Chapter 255: Medsang’s Myu (5)
“Noah, to me, you are always real. It’s not about acknowledgment or anything—I can’t even comprehend the idea of you being fake in the first place.”
As if just because I said, Oh, that person’s a fake, they would suddenly become one. Sigma was… well, a bit ambiguous. I wasn’t entirely sure.
“And besides, Noah…”
I stopped myself before saying, There’s no way you’d want to stay here. If this weren’t a world that had already fallen, then… between Noah and Myu, which one was truly better? It wasn’t for me to decide, but Noah had clearly said he was envious.
I turned to look at Noah. He was staring at Sigma with a slightly hardened expression.
“What do you mean I might be able to stay here?”
“It’s exactly as I said. If you covet another’s place, then just take it. The current Myu is already you.”
At Sigma’s words, implying there was no harm in trying, Noah’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I’m not the real Myu.”
“And so what? It’s not like I’m asking you to do something impossible. You’re already sitting in that seat. How childish.”
Sigma’s openly disdainful expression made Noah’s face turn ice-cold. This was dangerous. Sigma’s behavior reminded me of someone. Liette, perhaps.
“You really do only resemble him in appearance, Hunter Yujin. The Sesung Guild Leader is much better.”
“There it is again—Seong Hyunjae. If I were truly similar to him, your compliment would probably disgust me. How unfortunate for you.”
“Enough, Sigma!”
He was blatantly picking a fight. Why was he acting like this toward Noah? Was he upset about being forcibly taken? …Well, I supposed that was understandable. Maybe he also held grudges for a long time.
“If he’s not the Sesung Guild Leader, then there’s no reason to keep him here, is there?”
Noah’s voice turned cold.
Wait.
“There’s a patient here!”
Surely, he wasn’t thinking of fighting here. Noah raised a hand slightly as if to reassure me. At the same time, Sigma pulled out his chains.
Crash!
Golden chains embedded themselves into both walls of the hospital room. The moment Sigma gripped the taut chains, a circular symbol appeared beneath his feet. Beyond the glowing circle, the surface of an unknown body of water rippled. A spatial teleportation portal.
If Sigma hadn’t anticipated the attack, lacking a flight skill, he would have been helplessly dropped somewhere else.
“So, you can’t relocate someone without physically touching them.”
Sigma remarked as he lightly vaulted onto the chains like a gymnast. Noah erased the portal, his brows slightly raised.
“I was trying to send you off unharmed. Either way, you cannot use combat skills within this vessel. Please mind your words and actions.”
“Indeed, right now, I am weaker than you. So, C-rank.”
With a soft clink, Sigma withdrew his chains and stepped down. Then, he sidled up right next to me, his golden eyes narrowing in amusement.
“Protect me.”
…Excuse me?
“What nonsense are you spouting to Hunter Yujin!”
“Nonsense? The C-rank himself offered to protect me first.”
At Sigma’s words, Noah’s expression twisted.
“That’s a lie, isn’t it? Tell me it’s not true.”
“Well, technically, it is…”
I had said to let me protect him. But I didn’t expect him to actually ask for it. Even if his combat skills were sealed, his stats were still SS-rank, weren’t they?
“Besides, C-rank belongs to me. That was the contract.”
“Y-Yujin?”
“…That’s technically not wrong either. I didn’t explain the dungeon strategy in detail earlier, but Sigma has to stay safe. That’s all. We need him to escape, so I have to protect him.”
“You said you’d take responsibility. Are you already going back on your word?”
“No, that’s not—just get away from me for a second!”
I pushed Sigma aside. Even though he was obviously much stronger than me, he moved away without resistance and simply stared at me. Noah also looked at me with a mix of frustration and betrayal.
“…So, as long as he stays alive, that’s enough?”
“As long as he stays alive.”
That voice didn’t belong to me.
It was Yuhyun’s.
At some point, my brother had woken up and was now resting his chin on my shoulder.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but…”
“Yuhyun, are you okay? They said they put you to sleep on purpose.”
“Iryn woke me up. …And what the hell is this?”
He reached to pull out the IV needle, and I quickly stopped him. After explaining that it was a neutralizing agent, he frowned but didn’t remove it.
“So, if you don’t like it, you can attack him as much as you want.”
My little brother just instigated a fight. He even wrapped his arms around me to keep me from interfering.
Wait, were they actually going to fight?
More importantly, we needed all the manpower we could get. Losing an SS-rank in this situation would be a huge setback.
“…I have no intention of attacking. I was merely trying to remove him from the premises.”
“Noah, I’m really sorry, but I think we have to keep Sigma nearby.”
“Hunter Yujin, why are you apologizing? And honestly… what he said wasn’t entirely wrong. Even now, I can’t even properly hold on to the position I took—I feel unstable.”
“…What? No, don’t listen to him! The real Myu was someone else, so of course, you’d feel uncomfortable. That’s normal. You’re the one who’s normal, Noah.”
Sigma was just being shameless.
Noah gave a bitter smile, glancing at Sigma before turning back to me.
“Now that Hunter Han Yuhyun is awake, you should eat first. I heard you haven’t had a proper meal since yesterday. The combat personnel from Achates and Lanchea are all aboard the ship. The injured are currently receiving treatment.”
So, he had taken care of everyone else, too.
I got up and walked over to Noah, who was about to leave the hospital room ahead of me.
“Noah, I would never think that there’s anything wrong with you. You’re truly a good person. At least, to me, that’s an undeniable fact. Yu Myungwoo and the research team probably feel the same way.”
“…Thank you.”
Noah spoke softly. He was smiling, but it wasn’t exactly a bright expression.
“But I’m not actually a good person. It’s just that you are a good person, Hunter Yujin, which is why you think that about me. You even tolerate my childishness.”
“No, that’s not true! Noah, you’ve done so much for me. No relationship works if one side just keeps giving without receiving. It might last for a little while, but it would wear you out and become exhausting. The reason I can do this is because you’re a good person, too.”
“We should help Hunter Han Yuhyun, shouldn’t we?”
At Noah’s words, I instinctively turned around. Yuhyun had gotten out of bed and was staring at the IV fluid hanging beside him.
He was just going to pull that out? Weren’t there portable IV stands around? It seemed like he had never been hospitalized before.
“This way. The dining hall is here.”
While I hesitated, Noah stepped out of the hospital room.
I was worried about him, but I had no choice but to turn my attention to Yuhyun. I grabbed an IV stand from the corner and wheeled it over to him before heading out together. Sigma followed us quietly.
“You’re both up!”
Moon Hyunah was already in the dining hall.
Rather than a communal mess hall, the space looked more like a small high-end restaurant. There was one long dining table, two smaller individual tables, and a chef waiting in the open kitchen. The decorations around the room were also luxurious.
“The food here is pretty good.”
Moon Hyunah casually poured herself a glass of wine as she spoke. She didn’t look like she had been captured—she seemed more like an invited guest. Her relaxed demeanor was enviable.
“Yuhyun, sit down. What do you want to eat? Do you think you can eat?”
Since the kitchen was open, I could ask them to make something fresh for him. But my brother shook his head.
“I’m fine. You must be tired, too. I’ll just eat whatever is available.”
Should I feed him myself since I had poison resistance? Not that I thought Noah would actually pull something like that, but Yuhyun might still be uneasy.
Noah and Sigma also took their seats. The head chef came out to take our orders personally.
“The urgent crisis has been dealt with, but what now? We can’t just keep guarding the mana hole forever.”
Moon Hyunah spoke after dismissing the other people in the dining hall.
She was right. We couldn’t stay here indefinitely.
“We need to find Yerim and Peace, and we still have to install the remaining discs.”
I explained the discs to Noah, including my assumption that the installation locations were likely the cities we had each been staying in.
“Medsang is quite far from here. We arrived in just one day, but that was because we used spatial teleportation along the way. My space travel skill is high-level, but I can’t perform long-range teleportation while maintaining a connection to the mana hole.”
Noah explained that if he disconnected from the mana hole, the mana consumption would be far too high.
“You mentioned that Medsang’s mana hole is connected. Can’t we enter through there?”
“Well… Living beings with both mana and physical mass are different. I’m not sure what would happen. The passage linked to the mana hole wasn’t created by me.”
Noah muttered softly that he was using something Myu had originally set up. He also admitted that his control over his spatial teleportation skill was still unrefined.
“If you master it properly, it’ll be incredibly useful.”
Yuhyun, who was eating the steak I had cut for him, looked at Noah.
“It would be excellent for various applications. Especially since Hunter Noah can use poison, it could allow for direct injection into an opponent’s body.”
Was my brother a little envious?
Still, he was right. Spatial teleportation was an extremely useful ability. It could be great for support, but if combined with combat skills, it would be devastating.
At Yuhyun’s words, Noah lowered his gaze to the table.
“To be honest, that would be too difficult. It’s far beyond my ability. I think it’s also tied to Myu’s unique traits.”
“Traits?”
“Yes.”
When I asked, Noah nodded.
“According to rumors, Myu’s ancestors included a spirit.”
— That’s right, a spirit!
Iryn suddenly popped out, exclaiming.
— Iryn felt it too! There are other spirits in this world!
“Really? What kind of spirit?”
— Probably water. There doesn’t seem to be fire. The mana hole also had a strong water energy. But this world is spirit-friendly, so it was helpful for Iryn, too!
A water spirit, huh. That immediately made me think of Yerim.
Would it be possible to take a spirit back with us? Even just having Iryn was incredibly helpful—Yerim would definitely benefit from one, too.
“…So, if we return to our original world, I don’t think I’ll be able to use spatial teleportation.”
Noah’s voice was unusually uncertain, and it stung to hear.
Yuhyun looked like he was about to say something sharp, so I quickly stopped him.
Noah had already received more than enough harsh words.
Honestly, I wanted him to at least be able to enjoy some peace while he was here as Myu.
But he kept drawing the line himself, insisting that this wasn’t truly who he was.
It was painful to watch.
He should have much more confidence. He had both the qualifications and the ability.
“Then, wouldn’t it be best for you to go install the disc first, Hyung? Leave this place to us.”
Moon Hyunah emptied her glass as she spoke.
“Lanchea is close.”
She mentioned that it would only take a few hours by helicopter. The real problem was Medsang and the remaining two locations.
Noah, who had been looking down, lifted his gaze and spoke in a calm tone.
“I still think it would be best to give up on Achates. In its current state, the city can’t function properly anyway.”
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but let’s prioritize moving Achates’ citizens to Lanchea. We can’t do anything about the mana hole’s anomalies right now. Luckily, Lanchea has the capacity to accept refugees.”
As she said that, Moon Hyunah glanced at Sigma. I also turned my gaze toward him.
The monsters emerging from the mana hole—this had to be connected to Sigma. After all, the ones being targeted were him.
Sigma, who had been meticulously peeling the skin off a vegetable resembling roasted pumpkin with a knife, looked up at us as if to say What?
Would he also remove the crust from his bread before eating it? I kind of wanted to test that.
“What do you think, Hyung? If we take him to Lanchea, will monsters start popping out of the mana hole there too, or not?”
“I’d rather not experiment. Achates is enough.”
If Lanchea got turned upside down too, what would happen to the innocent citizens? Even if this world wasn’t real, I had no desire to witness another disaster.
“Hunter Noah, can you toss him somewhere far outside the city for a while?”
At Moon Hyunah’s words, Sigma popped a piece of the vegetable into his mouth with a slightly sulky expression. He ate a balanced diet, at least. I should make sure Yuhyun eats his vegetables too. Were there any fruits around?
“I can transport him up to half a day’s distance from here. Should I send him now?”
“Let him eat first. This is just an experiment, so it doesn’t break the contract, right? You get that, don’t you?”
“…Can Myu really be trusted?”
“I trust him far more than I trust you, Sigma. And Noah.”
“Yes?”
“When you’re adjusting Yuhyun’s engraving, would it be possible for me to receive one as well?”
“You can, but you said this is your real body, didn’t you, Hunter Yujin? Once we return, you won’t be able to modify or remove it. The mana hole, let alone the technology, doesn’t exist there yet.”
“I don’t intend to erase it.”
Glancing at Yuhyun, I continued speaking.
“I heard there’s an engraving that spans the entire spine, which acts as a primary mana conduit. I’d like to receive that procedure.”
–TL Notes–
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