Chapter 299: The Second Question (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 299: The Second Question (3)
The equipment in this lab alone cost tens of billions of won.
Even with all this expensive machinery, the process should have taken anywhere from dozens to hundreds of days.
A process that, if we were unlucky, could have taken years, was reduced to a mere few hours by the ability of a single person.
Afterward, she asked me.
“Your eyes… can you, by any chance, see mana?”
Now that she had finally reached the correct conclusion, I answered her with a thoroughly pleased smile.
“Correct.”
And the mask that had been firmly fixed upon her face shattered into pieces.
“No way…!”
Han Ju-hee’s expression crumbled as she bit down hard on her lower lip.
I knew exactly what that look meant.
It was the face she made whenever her pride, or something she held dear, was damaged by someone else.
Right now, that precious something was probably… her magical achievements.
She asked me, her voice trembling.
“…What does mana look like to you?”
A wound so deep she couldn't even guess if it would ever heal.
Yet, even in her pain, she confronted me with a curiosity she couldn't possibly suppress.
In response, I…
“Well, let’s see.”
…put on an air of arrogance and delayed my answer.
For just a few minutes, no, a few seconds.
Even that short time would feel like an eternity to her as she gasped from the thirst brought on by her intense curiosity.
Savoring that tormented expression of hers, I slowly, very slowly, opened my mouth.
“A thick, multicolored smoke or a heat haze.”
Mana often appears as smoke, a heat haze, or water.
Things with the quality of being able to flexibly change their form, to become anything.
Perhaps it only looks that way to me, and it’s because I see it this way that I can exert such control over it.
“For the most part, that’s the form mana takes in my eyes.”
“Smoke, a heat haze…”
Repeating the words I’d spoken, she mulled them over before nodding in understanding.
“That’s intuitive. Mana is a free resource that can be changed into any form.”
Even in her shock, she was quick to process new information.
Her questions continued.
“You definitely said multicolored.”
“I did.”
“Does the color change depending on the properties of the mana?”
“That’s right. The color looks different depending on its attribute or properties.”
“In that case…”
She gathered mana in one hand.
“My mana… what color is it?”
A wistful, pleading expression.
Did she really want to know what color her mana shone with that badly?
“Red.”
Her mana, dense with the fire attribute, had a red hue.
However, it wasn't a murky, blood-dark red like the drug in the red pill.
“No, it’s more like…”
It was far clearer and purer… if I had to put it into words.
“The term ‘crimson’ would be more accurate.”
A noble and elegant crimson, just like her hair color.
“…I see.”
Was she pleased with the color of her mana?
She stood silently for a long while, her gaze fixed wistfully on the hand where she had gathered her power.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
After collecting her chaotic thoughts, she quickly took care of the tasks before her.
It was all thanks to finishing the property analysis—the step expected to take the longest—in an instant.
After that, all she had to do was input the property values into the analyzer, add them to the database, and find the combination formula that would react best with it.
After frantically typing on the mana stone-powered computer, she finally took her hands off the keyboard.
“…It’s done.”
Complex formulas floated on the screen.
“If we add the organized formula to the detector, it should be able to pick up the new drug’s reaction.”
“You worked hard.”
This time, I meant it.
There were probably only a handful of people in all of South Korea who could organize such a complex formula in such a short amount of time.
But she seemed too cornered to accept even such a simple compliment.
“The one who worked hard… wasn’t me, it was you.”
A self-deprecating smile played on her lips.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her look so dejected.
Let’s see… was it the first time since she got her ass handed to her by that witch she ran into back when she was making a name for herself as an A-rank?
Seeing her like this felt a little…
“…Do you find this situation funny?”
Han Ju-hee glared at me with sharp eyes.
She was right.
I was smiling.
Because I was enjoying this situation so much.
“It’s just that seeing you looking so down, Hunter Han Ju-hee… makes you seem a little more human.”
I was intoxicated by this human side of her, which I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Truthfully, that was just a secondary reason. There was a much bigger one.
The fact that I had succeeded in knocking her down a peg.
And with magic, the very thing Han Ju-hee was so confident in, no less.
An immense, almost incomprehensible pleasure shot down my spine.
“Haa…”
She didn’t retort to the taunt, delivered with a victor’s composure.
No, it was more like she couldn’t.
After all, a talent she might never obtain even with a lifetime of research was concentrated entirely in me.
Watching her now was immensely enjoyable, but… this state couldn’t last for long.
It would be a problem if she gave up on trying to uncover my abilities and make them her own.
“Shall I share a piece of hopeful news?”
The moment I tossed out the bait, she practically jumped at it.
“If you’re trying to tease me, you’d better stop. I don’t have the patience to deal with…”
“My overwhelming control over mana, and the eyes that can see it.”
I completely ignored her sharp words and spoke my mind.
“They didn’t manifest because of a Trait.”
My enhanced control over mana and the eyes that could see it were things I gained after my awakening, but they weren’t abilities engraved on my body by a Trait.
In other words… they were something granted to me either through innate talent or acquired factors.
And what did that mean?
“It means that if you can figure out the principles of the ability through research, you might be able to have it too, Hunter Han Ju-hee.”
Unless one had an ability to steal or exchange another’s Traits, an ability engraved as a Trait could not be coveted.
But if the abilities I possessed were in the realm of pure talent, that was a different story.
The discipline of magic had reached its current state through radical discoveries and innovations.
The pattern was that just when things seemed to settle down, a new standard would appear, shattering the existing system, shaking the world of magic, and then taking its place.
Now that Hunter society was firmly established in the world, such radical innovations had been absent for quite some time, but who knew?
An incredible ability that could more than shake the existing world of magic.
The chances were extremely slim, but through research and training, she might just be able to grasp it herself.
The look on her face after she heard everything I had to say was truly a sight to behold.
A pure lotus flower blooming from filthy mud.
The single ray of hope blooming within her expression, which had been so cruelly twisted by the difference in our talents, was just like that.
She asked me again and again.
“Are you… absolutely sure? That it’s a talent completely unrelated to a Trait.”
To instill in her a stronger conviction, I immediately nodded and replied.
“I can even swear a Blood Oath if you want.”
At that, she shook her head.
“No… No. That won’t be necessary.”
The extinguished flame in her downcast eyes reignited.
Soon, a burning desire began to blaze.
A faint smile appeared on her lips as she whispered in a small voice.
“If I can just obtain this talent, then… doing that won’t be impossible.”
Her voice was so quiet I couldn’t hear it well.
It seemed like she wanted to do something by obtaining this talent… I wondered what it could be.
Lifting her head, she parted her lips.
“There are many experiments I want to conduct.”
Of course there are.
You need to uncover the source of my ability and acquire it for yourself.
And figuring that out won’t be easy with just any old experiment.
“From now on, every experiment I conduct… will be impossible without your help.”
She could try tackling it head-on, I suppose.
Of course, that only meant she could start; reaching a conclusion would be next to impossible.
Knowing this, she finally abandoned the condescending attitude she had maintained until now.
In her eyes, I was now at least her equal.
Even the wary look she gave me for prying into her private life had vanished without a trace.
“I need your help.”
“……”
For a moment, I saw an image of her from the past overlap with her present self.
『I need you.』
With just those words, I had fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.
To me, who had been abandoned even by my parents at birth and had lived entirely on my own, there was nothing sweeter than hearing someone say they needed me in such a desperate tone.
Still, this made me a little jealous.
The past me went through thick and thin for three years just to hear those words.
She continued.
“Within my means, I’ll give you anything you want. No… I’ll even take on things that might be a little difficult for me.”
This was basically the same as saying she would do anything I wanted in a material sense.
In all of South Korea, there was nothing she couldn’t obtain, even if it required some effort.
But as I always said.
“That’s all well and good, but I’m still more curious about you, Hunter Han Ju-hee.”
At that, her expression clouded slightly and she bit her lip, before finally answering with a look of resignation.
“…Of course, I will also thoroughly abide by the terms of the oath.”
So that’s how it is.
“If you can keep that promise, then I have no reason to refuse your proposal.”
A deep smile bloomed on her lips.
“Then…!”
“Before that.”
But it was still too soon.
“I’d like to settle the price for today’s research before we continue our discussion…”
“……”
First, she had to pay the proper price for this experiment.
“…Fine. A promise is a promise.”
“Hehe, that’s right.”
A promise is a promise, indeed.
Having easily predicted that everything would fall apart if she took a step back from the start, she asked me, her face now composed.
“So… what is it you want to ask me this time?”
“Well, let’s see.”
To be honest, I hadn’t thought about it.
No, to be precise, there were many things I wanted to ask, but I didn’t know where to start.
After a moment of thought, I came up with the simplest yet most effective question.
Depending on her answer, the way I would have to act in the future would change.
“Your husband, Hunter Son Si-woo. Did you love him? No.”
That’s not it.
What I wanted to ask about wasn’t the past.
“Are you still in love with him now?”
“……!”
Her eyes widened as if they would tear.
Then, turning her head away from my gaze like someone who had committed a sin, she uttered her reply in a small voice.
“…I don’t know.”
A completely unexpected answer shook my mind to its core.