I Really Don't Know What They're Thinking (5)
Over dinner I asked Kim Chang-hyun when he'd fallen for Han Go-eun that hard. He looked sheepish for a moment, then broke into a dopey grin.
"I'm not totally sure, but I think it started around the museum incident. I mean, I'm pretty big, and with this shaggy hair my face doesn't exactly give off a friendly vibe, right?"
...This punk. Is he taking a roundabout shot at me for being ugly?
He could talk like that all he wanted. Kim Chang-hyun was handsome in a rough, tough way.
"And?"
"Even so, Go-eun never looked scared of me. She just said whatever she wanted to say—whatever was right. And somewhere along the line I realized that whenever I had a spare moment, I was looking at her. I only noticed it the day summer break started. Before that it was fine, because I saw her every day at school. Then I started the part-time job and couldn't see her anymore, and I got all gloomy and restless."
Han Go-eun wore a prim little look as she cut into the well-done steak Choi Soohan had grilled for her, working it with fork and knife while she listened to every word.
Who are you trying to fool, acting unbothered? Your ears are bright red.
Kang Ju-chan clapped softly, as if it all made sense.
"Ah, I see. So that's why you kept sighing and staring at your phone during our shifts?"
"Urk. Well, yeah. Something like that."
Hold on. He'd been down with lovesickness—a legally designated special affliction—since summer break? Kang Ju-chan had worked the same job, so of course he'd caught on fast.
"I was shocked Go-eun actually accepted a confession!"
"Su—Suri!"
"Go-eun's turned people down more than fifty times, you know? If she doesn't like someone, she shuts them down cold. But she got flustered when Chang-hyun confessed. I'd never seen her like that!"
"S-stop iiit~!"
Su Yu-ri's mouth was not to be stopped. Han Go-eun stammered, then simply dropped her head, while Kim Chang-hyun went slack-jawed and stupid with joy and started giggling to himself.
"Heheh. Eheheheh. Mwehehehe."
Miho, perched on a child's chair and spearing bite-sized pieces of steak Soohan had cut for her, suddenly lobbed a bomb between the two of them.
"So then you two kiss, right?"
"What?"
"?!"
"If you like each other, you kiss, don't you? Porongi said when you like someone, you kiss them."
"Urk. W-we don't do that!"
"Huuuh? Then you don't like each other?"
"Th-that's—"
Miho was probably just curious, but for Han Go-eun it had to be peerless torture.
She floundered, face scarlet, and Kim Chang-hyun watched her with a look so full of overflowing happiness that he couldn't stop smiling.
"Wow... you like her that much?"
"Hehehe."
He'd even stopped eating, just sitting there slack-faced and breathing out a soft, cotton-candy glow, so I snorted and said,
"How about a one-day-anniversary kiss? I'll do you a special favor and take an ultra-high-definition commemorative photo with my Certifier."
"For real?!"
"What are you saying!"
Kim Chang-hyun, honest to a fault, and Han Go-eun, burying her heart under embarrassment—their feelings ran in perfect opposition. I grinned at the pair and showed them the Certifier seal stuck to my wrist.
"Pictures from a fully loaded, five-billion-won Certifier aren't just flat, two-dimensional photos. Run them through the right program and you can view them as a 360-degree panorama. Even in VR."
"Do it!"
"Hey!!"
Watching them start to bicker over whether to take the offer, I found myself feeling oddly warm. How to put it—like watching little kids play at love? Like spectating a romance game between babies who hadn't even set a foot on the first step of adulthood.
Me, I'd climbed those stairs a few hundred times already.
"All right. I'll take one for you later, so just say the word whenever."
"Oh, thanks!!"
"Oh, for the love of—"
I spent the rest of dinner watching one of them die of joy and the other die of shame, laughter blooming around the table, and by the time we came out to the living room it was nearly nine at night.
Everyone had gathered there to lounge and chat when something I needed to ask Darky came to mind, so I took Hiarid and Darky out onto the first-floor terrace.
"Hiarid. Translate what Darky's saying for me."
I had only a thin yellow sweater Franc had bought me over my shirt, and the cold off the snow was seeping into my body, but I turned my Mana Sieve to push the chill back, kneading Darky's soft body as I asked.
"Darky, you said absorption and release were your specialties, right? How much of an attack can you absorb?"
Blorp? Slosh, slosh.
= I do not know how much I am able to absorb. However, an elemental shot from a high-tier variant is simple enough to take in. =
An elemental shot from a high-tier variant. The one the Pisorosaurus had fired in the Asumpfre Sunken Ruins would have been a water-attribute shot too, wouldn't it? Something on that level, my Wall of Space or Spatial Barrier could block anyway...
Hmm. In any case, for the question I'd originally meant to ask, I gathered a Mana Bullet at my fingertip. Darky went slosh?! and started thrashing in my hand, trying to get away from it.
"Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?"
Slosh! Wobble-wobble!!
= Th-that is disintegration one stage above my ability! If I touch it, I will vanish!! =
"This thing? Then what about this?"
He'd been frightened badly enough to half-liquefy and start dripping, so I dismissed the Mana Bullet and struck out a small Wall of Space. Once he'd pulled himself back together, he extended a tentacle and tapped the wall.
Wobble. Slosh.
= This is disintegration on the same level as me. =
Hmm. At first I'd thought the abilities grew stronger in the order of Mana Bullet, then Mana Shot, then Wall of Space. But when I fought Ha Cheolsu, the Grand Turtle's behavior made me suspect it was hard to judge a Mana Bullet by raw attack power alone—and it seemed I'd been right.
According to Darky, a Mana Bullet was a higher order of disintegration than the Wall of Space. How could that be?
Maybe a Mana Bullet fired through the Mana Sieve and a Wall of Space derived from Spatial Perception were similar, but not the same ability?
I remembered the Mana Bullets that couldn't pierce the energy field on Mount Elephantros, and how they'd barely worked on the Solid Snake during my ability verification.
Still turning it over, I dismissed the Wall of Space and this time formed a Mana Shot to show Darky.
"What about this? Does this seem like a disintegration ability too?"
Blorp? Brrrrblorp.
= This? It feels like something doubled over on itself, but it is not threatening at all. It is simply an explosion, is it not? =
...Whoa. So if I overlaid Phase Power on a Mana Bullet, the impact went up and the disintegration vanished?
After that I asked Darky this and that and checked the results. The reason my Mana Bullets hadn't done much against aberrants of a similar grade was that the force spread wide as it exploded, and the cohesion dropped with it.
And the reason the Wall of Space had looked stronger than a Mana Bullet was simply that, once solidified, its cohesion improved—and it gained persistence on top of that.
I also came to understand that Darky could swallow anything and break it down because he compressed his body that way, condensing it past a liquid state into something close to solid.
In other words, if I shrank a Mana Bullet as far as it would go and poured TP into it to condense it, there would be nothing in this world it couldn't disintegrate. That was Darky's explanation.
"Then how do I compress it further?"
Blorp? Blorp...
= Compress it? That, even I do not really... =
Hmm. I'd have to look harder for a way to compress and condense a Mana Bullet.
I had the Mana Cannon, sure, but that was just an ability that shoved TP in without restraint. It was hard to call that a force condensed and packed dense the way Darky's body was.
"Then, going back to the first thing—you said your weakness was the light attribute."
Blorp? Slosh-slosh!
= What? My weakness is not the light attribute! My only weakness is a disintegration ability superior to my own, such as Master's Mana Bullet! =
"What? When light hits you, you blow apart."
Blorp-blorp!
= Whether I am made as one or divided into many, all of it is me, and I am all of it! Light merely divides me. It cannot deal me a blow! =
All is one, and one is all. There was no way this guy knew the dharma-nature realm.
"If a light-attribute skill blows you apart, doesn't that mean you can't absorb that power?"
Blorp... Brrlorp.
= That is true, but... my attribute leans slightly toward darkness, so I cannot absorb light, the attribute that stands opposite it. =
"So you just can't absorb it. You don't actually take damage? Then you can absorb the lightning attribute too?"
Slosh! Blorp-blorp.
= Yes! I can absorb lightning! But lightning also belongs somewhat to the light attribute, so I cannot swell it up wildly the way I can with other attributes. =
That settled it. When I went to crush that Rogue Imugi bastard, I'd be taking Darky along after all.
"All right. Next time I go take down an aberrant, I'm going to need your help."
Churrrr!
= Yes! =
He sloshed and shimmered as if delighted, swaying this way and that, so I set him up on my shoulder and went back to the living room where everyone was gathered.
"Eek?!"
...A weird sound in my sleep dragged my eyes open. My sister was backing toward the edge of the bed in little jerks, pulling the blanket up to cover herself.
"..."
Wondering what kind of midnight nonsense this was, I just stared, then checked the time. Five in the morning.
Oh, come on. The alcohol smell had already kept me from sleeping properly...
"Don't make weird noises."
I muttered it irritably into the pillow, and my sister, reeking of booze, asked in a flustered voice.
"Wh-why are you sleeping here?"
"What do you mean, why. Don't you remember passing out drunk last night? This is our room."
Of the three beds, the left one was occupied by Yeongeun alone, plastered from drink, and on the right Hwayeon—who hated the smell of alcohol—and Franc were asleep in each other's arms. I'd meant to sleep between them too, but Franc had chased me out for being cramped.
Back at the apartment we'd shared a single bed...
So at first I'd tried sleeping beside Yeongeun, but whether it was the enhanced concentrated-alcohol ampoule or just the liquor stink, I couldn't bear it beside her, and I'd had no choice but to lie down next to my sister.
She looked around with a blank little "huh?", and only seemed to grasp the situation after she saw Franc, Hwayeon, and Yeongeun still asleep.
She lifted the blanket to check what she was wearing, then let it fall and heaved a sigh—and the sour breath of a hangover washed over my face.
"Agh, the booze smell!"
"Urk."
I snapped at her under my breath so the lovers wouldn't wake, and she covered her mouth, embarrassed. A thoughtful look crossed her face, and only then did the hangover headache seem to climb. She started to sway, dazed.
"Ugh... my head... hrrk!"
She climbed off the bed weaving, took a few staggering steps, then dropped to the floor and dry-heaved.
"Hueeerk..."
"You really do it all, don't you."
I watched my retching sister with displeasure. At this rate my women were going to wake, so I threw off the blanket, got up, and supported her.
Every time she gasped beside me, the sharp reek of alcohol poured off her.
"You can't even hold your liquor. Why drink until you're this wrecked?"
"Uuugh... I'm sorry..."
Hmm. One of the small rooms on the third floor had Miho and Hiarid asleep in it, and Soohan was sleeping alone in the other, so I couldn't use that shower. The second floor was occupied by Han Go-eun and her bunch...
My sister's under-eyes had gone pitch black, and she kept gasping out alcohol fumes. If I walked her all the way down to the first floor like this, she wouldn't make it halfway before emptying everything in her stomach onto the floor.
"This won't work. I'm Space Leaping, so take a breath."
"Hup."
She did as told, drew in a breath, and covered her mouth with both hands. I picked her up and Space Leapt to the grand bath on the first floor. I'd wondered whether I'd have to draw the water myself, but a full tub of hot water was already steaming, as if some round-the-clock temperature control had filled it.
"I'll bring you clothes. Wash up."
"O-okay."
I set her down in the changing room. Whimpering, she peeled off her sweater and shirt and started working her way out of thoroughly wrinkled cotton pants.
I wondered if we had green tea or honey. I opened the door and stepped into the kitchen, and the lights came on by themselves over a neatly kept room.
A sweep with Spatial Perception: no honey... but there was something like a round tin in the cupboard. I took it out and found an elegant paper canister labeled Ujeon tea—a first-flush green.
Ujeon tea? What's that? I popped the lid and sniffed. It smelled of green tea leaves. This would do.
I took out a teapot, boiled water the way I vaguely remembered for green tea, warmed a cup with hot water, and steeped the leaves in water that was hot enough without being scalding.
While I was at it, I'd have a cup myself.
I poured the tea into a porcelain cup in three passes, set it on a small tray, and went into the grand bath. At the sound of the door, my sister—soaking up to her chest—startled and dove under the water.
"Wh-what!"
"I made green tea. Drink it while you wash."
The grand bath was as big as the public bathhouses I'd visited a few times as a kid, and the steam hung so thick I could barely see. I had no idea why she was being so sensitive.
I set the tray down by the bathroom entrance, stepped out, and stood in the changing room. Through Spatial Perception I watched her creep out with a towel wrapped around herself, take the teacup, and slip back into the tub.
Leaning against the bathroom doorway, I drank the hot green tea and spoke.
"...You still don't feel like telling me?"
"Hot!"
Too hot? I hadn't made it that hot.
"I—I don't! Idiot!"
Hearing her flustered, sharp voice from beyond the bathroom door killed any desire I had to press further. Grumbling, I knocked the tea back in one swallow and Space Leapt off to fetch her bag of clothes.
"Your clothes bag is on the changing-room table. I'm going."
"...Okay."
I'd said it a little curtly, and the voice that came back was immediately deflated. Not a sister. A nemesis.
I had nothing to say to her, and no wish to say it, so I just went back to the room.
The bed where Hwayeon and Franc were holding each other was too narrow. That wouldn't work... I considered crawling into Yeongeun's arms to finish sleeping, but the smell still hadn't aired out.
"Tch."
I didn't want to sleep alone... So I gave in to selfishness and forced my way in between Franc and Hwayeon, dead to the world. The two lovers woke, looked at me, and sighed.
"I don't want to sleep alone!"
"Yes, yes."
"Where did Siha go...?"
"She was about to throw up from the hangover, so I dumped her in the bath and left."
Huh. It wasn't even that narrow. I lay down in the bed their body heat had warmed, offered both arms as pillows, breathed in their scent, and headed off to dreamland.
They'd ridden the night slopes for a full two hours without a break yesterday, and yet after breakfast they were already packing ski gear, ready to go again.
Han Go-eun and Kim Chang-hyun ran out arm in arm, flaunting the couple look, and the others followed in their little clusters, changed into ski clothes, and left.
Do those guys never get tired...
"Huh? Seoha, you're not going skiing?"
Su Yu-ri, back in a ski suit dried soft and fluffy, had her skis and poles in hand and was about to head out when she turned to ask me.
"I rode enough yesterday to get sick of it. Not really feeling it."
"Mm. Okay."
Su Yu-ri left too. I glanced at Kang Ju-chan playing Lemon Hunt with Miho in front of the fireplace, then went up to the third floor and found my sister rolling around on the bed, gasping through a headache.
"Nnnngh... urrrgh."
Watching her sprawl there, wrecked by a hangover, I couldn't even find the words for how pathetic it was.
She'd come all the way to a ski resort, skipped the skiing, drunk herself stupid, and passed out. I stood beside my frog-sprawled sister and clicked my tongue, and she shot me a glare—then started kicking my side. Thump, thump!
"Ah, what."
It didn't hurt, but my mood soured. I glared back at her, and she glared right along with me and opened her mouth.
"Hearing you click your tongue at me is so—so incredibly annoying!"
"What did I even do?!"
"Anyway! You're the root of my worries, the root! Agh, ow."
She'd shouted it, and the sound must have rung through her skull. She clutched her head in both hands and collapsed again.
"If Seoha puts a Healing Touch on you, wouldn't the hangover go away too?"
Yeongeun, toothbrush in her mouth and a magazine in hand, snorted at the sight, tossed out a line that made my sister's ears prick straight up, and disappeared into the bathroom.
Having heard her, my sister glanced at Yeongeun's back, then squirmed upright and shoved her head toward me.
"...Put it on."
"You kicked me, and you don't even say sorry?"
"Hurry!"
Oh, for real. Whoever ends up taking my sister, I pity the person who'll have to look after a personality this childish!
I glared at her while she glared at me, set a Healing Touch on her head, and only then did she flop back down with a look that said she could finally live.
"If the hangover's gone, go ski or something."
"..."
Now she wouldn't even answer. I didn't know what they'd talked about yesterday, but if her reaction until now had been turning away and dodging, was it irritation and ignoring me now?
I was a little angry and plenty annoyed, so I smacked her on the back loud enough to hear. She lifted her head at once and glared like she meant to kill me.
...Somehow her personality seemed to have gotten even worse. I ignored her and went down to the first floor, where I found Choi Soohan standing blankly in front of the ski-equipment display.
"Soohan. If you've got nothing else to do, you should go out and have some fun too."
"I'm all right. I don't care for skiing."
"...Yeah? Fair enough. I didn't find it all that fun either. Running through the sky was faster, and a lot more thrilling."
"As you say. Ability users with Physical Reinforcement rarely enjoy natural sports. When they do, it tends to be something unrelated to physical ability, like bungee jumping or paragliding."
"Is that how it is?"
I asked while watching Hwayeon come down from the third floor, and she nodded too.
"I learned because I thought it might be of use in the Phase World, but I have never once thought skiing was fun."
Hmm. A Physical Reinforcement user was strong in the body, by definition, so ordinary sports probably couldn't get a rise out of them. I'd have to keep that in mind the next time we went somewhere to play.
I passed the time fiddling with Darky where he sat on my shoulder, ate lunch, and started packing to head home. The others couldn't hide how sorry they were to leave.
Han Go-eun and Kim Chang-hyun were the exception. They were simply pouring out a pink atmosphere in waves, so sweet it was ridiculous.
Even Su Yu-ri, Go-eun's childhood friend, was grumbling that they were an eyesore. That said everything.