Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Checker's Change
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A fruit basket, a decorative dagger, a fancy dress, and more were lined up on the laboratory floor.
They were all gifts from the bosses of the Old Town.
'Why would they send me something like this?'
Haon pondered it, but she couldn't come up with any reason.
She hadn't participated in the illegal auction held after the private exhibition, so there was no reason for her to have met them.
'Are they doing this because they think I've regained my memories and come to my senses by now?'
The people she met at the exhibition had been eager to commission her as soon as 'Eun Haon' got her act together.
But nothing had happened to make them believe 'Eun Haon' was back to her old self.
“Bani. Did the Old Town bosses ever send me gifts before?”
“Sometimes? It's their way of buttering you up, hoping you'll move their commission to the front of the line for a little extra cash.”
It was a plausible reason. Weaver had also asked if she could place an order, even if it meant paying a premium.
It seemed these gifts were for the same purpose.
'I'm still not going to make anything for them, though.'
Haon wondered if she should return everything, then her eyes fell on the luscious fruits in the basket.
'…Do I really have to give them back? Can't I just buy them? I want to pack some for dessert tomorrow.'
And so, she thought as she casually picked up a mango and a dragon fruit.
'I should make them something useful instead of a weapon and send it over. Like an angry cat-shaped humidifier.'
“By the way, sis. What's going on between you and Ghost?”
“Huh?”
Haon turned to Bani at the sudden question.
Bani, who had been admiring the gifts, had now turned her curiosity toward her.
“Well. You keep coming back in the morning after I've gone home, and it doesn't seem like you're going to see Nova.”
“I have been seeing Juyeol, but we're just friends.”
“Friends? That's weird. Since when were you friends with a Hero?”
Bani replied doubtfully, recalling the rare moments the two had been together.
Eun Haon slashing Ghost's arm with a knife.
Ghost shooting Eun Haon in the leg.
Eun Haon throwing a sticky bomb at Ghost's bike.
Ghost ramming his bike into Eun Haon's supercar.
'Hmm...'
Bani hummed. Racking her brain, she couldn't recall a single romantic spark between Eun Haon and Ghost.
Still, she didn't completely believe Haon. You never knew with people, right?
Even Chacha had once shown up with a man tucked under her arm the day after swearing she'd kill him.
No matter how much Haon had changed, it was impossible to imagine her sharing a friendship with a Hero.
It would be more believable if she'd broken up with Nova, a Villain, and started seeing a Hero.
Besides, if you forgot the past and only considered recent events, things didn't seem so bad.
Ghost had been welcomed into the lab, a place even Nova couldn't enter.
He was even allowed on the other floors where Bani wasn't.
And when the two of them came down to the cafe after being in the lab together, they hadn't tried to kill each other.
“I still don't think you're just friends...”
Haon vaguely sensed Bani's misunderstanding but decided to let it be.
Besides the fact that they were indeed friends, she had nothing else to say to clarify, and more importantly, she had other things to do.
Putting the fruit down, Haon grabbed her bag and spoke.
“I have to go. If anyone asks for me, tell them I'll be busy for a while.”
She left the lab, leaving behind a Bani who looked like she had a million more questions.
'I wasted an Awakening Sphere due to a miscalculation, so I really hope I can find one today.'
Even for a genius like Haon, building a Dimension Gate for the first time was bound to involve trial and error.
The mana would become unstable with even a nanogram-level error, so there was much to calculate and even more to be careful about.
* * *
The moment Haon arrived at a small green space in the Central District, she was overcome with a sense of foreboding.
The ground was dug up and overturned everywhere.
“Blue. Check the Awakening Sphere's location.”
[Searching for the Awakening Sphere!]
Blue chirped as it spread its blue mana wide, scanning the green space.
[Haon. I can't find the Awakening Sphere. There are no spheres detected.]
“Again?”
Haon let out a disappointed sigh, her face falling. She'd lost count of how many times this had happened.
It seemed Hero Headquarters was really combing the area for Awakening Spheres; these days, finding one every two days was considered a success.
'I thought I could finish the Dimension Gate within three months. But at this rate of material gathering... I can't ask Juyeol about it either. This is so frustrating.'
She poked at the dug-up soil with the tip of her shoe before swallowing her disappointment and heading to the next location.
After a thirty-minute drive, she arrived at a place where, thankfully, an Awakening Sphere remained.
“Blue. We need to dig up the Awakening Sphere.”
Reacting to Haon's voice, her phone launched the app.
Blue mana flowed out of the phone, forming into the shape of an excavator, which then plunged deep into the ground before lifting back up.
In one motion, the earth was overturned, revealing a brilliantly glowing Awakening Sphere.
“Finally...!”
Haon tucked the sphere away, her face flushed with excitement. It was the first one she'd found in three days.
Its job done, the excavator faded away.
“Blue. Are there any empty energy extractors right now?”
[Extractor number 4 is scheduled to complete its extraction in two hours!]
'I'll go back to the lab, work on the Dimension Gate's design, and then load the Awakening Sphere I just found into the extractor.'
Feeling pleased with her perfect plan, she was about to head to the parking lot when Blue issued an urgent warning.
[Haon! One individual with a firearm is approaching from the right!]
No sooner had Haon turned to her right than a gunshot, *tang*, rang out.
“...!”
The bullet, aimed at her chest, struck her mana shield and fell harmlessly to the ground.
Haon, who had held her breath in shock, gasped for air and spotted a villain with a murderous look in his eyes.
“Ch-Checker?”
He looked different than before, so it took her a moment to recognize him.
Checker's lower face was covered not in human skin, but in metal.
“Dr. Eun.”
Checker approached with a cruel smile.
“My nose and jaw were shattered because of you.”
“Y-Your jaw was Nova's doing!”
She cried out, aggrieved, but Checker was already seeing red.
“But I won't be as stupid as I was back then.”
“I don't want to fight!”
“You won't have to if you die here.”
Flicking open a balisong knife with a *click*, he darted his eyes around erratically, sweat dripping from his brow. He looked like he was in pain.
His murderous intent was too palpable to show him any mercy, and he didn't seem sane enough to reason with.
“I said I don't want to fight.”
Haon fired the mana bullet she had been gathering in her phone with a *thwump*.
The blue mana bullet shot straight toward his solar plexus.
But Checker swerved at an unnatural speed.
“...Huh?”
Before she could process what she had just seen, Checker closed the distance in a flash.
“Die!”
*Thwack!*
The moment the sharp blade collided with her shield, Haon fired another mana bullet.
But again, he moved with incredible speed to dodge it.
“What the...?”
Haon's eyes widened.
It wasn't a trick of the eye. His movements were incredibly bizarre.
Checker, a member of the Halla gang. He was definitely a non-Awakened villain.
And yet, he moved as if he possessed a special ability.
“Checker. What happened to you? Did you Awaken?”
“Does it matter when you're about to die?”
As Checker grinned, his eyes suddenly bulged as if they would pop out, becoming bloodshot.
The muscles in his jaw and neck also began to swell into unnatural shapes.
“Wh-What's wrong with you? Are you hurt?”
“You seem to have time to get distracted.”
“That's not it!”
“Shut up!”
Whatever had angered him, he snapped, readjusting his grip on the knife and stabbing down at her shield again and again as if to shatter it.
Even though Haon knew a knife like that couldn't break her shield, she couldn't shake her unease.
With every swing of his arm, his strength grew, and his appearance became even more grotesque.
“Blue! Homing missile!”
[Switching mana bullet type to homing missile!]
The mana bullet that burst from her phone curved through the air, chasing after Checker, who had instantly distanced himself.
Then, for a moment, she caught him moving jerkily, like an unoiled machine.
“Wh-What's happening!”
Checker shrieked in confusion, but once his body started seizing up, it only grew more sluggish.
In the end, he was struck by the mana bullet and sent flying.
When the cloud of dust settled, Checker was visible, lying unconscious on the ground.
“Blue, scan Checker. Are there any traces of mana left?”
[Scan results for Checker. Faint traces of mana remain. According to calculations, it will completely disappear in approximately 20 seconds.]
“Just as I thought.”
Haon examined Checker's eyes and shoulders with a sense of unease.
Once the remaining mana in his body completely dissipated, the unnatural swelling instantly subsided.
His ragged breathing also gradually returned to normal.
'I've never heard of a temporary ability manifestation like this.'
Just as she muttered that it was strange, a sudden chill ran down her spine.