Chapter 76: Kids These Days Lack Effort (2)
Chapter 76: Kids These Days Lack Effort (2)
—Sen….
Expanding my senses to catch the drifting voice, I tossed another question to the Mutant sitting beside me.
"Can you still not hear it?"
"I'm not sure what sound you're referring to, sir."
If the dog-Mutant, who could hear conversations through walls, said so, then it really was a voice only I could hear.
"…I’m going out for a bit."
"Hallucinations are common in Contaminated Zones. You needn't be so discouraged."
His way of speaking was getting on my nerves.
"That’s not it, so shut up."
"Yes, sir."
Perhaps because I’d snapped at him, Irua, who had been clinging to me and acting friendly until a moment ago, stiffened and fell silent.
He sat there with his knees together, back straight, hands on his lap, eyes darting back and forth.
It reminded me of something….
As I watched him, it finally clicked.
A dog.
The way he’d cling when praised by his master, then stiffen and shift his gaze restlessly after being scolded, was exactly like a dog.
"…Stay here and guard the place."
I spoke as if giving a command to a hound. As I left the guardroom, Irua raised his hand instead of saying goodbye.
Was it because of my order to shut up? He was like a dog in the most useless ways.
After leaving the guardroom, I immediately scouted the area for the Squad Leader.
I couldn't find him right away, but when I asked a nearby guard, he kindly pointed me toward a likely spot, and I found him quickly.
"Is something the matter?"
"I want to check on my disciple's condition. Can you lead the way?"
When I stated my business, the Squad Leader looked puzzled.
"So suddenly?"
"Well, it's not that I don't trust you guards."
Since I’d be seeing these faces a few more times, there was no need to cause friction. I continued with a bit of schmoozing to grease the wheels.
"It’s just that my disciple is making quite a racket, perhaps because she’s gained some new power."
—Senior… Senior….
Han A-bin’s voice was still audible even now.
I wondered what on earth was there that made her seek me out so desperately.
"…New power, you say?"
The Squad Leader repeated my words back to me as a question, a strange expression on his face.
"I can hear her calling for me like an auditory hallucination. It’s likely mental-type or Reality Manipulation magic."
The moment I finished speaking, the Squad Leader shot me a look of pure pity.
"Auditory hallucinations are nothing to be ashamed of in a Contaminated Zone, Hero Lee Hwan. Even I hear the hallucination of my superior announcing a pay cut every single day… I can hear it even now."
I don't care about your personal problems.
And this isn't a hallucination. Yours has just turned more malicious after twenty years of suffering.
—Where… are you.
At the very least, it had been a long time since I’d heard such a faint hallucination.
"I know well enough that it’s not a hallucination, so just let me see her face."
"You could just be honest and say you're worried about your disciple. 'Auditory hallucinations' is a rather poor excuse."
The Squad Leader said this and began walking with a heartwarming expression.
"Where are you going?"
"Aren't you going to see Hero Han A-bin? I'll guide you!"
…He seemed to have misunderstood something grandly, but I suppose it worked out.
* * *
Han A-bin, lying on the bed, looked perfectly fine.
Whether it was a self-preservation instinct or not, she was in her transformed Magical Girl state. There were signs of internal bleeding from the impact scattered across her body, but none of the wounds were deep.
The only thing that stood out were the dried tracks of bloody tears trailing from the corners of her eyes. A capillary inside her eye must have burst.
"Any damage to the eyeballs?"
"None."
Then I should wipe it off.
I dabbed a bit of spit onto the blanket and began wiping the blood from Han A-bin’s face.
"Isn't that a bit… unhygienic?"
"What's dirty about spit?"
"…We have alcohol swabs, so please use those."
Perhaps unable to watch any longer, the Squad Leader handed me a few packets of alcohol swabs. I tore them open and continued cleaning her face.
As I wiped her skin, I noticed a strange phenomenon.
What is this?
Part of the blood clinging to the corner of her eye wouldn't come off, as if it were a dark eye tattoo.
It was drawn very thinly and hard to see, but it was a distinct red line.
I tore open another swab and wiped again. This time, I applied more pressure to ensure I didn't miss it.
The white swab in my hand came away with a red stain. The blood had definitely been wiped away.
However, as if mocking me, a small amount of blood seeped out from between her eyelids. The blood moved slightly, re-attaching itself to her skin and redrawing the crimson line.
"…."
"Is there… a problem?"
The Squad Leader asked in a trembling voice. He must have felt the grim atmosphere radiating from me.
"Could you step out for a moment? This concerns my disciple's privacy."
Yes. This was a matter of her privacy.
A problem of hers that must never be revealed to the outside world.
"I see there's something. Understood."
He left the infirmary quietly, his voice calm. Considering his knowledge from earlier and how gracefully he withdrew, perhaps he had been conscripted as a doctor.
—Senior. Senior.
I pushed aside idle thoughts.
Perhaps because I was close to Han A-bin, the voice grew louder and clearer.
However, she was not the entity I was looking for. Ignoring A-bin’s voice, I spoke toward her.
"You're there, aren't you? Happiness Drop."
Silence filled the room.
Should I change the question?
"Or should I call you Laufei?"
Still no answer.
Did she hate her Hero name so much that she didn't even like being called by her nickname?
Or was she not here?
Was my guess wrong?
I decided to try one more time.
"Lisa Dahlgren. Are you there?"
No response came back. Only the strange voice of A-bin stopped. Nothing else changed.
I waited a little longer.
But no matter how long I waited, the only thing I heard was Han A-bin’s shallow breathing.
The sheets rose and fell with her breath, but that was all.
Was I mistaken? I thought Happiness Drop had taken over Han A-bin’s body and was using telepathy.
"Whew."
I let out a deep sigh and sat in the chair in front of the infirmary desk.
I forced the backrest of the cheap chair—which wouldn't even bend properly at the waist—to tilt as I watched the now-stable Han A-bin.
Countless hypotheses flashed through my mind.
Happiness Drop tried to resurrect by taking over Han A-bin’s body.
A gap in Han A-bin’s mind created some sort of connection with Happiness Drop.
This was all a simple coincidence, and Han A-bin had overcome the ordeal of Overlapping Reality to awaken a new power.
Pfft.
A dry laugh escaped me.
A coincidence.
There was no way it was a coincidence.
She just happened to awaken Happiness Drop’s Mental Magic, and she just happened to handle Blood Magic, which was that villain’s trademark?
Everything just happened to overlap?
Even as the one who thought of it, it was a ridiculous story. There was absolutely no possibility of such a thing happening. This incident was clearly linked to Happiness Drop.
But Happiness Drop did not appear at my call.
If she wasn't the one calling me, then had Han A-bin been the one calling?
Why did she need to find me?
Why did the telepathy suddenly die down?
I didn't know. The more I thought, the more the questions branched out.
Creeeeak.
Unable to withstand my weight, the backrest of the chair tilted back sharply. I lay back in the chair and continued my thoughts.
Let’s stop. I’ll find out everything once A-bin wakes up anyway. Whether Happiness Drop took over her body or not, how much she’s involved, and why she called me.
I’ll push aside all the problems that don't have answers right now.
I interlaced my fingers behind my head and surrendered my body to the chair.
"Lisa Dahlgren. Are you there?"
A low murmur.
Still, no answer came.
Why did I call her?
Was it because I wanted to ask her? What she, in her right mind, was thinking?
Did I want to ask the "whole" version of her about her sense of justice?
"It’s all pointless."
Feeling the faint scent of alcohol in my nose, I closed my eyes.
* * *
"Safe travels!"
We entered the Contaminated Zone, seen off by the guards.
【Iron is….】
【Air is….】
【Time is….】
And as soon as we entered, fragments of Otherworld Erosion greeted us.
"Hiek! Senior, what is this!"
Startled by the sudden paranormal phenomenon, Han A-bin grabbed onto me.
I could feel something soft clinging to me through the fabric of my clothes.
"Don't cling to me."
I peeled her off. Ever since she woke up, she had been trying to stick to me at every opportunity.
She let go easily, as if she didn't intend to force it, but I noticed a slightly dissatisfied expression on her face.
It was strange.
"Do you really have no memory of when you were asleep?"
"I told you earlier, my last memory ends at the moment I reached out my hand. And when I woke up, you were dozing in the chair, Senior."
Right.
As soon as she woke up, she had burst into tears and lunged at me. She said she felt an unbearable sense of loss and sadness.
That was the answer I got through the Management Bureau’s standard mental health screening question: "What thoughts and emotions are you having right now?" so it must be certain.
The answer I got from that dialogue was that she was definitely Han A-bin.
It wasn't my specialty, but at the very least, she wasn't Happiness Drop.
But something was off. Something was nagging at me.
If I had to put it into words, it was a subtle sense of incongruity, like tasting an odd sweetness in plain bottled water—something that could easily be dismissed as a mere delusion.
Did that worry show on my face?
—What are you thinking about?
A bubbly emotion was thrust into my mind.
It wasn't ordinary telepathy, but high-level Mental Magic that included emotions—the kind Happiness Drop used to use.
"…Don't use telepathy when you're this close."
"But it's fun. It feels like my expressions are being delivered clearly? I can easily convey things… that were hard to put into words."
Perhaps unable to express all her excitement through her voice, a red flush rose to her cheeks.
Emotional overload?
It was strange for Han A-bin.
Had Han A-bin always been this expressive with her emotions?
Awakening Mental Magic itself wasn't a big problem. Awakening new powers wasn't that rare.
The real problem was that she was using the Mental Magic she’d just acquired as skillfully as if it were a power she’d always had.
Like a mute who had never spoken a word suddenly speaking for the first time. She was pouring out immense feelings of joy.
The emotional output was so strong that the single telepathic message was enough to give me a headache.
—You're thinking about something again, Senior.
The emotion was delivered to me once more.
"It's nothing."
I said that, but a massive sense of unease enveloped me.
She was too proactive. It wasn't like Han A-bin. Wasn't she the one who used to tremble in fear?
With that thought, I put some weight into my gaze and glared at her.
"Hiek!"
Meeting my sharp gaze directly, Han A-bin scurried into the corner of the cart and began to avoid my eyes.
"Is… is something wrong… Senior?"
"It's nothing."
"You've been saying it's nothing for a while now…."
What was with this gap?
When I thought she was Han A-bin, she showed a side that wasn't her.
When I thought she wasn't her, she showed the side of Han A-bin.
She definitely didn't seem like Han A-bin, yet my gut was telling me she was. Even when I expanded my senses, it didn't seem like she was lying.
I couldn't pin her down.
"I heard you liked this kind of thing…."
What was that supposed to mean?
"What?"
"No, it's nothing. More importantly, what was that weird Otherworld Erosion earlier?"
I thought she just said something about me liking something.
It was so out of context that I had no idea what she was talking about.
I’d hand her over to Oxymoron later to verify if she was really herself. For now, I’d treat her as usual.
If it turned out she wasn't herself, I’d use a full torture set to snap her mind back to where it belonged.
"That Otherworld Erosion earlier was a cry that flowed out in vain because someone's will couldn't be contained in it. In other words, a useless sentence."
"I don't… really understand what you mean…."
How bothersome.
I glared at Irua to explain in my stead, but Irua shook his head and spoke.
"I'm not very well-versed in Otherworld Erosion either. I would very much like to hear how this came about."
"…Tsk."
I clicked my tongue and summarized the content as much as possible.
"Otherworld Erosion is somewhat influenced by the will of nearby beings. And since there's no one around with enough will to fill it, it means the activation was cut short. End of story."
There, happy? Let’s keep going.
To be precise, even if there is a will, it seems they can't choose it as they please. It depends on their mental imagery, psychological structure, denial of reality, or whatever.
【Metals are….】
"Then those unfinished sounds are…."
"It means someone is nearby, but they aren't strong enough to change the world. No need to worry about it."
As soon as those words left my mouth.
【Since humans have no faces—】
Wait, hold on.