The Extra Works Hard - Chapter 22

When he fell asleep, Nathan was thrown into a dream. The contents of the dream were not much. It was a village. No, maybe it was downtown. There were a lot of people. Everyone seemed happy, laughing and chatting. Nathan was in it.

‘I talked, danced, laughed and chatted with people.’

However, Nathan felt abandoned alone in the world while listening to interesting stories, even though he was caught in a crowd. Then I suddenly thought of that. ‘This isn’t where I’m supposed to be.’ Nathan was lonely. ‘I was so lonely.’ Nathan felt lonely no matter how much he mixed in with the crowd. ‘I didn’t know why I was lonely.’ It’s just that the unprovoked loneliness eats away from him.

And that unknown loneliness made me realize my situation.

No one knew him here. Who you were originally, what your name was, how old you are, what you do. No one knew any of them.

Here he was just Nathan Norbert.

‘I’m sure I will… I will gradually disappear and only Nathan Norbert will remain.’

The moment you think like that, the light disappears. One by one, the lights that brightened the streets and, the people who filled the area gradually drifted away. Nathan staggered and reached for them. ‘I think I’ll get caught.’

At that moment, Nathan opened his eyes, breathing in and out of breath under the strong power of holding his arms.

When I woke up, Hazard was looking down at me in the moonlight.

. . . 

It was a pure coincidence that Hazard saw Nathan walking around in his pajamas in the middle of the night.

That day, Hazard had fallen asleep while playing around in his secret hideout. It was long after midnight when he opened his eyes. It was a small whim. You could have just waited there for the morning, but Hazard headed to the dorm on a whim. That’s how he came to see it.

Nathan, dressed with his dark red hair and white robe, which was untied. From a distance, it was perfect to misunderstand that it was a ghost because it looked like something faint in the middle of the night walking around.

‘Oh, the fact that ghosts appear in the academy these days.’

When Hazard realized that Nathan was a ghost in the rumor, he burst out laughing for a moment wondering what was going on. What the hell is that? Hazard is still trying to figure out what it was at first. He didn’t know the truth. It took him getting a little closer to see Nathan’s face and remember it.

‘What was his name? The son of Baron Norbert.’

It was two years ago, and after that, I forgot about him because I was busy with other things, so I couldn’t remember his name immediately. Until then, Nathan was only there for Hazard. He approached Nathan and talked to him with quick steps.

“Nobert, where are you going in that outfit?”

In fact, Hazard didn’t have much thought while talking to him in a friendly way. It was a little strange for an acquaintance to walk around the streets at night in a rather strange outfit, but that was all. But there was no answer back. Nathan did not look at Hazard, nor did he stop.

“Nobert?”

Nathan passed past Hazard, pretending not to know him, or not to see him. He just walked forward. Only then did the laughter on Hazard’s face die down.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

Hazard was perplexed by Nathan’s reaction. It wasn’t normal to walk around outside in one’s nightclothes, but it was strange to pass by and pretend not to see you. Hazard kept talking to Nathan and stood in his way. Just before hitting Hazard, Nathan stopped his aimless steps.

Their faces were so close that they could feel each other’s exhaled breath. Going like this he did not expect to stop, Hazard took a breath for a while and spat it out belatedly. Hazard has grown tall so far, and now his eyes are similar when he stands side by side with Nathan, Nathan was a little taller.

“Nobert.”

Being so close, Hazard had to make eye contact with him, but Nathan was still not looking at Hazard. His eyes were open, but the focus was blurry. There was no response to his call. The empty snow drifted vacantly through the air.

“Nobert, say something. I’m a little scared now.”

Then the answer came back this time. Small, slow words make sentences. The sound was so low that Hazard felt like Nathan was going to faint from the wind.

“I’m going to go..”

“Where are you going? Where are you going at this time of night?”

“I’m going to go.”

Nathan ignored Hazard and walked forward again.

“It’s really like seeing a ghost.”

Hazard went around Nathan once, with his hair tangled, and followed. Nathan headed for the main gate of the Academy. Naturally, the main gate of the academy was locked.

“Look, you can’t go out. Let’s go back now.”

“Huh? Norbert, Come on, you’ll be in a lot of trouble if you stay here longer and get caught by the professor.”

Talking gently, Hazard felt relieved that the door was locked. It was when he tapped Nathan’s shoulder, who was standing still to go back. His body fell forward like a loose doll. If Hazard hadn’t caught Nathan in a hurry, he would have hit his head on the floor.

Hazard caught Nathan with a sigh of relief, but Nathan breathed out an even breath and was fast asleep. The appearance was ridiculous, but Hazard woke up the sleeping person and couldn’t say what was going on. So he just laughed a few times in despair, held Nathan’s buttocks up as if he couldn’t, and held him forward as if he were hugging a child. A man slightly taller than the prince was thinner and lighter than he thought.

Hazard headed for the dormitory for now. On second thought, he remembered Nathan’s room. He was suspicious of Nathan, so he picked up this and that information briefly, and this has only helped now. It was a very delicate feeling.

‘An even breath tickled my ears. He smelled of dawn.’ The chilly weather at dawn cooled the two, but Hazard thought the warmth was warm. Holding him in his arms like this, I could feel the heartbeat of another person, not his own. Different beatings jumped at the same speed over time. By the time Hazard arrived in front of Nathan’s room, it was not clear who the beating sound belonged to.

Nathan’s room was slightly open. Hazard entered his room without hesitation. The room was strangely cold. I wondered if there was no warm air. He laid Nathan on the bed, treading carefully on the floor, which was a mess of papers and books.

He was barefoot now. Looking around, I could see his shoes on the doorstep. Hazard hesitated for a moment at the sight of his feet. The room was messy, but there was no sign of wearing shoes. Only then did Hazard realize that he had made a mistake. He hurriedly took off his shoes, but the sand had already fallen on the floor. Hazard was conflicted whether or not he should be relieved that there were no footprints left.

“I’m sorry, Norbert. I didn’t expect you to take off your shoes. I brought you to a place where you are supposed to fall asleep inside, so you’re going to let this go, right?” Hazard thought so, but it was also true that he was worried inside, so before leaving the room, the prince turned on the turned-off heater, checked that Nathan’s foot was hurt, wiped it with water, and left the room.

The next evening, Hazard fell asleep early in the morning and woke up again at dawn. He stared blankly at the ceiling and closed my eyes to fall asleep again. But when I closed my eyes, I suddenly remembered last night. I wondered if it would be like that today. Recently, I remembered a noisy ghost disturbance at the Academy. It’s not once or twice that rumors have been circulated, Hazard checked the time blankly. It was at the same time as yesterday. When Hazard went to Nathan’s dormitory, Nathan was walking somewhere like yesterday.

***

“Oh, it’s a big deal that Hazard is here.”

“Please call me comfortably. Nurse Matilda.”

“Ahaha, I can’t do that.”

Hazard laughed with some embarrassment. He was in the infirmary. Matilda smiled softly and glanced down from head to toe at Hazard. It was because he was seriously injured somewhere and couldn’t be treated in his line, so he came to her.

“You don’t look hurt, and you’re not the one to come here even if you do. That’s strange. Is that what it’s all about?”

“Oh, I’m curious about that.”

Hazard came to Matilda because he was constantly worried about what happened with Nathan at dawn these days. It was because Hazard was curious about what was wrong with him every dawn, and he thought it would be better to ask a specialist because he knew nothing about the pathological problem. Hazard then explained Nathan’s symptoms to Matilda. Of course, he did not say who the person was, but only explained that this happened. After listening to Hazard, Matilda whispered…