Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: Glacia's Wish
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***
*Click.*
After facing the apostle in class and finishing her personal training, Glacia finally returned to her dormitory late at night.
*Rustle, rustle.*
“…”
As she slowly undressed from her cadet uniform, the day's events refused to leave her mind.
The practical combat class she had been paired with Han Cheon-seong for, her first encounter with an apostle, and the true extent of Han Cheon-seong's power she had witnessed firsthand—it all came flooding back.
Countless questions had surfaced in between.
How had he known the apostle's location? And the explanations Han Cheon-seong had given Instructor Kalli were all equally hard to believe.
But she couldn't find answers to the many questions that arose.
She could only watch him, lost in thought.
The strong will that had dwelled in Han Cheon-seong’s eyes as he explained everything to Instructor Kalli.
She couldn’t seem to forget that gaze.
“...I still don't know anything.”
As the days she spent with Han Cheon-seong passed, she thought she had come to understand him to some extent.
Even if she didn't understand him completely, she believed that as a friend, she was slowly getting to know him.
She thought she had a vague idea of things like his favorite food, how he usually spent his time, and what his personality was like…
But she was wrong.
I still didn't know the first thing about Han Cheon-seong.
*Thud.*
After removing even her undergarments, she stood completely bare, her white skin exposed. Picking up a single towel, she headed for the shower.
*Swoosh—*
A warm stream of water, gushing from a mana stone, immediately began to patter against her entire body.
“…”
As she emptied her mind, which had been cluttered all day, she surrendered her body to the warm spray.
As her accumulated fatigue and tense heart began to unwind, she found herself blankly recalling a certain moment.
The moment she had followed Han Cheon-seong deep into the forest.
Remembering the sensation she could now identify as the apostle's presence, she felt her body, which had relaxed under the warm water, tense up once more.
“…”
And then, naturally, she thought of Han Cheon-seong.
Han Cheon-seong had been completely different from her.
He had calmly assumed a battle stance, unleashing a massive current of blue, spiraling energy. Only after seeing him did I belatedly manage to manifest my own trait.
The ensuing battle with the apostle had followed a similar pattern.
Unable to muster any significant power against the apostle, I had focused solely on dodging its attacks.
I couldn't even bring myself to approach it.
I figured that if I carelessly got closer, I would only become a burden to Han Cheon-seong.
But the accident that unfolded at the end…
“…”
She bit her lip hard as guilt and frustration at herself swelled within her heart.
The moment I thought I had evaded the apostle's attack. I was caught in a sudden burst of darkness and gravely injured.
I had barely avoided a direct hit and managed to escape death, but the sight of Han Cheon-seong frantically turning to look at me… I couldn't forget it.
His eyes, which had hastily shoved the apostle aside to desperately fix on me.
That was… a look I’d never seen before.
The moment I saw his eyes—filled with despair, guilt, and something else I couldn't describe… my mind, which had been drifting from the pain, snapped back to reality.
And then, I had called out to him, but it was too late; Han Cheon-seong had already lost his form.
That was the first time Han Cheon-seong, who always maintained his composure while pressing his assault, had lost his cool. That momentary opening led to him suffering an irreversible wound.
“…”
For a moment, she couldn't breathe properly.
The instant Han Cheon-seong was sent flying by the apostle's blow felt, even now, like her heart was sinking into her stomach.
*Thump.*
All the strength drained from her body, and she unknowingly collapsed.
“It was definitely because… of me.”
Far from being helpful, I had caused Han Cheon-seong to waver and show an opening.
Because I couldn’t dodge properly…
Because I couldn’t deal with the apostle…
A torrent of thoughts weighed heavily on her heart.
Then, she found herself imagining a scenario.
What if.
‘What if Han Cheon-seong hadn't had a potion back then…’
She instinctively covered her face with her hands… as a powerful emotion surged through her.
“…”
Then, the feelings she had suppressed all day seemed to consume her whole.
At the time, she had been so terribly relieved that both she and Han Cheon-seong were safe, but looking back on it now, she could only blame herself.
Helplessness. Powerlessness. And guilt…
And as she finally realized that she was a burden to Han Cheon-seong, she could do nothing.
*Drip. Drip.*
She just sat there, blankly letting the water beat down on her.
“...I really was just a burden.”
—A burden.
Literally, I was just a ‘burden’ to Han Cheon-seong.
And that terrified her.
Today, for the first time, she truly felt how powerless she was. And the fact that she could be a burden to someone…
A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
“Just… when did it start?”
As she muttered blankly, she suddenly recalled the time before she entered the academy.
In the past, when she had looked at Han Cheon-seong with curiosity. She had felt she was ahead of him.
Back when they were both Trait Level 3, she had been much stronger. But that dynamic had been swiftly reversed.
Before she had even properly noticed, Han Cheon-seong had pulled ahead of her, demonstrating an incomprehensibly steep growth curve.
But even so, she had believed the gap was one she could close, that she could catch up to him.
Yet as time went on, the chasm between her and Han Cheon-seong only grew wider. Far from closing it, the gap only continued to expand.
That was why, for a time, her heart had been filled with impatience.
But then, as their relationship was clearly established as a friendship, at some point, her impatience was replaced by joy in his growth.
The rumors she heard almost daily and seeing his progress whenever they met had been a great source of motivation for her.
Perhaps that was why, at some point, she had started to feel that rather than trying to understand him, she needed to follow him.
But now… it wasn't even that.
*Drip, drip.*
As the fierce spray of water beat down on her, she blankly lifted her head.
“…”
She gently raised a hand and wiped her water-streaked face. The cheek that had been torn by darkness was completely healed, not even a scar remaining.
And then she belatedly realized.
It wasn't enough.
“It's really… nowhere near enough.”
A mindset like this was simply not enough.
Lately, Han Cheon-seong had been caught up in an incomprehensible number of incidents. That meant a moment like today could come again.
‘Will I have to just keep dodging like I did today…?’
She couldn't afford to be consumed by this inner turmoil, wondering if she would continue to be a burden to Han Cheon-seong.
*Grip!*
Clenching her fist, she made a heartfelt wish.
‘I need great power…’
Han Cheon-seong was the first person she had ever formed a significant bond with, and she wanted to continue being with him in the future.
So that she wouldn't be a burden when she was by his side. So that she could be of help to him…
“…”
As she wished desperately, she simply stared at her hand.
A faint current of air settled over her pale skin.
Watching the wind, her trait, leak out, she thought blankly.
“A skill… I need a skill, too.”
Han Cheon-seong had certainly told her about the process through which he had been able to attain a skill.
He said he had obtained a clue to a skill because he had wished and yearned for it desperately, but she didn't know just how much desperation was required.
She, too, had wished for it from time to time.
To follow Han Cheon-seong and find a clue to a skill. And it wasn't just her; everyone else must have felt the same.
…Then, she recalled the image of Han Cheon-seong manifesting his skill.
A nearly colorless spiral had formed around the body of his spear, creating a bizarre current and letting out ferocious, explosive sounds. The moment that menacing spiral of energy enveloped Han Cheon-seong, she had found herself watching him as if entranced.
And at that moment.
She felt it just by looking.
A strength on a completely different level than before, a flawless presence that confronted the apostle with overwhelming power.
Immediately after, she couldn't even properly perceive Han Cheon-seong's movements.
The moment she thought he had stomped his foot, a deafening roar erupted as the ground shattered, and the spiral current vastlyn engulfed the space.
By the time her gaze caught up, Han Cheon-seong had already thrust his spear and finished it.
Recalling that sight made the gap between them, which was already overwhelming, feel even greater, a chasm she couldn't possibly cross as she was now.
“…”
As she blankly acknowledged this, she stared at the current of wind gathered in her hand.
*Swoosh!*
The pouring water was caught in the wind, swirling bizarrely.
Han Cheon-seong's spiral power was special.
…It wasn't something that could be simply imitated.
Just what kind of resolve had Han Cheon-seong possessed to obtain a clue to that skill…?
…
…
As Glacia stared blankly at her own hand, a strange heat began to swirl in her gaze.
The heat in her eyes was a mixture of longing, yearning, and perhaps even desire. It was a colossal emotion she was feeling for the first time in her life, and a clear wish.
Not a vague wish to simply follow her family member, Anastasia, but a wish more tangible, carrying a feeling far greater than before.
How much time passed as she remained under the stream of water?
—!
Glacia's gaze, which had been swirling with heat, changed.
And at the same time, a bizarre wind erupted from her hand, seizing the space around her.
The torrent of water that had been relentlessly beating down on her no longer touched her for even a single moment. As Glacia realized the nature of the wind she had manifested…
“...This is.”
Her eyes shot wide open.