HIF 9

Submerged in Dawn

The sunset was low outside the window, submerged in dawn. Raen carefully met his gaze with light green eyes.

The dark light that had flashed red within them vanished in an instant. Perhaps he had mistaken the sunset’s glow. If so, it was fortunate, but if he had seen correctly….

No, that wasn’t what he should be thinking about now.

He explained to Leader and Min Joo-hyuk about the Mana he had seen from Seon Yi-han. The strange blue aura that enveloped his white body. It was a kind that he couldn’t even be sure was Mana.

As he continued his explanation, Leader’s expression grew serious. Min Joo-hyuk, beside him, listened quietly, focused.

“I see. Let’s talk to Yi-han about this later.”

“Yes, Leader.”

Leader smiled gently, tapping his fingertips a few times near his lips.

“There’s no need to blame yourself so much, Raen.”

He stopped himself from biting his lip without realizing it. Leader nodded and continued, lowering his voice.

“Then shall we head out now? Yi-han is asleep, so we should let him rest quietly.”

With that, he carefully covered Seon Yi-han with the blanket once more and moved towards the door.

“Raen, I hope you don’t worry too much. He’s just asleep, so he’ll wake up soon after resting.”

“…Okay.”

“You’ve worked hard investigating.”

Min Joo-hyuk smiled lightly at him and bent down, carefully sweeping Seon Yi-han’s dark hair back once. Then, he took his leave.

With the sound of the door closing, the room fell silent. Only the faint sound of Seon Yi-han’s breathing, buried in the large bed, echoed. He reached out and placed his hand on Seon Yi-han’s forehead.

Even though his white skin seemed flushed red, bathed in the sunset, the skin that touched his fingertips was cold. It felt as if he was drenched in a cold sweat. He shuddered at the unfamiliar sensation.

He gazed silently at the red sunset covering Seon Yi-han’s face before walking to the window. The sun was almost completely set.

He quietly closed the curtains. Sitting on the windowsill, he floated a small piece of paper that had been on the table into the air. It was okay to use this, as it was a magic that required almost no Mana.

He dipped a quill pen deep into a black ink bottle and floated it. Letters slowly filled the white paper. The sound of the pen scratching against the paper echoed softly.

He placed a period at the end of the sentence, neatly unfolded the paper, and placed it on the table next to the bed. Seon Yi-han was still, as if in a deep sleep.

He gently swept back Seon Yi-han’s bangs. He bent down and placed his forehead on top of his. Unlike before, the skin that touched his was neither cold nor hot. He felt a little relieved by the lukewarm temperature.

Click.

The sound of footsteps moving away from the bed faded, and the sound of the door closing quietly echoed in the room.

◇

It was the middle of the night.

Seon Yi-han opened his eyes. In the dark room, his blue eyes shone transparently.

‘Wait a minute. Is it night?’

It was pitch black around him. He was dumbfounded. So much time had passed again.

He jumped up and sat on the bed. He saw a glass turned upside down on the table right next to him. A small piece of paper was underneath it.

He picked up the paper and read the words. It was Raen. It said he was sorry and that he would be in the room next door, so be sure to call him when he woke up.

‘There’s no need to be this sorry.’

Honestly, he felt a little embarrassed. It wasn’t like he had fainted because of Raen, nor was he feeling unwell. There was no need to call him just because he had woken up.

Well, from Raen’s perspective, it was understandable that he would be taken aback. Who wouldn’t be surprised when someone suddenly collapsed while talking in front of them? He had to explain later. That it was nothing.

He picked up the water pitcher on the table and poured water into the glass. It was still warm, as if magic had been cast on it.

It smelled of herb leaves. He took a sip and felt a warm energy spread through him. He felt his body relax.

He turned his body completely to the side and leaned against the bed diagonally. There was a window in front of him. Moonlight seeped faintly through the closed curtains.

He walked to the window and drew back the curtains with a rustle. A large, round moon hung in the black night sky.

He stood in front of the window and stared blankly up at the moon. It was a little more crescent than when he had left the temple, but it was still round.

Glancing to the side, he saw the tiresome Quest Window.

<Mandatory! Quest> ‘Raen – Don’t Doubt!’ Ⅱ

Time Limit: 10 minutes 33 seconds

Time must have been passing while he was asleep.

Of course, it was natural that time didn’t wait for people. But at least if they were going to set a time limit for doing a quest, shouldn’t they check the time while the person was awake?

‘They said it was a 3-minute faint. And then they just let me sleep.’

Nowhere did it say that they would wake him up after the Penalty was lifted, but that was just common sense.

…No. It was his fault for expecting common sense from the System.

He sighed deeply. He sat on the windowsill, and the cold glass of the window touched his back.

‘Ah, right. My clothes…’

Come to think of it, hadn’t he just been sleeping for days without even washing? Goodness. He realized it now.

He quickly turned his head to check his clothes. Fortunately, he was still wearing the neat, white clothes he had first put on. His skin was also smooth.

‘Was it that Clean magic back then?’

He vaguely remembered the magic that Min Joo-hyuk had used in the carriage. He was relieved now. He had been worried about being a mess, having just slept mindlessly.

He sat leaning against the windowsill, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. The air felt a little chilly because it was night.

‘I need to check Future Sight too.’

He needed to read the explanation of exactly what that ability was, but he was too tired. He wanted to rest. Not physically, but mentally. He had slept enough now. Too much, in fact.

Somehow, it felt like he had just been falling asleep and collapsing since leaving the temple. He was unfamiliar with the flow of time that was rolling on arbitrarily while he was unconscious.

‘Future Sight is for later… I’ll have to check it.’

He wasn’t putting it off at all. He was just taking a break. The two were distinctly different. The former was throwing away something that needed to be done, while the latter was just stopping for a moment while leaving it in its place.

He was the latter right now. This was the right thing to do now. He could rest for a bit and then, when his head was a little clearer…. He could then do everything step by step.

He shifted his gaze to the Status Window shining blue beside him. The quest time limit was already down to a few seconds. Was the Penalty a high fever? It wouldn’t hurt, but it would probably make his body feel limp.

As he was thinking that, a new Quest Window appeared with a ding.

<Mandatory! Quest> ‘Raen – Don’t Doubt!’ Ⅱ Failed!

Penalty ‘High Fever’ will be maintained for a duration of ‘3 hours’.

He was just doing all sorts of things on his own. It hadn’t even given him time to complete the quest.

Right in front of that, another new Status Window popped up.

<Mandatory! Quest> ‘Raen – Don’t Doubt!’ Ⅲ

Success: Acquire Raen’s Trust

Failure: Nausea 3-Day Penalty

Time Limit: 3 days

The time limit ticked down.

When would this quest ever end? If it went on like this, it would probably go up to 3 years later.

He felt his head heating up right away. His eyes felt hot. He tilted his head slightly and leaned against the windowsill.

It had been cold earlier, but now it felt cool. People were like this. They only felt what they wanted to feel and interpreted things arbitrarily.

As he was continuing his trivial thoughts, he heard a small sound from outside the door.

It was the sound of someone walking, dragging their feet. The sound was slowly getting closer.

Soon, the doorknob turned.

Creak.

The door slowly opened. A figure could be seen behind the open door.

He was tall and wearing a white shirt and black pants. The Monocle on his eyes shone in the moonlight. His long hair, loosely tied, was draped over one shoulder.

The person staggered and leaned against the door as he entered the room.

“Oh.”

And then he met his eyes. The man, who had stopped in his place, slowly blinked his light purple eyes.

“Ah….”

Then, with an expression as if he had remembered something, he nodded slightly at him. The dark purple hair, tied long to one side, swayed slightly. A few buttons on his shirt were undone.

He slowly moved towards a small chest of drawers next to the desk. He looked somehow exhausted.

‘Song Ha-gyun?’

He had said that he would be sharing a room with Song Ha-gyun, so that person was probably Song Ha-gyun. Should he say hello? But it didn’t seem like the right situation.

Song Ha-gyun knelt down and hurriedly opened the drawer, rummaging through the things inside. The dull sound of objects clanging against each other echoed in the quiet room.

He seemed to be looking for something. Then, unable to find it, he took out the things in the drawer and placed them on the floor. It was an urgent movement, almost like throwing them.

‘Should I help him find it?’

But he could only help if he knew what he was looking for. He didn’t want to get in the way by hovering around when he seemed busy.

However, he felt uncomfortable just sitting here and watching. The coldness of the window touching his back seemed to push him away.

He felt feverish and dreamy because of the Penalty. He quickly came to a conclusion with his dazed mind.

‘Right. Staying still is helping right now.’

No matter how he thought about it, there was nothing he could do.

He subtly lifted his hand and opened the curtains wider. Wouldn’t it be easier to find something if it was even a little brighter?

The moonlight seeping in from the window right behind where he was sitting bathed the room in blue.

It felt like being deep in the sea. It felt like being submerged in the darkness of dawn. He felt suffocated. It was a darkness he couldn’t have endured if he had been alone.

Slender moonlight stretched out faintly, as if creating a breathing hole. Tiny dust particles trapped within sparkled in the air. It was just like small air bubbles.

So was he slowly sinking into this darkness, or was he rising?

“…Ugh.”

At that moment, he heard a suppressed voice. He snapped back to his senses. Song Ha-gyun’s movements had stopped abruptly.

Song Ha-gyun slowly raised his right hand and brought it to the area near his left shoulder. He couldn’t bring himself to touch it directly, and his hand stopped in the air.

“Ugh, hngh….”

A small groan escaped. Song Ha-gyun slowly bent his upper body while sitting. His pale profile was illuminated by the moonlight. Song Ha-gyun was trembling slightly.

As soon as he saw that, he got up from the windowsill. He quickly came down to the floor. The hard coldness that had been touching his back fell away.

This was not a situation to stay still.