CH 329

Having stayed by Kim Woo-jin’s side while staying in the hospital room, I returned to the 23rd floor room with him discharged.

Kim Woo-jin, who followed me into the room, checked the refrigerator first as usual.

“There is no such thing as spoiled food. Are you not hungry now?”

“Ung. I’m fine.”

With a simple answer, I sat on the sofa in the living room and looked around. The warm daylight was streaming in through the window.

I came from America and went to Cheon Sa-yeon’s house right away, and after that, I left the room on the 23rd floor for a long time because of various incidents. I spent a little time here just before going to rescue Kim Woo-jin, who was taken away by the Praus Cult, but now I felt like I was back.

The peaceful daily life had finally returned. All that was left was the news of Elohim, Elahah, and Fox, who were suffering and paying the price for us. He said it would take some time to recover, so even though I knew I had to wait calmly, I couldn’t help but worry about them.

“Han Yi-gyeol.”

Kim Woo-jin, who had been walking around for a long time and carefully organizing the room, walked up to me.

“I’ll go to my room too. It won’t take long.”

Ah, right. Kim Woo-jin also had his own room, didn’t he? He was so natural to be in my room that I forgot for a moment.

“Okay. See you.”

“I’ll be right back…”

Kim Woo-jin, who hesitated and looked at me, didn’t finish his words and left the room with a red face. It wasn’t surprising that Kim Woo-jin often acted like that after we talked about our feelings to each other and kissed.

Leaving alone in the room alone, I leaned on the back of the sofa and enjoyed the relaxation I had been looking for in a long time. Birds chirping outside the window as the warm and relaxed atmosphere relieved the tension in the body.

Feeling drowsy, I closed my eyes. After a while, someone knocked on the front door.

It seemed like less than 10 minutes had passed, but had Kim Woo-jin already returned? Yawning lazily, I went to the front door and as soon as I opened the door, something big suddenly appeared.

“……?”

“Hello, Hyung.”

Surprisingly, the guest who came to the room was Kwon Jeong-han, not Kim Woo-jin. Kwon Jeong-han, who was smiling broadly, pushed the confused me and entered the room with a fruit basket and a coffee carrier.

“What? How did you get here?”

“I went to Kim Woo-jin seonbae-nim’s hospital room, but I heard that he had been discharged, so I came here. This is a gift for Kim Woo-jin seonbae-nim.”

Kwon Jeong-han handed me the fruit basket he was holding. When I unsciously received it, I smelled the thick fruity scent and checked out Kwon Jeong-han from head to toe.

“Is your body okay? Can you go around like this already?”

“Of course. All injuries have already been healed.”

Kwon Jeong-han, who was stabbed in the shoulder by a weapon wielded by a member of the Praus Cult, immediately went to the operating room and received treatment as soon as he crossed over to the Requiem Guild.

However, even though his body was healed by healer’s ability, he was hospitalized for another day due to the shock and excessive bleeding that was inflicted on the body at the time of the injury. After that, he took a formal vacation and returned home.

“Still, it would be better for you to rest for two more days.”

“I couldn’t do it because it was frustrating and a little sore. I’m worried about everyone. Is Healer Min Ah-rin still resting?”

“Ung.”

Min Ah-rin, like Kwon Jeong-han, returned home now. She was supplemented the excessively exhausted energy by receiving it from another healer, so she needed a rest because she collapsed once again with vomiting her blood after forcing herself to treat Kim Woo-jin.

It was a good decision because it would be more comfortable in body and mind than in a guild hospital room.

“Come in.”

Although I was concerned about Kwon Jeong-han’s health, I couldn’t drive out the person who had come this far to go home again. Kwon Jeong-han, who came into the living room with me, looked around the room and said.

“It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve been here. The room on the 23rd floor won’t open without Hyung, so it’s probably been a while.”

“I felt the same way before you came.”

Putting the fruit basket on the table in front of the sofa, I tilted my head at the strange sense of difference felt in Kwon Jeong-han’s face.

What is it? I thought something had changed. It wasn’t an illusion and it was really different, but I had no idea what had changed. When I narrowed my eyes and looked at Kwon Jeong-han’s face, Kwon Jeong-han, who was looking at me with a faint smile, informed me after a while.

“I changed my glassed.”

“Ah…!”

That’s right. The shape of the glasses was slightly different. As I nodded in agreement, Kwon Jeong-han, who was sitting on the sofa, came to my side and looked through the fruit basket. Then he took out the silver case.

“Here you go.”

What Kwon Jeong-han took out of the case and handed over was another pair of glasses. One of the glasses was broken.

“Is this…”

“Yes. It looks like there was a crack then. So I changed it quickly.”

Kwon Jeong-han, who also put the coffee carrier on the table, took out coffee. Then he went to the kitchen and brought a cup while I was looking at his glasses.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“You just followed me and got hurt. Your glasses are broken, too.”

Kwon Jeong-han, who transferred the coffee into a cup, blinked at my words. Kwon Jeong-han opened his mouth again after looking down at the coffee in the cup and organizing his thoughts.

“I was hurt because I lacked power. Everyone else was hurt besides me.”

“You’re more dangerous than us because you are with mental ability. The same goes for Min Ah-rin-ssi. That’s why…”

The memory of that time when Kwon Jeong-han blocked me and Min Ah-rin and got stabbed in the shoulder was still vivid in my mind.

If Kwon Jeong-han was stabbed in the heart, not the shoulder… Just imagining it was terrifying. Min Ah-rin passed out due to excessive energy consumption, so it wouldn’t have been possible to receive treatment right away.

“Next time, don’t do that. It’s safer for me to get stabbed.”

Even if Kwon Jeong-han had a higher grade than me, the body of a person with mental ability was the same as that of ordinary people. Even though I was a class A, I was stronger because I was stronger in the offensive system, so I was more comfortable getting hurt, not Kwon Jeong-han.

“…no.”

Kwon Jeonghan quietly listened to what I said and smiled bitterly.

“I’m right to be stabbed.”

“Kwon Jeong-han.”

“Hyung, I’m the last shield for Hyung and Healer Min Ah-rin.”

Kwon Jeong-han’s voice that followed was very determined. He looked at me with a smile on his face, unlike usual.

“When everyone fights together like this time, that is the only way I can help. I can’t use my ability when that happened.”

”What are you… why do you think like that? Even if you don’t think about it, you’re good enough for us.”

“I don’t know.”

Unlike me, who was upset to hear that he would become a shield himself, Kwon Jeong-han maintained a calm attitude.

“I’m not saying this because I feel sorry for my lack of confidence or just being protected. This is reality. My mental ability is useless in battle. So there’s nothing I can do for the team.”

“……”

“But Hyung is different. When changed, not only your own ability but also the wind ability is needed for the team… It’s the same with Healer Min Ah-rin.”

Kwon Jeong-han judged himself surprisingly coldly.

“That’s why I want to be the last shield. If even that role is taken away… I can’t stay here. So I hope you understand.”

At the last request for understanding, the countless words that came up to the end of my throat were blocked. I didn’t know what to answer.

Should I… just say I understand and accept it? Or should I persuade him to change his mind? However… Kwon Jeong-han’s eyes facing me didn’t show even the slightest he could be swayed.

‘You have already made a decision.’

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have blocked me in the first place. Kwon Jeong-han didn’t have to explain it, but I realized that he had already made up his mind a long time ago.

“…okay, I understand.”

I was heartbroken at the fact that I had to answer like this.

I knew that Min Ah-rin and Kwon Jeong-han tried to do their best in their respective positions. However, I was also worried about their safety. They were colleagues who fought together, so I had to trust them and leave my back to them.

“I understand.”

“I believed that Hyung would answer me like that.”

Kwon Jeong-han loosened his rigid expression and gently raised the corners of his lips. I also tried to ignore the complicated heart and smiled to him.

* * *

Five days later, on the weekend, all the team members gathered in the room on the 23rd floor, as I had told them in advance. After gathering in the Requiem Guild, it was to move to Cheon Sa-yeon’s house.

“Yi-gyeol-ssi!”

Min Ah-rin, who was contacted by me, also met again after a week. I welcomed Min Ah-rin, who returned with a bright face as before, as if she had recovered her health a lot while resting at home.

“Did you have a good rest?”

“Of course. Ah, vacation is the best.”

Min Ah-rin, muttering contentedly while sweeping her moist cheeks, pulled something out of her pocket.

“Yi-gyeol-ssi, thank you. I used it well.”

What Min Ah-rin placed on my palm was none other than a bracelet, an energy recovery item.

“Well. I’m glad it was helpful.”

“I was so scared that I might lose it. I took care, so I can return it safely as soon as I met Yi-gyeol-ssi.”

Um, it was expensive because it was an A-class item. I also got it from Cheon Sa-yeon, so I didn’t know the exact price.

I wore the bracelet I got back from Min Ah-rin on my wrist again.

The wrist that felt empty before was filled again. Still, it was because I had been wearing the bracelet for quite some time now and I felt a bit awkward without it now.

“Everyone has been gathered.”

Cheon Sa-yeon, who was the last to come to the room with Woo Seo-hyuk, looked at the team members in the living room and smiled. Park Geon-ho, who was lying on the sofa as if it was his own bedroom and looking at his cell phone, shrugged his shoulders at those words.

“Of course, I’m coming, why not? It’s not anyone else, but our talented Han Yi-gyeol wants to drink.”

“Drinking isn’t the purpose.”

“Anyway, it’s a drinking party. I brought a lot of good wine to celebrate today.”

Park Geon-ho and Ha Tae-heon had brought their cars to go to Cheon Sa-yeon’s house. Don’t tell me they fill the trunk of their cars with alcohol?

Ha Tae-heon, who was sitting on the sofa opposite Park Geon-ho and drinking tea elegantly, said to Cheon Sa-yeon with a sad expression.

“If you are dissatisfied, leave.”

“Even if I want to, I can’t help it. Our Yi-gyeol needs my big house.”

“Even if it’s not here, my house is enough.”

“Why do you two fight as soon as you meet?”

I couldn’t help sighing at the sight of Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon were naturally picking a fight. I also need to make them get close to each other.