Chapter 139
[The World Tree sapling felt some rather unpleasant stares.]
People were glaring at me.
Just like Saessak had sensed, every one of them had gone chilly-faced.
Their eyes were as cold as the atmosphere around us.
I figured the same thought had probably flashed through all their heads.
What the hell did that bastard just say?
They were definitely muttering something like that to themselves.
Well, whatever.
People’s disapproving looks didn’t affect me one bit.
Only...
I hadn’t expected even Do-hee and Tae-cheon to look at me that way.
“...Right.”
Clap.
Han Jin-hwan clapped his hands to pull everyone’s attention back.
Just as he intended, everyone who had been staring at me turned to him instead.
I looked at him too.
He’d gone back to normal from the state where he’d been spewing lightning.
His clothes had too.
What I’d thought had been completely burned away by the lightning had returned to its original state.
Come to think of it, Smirnov’s clothes hadn’t torn when he transformed into a giant either.
When his body grew huge, his clothes must have grown with it.
They had probably been made from materials that could handle that without issue.
Honestly, that made sense.
If your clothes ripped every time you turned into a giant and you had to keep getting new ones, that would be the dumbest thing imaginable.
Maybe Yu Jae-i would enjoy hearing about that.
“Let’s all wrap things up and get back to what we were doing.”
“...Is that really okay?”
Kim Tae-seok raised a hand and asked.
His eyes kept darting toward Smirnov.
He’d felt awe and fear after seeing the overwhelming force Smirnov had shown earlier.
He wasn’t the only one.
The others around us were feeling it too.
People kept sneaking glances at Smirnov.
Maybe to shake off that feeling?
Han Jin-hwan exaggerated a shrug as he looked around.
“It’s fine. Completely fine.”
“But...”
“It’s fine, right? For us?”
Han Jin-hwan tossed the question out all of a sudden.
Smirnov, the one being asked, didn’t answer. He only looked at Tae-cheon.
Tae-cheon didn’t look away either.
Their gazes stayed locked for a long time.
About five seconds?
Right around then, they both looked away at the same time.
Smirnov nodded and said, “A trivial... incident.”
He admitted it far more readily than I expected.
Then, as if there was nothing more to say and nothing more to do, he turned and left without a second thought.
Was that really the same guy who’d just been exploding with emotion a moment ago?
The man beside him hurried after him.
Han Jin-hwan watched Smirnov’s back and then turned back to the rest of us with the corners of his mouth lifted.
“There you have it.”
“Still, we’ll have to file a report.”
“Of course. You can handle the report, right?”
“...Yes, of course I’ll do it.”
Kim Tae-seok answered weakly.
Maybe because he looked exhausted, the mole on his face seemed even more prominent than usual.
He rubbed his face once as if trying to shove the troublesome thing back in, then shouted, “Phew... All right, you heard him. Let’s go!”
The Korean researchers left with him.
After that, the other S-class Hunters returned to their own base camps.
Li Lianzhe left with a rather sour expression, looking as though he still found the whole situation deeply unsatisfying.
He probably wanted to do something to Smirnov.
China and Russia weren’t exactly on good terms right now because of their territorial dispute.
If Smirnov were gone, China would have been able to pressure Russia by force.
Gwicin and Aladin Miller came over to greet me before they left.
Miller looked like she wanted to greet Do-hee too, but...
Do-hee was busy treating Tae-cheon and had no spare attention for anything else.
Last of all, Han Jin-hwan gave me a single nod before taking his leave.
That left only the four of us.
“You okay...?”
I walked over to Tae-cheon and asked.
His right arm was swollen to the point of looking grotesque.
The forearm bone was clearly broken.
He’d stopped Smirnov’s foot when it had enlarged to at least fifty meters tall.
It would have been stranger if he’d come out of that unharmed.
“Looks like it. Broke, I guess.”
Tae-cheon answered as if it were no big deal.
That seemed to irritate Do-hee, because she snapped, “It wasn’t just broken. It was shattered.”
“That still means it was broken.”
“Exactly.”
Tae-cheon and I tilted our heads.
A broken bone was an injury that could be healed in an instant.
It wasn’t the kind of injury that would make Do-hee sweat while treating it.
“The problem is that you were forcing mana through it in that state.”
“Ah.”
“......”
So his forearm bones had been reduced to powder, and he’d still forced mana through them?
Yeah, that was definitely a problem.
Tae-cheon’s forearm bones must have been ground to dust, like they’d been put through a mortar and pestle.
Still.
Even so.
If it was Do-hee, she could fix it quickly.
The nickname White Saint hadn’t been given to Do-hee for nothing.
She was called a saint because she could heal injuries like that with ease.
“Hmm...”
And yet Do-hee was taking a long time treating Tae-cheon.
There were only two possible reasons I could think of.
Either Smirnov had attacked with some kind of skill that interfered with healing.
Or it had something to do with that strange, black sphere of mana I’d sensed from Tae-cheon.
That black sphere...
I had never once seen Tae-cheon use anything like it.
What exactly was it?
Why hadn’t he said he could use a skill like that?
Was he hiding his power on purpose?
Why would he...?
For a guy who loved showing off, he sure was acting strange.
I looked at Tae-cheon, puzzled.
“Huh...?”
Tae-cheon was staring at me with half-lidded eyes.
What was that face, a mudskipper or something?
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Ah. I don’t know, I just feel like there’s a river between you and me.”
A river?
What the hell was he talking about all of a sudden?
“A river?”
“Just now.”
“Just now?”
“Yeah. That calm attitude of yours. You were watching like someone standing on the far bank, looking at a fire on the other side.”
“Oh. That?”
“Ha!”
Tae-cheon let out a dry laugh.
He kept talking while staring at me with those mudskipper eyes.
Maybe because he was handsome even with his eyes open like that.
It somehow pissed me off.
“Seriously. Are you even my friend? You couldn’t even run over and stand beside me. You just stayed back and watched?”
“I’m trying to say something and you’re still being an idiot.”
“What?”
“I didn’t stand beside you because I’m your friend.”
“What the hell are you on about?”
Tae-cheon frowned.
He looked like he had no idea what I was talking about.
Do-hee, who was healing him, also gave me a sideways glance.
She looked as if she was wondering what on earth I was talking about.
[The sapling does not understand the Manager’s words.]
[It requests an explanation.]
Damn.
Even Saessak didn’t get it?
“Tae-cheon. There are exactly two people in this world I trust.”
“I know. Do-hee and me.”
“Right. And I trusted you without a shred of doubt.”
“...What, you believed I wouldn’t lose to Smirnov?”
Tae-cheon scratched the back of his neck, looking a little sheepish.
Look at this guy.
What was he even saying?
“What nonsense is this, you handsome mudskipper?”
“Huh? That’s not what you meant...?”
“You’ve got a broken right arm from blocking one attack. Did you really think that was something to brag about?”
“......”
“If that Russian bastard had kept hammering you, do you really think you could’ve held out?”
“......”
Tae-cheon shut his mouth.
His lips twitched as if he wanted to argue, but...
He didn’t.
I went on.
“Why do you think Smirnov attacked you? I thought about it. He wasn’t some lunatic, so he wouldn’t have attacked for no reason.”
“So?”
“And then the answer hit me.”
“You figured it out?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m curious. How’d you figure it out from just standing there and watching?”
“The answer is that Lee Tae-cheon must have said something weird to Smirnov.”
“......What?”
Tae-cheon’s eyes went wide and round.
He looked flustered, his mouth opening slightly.
“Am I wrong? You must’ve kept picking at Smirnov’s temper, right?”
“So that ‘I trusted you without a shred of doubt’ part...”
“I absolutely believed you were the one who picked a fight first. Without question. I never doubted it for a second.”
“......”
“If I’d stood beside you as your friend and started throwing a fit too, the whole thing would’ve blown up even more.”
“Huuuh...? No, you bastard. Smirnov just suddenly got angry!”
Tae-cheon let out a long sigh.
Thwack.
He hit his own forehead, looking genuinely wronged.
If it were just me, I might have even wondered, Wait, did he really say that?
[The sapling felt sincerity from the human before its eyes.]
Like Saessak.
No, Saessak.
That guy only thinks that because he doesn’t realize what he did wrong.
Tae-cheon definitely said something.
I believe it.
“Hey. Does that make any sense? What kind of guy gets mad for no reason all of a sudden?”
“It happened, I’m telling you!”
“You should just tell the truth. It’s not like I don’t know you. You probably missed the mood again. What, you’re better than me? Better my ass.”
“Ah, seriously, I’m not lying!”
“Yeah, and I’m sure you’re not. I’m certain it was your fault, and I’m also sure you’re the only one who doesn’t know it.”
“Damn it. This is so unfair. Do-hee, you believe me, right?”
Tae-cheon snapped his head around and asked Do-hee.
Do-hee gave him a gentle smile and said, “Of course. I trust you, Brother.”
“See! Do-hee says she trusts me, so—huh...?”
“......”
“...Huh? Wait. By trust, you mean you trust what I’m saying, right, Do-hee...?”
Tae-cheon asked with a stupid expression.
Do-hee, who’d been smiling so kindly a moment ago,
smack!
slapped his right arm instead of answering.
Seeing her hit the arm that had supposedly been crushed into powder so casually meant the treatment was clearly finished.
“Yep. Treatment’s done. As long as you don’t force mana through it too hard, you’ll be fine.”
“Wait, Do-hee? What about my question?”
“Oh, honestly. I said I trust you, didn’t I?”
“......”
Lee Tae-cheon was absolutely capable of that.
That was what we Baek siblings believed.
No, not just believed.
We had no doubt at all.
Lee Tae-cheon is my friend, Baek Do-woon...!
“Ha... Damn it, it really is unfair. Where am I supposed to vent this?”
Tae-cheon dropped his head.
Whether he moaned about it or not, Do-hee looked at me.
“But what’s that?”
Her gaze fell on my right arm.
The shield made from the pinecone of the previous World Tree.
A shield disguised to look like a black tortoise shell so I could keep its identity hidden.
Mendax Testudo.
“Oh, right. I forgot. This is your present, Tae-cheon.”
“Huh? My present?”
Tae-cheon immediately shot his head up.
That face of his lit up the second he heard the word present.
What is with this guy?
He’d just been going on about how unfair everything was, and now look at him...
Was this simple-minded bastard really the master of an A-rank guild?
Thinking that, I held out Mente to him.
“You lost the weapon you were using when you fought Kim Mu-yeon because of me, right? Consider this a replacement.”
“O-oh...!”
“There’s a tag on the side with the shield’s name and description written on it, so read it when you get a chance.”
Tae-cheon ripped off the tag attached to Mente.
But instead of reading it, he stuffed it straight into his pants pocket.
The slightly blank look on his face made it obvious he had no intention of reading it.
Lee Tae-cheon, as expected.
There was no chance he’d read the manual.
“Read it, would you...?”
“Heh heh...”
But it seemed my voice wasn’t reaching his ears.
He rubbed Mente back and forth and laughed like an idiot.
Seeing how happy he was, I did feel pretty pleased as the one who gave it to him...
But maybe he liked it too much?
It was a little frightening, like his mind had regressed to that of a child.
“I thought maybe we’d all be surprised together, but... well, I’m glad he likes it.”
“I guess...”
Huh?
Do-hee’s agreeing voice sounded a little dark.
When I looked over, she was staring at Tae-cheon with what looked like envy.
Damn it...
“Ah...”
I’d been short-sighted.
I should’ve gotten something for Do-hee too...
I’d only been thinking about how Tae-cheon had lost his shield and needed something to replace it. I hadn’t thought about giving her something to thank her for helping him.
If I’d given it to her too, she would’ve been happy as well...
[The sapling waves its branch at the Manager.]
Saessak?
Why are you waving a branch around?
[It is a warm gesture in the hope that the Manager’s foolishness will be carried away.]
My foolishness?
Where did you even learn a word like that...?
[The sapling says it learned it from the Manager, of course.]
Well, fair enough.
Still...
I suppose I had to admit I hadn’t been very wise.
Sorry, Do-hee.
Next time, I’ll make sure I get something for you too...
I made the promise while looking at Do-hee, whose shoulders had drooped in disappointment.
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