Uh… umm…”
When a new summoning skill appeared in the dungeon last time, Hyun Dowoon had casually brushed it off, so I hadn’t thought much about it…
‘Come to think of it, it is something that could seem strange.’
It wasn’t like I measured their status through a machine, so being able to readily describe new skills was certainly remarkable.
Glancing at Hyun Dowoon, I saw him looking at Shin Haejun with an expressionless face. Seeing that, I realized Hyun Dowoon had been letting it slide without asking until now.
‘He must have felt uneasy about me staring blankly into space too, but he just let it go?’
Thinking he must have been quite frustrated, I felt a bit sorry.
Shin Haejun was staring at me intently, as if waiting for my answer. Feeling anxious, I swallowed hard and moved my lips. I didn’t know how to explain this.
‘Nine… I can’t reveal anything about Nine.’
Nine was my psychological fortress. The bridge connecting me, the real world, and this strange world inside a novel. I had no intention of revealing Nine.
Then how should I explain the game system?
Even now, I had many settings attached to me, like an exaggerated advertisement.
A powerless E-class guide who might have been an S-class guide. A strange guide who frequently hears the words of constellations and uses mysterious items with their power when entering dungeons. The character who first realized this world was inside a novel. And even the power to enhance espers’ skills.
Adding the setting of being able to see others’ status like in a game was really too much. None of these things were normal, and for one person to have all of them was truly strange.
‘I wonder what these two will think…’
I must like these two more than I thought. Seeing how I’m worried they might find me suspicious or strange.
‘They might just think it’s good, or amazing.’
But no matter how I think about it, being able to see the game system seems to be because I’m possessing this body… What if they find out I’m from another world?
The ability to see the system would be unprecedented in this world where only espers and guides exist…
Although I thought not all of my secrets would be revealed, because it was related to my safety and secrets, I kept thinking defensively.
“I’m not interrogating you. Don’t make that face… Okay? Let’s just pretend I didn’t ask. Forget it.”
Shin Haejun suddenly changed his words. I’m not sure what expression I was making, but it must not have been good. Seeing him speak as if conceding when he didn’t need to, I felt sorry for a moment. I was the one hiding many things, but of course he couldn’t help but be curious.
Shin Haejun’s face looked confused with embarrassment and sadness. He had said he wanted to know everything related to me, but now that I was actually hiding something, he probably didn’t feel good about it.
I could see Hyun Dowoon beside him trying to manage his expression by smiling.
Seeing their cautious attitude, treating me like easily breakable glass, I felt I should speak honestly. It felt shameless to ask for help while not revealing anything about myself.
“I… can see other people’s skills. And to what extent they’re proficient in them.”
“…What?”
Shin Haejun widened his eyes with an even more surprised face.
Wondering if he might be doubting or finding it absurd, I stared at him, and he immediately closed his mouth. It seemed he had decided to listen to my explanation first.
“To be precise, I can only see yours and Dowoon’s. I don’t know why… It’s like, um… I see information like a game stat window…”
At my explanation, Hyun Dowoon tilted his head and frowned. Then he asked, “Game statistics?”
Ah, has Hyun Dowoon never played games? I frowned for a moment, then took out my phone, searched for any game stat window, and showed him a picture as an example. Hyun Dowoon nodded as he looked at the status window displaying name, job, and stats next to a flashy character.
“Like this. I can see skills, what effects they have, if they have cooldowns, things like that.”
“You mean you can see it numerically, like verifying with a machine?”
“That’s right.”
Since there’s no way to show them what I see anyway, this explanation seems to be the simplest way to make them understand.
“Can I ask a bit more?”
Shin Haejun kept his mouth shut, seemingly not wanting to provoke me again, and just listened to the explanation. This time, Hyun Dowoon asked carefully. I’m not sure what he wants to ask, but the initial reaction wasn’t bad, so I felt a bit more courageous.
“Is it… when you sometimes stare into space… is that when you see it?”
So he had noticed after all. I thought I had been hiding it well until now, but it seems he had been observing such behavior from before.
How should I answer? How can I convey the essence while beating around the bush as much as possible?
“That’s right. I’m not sure how to explain this…”
I bit my lip for a moment, then immediately drew my finger through the air.
“Roughly, messages appear around here. That is… messages my constellation sends to me.”
“Ah… I was curious about how your constellation sends messages, so that’s how it works.”
Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon looked with wonder at where I had drawn in the air. I’m glad they understood so well even with this level of explanation. I sighed in relief.
“I wasn’t trying to hide it…”
“It’s a special ability. You could hide it if you wanted to.”
As I was trying to make excuses, feeling a bit guilty for not saying anything until now, Shin Haejun cut me off. Hearing that, I felt I had indeed been overly cautious. I was grateful that he thought nothing of it.
“Earlier when I kept looking into space, it was actually to check the progress of skill enhancement. The failure rate is quite high, and I can’t influence the success with my ability. Everything I’ve done so far has really been just luck.”
I laughed awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed. Then both of them spoke with strong expressions, as if about to pounce.
“Luck is a skill too!”
“There’s never been a single report of someone who could enhance others’ skills. You have a unique ability in this world, Jaeha.”
I blinked in surprise at their serious words. Did they think I was putting myself down? I just meant I really had strong luck…
I burst out laughing as I watched the two of them talking seriously about how amazing my ability was. Seeing these two tall, handsome men fussing over trying to comfort just one of me, I suddenly couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ah, he laughed.”
Hyun Dowoon muttered unconsciously and laughed along. Then, perhaps to refresh the atmosphere, he returned to the initial topic.
“Well… it’s good that new skills were created, but having to use it together with Shin Haejun…”
“Who says I want to use it together?”
They’re bickering again already. If this is how they act while pretending to get along in front of me, I was worried about how much they might fight when I can’t see.
“I thought you agreed to get along when you’re with me…”
At that, both of them shut their mouths and smiled in unison as if rehearsed.
“Anyway, new skills were created but it’s a bit strange not knowing what they are… I thought skills we could use right away would appear.”
“Even if we want to experiment, I’m not sure how we should go about it. What criteria determine when it becomes necessary?”
Hyun Dowoon’s point was certainly worth considering. It’s an inexplicable point that the skill is used without human choice intervening, when it’s not like the skill has artificial intelligence.
“Hmm… just hearing the skill name, it sounds like some kind of prophetic ability.”
“Are there people with prophetic abilities?”
I asked in surprise at Shin Haejun’s words. Breathing ice and teleporting are amazing too, but the existence of real prophets seemed even more fascinating.
“There’s nothing like that. But that’s just what it sounds like from the name.”
“Well… considering there’s an irregular like Jaeha, something like that could exist too.”
Certainly, when it comes to me, there’s nothing left to say. I crossed my arms and pondered quietly.
“I think we need to consider what ‘truth’ means first…”
I muttered absent-mindedly, but looking closely, it really seemed we needed to think about what “truth” refers to. For now, all we can speculate on is the skill name, since we have no other clues.
‘The fact that this world is inside a novel has already been revealed.’
Although Nine probably doesn’t decide the skills, I didn’t think it was completely unrelated. After all, it stemmed from the quest Nine gave me.
What other truth needs to be revealed? Is there something we can only know by using the skill?
‘It doesn’t seem immediately necessary either…’
The more I thought about it, the more uncertain it became. As I was racking my brains, Shin Haejun casually said:
“No matter what we guess, we won’t know if it’s right or not, so it’s better to just wait until it activates.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
“There’s no use in us speculating without any clues, right?”
Shin Haejun said with a clean face, without hesitation, and then stood up abruptly. Wondering what he was doing suddenly, I saw him gently pulling my wrist towards the kitchen.
“You feel hungry after guiding, right? Although this wasn’t exactly guiding, we used similar energy, so let’s fill our stomachs.”
“Huh? I’m not really hungry though…”
“You’re too thin anyway, so you need to eat. What do you think?”
Both Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon seem desperate to feed me whenever they see me. My head was complicated and I didn’t really feel like eating, but Shin Haejun seemed to want to prevent me from overthinking.
“Jaeha is certainly too thin. I can feel bones every time I touch him.”
“W-what are you saying!”
I shouted in embarrassment at Hyun Dowoon’s words. Regardless, the two of them worked together for once to sit me at the table and prepare various foods.
‘Is it okay to just let it go like this…?’
Somehow I felt this skill might be important, but with both of them making a fuss simultaneously, I had no choice but to eat the fruit they peeled for me.
***
While Jaeha was asleep, Shin Haejun received a call for dungeon conquest and left the house. Although he didn’t want to leave Jaeha alone with Hyun Dowoon, there was something he absolutely had to take care of on this opportunity.
“It’s me.”
As he made the call for an unpleasant but necessary task, the other party answered in an excited voice.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
