Chapter 85: Why is Eva-bro Here?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85: Why is Eva-bro Here?
Realizing she was telling the truth, I was at a loss for words.
Her condition was just as she'd described—terminal.
“That’s…”
Naek seemed to grasp the truth as well, her lips parting slightly before she fell silent.
Clap!
As the mood instantly grew heavy, Eva-noona clapped her hands once.
She looked at us and offered a relaxed smile.
“I told you, didn't I? I accepted this a long time ago. Don't get all gloomy, Naek, Domi. If you do, I'll feel too bad to stay.”
Damn it. Right. She's the one saying this.
If we, as outsiders, couldn't even respect her wishes, what was the point?
“Naek, raise your glass. Eva-noona, you're okay to drink, right?”
“Of course. Even if I'm on borrowed time, it's not a typical illness.”
At my words, she promptly lifted her glass.
Her cheerful act was actually more worrying, but I shook my head to clear the thought.
“Ugh, fine. If that's what Eva-unni says! Alright! Let's drink till we drop tonight!”
“Does that mean I only have one day left?”
“Please don't make such horrifying jokes!”
“Ufufu, I won't. Now, let's toast.”
The three of us immediately raised our glasses, which clinked together.
I downed the soju in one shot, set the glass down, and put a piece of meat in my mouth.
The sharp bite of the alcohol felt especially bitter today.
“So, what's the deal with Eva-bro?”
After swallowing the meat, I returned to the main topic.
I already had a vague idea of what she wanted to talk about.
“As you both can probably guess, my brother is trying to find a way to save me. No, it's more accurate to say he's been searching this whole time.”
In truth, Eva-noona's login time was much higher than Eva-bro's.
It made me wonder if Eva-bro had been logging in all this time just to level up her character in his spare moments, so his sister could enjoy the game a little more.
“Sometimes, even if you've given up, your family can't.”
I could understand Eva-bro's situation.
Eva-noona seemed to have accepted her fate long ago, but from her brother's perspective, he could never just stand by and watch.
It was just like how I was desperately trying to find my own sister.
“Exactly. And that idiot—ahem—my brother has only gotten worse recently.”
She had a surprisingly foul mouth, clearing her throat to cover up the curse.
I guess he couldn't stand by and do nothing once his sister was given a death sentence.
“The problem is that he got his hands dirty trying to save me, and he still hasn't stopped. I keep telling him to quit, but he won't even listen to me.”
She lamented as she refilled her soju glass.
“……I'd rather he just stayed with me.”
I could understand both Eva-noona's feelings and her brother's.
Eva-bro didn't want to give up on his sister, and Eva-noona didn't want her brother to suffer because of her.
“It's hard to take a side in this.”
Naek, understanding the situation, wore a conflicted expression.
“In times like these, you're supposed to just take Eva-noona's side.”
“As expected of Domi. You're quick on the uptake with things like this.”
She smiled, satisfied with my answer, before letting out a sigh.
“We ended up having a huge fight and went our separate ways. He insisted on continuing his dirty work to save me, and he wouldn't fucking listen no matter how I tried to stop him. At this rate, I'll die from the stress first.”
She ground her teeth.
Both Eva-bro and his sister were stubborn, so it seemed they couldn't find a compromise.
Of course, I didn't think I'd find it easy to compromise either.
“So that's why I came to see you two, to vent a little.”
“An excellent choice. Tell me anything. I'm Domi, the guy who'll listen to it all.”
“Ahahat, great. I'll vent to my heart's content tonight.”
Getting into the spirit, Eva-noona clinked her glass and began to tell us all sorts of stories.
Thanks to her, the two of us started pouring out our own stories, and the three of us talked, completely losing track of time.
“Hic, sob... that fucking bastard of a brother... he won't fucking listen to a word I say. Hic.”
And just like that, Eva-noona was completely drunk.
Her speech slurred as a stream of crude curses flowed from her lips.
So spirit bodies can get drunk, huh.
“Ahahak! I think you're cutest when you're cursing, Unni!”
“I'm not cute! Naek, you're the cute one.”
“Gasp! Unni, you really think I'm cute? Then should we date? We can have the love of the century.”
“Hic, I... I like men.”
“Puhaha, what a shame! I like men, too!”
What kind of conversation is this?
Naek was also quite drunk, her energy level way higher than before.
Watching them, I felt a slight buzz myself and touched my flushed face.
I knew I could circulate my aura to sober up, but I didn't feel like it.
The other two were probably enjoying the buzz for the same reason.
Still, I shouldn't drink any more.
I might end up dumping all my money into crypto again like last time.
Vmmm-
Just then, I felt my phone vibrate.
After excusing myself, I took my phone and stepped outside.
“Hello?”
[Domi-oppa! How's your get-together? Having fun?]
It was none other than Ahyu.
It seemed she had mostly wrapped things up on her end.
“It's fun. It would've been great if you were here, too. Eva-noona and Naek are completely wasted and going wild.”
[You're not doing anything pervy to them, are you?]
“Do I look like the kind of guy who would do that?”
[Heehee, you can do it to me, though!]
“Not happening.”
I shivered, feeling a slight chill in the wind that signaled the coming of autumn, and continued.
“So, how are things on your end?”
[It's almost all taken care of. But it turns out the most important guy isn't here, which is a little annoying.]
“The most important guy?”
[Asura. The one Mari-hyeong-nim took away last time.]
“Since when did she become Mari-hyeong-nim?”
[Because you asked me to marry you last time, Domi-oppa. We're married, aren't we? You're supposed to call your husband's older sister 'hyeong-nim'.]
I remembered joking about that with Ahyu back in the Academy.
I can't believe she's using it like this.
She's gotten better at arguing.
“Ahyu, you…”
I'd recently noticed that she liked me, and I was about to say something, but I stopped.
It wasn't like she had confessed first, and this was the kind of joke she always made, so there was nothing I could really say.
It's not hard to put up a wall with other people.
But with Ahyu, it wasn't easy.
Was it because we'd played together in the game for so long?
Honestly, I had no desire to put up a wall and distance myself from her.
Ahyu was one of the most precious people in my life.
Even if our relationship was forged in a game, I cherished her.
[Hm? What did you say?]
“No, nothing. The weather's getting cold, so make sure you dress warmly.”
[You think I'd catch a cold? Hehehe, but it's nice that you're worried. I'll be heading up soon, so I'll see you at home. Honey. Mwah♥]
Ahyu tossed out those words so easily before hanging up with the sound of a kiss.
She ended the call faster than usual, so she must have been busy.
“Haaah.”
If it were winter, my breath would have come out as a white cloud.
Though it wasn't winter, the sigh that escaped my lips was heavy with mixed emotions.
Feelings always seemed to make things complicated.
It was autumn.
I muttered the nonsensical phrase, like the opening line of a novel, and scoffed at myself before heading back inside the pub.
The moment I returned to our table, my body froze.
A burly, dark-clothed man was crouched next to Eva-noona.
Naek must have passed out, as she was now leaning her head against Eva-noona, fast asleep.
“Hey, who are you!”
“Hah?”
As I rushed over and shouted, his bright yellow eyes turned to me.
“And who the hell are you?”
He had a massive frame reminiscent of a tiger, and his hair was a peculiar mix of black and white.
Our eyes met for a moment, and I tilted my head, a faint memory stirring.
“Oh, ain't you the kid? The one who gave me bread.”
I remembered.
He was the man I'd found collapsed from hunger in the park and given food to.
The man who gave me the card with the word "Tiger" on it.
“Shit, why is that bastard here again!”
Just then, Baeksan, who had followed me into the pub, screamed at the sight of him.
A bad feeling shot through my mind.
Nothing good ever happened after Baeksan reacted like that.
“That's Asura, that bastard!”
The moment he said that, my body went rigid.
An S-rank returnee and a member of Girasung.
The man Ahyu and Seol-hyang were hunting as their top priority.
Asura.
Song Hyeok-seo.
He was standing right in front of me.
“Shit, Kang Ha-chan! I don't know what's going on, but that guy is dangerous! Pretend you don't know him, no matter what!”
It was already killing me just trying to control my expression.
Thanks to Baeksan, I could fire a Brain Thunder bullet powerful enough to blow away a returnee, but my opponent was an S-rank returnee.
S-rank returnees were on a completely different level.
In the time it would take me to load a Brain Thunder bullet, he could probably tear my limbs off with ease.
“Why are you here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing. The person you're holding is with me.”
“Your... party?”
Song Hyeok-seo's face twisted as he looked back and forth between me and the drunken Eva-noona.
She was so drunk she couldn't even support herself.
“Uungh…”
Just then, Eva-noona slowly lifted her head, and her eyes met Song Hyeok-seo's.
Her eyes gradually widened, and she raised a hand to pinch his cheek hard.
“You pathetic excuse for a brother!”
“Aaargh?! Has this brat lost her mind?!”
She suddenly yelled and started viciously pinching and pulling at his cheek, making him scream in pain.
Staring blankly at the scene, I heard Eva-noona say the word 'brother', and my eyes slowly widened.
“……Eva-bro?”
The moment I said that name, Song Hyeok-seo's body stiffened.
He somehow managed to pry Eva-noona off him, laid the pouting girl down on a chair, and turned to me.
“You're not... Domi, are ya?”
“If by Domi you mean Doremi Fasol, then yeah. That's me.”
“Ha, haha, what the hell! The kid who gave me bread is Domi. I had a weird feeling about you back then, but what kind of coincidence is this!”
He broke into a wide, cheerful laugh at my answer.
Seeing him laugh, I couldn't help but let out a hollow chuckle myself.
Right. What kind of coincidence was this?
The brother Eva-noona said was doing bad things to save her…
…was Asura, a member of Girasung.
And that Asura was the Eva-bro I knew.
This was more than just a coincidence; it was ridiculous.
Noticing my stare, he glanced at Eva-noona and gave an awkward laugh.
“Ah, I didn't expect to meet like this. Sorry. My sister didn't say any nonsense, did she?”
“She said a few things.”
I inwardly debated how to handle this situation.
Ahyu and Seol-hyang considered Asura, Song Hyeok-seo, a major headache.
Normally, I would have found a way to report him to them, but now that I knew why he was working for Girasung, I couldn't act so rashly.
He was someone I'd been friends with for a long time.
If he were a complete stranger, it would be different.
I'm not heartless enough to ignore the circumstances of someone I know.
Of course, I had no intention of keeping this meeting a secret from Seol-hyang or Ahyu.
But first, I want to talk to him.
Girasung had been trying to get their hands on Si-ho for a while.
And now, I understood why Song Hyeok-seo had joined them.
Eva-noona said her physical body was devoured by a dimensional rift.
Si-ho's skill as a spatial ability user was on a completely different level from others.
If so, could she possibly help with that?
And Song Hyeok-seo, knowing this, must have cooperated with Girasung to kidnap Si-ho.
If that's the case…
Maybe this really can be resolved through conversation.