Not a Talent Sponge, You Say?
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“Helio.”
It had been seven days since I turned into a total parasite. Finally fed up with my unexplained no-shows, Mom pulled out her ultimate weapon.
“I heard the story. You said you’re not going to do anything?”
Her voice was calm. Even while mentioning something outrageous to the person in question, there wasn’t a trace of emotion in it. She simply gazed at me steadily with her faded sunset-colored eyes.
The feelings contained there were painfully easy to read.
“…Sister.”
Worry, anxiety, concern, a sense of responsibility. Just as she always had, Helennora Helisbort had come to look after her younger brother.
* * *
“Here, some tea.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
The modern man Oh Ji-o (32) had a lot of useful miscellaneous knowledge. Things like the ideal water temperature and brewing time for black tea, for example. It was a luxury made possible because his world acquired knowledge not out of necessity, but for the pure enjoyment of it.
“…It’s good. Is this knowledge from the soul you descended this time?”
“It’s knowledge the owner himself doesn’t even remember. But yeah, it is.”
“How fascinating. There would be plenty of people willing to pay to learn this.”
It was just a memory he’d glanced at in a short video, something he couldn’t even recall himself, yet that was her assessment.
“It’s a different world.”
“Indeed. It really is a different world.”
Sister smiled faintly as she set down her teacup. It was nothing more than that simple motion, yet it radiated elegance. That was both her innate charm and proof that she was accustomed to Descent. After all, Descent was the power that let someone instantly acquire abilities others could only gain through decades of time, effort, and rigorous training.
“And my little brother has become completely grown up. It’s a little sad.”
“Uh… it’s true that my mental age has gone up… I mean, you know, knowledge and experience are the basic building blocks of personality, right?”
“Of course. I know that well. How many times have I heard that I don’t act my age?”
With those words, Sister brought the teacup back to her lips. Her movements were elegant as always, her voice gentle, but I felt cold sweat breaking out all over.
Drip.
“Oh my, are you hot right now? Why are you sweating so much?”
“Ah, um… yeah. Maybe it got hot while I was boiling the water earlier?”
“Hehe, then shouldn’t I, the one actually drinking the tea, feel even hotter?”
“That makes sense too!”
I tried to play along somehow, but it didn’t seem very convincing.
“………”
A faint smile never left Sister’s lips as she quietly sipped her tea.
‘She’s mad! And really, really mad!’
Helennora wasn’t the type to get angry easily. Fundamentally, she had little emotional fluctuation and always wanted to remain gentle. That’s why she rarely got angry, and even when she did, her expression of it was far from intense. Just like right now.
“………”
She was smiling. Her gestures were elegant, her smile warm, her voice calm. But my normally calm sister didn’t smile often at all.
“Our little brother has become such an adult now. You even know how to brew tea for guests. You know the right temperature and everything. Your way of speaking has matured too.”
“Y-yeah, I got lucky, I guess.”
“Still, maturity is maturity, isn’t it? You know how to greet guests properly, and you refill the cup quickly when it empties. And on top of that…”
On top of that, she wasn’t the kind of person to repeat the same thing meaninglessly. With her strong scholarly temperament, Sister preferred concise, to-the-point speech over pointless wordplay or drawn-out chatter.
‘I realized too late.’
She hadn’t mentioned Mom or studying at all, so I’d carelessly assumed she was just visiting like usual. That had been naive. Sister had come already angry from the start. And there I was, happily showing off my newly learned tea-brewing method without a clue.
And there was an even bigger problem. There were so many possible reasons why Sister might be angry that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what the issue was.
“Um… Sister?”
“Oh my, what is it, our newly matured Helio?”
“Are… you mad?”
“……………”
A long silence followed. Sister simply kept smiling without even picking up her teacup again, staring only at me.
“Why do you think I’m angry?”
After some time passed, she finally asked the ultimate question in her gentle voice.
[BZZZZZZ!!!!]
For some reason, it felt like Oh Ji-o’s memories were screaming inside my head.
‘There’s no way.’
The soul received through Descent had no self-awareness. In the game, it was nothing more than a part displayed as special equipment. And above all, this wasn’t an emergency. Oh Ji-o (32) might have more life experience, but when it came to Sister, I knew her better.
“…There’s too many reasons, so I don’t know.”
I answered honestly. From the unauthorized Descent to skipping out on training, there were simply too many things that applied.
“………”
At those words, Sister’s smile slowly began to fade. What remained was a blank expression. A chill that could even be called icy silence spread across her face. To an outsider, it would look like she was furious.
‘…Thank goodness.’
On the contrary, I let out a sigh of relief. That wasn’t an angry face. It was her usual expression. Her anger had subsided. At least enough that she wasn’t showing it outwardly anymore.
“It’s fine that you didn’t study or train. But you can at least explain the reason, can’t you?”
Only then did Sister finally get to the main point. On this, both I and Oh Ji-o (32) were in complete agreement.
“Yes…”
Listen obediently and show that I’m reflecting.
“You know very well that in our family, extremely random knowledge or things that are hard to explain tend to pop up easily.”
“That’s right…”
“And calling Mother ‘Mom’—Mother said she didn’t mind, but when I heard it directly, I nearly lost my breath.”
“I was wrong…”
Her tone remained calm and quiet from beginning to end. There was no anger, no contempt, no irritation, no urgency. Just a voice that was logical, correct, and clear. Even when I was younger and more innocent, I could never act strong in front of Sister. After all, she was the one who had raised me in place of our busy mother, who was occupied as the mistress of a high noble house.
“…So, was there some big problem? Some reason you can’t train? You didn’t see some strange future, did you?”
See? Even now, after saying what needed to be said, her immediate concern was for me. Her hair, which had lost almost all its red and was now a pale peach color, swayed gently as she stared at me intently. It was a gaze filled with the weakness, worry, and concern she felt for me.
“It’s not that. I discovered a way to grow explosively.”
“Knowledge from Descent?”
“Yes.”
“That I can understand, but…”
Sister trailed off for a moment before letting out a small sigh as she looked at me.
“So exactly why are you choosing to do nothing? And using that strange way of speaking on top of it. Mother sighed because of you.”
Not doing anything was all part of the plan, but the speech pattern had purely come from getting carried away with Oh Ji-o’s knowledge, so I had nothing to say. In times like this, it was best to just get straight to the point.
“Um… then I’ll tell you, so can you check if the knowledge I gained is correct?”
“Alright. You want to cross-verify? That’s a good attitude.”
Curiosity flickered across Sister’s calm face. As expected of her scholarly nature.