Chapter 43
Yeonwoo, rubbing his ears, reorganized his plan.
The future was already distorted, and for Yeonwoo to survive even a little longer, Chahun needed to become the Center Director as per the predetermined future.
To accomplish this, the biggest obstacle that needed to be removed was Lee Sangwon. To bring down Lee Sangwon, who not only possessed exceptional abilities but was also under the protection of the Cheongha Guild, Yeonwoo would have to change the future of Chahun, the protagonist of the book.
Even if Yeonwoo sacrificed his own future to change Lee Sangwon’s, it would be meaningless if Kang Chahun didn’t step up. If Chahun refused to contract with the Center and left, all of Yeonwoo’s plans would be in vain.
But if Chahun harbored hostility toward Lee Sangwon, Yeonwoo had planned to stimulate that hostility to keep him at the Center through a rivalry with Lee Sangwon. Judging by his attitude toward Lee Sangwon, there seemed to be no need to worry about how to provoke that hostility.
He also appeared quite dissatisfied with the Center Director, so at this point, it might not be bad to sweep them both away and make Chahun the youngest Center Director. If that happened, even if Yeonwoo was hit by the boomerang of causality as payment for changing the future, at least he could die after seeing Yeonhwa become an adult.
Nodding his head, Yeonwoo knocked on the door.
“Can I come in?”
He waited for a moment, but there was no answer.
Wait, didn’t he say he was just going to drink water and come out…? Is he drinking melted ice? Quite some time had passed since Chahun went into the break room, but there was still no sign of him. Where was all that complaining from earlier? Had he belatedly become embarrassed? Yeonwoo smiled softly as he looked at the tightly closed door.
For Yeonwoo, who could freely move through space, hiding behind a closed door didn’t mean much, but giving Chahun time to organize his thoughts seemed more meaningful than pointing out this fact.
Standing with his back to the door, Yeonwoo looked around the spacious training room. After examining the training equipment scattered here and there, he fixed his gaze on the target on the opposite side.
Kang Chahun. A talented individual who nearly became a national representative, sweeping various awards from a young age with his outstanding concentration and skills. On top of that, Chahun had awakened as an S-class Esper. The people in Zone A must have felt threatened that Chahun would take their positions. That’s why they must have desperately suppressed him so he couldn’t demonstrate his abilities.
They didn’t teach him how to handle his ability, let alone how to use weapons…
Yeonwoo let out a light sigh and arranged the bows and arrows to one side. Attack-type Espers could choose weapons that suited their abilities after trying various ones. Even Zone C gave ability users the option to choose weapons, but their intention in only providing a bow was obvious. They wanted to block Chahun’s growth. As Yeonwoo bent down to clear away the arrows, he examined the potion bottle Chahun had left behind.
By now, Lee Sangwon must be feeling like he had a fire under his feet. If Yeonwoo hadn’t been Han Yeonhwa’s brother, Sangwon would have found some excuse to drag him out.
Despite Yeonwoo visiting Kang Chahun’s training room more than once, Lee Sangwon hadn’t come to ask why as he did today. That’s because Yeonwoo was C-class. Even if Chahun handled mana or counterattacked, Sangwon wouldn’t have suspected Yeonwoo. He probably couldn’t imagine that the C-class Yeonwoo was teaching something to the S-class Chahun.
Well, if an S-class had asked Yeonwoo to teach them something, he would have run to the training center director to report that the bastard was mocking him. Actually, he would have thought they were mocking him too.
That’s how absurd it seemed.
That’s why they’ve left it alone until now, but as Chahun’s skills improve, they’ll become more suspicious of Yeonwoo. If they find out Chahun is learning abilities from Yeonwoo, the people in Zone A will do whatever it takes to tear them apart.
But what if the reason they’re spending time together is because they’re old acquaintances, like brothers? Interfering with two people who want to catch up after a long time would be an excessive overreach. What could they say about a neighborhood hyung teaching something to a dongsaeng he knows?
“Hyung. What do you want to eat—no, why are you cleaning that up?”
Chahun, who had only poked his head out after opening the door, rushed out and hugged the training equipment Yeonwoo was organizing.
“No, this is what I practiced in the morning. I’m going to practice again anyway, so if you clean it up, I’ll just waste movement going back and forth.”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
Yeonwoo preferred to take things out as needed since he could move them with spatial movement, but other Espers, like Chahun said, preferred to leave things on the ground, saying they’d practice again later. The trend had changed a bit after the penalty point incident, but people’s preferences don’t change easily.
Yeonwoo quickly agreed and returned the items he was organizing to their original places. Even though this was Chahun’s training room and not one managed with others, he had habitually started tidying up. Just because something bothered Yeonwoo didn’t mean it bothered Chahun as well.
“I’m sorry for making you do the work twice.”
At those words, Chahun’s brow deeply furrowed.
“Why are you apologizing?”
He makes a fuss even when I apologize…? Blinking, Yeonwoo paused while putting down the arrows and pulled up the corners of his mouth into a smile.
“This is Esper Kang Chahun’s personal training room, and I arbitrarily touched—”
“Again. Don’t draw those lines.”
“What?”
“I told you before. If hyung hadn’t taught me how to handle mana, I’d still be staring blankly at the wall or getting beaten by Lee Sangwon. They originally weren’t going to give me this room, but they assigned it to me after seeing how I handled mana. It’s basically thanks to hyung that I got it, so don’t be so formal. This is also my fault for not cleaning up, so don’t apologize.”
Chahun, who had been looking at Yeonwoo sulkily, began organizing the training equipment on the shelf. Although Yeonwoo wished he would organize them by size, he didn’t point it out and just quietly nodded.
His earlobes felt hot.
Every time Chahun acknowledged him, Yeonwoo felt unbearably embarrassed. Squatting down, Yeonwoo reorganized already organized areas to dispel the embarrassment, avoiding Chahun’s gaze. Chahun, staring directly at Yeonwoo, moved his lips before asking:
“And I wasn’t upset earlier either.”
“What?”
Yeonwoo’s eyes widened at the unusually gentle tone.
“You apologized for calling me by my name. Honestly, it bothers me more when you call me ‘Esper Kang Chahun.’ Do you know how much they mocked me, saying who wants to be called an Esper when they can’t even handle their ability?”
At the increasingly agitated voice, Yeonwoo reached out and patted Chahun’s arm. Chahun, snorting with his fist clenched, squatted down next to Yeonwoo.
“But why did you do that?”
“I told you I needed an excuse to access Zone A. You heard what Esper Lee Sangwon said earlier, right? Without a special reason, you can’t enter other zones.”
“So hyung—”
“Esper Kang Chahun. Think carefully. Why would other Espers not want to teach Esper Kang Chahun anything?”
At those words, Chahun, about to retort, pouted.
“Well, I’m not stupid. Who wouldn’t know they’re trying to keep me in check because they’re afraid I’ll take their positions? That’s why I said it’s petty and disgusting, and I want to leave the Center.”
“But the Center Director isn’t the type to let you go easily. In such a contentious situation, if I openly say I’m teaching Esper Kang Chahun, do you think they’ll leave us alone?”
“Ah.”
Uttering a death rattle, Chahun nodded and then excitedly slid closer to Yeonwoo.
“So we need to pretend to be a little close—”
“What are you saying? We were already close.”
“Uh, umm.”
Ignoring Yeonwoo’s flustered response, Chahun moved closer and pulled up his lips. After jumping around excitedly, saying he’d been thinking he might need to hold back because hyung had been called by the Center Director and Lee Sangwon might act up again, but now there was no need, Chahun gestured toward the break room and continued:
“I told you. Without hyung, I don’t have anyone to eat with. Kim Gangcheol keeps asking me to eat with him, but with all his talk about how S-class should be appropriately rude, how you’ll be taken advantage of if you’re not sharp with people, how you should avoid guiding as much as possible because you might imprint, and so on and so forth—do I need to get indigestion listening to that? Eat with that guy?”
“Kim Gangcheol?”
“Yes. Ah, you don’t know? That… there’s a guy. The man who follows me around.”
Could he possibly be talking about the Zone A training center director…?
Yeonwoo rubbed his forehead and let out a small sigh. He wasn’t wrong. People had expectations of how an S-class should behave. If they deviated from that image, people would be disappointed or see them as easy to take advantage of, as Chahun said. But not about guiding. Imprinting is incredibly difficult—if guiding could lead to imprinting, the Center would have been in chaos long ago.
“Anyway, I guess I don’t have to worry about what others think now?”
Chahun, smiling broadly, ordered soup for Yeonwoo and various foods for himself before sprawling on the sofa. Sky-blue mana gathered and dispersed repeatedly in Chahun’s palm as he tapped the armrest as if playing the piano. Staring blankly at the sight, a piece of information surfaced in Yeonwoo’s mind.
“…Esper Kang Chahun.”
“Just call me comfortably like before. What is it?”
“Have you ever tried compressing cotton candy?”
“What?”
Yeonwoo demonstrated by putting his hands together as if pressing something firmly. When Chahun mimicked Yeonwoo’s gesture, the sky-blue light gradually disappeared between his fingers.
“Huh?”
A moment later, Chahun opened his palm with a puzzled expression. A small ice crystal sat in his palm.
“What is this?”
What is it…? It’s proof that you’re a genius.
Yeonwoo let out a hollow laugh and looked at the ice crystal. He had once seen information about cryogenic systems while looking for ability users related to the future. Elemental Espers could crystallize their mana. Relying on that brief memory, he had brought it up on the off chance, and Chahun had immediately created a crystal just from that nonsensical explanation.
No wonder Zone A Espers were so desperate to keep Chahun in check.
“Hyung! Look at this!”
With Yeonwoo marveling in front of him, Chahun moved his hands and created a massive piece of ice. Anyone watching would headline it as the appearance of the century’s genius, but Yeonwoo put his hand to his forehead.
“It’s too big.”
“Isn’t bigger better?”
“Not everything is better when it’s bigger. Could you fight while carrying that? How would you store it?”
At Yeonwoo’s words, Chahun became dejected and waved his hand to reclaim the mana. The ice formations he created afterward were all enormous. Watching the ice change in various ways according to Chahun’s gestures, Yeonwoo suddenly stood up.
“Do you know there’s a shooting test next week?”
Chahun’s expression showed he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. Because Yeonwoo knew.
“After training tomorrow, do you want to come to the shooting range?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
