Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Red, Twinkling, and Moving
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“Why? What’s the problem?”
Juyeol, who replied nonchalantly, was carrying Haon down the stairs of the new Hero Headquarters.
The heroes and staff at Headquarters stared with dumbfounded expressions, but the embarrassment was all Haon’s.
“I’m not even hurt. I can walk down just fine on my own two feet.”
The moment Haon showed signs of trying to get down, Juyeol held her tighter.
“‘Just fine,’ my ass. Do you know how many times I've seen you almost fall on these stairs?”
“Th-that’s because these stairs are a little steeper…!”
“So just stay still.”
“Ugh…”
He finally put Haon down only after they reached the first floor.
Haon rubbed her flushed face and shot him a pouty glare.
“Aren’t you treating me too much like a patient?”
“You’re too weak.”
“I am not!”
“Not when you can’t even use Mana Engineering inside Headquarters.”
“…”
Haon pressed her lips together.
To meet Hunter, who was always busy at Headquarters, it was most efficient for her to come and go from there.
However, Hunter and the executives seemed to consider Mana Engineering—a technology that hadn't existed here before—to be dangerous, so they had banned its use inside the Headquarters building.
Since she had already made the building sturdier, Haon had agreed, thinking she wouldn't have much reason to use Mana Engineering there anyway.
Juyeol sighed, looking at Haon’s sulky face.
“Fine. Let me correct myself. It’s not you, it’s your body that’s too fragile. I’ve been making sure you eat well, so why are you still so thin and small? No wonder you can’t even run properly.”
Haon felt it was unfair. It was true she was a slow runner, but wasn't forbidding her from even using the stairs a bit much?
Back at the research institute, she mulled it over and came to the same conclusion: it was definitely excessive.
*I think it all started that day.*
There was the time she'd choked loudly on water in front of Juyeol.
She had only coughed, spilled a little water, and struggled to breathe for a moment, but Juyeol, his face pale as a sheet, had immediately taken her to Solmae.
The memory of Solmae rushing over, thinking it was a huge emergency, only to leave with a sheepish expression, was still vivid.
From that day on, Juyeol acted as if Haon were made of glass and snow.
You could get a small cut on your hand while working on machines, and you could trip if you missed a step.
But every time something like that happened, Juyeol made a huge fuss as if it were a catastrophe. Meanwhile, he paid no mind to the bruises that appeared on his own body.
“Doesn’t it seem excessive to you, too?”
Haon asked, grabbing hold of River, who had come to share an update on the state of the underground passages in Sector 2.
She trusted River would agree with her, since River often glared at Juyeol's behavior as if she couldn't stand the sight of it.
But River's answer was different from what she'd expected.
“Just let it be.”
“Are you serious?”
Seeing Haon’s indignation, River made a troubled face.
“That’s because you didn’t see Ghost’s face that day.”
“That day?”
“The day you fell in the water. To him, you died and came back to life right in front of his eyes.”
“Ah.”
Haon knew her heart had stopped for a moment that day. And that she had survived thanks to River.
She hadn't considered how horrified Juyeol must have been, watching it all unfold beside her.
*If that had happened to Juyeol…*
I would have become sensitive about his safety, too.
Lost in thought, Haon nodded with a look of resignation.
And the next day.
As he carried her up the stairs at Headquarters, Juyeol gave Haon, who was nestled quietly in his arms, a quizzical look.
“Why are you so quiet today?”
“You’re the one who told me to be still.”
“It’s suspicious.”
Until yesterday, she had squirmed and groaned in embarrassment, but today she was being very cooperative.
Recalling her conversation with River, Haon wrapped her arms securely around his neck.
“Come to think of it, I've clung to you and stuck to you whenever I wanted. I figured, why can't you do the same? You can do whatever you want, too.”
“…”
At her words, Juyeol flinched and came to a sudden halt.
Then, with a slightly flushed face, he gaped for a moment before recoiling in horror.
“Wh-what do you mean, 'do whatever you want'?! This is going to be a huge problem. Have you ever said that to anyone else? Don’t tell me you said that to that friend of yours?”
“…?”
“‘Do whatever you want’… You really say whatever comes to mind. Don't go around saying things like that carelessly.”
“…”
Haon felt even more wronged.
Annoyed by his incomprehensible words, she pinched and gripped the hem of his clothes.
Juyeol, thinking she was scared of falling, readjusted his hold on her and patted her shoulder reassuringly. It was a gentle touch.
Haon was bewildered as her sulkiness melted away, replaced by a ticklish feeling in her chest.
*What is this…*
Not wanting him to see her softened expression, she buried her face in his shoulder.
*It's embarrassing, but it's comfortable. And cozy.*
She thought to herself.
* * *
It didn't take long for the Hero Headquarters in Sector 2 to resume full operations.
Haon traveled between the research institute and the old town, continuously checking the underground passages of Sector 2 for any suspicious signs.
But after thwarting her attempt to take Sector 4, Bae Anjae had once again vanished without a trace.
*The more I rush, the more I'll fall into his trap. I shouldn't let him sway me; I just need to do what I can.*
As soon as she confirmed that Sectors 2 and 4 were running smoothly, Haon started by fixing Ttiyong.
On the day Halla rammed the car with a truck, things would have gone much better if only Ttiyong had been by Juyeol's side.
*I wanted to make it sturdier. But if I did, it would be more likely to break when the parts bump into each other while it's rolling around.*
After double-checking Ttiyong, Haon went up to the fourth-floor lab and looked at the screen.
After the server expansion, searching for data on 'Eun Haon's' server had become much easier.
The amount of data 'Eun Haon' possessed was comparable to an entire web portal, so it was impossible to guess how long it would take to find specific information without Blue's help.
*If I only had more time, I would've spent all day just looking through the data here and done nothing else.*
Haon scanned through the data Blue had selected.
From the armor fragment Nova had given her, she was able to identify the mana wavelength belonging to Sniper.
On top of that, an analysis of the syringe River had brought her revealed a faint trace of mana with the same wavelength in the blood on the needle's tip.
That blood belonged to Sniper.
*Since the syringe was labeled with Halo's name, I thought it was a potion administered to Halo. It was the opposite.*
The liquid remaining inside the syringe was a mixture of what seemed to be a potion made by Bae Anjae and someone's blood.
It wasn't Sniper's, so as the name on the syringe suggested, it must have been Halo's blood.
*He administered a potion mixed with Halo's blood to Sniper.*
Using Sniper's blood and mana wavelength, Haon constructed a provisional physical record that looked like a combination of an MRI and an X-ray.
*…It's horrible.*
It was based on an incomplete sample, but even this was enough to guess how poor Sniper's condition was.
*At this rate, she must have been sensitive to mana and suffered from frequent minor illnesses even before her forced Awakening. Mana is abundant here, after all.*
She traced the areas that looked like clotted blood with her fingertips. There was also an old-looking stain on a rib near the heart.
*Seeing how she was in pain from the mana bullet I shot and protected by the Awakening Sphere shield, it seems mana can be both a medicine and a poison for her.*
With a heavy heart, Haon turned off the screen.
*Why did she have to go through a forced Awakening?*
She decided not to tell Juyeol that she felt a little sorry for Sniper after analyzing the data.
Feeling pity didn't erase what Sniper had done to him.
*So, now…*
Haon's gaze lifted to the ceiling. Directly above was the Dimension Gate lab.
*I should start preparing to go back soon.*
The construction of the Dimension Gate was proceeding successfully.
There had been a few trials and errors, but after waking from her long sleep, Haon had boldly adjusted the formulas as if she had witnessed a fragment of the universe's secrets.
It was really close now.
*By the way, who should I hand my sectors over to? Should I just give them all to Hunter?*
While she was deep in thought, her phone rang. It was a call from Nova.
“Hello?”
[…]
There was no reply, so she checked the caller ID again. It was definitely Nova.
“Nova?”
[I see a star that's red, twinkling, and moving.]
Haon tilted her head at the random comment, then her eyes widened.
“Call me when you're having trouble sleeping because you're struggling with loss and loneliness.”
“And then?”
“I'll tell you about the stars, and you can open your window and find them. Doesn't that sound fun?”
Remembering the conversation she'd had with him, she let out a silent sigh before replaying Nova's words in her mind.
A red, twinkling, moving star?
“That’s probably an airplane.”
She answered with a chuckle, and a grumpy voice came from the other side of the phone.
[Darling. Are you laughing?]
“Why 'darling' again? You haven't called me that in a while.”
[That was a different me, so it doesn't matter.]
Haon couldn't guess Nova's intentions and was puzzled.
[Darling. Aren't you going to tell me?]
“Ah, do you see the three stars in a straight line in the sky? That's—”
He was still a hard person to read, but the fact that he called her while looking at the night sky must have meant he was feeling lonely.
Listening to Nova's hums of agreement, Haon pointed out the stars one by one with her eyes.