HIF 72

You’re Late

The weight of Seon Yi-han as he leaned into me felt unrealistically light. Seon Yi-han didn’t move a muscle. His black hair was drenched in sweat. His entire body, soaked in cold sweat, was growing chilled.

“Seon Yi-han….”

Even though I knew my voice wouldn’t reach him, the words flowed out without thought. Perhaps it was a relief that Seon Yi-han had lost consciousness. The pain must have been too great. And yet, it was agonizing to look at him with his eyes closed.

‘I have to stop the bleeding first.’

Supporting Seon Yi-han’s body, I gripped the clothes over the wounded area. The blood-soaked fabric wound around my hand. It felt hot and damp, as if blood was still gushing out. My hands trembled with fear.

Riiiipp

As I tore the clothes away, a lean, white shoulder was revealed. I saw a gruesome wound pierced just above the collarbone. Around it, clusters of blue light were sizzling and gathering.

‘Huh…?’

The wound began to heal gradually. The bright red blood slowly stopped, and the white skin knit itself back together. I couldn’t take my eyes off the alien sight. Soon, the blue light was completely absorbed into Seon Yi-han.

I urgently brushed the tender skin, wiping the blood from his shoulder. Even after checking again, the wound was gone. All that remained in its place was a deep scar.

I clenched my fists tight. Seon Yi-han had told me once. That he couldn’t die yet. That it didn’t matter if he got hurt, so I shouldn’t worry.

‘But, even so….’

That doesn’t mean the pain you felt just disappears, Seon Yi-han.

I pulled the cloth out of Seon Yi-han’s mouth. A thin string of red blood stretched and clung to the transparent saliva. My heart beat as if it would burst.

I could see a soft, red tongue inside his mouth. Without realizing it, I almost tightened my grip on Seon Yi-han’s jaw, but I forced myself to snap out of it. Even as I carefully pressed and examined the soft tongue, there wasn’t a trace of a wound.

It seemed he hadn’t bitten anywhere. Or perhaps, the bite wound had already healed.

“Who… asked you to do that…?”

Did I ask you to save me? Did I ask you to get hurt in my place?

I buried my face in Seon Yi-han’s limp body. Not even tears came. Seon Yi-han smelled of blood. A fishy, painful scent that overpowered his usual soft scent of soap.

The words I couldn’t spit out settled heavily in my heart. My entire body felt hot, as if it were boiling. I knew. This was despair. A burning despair.

“Seon Yi-han. Do you know why I entered the defense magic department at the Academy?”

I lifted my head and took in Seon Yi-han’s face. As I stroked his white cheek, a thick trail of red blood remained where my hand had passed. It seemed to be because of the wound on my hand from when I pulled out the blade earlier.

“Because I wanted to protect. Because I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt in front of my eyes anymore.”

Seon Yi-han hadn’t shed a single tear. His face looked peaceful.

“I want to protect you.”

I thought I wanted to protect you.

Something similar had happened before. When Song Ha-gyun hyung-nim had pushed me. My heart had ached then, too. But now, it was so overwhelming that I could barely dare to say it hurt.

I think I wanted to protect only you, completely.

“I shouldn’t have come with you.”

I should have come alone. Or I should have noticed the sign of the attack sooner, or I should have cast defense magic beforehand when disabling the trap. Or I should have figured out the village representative’s intentions from the start.

In the end, I did nothing. You saved me, and I….

‘Why am I always like this?’

I wasn’t qualified. I couldn’t dare wish to be by your side.

I thought I wanted you to lean on me. I didn’t want you to lean on me like this, unconscious and limp.

I cast clean magic on Seon Yi-han. The blood-soaked Seon Yi-han returned to his pristine white appearance. As I lifted him up, the sensation of his lean body touching me felt strange.

I wanted to say I was sorry. But I felt like I couldn’t convey any words. I was too afraid. I didn’t know what I was afraid of, but I didn’t have the confidence to face Seon Yi-han’s face when he woke up. I felt like I wouldn’t be able to stay by his side.

Carefully supporting Seon Yi-han’s neck, which swayed because he was unconscious, I stood before the sprawled village representative.

He looked up at me with a face full of rage, the veins in his forehead bulging bright red. Even though I had bound him with capture magic, he continued to struggle. I released the Silence Magic I had cast on him.

“Ugh, die! You should suffer the same way. Things like you are useless—!”

As he spat out words violently as if he had lost his reason, I immediately cast Silence Magic again. Right now, I was the one who wanted to lose my reason and do as my heart desired. I wanted to kick that hateful face. Suffer the same way? If it were up to me, I would just…

No, this isn’t the priority. Regardless of the reason, it was unforgivable, but I had to grasp the situation.

My head felt hot as if it would explode. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the village representative by the collar. Even the fabric touching my hand was unpleasant, but I forced myself to chant the teleportation magic.

Whoosh.

The moment we returned to the first floor of the lodging, my vision spun. It had not been long since I had used mana excessively, and it seemed that consuming more mana to disable the Trap Magic and then using teleportation magic for three people had taken its toll.

“Ju-hyeok, what happened? Why is Yi-han like this?”

I felt a hand hurriedly approach to support me. Park Yul hyung-nim carefully took Seon Yi-han from my arms. He let Seon Yi-han’s head rest on his shoulder and stroked his back.

Park Yul hyung-nim used magic to pull over a chair and slowly sat me down. I couldn’t make a sound. I rested my elbows on the table and buried my face in my hands.

‘Everyone had returned safely.’

I shouldn’t have followed. I should have thought more calmly. I should have assessed the situation more composedly. I shouldn’t have decided so rashly.

This wasn’t just a mistake. It was my fault. If I had kept my head straight, Seon Yi-han wouldn’t have been hurt like this.

I heard a snap of fingers and looked up. Park Yul hyung-nim was staring silently at the village representative, who was rolling on the floor bound by capture and Silence Magic.

“First, release the magic on this man. I’ll keep it active.”

As the magic was released, the mana leaking out stopped, and the nausea in my stomach seemed to subside. But I was still out of breath. This wasn’t because of the mana, but because it was painful to look at Seon Yi-han in front of me.

Bandages created in the air by Park Yul hyung-nim wrapped themselves around my hand. Only then did I remember that I had been wounded.

No, this wasn’t even a real wound. Did I even have the right to dare think it hurt in front of Seon Yi-han?

Park Yul hyung-nim was still gently patting Seon Yi-han’s back. He seemed to be using magic to warm Seon Yi-han’s body, which had grown cold, perhaps from losing so much blood.

Thinking of that, my heart sank again. Just as Park Yul hyung-nim was about to say something to me, I heard the sound of footsteps rapidly descending the wooden stairs. It was Raen hyung-nim and Song Ha-gyun hyung-nim, who seemed to have rushed out of their rooms.

“Wait, what’s going on? Is everyone okay?”

“…Min Joo-hyeok. Drink this.”

Song Ha-gyun hyung-nim placed a potion he had created in an instant on the table. I didn’t want to drink it, but Raen hyung-nim flicked his finger to open the cap and floated the potion in front of me.

The potion tasted sweet. It felt as if my tense body was relaxing a bit. The moment I felt that, I wanted to spit the medicine back out.

I was fine right now. I was fine earlier, too. Of course I was. Because Seon Yi-han wasn’t fine in my place. I felt so pathetic.

Song Ha-gyun hyung-nim carefully examined the condition of Seon Yi-han, who was held in Park Yul hyung-nim’s arms. His expression was calm as usual, but his hand, lifting Seon Yi-han’s slender wrist to check his pulse, seemed to tremble slightly.

“…There’s nothing wrong. Like last time, I don’t know when he’ll wake up, though.”

Raen hyung-nim tightly clasped Seon Yi-han’s pale hand with both of his. Raen hyung-nim’s eyes, as he bit his lip, were shaking violently.

“So, Ju-hyeok. What happened?”

Park Yul hyung-nim’s calm voice reached me. I forced my closed mouth open. Once I finished speaking, the sound of summer insects crept in through the heavy silence that settled.

Park Yul hyung-nim swept back his hair and lowered his head. I could see the veins standing out in his neck. The tendons in the hand holding Seon Yi-han bulged.

Park Yul hyung-nim let out a deep breath like a sigh, then raised his head again with a somewhat subdued expression.

“Ju-hyeok, you did well. It wasn’t your fault, so relax your hand. The wound will open again.”

As Park Yul hyung-nim released the Silence Magic, the village representative’s words immediately poured out.

“You’re late. What does it solve if you come now? What do you people even do? And you call yourselves Heroes?”

“I am currently tolerating you to hear your reasons. It would be best if you spoke properly.”

Park Yul hyung-nim’s voice was quiet. It felt empty, yet at the same time, it felt so full that not a single gap was visible. The village representative spat and sneered.

“So protective of your own comrades. Huh? Too bad. If it weren’t for that Priest, according to the original plan… ugh.”

“Communication isn’t working.”

“Park Yul hyung.”

Song Ha-gyun hyung-nim quickly spoke up. Park Yul hyung-nim blinked slowly in front of the village representative, whose face was gradually turning pale. Then, he continued in his usual soft voice.

“Keep it moderate, Ha-gyun.”

As he said, Park Yul hyung-nim released the magic that was choking the village representative’s neck at exactly the right moment. Then he looked down silently, waiting for him to catch his breath. The village representative glared at Park Yul hyung-nim with bloodshot eyes and spoke.

“Enough of that. You said you’d deal with the monsters. What is your criteria for defining something as a monster?”

“Stop talking nonsense and just tell me the reason why you did it.”

“Aren’t you going to answer right now? I asked what the criteria for a monster is!”

“This won’t do.”

Park Yul hyung-nim waved his hand slightly and blocked the village representative’s mouth again.

“It seems this conversation will take a while, so I should go lay Yi-han down first.”

Rising from his seat, Park Yul hyung-nim walked toward the second floor. The creaking sound of the wooden stairs gradually faded away.

The red hair of Raen hyung-nim, who stood there, fluttered slightly. Mana seemed to cluster and spark around him. The corners of Raen hyung-nim’s eyes were tinged red. He seemed to be suppressing his mana.

A single flask floated in the air above the table, spinning in place. As leaf-like things were crushed into the mouth of the flask, the color of the liquid inside gradually changed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used a Confession Agent.”

Song Ha-gyun hyung-nim was looking at the village representative with a cold gaze.

I looked down at the village representative and clenched my hand. Blood seeped through the white bandage. The night, which had descended unnoticed, was leaking through the window. It felt like it would be a long night.