Chapter 159: Skewer (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 159: Skewer (3)
I opened my eyes.
“Whoa… what is this?”
I felt incredible.
It was less like I’d slept and more like I’d undergone some kind of restorative therapy.
I had slept deeply for the first time in a very long while.
The state-of-the-art air conditioning in the penthouse always maintained the optimal temperature, providing a pleasant coolness.
But unfortunately, a chill would inevitably set in around dawn.
I usually woke up the moment I felt that chill.
Then I’d either turn off the AC or pull the covers up tighter.
But today was different.
Rustle.
In her sleep, Yoon Chae-ha had turned toward my chilled body.
Then, she naturally pulled me into an embrace, snuggling into my arms.
Her body was the complete opposite of mine—incredibly warm.
She radiated a pleasant heat, like a sturdy little furnace.
Her warmth seeped through my thin pajamas, perfectly neutralizing the cool air from the AC.
So this is what they mean by the harmony of yin and yang.
In any case, I slept comfortably.
I got up and headed for the shower.
Since there was only one bathroom for the two of us, I figured I, being the quicker one, should wash up first.
When I came out of the shower…
“Uungh…”
It seemed Yoon Chae-ha was just waking up.
I gently stroked her hair once before getting up.
“Wake up. We have to go to school.”
“I don’t wanna gooo…”
Yoon Chae-ha burrowed deeper into the blankets, whining like a child.
Normally, I would have been a bit blunt and said something like, ‘You can sleep in. I’m going.’
But her admirable words from last night had earned her a pass.
I chuckled and sat down by her head.
I whispered, like a gentle parent waking their child.
“Let’s get up, have breakfast, and then go to school. Is there anything you want to eat?”
At my words, the fidgeting under the covers stopped.
I continued to stroke her hair gently.
In response, the blanket stirred slightly, and through the gap, a messy mop of orange hair and a pair of sleepy eyes peeked out at me.
She pushed herself up, emerging from the covers like a hermit crab leaving its shell.
Then she mumbled quietly.
“Toast… make me toast…”
I burst out laughing again at the sight.
“Alright. Wash up and come out when you’re ready, okay?”
After telling her that, I left the master bedroom and headed to the living room.
Clatter, clatter.
In the spacious kitchen, I expertly took out the ingredients and began whisking eggs in a bowl.
Then, I used the remote to turn on the morning news.
An anchor’s voice flowed from the hologram screen.
[—And for our next story… the New York Stock Exchange closed with a slight decline overnight….]
I listened to the news absently as I put bread in the toaster.
It was the best way to catch up on world events while preparing breakfast.
[Meanwhile, in international news. An unidentified mana eruption was recently detected in China’s Guangdong Province. The local Guild Alliance stated that this mana wavelength….]
I paused the hand that was whisking the eggs.
Guangdong?
[—…is very similar to the wavelength detected just before the large-scale attack on Shanghai, and they have stated they are remaining on high alert.]
Clink.
I set down the chopsticks I was holding.
I stood frozen in place, focusing completely on the news.
On the screen, anchors and experts with grave expressions were spouting predictions.
“Guangdong…”
There was nothing inherently wrong with the Guangdong region itself.
From a strategic perspective, there was no reason for the Evil God’s forces to strike there directly.
Therefore, it was an area that wouldn’t pose a major problem even if it were attacked.
However, the problem was its geographical location… and the timing.
Just a short distance north of Guangdong Province was Hunan Province.
And sleeping there was Yu Hana’s Fragment of Order.
On top of that, the incident at the Vatican had made the Evil God clearly aware of the fragments’ existence.
There were too many unsettling factors to simply dismiss it.
“What… should I do about this?”
A mana eruption meant there was a greater than seventy percent chance of a Mine attack in the near future.
That said, I couldn’t just fly to Guangdong and stand by 24/7 because of it.
Not every mana eruption led to an attack, and more importantly, I was just a student.
It would be ridiculous for me to get involved in another country’s crisis without an official dispatch.
At that moment, a face popped into my head.
‘Kang A-rin.’
I didn’t need to solve this problem myself.
The person who practically ran South Korea’s top guild was right by my side.
It might be seen as overstepping my authority…
But considering it was for the greater good of the world, it seemed acceptable.
If an official investigation was difficult, I could just use her information network.
I came to a decision.
And at that very moment.
“Haaam…”
With a sleepy yawn, Yoon Chae-ha emerged from the bathroom.
Doesn’t washing your face with water usually wake you up a bit…?
Well, for now.
“Sit.”
Let’s feed her first and think later.
*
“I really can’t do this.”
Right in the middle of Unit Activity Class.
Thud.
In front of me, Yoon Sang-hyeok collapsed onto the floor, spread-eagled, his face completely drained of color.
The sword that fell from his hand clattered as it rolled across the ground.
And it wasn’t just Yoon Sang-hyeok.
Every student, except for me and the two beside me, was gasping for air.
The difficulty of most 2nd Semester classes had skyrocketed to a level incomparable to the 1st Semester.
Sitting on a hologram chair floating above the platform, Instructor Park Chang-myung looked down on us dispassionately.
“Those who passed may leave the training ground immediately. That concludes today’s class.”
His cold voice echoed to the team through our watches.
Fortunately, our group had just passed, so we were in a slightly better position.
And with that, the hellish training was over.
I brushed off my sweat-soaked shirt and walked out of the training ground.
“I have so much to do after class…”
I don’t know if I’ll have the energy for any of it.
I sat down at the entrance of the practical training ground and checked the status of the other groups on a hologram screen.
“……”
What’s this?
In this group composition, I had been separated from all the other kids.
However, Yoon Chae-ha, Cheon Yeo-wool, Yu Hana, and Kang A-rin were, in theory, ‘outliers.’
In other words, they were students whose skills far surpassed the average.
Therefore, no matter how the teams were formed, they should have been able to showcase their overwhelming talent by carrying their teams.
But… the situation unfolding before my eyes was a little different.
Of course, it didn’t matter at all to Yu Hana and Kang A-rin.
On the screen for Group 3, where Yu Hana was, she was single-handedly plowing ahead, regardless of whether her teammates were struggling behind her.
It was the same for Group 1, with Kang A-rin.
Rather than fighting directly, she acted as a leader, giving her teammates precise and cold-headed instructions to clear the mock dungeon via the most efficient route.
Both of them, though their methods differed, were moving like the outliers they were.
But Cheon Yeo-wool and Yoon Chae-ha were different.
I pulled up the screen for Group 5, Yoon Chae-ha’s team.
Her team was struggling against a horde of Goblins, on the verge of failure.
But Yoon Chae-ha was crouched in a corner of the cave, in the camera’s blind spot, timidly doing nothing.
Well, she was doing something, but it felt like she wasn’t actively participating.
And then there was Cheon Yeo-wool’s Group 8.
That was even worse.
Throughout the entire run, she was openly clashing with her teammates, setting herself against them.
Whenever the team leader gave an order, she would scoff and ignore it.
Of course, if Cheon Yeo-wool had taken charge herself, she could have cleared out a mere orc settlement like this in under five minutes.
But unfortunately, her teammates’ personalities weren’t docile enough to accept her despotism.
In this case, she’d just gotten unlucky.
However.
Yoon Chae-ha and Cheon Yeo-wool. The commonality between them was clear.
“Don’t tell me they…”
Can they not function in a team without me?
“……”
Cheon Yeo-wool doesn’t listen to anyone’s orders but mine.
Yoon Chae-ha doesn’t even know what to do if I’m not there. She wasn’t always like this; she used to be a bit bratty, sure, but she was a bold and confident type.
Could it be that I made them this way?
Group 5 and Group 8, eliminated!
An announcement heralding the two groups’ elimination rang out.
I got up from my seat in the viewing area and headed toward the training ground exit where they would emerge.
With a hiss of air, the door opened.
Pshhhhhhh.
“Ugh, seriously… haaah…”
Cheon Yeo-wool’s teammates stormed past me, fuming.
Following behind them, she walked out with a thoroughly annoyed look on her face.
Next, Yoon Chae-ha’s group came out. Yoon Chae-ha just walked hesitantly with her head hung low.
And then, both of them met my eyes.
The sullen expression on Cheon Yeo-wool’s face vanished as if it had never been there, replaced by a radiant smile.
The listless, dejected look on Yoon Chae-ha’s face was replaced by a vitality that seemed to encompass the entire world.
“Hae-in!”
As if on cue, they both rushed toward me at the same time.
“……”
Watching them, I finally realized.
Ah, this.
This might just be my fault.