The Novel's Extra - Side Story 70 – Chae Nayun (25)

“Hiik… Hiii… Hihi…”

It would’ve been quite a peaceful afternoon without Chae Nayun’s annoying laughter. She was smiling and laughing like an idiot while watching a show on her smartwatch.

“Hahaha! This is so funny! But why is it so funny? It’s so silly! Hahaha!”

Meanwhile, I was looking up information related to the story setting on my laptop to narrow down the identity of the assassin coming after me. However, I couldn’t find anyone who might harbor a grudge even when I factored in Kim Chundong’s life.

“Phew…”

I sighed in frustration when my smartwatch suddenly rang.

[Bbb… aazz… wwqllppp….]

It came from Jin Sahyuk.

I stole a glance at Chae Nayun for some strange reason before quickly replying, ‘How is your wound?’

It seemed like Jin Sahyuk already lost her seat as the novel’s final boss. Thanks to that, I had no idea who the final boss would be, but it wasn’t that bad. I could possibly ask Jin Sahyuk for help from now on.

“Hey, Kim Hajin. What are you doing?” Chae Nayun asked as she craned her neck towards me while lying on the sofa.

I immediately accessed the Hero Community Forum and replied, “I’m browsing the community forum.”

“Ah, okay. By the way, what’s your ID there? I have a lot of points. Let me give you some.”

“Forget about it.”

“Hey, it’s really good if you have a lot of points!”

Chae Nayun reached towards me before falling off the sofa. She immediately broke her fall by planting her hand and twisting in mid-air to land on her feet. Then, she rested her chin on my shoulder and peeked at my laptop screen.

“Your ID is Extra… Hey, why is everything extra for you?”

“Aren’t you going home?”

I shrugged Chae Nayun’s chin off of my shoulder.

She pouted and pressed random keys on my laptop. “I already told you… Do I have to explain again?”

“No, I know. Can’t I just ask Kim Suho though?”

“No, the opponent is stronger than you think. You will just be putting Kim Suho in harm’s way like that.”

“Then what about you?”

“The assassin isn’t after me. No, it’s more accurate to say that they can’t kill me.”

It did make sense since Kim Suho wasn’t invincible, but Chae Nayun’s family was definitely invincible. They were one of the most influential families not only in Korea, but the entire world. Even those in Baekdu Mountain were affiliated with them.

“Then, don’t just laze around doing nothing. Go and use your family’s network of informants to find out who ordered the hit on me or something.”

“Oh, you’re right… Yes… you’re right…”

Chae Nayun’s eyes shot wide open as she rubbed her chin and started to ponder something.

Yes, it would be possible for her to find out the culprit if she used her knowledge from her previous…

“Don’t tell me… I hope it’s not my grandfather…”

“W-What?”

“Ah, it’s probably not. My grandfather isn’t interested in you at all. It’s more likely that…”

Chae Nayun looked at me and seemed to wonder if she could tell me what was on her mind.

“Say it.”

“No… I’ll tell you later…”

In the end, she swallowed what she wanted to say. I didn’t bother pressing her any further as she left to watch TV.

“Wow, I’ve been watching this show for days…” she nonchalantly tried to lean her head on my shoulder again.

I responded by avoiding her and standing.

“Ack!”

Chae Nayun fell head-first to the floor and glared at me. I ignored her glare and waltzed into the kitchen.

***

“Things didn’t go according to plan?”

Two people stood on the lawn of Kim Hajin’s apartment complex and looked up at a unit on the tenth floor.

“Yeah, it went bad.”

They initially thought it would be an easy mission, but Chae Nayun clung to the guy and cranked up the mission’s difficulty.

“Do we have to kill both of them in the end?” one of the two, a woman, asked.

The other one, a man, glared at her and said, “Are you crazy? We won’t be able to take a single step in this world if we do that.”

“But boss said it too. It’s fine if we kill both of them if we don’t see an opportunity to kill the boy alone.”

“That was a bluff…”

“Are you saying boss was bluffing?”

The man no longer replied.

Both of them were magic specialists. They weren’t at a level where they could raze a city, but they were definitely strong enough to raze a village.

Regardless of how powerful they were, both of them didn’t dare to be at odds with Chae Joochul. Still, they didn’t want to disobey their boss’ command.

All they had to do was quietly kill that boy called Kim Hajin…

“Ah, it seems like someone’s on their way here,” the man said.

The woman nodded in response.

A ferocious presence emerged from the forest behind the apartment lawn. The duo instinctively knew this hooded figure was powerful.

“You guys… don’t seem as hopeless as those rabbles they sent last time…” the hooded figure said.

The hooded figure’s cold voice provoked them. The duo and the hooded figure stood at a safe distance while assessing each other.

“You’re an expert too… What is that guy to you that you’re always protecting him?” the woman asked in disbelief.

The man seemed to share the same sentiments as he nodded in agreement.

Both of them finally understood that there was no way that sly geezer would give a huge reward for such an easy mission like this in the first place.

“I’ll give you a choice. I might spare you since I’m interested in hearing your story,” Jin Sahyuk asked.

She was genuinely curious why they were trying to kill Kim Hajin. It seemed like they couldn’t stand him.

“…”

“But if you refuse.”

The environment around them suddenly changed without warning after a single wave of Jin Sahyuk’s hand. It felt like the sky was crumbling and being replaced by the darkness she conjured.

“I will kill you.”

The man and woman looked at each other before smiling, “What are you gonna do?”

“Well, I guess you leave me no choice…” Jin Sahyuk said as she prepared for combat.

The duo gathered their mana and prepared to fight too.

Kwang!

Both of them simultaneously kicked off the ground, but their target wasn’t Jin Sahyuk. They suddenly smashed their heads into the ground like a pair of moles.

“…?”

Jin Sahyuk was completely caught off guard and blinked a few times. She sensed that they were deep underground and made a run for it.

“Hmm…”

Jin Sahyuk remained all alone on the lawn and stared up at the apartment.

“So that’s where Kim Hajin is staying…”

She stood in the same spot for a while before looking at her smartwatch.

[How is your wound?]

His message sounded quite polite.

Jin Sahyuk continued staring at the message and muttered, “… You’re not my subject.”

‘However, his presence is definitely within you somewhere. I’m sure you’re aware of that person in the memories that I recovered.’

Jin Sahyuk sent a reply.

[Ssss eee yyyyy ttwww oooo wkkksss…]

What she wanted to say was, ‘See you in two weeks.’

***

A week somehow passed as I lived with Chae Nayun the entire time. She slept only three hours a day and stood watch over me, or so she claimed.

She followed me when I went to buy groceries, went to work out, watched a movie, and even when I went out to eat.

I could sense that this familiarity was slowly starting to get dangerous.

“Ah, that really hit the spot!” Chae Nayun smiled in satisfaction after we finished eating dinner.

I intently stared at her before getting up. She got up too and followed me with the plates and utensils.

“Hey, let’s go watch a movie tomorrow again.”

“… You said there’s an assassin.”

“It’s fine as long as I’m with you.”

“There’s nothing good showing these days.”

Chae Nayun grumbled and ran to the sofa after I flat-out rejected her. Then she started doing breathing exercises.

Hoo… Hoo… Hoo… Hoo…

Her breathing exercise was quite peculiar. It worked in an environment that didn’t have much mana like my house. The air glowed with a faint blue hue and a faint trace of mana circulated around her whenever she breathed.

I observed the mana circulating around her nose and mouth before snickering. A grain of rice clung for its dear life on her cheek. I quietly reached out to pluck the grain of rice from her cheek, but she suddenly opened her eyes and stared at me.

“…”

Our faces were inches away from each other.

Chae Nayun suddenly let out a hot exhale and closed her eyes, which made the situation even more tense. I had no idea what she was doing, but I could feel my consciousness slowly drifting as if something else was taking over my body.

I… continued staring at her wet lips…

Then, I managed to snap out of it and took a few steps back.

“What the…” Chae Nayun opened her eyes and grumbled in disappointment when nothing happened after a while.

“Ah, prepare your stuff so we can go out for our morning training session tomorrow,” I stood up and tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

I peeked at her while walking to the room and saw…

Chae Nayun seemed downcast and disappointed with her arms wrapped around her head.

***

I trained every morning with Chae Nayun. We started by hiking up a mountain and added more exercises as time passed.

Kududududu!

I pulled the trigger of my silenced machine gun. The bullets ferociously flew towards my target, Chae Nayun.

However, Chae Nayun easily swung her sword and sliced all of the bullets in half.

“How’s that?!” she triumphantly exclaimed.

The result was… not a single bullet managed to hit Chae Nayun. It was an amazing growth rate judging from how ten out of thirty bullets struck her just four days ago.

“You’re good…”

“Right? I think my skills are slowly coming back!”

“What skills?”

“…”

Chae Nayun seemed to lag a bit as if she was still buffering before unleashing a barrage of words, “Ah, once upon a time I studied how to wield a sword at Baekdu Mountain. I trained really hard that time you know, so I learned a thing or two back then. Geez, I wonder if someone like you would know about it?”

“… Pfft!”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

She was quite amazing and unique in many ways.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s nothing. Let’s start making our way down now.”

My hand reached out for her without me even realizing it. I realized my mistake and was about to withdraw my hand, but she didn’t miss the opportunity and quickly grabbed it.

“Sure!”

She smiled brightly like a child and tightly gripped my hand as if to say she wouldn’t let go.

I mean… she really didn’t have to grip so hard since I had no intention of pulling away…

I couldn’t help but think that something in me was slowly changing.

***

The end was in sight. Chae Nayun could feel cracks forming in the fortress walls that Kim Hajin surrounded himself with.

‘You might be smart and clever, but how are you going to reject me?’ Chae Nayun thought.

At the same time, she could feel herself getting more immersed in him as the days went by. First, it started with ‘I like you,’ but she could feel something stronger as her present emotions and pre-regression emotions mixed.

If she was to put it into words, it felt like she was sinking to the depths of a bottomless ocean whenever she was with him.

Chae Nayun felt worried about being so engrossed with him, but didn’t want to stop feeling this way at the same time. She felt happy every day and felt like the day wasn’t long enough when night came.

Of course, she wasn’t so drunk on her emotions that she lost sight of what was important. She already placed a request to find the assassin’s identity. She even personally used her name, Chae Nayun, to send a request to Baekdu Mountain.

However, the most concerning thing right now was…

“Classes will be resuming next week.”

Summer vacation would end next week. Not next week Friday, but next week Monday.

Chae Nayun bit her nails while looking at the calendar. She felt extremely anxious about going back to Cube, but Kim Hajin seemed calm about it.

“Hey, Kim Hajin… Why don’t you just drop out and live with me?”

“Nope, I can’t do that.”

He instantly shot down her offer.

Chae Nayun shook her head, ‘Why are vacations from Cube so short? Ah, this is really annoying… Do cadets have no rights at all? Are we a bunch of machines?’

When she was busy cursing Cube…

Ding… Dong!

The doorbell rang.

Kim Hajin was about to answer the door, but Chae Nayun ran and stopped him.

“Shh! I’ll go.”

“… Sure.”

Chae Nayun used the intercom to check who was outside. The visitor looked highly suspicious with their face covered by a hood.

“Huh?” Kim Hajin muttered after seeing the hood on the intercom display.

“Why? You know that person?”

“Yeah, I do. I was about to contact her just now,” Kim Hajin said before he went to the door and opened it.

Chae Nayun ran again and stood between Kim Hajin and the hooded visitor outside the door.

“… Who are you?” Chae Nayun asked first.

However, the hooded visitor ignored her. Instead, the visitor looked over Chae Nayun’s shoulder and asked Kim Hajin, “Your girlfriend?”

“No, it’s not like that…” Kim Hajin replied.

“What the hell…? You’re a girl?” Chae Nayun frowned after hearing the visitor’s bothersome voice.

The hooded female entered the house, closed the door, and waltzed into the living room.

“Who’s that?” Chae Nayun sharply asked.

Kim Hajin was about to respond when he suddenly thought of a test and maintained his silence.

The two of them went to the living room too. They found Jin Sahyuk sitting in the living room as if she owned the place.

Jin Sahyuk looked at Kim Hajin and Chae Nayun before taking her hood off.

“Ah!” Chae Nayun exclaimed as her eyes shot wide open. She shouted the answer to Kim Hajin’s test, “Jin Sahyuk!”

Not only did she shout the name, but it sounded like a growl with a hint of hostility.

Jin Sahyuk tilted her head in confusion, “How do you know my name?”

That simple question sent Chae Nayun into a panic.

“…”

Kim Hajin observed Chae Nayun for a few seconds and decided to change the subject as she descended into the same charade she already pulled a few times.

“Why are you here?”

“I told you I would come and find you, right?”

“… I don’t think anyone in this world would be able to decipher the message you sent.”

Jin Sahyuk stared at Kim Hajin.

He noticed that her eyes looked quite calm today for some reason.

Jin Sahyuk ignored the statue in the room called Chae Nayun and continued, “Kim Hajin. You look like my subject in the past. No, I should probably tell you about my past before we discuss this.”

It was then.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

My smartwatch rang.

“As I was saying, in the past I came from…”

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

“So…”

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

The smartwatch continued ringing to the point that it was impossible to continue the conversation.

Jin Sahyuk gritted her teeth and a vein bulged on her temple as Chae Nayun and I checked our smartwatches that were causing a ruckus.

[Hey, what are you doing?]

[There’s a news article about you!]

[Hey, Kim Hajin. Is this true?]

[What the hell are you, Kim Hajin?]

[Wow! This gossip is the bomb! It’s all a mistake, right? How did you…? ;;]

[Kim Hajin! Is this true?!]

[Kekeke! Hey, look at this! Kekekeke! You and Chae Nayun! Kekekeke!]

He was receiving a flurry of messages from numerous cadets, even from ones he had never met before.

Meanwhile, things were much more serious for Chae Nayun.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

She was not only getting bombarded with messages from cadets, but even her friends and family were sending her messages to the point that her smartwatch rang numerous times every second.

[Hey, look at this news article. I’ll send you the link.]

Thankfully, Kim Hajin was able to read the news article everyone was talking about after someone sent him the link. It turned out that there were numerous articles.

[Rising Star Cadet, Chae Nayun is currently living together with another cadet?]

[Cube Star, Chae Nayun’s lover is a Rank 934th cadet…?]

[A modern tale of romance! Going against social differences!]

[Shocking! Chae Nayun, a minor, is living with another minor!]

Kim Hajin read the articles with trembling eyes before muttering in a defeated voice, “… Is this how they assassinate people these days?”

In other words, he was getting socially assassinated.

On the other hand, Chae Nayun seemed a bit agitated. However, she showed a completely different reaction.

“Hmm… Yes, they must be trying to separate us. Well, it’s not a bad plan. I’ll give them that…”

No, in fact, she seemed satisfied by the social assassination that Kim Hajin was suffering.

Chae Nayun seemed content while Kim Hajin looked completely dead. Between them was Jin Sahyuk observing their opposite reactions with interest.