Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Have You Seriously Lost It?
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Juyeol looked at her with an utterly fed-up expression.
Seeing his reaction, Haon, who had been hesitating, spoke firmly.
“I-It’s true. That person is dead.”
“Oh, really? What a shame I couldn’t kill her myself.”
When he replied nonchalantly, Haon pointed to the spot where ‘Eun Haon’s’ body had been.
“So, the body was right here…”
But there was nothing there. *Oops*, Haon thought, at a complete loss.
“Th-There really was a body here, I swear! A body that had been shot, but it suddenly caught fire and vanished!”
Even to her own ears, it sounded like a lie.
“Maybe it was removed with Mana Engineering?”
“The hell is Mana Engineering?”
Juyeol let out a scoff of disbelief before violently grabbing Haon by the collar.
“W-Wait, ugh—”
Lifted effortlessly by his grip, Haon’s feet dangled and flailed in the air.
Juyeol slammed Haon against the wall, his dark eyes flashing.
“You think I won’t kill you just because you have information?”
“Th-That’s not it.”
“You should know this by now. I don’t give a damn about the Hero rule that says even lives like yours are human lives.”
Choking, Haon tapped on Juyeol’s hand and arm, signaling for him to let her go.
“C-Can’t… breathe…!”
Only after tears of pain welled up and streamed down her face did Juyeol release his grip.
Haon collapsed to the floor with a thud, coughing violently. A chill ran down her spine as she warily watched him.
*‘A Hero? Is he really part of some special forces unit?’*
Even if she didn’t fully understand everything he was saying, the terrifying thought that this man who looked exactly like her best friend could actually kill her washed over her.
*‘What kind of person was the ‘Eun Haon’ of this world for him to act like this? Now that the body’s gone, he won’t believe me even if I say I’m someone else.’*
Haon wiped her wet cheeks with the sleeve of her dirty shirt and spoke cautiously.
“Can you tell me what ‘Eun Haon’ was supposed to tell you?”
*Click.*
At the sound of a gun being loaded, Haon’s face went pale, and a tear she’d been holding back trickled down.
“I-If you tell me again, I will! I’ll tell you whatever I can based on what I know!”
He cursed under his breath with a weary expression before speaking.
“She said she’d tell me about my younger brother.”
“…Don’t you not have a brother?”
At her unconscious slip, Juyeol’s expression became the coldest she had seen yet.
“Ah, no. I’m sorry. You do have a brother!”
He twirled the pistol and replied coolly.
“Of course I don’t. He died ten years ago.”
Haon clapped both hands over her mouth. A cold sweat ran down her back.
“How are you going to talk with your mouth covered? Want me to put a hole in it for you?”
Juyeol tapped the side of his own mouth with the muzzle of the gun.
A slightly raised eyebrow added a rebellious air to his sharp features.
Haon quickly lowered her hands and said with determination.
“L-Like the ‘Eun Haon’ who lived here, I’m a doctor too. If you just let me fix my phone, I’ll investigate your brother using Mana Engineering.”
“You’ve been spouting strange nonsense about Mana Engineering for a while now.”
Juyeol irritably ran a hand through his wavy hair and slammed his fist into the wall next to her.
The fist flew past her head, and Haon flinched with a yelp.
“I told you I wouldn’t let it slide if you made any more of that damn poison.”
He muttered grimly as he grabbed Haon’s collar and hauled her to her feet.
It seemed his fist had hit a button, not just the wall, as a mechanical whirring sound came from behind her.
Scrambling to get her feet back on the ground, Haon couldn’t believe her ears.
*‘There’s… no Mana Engineering here?’*
No matter how she looked at it, Juyeol didn’t seem to know what Mana Engineering was.
The energy source he called an Awakening Sphere was clearly a Mana Core. Any Mana Engineer who could sense mana would know it at a glance.
So, mana exists here, but Mana Engineering doesn’t?
“Looks like you still have room for other thoughts.”
He gave Haon a shove and let go of her collar.
Stumbling back with a cough, Haon felt her blood run cold. She could feel the floor-to-ceiling glass window behind her sliding open.
Creaking her head around, she saw the glass wall had opened wide on both sides. A gust of wind blew in, making her shoulders tense up and break out in a cold sweat.
Juyeol nudged her tense shoulder with the gun’s muzzle.
“Take your pick. How do you want your head blown off?”
“I-I don’t want it blown off. I’m really…”
Her terrified gaze darted around before landing on the dark night sky.
Haon’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open as she stared up at the sky.
“Whoa…”
The mana particles scattered in the air were consumed with use and then slowly regenerated, like falling snow.
This meant there was a limit to how much could be used by multiple people at once.
But this was a world where mana particles existed, yet there were no users.
Like a field of freshly fallen snow without a single footprint, the sky was filled to the brim with mana particles.
Here, Haon was a mage with infinite magic and an engineer with a perpetual power source.
“Juyeol. Do you think maybe I didn’t dimension-travel, but died and came to heaven?”
Haon turned her head with a dazed expression and flinched. Juyeol was staring at her, dumbfounded.
“You want to go to heaven? I can send you there.”
“Ah, no. I’m good.”
As she shook her head back and forth, he pressed a hand to his brow and let out a long sigh.
“What the hell is wrong with you? It’s not a split personality, you’re just genuinely weird.”
“It’s not a split personality! I can prove I’m really a different person!”
Seizing the opportunity, Haon tried her best to persuade Juyeol.
“Give me the Mana Core—I mean, the Awakening Sphere, and I’ll fix my phone and show you the records on it.”
“…So now. You just want the Awakening Sphere?”
He lifted his head again and strode right up to Haon’s face.
“I told you… not to mess around with this one.”
A murderous glint shone in his eyes. Haon wanted to back away, but she felt like she would fall out the window if she did.
As Haon tried to slip past him, Juyeol took another step forward, as if to push her out.
“You’re so greedy for the Awakening Sphere that you’d lie about finding my brother’s killer?”
“W-Wait a minute.”
Feeling like one more step would send her falling, Haon grabbed onto Juyeol’s arm like a lifeline.
“Hah.”
He let out a bitter laugh and ruthlessly shook off her small hand.
“……!”
Haon’s body tilted backward before she barely regained her balance. She was too shocked to even scream.
“I-I’m…”
Tears of frustration began to pour down her face.
“It’s really not me…”
Being glared at so murderously by someone with her most precious friend’s face was not only intimidating and terrifying, but also deeply sorrowful.
As she began to sob, her shoulders shaking, his face twisted into a scowl.
Haon tried to stop crying, her chin quivering with the effort, but tears still dripped down.
“Why the hell have you been bawling this whole time? It’s annoying. You used to live like you didn’t even have tear ducts.”
*It seems the ‘Eun Haon’ here wasn’t much of a crier. My nickname was Crybaby-on.*
As she thought this and wiped her tears with her sleeve…
*BOOM!*
“Aaaah!”
At the sudden sound of an explosion, Haon instinctively dropped to the ground and covered her head with her arms.
A massive explosion had occurred not far away. It was loud enough to make her ears ring.
Clutching her pounding heart, she looked back to see something hurtling toward the open window. It was a huge piece of concrete debris.
She felt the blood drain from her entire body.
“J-Juyeol!”
On trembling legs, Haon shot up and threw herself at Juyeol.
“What, you crazy—!”
But Juyeol, surprised by her unexpected action, accidentally pulled the trigger.
*BANG!*
A gunshot rang out at the same moment their bodies tangled and fell to the floor.
Silence descended upon the lab. Nothing came crashing through the open window.
The lab’s lights just flickered a few times before going out. Juyeol’s bullet had shattered the ceiling light.
He had jerked the gun away at the last second because of the terror in her eyes and her pale face.
Juyeol had no idea what was going on.
Haon was trembling, her arms wrapped protectively around Juyeol’s head.
“Wh-What the.”
As he muttered in a daze, Haon groggily pushed herself up.
“Are you okay?”
She rubbed her shoulder, which had hit the floor, while checking the glass wall.
And only then did she realize that the laser guns on the outer wall were taking care of all the debris flying their way.
“Ah.”
Embarrassed, Haon’s face flushed as she let go of him.
“I-I didn’t know it had those. Sorry.”
He pushed himself up, a look of utter confusion on his face.
As if her small frame had a separate reservoir for tears, Haon’s cheeks were still wet.
“…Damn it. I told you not to cry in front of me.”
“Still, I’m glad. That you’re not hurt. Right?”
Her hair a mess, she sniffled and gave a small smile, looking just like a scruffy hamster.
Juyeol stared at Haon with bewildered eyes.
“You…”
His expression grew more and more serious.
“Are you insane? Have you seriously lost it?”
He grabbed Haon’s shoulders with his large hands.
“You can’t be like this. You said you found out who killed my brother.”
He frowned, giving her small shoulders a gentle shake.
“You can’t do this at a time like this!”
“I-I’ll look into it!”
Her small, pale hand suddenly grasped Juyeol’s.