Chapter 781: Waves and Waves (1)
The sky and the sea flipped over, then came crashing down again, deep and heavy. Yuhyun’s skill was swallowed inside the Mermaid Queen’s seawater as well. Just like that, there was nothing but water in every direction. Down and farther down, as if we were being dragged under. The light seeping through stretched long across the buildings. Dim sunken roads and cars came into view. The city beneath the water was silent. Yuhyun’s arms were still holding on to me. Mine were no different.
We sank slowly.
Unlike before, the water level had been lowered, so a faint light reached all the way to the bottom. Because it was winter, the trees lining the street had nothing but bare branches, and between them, a star decoration that must have drifted in from somewhere had caught. The golden star at the top of the tree gave off a tiny glimmer.
Yuhyun was the first to turn, rotating smoothly through the water. I straightened along with him. My brother’s feet touched down on the asphalt road. The hem of his coat floated up around him. I lifted my head and looked above. The surface of the water had already begun to turn red. Yuhyun bent his knees.
Thoom–
A dull, heavy sound rang out, muffled by the water swallowing it. The road split apart with a crack, then caved in. Along with the scattering fragments of asphalt, we shot up in a single burst.
Swaaaa–!
We broke through the surface. Under the sunset, countless droplets sprayed out in every direction. The swarm of black butterflies that had vanished fluttered back into being, and a soft heat wrapped around my body, which had gone cold.
“Mister, I feel like I should tell him to let you go…!”
Standing on the roof of a building, Yerim looked at us as she spoke. Whether she had moved on purpose or not, she was some distance away from the Sesung building.
“I mean, only if you’re refusing, Mister! Uh, Han Yuhyun, sir? Hunter?”
A smile tugged at my lips when I saw Yerim not knowing what she was supposed to do. To Yerim, Yuhyun was still Yuhyun too. It seemed hard for her to separate him completely and think of him as someone else.
The water beneath my feet rippled. Around Yerim, frozen spears appeared in a row. Yun Yun’s portal was already gone. Chief Song Taewon, carrying Seong Hyunjae on his back, and Liette had also gotten onto the roof of a nearby building a little way off.
Even if its range had shrunk a lot compared to before, the Mermaid Queen’s sea was still vast. It was not a distance Yuhyun could escape in a single breath. If he tried to take me and get out, Yerim would immediately block him with the water.
“Yuhyun.”
I pushed Yuhyun away lightly. Yerim, catching on to what I meant, pulled the water upward. The top of the water column froze over, forming a cold platform. The arms holding me loosened, and he stepped back.
“Let’s go home.”
His quiet gaze came toward me.
“I know you’re worried about me. But–”
“All I have left is your safety, hyung.”
Yuhyun cut me off.
“I’m only the ghost of someone already dead, left behind with a single purpose.”
“Han Yuhyun!”
“I died, and soon I’ll disappear. That much will never change.”
…I know. I know that.
“So what if it doesn’t! You think being alive is some big, fancy thing?”
There was nothing grand about it at all.
“Who cares if you’re a ghost or a moving corpse! You’re standing here, talking to me, and I’m talking to you! That’s enough!”
Han Yuhyun was speaking, and Han Yuhyun was listening. He was seeing, feeling, affecting me, and being affected in return. Whatever else there was, wasn’t this more than enough to say we were living together? What was so amazing and special about living that he needed some kind of proof for it? Why did he keep going on about how he was dead, he was already dead, so I should give up?
“Yuhyun, you–”
“Mister!”
Yerim shouted.
“In the water–!”
The surface surged. The platform beneath my feet shook too. Then, immediately after–
Guuuuung.
With a deep, heavy rumble, a massive shadow of water shot upward. A dark blue mass made entirely of water. Huge fins spread out like wings.
“A whale?!”
“It was all water, so I didn’t notice!”
Yerim shouted as she desperately tried to move the water and pin the whale down. But the whale absorbed that water instead, stretching its fins longer and surging straight toward us. Water exploded everywhere. The ice platform shook violently, then started to collapse, and Yuhyun reached out toward me.
At the same time–
Chrrrrr–
A familiar metallic sound rang out. Chains wrapped around me and pulled.
“Teacher skill!”
Seong Hyunjae shouted. I immediately used the Teacher skill on Seong Hyunjae and Yerim. I could sense what Seong Hyunjae was trying to do. Yerim wrapped me in water that belonged to her, not the Mermaid Queen, and I raised Grace’s rank one step higher as I closed my eyes.
All of it happened in an instant.
The water whale loomed before me like a wall. Yuhyun leapt onto the whale’s head. Translucent fins. A mass of water stained red. The sound of water kept circling endlessly in my ears, and then–
Pajijik!
Light sparked. It ran along the chains wrapped around my body, clashing with Yerim’s water, mingling with it, each person’s magic helping the other’s.
Kwaaaang–!
An enormous explosion erupted. Even with my eyes closed, the whole world turned pure white. Half the whale’s body burst apart, and unable to withstand the pressure, it was thrown backward as if hurled away. Sunset-colored droplets blanketed the sky. Through Yerim’s sight, I saw Yuhyun growing farther away. He seemed unharmed by the explosion, shielded by the water. The whale, cut in half, formed its body again and protected Yuhyun. Despite the blinding light of the explosion, Yuhyun had been looking at me the entire time.
My body was pulled backward. My brother turned away as well. Swaaaa– the droplets that had shot into the air poured down like rain. I opened my eyes. Through the falling water, the sky flickered, darker than before. Purple night was seeping in, pushing the evening glow away.
“Mister, are you okay?”
As I was set down on the rooftop, Yerim came over and asked.
“I did feel something moving in the water, but it seemed like just a little fish! There are fish that came up from the Han River, you know. I thought it was a school of fish, but then they suddenly joined together and got huge!”
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt anywhere. So if someone has a water-attribute skill too, they can actually use the Mermaid Queen’s sea.”
“…I’m not completely controlling it. It’s more like I just released it.”
“That alone is amazing! Don’t worry about it. Looks like the dependents are starting to get their skills back.”
“Oh, what happened to Sigma? Hyunah unnie called, Yun Yun suddenly came out, and I have no idea what’s going on!”
“About that.”
Yerim froze the water into a path leading to the rooftop where the three of them were. While they crossed over, I explained to Yerim what had happened with Hyunah.
“So Hyunah took Sigma and left. Seeing as Seong Hyunjae woke up, Sigma must be asleep again.”
She had probably put him back to sleep because things looked dangerous on our end. Yerim looked troubled, but she nodded.
“I was worried too. I mean, my friends are here too. …And honestly, I did think the same thing Hyunah unnie did.”
Yerim glanced at Seong Hyunjae, who was coming this way, and spoke in a small voice.
“Of course you did. Mister wasn’t completely without hesitation either.”
I reached out and hugged Yerim, lowering my voice as well.
“So Hyunah may have left, but she also hasn’t completely left. If anything, because we split apart, we can have even more certainty about the roads we’re each taking.”
“…Is that how it works?”
“Yeah. Yerim, you don’t have to think the exact same way as Mister no matter what. Even if we become different and clash, that’s okay. As long as it’s a decision you reached after thinking and thinking it through.”
“Even if we end up fighting?”
“That’s where Hyunah and I are right now, isn’t it? Depending on how things go, we might really clash hard. But I still think Hyunah is right too, and I still like her. Hyunah probably feels the same.”
We could fight each other and fall out. But I did not think that was only a bad thing. Just as the twenty-nine-year-old me had said, people were all different from one another. Sometimes they yielded and accepted each other, and sometimes they missed each other’s marks and collided.
“When it looks really dangerous.”
Yerim hesitated a little, but she still spoke.
“I think I might side with Hyunah unnie and Han Yuhyun. But right now, I’m on your side, Mister. I do like Sesung Mister a little bit, too. I want all of us to go back together.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
I smiled as I said it. Yerim smiled too and waved toward Seong Hyunjae. Having crossed the ice bridge, Seong Hyunjae lightly jumped up onto the rooftop and greeted Yerim.
“It seems I slept somewhat long.”
“You were super late, okay? Do you know how much trouble I went through hauling you around?”
Seong Hyunjae’s gaze went down to the tips of his own feet. There were faint drag marks left on the toes and sides of his shoes. Yeah. I had dragged him. But I had nothing to be ashamed of.
“Who told you to be that tall? You should’ve grown maybe ten centimeters less. No, twenty.”
Then I would have easily slung him over my shoulder and carried him around. He should be grateful I had not abandoned him and actually kept him with me.
“I thought you wanted me to grow three centimeters taller.”
“What a horrifying thing to say. The ones I want to grow big and strong are my kids. I don’t deal with grown adults who are already finished growing.”
What was he going to do after getting even taller than that? Yuhyun, Yerim, and Noah too, ideally, let’s all work hard and get taller than that human. Wouldn’t Noah kind of like it if he grew taller than his sister? He probably wouldn’t get as intimidated, at least. Seong Hyunjae should peel off that height and give it to Noah.
“Anyway, about Hyunah.”
“I heard from Section Chief Song on the way here.”
“Yes. That’s what happened.”
I turned to Chief Song.
“You must have been bothered by it too, Chief Song.”
“Yes.”
He gave a small nod. With Chief Song’s personality, there was no way he had not felt uneasy. He had agreed to help Seong Hyunjae remain as Seong Hyunjae, but the method was uncertain.
“…It was something I should have borne.”
“Why would you say it like that? Hyunah and Seong Hyunjae both said they should do what they wanted. So you do your own job too, Chief Song. You said you wanted Seong Hyunjae to protect himself.”
Chief Song’s gaze moved to Seong Hyunjae for the briefest instant, then slipped away. His eyes looked strangely tired.
“…Yes. My own selfishness is certainly mixed in as well.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“But I–”
“We all think different things and want different things, but let’s give it our best!”
Even if the road ahead was dark and went on forever. While I was telling Chief Song to stay strong and fighting, Yerim was asking Liette where she had been.
“What about Noah oppa? He didn’t come with you?”
“About that~ I can’t tell you right now. But he’s safe.”
Liette let out a deep sigh and pulled Yerim into a hug. As for what was going on with Noah and Liette… I did not know the exact circumstances. It hit me all over again that everyone really was going their own way.
– Kkiang!
“Peace!”
From the far side of the darkening sky, a small baby monster came flying in with his wings spread wide. He must have gone past Dongjak Bridge, where I had been, then come back this way. The fluffy ball of fur landed straight in my arms.
“Our Peace worked hard too. Then, for now.”
I looked up at the sky. Beside the huge moon, an ordinary small moon was rising.
“Let’s rest for a bit. Since Sigma’s asleep again, Yuhyun won’t be able to go to him.”
With Yun Yun there too, there was even less need to worry about that side. Yerim made an ice boat, and we returned to Sesung Guild.
“Sesung has a food storage room for Comet, right?”
I asked as I took dried monster meat out of my inventory. Monsters inside dreams vanished when they died, so there was nowhere to get meat. I could not have our Peace going hungry.
“Soyeong prepared a large walk-in freezer. She said that even if the electricity goes out, the freezer can maintain itself for a month on its own emergency magic-stone power supply.”
“Soyeong should’ve told me if she had something like that!”
That was thorough. Of course, Dodam and the Gyeonggi breeding facility also had gigantic freezers prepared. Monster meat and dungeon-grown plants for herbivores had been flash-frozen and stored. For now, I would borrow some of Comet’s food, and when I had time, I should stop by Dodam too.
“Mister, I boiled water~.”
On the table in front of Yerim, all kinds of cup noodles and instant meals were spread out. Liette had opened up a vending machine and taken them out. Apparently, pressing the buttons one by one was annoying. In that short time, the sky had gone completely dark, and the moon shimmered white over the black-stained water. Was Yuhyun eating properly?
‘…He’s not starving himself, is he.’
After feeding Peace, I went over to the railing and shouted.
“Han Yuhyun! Make sure you eat! Both of you!”
Wouldn’t that dependent with the water skill be somewhere nearby to keep watch? I hoped he would pass the message along.
“Seong Hyunjae, can’t you heat this with electromagnetic waves?”
“There should be a microwave in the employee lounge.”
“What a pain.”
“I hear there’s also a massage chair. It would be for unawakened people, though.”
An F-rank could use it, so I was a little tempted. I waited roughly three minutes, then drank the ramen broth. Once something hot went into my stomach, I felt much better.
“Chief Song, coffee? There’s milk, sugar, creamer, black. Ah, just stay seated.”
There was a fancy vending machine too, but vending machine coffee was best when it came from a basic old model.
“…Milk coffee, please.”
“I will take black.”
“I want that, oatmeal.”
“I’ll have vending machine milk. It’s been forever!”
Vending machine milk was good. Oatmeal — did she mean yulmu tea? Then I would have creamer. Everyone drank theirs well, but Seong Hyunjae only touched his lips to his cup and stopped. We decided to take turns standing watch and closed our eyes for a brief rest.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt
