CH 4

Min Joohyuk:

Sun Yihan’s face, which was already on the pale side, seemed to whiten even further. ‘Ah, it seems like his motion sickness is really severe. Honestly, he should’ve said something…’

I couldn’t do much for him, but wouldn’t it be better if he were to quickly admit any unpleasant or uncomfortable factors on this trip? It seemed like Sun Yihan loathed to show that he was sick.

Creak–

I reached out and opened the window slightly. Raen Hyung-nim would often do this when suffering from motion sickness. Cold air crept in through the crack of the open window. “You should sleep. It’s a long way to our destination.”

“Uh… It’s not to that extent.” Sun Yihan said as he stared absentmindedly out the window, even though he looked pallid–as if he were about to collapse.

I thought about talking more about my Hyung-nims if he said he’d be fine, but, even as I spoke, I could tell he wasn’t really paying attention.

I can explain their personalities later–let’s switch gears by directly asking him questions. “Sun Yihan, are you really not going to sleep and, instead, stay awake in your condition?”

“…Yep.”

“You’re not tired?”

“…Yeah.”

Even I could tell with my bare eyes that he was exhausted. I swallowed the words that threatened to climb out my throat and said, “Your face is so white right now.”

“Uhuh… I see…”

“You’re not feeling well, right?”

“….Yeah.”

“…You’re not listening to a single thing I say, right?”

“…Uhuh.”

Honestly, if he was going to be this stubborn, then he should at least try to be more convincing by nodding his head or something. Sun Yihan continued to answer my questions with stiff responses and a blank expression on his face. I was probably correct in my assumption that my words weren’t really getting through to him.

His light blue eyes, staring out the window, gradually blinked slower and slower. Even so, he never fell asleep.

“Hey, Sun Yihan.” I called out to him, ‘Hey you!’ several more times. He turned around and locked gazes with me. “Sun Yihan, you…You’re seriously…”

‘…Totally bullheaded.’ I swallowed the rest of the sentence. I tried to repeat what I had already told him several times, ‘Just go to sleep!’ but Sun Yihan slowly opened his mouth. “…Hey, Min Joohyuk.”

He suddenly dropped formalities and called out to me comfortably. As for me, I’d dropped the formalities much earlier.

Though Sun Yihan and I were the same age, it was strangely awkward to hear him speak informally. In this instance, though, none of that innate awkwardness showed. He probably responded in kind because he wasn’t all there, mentally, but I’d be happy if he continued to treat me this way in the future.

I smiled and looked at him, trying to encourage him to continue to speak. Sun Yihan continued in a languid voice. “…I’m really. …I said…I’m really…fine.”

Correction–I was happy that he’d relaxed his speech patterns towards me, but I hoped he’d listen to me a little.

‘He’s fine? In what way is he fine…?’

I was suddenly struck with worry about the future. A person without mana would suffer from heavy exposure to magic. Therefore, we won’t be able to cast teleport on Sun Yihan.

Ignorant of my worries, Sun Yihan looked out the window again with those vacant, incomprehensible eyes.

◇~◇~◇~◇~◇

I kept my mouth shut–if I didn’t talk at all, Sun Yihan would probably fall asleep on his own.

Whenever the carriage shook, Sun Yihan’s head nodded steadily. The young man still kept his eyes trained out the window; I wondered what he was looking at so intently, so I followed his gaze.

Mm. I see grass and trees.

I was sorry to admit this–especially since Sun Yihan seemed to be focusing so hard on the scenery–but there was nothing worth looking at in our surroundings. ‘He must be spacing out, huh?’

Even though we sat in silence for a long while, Sun Yihan still stayed awake, accompanied by his pallid complexion.

“…Ah.”

At that moment, I heard his quiet voice. I wondered what had happened and tore my eyes away from the window to turn to the young man.

Sun Yihan was bowing his head deeply; red drops of blood slowly stained his white sleeves.

“Hey, Sun Yihan!” My languid mood suddenly vanished. My heart felt like it had dropped to the floor; I jumped up from my seat.

Drip…Drip Drip.

The sound of blood dripping onto his sleeves echoed around the silent space. That sound was so clear–so uniform…so unsuitable for this chaotic situation.

The red marks spreading slowly on the white background were so frighteningly visible.

“Hngh!” My mind overlapped a memory on top of that visceral image; suddenly, I felt like I was suffocating. My hands trembled; the world around me began to spin.

‘No–Don’t think about it.’

I clenched my fist; this wasn’t the time to be like this. Memories of the past should become a stepping stone for the future. It would be unacceptable for me to flounder and drown within my own memories. Absolutely unacceptable.

However, contrary to my own desires, my last battle was already being vividly depicted inside my brain.

◇~◇~◇~◇~◇

Rustle–

The thin veil around us swayed.

In the last battle, I surrounded us with defense magic as usual. Simultaneously, I cast magic to pin down the swelling tide of incoming evil spirits and monsters.

In front, Park Yul Hyung-nim and Raen Hyung-nim used their attack magic upon the forces of evil.

Song Gaheyon Hyung-nim stood to my right. Hyung-nim would occasionally write something into his notebook, perhaps memorizing the demonic force’s spells.

“Ah.” Suddenly, Raen Hyung-nim took a sharp breath and turned around. Following him, I turned around as well.

Thud–

Song Ha-gyeon pushed me hard. Laying prone on the ground, I heard the gruesome sound of something piercing through flesh.

Raen Hyung-nim rushed to shoot his magic and attack the demon behind me, but the damage had been done.

“Ngh…” Song Ha-gyeon Hyung-nim pressed down on his left shoulder. His clothes soon became wet with seeping crimson blood, which, in turn, dripped to the floor.

I couldn’t breathe. If only I were more vigilant to the signs of an approaching demon–if only I had layered more defense magic around us. Numerous regrets and guilt pierced my heart.

Song Ha-gyeon hyung-nim’s notebook fell next to me. Hot droplets of blood splattered over its cover.

Dr-Drip–

The sound of the droplets falling echoed around me while everything else fell silent. The sound was so unfittingly clear. The red drops gradually spread, seeping through the white paper; everything was so frighteningly visible.

◇~◇~◇~◇~◇

Swish–

The sound of cloth grazing against each other brought me back to my senses. Sun Yihan raised his hand and slowly placed it under his face. Blood droplets fell, one by one, on his pale palm.

I took a small breath. My dizzy vision gradually stabilized; my brain was able to calm down a little. Fortunately, not much time had passed while my mind was on other matters.

“Sun Yihan, press with this.” I took a handkerchief from somewhere on my body and held it out to the young man.

I was lucky I had a handkerchief on hand. I couldn’t use summoning magic, as it used a lot of mana, next to Sun Yihan.

“…Why?” Sun Yihan murmured in a quiet voice. Then, holding the handkerchief, he looked up at me with a vacant expression. Transparent eyes shook minutely; those pupils were laden with bewilderment.

‘Does he not know how to stop a nosebleed?’ I thought that could be possible, looking at his expression.

“Hey, don’t raise your head.” I gently touched the back of Sun Yihan’s round head and pressed carefully. Soft hair tickled my palms. Sun Yihan bowed docilely, following the movements of my hand.

I folded my handkerchief several times and pressed it against Sun Yihan’s face. By placing the cloth against his nose, I stemmed the bleeding. Sun Yihan still looked perplexed, lost in thought.

For a brief moment, he cringed. I slightly loosened my grasp, worried that I had been pressing too hard.

“…Ah.” Sun Yihan exclaimed, as if he had realized something. It seems that now he finally understood how to stem the nosebleed.

“Yeah. Just stay like that.” I took his hand and brought it to the handkerchief. After confirming that he was properly holding onto the cloth, I removed both my hands.

The young man kept his head bowed. He looked somewhat satisfied, as if he was proud that he was doing well in staunching the blood loss.

◇~◇~◇~◇~◇

His nosebleed finally stopped.

I was worried because it didn’t stop in a timely manner, but, fortunately, flow eventually did cease. ‘Mmm…What can we do about the bloody stains on the clothes?’

The floor had been haphazardly cleaned, but the issue was the clothes that had already been drenched in blood. There were clear red marks on the sleeves and around the knees. The only way to clean this was to use magic.

“Sun Yihan, you’ve never seen anyone use magic around you, have you?”

“…No?” Sun Yihan thought for a long time–as if he were considering the question–before answering. Since he lived in the temple, I was sure he’d never encountered magic before.

Still, I judged it would be okay to use ‘Clean Magic.’ That was a spell that used so little mana that someone who hadn’t yet entered the academy could cast it. “I’m going to use magic to vanish away the blood on your clothes, but please tell me right away if you feel something strange.”

“…Yeah.”

“I think it’ll be alright, but I wanted to warn you just in case. There’s no need to worry.” Sitting with one knee on the floor, I placed my hand on the cloth near his bloody knee. When I chanted the cleaning magic, the vivid blood quickly faded before disappearing. “Are you okay right now?”

“…Yeah, I’m fine.” Sun Yihan answered straight away, but his expression still looked vacant. However, he didn’t look sick, hurt, or uncomfortable. As expected, he’d be fine with exposure to such a small amount of mana.

‘Still, it’s better to restrain magic use around him as much as possible.’ I wanted to take care of the small risk factors since his physical condition seemed poor. Perhaps we could cover the blood on his sleeves by folding them up a little.

“We’ll just fold your sleeves,” I said as I lifted and folded the cloth that covered the back of his pale hand.

‘…What’s this?’

I saw crudely wrapped bandages. The bandage ran from the top of Sun Yihan’s slender wrist to the middle of his forearm; blood had seeped through.

TL: My god, Sun Yihan’s perspective and Min Joohyuk’s perspective is so vastly different.  (And his ‘why’ and ‘realization’ was probably not because the kid didn’t know how to stem a nosebleed, but more his realization that the system doesn’t block his body’s fatigue.) And the poor Warrior’s inner monologues were kinda adorably confused.

Sun Yihan: I was a little absentminded, but that’s alright.

Min Joohyuk: Oh my god, go tf to sleep.

Sun Yihan: He, fortunately, took my nosebleed well.

Min Joohyuk: Literally having a PTSD flashback.