CH 15

TW: self-cutting

Raen’s question was something well worth asking. As it stands, I couldn’t heal myself. In the first place, I won’t feel any pain because of my passive effect, so I don’t particularly need the healing anyway.

Right now, I’m feeling nauseous because…of reasons I won’t–couldn’t–tell him. I just needed to resolve Raen’s doubts, but that wouldn’t be easy. My words came out quite unstably, “I can only use this ability for Warriors.”

Raen’s eyes opened wide; he asked again, “How do you know that?”

“Uh…”

Well, my first treatment reward was the ability to treat someone that wasn’t a Warrior; the ability probably could only be usually applied to Warriors in normal situations. However, how could I explain this?

“It just… Feels that way.” I hesitated, but Raen nodded straight away and moved on.

His attitude indicated that he wouldn’t ask more questions if I seemed reluctant to talk; I suppose he’s become more careful since last time. Although I appreciated his care, he really didn’t need to be so cautious.

Raen looked at Park Yul, “Leader Hyung, Aren’t you going to make Yihan make the Warrior’s Oath?”

“Mm, Well I suppose he should.” Park Yul laughed bitterly before continuing, “It’s not that I don’t trust him; It just doesn’t seem like that power works on Yihan.”

Park Yul gave us a rough explanation: the Warrior’s Oath was something that could be witnessed and confirmed by Park Yul, the Chosen Warrior. The second round of the Oath could be completed after traveling to the temple.

It seems that Park Yul received a special power after becoming the Chosen Warrior: if he looks into another’s eyes and activates his power, he could see at one glance whether or not the other person was destined to become a Warrior and join his cause.

“I couldn’t see anything from Yihan-ie; it felt like I was being pushed out,” Park added, a sorry expression on his face. “Furthermore, Yihan-ie suddenly collapsed… I was incredibly surprised.”

I motioned that it was alright to Park Yul, who apologized quietly to me. I wasn’t used to someone else’s worries or their apologies, especially when nothing serious happened.

In addition, there was no reason for Park Yul to apologize. It wasn’t even his fault in the first place; the system was to blame. However, there was no way to explain this, so I was at a loss.

“I wish Yihan-ie could also enter the Oath as well,” Raen said quietly. Park Yul didn’t agree or deny, but he continued to look at me. For some reason, his expression felt a little stiff.

He’s adopted that expression occasionally since last time–a sly side-eye yet, at the same time, a contemplative glance. I wasn’t too sure what that look meant, but I believe he was wary of me.

This was inevitable–the rest of the group had operated together for a few years, but I was the sudden newcomer. In addition, Park Yul said he couldn’t see anything from me–most likely due to the system. Of course, I seemed suspicious.

‘Still, this is fine.’

Park Yul played the leading role in charge of all others, so prudence was a necessary and good virtue for him. Therefore, I judged that there was no need for me to try and assuage that trifling vengeance. Besides, I haven’t been given a penalty-driven quest to get rid of his wariness.

I was satisfied; this much was enough. I would be greedy to want more. Park Yul treated me affectionately already.

When I met Park Yul’s eyes, he smiled brightly. Then, he poured more tea into the glass in my hands. Warm–his actions towards me, until now, were warm as well. Enough for my heart to overflow.

The midday sun, a little lower in the sky than before, poured its rays through the window. A peaceful afternoon.

◇~◇~◇~◇~◇~◇

The days passed quickly. Three days flew by in an instant.

I would be lying if I were to say that the three penalty days were not difficult; but, on the other hand, my nausea was bearable now that the ordeal had finished. That was how life goes–as long as you endure the immediate moment, the troubles seemed negligible afterwards.

Clack–

I rolled a lollipop around in my mouth; the sweet fruity taste clung to my tastebuds. Today, when the penalty finished, Min Joohyuk gave the sweet to me, saying how relieved he was to see me eat a proper meal after such a long time of abstinence.

–Hey, Sun Yihan. Are you feeling better now? You haven’t had a decent meal for a few days. I’m relieved.

I had no idea how he had found out I hadn’t eaten my meals. Still, the candy was quite delicious.

I walked quietly down the first-floor hall; the sunset poured through the large windows on the wall. Since everyone had departed around lunchtime, I was the only one left in Reddeo. It seems as if everyone had been going out a lot these days. Whether alone or in a group, the Warriors looked quite busy as they flitted here and there.

–We have things we need to do; we’re few in numbers, but the world is wide.

Those were Park Yul’s words. Come to think of it, his statement was befitting a true Warrior.

Everyone was busy, but Park Yul was always flying out to take care of every little thing or disturbance. It was hard to see his face nowadays. The Hero must feel some deep and heavy sense of duty from somewhere within–perhaps due to his status as the Chosen one.

I ascended the stairs and opened the bedroom door; I was relieved there was no one around today.

I squatted on the chair in front of the window and took out a small wood fragment. When I pushed up the side of the fragment, a sharp blade shot out and rose upwards.

Slice–

Raising his hand in a familiar position, I cut a deep gash down the inner forearm. Drops of blood trickled down.

The red sunset permeated and mixed its colors with the drops of blood that fell onto the floor. A fishy scent. There was no pain, so the thick droplets of blood felt somewhat unrealistic–like something out of a fantasy.

High in the air, the status window blinked blue.

「You used the <Foreseen Future> Beginner skill!」

「Cooldown time remaining until next use: 24 hours」

My vision went momentarily dark; my mind felt as if it were being sucked into some depths.

Plu-unge–! 1

There was a black, sticky demonic beast splayed out on the floor. I could see Park Yul stabbing a long sword into its body; red sparkles of light emanated from the demonic beast.

The sparkles amalgamated in the air before being sucked inside the sword wielded by the chosen hero. At the same time, the demonic beast dried up, gnarling and twisting. Park Yul immediately pulled out his sword.

As soon as Park Yul blinked, a red light appeared in his light-green eyes. That, too, soon disappeared without a trace.

Swoosh–

In an instant, my mind returned.

One blink. I was still sitting in my seat. The red sunset still hung low in the sky, flooding the room with red rays. Shaking my head, I returned to my senses and chased away my stupefaction. Fortunately, nothing too serious seemed to be awaiting us in the future.

Simultaneously, a new status window appeared before my eyes, accompanied by a bell’s ring.

「<Skill Upgrade> in progress!

‘Forseen Future’ Beginner rank >> ‘Foreseen Future’ Intermediate rank

Progress (2/10) 」

Today was the second day I’ve done this–my calculations were exact.

I made sure to carefully wipe away the blood droplets slowly flowing down my arm with my hand; the viscous blood dyed my fingertips red. This time, like the other times, it felt like the blood flow wouldn’t cease quickly or easily.

I flicked the blood droplets left on my hands onto the floor. Well. It’s not like I’m going to die, nor do I feel pain. Even if my blood flow is abnormal for no discernable reason, something as trivial as this blood loss shouldn’t matter.

A day ago, I finally checked the ‘Foreseen Future’ Beginner rank skill I had received. The method to use the skill seemed the same as what was written in the book I had read back at the temple–back when I completed the quest to acquire this skill in the first place.

‘The User must dedicate their blood and recite a particular spell.’

However, I didn’t need that specific spell since the system had waived that requirement as part of my skill. All I had to do to access the ‘foreseen future’ skill was to offer my blood.

""

I had only attempted it once while reading that book in the temple, but I didn’t see the future. I didn’t have the skill at that time.

‘Regretfully, all I had to show for that attempt was an injury.’

Still, at least the effort spent to read that difficult book wasn’t in vain. If I use this skill eight more times, I could promote it to the intermediate rank.

「<Skill Description> ‘Foreseen Future’ Intermediate Rank

When something important will happen in the future, those events will automatically be shown to you!」

I could sense the convenience of the upgrade just from reading the description. According to the system, there was no need to go through this cumbersome ritual if I just upgrade the skill to the intermediate level.

I took a bandage out from the desk drawer and quickly unraveled it. The white bandage turned red when I wrapped it roughly around my wound. Fortunately, though, the blood did not seep out any further.

That’s enough for me–that was all I could ask for.

The end of the bandage was secured with masking tape; I then took out a stiff piece of paper. When I tore it up, there was a flash of bright light, and the blood on the floor disappeared cleanly. The paper also crumbled into powder and vanished.

Raen had given this thing to me earlier–the paper was imbued with cleaning magic.

At first, I attempted to learn magic from Raen, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t use the spells. I knew, inside, that my efforts were in vain, but I still felt a little disappointed after my confirmation of that fact.

–It’s okay, Yihan. I’ll just give you the basic spells like this, instead.

""

He added that I should tell him anytime I needed more magic; afterwards, Raen floated dozens of small sheets of paper in the air, imbuing them one by one with spells.

To be honest, I thought Raen would act more difficult with me–treat me a little more distantly. For some reason, I thought he wouldn’t even deign to converse with me. After all, I had yet to receive a ‘success’ window for my quest to alleviate Raen’s doubts.

However, Raen didn’t treat me coldly at all. On the contrary, he paid quite close attention to me.

Did that mean his doubts and his attitude were separate? If so–if he could compartmentalize personal feelings from a professional attitude–then Raen was a person worth knowing.

Now, on my person, I carried around the sheets of paper Raen had handed me. It was fortunate magic could be used in this way or I’d be hard at work wiping the floor by now.

I walked over and opened the window; the window blowing inside was cold. The faint scent of blood dissipated with the incoming air.

The sunset was almost finished, and the night was settling in the sky.

◇~◇~◇~◇~◇~◇

The days quickly became colder.

Min Joohyuk began to wear a thick outer coat; Raen always seemed to wear a weighty robe. Song Ha-gyeon wore a light-gray knit sweater over his dress shirt. The sweater suited his purple hair, which he always wore tied to one side.

Park Yul… I wasn’t too sure about him. Nothing seemed to have changed with the chosen hero.

“Yihan-ah.” Park Yul, who had been watering flowers right outside the front of the building, approached me when he noticed me leaning against the wall.

Did those flowers bloom all year long? I was suddenly curious. Though the days were quite chilly, those colorful flowers were still vivacious.

“It’s so cold, why did you come out?” Park Yul’s eyes smiled; he summoned some very fluffy-looking clothes.

The clothes, a strange mixture of sky blue and white, fluttered in his hand. Like a cloud scattered on a lightly overcast day, the clothes seemed as if they would blend into the sky at any moment.

“You should dress warmly. The wind is freezing these days,” Park Yul said in a soft voice as he covered me with the clothes. When I inserted my arms properly through the sleeves, I found that the cloth was quite light and spacious. And Warm and cozy.

“Mm, It’s larger than I thought it would be.” Park Yul mumbled to himself, gently ruffling my hair. “I guess you’ll need to grow a bit more.”

But I’m not on the small side–It wasn’t that I’m small; everyone else was just too big! The hero needs to do some self-reflection! Swallowing back my grumbles–the unfairness of it all!–I slowly raised my arms.

I placed my hands on top of Park Yul’s gigantic ones, which were still stroking through the strands of my hair. Park Yul paused momentarily, “…Yihan-ah?”

TL: So, Min Joohyuk was right! Yihan was sacrificing blood in order to see the future. And he should be very wary of the “automatic” use of the spell…The system seems quite malicious tbh.