STC chapter 20

I was dumbfounded and gaped. How could it say such a thing so casually?

“What… die?”

[System://Yes, yes!]

“Is that really something to say so cheerfully?”

I tried to swat the system window, but as before, my hand passed right through it. The system window flickered mockingly.

With a deep sigh, I asked again.

“Explain in more detail. Avoiding the side characters… so avoiding Chae Goya, Ryu Min, and Ye Ilhu caused this?”

[System://Yes, correct! You must participate in the game, but deliberately breaking the necessity results in penalties. ( ⁎ᵕᴗᵕ⁎ )]

Something was odd. I had confirmed through Chae Goya that this world ended with a peaceful, happy ending.

‘Besides, ‘Love War’ has Baek Seojun and Ha Seonglim as the main characters!’

I couldn’t be the main player, nor was there any reason for the game to continue.

Asking a few questions wouldn’t suffice to understand the situation.

I plopped down and gestured to the system window.

“Explain from the beginning. It sounds like my life depends on it.”

[System://As you wish, I’ll explain everything! Shall I start with this world?]

But then, it happened. The system window had just asked the question when the curtains around the bed suddenly flew open.

Sitting on the cold floor with my legs crossed, I quickly looked up. Ye Ilhu was standing there, holding a bottle of water.

He frowned deeply when he saw me.

“What are you doing there?”

“Uh, well, this thing suddenly…”

I pointed reflexively at the system window as I spoke. But then I remembered that only I could see it.

And even if Ye Ilhu could see it, the system window had already disappeared.

Damn, I missed a good opportunity. I don’t know when it will appear again; this is bad.

I was screaming internally about how to call the system window back. Ye Ilhu raised an eyebrow and tilted his head as he looked at me.

“‘This thing’?”

Of course, Ye Ilhu didn’t know what I was pointing at. He stared at the spot my finger was indicating with a suspicious look.

A light silence passed between us.

“……”

“……”

Ah… I can clearly tell what that look in his eyes means… Yeah, you think I’ve finally gone crazy, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case, but I had no words to persuade Ye Ilhu in this situation.

“Haha…”

As I let out an awkward laugh, Ye Ilhu finally took his eyes off the spot where the system window had been. Then he stared at me intently, as if trying to gauge if I was sane.

Soon, just like when he brought me here, he picked me up in what people call the ‘princess carry.’

“Ah!”

“Quiet down, don’t make a fuss.”

Ugh, no matter how many times it happens, I’ll never get used to someone carrying me so lightly.

And definitely, carrying me like this makes me way too close to Ye Ilhu…

But whether I was panicking or not, he easily placed me on the bed. It was a bit embarrassing to have screamed and made a fuss.

“Drink this.”

“Huh? How did you know I was thirsty?”

As the bottle of water was handed to me, the thirst I had forgotten came rushing back. I gratefully took it and drank deeply. My parched throat was quickly soothed.

“You might not remember, but someone said loudly that you’d die if you didn’t drink water immediately, so I couldn’t ignore it.”

“Ahem…”

Whoever it was, they must have made quite a scene to move Ye Ilhu. I scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment.

“Anyway… thank you. For bringing me here and for the water.”

“We still need to spar, so it’d be a problem if you collapsed.”

Even if he could have phrased it more nicely, Ye Ilhu was excessively straightforward. He was annoyingly honest.

“Come to think of it, I’ve let it slide until now, but I need to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why are you so obsessed with sparring with me?”

At that, Ye Ilhu looked at me with a puzzled expression. His face, as he gazed at me, was overwhelmingly handsome.

“I’m the only SS-class hunter in Korea.”

“…”

“But I found someone who can produce power similar to mine, even for just the time it takes to cook instant noodles.”

“Damn, even your analogy… Anyway, that’s not an answer. Are you telling me you insisted on sparring with me just out of curiosity?”

I thought he’d be offended by the term ‘insisted,’ but surprisingly, Ye Ilhu didn’t say anything. His silence was a tacit admission. Wow, he was aware he’d been acting like a five-year-old.

“I need to get stronger.”

“…You know that sounds pretty arrogant, right? You’re saying this as an SS-class, so why?”

“Just because I’m the only one doesn’t mean I’m the strongest.”

Ye Ilhu fell silent with a rather cryptic statement, as if deep in thought.

It seemed I had unintentionally touched on a deep-seated worry of his, so I decided to leave it at that.

Besides, I was learning a lot from sparring with him too.

“And what was that about earlier?”

“What?”

“When did I say I didn’t want to touch you?”

Ye Ilhu had said that when he picked me up in the hallway earlier.

I couldn’t just ignore it after hearing it, so I decided to clear it up.

Ye Ilhu’s silver-gray eyes wavered slightly before settling. He seemed to be weighing whether to tell me or not, but I waited calmly for his next words.

After a moment, Ye Ilhu, uncharacteristically hesitant, spoke.

“That day in the training room…”

“Yeah?”

“You avoided me.”

“Huh?”

When hadn’t I avoided you… I couldn’t figure out which time he meant and felt momentarily dazed.

“But you were fine sticking close to Chae Goya.”

“Ah!”

I finally realized what he was talking about. It was around the time when system windows started appearing above Ryu Min’s head.

I had decided it was better to keep my distance from the secondary characters and had started avoiding them.

‘I thought he wouldn’t care, given his personality.’

It was quite a while after I had started actively avoiding him.

‘So, Ye Ilhu had been mulling over the fact that I avoided him all this time?’

Setting aside my surprise, I felt sorry for unintentionally hurting Ye Ilhu even a little.

As I said, I liked getting along with people. No matter how annoying someone was, I preferred to get along with everyone.

But admitting it and apologizing might lead to him asking why I avoided him, and I didn’t have a good answer.

Because a system window displaying his affection for me started appearing above your head, I felt uneasy and avoided you.

If I say it like that, Ye Ilhu would definitely think I’m crazy this time.

So, I had to deny it.

“I never did that.”

“……”

“I must have been startled by something, but it wasn’t because of you.”

My excuse was so clumsy that Ye Ilhu couldn’t erase his suspicious look.

Left with no choice, I grabbed Ye Ilhu’s hand. He flinched at the sudden contact.

“See? I’m not avoiding you, am I? Look, I’m even holding your hand.”

I rubbed his hand as if to ask for his trust.

When I finally interlocked our fingers, Ye Ilhu pulled his hand away, horrified. His ears turned red as if the heat had transferred to him.

“Alright, I believe you, so stop it.”

Oh, our dear troublesome seven-year-old. I chuckled softly like a deflating balloon. At first, he just seemed like a rude brat, but after spending some time together, I seemed to have gotten a grasp of his behavior patterns.

Like a young dragon snorting, he changed the subject.

“You seem well enough to joke around, so why don’t we have a sparring match? We haven’t done today’s session yet.”

“Hm?”

Now that he mentioned it, I really did feel a bit better. Maybe it wasn’t because of the water… It was strange since I hadn’t taken any medicine while I was unconscious.

I raised my hand to touch my forehead. I couldn’t tell if my fever had gone down, probably because it was my own body. I abruptly leaned my face towards Ye Ilhu.

“Can you check my forehead?”

“What? Why should I?”

“Just do it. I can’t tell if I’m really okay or not.”

Grumbling, I insisted, and Ye Ilhu reluctantly placed his hand on my forehead. For someone who handled flames, his touch felt surprisingly cool.

But does that even make sense for checking a fever?

I tilted my head and asked again.

“How is it? Do I still have a fever?”

“I can’t tell.”

“Come on, don’t be so indifferent. Just touch it a bit more.”

Saying that, I quietly let him take control. After a brief hesitation, his hand started to move again.

His large, firm hand that covered my forehead slid down to my earlobe and then to my cheek. I liked the cool touch so much that I unconsciously rubbed my heated cheek against his hand.

“Are you always this good at taking to other people’s hands?”

“What did you say?”

“You asked me to touch you more…”

I couldn’t hear what he was mumbling and asked him to repeat it, but he only muttered to himself. Somehow, his touch felt somewhat sticky.

Then, suddenly, Ye Ilhu’s thumb softly brushed over my lips.