Chapter 596: Eraser in my Head (3)
It was only natural to be careful.
‘Why is she doing this? She’s making me feel sorry…’
Cho Hyejin’s expression was a mess.
That was the first time she cried that hard after Kim Hyunsung dumped her at the speed of light.
She didn’t make a sound, but her lips and eyes kept trembling.
Although she hurriedly covered her face as if she was embarra.s.sed, through her shaky shoulders, I knew that Cho Hyejin’s tear glands hadn’t dried up yet.
‘I mean, why are you crying? Why are you taking this that seriously? You’ve never been the type to react like this.‘
I made up such a scenario because I thought it wouldn’t have a bad effect.
I expected Cho Hyejin to take it seriously, but I didn’t think she would have that kind of response.
Naturally, I felt a bit guilty. Who would’ve known that she would burst into tears at the shallowly made-up false information I threw?
“…”
The more time pa.s.sed, the more it became embarra.s.sing. The place we were at had become uncomfortable, considering the silence around us was turning more and more solemn.
I wouldn’t have been embarra.s.sed if it were anyone else, but as it was Cho Hyejin, I began to feel more awkward. When I broke the long silence, she replied almost immediately.
“Are you crying?”
“…”
“Are you really?”
“Who said I am?”
“You cried. You still are.”
“I didn’t cry. I’m not crying.”
“It seems to me that you’re crying.”
“I didn’t cry. Why do you keep doing that?! I really didn’t cry. I didn’t cry. I didn’t!”
“Ah… okay.”
“And… And is it really that important in this situation? How can you joke around like this? Did you really even have to ask me?”
“No…”
“I already knew that you were slow, but I didn’t know it was this much. Do you want to joke in this situation right now? How can you laugh? How can you smile? Losing your memory? Your mind eroding? How could you say nothing even knowing that? Still… Still, I consider you as a friend… sniff…”
“…”
“How could you not say anything to me… and stay still… how… how did you handle it on your own? Why…”
‘Don’t make the atmosphere serious again. You’re making it awkward and making me feel sorry.’
I didn’t know whether I should pat her shoulder or hug her. I thought about it for a moment and felt as if I should just try to avoid both options. She wouldn’t like it anyway.
For the time being, it was best to keep quiet until her emotions had subsided. It seemed that the atmosphere would get worse if I provoked her or tried to fix it in the first place.
As expected, just after a little while, she managed to stop the tears from flowing.
Her nose and eyes were red, and as if she hadn’t calmed down yet, she was trembling a bit, but she didn’t have a problem with casual conversations anymore. She seemed to be more embarra.s.sed than me from earlier, as if she knew that she showed a shameful reaction.
The usual Cho Hyejin would probably cringe if she remembered what happened just then.
It was a scene that I wasn’t used to seeing.
Well, actually, it wasn’t that unpleasant.
‘Whew, our Hyejin was thinking about me this much.’
I suppressed my desire to raise my thumbs at her.
‘Did you get that sad? Coochy-coo. Did I make you cry?’
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I think it’s better to refrain from having unpleasant thoughts with an unpleasant face, Vice Guild Master.”
“You don’t have to talk like that. I appreciate that you reacted like that after hearing that your friend is sick.”
“…”
“…”
“Sigh…”
“…”
“How long has it been?”
In response to her reaction that seemed more serious than expected, I wanted to take back everything I said earlier but telling her, ‘it was actually just a joke,’ but I couldn’t just say that.
My face wasn’t thick enough to bring out those words, considering the atmosphere we were in.
‘It would be better to make sure n.o.body finds out.’
Wouldn’t it become true if I weren’t caught? As I thought of the immutable laws used everywhere, I heard her voice again, forcing me to reply carefully.
“Are you not going to answer me?”
“Well, I have nothing to say. It’s exactly as what you heard before. I realized it when I went to visit Benignore for treatment. Of course, there wasn’t anything wrong at that time. Although all of my memories of what happened before have disappeared… I thought that… it wasn’t such a big deal. But not everything went as smoothly as I thought.”
“…”
“As time pa.s.sed, bit by bit, more symptoms appeared. Still, it wasn’t something to worry about. It was just either I couldn’t remember what just happened or where the office was located… and there were times when I got lost in s.p.a.ce for a moment. It isn’t enough to interfere with my daily life so far.”
“Does that make sen…”
“It can’t be stopped anyway. Even if it could, I can no longer get treatment at this point.”
“There must be some way. Don’t give up just because Benignore said that.”
“I haven’t given up. Does it really seem like I’ve surrendered? You know me. I just think there’s something more important right now than my state. Honestly, I’m not uneasy at all, but I still think about ??what to do if the knowledge in my head disappears. Objectively speaking, this place is more important than my head at this point. However, if the incoming threat can’t be stopped, we’ll all die either way… How would I be able to lie down and rest comfortably with that in mind? Stop worrying about me. I’ll think about what to do about my state after everything’s been cleared up.
“Who said I was worried…?”
“And I’ll say it again. Please keep this a secret from Hyunsung and the other guild members.”
“That’s…”
“Please. You seem to have gotten a word from Hyunsung… What exactly did he…”
“He said that there are a few situations in which he got suspicious. I’m not certain, but he thinks you’ve become worse recently… He told me maybe you lost your memory or are having a mental problem.”
‘Right, I knew it.’
“I also had a few things that bothered me…”
“When you get back, please tell him that he seems to have misunderstood, that there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Why are you trying to hide it?”
“Well, it’s not a good thing for me to be talking about it all over the place. It’s something that I can keep to myself. I can take care of myself. I don’t want anyone to be unnecessarily worried about and sympathizing with me.”
“It would be better for everyone to know, though. Everyone needs to know. They must, Vice Guild Master.”
‘No, they don’t. Only you should know this. That’s the best option. If you told the entire neighborhood about this, the reason I brought this up would be nullified.’
“It’s because I feel like I’m going to be stressed out. It’s something they’ll find out about naturally anyway. I don’t want to be burdened by things outside of work for the time being. Please keep it to yourself. Thank you very much.”
“…”
“…”
‘No, why are you crying again?’
She suddenly lowered her head again. Who would have known that she could be so sensitive?
‘Yes, cry as much as you want, Hyejin. Cry and show your innocence to your heart’s content.’
“For… now, I’ll do that. Yes. For now, anyway. However, I do not agree with your words. You must tell them someday. I know that kind of interest wouldn’t be pleasing, but… you can’t fool them that long. Until then, I… I will help. In many ways.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to be very grateful. Yes… You don’t need to be grateful. Rather, I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. Just move on. Oh, keep in mind that I’ll be stuck here a little after the research in this area is over.”
“Yes… Okay. Okay…”
“Thank you.”
Once again, I saw Cho Hyejin crying as if her bank had been robbed.
It was awkward watching her wipe her tears with her left hand, but I was filled with a warm thought stating that I was doing a necessary task for a smooth study. Although my conscience felt guilty, my reasoning was cheering, saying that it would be more comfortable for me in the future.
‘Ah, still, I’ll keep feeling sorry about this.’
However, just because I was sorry, it didn’t mean I could keep silent about that suspicion.
I had to choose. Naturally, I picked the best one out of all the options.
I didn’t think they’d believe me if I just said, “Oh, nothing happened, so please leave me alone.”
Not only Cho Hyejin, but Kim Hyunsung as well.
Rather, it would be more believable if Cho Hyejin conveyed my thoughts to Kim Hyunsung.
Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to earn time steadily than to spend time constantly making excuses?
“Now, stop crying.”
‘I need to create a more private s.p.a.ce.’
I felt bad that I kept increasing the distance between us, but if Kim Hyunsung learned of the place we were in, I didn’t want to even imagine how he would react. Since it was official that there were more than a couple of things we had to get, I had to do it more professionally than before.
No matter how much I asked the incompetent Benignore and Elune trash, no good news seemed to come out lately.
Wasn’t it natural that that was the only place I could lean on? I wanted to bring in Belial, but many conditions had to be met in order for Belial, who made a contract with Beningore, to be summoned to our world.
At best, the hole Benignore was blocking could be re-stretched by Belial, so that was also something I had to watch out for…
Since the situation above was complicated, I thought that down in the hideout would be inevitably more complicated.
When I took a seat and looked around the things I hadn’t seen before in earnest, I nodded.
‘This won’t turn out bad if I just keep digging.’
Of course, I didn’t think that the Homunculi or Chimeras would be able to fill the vacancy of the hero chosen by the Holy Sword. In particular, chimeras were only Heroic-grade, or at best, it was only possible to get up to a Legendary rating.
Of course, it would be better than nothing, but due to its nature, there were many problems in using it actively, and there were differences in quality itself.
‘There is also a problem with recognition…’
In the first place, it wasn’t just black magic that had served as their roots, but their appearance itself would make it difficult for them to fight with the light.
Basically, some things about the monster’s physique bothered me…
‘No, wouldn’t it turn out okay if I change the appearance?’
It was correct to use it all if I could. I wasn’t in a position to be picky about it. If I didn’t have the holy sword, then I would bring a magic sword and use it…
“Huh?”
It felt like something struck through my head like a thunderbolt.
As if it had been waiting for a long time, a voice began to come into my mind.
[Is that all you need?]