HIF 60

Just in case

As soon as my words ended, Teacher’s voice immediately followed.

[It’s Yi-han.]

I tightly gripped and rolled up my sleeve. What I needed to say was already decided. This wasn’t the time for other words. Nor was it the time for other thoughts. I just had to speak it aloud. It wasn’t a difficult thing.

“Can I really not enter the Temple building?”

[It’s difficult right now.]

“I know now that I have divine power. There’s something I want to ask the god. Even so, is it not allowed?”

[The god has informed you. I’m sorry. But it’s still not the time yet.]

The response was calm. So Teacher also knew I was the sacrifice. Right. Of course that was the case. I just didn’t want to accept it.

While I was briefly organizing my thoughts, Teacher’s words continued.

[The Heroes have promised to visit early next year. Come then.]

I turned my head toward Park Yul. Park Yul nodded.

Early next year. Although I had to wait a long time, being with these people would make time pass quite quickly. So it didn’t feel that far away.

And everyone would be busy anyway. Rather than making time just for me, it seemed better to follow the already set appointment.

The sooner the better, but in fact, even if it was late, it wouldn’t be a problem. I know that what’s important to me might not be important to others. I didn’t want to stubbornly push forward only my own urgency.

[It’s difficult now, but someday next time… If you come, Yi-han-ah. I’ll make time for you right away then.]

I couldn’t see Teacher’s expression. The crystal was almost completely scattered. Perhaps because of that, the transmitted voice sounded faint and shaky.

At that moment, words I hadn’t intended to utter burst from my lips.

“Teacher, you knew from the beginning, right? That I received divine power.”

[Yes. I knew.]

“Then, Teacher, the way you treated me well all this time…”

Before I could even finish speaking, the crystal completely turned to powder and disappeared. Nothing remained.

Small blue glowing particles were scattering like dust on the desk. All that remained in that place was an empty silence.

Then I felt a warmth gently enveloping my shoulder. Park Yul, carefully patting my shoulder, opened his mouth.

“Yi-han-ah. Should we try contacting again?”

“…It’s okay. This is enough. Thank you.”

Even though the connection was cut off like that, I was surprisingly really okay. To an extent that even I was bewildered. I think it’s because I felt it wouldn’t matter what Teacher’s answer was.

I think I know the reason. Because now, Teacher wasn’t everything to me anymore. Places like the Temple were already long left behind.

‘What fills my existence now is…’

I raised my head and looked around the room. Park Yul, Raen, Song Ha-gyun, Min Joo-hyuk—they were all here.

It wasn’t an empty silence. This place had been filled without a single gap from the beginning. And I was also here. So that’s why it was okay.

‘That’s right. It was you all.’

Unknowingly, I had become colored by this place. By your warmth. Somehow, my heart seemed to beat faster. I wanted to bury my face in my hands and calm down a bit. I don’t know what this feeling is.

Sometimes, on nights when no stars appear, the sky just looks completely empty. But if you endure that night, a new sun rises. Then perhaps a completely empty sky never existed from the beginning.

It couldn’t be night forever. Because another day would dawn.

Sunlight was filling the sky.

◇

Meanwhile, time passed quickly. Tomorrow was the time to depart again.

Before I knew it, the weather had gotten quite hot. Now, the air carried on the breeze was stuffy and hot. The sunlight also beat down intensely.

Many things had happened during this time, and everyone was busy. Actually, because I felt a bit suddenly shy and embarrassed about facing everyone, I’m not sure how time passed.

Perhaps it’s because I’m only now fully realizing that I’m by your side.

Anyway, so I don’t clearly remember everything that happened. I ate meals, slept, talked…

What did we talk about? But I think no one particularly asked me anything.

Just things like what food I like, how my body is now, if there’s anything I want to do while resting, how I lived at the Temple, if I’m sensitive to heat. Only such ordinary things.

During that time, I sorted out my shaken heart. Now I could set out on the road with a completely new heart. Everything was perfect.

I’m now in Song Ha-gyun’s room, sitting leaning against the windowsill with the window open. I placed a notebook on my knees and held a pencil. I chewed on the pencil tip a bit, then brought it to the notebook.

「Is sacrifice absolutely necessary.」

I was writing down in advance what I needed to ask the god. Since there was a lot of time until early next year, I needed to jot things down whenever I thought of them.

The god told my childhood self that the one sacrificing wasn’t me. That sounded like it definitely meant someone else, not me, would be sacrificed. Is it that no one can avoid being sacrificed?

「What was the reason for calling me a sacrifice.」

Doesn’t ‘sacrifice’ mean someone who has already been sacrificed for something? But that wasn’t really the case for me. I wasn’t enduring something or dying.

Then I also need to ask why He called me a sacrifice.

‘Hmm, no. I’m curious about this, but it’s not that important.’

I needed to distinguish between questions born of curiosity and absolutely necessary questions. If the time to converse with the god was limited, I should speak the latter first. I added more letters next to it.

「What was the reason for calling me a sacrifice. (This isn’t important.)」

And what else is there? Ah, right.

「Is that kind of thing really the god’s will?」

Here, ‘that kind of thing’ refers to the quests given by the System. I wrote it vaguely just in case someone might see. Probably no one would see it, but one always needs to prepare for unexpected situations.

Considering the situation alone, the System itself seemed to indeed be divine power. But thinking about the quests shoved in front of my eyes, it was puzzling.

If all those quests are the god’s will, does the god simply want to give me trials? I still couldn’t know.

I spread out the notebook and pondered for a while longer, but nothing else came to mind. For now, it seemed I could wrap things up with this.

Come to think of it, the first things I wrote in the notebook Min Joo-hyuk gave me were like this. I felt a bit sorry. Well, I didn’t draw pictures, but I was using it meaningfully in my own way…

“Seon Yi-han.”

A voice came from right beside me. Startled, I slammed the notebook shut.

I turned my head toward where the voice came from. Looking outside through the open window, Min Joo-hyuk was floating in midair. Right next to me, at that.

“Why, are you, here?”

My words came out broken. Did he see what I just wrote? I didn’t intend to be found out already.

Min Joo-hyuk blinked his eyes wide, then grinned. Then, pressing and releasing my forehead with his fingertip, he opened his mouth.

“What, why so surprised. Were you thinking of me or something.”

His voice was nonchalant. Fortunately, he probably didn’t see. I naturally put the notebook inside my clothes. Min Joo-hyuk, looking at me sitting on the windowsill with a clean face, continued.

“What were you doing?”

“Just. What about you?”

Why on earth was he floating in midair on the second floor? Cool air seemed to be enveloping Min Joo-hyuk’s surroundings. My hair fluttered slightly in the thin breeze blowing through the summer heat.

“Me too, just. Can I come in?”

Before I could answer, Min Joo-hyuk lightly hopped over the windowsill and entered the room. Stunned by the sudden situation, I blankly stared at him. Min Joo-hyuk sat on the chair opposite me.

“We’re departing right away tomorrow. So I came to tell you.”

Ah, that was it. I nodded.

“We’re going to a village near the valley.”

“A village?”

Raen had said that too.

– There’s one village that didn’t reply. We’ll go there first.

If something big had happened, there would have been at least some contact, but he said there was no response at all. So he explained that we’d stop by that village first.

Min Joo-hyuk’s voice continued.

“Yeah. You said you only lived at the Temple until now. So you might feel a bit uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable with what?”

“Suddenly meeting many people.”

“…Are there many people?”

I didn’t really like being in places crowded with people. In the midst of echoing footsteps and various voices, my existence seemed to gradually become faint and buried. It felt like I would be forgotten. That I was there. Like I would gradually become transparent and disappear.

In front of me, Min Joo-hyuk’s expression stiffened for a moment. Then he reached out and roughly tousled my hair.

“No. Don’t worry. It’s a small village. There aren’t that many people, but just in case.”

“Then it’s okay.”

“That’s a relief. But if it’s hard, tell me. I’ll be by your side.”

Min Joo-hyuk quietly met my gaze. Only after I nodded did he continue.

“We might not be able to return to Ledeo until the end of this year.”

“That busy?”

“Yeah. There are quite a few places we need to check. Seems like we’ll be moving continuously.”

Min Joo-hyuk slightly wiggled his fingers toward me. A cool breeze seeped through the hot air touching my skin. That wind, like a whirlwind centered around me, swirled and coolly enveloped my body.

Min Joo-hyuk, who had hesitated for a moment, opened his mouth with a cautious expression.

“So if there are many places where Rifts open, there will likely be many injuries.”

“We should be careful.”

“I’m always careful. But when dealing with Monsters, it’s inevitable to end up in poor condition one way or another.”

That seemed plausible. Since we had to face them with few people from the start. Moreover, if Monsters seeped elsewhere, the situation would have become more difficult.

Everyone seemed to be devising strategies considering various scenarios. But depending on the region, if the Monsters’ attack patterns changed, it wouldn’t be easy to grasp all possible cases.

“In the Forest of the Fallen Night, thanks to you, we could finish several times faster. I’m grateful for that.”

Min Joo-hyuk, who had briefly clenched and then relaxed his fist, continued in a voice devoid of playfulness.

“But we, we need to look far ahead. Don’t overdo it. Even if what you use is divine power, there might be a price to pay in some way.”

“There’s no price like that. I know that.”

Here, I needed to speak firmly. I didn’t expect him to still think that way even after I said that.

Min Joo-hyuk looked at me with somehow wavering eyes. It was a gaze that seemed to scan my entire body starting from my fingertips. Min Joo-hyuk spoke at an uncharacteristically slow pace.

“…Then you, you’ve never paid a price even once until now?”

“Yeah. Really, never once.”

“Even when at the Temple?”

“Why the Temple all of a sudden? Not there either.”

“……”

Min Joo-hyuk, who had paused briefly, flicked his fingers sharply. The wind that had been coolly enveloping me since earlier abruptly cut off. The hair that had been tickling my forehead as it fluttered settled back down.

Min Joo-hyuk had already regained a smile at the corner of his mouth.

“Not too hot?”

It was a light voice. No, suddenly? The topic change is too fast.

“Didn’t you just dispel the magic?”

“So, are you hot?”

“Not particularly. Why?”

Min Joo-hyuk deeply bowed his head and exhaled heavily. I thought I faintly heard a voice saying, ‘This isn’t easy.’ After being like that for a moment, Min Joo-hyuk soon sharply raised his head again.

“I’m hot.”

Of course, that was possible. But there wasn’t really anything I could do. Nodding, I quietly looked at Min Joo-hyuk.

“Seon Yi-han, seeing you bundled up so tightly like that makes me feel like I can’t even breathe.”

Min Joo-hyuk abruptly stood up from his seat and strode over to me. Then he looked down at me sitting on the windowsill. It seemed strength entered the hand gripping my shoulder. Veins were visible on the back of his hand.

“Your clothes, want to take them off?”

It was an earnest voice. Am I hearing correctly right now?