Chapter 4
Yeonwoo, stroking his now-calm mana core, slipped out of Chahun’s embrace.
“Next time, don’t do that.”
Because it really hurts.
As he weakly muttered while wiping away tears and saliva, Chahun supported Yeonwoo who was trying to get up with a blank expression.
“Sangwon taught me a way for espers to charge each other when there’s no guide. You accepted that person’s mana just fine, so why not mine?”
At those words, Yeonwoo’s eyes widened. Why? Because that person is a guide and you’re an esper?
No, wait. What exactly did Sangwon teach him?
Unlike guides who receive and refine mana generated in nature, espers directly generated mana from the mana core surrounding their heart. The mana created this way had unique characteristics for each individual, and those characteristics caused all mana except guide mana to feel repulsive to each other. It was similar to how the N poles of magnets repel each other.
Ignoring that repulsion to exchange mana between espers wasn’t a sensible action. It was simply torture.
Yeonwoo clicked his tongue and wobbly found his balance.
With clearer vision than before, Yeonwoo caught his breath and examined Chahun. Just like Yeonwoo, Chahun wasn’t in good shape either. His feet were angry red from arrow wounds after he had thrown away his shoes, claiming they were slippery because of the scales, and his hands were pale from frostbite, probably because he couldn’t properly control his mana. His face showed signs of exhaustion, and his once colorful lips had turned white.
Yeonwoo finally tore his gaze away from Chahun’s forehead, which was bleeding as if scratched by the dragon’s front paw, and looked at the dragon crouching in the distance.
The dragon’s condition didn’t look particularly good either. The spikes on its tail, which had been standing stiffly, were now drooping lifelessly.
Looking down at his slightly trembling fingertips, Yeonwoo glanced longingly at Minyoung. Yujin had just returned, but she held only four bottles of potion. Still, it was better than nothing, though everyone couldn’t hide their disappointed expressions.
If only Minyoung would regain consciousness. Yeonwoo, sipping the potion little by little, looked down at Chahun who had fallen asleep leaning against the barrier.
Anxiety enveloped his entire body. He feared that everyone would die, and only Chahun would survive, just like in the book.
[Kang Chahun looked around. It was terrible. Everything had been obliterated by the dragon’s breath.
In the base camp, hastily assembled from the few remaining debris, only the groans of survivors echoed. Clustered together like this, they were perfect targets for the monsters, but no one ran away.
It was because Kang Chahun was here.
The people who had been looking at Chahun with eyes full of expectation burst into tears, unable to hide their anxiety whenever they heard the cries of monsters.
‘Will everyone… die like this?’
It was at that moment when voices telling them to be quiet, shouting denials, and sobs all resonated simultaneously. Among the survivors, someone limped forward.
‘What’s the matter, Esper Han Yeonhwa.’
Standing askew, Han Yeonhwa looked at Kang Chahun and pushed back her wildly tangled hair. Gasps erupted from here and there. Hiding her ruined face with her hair again and clutching her stomach, Yeonhwa spoke.
‘I’ll be the bait.’
As an S-class with no attack ability, I’m perfect for luring monsters, and even if the gate opens and I leave… well, I don’t think there’s any hope. Muttering in a weak voice, Yeonhwa looked down at her stomach and then raised her head to meet Kang Chahun’s eyes.
‘I may look fine, but I’m in so much pain I could bite my tongue off and die right now, so don’t rack your brain trying to save me.’
‘…Esper Han Yeonhwa.’
‘Here. This is the dragon’s reverse scale. And after that, you know what to do even without me telling you. Figure it out yourself. Don’t talk to me. It’s disgusting to pick up what’s flowing down every time I speak.’]
Recalling the passage he had read so many times that the book had worn out, Yeonwoo curled up. Only Yeonhwa knew how hard Yeonwoo had worked to prevent her from ending up like that, from walking toward her own death.
The more he tried, the more Yeonhwa distanced herself from him. He’d heard the same thing over and over—that the future was predetermined and shouldn’t be changed. He understood what Yeonhwa meant when she shouted, asking if he’d forgotten what happened to people who got hit by the boomerang of causality for trying to change the future to their liking, but he couldn’t comprehend it.
Why Yeonhwa of all people? Why did Yeonhwa have to die?
Watching Yeonhwa methodically preparing for her own death, Yeonwoo felt pain like his insides were burning up. He couldn’t bear to watch Chahun recovering Yeonhwa’s corpse.
So Yeonwoo ran to the Center Director.
To prevent Yeonhwa from dying, to change the future, he broke his promise to never reveal the future to others again. Ignoring Yeonhwa who screamed asking if he was crazy, Yeonwoo plunged straight into the dungeon.
Slowly opening his eyes, Yeonwoo looked up at Chahun, who was twisting his body here and there as if he had recovered his strength. If they died here, Yeonhwa would clearly live with the guilt of killing her brother.
“Did you get some sleep?”
“No.”
It was obvious that if he fell asleep, he would never wake up again. Yeonwoo stretched his stiff body and looked around at Minyoung and Yujin. Minyoung’s complexion was getting worse, and Yujin’s barrier had become almost transparent.
Yeonwoo weakly reached out to grasp Chahun. Now all he could rely on was Chahun’s ability and Yeonhwa’s precognition.
After confirming that Chahun had created a spear and was gripping it firmly, Yeonwoo folded space.
Against the backdrop of the dragon’s groaning and the toxic steam, Chahun ran forward and leaped with perfect form to thrust down the spear. Just as Chahun kicked away the spear, the dragon raised its front paw.
It was a trap after all.
Twisting his body in mid-air, Chahun swung his hand to create an ice dagger. As the ice dagger flew towards the dragon, Chahun reached out in the opposite direction, and naturally, Yeonwoo’s hand met his.
As they grasped each other’s hands, their field of vision changed. After gauging his mana core, Yeonwoo folded space. The moment the dragon’s scales touched his feet, Chahun ran forward, holding a spear in one hand and freezing the surrounding air with the other.
Ignoring the prickling sensation in his lungs, Chahun leaped and threw the spear toward the exposed reverse scale. When he kicked it to drive it deeper, the sensation at his toes felt different.
Feeling a small thrill, Chahun reached out to grab Yeonwoo.
“Open your mouth.”
“Ugh, hmm…”
As Chahun skillfully tended to Yeonwoo right after teleporting, his eyes fell on the melted edges of Yeonwoo’s training uniform. After examining the reddened skin underneath, Chahun looked at his own training uniform. Given that Chahun’s uniform was fine, it seemed there were differences not only in potions but also in uniforms.
They discriminate even with things like this?
Chahun clicked his tongue, took off his uniform, and put Yeonwoo’s arm in it. Yeonwoo, unable to focus because of the potion’s taste, refused sluggishly saying he was fine, but after Chahun zipped it up to his neck, he thanked him and adjusted the uniform.
Chahun, who had folded the uniform so Yeonwoo’s hands were visible, looked down at the crouching dragon.
“Is it another trap?”
“Probably. When death approaches, it will raise its scales. Until then, just assume it’s a trap.”
Nodding, Chahun took Yeonwoo’s hand, and Yeonwoo moved while urging his legs that kept trying to give out.
As Chahun rushed forward, Yeonwoo observed the scales at different angles before reaching out to grab Chahun. After downing the potion in one gulp, Yeonwoo immediately folded space.
“This should be the last time.”
“Please.”
Muttering as if in prayer, Chahun gripped the spear and ran forward. Groaning at the ringing in his ears and the pouring headache, Yeonwoo gritted his teeth as he watched Chahun jump up.
Like a cat raising its fur in alarm, the dragon with raised scales swung its front paw fiercely. Yeonwoo tore open a potion, grabbed the falling Chahun, and folded space.
After releasing Chahun’s hand as he rushed out, Yeonwoo poured the last potion into his mouth and followed. As the dragon’s flailing front paw fell with a thud, Yeonwoo ran forward and grabbed Chahun.
Starting with the front paw, the dragon’s body slowly collapsed. Though they stared at the fallen dragon, which raised a cloud of hazy smoke, for a long time, they couldn’t detect any movement.
“Wow!”
Unlike Yeonwoo, who sat down almost collapsing because he couldn’t stand any longer, Chahun flailed his arms and legs in the air before looking at Yeonwoo with a broad smile.
“What do we do now?”
Holding his head due to the oncoming headache, Yeonwoo pondered before finally bursting into laughter. Wow, you really don’t know anything. I can’t believe I killed a dragon with someone like this. Laughing feebly, Yeonwoo pointed to the dragon’s belly.
“Once we obtain the magic stone attached next to the heart, the gate should open.”
“Oh.”
“Make sure you take it. It’s valuable.”
The dragon’s body was valuable everywhere. Among them, the most expensive was the dragon’s magic stone, the dragon heart. One had to be careful because someone might take the corpse claiming they would dismantle it, only to secretly steal the stone.
Now Kang Chahun could live comfortably without working until he died. Since I helped, he’d probably share some. With that money, I could buy a villa in an area far from the danger zone and live comfortably with Yeonhwa…
As Yeonwoo, who had been imagining happiness, collapsed and laid down, Chahun told him to rest for a while and walked towards the dragon. Does he even know how to extract a magic stone? Yeonwoo’s smile froze as he watched Chahun’s back as he attempted to cut open the belly.
The dragon’s scales were slowly rising.
“Kang Chahun!”
Barely rising to his feet and folding space, Yeonwoo grabbed Chahun and simultaneously covered his mouth. Blood flowing from his nose had soaked his hand and down to his chest. Although his mana core was beating wildly to create mana, the amount of mana generated wasn’t much.
Just a very brief moment.
Seeing the smoke rising from the dragon’s mouth and sparks flying between its teeth, Yeonwoo turned his head to look behind. He couldn’t sense Yujin and Minyoung.
I thought I could change the future.
Despite trying so hard, in the end, only Kang Chahun will remain.
With a bitter smile, Yeonwoo grabbed Chahun, who was erecting an ice wall, and used his ability one last time, squeezing out his final strength.
And then, everything went black.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
