Chapter 256: Tea Time
“No? Yujin!”
Noah was so startled that he jumped up from his seat. Even Sigma stopped using his fork. On the other hand, Yuhyun and Moon Hyunah looked puzzled, as if they didn’t quite understand.
“You said you didn’t want to be imprinted.”
“I meant the imprint that connects to you. Noah, do you know about that imprint?”
“…Yes. Not entirely, but in Medsang, about one-third of it is commonly performed. I also have an imprint engraved from the back of my neck to between my shoulder blades. But for ordinary people, that’s the limit. Even with healing-type guards, anything beyond that becomes life-threatening.”
“Hyung!”
Yuhyun shouted in reproach, and Moon Hyunah also frowned.
“You should take better care of yourself, Chief Han. Your little brother is worried.”
“I have extra lives, so I can afford to do this. Yuhyun, the effect applies even when I go outside. It would be a waste to miss this opportunity. Even if it puts a strain on my body now, if my magic control improves, I could be safer in the long run. My skill utilization will also increase, and I might even be able to raise my skill rank. With my stats, increasing a high-level skill rank is practically impossible otherwise.”
If a skill was used repeatedly and one became proficient in it, its rank would rise. However, with my pitiful magic stat, even getting used to an intermediate-level skill was nearly impossible. I simply couldn’t properly perceive the skill’s movements or the flow of mana.
“If my stealth skill rises by just one more rank, it’ll be much easier to escape in an emergency.”
“Even so…”
Yuhyun still looked dissatisfied as he turned to Noah.
“Is it very dangerous? Are there any side effects?”
“It’s definitely safe up to one-third. Some Awakened with self-recovery skills have successfully imprinted up to the middle of their backs. Beyond that, Medsang has never attempted it before. Yujin, even just one-third would be effective. Your magic control ability would rise to about D-rank.”
D-rank, huh. That was high for me. But still—
“Yuhyun, just this once, let me be stubborn. This will really be the last time.”
Even after deciding to get the imprint, I had hesitated multiple times. Above all, I considered stopping for my brother’s sake. I had also wavered because of what Iryn had said when he came to protect me, not Yuhyun.
But at the same time, I wanted more power to protect myself. To ensure my safety for a longer future.
After some more back and forth, we finally decided to proceed with the imprinting, but only up to my waist, not the full extent. I also set a condition—only one extra life would be used.
“The flow of mana is maintained for an average of 30 minutes after death. If the mana flow stops, the procedure becomes impossible. So, if something happens to you, Yujin, I will finish the procedure within 20 minutes. Even if the imprint isn’t completed as much as you wanted.”
“I’ll just have to hope my body holds out as long as possible.”
The resurrection was set to occur between 25 to 30 minutes after death.
Preparations for the imprinting procedure began immediately. After anesthesia was administered and I lost consciousness, some time passed.
“This is a place I believe visiting once should be enough.”
As my darkened vision faintly brightened, a familiar face came into view. Seong Hyunjae was looking down at me.
A gloved hand was extended toward me. After hesitating for a moment, I took it and stood up.
“I must have died. Do I end up here every time I die?”
“Since Han Yujin’s death undergoes systematic processing, technically, I am the one who entered this place.”
Now that I thought about it, last time, he couldn’t appear until I summoned him. Was it different this time? My gaze naturally landed on his missing arm. He had said he lost it back then.
“Your eyes are fine? You didn’t just throw them in for no reason this time, did you?”
I waved my hand in front of Seong Hyunjae’s face. His pair of golden eyes followed the movement. They seemed fine, but knowing him, he could easily be pretending.
“Close one eye. How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Two.”
“The other eye.”
“Five.”
Fortunately, they seemed intact. Hopefully, he hadn’t lost anything else. Two ears, one remaining arm, both legs still there, and since he was speaking fine, his tongue should be intact too. I circled around him, checking, and Seong Hyunjae looked at me with a slightly perplexed expression. A rare look for him.
“The one who should be worried right now is not me, but you, Han Yujin.”
“I’m perfectly fine. Even if this isn’t my real body, you’re using it right now, so take better care of it. You’re a grown man—why can’t you take care of your own body?”
“I could say the same to you.”
Seong Hyunjae turned me around and held me in place. His hand touched my back, where the imprinting procedure had already begun.
“The imprint has already been engraved up to here.”
It was near my heart. I suddenly recalled something from before.
“Oh, right. You had a reservation for that spot, didn’t you? Sorry about that. Should I ask if physical damage to the imprint is okay?”
Seong Hyunjae had probably wanted me to raise a monster mount for him. Instead of answering, he withdrew his hand. At the same time, the surrounding scenery changed. The empty space transformed into a garden where a gentle breeze blew. A table draped with wisteria flowers held a tea set. One by one, purple blossoms drifted down.
“Please, have a seat.”
Seong Hyunjae said as he politely pulled out a chair.
“…What is this all of a sudden?”
“I thought I’d serve you some tea.”
“Can I even drink in this state?”
“It’s similar to eating in a dream.”
I guess that made sense. Though I was wary of his sudden hospitality, I still sat down. Seong Hyunjae, standing beside the table, lifted a teapot. As he poured, a soft fragrance spread through the air. I hadn’t drunk much tea before. Maybe yuzu tea, adlay tea, or barley tea, but this was undoubtedly an expensive kind.
“If you didn’t like me getting an imprint, you could have sent me a quest instead. I could have avoided the area around my heart.”
“I would have, if I thought you’d listen.”
Seong Hyunjae set the teacup down in front of me. He probably never had to serve anyone before, yet his movements were precise. Though I found the tea unfamiliar, the scent was enticing, so I took a sip.
“…It’s, uh, good.”
“You can be honest.”
“…Let’s just say it tastes like effort.”
What the hell was this? It had a strange taste. The aroma was nice, and the color was beautiful, but— I stared at the tea and took another sip. Ugh. As I grimaced, Seong Hyunjae handed me a pastry. When I took a bite, it melted on my tongue. The lingering odd taste of the tea mixed with its rich aroma, making the pastry feel even softer and sweeter.
“This is delicious, but it’s too sweet.”
“Then try drinking the tea again.”
Would it taste better together? I picked up the cup and took a sip—
“Ugh! It’s even worse!”
Seong Hyunjae laughed. I quickly grabbed another pastry and stuffed it into my mouth. Wow, this was really good.
“Can’t you send a few of these through a quest? I want to give some to the kids.”
“I can. But eaten alone, they’ll taste different.”
So I had to cleanse my palate with that weird tea to experience this taste? I considered drinking the tea again but gave up. If it tasted any stranger than before, I might actually spit it out.
“I think I’ll stop torturing my taste buds here.”
“That’s a relief.”
Seong Hyunjae handed me another pastry and took a seat across from me. The pastries were just fine. No need to suffer unnecessarily when I could enjoy these.
“Wait a minute, is this your way of telling me not to throw myself into danger for rewards?”
“It’s just a break until you wake up.”
“I doubt that.”
I eyed him suspiciously as he sipped his tea. He was disgustingly elegant. If he were someone I had only seen on TV and never met in real life, I might have been genuinely impressed.
“I really did think it through this time. It wasn’t an easy decision to put myself at risk. And I plan to avoid doing this in the future as much as possible.”
“Even if it means your little brother will be in danger?”
I paused before answering.
“Apparently, Yuhyun can only be happy if I’m here.”
“Of course.”
“I just wanted my brother to be safe.”
I never wanted him to risk himself for me again… or to leave me behind. But in the end—
“Happiness is more important, isn’t it?”
If the same thing happened again, I wouldn’t be able to bear it. I’d rather take his place. I wanted to tell him not to shield me, that if he died for me, I wouldn’t be able to live either. I wanted to make him promise, even if it was practically a threat.
But how could I? Hunter Noah’s words kept echoing in my head. She said she didn’t know. I wanted to keep not knowing, too. Why my brother had been smiling back then…
“In any case, I should at least live longer than my brother. …How did we end up on this topic? Anyway, I should take better care of myself. S-Classes probably have long lifespans, so that’s another thing to worry about. Maybe I should start managing my health.”
“The tea has gone cold.”
Huh? It was still warm. He poured a fresh cup into a new teacup. This one had a lighter aroma. It wasn’t bitter at all—slightly nutty and easy to drink. It kind of reminded me of barley tea, but probably something fancier.
“You’re an S-Class too, Seong Hyunjae. Take care of yourself. You should live a long time.”
“I’ll make sure to outlive you, Han Yujin.”
“That’s a given.”
The warmth spreading through my body felt nice. But there wasn’t much time left, and I had wasted it talking about trivial things. There were so many things I wanted to ask Seong Hyunjae when we met again.
“About Sigma… is he really real now? You’re the one who sent that quest, right?”
“You’re the one who acknowledged him as real, Han Yujin. I did send the quest, but I can’t say much about him.”
“…Does it even make sense that he becomes real just because I acknowledge him?”
“What’s clear is that this world is trying to erase him. This is only the beginning.”
…The beginning, and monsters were already swarming? Wasn’t this difficulty way too high?
“If Sigma dies, what happens? We won’t be stuck forever because of a failed conquest, right?”
“As long as all the disks are installed, you’ll be able to escape. However—”
Seong Hyunjae closed his mouth and smiled silently. So, this was something he couldn’t talk about right now. Information that just turned into □ and disappeared.
“It’s my responsibility, so I won’t give up easily, but… is it that important? Sigma’s issue, I mean.”
“Usually, special main quests come with equally special and significant rewards.”
The reward was just a dungeon conquest key, but was there some hidden bonus reward as well?
“Is there anything else you can tell me—”
Rumble. Suddenly, the surroundings trembled. Above the bright blue sky, a massive crack split open with a deafening sound. Seong Hyunjae lifted his gaze to look at it.
“It’s starting to move.”
“What is?”
“This world also holds information on the Unfilial Children and the Filial Duty Addicts. And among them—”
Crack, crash! The crack widened even further until pieces of the sky itself began to shatter and fall. As shards rained down in all directions, including above me, Seong Hyunjae casually removed his coat and swung it lightly. The countless fragments were swept away. The coat landed over my head.
“If I may offer advice, go find the little lady.”
“Yerim?”
“She is currently the strongest Awakened in this world.”
Yerim? My Yerim was already strong, but to be called the strongest? And from Seong Hyunjae, of all people?
Boom!
The hole in the sky widened even further. Beyond the falling azure shards, darkness rippled. It was night. A night sky with a soft moonlight seeping through.
[So, you were here, system □□□□□□□□□□□.]
A low voice resonated from beyond. Was it the Unfilial Children or a Filial Duty Addict? The oppressive aura pouring through the rift in the sky made my body tremble instinctively.
“I hope this will be our last meeting in this place.”
Seong Hyunjae poured tea into an empty cup—then vanished. The broken sky, the garden, all of it dissolved in an instant, leaving only the teacup in my hand, the chair, and his coat.
I sat there in a daze for a moment before taking a sip of tea. It was still warm.
“…What the hell am I even doing here?”
He’d be fine, right? That guy. Judging by what he said, it seemed he had taken control of one of the two factions. Seriously, he always acted on his own. He had already lost an arm—was he really okay? Even if it wasn’t his real body and he wouldn’t die, I couldn’t completely shake off my concern.
In the silence, I sipped my tea. Being alone felt lonely. When could I go back?
Even after the tea had completely cooled, some more time passed before the scenery around me finally changed. It was the imprinting procedure room I had seen before being anesthetized…
“They’ve approached within 500 meters!”
“Prepare to move at high speed again.”
“Yes, sir!”
But there were new faces I hadn’t seen before. Medsang guards in uniforms were moving busily, and Noah stood tall among them. Yuhyun, seemingly having finished modifying the imprint, sat right beside me in his medical gown. Even though he knew I would come back, his expression was dark.
I immediately pressed the resurrection message.
“What the—”
“Hyung!”
Before I could even finish speaking, my body froze. A chill ran down my spine. I wasn’t completely unable to sense mana, but right now, I could feel every single flow with overwhelming clarity. Not just within my body— even the air around me felt heavy, like I was drowning. Or trapped inside a typhoon.
Especially around Noah—his mana was surging violently.
“Are you okay?”
“This feels… weird.”
I’d probably get used to it eventually. Wow, I could sense the presence of the surrounding guards even without looking. No wonder S-Classes were so sensitive. I let Yuhyun support me as I sat up.
“What’s going on?”
“A SSS-class monster appeared at the Achates Mana Hall.”
“What?”
“If we fought it head-on, winning would be one thing, but Achates City would be completely destroyed. So we evacuated immediately, and as you can see—”
Yuhyun gestured toward a large monitor set up to the side. On the screen, a massive figure, too large to fully fit within the frame, was moving.
“It’s following us obediently for now, so we’re trying to lure it as far away as possible.”
An SSS-class monster… With multiple SS-class guards, they could fight it, but it would still be a challenge. Was this what Seong Hyunjae meant when he said this was just the beginning? No way… was an L-class going to show up next?
“Noah, Hyunah!”
At my call, the two turned to look at me.
“Where is Yerim most likely to be right now?”
Guess I should follow that advice and go find her. …She wouldn’t reject me again, right?
–TL Notes–
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