Mis?take
Mis?take
'How blatant.'
Hong Woo-sung, the Gale clan leader attending the regular gathering, shook his head inwardly at the sight before him.
The heir of the Calamity Flame was Hong Yeon-hwa. Because the output of her manifested Calamity Flame was unparalleled in the family's history, her succession as family head was practically certain.
She was that famous.
Her every move was enough to become a headline. Of course, the media, unwilling to be marked for annihilation by the Calamity Flame Family along with their entire bloodline, had to tiptoe cautiously when writing articles about her.
Beside that Hong Yeon-hwa, there was a boy.
...To be precise, Hong Yeon-hwa was cradling a boy in her arms while greeting the guests who came from all around.
So blatant.
That thought sprang to mind the moment he saw the scene.
Probably everyone who attended the regular gathering thought the same.
Hong Yeon-hwa, certain to become the next family head.
The boy she kept tucked in her arms at the gathering...
Even more than that, the boy's status was the scorchingly hot Special Admission Cadet, and he was the young hero of Siyoram.
His already soaring stock had skyrocketed further after the stir caused by his fierce fight with the Changhae heir Baek A-rin at the Siyoram Tournament.
And she was walking around the banquet hall with that very person in her arms.
It was a blatant signal, broadcast in all directions.
A signal that said this person is mine, and if you lay a finger on him I'll kill you.
Apart from Hong Woo-sung, the other attendees understood the signal as well.
This signal would spread everywhere through word of mouth after the gathering.
The next family head and the chief administrator had surely intended that.
Shaking his head from side to side, Hong Woo-sung took a sip of his drink.
- Fwoosh!
'?'
He had thought so nonchalantly—until the Calamity Flame was emitted from the boy's hand.
Hong Woo-sung's mouth fell open. It wasn't just him; the mouths of everyone lined up nearby gaped.
Calamity Flame. It wasn't an unusual phenomenon. Hong Woo-sung and the branch family members could usually manifest it as well.
The problem was that this Calamity Flame had manifested from the boy's hand... the Special Admission Cadet's hand.
Everyone who understood what that sight implied had their mouths hanging open.
Some let out sighs, some cheers brimming with delight, some exclamations mixed with shock.
- Fwoooosh...!
'Huh?'
At least, that was how it was before the ancestor's Beacon Fire Sword became stained with color.
* * *
Ancestor Hong Yeon's Beacon Fire Sword is used these days only for ceremonial purposes.
Originally, it was a combat sword. In the past, Ancestor Hong Yeon had gripped the Beacon Fire Sword and slaughtered and burned countless monsters that poured into the world.
But in the present, with no one able to handle the ancestor's sword, it was being used as a ceremonial sword.
Fwoosh... A flame flickered.
The fire blazing from my right arm swirled and coiled around the Beacon Fire Sword like a whirlwind.
The blade took in the flame, gradually dyeing itself red.
It matched the branding ritual of the Beacon Fire Sword: pouring your Calamity Flame into the sword to dye it your own color.
I narrowed my eyes.
I narrowed the scope of Observation and dedicated a portion of it to the Beacon Fire Sword.
As a result, I realized that the sword hadn't truly been dyed in my color.
The blade had merely heated up for a moment.
To put it another way, only the outside had been seared, while the inside remained wholly raw.
It had just temporarily contained my Calamity Flame—it hadn't been genuinely stained.
I knew that, but I didn't need to stain it.
The reason I had stepped onto the dais, grasped the Beacon Fire Sword, and manifested the Calamity Flame was nothing more than the Proof of Calamity Flame.
My task here was already done the moment I manifested the flame. Staining the Beacon Fire Sword wasn't my responsibility.
'But I feel like I could do it...'
And I want to.
In my hazy consciousness.
My dazed reason judged that I could do it.
Ancestor Hong Yeon's Beacon Fire Sword was already steeped in color.
Having been heated by his Calamity Flame over a long period, it had already become a Beacon Fire Sword specialized for 'Ancestor Hong Yeon's' Calamity Flame.
This Beacon Fire Sword had become a sword dyed in the ancestor's Calamity Flame and the ancestor's fire energy.
In other words, to handle this sword, I had to assimilate using the same properties as his.
'Homogenization.'
Fwoosh! The Calamity Flame surged for an instant.
'Calamity Flame.'
Imitation lies at the root of Homogenization.
Imitation requires information about the original.
I have plenty of information on Hong Yeon-hwa's Calamity Flame.
I've also accumulated a lot of information on the Azure Sea that Baek A-rin possesses.
As for my master's White Night, I have information to the point of overflowing, so I can manifest it proficiently.
More finely... Manifesting the distinct characteristics of different Calamity Flames is difficult.
'I can do it...'
It's possible.
Imitation requires information.
Information exists. Right now, in the Beacon Fire Sword I hold, there's dense lingering information, isn't there?
Fine-tuned embodiment is hard. But there's no reason to shy away from the challenge. On the contrary, I mustn't avoid it. Each and every challenge like this will raise my ability.
Watching the flames sway as if facing a fierce storm, I tightened my grip on the hilt.
I pulled out and analyzed the information remaining inside the Beacon Fire Sword.
I examined the analyzed information and aligned my mana accordingly.
- Fwaaa!
The flames surged. The wildly swaying flame momentarily turned yellow before reverting to red.
A bewildered reaction came from one side.
'It works.'
My dazed reason paid that no mind. Instead, it urged the flames to change.
I embody it. There's plenty of information, and even if my reason is hazy, my mana manipulation ability remains intact.
'It works.'
- Crack.
A sound rang out from the hand gripping the hilt.
The fire's intensity shifted.
The Calamity Flame coiled around the blade and was gradually absorbed inward.
It didn't stop at dyeing only the surface.
It dug deeper inside, coloring and staining the core.
- Wooooong...!!
In that instant, the sword let out a vibration.
It was so immense that the surroundings quivered faintly.
The blade was dyed red. And some parts were dyed yellow, while the in-between was painted orange.
The blade was dyed by the Calamity Flame.
This time was different.
Realizing that intuitively, I felt a strange sense of accomplishment.
Perhaps the onlookers also sensed that this time was different, because those who had stared blankly with open mouths after witnessing my Calamity Flame gaped even wider.
"Uh."
Just as I was feeling satisfaction from that, a blank, single-syllable voice came from somewhere.
It was a sound that came from the mouth of Chief Administrator Choi Ji-yeon, who was watching from near the dais.
She gaped.
"Oh dear..."
I never considered this...
Muttering the trailing words, Choi Ji-yeon felt a cold sweat trickle down the back of her neck.
Inside the banquet hall, which had been turned upside down for some reason, Hong Yeon-hwa suddenly scooped me into her arms and strode out of the hall.
* * *
Yeonhwa Hall was, after all, a banquet hall. It had interior facilities, of course, but outside there were also facilities such as a well-maintained walking path.
Leaving behind the chaotic banquet hall, Hong Yeon-hwa led the staggering Lee Ha-yul outside.
The sun had long since vanished beyond the horizon, and faint moonlight was pouring down to the ground.
The night air was quite chilly.
Tossing her outer coat back over her shoulders, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a deep breath.
Her breath rose in wisps. The night air blowing from afar cooled her thoroughly heated body.
'What the hell.'
Inside and out, Hong Yeon-hwa was also full of questions.
She, too, had experienced a mental freeze the moment she saw the Beacon Fire Sword dyed in color.
But since she couldn't grasp the reason, she had brought Lee Ha-yul outside at her mother's words for now.
She exhaled deeply and looked down.
There, nestled in her arms and nuzzling against her, was Lee Ha-yul.
The artifact hanging around Lee Ha-yul's neck creaked.
[Wind?]
[Eeeehng]
[Warmwarm]
[Drew the Beacon Fire Sword]
[Calamity Flame]
[Proof of Protection]
[I'm sorry...]
Then came a rapid torrent of voices. Listening to them one by one, Hong Yeon-hwa's expression turned peculiar.
Unlike usual, when the words came out with a proper filter, now it felt like they were just pouring out indiscriminately.
[Softsoft]
[Chest big]
[Nice...]
[I'm sorry...]
"Hmmn..."
The filter seemed a little broken.
Shaking her rapidly heating face, Hong Yeon-hwa sat down on a nearby bench.
The same went for Lee Ha-yul, who was nestled in her arms.
Naturally, Lee Ha-yul ended up sitting on her thigh.
A peculiar weight pressed on her thigh, and her arms were filled with a satisfying sensation.
The sweet scent of his body tickled her nose.
Hong Yeon-hwa let out a loud cough and patted Lee Ha-yul, who was held in her arms.
- Fwooong...
[I'm cold]
[Bueeeek]
[I'm chilly]
[Ice]
"Ha-yul, are you cold?"
In her arms, Lee Ha-yul was nuzzling and complaining about the cold.
Hong Yeon-hwa closed up Lee Ha-yul's outer coat, then tucked him deeper into her embrace.
The necklace that had been creaking about the cold stopped.
After a brief silence, the necklace soon creaked again, letting out unfiltered words.
"...We can't talk today, huh."
Looking down at Lee Ha-yul with an odd gaze, Hong Yeon-hwa suddenly let out a deep sigh.
Lee Ha-yul gets drunk easily.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that he got drunk easily; just catching a whiff made him drunk.
At the time, I thought Baek A-rin was spouting nonsense, but after checking today, her words were true.
Hong Yeon-hwa hadn't even touched the drink she liked on purpose, but the fact was that Lee Ha-yul had gotten drunk and was in a daze.
And on top of that, he'd even used the Calamity Flame.
Having gone through the Emotional Heightening that follows the Calamity Flame, he definitely isn't in his right mind right now.
Maybe that's why he gripped the Beacon Fire Sword and kept pouring the Calamity Flame into it endlessly earlier.
Normally, he would have known that would cause major repercussions, but with his mind in a foggy state, Lee Ha-yul might not have grasped that.
And even if I confessed right now, his thoughts wouldn't process normally and no proper answer would come back.
'Ah... I was really going to say it this time.'
Ever since Lee Ha-yul visited the main house... I kept meaning to say it, I kept meaning to, but somehow I couldn't.
There's no Lee Ha-yul in the room, the timing doesn't match, Ha-yul is focused right now so I shouldn't say it, the mood isn't right for a confession right now...
Adding all sorts of excuses, that day kept getting pushed back, all the way to today.
Honestly, the excuses held up until today. If I was going to pick the right mood, wouldn't today, with the gathering, be perfect?
But the very Lee Ha-yul ended up not in his right mind...
"...Ha-yul."
While thinking that and stroking the impossibly soft hair, Hong Yeon-hwa suddenly spoke up with an odd expression.
"Do you like me?"
The necklace creaked.
[I like you]
[I liiiike you]
[It's warm]
[I like-like you]
[Thank you]
"Pfft. Cute..."
[Waaaeeeng]
[I like you]
[Touch me more]
Letting out a small laugh, Hong Yeon-hwa gently squeezed Lee Ha-yul's cheek.
At the torrent of unfiltered positives pouring out, Hong Yeon-hwa felt relieved inside.
She had felt relieved inside the banquet hall as well.
She knew that Lee Ha-yul didn't prefer crowded places.
In that kind of place, suddenly pulling Lee Ha-yul close and hugging him in her arms had honestly been a move she wasn't sure about.
If Lee Ha-yul had gotten embarrassed and pulled away from her arms, she would have understood with her mind, but her heart would have sunk.
But Lee Ha-yul hadn't refused.
Even if he was embarrassed, he didn't reject Hong Yeon-hwa's touch or pull away. He gently stayed in her arms and entrusted his body to her.
That sight made Hong Yeon-hwa feel relieved.
And she also gained an odd confidence.
'Later, I'll tell him when he's in his right mind.'
The impatience lessened.
The impulsive feeling in her heart? It had grown thicker and more enormous than before.
But she knew that if she swallowed down the impulse through hard-won endurance, that sweetness would grow alongside it.
[I'm sorry]
Hong Yeon-hwa decided to endure.
[I'm sorry...]
She was certain that if she endured just a little, a sweet reward would follow.
[I'm sorry for being so worthless...]
"What about you is worthless."
Why has he been so sorry since earlier? Why is he so self-deprecating about being worthless?
With a soft smile, Hong Yeon-hwa comforted Lee Ha-yul.
Maybe because this kid is so good-hearted and kind, he feels guilty over strange things...
[Seo-yul...]
- Freeze.
Hong Yeon-hwa's hand, which had been patting his bottom, went still.
Her eyes blinked.
Seo-yul.
Seo-yul...
Seo-yul?
The name the necklace had blabbed because Lee Ha-yul had been thinking about it.
'Shin Seo-yul?'
After Baek A-rin, here came... a familiar friend's name.
- Hic!
Grip... She tightened her hand.
Lee Ha-yul's body flinched. A frail, unformed voice trickled from his throat.
"Hey."
Hong Yeon-hwa paid him no heed.
"Who is Seo-yul?"
Her sparkling red eyes became murky and clouded.
Those eyes, now dark and dim, gazed down at Lee Ha-yul trapped in her arms.