Chapter 54
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 54 - How to Deal with Abnormal Situations (3)
I didn’t know she would chase me all the way here! Could it be that she was spying on me?
When I saw Min Jaeyoon’s condition, I hurriedly motioned to the guards holding guns.
“W-Wait!”
Just when I was trying to stop the guards, I heard words that I couldn’t ignore.
“Nahyun is also leaving for someone more precious. Yes, no one will cherish someone like me anyway…”
“That’s not it.”
I immediately denied it.
I decided not to worry about my surroundings. Anyway, the important thing right now is Min Jaeyoon.
I placed my hands on both Min Jaeyoon’s shoulders, made eye contact, and spoke clearly.
“I like you.”
As I was taking care of this soft and gentle girl, my feelings leaked out quite a bit.
So I thought it would be nice if this unconfident kid became a little brighter.
“So don’t think like that. Please don’t think that no one likes you.”
I could feel the seething black mana subsiding little by little.
Min Jaeyoon finally seemed to have truly lost her mana. And then he said something incredible.
“Then Nahyun can’t be close just to me…?”
“I can’t.”
That’s hard. I have so many people I like and I don’t want to abandon them.
Min Jaeyoon’s face was distorted. Still, I continued speaking.
“I can’t cut off all relationships and live only with you.”
After hearing those words, Min Jaeyoon lowered her head.
“…Don’t wanna. I can do that, but why do you.. ”
Then, without even looking back, she ran towards the classroom alone.
As I was staring blankly at the back, a cheerful voice suddenly interrupted.
“Teenagers are a great age to build friendships!”
“Miss Yggdrasil?”
“Hmm! I have something to tell you, so I’ve been waiting!”
Something to tell me? I couldn’t even guess. Yggdrasil said with a refreshing smile.
“You know it’s field training season soon, right? In June. You will be able to meet nice people then.”
“Nice people?”
“Yeah. I heard they’re going to bring a gift too.”
A gift… Cash is a good gift. No, not this one.
“Can’t you tell me who it is?”
It’s a bit awkward to run into Scammer, but it’s probably not him, right?
“No can do! By the way, the gift was a surprise!”
Tch.
I had to return to class with such uneasiness.
In the classroom, Min Jaeyoon was lying face down on the desk, sobbing.
I was contemplating whether I should comfort Min Jaeyoon affectionately, like the character ‘Kang Nahyun’ I’m playing, or whisper sweet words that I would only be there for you, but even that felt like I was making fun of Min Jaeyoon, so I decided to stop.
“Min Jaeyoon.”
If everything I showed and said to Min Jaeyoon was a lie, and if it were discovered, she would no longer be able to trust people.
Min Jaeyoon is a child who does her best in everything she does. If I promise, I will do my best to hide my true personality.
“Let’s talk about it at lunch.”
So it should be okay.
Even if I show my true personality to at least one person.
Min Jaeyoon slightly raised her head, looked at me, and nodded silently. I just fiddled with the Ring of Divinity one more time.
The class time filled with silence passed like that.
“W-What’s the matter?”
What was unexpected was that Min Jaeyoon spoke to me first.
She hesitated and made eye contact with me, then lowered her head again and repeated this action.
“I want to say something about our conversation earlier.”
I dragged Min Jaeyoon to the nearby training ground.
This training ground, created exclusively for the intensive surveillance and inspection team, was much smaller than the training ground, but was very sturdy.
I took a drink from the vending machine and handed it to Min Jaeyoon.
“Why did you think I would abandon you?”
As soon as those words were said, Min Jaeyoon’s magic began to stir.
It’s fine. This is a training ground. No one will get hurt.
“T-That’s… Nahyun, because there are so many people who are precious to you…”
“That’s no reason to abandon you.”
“P-People like me, people like me will be abandoned in no time.”
As if she couldn’t hear me, her magic began to swirl violently.
“That’s why, cherish me the most.”
Tears began to flow from Min Jaeyoon’s eyes.
“Just let me be by your side. I’ll give you my everything. So, so…”
I took a deep breath and said.
“I’ll say it again, I can’t do that.”
A little more, stronger.
“I’m sorry, but I have a family, and they’re so, no… the most precious people to me.”
Min Jaeyoon, who was silent for a moment, asked back in a weak voice. Her eyes were filled with emptiness.
“So what if you don’t have a family?”
Her black mana grew darker and surrounded the training ground.
“If your family disappears, will I become your first?”
A crackling sound was heard from somewhere. A discarded beverage can rolled on the floor and made a clank sound.
“If you try to kill my family, I will do my best to stop you.”
“Why?”
That wasn’t a question I wanted to answer.
“why…?”
Min Jaeyoon, who had been muttering like crazy, crouched down.
“Now… When I thought I had finally created a truly precious person!”
She buried her face in her knees for a while. Then, to my surprise, she looked up again and was smiling brightly.
I paused for a moment at that manic laugh.
“I thought of a good way. If we die together… Nahyun will be mine forever, right?”
In contrast to that innocent smile, black mana began to run wild.
Bam!
Debris from the training ground began to fall towards the ground. I dodged the falling debris. Fortunately, the Ring of Divinity was effective, so Min Jaeyoon’s attack didn’t work on me.
The problem is… Min Jaeyoon’s punch.
Min Jaeyoon’s job is a berserker. It’s the type that strengthens one’s body through mineralization and fights on the front lines.
What this means…
“Ugh!”
This means that as a sniper, I’m at an absolute disadvantage.
I quickly dodged Min Jaeyoon’s attack and widened the distance.
Don’t get hit even once. Min Jaeyoon’s strength in her current state is S+!
However, it’s impossible to go into a long-term war. Her stamina is also S+!
“Min Jaeyoon!”
Since her original stats are like this, Scammer approaches her in an attempt to bake her somehow!
“Can you hear me?”
I shouted at Min Jaeyoon, yet she just smiled and muttered as if she couldn’t hear me.
It was even scarier than seeing it in letters, so much so that my stomach trembled.
“It would be better if you kept hiding it… You just had to keep hiding it!”
Min Jaeyoon was approaching me, and thick tears were flowing from her eyes.
“Without my knowledge! So that I don’t know!”
“I!”
As the words were shouted out as if they were swearing, my voice suddenly became louder.
Bang!
One bullet bounced off the fragments heading towards Min Jaeyoon’s head.
She was looking at me as if she was surprised.
“It’s because I don’t want to do that. It’s because I don’t want to take advantage of you by lying to you.”
I looked into her eyes and spoke clearly.
“Right. I have many precious people. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t valuable.”
Min Jaeyoon’s mana wavered as if showing her wavering heart.
“Even if I make another friend, it doesn’t mean we won’t be friends. You don’t have to be the best for someone else to be valuable to them.”
“But then, if I don’t give it my all, if I’m not the only one in one’s eyes, who will love me or something?”
“It’s not ‘me or something.’ You’re lovely enough.”
Min Jaeyoon paused.
“But I-I can’t control my strength, I’m weak…”
“You’re not weak. And even if you are, weakness isn’t a reason to be hated.”
Following Min Jaeyoon, who was cowering, her mana gradually dispersed.
“S-Still… I… I can’t believe it…”
“I will stay with you until you can believe in yourself.”
Because I’m prepared to do that.
At my words, Min Jaeyoon started crying like a child. Before she knew it, the madness had disappeared from her face and she was back to being as gentle as a sheep.
Min Jaeyoon approached me with her arms outstretched, hugged me tightly and said.
“It’s a promise.”
“Alright.”
However…
“You can’t break it… Then I… Because I will chase you to the end of hell…”
“A-Alright.”
Your arm strength is a bit strong, Jaeyoon…
But unlike her arm strength, her mana had become like a gentle sheep.
Her mana, which had stretched out like a rough, untrimmed tree, gathered closer and closer to her side every time she let out a breath next to me.
Yeah. Min Jaeyoon finally managed to control her mana after going out of control.
She looked at me with a surprised expression, as if she had realized that too.
“Nahyun, I can control my mana…!”
I grinned at those words.
It’s a success.
“Good. Rather, don’t you think we should get out of here quickly?”
When I awkwardly pointed at the broken ceiling, Min Jaeyoon seemed to realize the tragedy she had caused.
“Ah, w-what should I do…?”
“Let’s go out.”
In the meantime, Min Jaeyoon didn’t even think about letting me go and moved on while holding me tightly.
Due to the powerful magic she unleashed earlier, the training ground was almost completely destroyed, with debris falling here and there, but I didn’t get a single scratch.
Because Min Jaeyoon wielded her black mana to protect me.
However, although the large fragments were skillfully removed using mana, the small fragments were simply pushed back with a gun.
She just smacked it away with her bare hands. Indeed, she’s really tough. I just laughed out loud.
And outside the training ground…
“You’re here?”
There was Yggdrasil.
I don’t know when she came, but she was calmly leaning against the entrance.
“Ah, hello…”
“hello.”
Yggdrasil came striding towards us and tapped Min Jaeyoon on the shoulder, shaking off small debris and dust from her.
“I tried to save you when it got dangerous, but you did better than I thought!”
If you had come earlier, you should have helped me sooner… No, if it’s Yggdrasil, it’s clearly she just watched while saying, this is also youth! It’s training!… I held back the sigh that was about to come out.
“Hmm! Now that the training ground has been destroyed, it will be difficult to train on your own, right?”
Eh?
I felt ominous as I looked at Yggdrasil’s shining eyes.
“Starting tomorrow, I will help you train!”
Oh, no.
“A-Aren’t you busy?”
Although she said so, Min Jaeyoon seemed unable to hide her joy at Yggdrasil’s offer to directly help with training.
Don’t be happy. The training in Yggdrasil is hell itself. Well, the results are clear…
“Uhm… The guys in charge now have practical training in the morning, so wouldn’t it be okay for you to train in the afternoon?”
“We also have theory classes in the afternoon, though…?”
“Hmm. I’ll try to do something through pester… no, negotiation.”
“Really?”
“Hmm! Just trust me!”
“Whoaa!”
Anyway, for the first time in a while, I had an exciting training time with Yggdrasil.
I looked at the two people talking excitedly and then looked up at the sky.
It’s going to spin.