Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: An Empty Space
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Ever since losing her Mana Engineering, Haon couldn't sleep deeply even with Juyeol beside her. She awoke in the dim light of dawn.
Her shoulders and back were stiff, as if she'd slept curled up in a ball.
Tossing and turning under the covers, her hand brushed against her phone.
“…”
Haon clutched the phone to her chest and turned over.
Through heavy eyelids, swollen from crying herself to sleep, she saw Juyeol's face, turned toward her as he slept.
Usually, his sharp features and subtly unsettling aura could make him look a little delinquent.
But with his eyes closed in peaceful sleep, it was hard to believe this was a man with a foul mouth and a fiery temper.
He really just looked like Juyeol.
‘…I'm not even having nightmares with Juyeol next to me.’
The fear of not being able to go home. The fear of this dimension falling completely into Bae Anjae's hands. The fear of never being able to use Mana Engineering again.
There was no shortage of things to be afraid of, yet she had no nightmares.
She almost wished she had.
Having lost her Mana Engineering, she'd also lost her home, and she was afraid she wouldn't even be able to see it in her dreams.
As the vast sense of emptiness grew clearer, Haon wriggled closer to Juyeol.
Hero Headquarters must be in chaos because of Two-Shot and Bae Anjae. She wondered if she'd needlessly made him come to the Old District when she couldn't even help.
But through it all, Juyeol still came to see her without fail, staying by her side.
‘…My kind Juyeol. My sweet hero.’
Haon knew he was paying close attention to her.
That he was trying his best to treat her as if nothing had happened, just like always.
“Take this chance to get some rest.”
“You've already saved your own world. You've done more than enough.”
Musing over Juyeol's warm words, Haon pulled the blanket up over her head.
She understood his words with her head, but in her heart, she still felt useless.
A different kind of helplessness than what she'd felt during the war consumed her.
Being unable to use Mana Engineering now was, for Haon, the same as being robbed of the very chance to save people.
Drowning in loneliness under the cozy blanket, Haon gently took Juyeol's hand.
In his sleep, he squeezed her hand back and mumbled, "It's okay."
Hearing that, Haon stared at him blankly, her expression crumbling as if she were about to cry, and slowly closed her eyes.
‘If I can't go home, living like this with Juyeol… maybe that wouldn't be so bad…’
The warm light from the side lamp flickered gently over their blanket.
The layered shadows it created deepened behind Haon's back.
In the corner of the bedroom untouched by the light, only a cold darkness piled up, layer by layer.
* * *
The next day.
On his way to headquarters, Juyeol insisted on seating Haon at the first-floor café, despite her protests that she was fine.
Haon, who just wanted to stay buried in her blankets or on the sofa and do nothing, tried to return to the penthouse several times, but each time, the force of Juyeol's hand on her shoulder pushed her back down.
“Geez. I'm just going to go back up after you leave anyway.”
“Go ahead, if you plan on leaving your guest here alone.”
“I didn't invite anyone.”
When Haon tilted her head in confusion, Juyeol's gaze shifted toward the lab's entrance.
“Darling!”
Just then, Nova entered the café, his long, white braided hair fluttering behind him.
“Nova? How did you get here…?”
Haon looked up at Juyeol, bewildered, but he only glared at Nova with disapproval.
“Don't try any funny business.”
“Darling. Why haven't you visited the Old District?”
Nova didn't even glance at Juyeol and tried to sit next to Haon.
“I told you, no funny business.”
But Juyeol blocked his path, pushing him toward the sofa on the opposite side.
Finally letting out a scoff, Nova turned his head to Juyeol and asked in a tone of disbelief.
“You want to pick a fight with *me* of all people?”
“Why not?”
Their gazes clashed sharply.
“Are you getting competitive just because my darling is watching?”
Nova grabbed Juyeol's shoulder firmly, tensing his body to shove him hard.
In response, Juyeol slipped his hands under Nova's armpits and lifted him clean off the ground.
“…?”
As his feet left the floor, Nova froze as if he'd malfunctioned.
Then, with a strange, increasingly confused expression, he went limp like a cat, all the strength draining from his body. He seemed unable to comprehend the situation.
“Do you even weigh 80 kilos? You're pretty light.”
Juyeol then tossed Nova onto the opposite sofa.
“…?”
Nova lay sprawled haphazardly on the sofa, still looking dazed.
“What are you so surprised about? Having super strength doesn't mean you're heavy.”
Juyeol's indifferent remark was a scientific fact, but Haon was still taken aback.
To think that Nova, who was strong enough to punch through a concrete floor with his bare hands to find an underground tunnel, could be lifted so easily.
“N-Nova. Are you okay?”
Even when Haon called out in concern, Nova's face was just a canvas of question marks.
“Leave him. If he tries anything, use these.”
Juyeol said nonchalantly, handing Haon a can of pepper spray and a taser.
“You want me to use these on Nova?”
“Don't know how?”
“I know how, but…”
“Then you're set. That bastard heals fast, so don't hesitate to zap him.”
Only then did Juyeol seem relieved, leaving the lab with a much more relaxed expression.
Haon stared blankly at the pepper spray and taser in her hands before setting them down on the nearby table.
Nova was slowly gathering his scattered wits.
He kept rubbing his face, as if ashamed of having been dangled so easily in Juyeol's hands.
‘I think Juyeol called Nova because he was worried about leaving me alone. But why did Nova come?’
A sudden curiosity struck Haon, and she tried to recall why Nova was helping her.
‘At first, he asked me to make him a weapon, and after that, he wanted a weapon, and after that…’
The ever-consistent Nova had stopped pestering her for weapons ever since he'd said the loss of 'Eun Haon' had finally sunk in.
When they went to rescue Bani from Cue. When they took over Districts 2 and 4 and fought Bae Anjae.
He hadn't demanded she make him anything.
‘Then why is he with me?’
Haon looked at Nova, who was managing three districts in the Old District in her stead now that she couldn't use Mana Engineering, and wondered.
‘Does he really not want anything from me? Juyeol, Chacha, and Bani are my friends, but what is Nova?’
She kept asking herself but couldn't find an answer, so she asked Nova indirectly.
“Nova. What are we?”
Nova, who had just managed to pull himself together, snapped his head up, looking dazed.
“What?”
“Did you come today to say you're leaving the gang?”
“…What?”
“I can't use Mana Engineering anymore, so I can't do anything.”
Haon continued hesitantly, her confidence shattered.
“I feel bad that I can't do anything for you anymore. If I'd known this would happen, I would've made you something.”
“Darling. Could you stop? You're making me feel like trash. Are you trying to make me feel guilty?”
“N-no, that's not it… It's just that you've been consistently asking me to make you a weapon since we first met.”
Looking at Haon's dejected state, as if she might dig a hole and disappear into it at any moment, Nova realized something.
“…So this is why Ghost called me.”
Juyeol must have figured that if he left Haon alone like this, she'd be trapped in an inescapable depression.
“Do you have any idea how easy it is to prey on someone who's weakened like you?”
“Are you telling me to watch out for scams?”
“Hah, that's rich. If I were my old self, by now I would've… But I don't want to do that to you anymore.”
Muttering to himself, Nova stood up, flipping his braid over his shoulder.
“Wait here. There's something you absolutely have to try.”
He left the lab with those words, and when he returned, he was carrying a wooden crate.
“What do I have to do that requires something like that?”
In response to Haon's bewildered question, Nova triumphantly opened the crate.
“Drinking to your heart's content and getting drunk.”
“H-how am I supposed to drink all this!”
Haon's face was a mask of horror, but Nova paid her no mind.
“Don't worry about that. Just start drinking.”
He simply pulled the cork out with his bare hands and smiled brightly.
* * *
That evening, in the Old District.
Juyeol, who had been moving through the shadows, stopped just before reaching the entrance to District 3.
‘Just as I thought, surveillance is looser here. The engineering team probably checked this area, but…’
He approached the entrance to District 3 from outside the Old District, rather than from the path connected to District 2.
Unlike the paths connecting to the other districts, there were no mechanical mantises here.
On top of that, Two-Shot was apparently throwing another party today, and fireworks were currently going off in the direction of District 5.
Two-Shot and his men would all be gathered over there.
There was no telling how long Two-Shot would be obsessed with partying, so now was the time to infiltrate District 3.
‘Is Bae Anjae at Two-Shot's base, too?’
Juyeol hadn't come all this way alone just to take care of Bae Anjae.
‘If I'm going to find a way to restore Haon's powers, or even just a hint, I have to find where that bastard is first.’