Chapter 388: Suspicion Breeds Demons (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 388: Suspicion Breeds Demons (1)
I left the Magic Tower with heavy steps and walked aimlessly.
Occasionally, I could hear the voices of people passing by.
“Isn’t that Kim Do-jin?”
“I think it is….”
“He looks upset. I wonder what happened.”
I wasn’t in the mood to force a smile, nor did I have the energy to respond.
I just wished they would lose interest and walk away as quickly as possible.
“Ha…”
A laugh escaped me as I walked.
Her final words had been that ridiculous.
The reason she joined hands with them was what?
“For her daughter and husband…? Hah, give me a break.”
The word ‘absurd’ wasn’t nearly enough to describe how I felt.
She was the one who tried to dictate her daughter’s life and had grown impossibly cold to her husband.
And now she claimed everything she was doing was for her daughter and husband?
Could there be a more ridiculous statement in the world?
If those words, which sounded like an excuse or a lie, were actually true, that would be even more laughable.
“What greater farce could there be?”
If that were the case, her story should be made into a play or a movie and passed down for generations.
You know, like one of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, Hamlet or Othello.
Maybe we could call it The Tragedy of a Certain Archmage.
“Hah, that’d be fun.”
Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make it myself when I have the time.
Muttering such nonsense, I found myself standing in front of none other than Ju-yeon’s home.
With an unfamiliar touch, I pressed the button for her apartment number, and the door opened shortly after.
I walked along the well-kept path and entered the apartment building, where her voice immediately reached me.
“Do-jin…!”
Han Ju-yeon had taken the elevator down, as if she had sensed something was wrong with me.
She rushed toward me with an urgent voice and stood before me.
“Nuna.”
I let out the title that now felt quite familiar, the one that defined our changed relationship, and unclenched the fist I had been holding tight, showing her my palm.
Ju-yeon’s eyes widened at the sight of my red, swollen hand.
“Wh-what in the world…!”
The reason my aimless wandering had led me here was this very palm.
“Can you treat my hand?”
It hurt.
More than when I was stabbed through the chest in an S-rank dungeon.
More than when a monster’s hand tore through my abdomen.
More than when I gave my all to push that disaster back through the rift in Gangnam.
Compared to those past injuries, this was nothing—just a slightly red palm with a few blisters. Yet the pain was incomparable to any wound I had ever suffered.
“When I hurt my hand, I realized I couldn't do anything.”
It hurts.
Ju-yeon, who had been glancing back and forth between the wound on my palm and my face, grabbed my wrist and led me away.
“Let’s go inside first.”
Ju-yeon said nothing as we rode the elevator up to her apartment.
She looked like she had a lot to say but was holding it back.
Soon, we arrived inside.
She had me sit on the sofa, then knelt on the floor in front of me.
“It might hurt, but just bear with it for a moment.”
Wait, hold on.
“Hurt? What do you mean…?”
While the wound itself might sting, there should be no room for pain in the process of healing an injury with magic.
That’s how it was supposed to be.
“Ugh…?!”
The moment a pure white light began to seep from the palm Ju-yeon was holding, a sharp pain shot through me.
As my face twisted in surprise, Ju-yeon’s cold voice washed over me.
“…With how I’m feeling right now, I don’t want to heal you painlessly.”
Ah.
So she was doing it on purpose.
Well, can’t be helped then.
The healer is the one in charge, and if she tells me to endure it, what choice do I have?
“Nngh…!”
For a moment, I endured, letting out a soft groan as the pain was unusually hard to bear today.
The light seeping from between our hands subsided, and the pain slowly faded with it.
When Ju-yeon finally let go, my red and blistered hand was gone, replaced by a clean, white palm.
“Thanks.”
As the throbbing pain disappeared, the utterly unpleasant feeling in my heart seemed to ease a little.
Or maybe it wasn’t because the pain was gone, but because I was with Ju-yeon.
Ju-yeon stood up without reacting to my thanks.
She walked toward the kitchen with what seemed like slightly angry steps, then returned with a glass of water in her hand.
“Drink this.”
The glass she handed me was filled with water so cold it made my teeth ache.
…Was she telling me to drink cold water and get my head straight?
I happened to be thirsty, so I drained the glass and handed it back to her.
After taking the empty glass to the kitchen, Ju-yeon came and sat next to me.
She patted her smooth thighs, revealed beneath one of humanity’s greatest inventions—dolphin shorts—a couple of times with her hand.
“Lie down.”
“……”
That’s what she said.
I had no idea what was happening, but I didn’t refuse.
Who could say no to an offer to rest their head on those thighs when they were so utterly exhausted?
I lay down, letting my head rest gently upon her lap.
My gaze naturally drifted up toward her ample chest.
Just as I was staring blankly, Ju-yeon’s hand covered my eyes.
My tired eyes, feeling the pleasant warmth and deep darkness, began to find peace.
It seemed she wanted me to rest comfortably.
Since that was exactly what I wanted, I accepted her consideration and rested quietly.
A light silence descended, her sweet breath tickled my nose, and her hand over my eyes provided a comforting warmth.
As I soothed my weary mind and body in this perfect environment for rest, a sudden question popped into my head, and I opened my mouth.
“…Aren’t you going to ask?”
“No, I’m not.”
A firm answer came as soon as I asked.
Now I was the one who was curious.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t think I’d get a straight answer anyway.”
“……”
What a truly wise woman.
I had been wondering about that myself.
What kind of excuse I should make if she asked what had happened.
But for her to realize that beforehand and skip the question entirely…
“But don’t get the wrong idea, okay?”
“…What wrong idea?”
“Nuna is curious about everything that has to do with you, Do-jin. I want to know it all.”
In other words, she wasn’t not asking because she wasn’t curious, so I shouldn’t misunderstand.
“There’s no way I’d misunderstand like that.”
“Then I’m glad.”
As if proud of me, she stroked my head with her free hand and continued.
“I’ll hold back for now… but you have to tell me later.”
“…I will.”
A day would come when I could tell her—no, when I had to tell her.
About my true identity, and about her sister, Han Ju-hee.
It wouldn’t be that long.
I might not tell anyone else, but I had to tell Ju-yeon as soon as the disclosure prohibition on my status window was lifted.
However, there was just one thing I had to ask right now.
“Nuna.”
“Yes.”
“What if.”
“Right, what if. A hypothetical situation that won’t happen in reality.”
“Pfft… Don’t make me laugh all of a sudden.”
“Sorry. Hurry up and tell me, I’m curious.”
“So, um… what if, because of me, you had to become enemies with your family… or someone you’re very close to… what would you do?”
“Hmm… let’s see.”
Ju-yeon fell into thought with a short hum.
“That would be sad. Becoming enemies with a close friend or family.”
“Right.”
I wondered if it was a stupid question.
No matter the circumstances, wasn’t it natural to be sad about pointing a sword at your family or friends?
Then, Ju-yeon continued.
“Still, it’s better than being separated from you, Do-jin, or becoming your enemy.”
Ju-yeon’s hand, which had been covering my eyes, lifted away.
Through my vision, which squinted against the soft light, I saw her face.
With a gentle smile, unlike before, she said those words.
“Like I said before… even if I have to make an enemy of the entire world, I’m on your side, Do-jin.”
Her words held a depth of trust I couldn’t possibly fathom, and I felt both joy and bewilderment.
So I asked.
“…What is it about me that makes you trust me so much?”
At that, she smiled brightly, tapped the bridge of my nose, and answered.
“Because you’re handsome?”
“……”
Long live this filthy obsession with looks.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Three days had passed since that utterly frustrating incident.
With a little time, my heart began to calm down.
My slightly cooler head told me one thing.
In the end, what I had to do hadn’t changed.
I wanted to refute her opinion head-on.
Hexagram, a group that claimed to have the power and ability to make their empty dreams a reality.
I would shatter them and show her.
That her judgment was wrong.
That they were nothing more than dreamers chasing an empty fantasy, fools driven mad by their lust for power.
And one more thing.
I still didn’t know.
Why she claimed her current actions were for her daughter and husband.
But that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that wanting the best for someone doesn’t always have a positive outcome for them.
That a dogmatic choice can, in fact, inflict excruciating pain on the other person.
I would carve that into her mind and make her regret it.
“Is this all you’ve got?!”
To do that, I had to move forward, one step at a time.
Not just me, but everyone.
They had to become incomparably stronger than they were now and have my back.
“Fuck…!”
I hurled Shin Yu-jeong away as she charged, spewing curses.
“Hraaaah!”
I deflected the giant mass of a shield that rushed at me with a fierce roar.
“Eek…!”
I broke the stance of Son Seo-yeon, who still hadn’t completely overcome her weakness.
“Go!”
I blocked the barrage of magic she had loaded into the bubbles created by her trait, which she unleashed all at once.
And.
“Hah…!”
“Iyaah!”
I dodged the cute attacks of the newly received fledglings and pointed out their glaring weaknesses with sharp counterattacks.
About an hour later, I was the only one left standing in the training hall.
“Hah, heok…!”
“Cough, cough!”
“That monstrous… bastard…”
“He’s… so cool…♥”
The rest were all sprawled on the training ground, panting and busy cursing me.
The guild members were exhausted from the repeated high-intensity training.
If I had my way, I’d end the training here, but I couldn’t.
Because the single step taken when you’re most tired and exhausted is what fuels growth.
“After a 10-minute break, we’ll go again…”
Just as I was about to deliver the despairing news to the ones lying on the floor.
Vrrrr- Vrrrr-
The smartphone I had left on one side of the training hall vibrated loudly.
I stopped what I was saying, turned, and picked it up.
An unknown number.
Sensing something, I pressed the call button and brought the receiver to my ear.
“Hello.”
A voice came through.
-Hello, Mr. Kim Do-jin. I’m calling to deliver a message from the Saintess.
At last, the time had come.