Chapter 18
What’s this? Is he here already?
The ice nest was visible even before entering the training ground. It seemed… smaller than usual. Had he finally figured out how to control his ability?
Stretching out long, Yeonwoo rubbed his stiff eyes. Lately, his dreams had been particularly unpleasant. Even when he slept, it didn’t feel like he’d rested. Every time he woke up dripping with cold sweat, he wondered if it might be better not to sleep at all.
Settling beside the modest nest, Yeonwoo reached out to touch the ice pillar. The moment he was about to use his ability—
“What the…?”
Feeling something different from usual, Yeonwoo shook his fingertips vigorously with a displeased expression.
“What are you doing?”
While sitting dazed, looking at the ice pillar that had dropped abruptly instead of going to the corner of the training ground, Chahun waved his hand. Yeonwoo, looking at his fingertips, deliberately turned his gaze to Chahun.
“Where did you go?”
“I just got here.”
Then what is this?
As Chahun looked at the nest following Yeonwoo’s gaze, he deeply furrowed his brow. It was directed at Yeonwoo, not the nest.
What’s with him?
“This isn’t mine.”
Chahun replied flatly and kicked the risen ice. Comparing the ice that immediately rose beneath with the broken ice, the colors were clearly different. Chahun’s was a slightly murky sky blue, while the unfamiliar nest was a bright, vivid blue.
“It’s obviously not mine.”
That’s true, but you’re the only one who builds nests in Zone C… So naturally, I thought it was yours… Yeonwoo couldn’t say this aloud, so he avoided Chahun’s gaze and set coordinates.
Although he slipped a bit, Yeonwoo looked at the ice that had been moved to the corner and rubbed his fingertips. Was it because he hadn’t slept properly? Because he was tired? His ability was usually smooth in the morning, but today it kept faltering.
“Have you eaten?”
Waving a sandwich as he asked, Yeonwoo reflexively checked the CCTV. Technically, food was prohibited in the training ground. And Espers from other zones were prohibited too…
“Let’s eat together.”
This isn’t a buy-one-get-one-free deal. Yeonwoo, who had been silently watching a prohibited Esper holding prohibited items, accepted the sandwich. Well, it’s not like I brought him in.
“Where did you buy this?”
“They gave it to me.”
I guess at S-class, you can have meals without going to the cafeteria.
Feeling the hefty weight of the sandwich, Yeonwoo unconsciously smiled. Look at the size of this sandwich. Though he knew discrimination had a long history, seeing it extend even to food could only make him laugh.
Well, at least I get to try this. As soon as he took a bite, a fresh vegetable scent along with a tangy taste spread in his mouth. Yeonwoo’s jaw movements gradually slowed as he chewed the crisp lettuce. Taking another bite, he carefully tasted it with his eyebrows furrowed.
Does he not like it?
Watching Yeonwoo slowly move his jaw, Chahun also took a big bite. The tangy flavor was a bit strong but pleasant enough to stimulate the appetite. Does he dislike sour things?
“Who gave you this?”
“The Deputy Director.”
You could at least add a respectful title…
Yeonwoo grabbed Chahun’s arm as he was about to take another bite and opened the sandwich to check its contents. After confirming the tomatoes under the lettuce, Yeonwoo pressed his forehead.
“What’s wrong? Are you allergic?”
“No, that’s not it.”
The well-ripened, appetizing tomatoes had a wine-colored hue. More precisely, they were surrounded by wine-colored mana.
“…Has the Deputy Director been providing all your meals?”
“Probably? I think so.”
“It would be better to eat in the cafeteria from now on.”
After checking Chahun’s sandwich as well, Yeonwoo exhaled a long sigh. It had been quite some time since he had eaten byproducts obtained from dungeons. Some things, though similar in appearance, had unique flavors, and fruits, with their much higher sugar content, were particularly popular.
When the subjugation teams captured bosses, attack teams handled monsters, and rear teams collected dungeon byproducts, life-system Espers got busy. They had to purify the mana, prepare the items, and put them up for auction before they could finally enter the market.
Due to this complicated process, even with money, sometimes products weren’t available because of limited supply.
Yes. Dungeon byproducts could only be used in daily life after life-system Espers purified their mana.
Otherwise, consuming or absorbing unpurified dungeon mana would lead to symptoms known as “mana seasickness.” Although most symptoms were mild, similar to motion sickness—dizziness or nausea—in extreme cases, the dungeon mana could mix with the mana in the core, preventing proper use of abilities. That’s why edible dungeon byproducts required more thorough inspection than others.
But the tomatoes in this sandwich were raw and unpurified.
Even inhaling it through the respiratory system was dangerous, yet they were feeding it through the digestive system during virtual dungeon training? Putting down the sandwich, Yeonwoo pressed the corners of his eyes.
It was maddening. They say ten years can change mountains, but the Esper Association hadn’t changed at all. They still involved innocent people in their political squabbles, showing shameless disregard for others’ losses as long as they got what they wanted.
Sighing, Yeonwoo looked at Chahun, who wore a bewildered expression. Did Kang Chahun know? Probably not. That’s why he was eating the sandwich without suspicion, with such an expression.
Dungeon tomatoes were one of Yeonhwa’s favorite dungeon byproducts. The Round Guild Master sent them regularly, so Yeonwoo had eaten them to the point of boredom. Without that experience, Yeonwoo might not have noticed the difference in taste and would be eating happily now.
And if he had continued consuming them?
…No wonder his mana handling seemed clumsy for an S-class.
At Yeonwoo’s objection, Chahun neatly packed away not only his own sandwich but Yeonwoo’s as well.
“Where’s the cafeteria?”
At those words, Yeonwoo’s eyelashes fluttered slowly. It was somewhat… surprising. Even Yeonhwa, his own sister, once didn’t trust Yeonwoo. It took a long wait before she opened her wounded heart and allowed him by her side.
But Kang Chahun?
“Do you trust me?”
At this unpackaged, blatant question, Chahun, who had been looking for a trash can, stared at Yeonwoo.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
At that, Chahun’s expression turned slightly incredulous.
“You tell me things like this, why wouldn’t I trust you?”
Hearing Chahun’s words as he gestured toward the sandwich and mana ball, Yeonwoo frowned. He was already worried Chahun might go buy some jade floor somewhere. How could someone trust people so easily?
“Then what reason would I have not to trust you?”
At Chahun’s flat response, Yeonwoo folded his arms and tilted his head. Seeing this, Chahun rubbed his ear. Yeonwoo had done it to let Chahun experience the same annoyance, but Chahun seemed unfazed, leaving only Yeonwoo feeling embarrassed. As he unfolded his arms, Chahun, who had been fiddling with the mana ball, glanced at Yeonwoo.
“Well… as you know, I was an ordinary person until recently. Since before my awakening… no, even now, I don’t know the difference between gates and dungeons. While some people might be interested in these things, I’ve only done archery since I was 7, I was just an archer. Then suddenly I awakened, and when I was already overwhelmed, people stormed into my house demanding I sign contracts with them.”
Yeonhwa was the same. Though it wasn’t at home but at the military academy.
“They talked about all sorts of things, but I couldn’t understand any of it. When I said I didn’t understand, they said they’d explain after I signed the contract. I came here because this place at least seemed to listen to people…”
Trailing off, Chahun chuckled.
“Do you know what they told me? That they’d explain everything from A to Z. They promised no one would get hurt because of my ability. But what is this?”
Looking back and forth between the sandwich and the training uniform, Chahun’s words made Yeonwoo swallow a sigh. How could even their lines be identical? If it hadn’t been for the Round Guild Master who advised a crying Yeonwoo, Yeonhwa would probably be experiencing the same pain as Chahun now.
“There’s no one to teach me, just people who torment me. If I ask, they say I don’t need to know, or how dare I want to know such things already, or they tell me to shut up while whispering behind my back about who will take responsibility if Kang Chahun goes berserk, and if we’ll all die. They scare me as much as they can. The person who promised to teach me just laughs and tells me to wait a little longer.”
Chahun, declining Yeonwoo’s gesture to use his ability to dispose of the trash, returned from throwing it away and sat heavily beside Yeonwoo.
“I know everyone hates me being here, but this is the only place where people show their abilities. I need to see how things are used so I can learn too.”
So that’s why he came to observe Zone C. Zone A had group training facilities but preferred individual training grounds, and Zone B trained in danger zone cubes. Only Zone C trained from the basics.
Chahun’s gaze, fixed on the pile of mana balls, gradually lowered, and eventually even his broad shoulders rounded.
“Honestly, I don’t like hearing about being S-class either. It feels like they’re mocking me because my mana core is large when I don’t know anything. Even listening to that…”
It’s burdensome and I hate it… mumbled Chahun as he made eye contact with Yeonwoo. What? Does he mean I don’t do that?
Well… Yeonwoo had been raising and protecting a natural S-class since childhood. Even as an ordinary person, he had endured Yeonhwa’s mana, so now as an awakened Esper, Chahun’s mana was manageable.
But isn’t it impressive for an S-class to have that much patience?
Chahun at least pretended to hold back his anger, but Yeonhwa didn’t. If something displeased her, she’d curse first and think later. She would glare, asking if they knew what would happen to their families. I thought it was just Han Yeonhwa’s nasty personality. But after seeing that other S-classes were even worse, not better, I realized it was just the S-class temperament.
“The entire time I was with those people, I was just mocked and learned nothing. If I made a mistake, they gave me looks. If I practiced, they gave me looks. And also…”
Chahun, rubbing his forehead, stared at Yeonwoo.
“You didn’t do that, hyung.”
That gaze brought back the embarrassment and awkwardness he had felt once before. Hurriedly avoiding eye contact, Yeonwoo stared at the floor. After sitting like that for a while, a bell sound rang from far away. Recognizing it as Yeonhwa’s bell, he tried to get up quickly, but his body wouldn’t move.
“This…”
“Just a moment.”
Despite Yeonwoo pointing at his hand, Chahun didn’t release the training uniform and grabbed a mana ball. After filling it with mana, he took Yeonwoo’s hand, pressed the mana ball into it, and only then let go of the uniform.
“But is there any reason I shouldn’t trust you, hyung?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
