Chapter 30
Chapter 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: If You Call Me Noona
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yoon Bom had grown up in comfortable surroundings.
Until her mother fell into gambling and her father left.
Yoon Bom's mother grew increasingly obsessed with gambling, spending more days away from home than in it over the course of a year.
'Still, Mom didn't abandon me.'
Yoon Bom overcame those hard times with her bright disposition.
A shadow lingered in her heart, but she pressed forward.
She matured early and jumped into society ahead of her peers.
'Mom said this time it really feels good.'
Her first paycheck went mostly to her mother.
The next one too.
Her daughter's salary, collateral loans, and eventually private moneylenders.
Mother and daughter ended up on the streets.
'Stay put here and save money. Don't even think about seeing Mom.'
Even amid the misfortune, one adult extended a hand to Yoon Bom.
The salon owner who took in the underage girl.
She stepped up to shield Yoon Bom from her mother.
Yoon Bom diligently saved her wages and scraped together enough for a deposit on a tiny room.
'Bom, honey. Mom's really struggling. Mom promises no more gambling, okay?'
Was it the chains of blood ties?
Yoon Bom pitied her own mother.
She accepted her as someone she had to care for.
And so she did.
Even knowing her mother was lying, she let her back into the house.
'Wh-who are you people?'
One day.
Strangers showed up at her door.
Yoon Bom had been betrayed by her own mother.
Her mom had sold her daughter's name to borrow money and fled.
Yet Yoon Bom didn't fight back aggressively.
'Oh, you foolish girl. That's just stupid. Why...'
The salon owner tried to coax and comfort her, but it was no use.
All Yoon Bom had left was her mother.
Ordinary people couldn't understand her heart.
Yoon Bom first met Yi Hyun not long after starting at the salon.
The moment she saw him, she thought he was such a cute, pretty boy.
'Please take good care of me.'
Yoon Bom knew a bit about Yi Hyun's differences.
His mother had told her directly.
That's why she worried about him even more.
She saw such a beautiful child carrying his own burdens.
Yoon Bom viewed Yi Hyun as someone she needed to look after.
Even in the midst of her own hardships, she never lost her smile when meeting him.
That might have been what kept her going.
Watching him grow made her think even someone like her could be helpful to somebody.
Around the time Yi Hyun entered high school.
The salon owner expanded the business, leaving Yoon Bom to run the original shop alone.
'You have to pay back the money.'
A private moneylender showed up at the shop.
Demanding repayment of her mother's debt.
Three men tried to intimidate her, and that's when Yi Hyun, who had booked a haircut, walked in.
Slash
Yi Hyun grabbed scissors and fought the three men.
The lenders ended up in the hospital.
'Yi Hyun, why did you do that? It would've blown over.'
'Because you're my stylist, Noona.'
Yoon Bom instinctively sensed Yi Hyun's twisted possessiveness.
It made her so happy.
As time passed, she poured even greater affection onto Yi Hyun in place of her absent mother.
'Someone like me could never be loved anyway.'
Yoon Bom thought men were a luxury she couldn't afford.
With her gambling-addicted mother as such a heavy burden.
And so she did.
She got a little greedy with Yi Hyun, who had turned out so wonderfully.
'Yi Hyun, want to sleep with Noona?'
'Sure, Stylist.'
'No, call me Noona?'
'Can't do that.'
They were satisfied sharing their first experiences together.
If Yi Hyun stayed alone forever, she vowed to stay by his side.
Even if he found someone he loved someday.
The day of the Great Cataclysm.
That day, Yoon Bom saw her mother for the first time in months.
"I don't have money for you, Mom! I really don't! Don't come back!"
For the first time, Yoon Bom stood up to her mother.
She felt utterly wretched.
Because she learned her mother had gone to Yi Hyun too.
"Do you have to talk to your mom like that after so long?"
The mother-daughter fight ended when monsters appeared.
They fled desperately and entered the market with help from the Revival Association.
"Daughter, just close your eyes and do it, okay? Just a few days, they said you can quit after."
"Is that something you say to your daughter?"
Her mother telling her to sell her body for gambling money.
Yoon Bom could never do that.
Her body belonged to Yi Hyun.
Yi Hyun will... definitely survive. He will...
She endured on that hope.
Working from dawn till dusk on the grueling wall construction that even broke the men.
Catching one goblin had helped a little.
"Yoon Bom!"
And her hope and faith in Yi Hyun were rewarded.
Today of all days.
Yi Hyun had come for her.
"Pfft. He won't call me Noona."
Yi Hyun, covered in blood.
His eyes were the same as when he'd protected her from the lenders.
Her heart raced at the sight.
He looked just like the prince on a white horse from her childhood fairy tales.
At the same time, she felt ashamed of her own state.
Ashamed to let him see her like this.
"Stylist, come with me."
"Noona. If you call me Noona. How many years has it been?"
"Yeah. Noona, come with me."
"I didn't say to drop the formalities..."
So she threw a tantrum she never had before.
Out of embarrassment.
Whoosh
Yi Hyun ignored it and pulled her into a hug.
Her, reeking from not washing properly in ages.
It all felt like a dream.
But it didn't end there.
"You're mine now, Noona."
Yoon Bom stared at Yi Hyun's face, unable to believe it was real.
She knew what he said wasn't love.
But she couldn't help it.
If he treated her like a cherished possession.
That was enough for her.
Today would go down as the happiest day of her life.
Until her mother showed up.
"Oh, is that Yi Hyun?"
Yoon Bom snapped out of her dream into despair.
Realizing even this was a luxury she didn't deserve.
To her, Yi Hyun whispered.
"Discard her. That's not your mom."
It was a sweet whisper.
At the same time, she noticed Yi Hyun's companions.
Yi Hyun's gained a lot of people. Me too...
She nodded.
Thinking one person to care for was enough now.
Yoon Bom chose Yi Hyun.
Yoon Bom chose her dream.
Noona nods.
No need to hesitate anymore.
"Yi Hyun's really something. I can tell..."
The woman approaches with a smile, eyes on me.
Her daughter might as well not exist.
"Right? Things are looking up now, huh? For this wench's sake..."
Repulsive.
Her matted hair and sunken eyes fixed on me as her next target.
Excited at the thought of sucking my blood after her daughter's.
Thwack
I smashed the approaching woman's jaw.
She collapses unconscious.
"Don't mind her. Look only at me."
"Mm."
I turn Bom Noona's head.
She presses close, saying she understands.
"Let's go."
The group approaches.
In one hand, I grip Chairman Park's ankle; with the other, I pull Bom Noona's shoulder close.
"Excuse us. Coming through."
Jang Ho-seop steps forward to part the crowd.
"Isn't that Chairman Park over there?"
"I can't see well either."
Most people still haven't grasped the situation.
A few quietly head toward the building where Chairman Park had been staying.
"This place is about to get chaotic too."
As we exit the market, Jang Ho-seop mutters quietly.
Bom Noona still only has eyes for me.
"Bro, why'd you bring that old guy?"
"Figured he'd be useful."
Chairman Park, limbs twisted, unconscious at some point.
"Won't he die if you drag him like that?"
"His skill hardens his skin. He's fine."
"Oh, right. Why'd he get such a weird Fundamental Skill... Was he always that flabby?"
Strange.
Chairman Park seems to twitch at Jang Ho-seop's words.
"Revival Association all taken care of?"
"Yep. They all bolted earlier. No one armed."
I remember two.
The guy who sketched our faces at the entrance and the one who took Jang Ho-seop's bribe.
Those two are definitely dead.
"Noona, these are the people I'm with. Say hi and wait a sec."
"Huh? Where you going?"
"To pick up mana stones."
I signal Jang Ho-seop.
"Gonna appraise while I'm at it."
"Sure. Go ahead."
He catches my signal and speaks to Noona first.
"Hi! I'm Jang Ho-seop. Aspiring right-hand man to the boss. I'm 25, so feel free to talk casually."
Lee Yu-na looks scared, but Noona seems fine.
"Oh, I'm Yoon Bom. Self-employed... sorry for the mess. Nice to meet you."
"No worries. You've been through a lot. This is our mom..."
I turn away as the group tends to Noona.
Head back into the market.
Just in case.
Everyone who'd come out to the streets was already checked.
No one armed, like Jang Ho-seop said.
Just people worn out from the Revival Association's exploitation.
"Mm..."
My business is this woman.
Bom Noona's mother, collapsed on the ground.
Crunch
I cleaved her neck clean through with the axe.
Finishing her off in case she came crawling back.
She only ever brought her daughter pain her whole life.
Hope she enjoys her beloved gambling in hell.
We've rescued Bom Noona, but we can't head home yet.
Still need to extract mana stones from the Revival Association bodies I killed.
We move back to the street where we'd fought them together.
"Noona, you okay?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me, do what you need."
"Yeah. Hang in there a bit."
Bom Noona's not in normal condition.
She hasn't eaten properly and worked herself ragged.
If not for her mother, at least her meals would've been regular.
"Mana stones... Do humans normally drop them too?"
"No. It's my skill. They don't otherwise."
The street is packed with corpses.
Spilled blood soaks the ground.
The group looks uneasy at the sight and stench.
Yet Bom Noona sticks by my side, watching the mana stone extraction in fascination.
As if nothing else exists.
"I see. Yi Hyun's amazing."
I collect mana stones with Bom Noona dangling off me like a keychain.
The others check the bodies for anything useful.
But the unease I've felt since earlier is growing worse.
Heat?
Head heating up, dizziness.
And a touch of nausea.
I thought it was battle adrenaline during the fight.
"You okay? You look pale."
"Kinda dizzy."
"Oh? Ah... it's me."
Bom Noona startles and steps back.
Thinking it's her smell.
Not that.
I pinpoint the cause quickly.
"Bro? You good?"
"No. Skills aren't working."
Mana Stone Extraction won't activate.
And the presences from the group I always sense are gone.
Target Detection's off too.
"Ah... Bro's out of mana too, huh."
"Mana?"
"Yeah. I get dizzy if I overuse Invisibility."
The others chime in that they've felt it too.
"So mine runs on mana."
"Seems like it. Your level's so high, your mana pool must be huge. Relatively speaking."
Jang Ho-seop shares his guess.
"Can't compare absolute amounts, but your skills might use low mana."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Warrior classes tend to be efficient. Target Detection feels passive... Maybe Magic Resistance eats more?"
Anyway, point is, no more Mana Stone Extraction for now.
Plenty of bodies left.
"Takes time to recover... Come back tomorrow?"
Feeling off too.
Without Target Detection, it's like one sense is gone.
As I frown, Bom Noona reaches out, gently rubbing my furrowed brow with her thumb.
"Noona can help."
She says something unexpected.
"Huh?"
"Noona has a Fundamental Skill too."
Bom Noona takes my hand.
"I'll give you what Noona's saved up. Take it."
An inexplicable power flows from her.
No other way to describe it.
"What is this? Feels good."
Dizziness fades fast.
Stomach settles too.
"Good... Noona's helping."
Bom Noona explains her skill.
'Mana Reservoir'
Noona's Fundamental Skill massively boosts mana capacity.
"And I can share stored mana."
"Ah, that's why it eased up."
"Yeah. I've got a mana filter. So it's safe."
Thanks to Noona, I learn a new concept.
Everyone's mana has slightly different properties.
Noona passes it through a virtual filter into pure form.
"Um, Noona."
"Yeah, Ho-seop."
"So Noona's like O-type donor?"
"Huh? Ahaha. Yeah, exactly."
I try Mana Stone Extraction again.
It works fine.
"I figured with Noona being a stylist, it'd be some cutting skill. Makes her a support healer type..."
Jang Ho-seop seems a bit disappointed.
"Oh? Sorry..."
"No, no. Noona's skill is awesome. My bad. Mana recovery in the party is huge."
Jang Ho-seop praises her skill to make up for it.
I think Bom Noona's skill is great too.
Thanks to her, we extract mana stones from every body.
That night.
Safely back home, everyone asleep.
Lee Jang-su, on night watch, gets up.
Heads to the second floor and opens a door.
"Yu-na, wake up."
"Mmm. Dad?"
Lee Yu-na struggles to open her eyes.
The toll of a long, exhausting day shows on her face.
"Yeah, it's Dad. Get up quick and pack."
Still, Lee Jang-su urges his daughter on.
Looking around anxiously, fidgety.
Then he grabs a backpack.
"Wait, why? What's going on?"
"Shh. Quiet."
"What's wrong? I'm sleepy."
"Come with Dad. I'll explain on the way. Hurry."
Lee Jang-su was planning an escape.