Mirage
I didn’t even want to see him.
“Eh….”
I still couldn’t believe it.
Was what I was hearing really Sunwoo’s words? It felt like a line I never imagined he would say.
Especially the one I’d never once imagined coming from him.
It was so confusing I almost thought the person in front of me was a hallucination or a dream.
“Logically speaking, the guy who left because he thought our party was trash—why would he say he missed us?”
“………”
Sunwoo’s words hit me again.
At the same time, a string of memories flashed through my mind.
[Hero… S-rank party, right?]
[Can you not look at your phone?]
The time Sunwoo had looked me straight in the eyes and passed his phone around, exchanging chats.
[Ah, I deleted everything you told me to delete. So don’t worry, nothing leaked.]
[Deleted…?]
The video that was sent after I joined the Hero’s party.
Even—
[People should at least have manners between each other. No matter what, looking at your phone and doing other things during a strategy meeting isn’t exactly cool, is it?]
[I don’t care.]
Right up until the final moment I walked out.
Looking back now, these were things a normal person would never do.
“───Ugh…!”
It all came back to me.
It was embarrassing, humiliating, and furious.
“What… why would you say something like that?!”
Sea was furious.
She tried to fan the flames inside her heart.
To erase the shame, embarrassment, and humiliation she’d felt for even a moment.
“After all this time, I come back as a colleague and you say something like that? Even at the academy you said I could come whenever I wanted…!”
She lit a fire somewhere completely off-base.
By dragging up the other person’s flaws to highlight her own worthlessness.
Classic reality escape. Self-justification.
But Sea’s pride was too strong to face her own inferiority.
“Honestly hilarious. Thinking she’s some hotshot or something?”
No.
More precisely, only toward Sunwoo was her pride so intense.
Even if she had to do ahegao double peice in front of the Hero’s party.
Even if she crawled under the manager’s desk, smeared dirt on her face to keep from being seen.
Even if she wore a collar and went out to the outdoor park to peeing under the streetlights.
“I’m now part of the Hero’s party… an A-rank party that was taken by an S-rank party. I’m a mage who should be amazing…!”
It was impossible for her to lower her head even to Sunwoo.
At least not to Sunwoo.
“…Hah. Hilarious. Not some little kid anymore.”
She was that offended over nothing?
We all have to grow up and become adults.
She still hadn’t grown up, she acted cool on the outside, and only now—
After self-justification came belittling the other person.
If the person below you is wrong, it’s the superior’s tolerance to forgive.
So, to forgive the other person’s mistake and bury it with her own inferiority, she crushed the other person into the ground.
“At least when we were there it wasn’t bad, but you could still look at it… but only a year later how much it changed.”
She compacted the hollowed ground with her foot.
Of course, even if she did that, the existence she buried below it would continue to nag at her.
That’s why Sea kept repeating.
“People change. Their hearts get small too. We haven’t seen each other in a while. What’s wrong with meeting nicely? And it’s not like the Hero’s party connections are just roadside plastic bags….”
She said it was never valuable, that even a memory or beautiful treasure was buried as a shameful memory to hide her own worth.
The thing buried here was trash, and she didn’t care about it at all. She told herself that to comfort herself.
In the end, she was the one who threw away her precious treasure with her own hands, but sometimes humans want to hide their inferiority while discarding the treasure in their hands.
“…Ah, right. Thinking about it, maybe it’s all over.”
Especially if she didn’t even know how valuable that treasure was.
Her steps were lighter. The burden of shame had been discarded, so her body moved lightly.
And—
The world is truly pitiful.
“….Eh?”
Even if she poured out shit,
Even if she buried it underground,
[Instructor….Crouch! Nimhim….Sob!….Huu….Uuuuu…]
[Are you a little calmer now?]
[…Nyeh.]
[Your voice isn’t calm at all.]
“It wasn’t… that it changed…?”
The sparkle of the treasure was still beautiful to others.
…
..
.
She had buried trash in the ground.
But the trash still looked beautiful.
Then how would people react?
Some would dig the ground with dirty hands to retrieve the trash.
“Fake, changed. Right. Well, Sunwoo couldn’t stay a kid forever.”
Some would desperately deny the value.
They could never accept that the thing they discarded had that much worth.
That’s why self-justification began again. Not for someone else, but for herself. A lie.
“You thought you wouldn’t change, but now you can even do social life?”
She poked the trash with emotion.
“Ah, shut up. It’s noisy, so be quiet.”
“….Ugh..!”
Naturally, the true treasure didn’t care about anyone else’s opinion.
It only remained in its place, sparkling and showing its value.
[What kind of game do you think this will be?]
[Well. Since our skills are evenly matched, neither side is clearly better… Ah, here comes Avalon to counter! That’s judgment from the next generation of the Hero’s party!]
[Huuu… but isn’t it a little premature…?]
[As a limited resource, depleting someone else’s resource is also important. In that sense, Avalon’s response was bold and quick.]
[..........]
“Wow… I’m amazed. Just openly sucking it up.”
Then what would the person watching say?
No need to think deeply.
“It happens a lot in dungeons, right? Isn’t the one being played the idiot?”
“........”
She lumped everyone together and insulted them.
Stomped on others to prove her own righteousness.
It was the kind of thing Sea, from back then, would never have done.
But the sunflower that lost the sun had no choice but to look at the moon— no, something even less—and call it the sun.
[Eh… eeeeh…?!]
[Wait, what kind of play is this right now??]
But
Even so, everything.
[Nature, Natureee! I’m crazy! Did she predict the monster’s fall timing and pull the trigger one beat late?]
[If it had been wrong, it might have hit an ally… judging a little…]
[No. If it had hit, there were angles to hit multiple times already. Even so, no misfire is pure skill! Using skill to… AAAAA! Now Avalon steals the monster Avalon was dealing damage to! It’s scary! It’s terrifying! Damage calculation god!]
[Huuu…. thinking too hastily…]
“Kyaaahhh! Yeah! Sujin Sujin! Trying to win the game? You’re just making the opponent mad!”
“Haa…?”
The light of the treasure never went out.
[Total score is…27 : 41. After the steal started, the gap gradually widened. Absorbing others’ attacks while only using their own! Nam Sujin’s power has left Team Avalon unable to even breathe!]
“Isn’t this the real high-grade restaurant forged by the league? Last hit! Kill angle! Is this your victory plan, Sujin Nam?”
“…..Ugh.”
The more she bundled, the more fiercely she shone when she turned away.
[Listening to the field report──]
[AAAAK! Nam Sujin! I told you to go easy!]
[Ah, sorry! I happened to be a tight, heavy pig with a full udder so I couldn’t understand what people are saying!!]
[─As combat intensifies, the level of conversation often rises as well. Yes, that’s right.]
“Fuhahaha! Yeah Sujin! You play this game so amazingly!”
And when that was the end.
“……..idiot.”
She closed her eyes again.
She ignored and turned away.
“………..Ugh…!”
But even so, the emotion that rose.
The frustrated feeling.
And if there was one unfortunate thing for her,
“Th-this… AAAAAAHHH!!!”
Even if she turned away and denied it, she had faced her sun.
Two, KWAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAANG!!!
“….Fuhah…?”
She stepped away and fired a magic shot into the air as stress relief.
*********
[Name: Lee Sea] [Potential: A(B)(feature applied)]
[Feature: Sunflower Wish]
[Growth bonus (small) and potential enhancement (large) when with specific targets]
[Current target: Kim Sunwoo]
*********
“….Aah!”
The explosion larger than usual and more flashy left Sea blankly staring at the sky.
“Ahah… ahahaha!”
Yeah.
I’m not dead yet.
My condition was just a little bad lately, right?
‘No, even more than the real me…!’
Stronger power than before. Explosive force.
The thing I could never unleash while staying in the NTR Party now appeared in my hands.
Sea clenched her hands tightly and was satisfied with her current power.
“Just watch… I’ll definitely make you regret it!”
Without realizing it was just a midday mirage,
Sea raised her confidence and self-esteem again and headed toward Sunwoo.
---