Chapter 22
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 22
I swallowed against the cottony dryness in my mouth and spoke quickly.
"How long was I out?"
"Not long. About two hours?"
"The ques— no, the Final Stage Occupation Battle ended well, right?"
"Yeah. The queen's been dealt with, and Seo-yoon's regained consciousness too."
"Ha, thank god."
A sigh of relief slipped out on its own. Given the circumstances, success seemed certain.
"Anyway, thanks. I'm fine now, so you can go."
I tried to send Baek Sa-young, who'd been standing there awkwardly, on his way first.
I wanted to check my messages in peace, and besides, we had nothing more to say.
We weren't close enough for him to sit there nursing me, anyway.
I also felt bad keeping a busy person around any longer.
"Already? That's a little......"
But why did protagonists have no sense of tact?
"No, I mean, you should go see Cheon Seo-yoon too. What if she gets sulky because you didn't show your face?"
"Still, leaving the moment you opened your eyes wouldn’t be polite."
As if he meant it, he even shifted his posture to sit back down.
No, you frustrating bastard. Polite, my ass.
"Just go! I'm really fine. I'm more comfortable alone."
"Really?"
"......Obviously."
"Well, I suppose you might be uncomfortable."
Baek Sa-young scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.
Then, all of a sudden, he asked me, his gaze and voice calm.
"But answer me just one thing. There's something I'm curious about regarding the queen."
"The queen?"
I was briefly puzzled by the sudden shift in atmosphere, but I caught on quickly.
"Ah, it's because of her condition, right? By the time you faced her, she was practically already dead."
Baek Sa-young simply nodded without a word.
Of course, the guy's too decent for his own good.
He seemed uncomfortable taking credit without having done much of the work.
"Honestly, Cheon Seo-yoon deserves most of the credit. You saw the sword stuck in her chest too."
But I had no intention of telling him the truth.
Bragging about having done something great would only be a nuisance and meant nothing to me.
"That’s true, but...... a Grade 6 Irregular is no ordinary Monster. If anything, it’s the burn marks rather than the chest wound, and......"
"Ah, of course I got a hit in too. But without Cheon Seo-yoon, it would've been impossible."
"Then what about the penetrating wound in the abdomen?"
"......A penetrating wound? There was something like that? That's strange. I'm not sure about that either......"
"Hmm......"
"Hey, why are you acting like an amateur? You know the Sorcery Track’s limitation—it can never make someone the protagonist."
Baek Sa-young, who'd paused for a moment, soon gave a bitter smile.
"Got it. You're probably not feeling well, so rest for now. Let's talk again later."
"Yeah."
Without questioning or pressing further, he left the hospital room.
Thud—
It wasn’t exactly a satisfying response, but...... the lingering unease melted away like snow the moment the view in front of me rippled.
[Main Quest #3 — Final Stage Boss Defeated]
[15 days are awarded as a reward.]
[Remaining Time for you: 24 days 9 hours 54 minutes]
[As a reward, you acquire 20 SP.]
[SP held: 80]
When the completion message I’d been waiting for appeared, joy hit me along with a sudden lump in my throat.
"Ha... what am I getting so worked up over?"
Only three weeks ago, I’d had more time than I knew what to do with......
And now here I was, happy just to live twenty more days.
For some reason, a wave of melancholy made my chest ache.
[Achievement-111: Turn Crisis into Opportunity.]
[You have successfully concluded a distorted plotline.]
......A distorted development?
The anomaly that had been nagging at me all along. The full story of that incident was revealed.
[#Turning Point 1. Team 4's Initial Stage entrance changed]
-Reason for change: Increased difficulty to heighten tension
[#Turning Point 2. Baek Sa-young filled a substitute role]
-Reason for change: Breaking away from predictable protagonist-centered plot progression
[20 SP awarded as a reward.]
[4 days added to Remaining Time.]
[Remaining Time: 28 days 9 hours 53 minutes]
"......"
So the fact that our Initial Stage entrance was changed to Gate 9, making us face the Kkeomeoksari instead of Lee Dae-ho's team......
And the fact that I encountered the queen with Cheon Seo-yoon instead of Baek Sa-young......
"So all of it was the system’s doing— no, 4885’s?"
Not a butterfly effect caused by my presence interfering with the story?
"What a vicious piece of shit."
Of all the things he could mess with, how dare he touch the original story’s plot.
I didn't care about anything else, but this time I absolutely couldn't stand it.
What kind of novel is Epic of Salvation?
Yoo So-young had poured her own life into it, with blood and tears......
And he thinks he has room to talk?
For a moment, his voice rang in my ears like an auditory hallucination, but I shut it down immediately.
......Ah, shut up.
Still, I'm an artist. That bastard is a thief who hasn't contributed a single speck to the work.
So.
"Hey, you X-ing bastard. If you were going to do this, why did you even call me......."
[You have reached 100 SP.]
[The boundary of Causality briefly weakens.]
[A reward you truly need will be granted.]
......100 SP?
Already?
"Sir? No, boss? If you were going to spring this on me out of nowhere......"
My sudden hopes made my voice shrink into a meek murmur, as if I were bowing my head.
[The next target threshold is 200 SP.]
A circular opening appeared in the space ahead of me, and a small note dropped out.
Flutter~
I swiftly reached out and snatched it.
At a glance, it was an ordinary white piece of paper.
"What's this?"
None of this made any sense, but I decided to check the note first.
I hurriedly unfolded it and read the words inside.
"This is......"
The contents were so unexpected that I blinked rapidly without realizing it.
[Tonight at 9 p.m. 435 Cheonsu 1-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 3rd floor, 11-905]
......An address?
The letters were written neatly so the handwriting couldn't be identified.
But why was this the reward I supposedly needed?
While I was mulling it over, a single hypothesis suddenly flashed through my mind.
No way.......
Information related to Yoo So-young?
* * *
After leaving the hospital room, Baek Sa-young called Lee Dae-ho first.
"Which hospital did you say it was?"
—Suho Hospital in Gangnam. How's Park Ha-yul? He hasn't woken up already, has he?
"Why wouldn’t he be? He said he was fine and practically kicked me out."
—Wow, Park Ha-yul. I thought he was a weakling because he's so slender, but he's sturdier than he looks. Mana exhaustion isn't something to take lightly, you know.
"It’s a relief. At least now I can go show my face. If I couldn’t make it, Cheon Seo-yoon would curse me out for ages."
The call went on a while longer with a few more questions about get-well gifts and such before it ended.
While waiting for the elevator, Baek Sa-young found himself looking toward Park Ha-yul's hospital room and let out a small laugh.
"Really. What a peculiar guy."
At first, he'd just seemed like an outsider with no interest in school life.
But little by little, Baek Sa-young’s impression of him had changed.
Park Ha-yul seemed timid, yet he had a fiery side that refused to back down even against Lee Taek-jin; he seemed weak, yet at times he was as solid as a rock.
What happened in the Final Stage was a perfect example.
Amid the chaos that had everyone rattled, hadn’t he alone remained calm and rational?
"......The one who dealt the queen a fatal wound was probably Park Ha-yul too."
Even setting aside the unexplained penetrating wound, the traces of powerful sorcery remained intact.
Honestly, there was a lot he was curious about.
How someone ranked near the bottom had unleashed such powerful sorcery.
Why, after barely managing to take her down, he was trying to hide such a remarkable achievement by making excuses about Cheon Seo-yoon.
Most people were the opposite, weren't they?
There were countless people whose greed outstripped their abilities, who were busier tearing others down than lifting them up.
"Hmm......"
Maybe that was why he was even more interested.
A guy who's better than expected.......
"Hey, you X-ing bastard. If you were going to do this, why did you even call me......."
......Or not?
"No, sir? No, boss? If you were going to spring this on me out of nowhere......"
Hearing the voice from beyond the hospital room, Baek Sa-young gave a wry smile.
Maybe he's just a weirdo?
Thinking it was a good thing he'd left early, Baek Sa-young pretended not to notice and stepped into the elevator.
* * *
At the same time, in a VIP room at a hospital owned by the Joo family.
"How can you even get that down at a time like this? Didn’t you hear the doctor? They told you to eat nothing but porridge for a while. If you’re going to do whatever you want, just go to your own family’s hospital."
"Ah, whyyy. I'm already all recovered, so whaat. Nom nom. To get my energy back fast, I need to eat something sweet."
Despite the protests, Cheon Seo-yoon took a bite of a banana with the happiest expression in the world, and Joo A-rin, unable to take it anymore, shot up from her seat.
"I don’t think there’s any reason for me to stay anymore. I should get going. There’s somewhere else I need to stop by while I’m out anyway."
"Alreadyyy? Nom nom."
"Yeah. You’ve already recovered, haven’t you? I won’t bother you any longer, so get some rest."
As if she meant it, she checked her clothes even though there was nothing to fix and picked up the bag she'd set down.
Bang.
It was at that moment that Lee Dae-ho, who'd stepped out, came back in.
"Oh! Ms. Joo, are you leaving?"
Unlike his usual bear-like demeanor, he quickly grasped the situation.
"Ms. Joo? That’s nauseating......"
Cheon Seo-yoon, peeling another banana, jeered at him, but he ignored her and continued.
"Sa-young says he's coming too, so how about waiting a little longer?"
"Baek Sa-young? Then......"
"Yep. Park Ha-yul woke up too. So, um... what I wanted to ask is......"
"......?"
"If you haven’t eaten yet, how about having a meal together? There’s a place nearby that makes amazing hangover soup. Hahaha."
He’d worked up his courage because he’d always liked Joo A-rin.
Pfft.
But why did the timing have to be like this?
Of all moments, Cheon Seo-yoon, who'd been shoving banana into her mouth, spat it back out right then.
"Blegh. Cough cough."
"Ha, I knew this would happen."
Instead of answering, Joo A-rin glared at the coughing Cheon Seo-yoon and patted her on the back.
The atmosphere that had seemed like it might lead somewhere crumbled in an instant.
...That brat is doing it on purpose.
Lee Dae-ho glared daggers at Cheon Seo-yoon.
He thought it was because of the lingering resentment from when the teams were formed.
But the real story was different.
What had made Cheon Seo-yoon choke was the name Lee Dae-ho brought up.
It was because memories of the Final Stage came rushing back the moment she heard that name......
"Have you calmed down a bit?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine."
Cheon Seo-yoon, her face slightly flushed, pressed her lips shut and looked down at her right hand.
* * *
Once, she had wanted to be the pride of the Cheon family.
"Seo-yoon, do you know why we bear the surname Cheon?"
"Um. No."
"Changcheon—the blue heavens. It is because our homeland lies above that very sky."
"Whoa. Really?"
"Yes, so live with pride. You must not become a shameful sky."
Her uncle, who had been especially fond of her, was the perfect embodiment of the Cheon family.
A dignified yet refined appearance.
Skill that rivaled even her father, the family head.
And a warm, upright personality that always looked after her in place of her busy father.
As a child, Cheon Seo-yoon had always sworn to herself that she wanted to become someone like him......
But that man had killed her father.
On the day of her thirteenth birthday......
From that day on, the sky was no longer something to look up to, but something to tear down.
She lived with ruthless determination.
Dreaming of revenge achieved entirely through her own strength, she rejected the Cheon family’s prized Lightning Power and all other support.
She scraped together money any way she could, learned to swear instead of learning refinement, and strove to become a tough Taehak student rather than a refined young lady of a great family.
Her resolve wasn’t just talk. Not a single day went by when she failed to give it everything she had.
What are you talking about? If we just take down that spider bastard, we’re guaranteed first place. If you’re scared, you back off.
But that reckless temperament of hers was the problem.
The Final Stage Occupation Battle she had entered fully prepared, and the sudden encounter with the queen.
Stab.
Then she’d charged in blindly and gotten her shoulder pierced through.
No matter how strong she was, all that strength was useless against poison, and she plummeted helplessly.
She tried desperately to draw up her mana, but her body wouldn't obey.
She hadn't even managed a proper flap of her wings yet......
Cheon Seo-yoon resented her own stupidity so much she could hardly stand herself.
Snatch.
It was at that moment that, instead of the cold, hard ground, she landed in someone's arms.
She figured out the situation quickly.
That obnoxious jerk who’d made the worst possible first impression.
Park Ha-yul, whom she'd thought had nothing to offer but his family's reputation, had evaded the queen and rescued her.
It was a situation she couldn't understand at all, but as the pain worsened, she forgot about it just as quickly.
Instead.......
Hey, get a... grip....
Someone will come soon, so just... hold on a little......
Why did you... have to go off on your... own and make such a... mess of things?
You could at least... not have that damn... pretty face look so much... like hers......
Spa... re...
A voice she heard through her fading consciousness.
She had no idea who he thought she resembled, but she could clearly hear the sincerity in his voice.
Sorry... cooperate with me... To face the queen... this is the only... way.
She’d always treated him so badly......
Even if Park Ha-yul had given up and waited, she'd have had no right to complain.
But why......?
That was as far as Cheon Seo-yoon's memory went.
Suddenly, the back of her right hand burned, and as a languid sensation like midday sunlight seeped in, she let go of the thread of consciousness she'd barely been clinging to.