Chapter 239
Chapter 239
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 239
Chapter Title: The Confused Hearts of Two
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***
*Click!*
Glacia returned to her dorm. She leaned against the door and covered her face with her hands.
Between her pale white hands, her face was faintly flushed, and turmoil raged in her wavering blue eyes.
"I did it."
*Thud.*
Even as the words escaped her lips, her mind was still a complete blank.
I really... went and did it.
A kiss, an act called locking lips.
Slowly, she ran her hands over her face.
As if washing her dry face, she blankly caressed her cheeks, but the rising heat showed no signs of abating.
All the while, she couldn't forget Han Cheon-seong's wide eyes, the dazed way he stared at me—a reaction I had never seen before.
At the same time…
"..."
She gently touched her lips, replaying the sensation of that moment over and over.
It couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds. But the unique feeling of our lips meeting was something special, something she had never experienced in her life.
*Thump, thump.*
Even now, her heart was beating abnormally fast, and the heat flooding her entire body made her every movement feel unnatural.
"Haa..."
She let out a deep breath she'd been holding, rubbing her lips without thinking. No matter how much she rubbed their soft surface, the feeling didn't seem to fade.
‘Han Cheon-seong's lips were…’
They were definitely different from mine.
*Soft...*
They had pressed against hers, and a lingering heat remained on her lips where they had met.
It was... completely incomparable to holding his hand or embracing him.
Even so, she tried to shake off the feeling.
...It felt like something was about to go wrong.
No, it felt like something was already wrong with me.
"Why on earth... did I do that?"
Muttering the now meaningless words, she sank to the floor.
...As strength drained from her body, only shallow breaths escaped her. Han Cheon-seong hadn't kissed me.
I had kissed Han Cheon-seong.
Yes, I was the one who did it... but it felt as if it wasn't me. As if I'd been possessed by something.
The atmosphere of that moment, Han Cheon-seong's strange behavior—it all prevented me from acting and responding as I normally would.
Had I lost my mind?
Or had I just been swept away by the mood?
She roughly ran her hand through her hair.
She shook her head, but it was spilt milk.
She furrowed her brow... as a messy, complicated feeling welled up.
"Han Cheon-seong and I are friends. So... I shouldn't have done that…"
As she muttered the foolish words, she felt as if she no longer understood anything at all.
Even I don't know myself anymore—how the conversation led to that, how I ended up doing something so absurd.
What was certain was that in that moment, I…
"..."
My heart had been racing with urgency.
The fear that a distance might grow between Han Cheon-seong and me. And the sense of crisis that gripped me when I felt him acting strangely toward me.
Those thoughts grew and grew until they completely consumed my mind.
And that, ultimately... made me do something unthinkable.
‘A kiss…’
On top of that, for some strange reason, I thought he wanted me to do it.
...And that's why I did it.
Because Han Cheon-seong wanted it from me. I thought maybe I should do it, and by the time I'd finished thinking, I'd already acted.
"What do I do..."
Her voice was frail.
What am I supposed to do?
How am I supposed to face him after this, talk to him, and spend time with him like before?
I don't even know that anymore.
I was the one who did it... yet it felt like I'd acted without any thought for the consequences.
It was the first time I'd ever done something like this, so I had no idea what to do.
...I let my emotions sweep me away and acted on a whim.
"We're close friends... that's what I thought."
Our relationship, which was supposed to be just that…
My actions had made it completely strange.
“……”
Though her disheveled blue hair obscured her vision, she couldn't do anything.
As she stared blankly at the curtained interior of her dorm, the more she thought, the more it felt like she was going to lose her mind.
And yet... it kept coming back to her.
The moment my lips met Han Cheon-seong's, his gaze as he, even more surprised than me, stared blankly at me.
And his acceptance of me, even then…
It all kept flashing before her eyes.
It was as if her body was forcing her to remember it.
"...I hate this."
She bit her lip. She shook her head.
She hated herself for constantly recalling it.
I wanted Han Cheon-seong to be careful, to be wary, yet I was the one who did something so outrageous to him.
'How am I supposed to face him now….'
As she thought, her heart continued to waver.
And just as I was this confused, I figured Han Cheon-seong must be confused too.
That led her to the conclusion that she needed to hear his thoughts directly.
"...That's right, I need to hear what he has to say."
No matter what I decide on my own, it probably won't be the right answer.
She roughly swept her hair back.
She nodded blankly.
"After I hear Han Cheon-seong's answer... I'll decide then."
Even though I was the one who did it, his response to my action is what matters more.
'...And maybe.'
Maybe we can just pass it off... as a sign of affection between friends.
She knew how foolish the thought was, but... she couldn't help but think it.
***
Time passed, and the sun began to set.
Unlike Glacia, Cheon-seong was spending his time at the Class C training ground.
Positioning himself as far as possible from the other cadets, Han Cheon-seong slowly raised his spear.
*Chk!*
As soon as he assumed his characteristic stance, a heat haze shimmered around the spearhead before coalescing into a distinct spiral current.
*Crackle!*
The compressed spiral current crackled, emitting a chilling presence that immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby.
The colorless spiral flow of energy spread from the spear shaft to envelop his entire body. His black hair whipped wildly, and his golden eyes created a mystical sight, further accentuating his presence.
"......"
"That's..."
Some of the cadets in the training ground stopped their own training to stare at Cheon-seong with awe.
Despite this, Cheon-seong, who had deployed the skill, remained rooted to the spot, making no further movements.
A powerful spiral current raged around him. Even as he stared at the scarecrow at the end of its path, he neither thrust his spear nor made any other move.
He simply held his ground.
"What's he doing? Some new kind of training?"
"So that's Han Cheon-seong's skill..."
"This is the first time I've seen it."
The murmurs of the other cadets reached his ears, but Cheon-seong's gaze remained fixed straight ahead.
“……”
Outwardly, it seemed as though Cheon-seong was in a state of complete immersion with his skill activated. But the reality was nothing like what the other cadets perceived.
‘I thought she was just oblivious.’
He had thought Glacia didn't understand her own feelings. He'd believed it was right to simply overlook the things she'd said and done.
But he was wrong.
Glacia had suddenly approached and kissed him. The suddenness, the shock of that moment, was not something he could have prepared for.
“……”
The brilliantly swirling spiral current became unstable. He forced himself to stabilize it, but his eyes lacked focus.
He continued to maintain the spiral current, keeping the skill active, but his mind was in constant turmoil.
He was at the training ground to clear his thoughts of her, yet even now, as he forced himself to use his skill, the confusion showed no sign of disappearing.
…
Eventually, as if reaching his limit, his mana began to deplete, and the right hand gripping the spear started to tremble.
Unable to maintain the skill any longer, he naturally lowered the spear shaft.
*Thud.*
He rested the spear, its spiral aura now gone, on the ground as if to support himself, feeling completely drained.
He collapsed to the ground, his body already drenched in sweat. But he didn't even feel tired.
It was as if his mind and body were moving separately.
He had pushed his body to this extent to somehow regain control of his scattered thoughts, but it wasn't working as he'd hoped.
My heart…
My thoughts seemed to betray my will.
He leaned his head against the vertically planted spear shaft, his thoughts a dizzying mess.
‘I need to fix this relationship.’
And it wasn't someone else who had to fix it, but me.
Just today, after talking with Kalli and sharing our feelings, he thought his mind was made up.
He'd even had a vague idea of what his goal in life should be.
To become a man worthy of Kalli. To approach her with confidence…
“……”
But reality had thrown him into a state of agonizing confusion.
Simply put, since Kalli and I had connected, the right thing to do was to reject Glacia.
Now that he vaguely understood her feelings, he knew he should have been firm, rejected her, and never even given her the chance for something like today to happen.
But he already felt that he couldn't do that.
If the answer were that simple, he wouldn't be in such turmoil.
The unique circumstances he was in, the unique nature of his relationship with her…
And he knew all the various things he stood to gain through his connection with Glacia.
—The future I know.
And the countless incidents that would occur in this world.
He knew this world was already deviating significantly from the future he was aware of. But he also knew that the incidents from the story were happening just the same.
Just like the apostle in the form of a black lion he faced yesterday, the dangers he anticipated were appearing and becoming reality.
It was a risk he had accepted when he resolved to take Leonhardt's place in his absence.
"......"
And the stage for many of the upcoming incidents was centered around Class A1. As a Class C cadet, he couldn't handle everything that would happen in Class A.
It was a practical impossibility.
So, he had to borrow the strength of a Class A cadet. He had to tell them how to deal with the coming crises and provide them with the right solutions.
This was separate from Kalli's promise today to help him unconditionally.
And the person he considered most suitable for that role was 'Glacia'.
Her growth rate was nearly on par with Leonhardt's.
Furthermore, her words today about gaining a clue to her skill made her the most suitable candidate.
He had considered Yumia for the role, but…
‘That would be too dangerous.’
It wasn't that Yumia was weak, but that the level of the impending crises was far too high.
Even yesterday's crisis had been more dangerous than in the original story. Asking Yumia to face that would be too cruel.
Rejecting and turning away Glacia, who was showing growth beyond his expectations, meant…
“……”
As his thoughts reached that point, the answer seemed to have already presented itself.
‘I can't reject Glacia.’
He needed her.
Knowing full well how she felt about him, it would be nearly impossible to reject her and then ask for her help.
He lifted his head from the spear he was leaning on, a hollow laugh escaping his lips.
"...This is driving me crazy."
As he spoke, he wondered if they could ever understand him.
Because he had no intention of approaching them with lies.