Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Embarrassing Words
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“Cadet Han Cheon-seong... by any chance, have we met before?”
At Kalli’s words, Cheon-seong’s thoughts came to a halt.
Suddenly, his mind went completely blank, as if it had turned into a white sheet of paper.
‘How am I supposed to answer this?’
This wasn't something I could answer lightly. The words I'd spoken... they held a profound meaning for Kalli.
Yet, in my mind that had gone blank, nothing came to me.
“……”
Just as I stood there, speechless and stunned.
Kalli gently shook her head.
“Ah, I’m sorry. What am I saying... that's ridiculous. There’s no way we could have met. Cadet Han Cheon-seong, please forget what I just said.”
“Yes. Understood.”
As I gave my awkward reply, I saw Kalli’s gaze cloud over and could feel a distinct shift from before.
I had already... done something irreversible.
…
After that, the meal was filled with only the quiet clinking of utensils, continuing in silence.
The air suddenly grew heavy, thick with awkwardness and discomfort.
With Kalli acting unusually reserved and the mood subdued, Cheon-seong found he couldn't bring himself to speak to her either.
"..."
Those words I had spoken without thinking.
To Kalli, they were like a taboo. Words that most people would never have uttered.
She would have had no defense against the shock of hearing them.
Those words were from her past, from the battlefield.
They were the words a nameless man, who had died for her in a moment of desperation, used to say like a habit. They were also the words that had completely changed her.
They were the catalyst that made her, once a believer in Trait supremacy, completely abandon her old way of thinking, value effort, and stop looking down on those with lesser Traits.
And now, I had just repeated the dead man's words in front of Kalli.
Verbatim.
"..."
Kalli's silent focus on her meal felt strangely out of place.
So, I found myself speaking without thinking.
“Instructor Kalli.”
“...Yes?”
Watching her answer awkwardly, a stark contrast to before, I felt I couldn't let our meeting end like this.
‘We’ll part ways as soon as the meal is over, but still.’
If it ended like this, it would be as if I had simply inflicted a deep wound on her.
The thought of leaving after having touched a wound in Kalli's heart that no one else had ever touched... I hated it.
I didn't want my time with Kalli to end that way.
"..."
As she met my gaze, Kalli's eyes wavered, unlike before.
It was as if she herself was confused by her own emotional turmoil. Yet, she faced me as an instructor.
Ready to listen intently to what I had to say.
“I was truly grateful during the entrance exam.”
“Oh, the entrance exam...? Not at all. I was just doing my job.”
Seeing her clearly unnatural response, I gave a faint smile.
And in that moment, I calmly conveyed the feelings I'd had.
“What you said during the entrance exam was a great source of strength for me. Even though I was facing reality, my heart wasn't actually that strong. I was more filled with uncertainty about whether I could move forward with a Common Trait.”
“...Is that so? Oh, I see. Well, I'm glad to hear that.”
As I continued to weave in those taboo-like words, Kalli's gaze grew even more somber.
She was now actively avoiding my gaze. Her demeanor made it clear that she found my words uncomfortable and was trying to tune them out.
And for that very reason,
I had to say more.
“What you said to me back then might not have seemed like much to you, but it gave me incredible strength. Your words helped me face reality and move forward. They even played a significant part in my decision to accept yesterday's duel.”
I spoke in a steady voice.
There was none of the heart-pounding excitement I'd felt when looking at her before.
I was simply stating the facts.
And I meant every word.
During the entrance exam, I tried to act with confidence. But Kalli was the only one who responded to my performance. The other examiners didn't even speak to me, as if they couldn't care less.
Because of her, I gained more confidence and even dared to dream of a high placement like B-Class. Even afterward, the self-esteem and confidence behind my actions were unknowingly buoyed by the fact that Kalli had acknowledged me.
Because she was the first person to show interest in me. The first to acknowledge me.
Before her, no one had ever paid any mind to my Trait, and no one had ever spoken of effort.
That's why her words had, without me even realizing it, become such a tremendous source of strength...
“……”
In response to my words, Kalli only let out a small sigh, offering no reply.
She couldn't stop me from speaking, nor could she explain why. It seemed she had chosen to simply listen in silence.
At the same time, I was reminded of just how much of a shock 'those words' must have been to her.
The truth was, the nameless man and Kalli hadn't been lovers or shared any romantic feelings.
Kalli had been deeply shocked by the very fact that he had died because of her.
His words, and the reality that he had sacrificed his life to save her—it had been too much for her to bear.
And now, I wanted to tell her that her words, too, gave someone strength.
“So I gained the confidence that I could do it. That I could face reality and move forward, and that I could grow. Your words, as the only one who acknowledged me in such an important setting, were a tremendous help... and that's why I wanted to thank you.”
Finishing my long speech, I smiled faintly once more.
At my words, Kalli finally showed a peculiar reaction.
“...”
Slowly, she raised her head and met my gaze for the first time in a while. I could clearly see her hesitate for a moment as she did.
It was what the nameless man who died for her on the battlefield had wanted. That incident had completely changed her values, leading her to prioritize effort. She began to look at a person's true nature, regardless of the rank of their Trait.
And now, I was telling this Kalli that her words had enabled me to move forward, giving me the confidence to face reality.
Ever since then, she had completely changed her mindset and her actions, but those around her often dismissed it as a joke—the privileged preaching about effort.
And Kalli herself was aware of this.
But I believed it wasn't enough for Kalli to simply be conscious of it and act accordingly. I felt that for such actions and feelings to have true meaning, they had to properly reach someone else.
And I was trying to tell her that they had, in some small way, reached me.
“……”
Looking at Kalli, who was staring blankly at me, I considered my piece said.
“Well then, Instructor, I'll be leaving now. Thank you very much for the meal.”
As I finished speaking and rose from my seat, I felt a strange mood.
Kalli's gaze upon me was still inscrutable.
So much so that I couldn't tell if she had taken my words well or not.
‘Perhaps... I overstepped.’
I wondered if I had managed to mend, even slightly, the wound I had inadvertently touched...
Honestly, I wasn't sure.
At the same time, a belated wave of embarrassment washed over me.
‘I can't believe I just spouted all that cheesy nonsense.’
Thinking back on what I'd said to her, a dry laugh escaped my lips.
Saying things that didn't suit me at all.
*Step.*
I walked on, politely greeting the instructors I passed.
“W-Wait! Cadet Han Cheon-seong!”
Suddenly, Kalli's urgent voice called out.
*Thud.*
And I had no choice but to stop walking.
***
Curiosity.
And interest.
Back during the entrance exam, Kalli's feelings for Han Cheon-seong had amounted to nothing more than that.
His Trait was Spearmanship, his rank undoubtedly Common. But he claimed to have reached level 3. It was only natural to assume.
That the cadet with the unusual name of Han Cheon-seong must have put in a tremendous amount of effort.
After all, reaching level 3 with a Common Trait was an accomplishment achieved by only a tiny fraction of new cadets each year.
However, she hadn't paid him much mind after that.
But then, she suddenly heard news of a duel that took place on the day of the entrance ceremony.
The unbelievable news that the top cadet, Leonhardt, had fought a duel with Han Cheon-seong, the very cadet she had examined.
...When I first heard the news, I was furious. It felt like one of the 'dirty tricks' upper-class cadets often pulled on their lower-class counterparts.
Such dirty tricks happened every year at the academy.
An upper-class cadet would provoke a lower-class one, who, unable to endure the taunts, would request a duel.
And the result of the ensuing sordid duel was always the same... a crushing defeat for the lower-class cadet.
Followed by a storm of ridicule and contempt. And the utter devastation the cadet must have felt.
I knew just how wrong it all was.
Just hearing about the duel was enough for me to imagine the entire scenario.
But I couldn't have been more surprised to learn that the duel had ended in a draw.
I had to confirm the facts repeatedly, even going to the training instructor myself to hear the details of the duel before I could finally accept it.
And I found myself thinking in a daze.
—There is a cadet who has reaped the true rewards of his effort.
The three syllables of his unusual name, 'Han Cheon-seong,' came back to me with vivid clarity. I even went to the instructor for C1-Class and made the unreasonable request to switch my assignment.
And in the end, I managed to force the change and take over C1-Class.
Afterward, from the moment I gave my first lecture and met him face-to-face, through our meal and our conversation.
I found myself growing even more astonished by the cadet named Han Cheon-seong.
So much so that I wondered how many times I had been this surprised in my short twenty-five years of life...
His values, the depth of his thoughts, his decisiveness, his drive—nothing about him was like the other cadets.
Which was why I was all the more shocked when I heard 'those words.'
—Because you have to face reality to move forward.
'How.'
How... how could Cadet Han Cheon-seong say those words? How could this cadet utter the very phrase that man used to say out of habit?
And he'd said it verbatim.
After that, I couldn't quite grasp how I was acting or what I was thinking.
My mind was in a daze.
Hearing something so unexpected had shaken me to my core. It was a struggle just to maintain my composure and listen to him speak.
But then, the cadet's words slowly began to register.
Despite my confusion and shock, his words strangely found their way to me, their meaning delivered as if whispered gently in my ear.
—So I gained the confidence that I could do it. That I could face reality and move forward, and that I could grow. Your words, as the only one who acknowledged me in such an important setting, were a tremendous help... and that's why I wanted to thank you.
At that, I met his gaze without realizing it.
I knew how confused and disheveled I must have looked, but I couldn't help but meet his eyes.
“Well then, Instructor, I'll be leaving now. Thank you very much for the meal.”
Then, I finally registered the cadet's calm voice.
I must not have been presenting a very good image, yet the cadet was smiling faintly as he rose to his feet.
And I stared blankly at his departing back.
Something... something felt wrong.
A feeling that I couldn't just let him walk away like this.
…….
“W-Wait! Cadet Han Cheon-seong!”
Before I even realized it, I was calling out to him.