Chapter 5
“Huk!”
Yeonwoo sprang up from his bed with a harsh gasp and immediately curled into himself. His chin trembled uncontrollably, and his barely open eyes lacked focus. After shaking for a long while, Yeonwoo’s reddish-brown eyes grew hazy and swelled with tears.
Tears trickled down the corners of his eyes, but he couldn’t even wipe them away, only continuing to curl up to avoid any stimulation.
His hand, extended to block the dragon’s breath, melted before it could even burn. With no time to scream at the horrific sight, his entire body caught fire. The dragon’s teeth, jaws open to consume Yeonwoo’s mana core, tore his body to pieces. Even amid the burning agony, he could clearly feel his broken ribs piercing his lungs.
Shuddering, Yeonwoo clutched his stomach and screamed. His legs thrashed endlessly, trying to escape the pain.
After suffering with convulsions for a long time, Yeonwoo whimpered and clutched the sheets.
Rustle. Startled by the soft texture crumpling in his hand and the smell of sunlight, the frozen Yeonwoo moved only his eyes to look around. His familiar surroundings came into view as he struggled to regulate his labored breathing.
“…Home?”
It was home.
Not the cave-like dungeon where dragons rampaged, but the Korean Esper Center dormitory.
Yeonwoo’s home.
Drenched in cold sweat, Yeonwoo surveyed his surroundings warily. A quiet, silent place, so familiar he could navigate it with his eyes closed.
Am I hallucinating from the pain…?
Embracing his trembling body, Yeonwoo looked around the apartment. It felt like the walls might crumble at any moment to reveal the cave.
But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and his focus returned, his surroundings became clearer. Simultaneously, the lingering sensations of pain clinging to his skin began to fade.
“…What’s going on?”
As he scanned the room with strained eyes full of suspicion, he noticed a faintly glowing clock.
[20XX/02/18]
[AM 12:07]
Blink. Blink. Watching the clock alternately display the date and time, Yeonwoo’s body collapsed backward. The tension suddenly released, draining the strength from his entire body.
“Even when I dream, I have to dream this kind of crap.”
His trembling voice was still full of tears. As Yeonwoo irritably tried to wipe away his tears, his hand caught on something. It was a book placed beside his pillow.
A hardcover book with no title or author listed.
Looking down at the dark blue cover with silver patterns, Yeonwoo felt a sense of incongruity as he picked up the book.
Was this book always so clean?
The protagonist of this book was Kang Chahun, an S-rank esper with ice abilities. The book began with Kang Chahun joining the center.
Chahun awakened later than others and was very clumsy at handling his abilities. The book followed Chahun’s growth as he fought and competed with Zone A espers who looked down on him, envied and jealous of him, until the part where he earned dungeon conquest rights. Yeonwoo had been reading with emotionless eyes until he saw Yeonhwa’s name and exhaled a trembling breath.
His stiffened fingers barely turned the pages as his reddish-brown eyes moved frantically.
When a gate too massive to measure its rank appeared, a joint team formed around the Round Guild. That team included Yeonhwa from Round Guild and Chahun from the center.
Though they crafted a perfect strategy with Yeonhwa’s foresight, it was natural that the guilds’ coordination failed as they checked each other from the beginning. As the unstable joint team disbanded, Yeonwoo roughly closed the book when he reached the part where a dragon ambushed the base camp after guild members had left.
His eyes burned hot.
His heart pounded painfully, thump, thump.
He had memorized the story that followed. Chahun killed the dragon through Yeonhwa’s sacrifice. When the gate opened and the second team rushed in, Yeonhwa’s body was among the corpses Chahun had gathered.
Yeonwoo tightly shut his eyes and screamed silently.
His entire body trembled as loud thuds echoed all around him. His shaking hands couldn’t hold onto the book, and as he watched it fall, Yeonwoo collapsed.
And apparently fell asleep right there to have that damn dream.
Pushing the book away, Yeonwoo embraced his continuously trembling body. The cold sweat cooled, making his entire body chilly.
It’s okay. It’s just a nightmare. The future can be changed. Muttering to himself, Yeonwoo wiped his tears and hesitated as he tried to leave the blanket.
His body, drenched in sweat, craved water, but he was afraid to stretch his feet beyond the bed. The lingering sensations of his toes, feet, and legs burning, of his body shattering under the dragon’s teeth, still clung to his entire body.
It felt like the moment he acknowledged the existence of his feet, that pain would envelop his body again.
After reflexively wiping away his tears, Yeonwoo looked around the empty room. Using abilities outside of permitted areas was strictly forbidden, but everyone did this secretly.
Just as Yeonwoo set coordinates for the kitchen chair and was about to use his ability, the mana flowing from his core to the coordinates felt resistance somewhere around his wrist and returned to his core. The coordinates, losing their purpose due to the disappearing mana, bounced up, causing Yeonwoo to stagger.
Falling between the table and the bed, Yeonwoo stretched out his foot to avoid falling. The moment he looked down to regain balance, his toes came into view.
“Keu, eung…”
Covering his mouth at the hallucination of his toes melting, Yeonwoo fixed his gaze on his instep where tears were dropping.
It’s fine. This is home. I’m fine. There are no injuries.
Only after repeatedly muttering while looking down at his unscathed toes and feet could he escape the phantom pain. Wiping away cold sweat and regulating his breathing, Yeonwoo staggered toward the refrigerator.
He opened the refrigerator door wide, enjoying the cool air before filling a cup with water and downing it in one go. Even after emptying two bottles of water, his thirst wasn’t quenched. Crouched on the kitchen chair, slowly sipping water, Yeonwoo glared at the book.
“How can a dream feel this vivid?”
As Yeonwoo took a deep breath and was about to get up to put the book back in place, the air condensed to form a door.
“I’m back.”
Yeonhwa walked through that door. After a long yawn, she threw a notebook onto the table and slumped into a chair.
“You slept there again?”
“No. I came out to sleep.”
That Guild Master Muyeong, giving weird things to a child.
Being careful not to look at the notebook’s contents as he tidied it, Yeonwoo glared at the fading door. Since childhood, people had offered bribes disguised as gifts to obtain even a single line of Yeonhwa’s predictions.
For Yeonhwa, who couldn’t wake up once she fell asleep, all kinds of people gifted comfortable facilities like penthouses, vacation homes, hotels, and Guild Master Muyeong had gifted her a subspace.
Is it even allowed to give dungeon items to a minor who doesn’t even have an affiliation yet? Yeonwoo disapproved, but Yeonhwa quite liked it. Though her reaction was rather subdued for someone who liked it. Yeonhwa accepted the key as if it was naturally hers and started living there.
The subspace, which no one but those permitted by Yeonhwa could enter, seemed perfect for security. But that was only when Yeonhwa was conscious. Despite knowing how anxious Yeonwoo got outside the subspace, unable to look after her when she fell asleep and couldn’t wake up until her foresight ended, Yeonhwa still fell asleep in the subspace.
“Wow, how can you still be sleepy after sleeping so much?”
“That’s why you should get Guiding—”
“Uwaah. Sleepy.”
Mid-yawn, Yeonhwa raised her hands sluggishly to cover her ears as soon as she made eye contact with Yeonwoo’s disapproving expression.
He worried about her using abilities without receiving Guiding, despite being a psychic type. What if she lost control in the subspace? No matter what nagging he tried, it was obvious she would eventually lock herself in the subspace to do her foresight.
Swallowing a sigh, Yeonwoo pulled Yeonhwa’s hand. She didn’t budge at all, befitting her S-rank strength, but it didn’t matter. If he kept nagging until it reached her ears, she might eventually at least pretend to listen.
“This happens because you use your ability without getting Guiding.”
“Ah, here we go again.”
No matter how many times he told her it would be better to get proper Guiding at the ability school’s Guiding room or the association’s Guiding chamber, Yeonhwa would only barge into Yeonwoo’s home to sleep the moment her foresight ended.
Unfolding the blanket hanging on the chair and covering Yeonhwa, Yeonwoo combed her disheveled hair with his fingers. As he braided and tidied her curly hair, Yeonhwa tilted her head to look up at Yeonwoo.
“Oppa should fix his own hair.”
“I just woke up, that’s why.”
At Yeonwoo’s words, Yeonhwa turned her head to check the clock and murmured, “I see,” before yawning deeply.
“Why? What did you dream about this time?”
Yeonwoo bit his lip and glared at the milk carton. It wasn’t because he was embarrassed to whine about having a nightmare to his younger sister.
“I don’t… really remember. It’s that kind of dream where I only remember that it was a nightmare when I woke up.”
“Really? I’ve never dreamed, so I wouldn’t know.”
Watching Yeonhwa flop down on the bed, Yeonwoo looked back and forth between the book and her. He couldn’t tell her that he had fallen asleep reading a book she had written, and had a nightmare about dying while trying to save her. Just imagining Yeonhwa saying, whether confirming or denying, that he would die made a part of his chest feel like it was melting.
“Is it because you’re starting work tomorrow, Oppa?”
“Huh?”
“You always have nightmares when something’s about to happen.”
Pulling the blanket, Yeonhwa smiled slightly and then burst into laughter.
“Don’t you remember? Before we went to the amusement park, you woke up sobbing because you dreamed the Viking ride flew away and you couldn’t ride it—”
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s hilarious. Your ears are red now, you know. And before you entered the military academy, what was it? You said you dreamed about being stranded in a desert.”
As forgotten memories resurfaced one by one, an embarrassed Yeonwoo swung a pillow to cover Yeonhwa’s mouth. As she blocked the descending pillow while laughing heartily, she reached out and pulled Yeonwoo closer.
“It’s already two o’clock. Go to sleep early.”
“I’ll warm up some milk for you to drink before sleeping.”
“I’ll drink it when I get up later. We should sleep early so you won’t be late tomorrow. Go to sleep now.”
Patting the back of Yeonwoo, who lay down beside her, Yeonhwa mumbled with drowsy eyes that seemed about to fall into sleep:
“Don’t think about it. It’s all bullshit dreams.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
