The Novel's Extra - Side Story 67 – Chae Nayun (22)

Boom! Taaaang! Kaboom!

Magic collided against each other and chaos descended on the city. The bolts of man-made lightning ran wild and spewed mana all over the place.

Chae Nayun sought refuge in an alley with Rachel and Yoo Yeonha while they watched the display of magical might.

“Is that really a fight between magicians?” Chae Nayun grumbled as she sensed a hint of demonic energy in the fight between magicians.

Yoo Yeonha answered her, “This city is close to Pandemonium, so there will definitely be some djinns here.”

“Hmm… You think so? That’s quite intriguing…”

Fire, lightning, and explosions flew across the air.

As Chae Nayun was captivated by the powerful magic flying overhead, someone approached her and whispered in her ear.

“Are you having fun?”

“Kyak!” Chae Nayun screamed before turning around and slapping the whisperer.

Chwak!

The slap was so loud that it almost rivaled the sound of the magic.

The victim’s neck twisted after being struck by the mighty slap. Chae Nayun was shocked once more after seeing the victim’s face.

“H-Hey! Hey! Are you alright?!”

“…”

“Aigoo… What should I do? Does it hurt?”

Kim Hajin stared at her in disbelief. She was the one who slapped him, but now she also worried about him.

Chae Nayun glanced at him and carefully muttered, “Why would you sneak up like that… Rather, where have you been all this time?”

“Forget about that for now. Follow me. We’re going to end up getting dragged into that if we stay here,” Kim Hajin motioned for them to follow him and ran off.

Chae Nayun and Rachel immediately followed him, but Yoo Yeonha wasn’t willing to do the same.

However, Yoo Yeonha pondered for a while and realized she didn’t have a choice. She ran as fast as she could to catch up to them.

***

I went down to the sewers with the three girls. It was quite damp and eerie here, but this was probably the safest place for now.

I didn’t know about the rest, but a weakling like me would get instantly killed the moment I got hit by one of those magic.

“What about the rest? Kim Suho and the others?” I asked.

“They went to hunt down the djinns and we came to look for you,” Chae Nayun replied.

I nodded, “Really? Okay, walk while you listen to me.”

I realized a few things today, but they weren’t good news.

“The soil we found at the mansion grounds… If the contaminant was indeed caused by the Tears of Heaven, then the Tears of Heaven is not an elixir that can bring the dead back to life.”

“Huh? Really?”

“You saw the soil move, right? It moved as if it was alive. The Tears of Heaven would go into living or non-living things and make them move.”

The Tears of Heaven wasn’t the elixir we thought it was. It was just a mutation that was created by chance.

“In short, it’s something closer to a parasite.”

The Tears of Heaven wasn’t an elixir that could bring the dead to life, but it was closer to a parasite that took over the host body.

“That means…”

“The Tears of Heaven is not the answer we’re looking for.”

However, we still had hope. The path that the Pharmacy Club walked until now led us to collecting the Hope Plant, the Soul Mana Vermillion, and the Heart of the Amazon. This order was definitely not a coincidence. The episode was definitely guiding us to the end game.

“It’s alright. We’ll eventually find the answer if we eliminate things one by one. Anyways, let’s go back to the mansion for now.”

We continued running until we found a ladder leading to above the ground. I climbed the ladder and checked my smartwatch to make sure we were at the right place before running towards the mansion.

“… Wait.”

I spotted a hideous creature when the mansion came into view.

“Guoooo…”

The creature’s low and eerie moan rooted me in place.

“What the hell is that…?”

Chae Nayun and Rachel immediately readied their swords.

The hideous creature was squirming among the mansion’s rubble. The rubble clung to the creature’s body, which was made out of mud. It looked like a golem, but I had an idea of the creature’s real identity.

“That’s probably… the Tears of Heaven,” I said.

“What?” Chae Nayun muttered in disbelief.

“Gwuooooh…”

The hideous creature spotted us, and the ground started to shake shortly afterwards. It felt as if the ground was moving according to the creature’s command.

That was most certainly the case as the creature soon used the ground to attack us.

Dddruuu! Kkkung!

The ground slithered like a snake and opened its jaws at us. We spread out and evaded the attack, but the creature already prepared its next attack.

“…!”

The creature gathered mana in its body before shooting it out in all directions. The black-reddish beams it shot out were extremely powerful. It was hard to get an accurate grasp of how strong it was.

I knew it was quite likely that aether would break if I used it to block the attack, but I didn’t hesitate and formed aether into a barrier.

It was then…

A bright light shot out from my pocket and my almond floated into the air. Evandel spread out a barrier while she was still in her almond form.

“…?”

The barrier blocked all of the creature’s attacks. The powerful demonic mana could no longer be felt and completely disappeared.

“W-What was that?”

“Hajin? What’s that seed?”

Chae Nayun and Rachel looked at me and the seed with wide eyes in surprise.

To be honest, I was stunned too. However, I immediately came back to my senses.

“Ah, this is… I’ll explain later!” I shouted as our enemy was still alive and well.

“Gwwuooooh!”

Also, our enemy was no pushover. There was no other way for us to win aside from combining our strengths.

The barrier that Evandel formed disappeared and the creature used this opening to channel its mana once again. It gathered its mana in its mouth in preparation to shoot while causing massive tremors to make sure that we wouldn’t be able to approach it.

“Kwuuoooh!”

“Stop.”

However, the creature wasn’t able to fire the mana it gathered as a single word suppressed it.

“Hoho, I came to see what was going on here.”

Clack…! Clack…!

The sound of high heels could be heard before a hero emerged.

Her eyes were quite sharp despite her small stature. She looked around her surroundings with curious, yet commanding eyes.

“Interesting,” Aileen muttered before using Spirit Speech with a skewer still in her hand.

“Hey, this skewer will skewer your heart. Then, you won’t be able to move for a long time.”

The ordinary skewer suddenly flashed and pierced through the hideous creature’s core. The creature turned into stone after its core was pierced.

“Hmm… What an interesting fellow. What is this anyway?”

This was the power of one of the strongest heroes in the world. The user of Spirit Speech affiliated with the Temple of Justice, Aileen.

She inspected the Tears of Heaven with curious eyes before looking at us and smirking, “Oh, right. Now, now… it’s time for you kids to go home. You kids should be in bed.”

***

The situation was quickly resolved after Aileen appeared.

Kim Suho was busy playing police as he ran around Trooper and started arresting the djinns. Aileen took the djinns he arrested and brought all of them to the association.

I returned to the hotel with the others, but I still had to explain everything to them.

“So… a child who inherited Rachel’s blood is going to be born from that seed?” Yoo Yeonha asked.

“Yes…” I weakly nodded in response.

I already apologized to Rachel a dozen times.

“Then that means… we’ll have to nurture it from now on,” Yoo Yeonha said.

Rachel didn’t show any reaction whatsoever. It seemed she still found it difficult to accept that a magical being who inherited her DNA was going to be born.

“Where do you plan to raise it?” I asked.

“I’ll take care of that. After all, you can’t be trusted,” Yoo Yeonha replied with a scoff.

“What? What’s there not to be trusted about him?” Chae Nayun defended me.

Yoo Yeonha frowned and glared at her before saying, “Anyways, we have to keep this a secret. Oh, by the way, Rachel?”

Rachel flinched and nodded in response.

“Are you alright? Your child will be born if we exaggerate it a bit,” Yoo Yeonha said.

“Huh? Ah…” Rachel looked at the snoring seed. She looked at it for quite a while before letting out a sigh, “I’m not sure… but I hope it won’t grow up the same way I did… Ah… I really don’t know, but I think I’m alright for now.” She looked at us and smiled brightly.

***

I went up to the hotel’s rooftop late at night. The night sky was filled with stars… and mana thanks to the still ongoing war between the magicians.

They toned it down a bit compared to earlier in the day, but there were still some mana explosions erupting and going, “Boom! Boom!” from time to time.

“Sigh…”

I was feeling troubled. The entire scenery looked different. Even the milky way looked different from where I came from. This world looked similar to Earth, but it was quite different at the same time.

And I was stranded here in this faraway place. Was I ever going to go back?

I felt the emptiness and depression I was holding back for some time now come crashing down on me. Half a year had already passed, and I was going to have to repeat this at least fifteen more times before I could get a hint on how to go back home. Could I withstand it for that long?

I suddenly sensed someone behind me, so I simply sat there and waited for that person to come closer.

She was a character I created, but now possessed some sort of secret. She was someone who bothered and concerned me every single day without fail…

“What are you doing here?”

Chae Nayun (⬛⬛⬛) sat beside me.

I looked at her before looking forward again and replied, “Just watching the scenery.”

“Really? That’s a coincidence. I came up here to do just that.”

Chae Nayun looked up at the night sky like I did. I looked at her instead and saw the stars brightly reflecting in her big, beautiful eyes.

“It’s really beautiful… Ehem… Hey, Kim Hajin. Take this,” she cleared her throat and gave me something.

It was a pouch the size of my fist.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Magic dust. I recorded my voice in it. Listen to it later when you get the chance.”

I opened the pouch, but Chae Nayun jumped and stopped me from opening it.

— What I wanted to say is…

The voice was cut short after Chae Nayun closed the pouch.

“No! No! Not now! Listen to it later! Maybe after a year? Think of it as a time capsule, okay?”

I nodded in response and placed the pouch in my pocket. I could just listen to it tomorrow.

“Good boy…”

We silently watched the night sky. The mana and stars intertwined with each other. Mana would flash from behind the clouds from time to time.

However, the rooftop had a solemn atmosphere.

I looked at Chae Nayun once again. She was making a sad face that didn’t suit her. I thought it was highly likely that she was still reeling from the shock of the Tears of Heaven turning out to be nothing more than an abomination.

I let out a sigh and said, “The Tears of Heaven might not have been what we were looking for, but… we’ll be able to make the medicine he needs. No, we still aren’t sure if that monster was indeed the Tears of Heaven or not.

“…?”

Chae Nayun looked at me without saying a word. She looked confused as if asking, ‘What are you talking about?’ Soon, she warmly smiled and nodded.

I continued, “So I’m just saying this, but… can I go see your oppa with you?”

“My oppa… what?!”

Chae Nayun looked shocked at my request.

“W-Why?! What do you plan to do?!”

“What do you mean plan? What else would I do there?”

“Do you plan to kill him?!”

“Hey, are you crazy?”

I lightly hit her shoulder after she started spouting nonsense, but she was still glaring at me with skeptical eyes.

“I just feel that I might figure something out if I take a look at your oppa.”

“Take a look?”

“Yeah. I mean, we need to identify the symptoms to treat him, right? Don’t you want to wake him up?”

We gazed at each other. I had no idea why, but it felt like the stars in her eyes were crossing over to mine.

“I’ll save him,” I said.

“… Really?”

“Yeah. It might have been a bust this time, but we’ll figure it out soon.”

“Really? Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“…”

Then, Chae Nayun silently looked at the night sky again and I looked up too.

The stars were littered across the horizon, but my view was blocked when a system message popped up in front of my eyes.

[The identity of ⬛⬛⬛ has been unraveled.]

[Chae Nayun’s setting has been updated – Regressor.]

[You have gained 1,000 SP.]

I couldn’t make sense of these words, and had no idea what events caused them to appear.

I reread the system message word by word before my eyes shot wide open. My hands trembled and it felt like my heart was about to beat its way out of my chest.

I seemed to be looking at the same thing as Chae Nayun, but our point of view was entirely different.

“Hey,” Chae Nayun called me.

She didn’t give me time to respond or the chance for me to run away.

“I like you.”

She confessed her feelings with those three words.

I felt my heart drop and the stars in the night sky shook.