THIFSGSTW CH 8
by MizuChapter 08: Please Believe Me
A moment of silence filled the room.
Three pairs of eyes were fixed on the person who had collapsed helplessly, his face pale. Park Yul quickly checked the fallen person’s breathing, while Min Joo-hyuk carefully laid him down on the bed.
Raen rose to his feet and stood still, standing still with his eyes locked on the unconscious figure. Despite the crimson glow of the sunset filling the room, the fallen person’s face looked unnaturally pale—almost ghostly.
“His breathing is fine. Fortunately, it looks like he just fell asleep.”
“Still, I’m worried, Hyung. He didn’t look well even when I first saw him.”
Park Yul’s calm voice and Min Joo-hyuk’s slightly trembling tone filled the air. Raen couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
He was confused. Everything was happening too suddenly. Where did it go wrong? What did he do wrong? He couldn’t even begin to figure it out.
Raen’s mind retraced the events leading up to this moment.
◇
Raen’s Perspective
It was the time when the sunset painted the sky red.
I had just finished an investigation with Song Ha-gyeon and teleported back to Ledeo. The heavy scent of flowers lingering in the air pricked at my nose.
This time, we had just returned from one of the distorted locations—places where the sun never rose, leaving the forest in an eternal night, or deserts where the rain never ceased.
“Ha-gyeon. Only after we took the Hero’s Oath did we realize those places were distorted.”
“…Yeah”
“There must be a reason for it. But why can’t we find a single clue?”
“…Who knows. Still, we have to keep investigating.”
Except for the hero of this generation, no one recognized that those places were distorted. However, despite repeated investigations, the information we could uncover was limited.
Lost in thought, I continued walking. It didn’t take long to reach the front of the building, passing through the garden.
“You’re going straight to the lab?”
“…Yeah”
“Your injuries from last time haven’t even healed yet. Ha-gyeon, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
“I’m fine Raen, what about you?”
“I’ve got something to look for in the library.”
“…Alright. See you later.”
With a nod, Song Ha-gyeon disappeared into the building. I stared blankly at the now-empty space before suddenly remembering that a new person was supposed to join the group. I bit my lip.
‘Sun Yi-han, was it? He should be here by now.’
The sudden news of his recruitment had unsettled me. On top of that this was a forced recruitment—something completely unusual. The situation was already uncertain, and now another unknown factor had been thrown in.
So before heading to the library, I thought I’d have to meet Sun Yi-han. I needed to know what kind of person he was and why he had come.
‘He’s sharing a room with Song Ha-gyeon, right?’
I quickly stepped into the building, my robe fluttering slightly in the breeze.
◇
“Raen-hyung! You’re here.”
The moment I entered Song Ha-gyeon’s room, Min Joo-hyuk greeted me cheerfully.
Then, my eyes landed on someone leaning against the bed. He was burrowed into the soft pillow, a white blanket draped over his lap. His face was deathly pale. His loose-fitting clothes, his translucent skin—everything about him seemed fragile.
The crimson light of the sunset spilled into the room. Within that glow, a pair of strikingly blue, transparent eyes shimmered quietly. His gaze was fixed straight on me.
‘What… is that?’
The color of his eyes matched the mana surrounding him. A shockingly vivid blue mana swirled around his body like a whirlpool. In this sunset-lit room, he was the only one glowing with a cold, brilliant hue.
“…Hello, Raen-hyung. I’m Sun Yi-han.”
His voice trembled as he introduced himself. His slender throat moved slightly, and I couldn’t look away from the menacing blue light that coiled around his fragile neck.
Can mana be this visible? And I had never seen this form of mana before.
A faintly glowing mana wrapped around his entire body, neither inside the body nor outside. It seemed to hover in an ambiguous state.
‘But how?’
Sun Yi-han had lived in the temple. Those who lived in temples had no mana. So, Sun Yi-han shouldn’t have had any mana at all.
Was it divine power, then? No. I had never sensed anything from even the High Priest. The only thing I had ever been able to detect was mana. That meant this was mana—just in a form I had never seen before.
But with that form of mana did he not feel strange? Just as I opened my mouth, our leader cut in firmly.
“That’s enough, Raen.”
Our leader always made the right decisions—unlike me. So following his words was usually the right choice.
But not this time. This was too important to ignore. The swirling blue light wrapped around his fragile-looking throat, tightening like a noose[1]. I looked anxiously at it.
I was the only one here who could see mana. Normally, mana wasn’t visible to the naked eye. But since I had a high sensitivity to mana, I occasionally caught glimpses of its flow. That meant I was the only one who could do something.
So I couldn’t just let it pass like this. I had to figure out what was going on. Just as I turned to face our leader to argue,
“…I…”
A voice, small and fragile as if it might vanish, filled the air. It sounded desperate, and I turned my head in that direction.
Sun Yi-han kept his head slightly lowered. The vivid blue light had faded to fade.
The clear blue light mana around him had faded, turning faint and translucent.
“Yihan-ah?”
Leader hyung carefully placed his hand on Sun Yi-han’s back. Then gently rubbed his back, soothing him as he called his name again.
“Calm down, Yihan-ah”
The light that had enveloped him—making him look like something otherworldly—had completely vanished. Only then did I see Sun Yi-han’s true appearance.
The sunset poured through the window, pressing down on Sun Yi-han. The pale face underneath looked somewhat overwhelmed.
His lowered eyes trembled slightly. Despite clutching the blanket tightly, his fingers looked weak, trembling faintly.
Sun Yi-han took a deep breath in a hurry and opened his mouth so quickly.
He gasped for breath, struggling to speak. Amidst his ragged breaths, his unsteady voice broke through in fragments. His fingertips had turned white. Somehow, that sight looked so fragile, as if it might shatter at any moment.
Next to him, the leader and Min Joo-hyuk spoke softly, trying to reassure him. But Sun Yi-han didn’t seem to hear anything.
Small beads of sweat trickled down the nape of Sun Yi-han’s thin, white neck. Sun Yi-han, who was breathing heavily, slowly lifted his head. With a trembling voice, he opened his mouth to speak, his voice muffled as if he were sobbing.
“…Please believe me.”
His gaze was fixed on me. A pair of eyes, deeply sunken, staring straight into mine. For some reason, my heart sank.
There was something off about those eyes, as if he were lost in distant memories. It was a gaze filled with a deep sense of despair— As if everything had already ended. As if nothing could ever get better.
“…Hey, Sun Yi-han.”
Min Joo-hyuk called out Sun Yi-han’s name and sat beside them on the bed. With the weight shifting to the side, Sun Yi-han’s body slowly began to tilt. Min Joo-hyuk quickly grabbed his shoulder, supporting him firmly.
In the red-stained room, his blue eyes, glowing faintly and seemingly isolated, were slowly closing. Those eyes captured my image until the very end.
Sun Yi-han’s last desperate words were to ask me to believe him, but his eyes were filled with resignation.
Breathing heavily, Sun Yi-han closed his eyes completely, as if he no longer desired anything. His long lashes fell softly.
I snapped back to reality. The thought process that had momentarily halted quickly resumed. Without thinking further, I kicked the door open and ran out.
‘I can’t use the Summon Magic right in front of him.’
I wasn’t sure if what I saw from Sun Yi-han was normal mana. I closed the door and cast Summon Magic in a hurry. My voice trembled as I recited the incantation.
Snatching the small paper bag floating in the air, I forcefully opened the door again.
I unfolded the paper bag and brought it to the pale corner of Sun Yi-han’s mouth. Sun Yi-han, with trembling eyes, turned toward me. He looked very flustered as if he had never imagined this would happen.
Even though it is natural to seek help when you’re in a bad condition.
And maybe, just maybe, I might have been the cause of his bad condition. No, it’s probably true. Was it my accusatory tone? Or did I touch something traumatic?
Of course, that wasn’t my intention. I simply wanted to ask. But it didn’t matter what my intention was. What mattered was how my words were perceived.
I bit my lip tightly. Should I have asked more patiently, as the leader said?
The corners of Sun Yi-han’s eyes seemed to be slightly wet. His round eyes widened in surprise as if he hadn’t expected anything at all. My fingertips felt cold.
“Huh, huh… Hmmm….”
Sun Yi-han breathed in and out slowly. The paper bag he held inflated and deflated with his breath.
The leader gently rubbed Sun Yi-han’s back to help him steady his breath. Min Joo-hyuk held Sun Yi-han’s shoulders tightly and supported his swaying body.
Sun Yi-han’s breathing gradually stabilized. His trembling body began to calm.
“Ah.”
At that moment, Sun Yi-han’s eyes widened after a short sigh.
And then, just like that, he collapsed.
◇
“Raen-ah.”
I heard the leader’s voice calling me as if trying to calm me down. My mind, which had been lost in thought for a while, returned to reality.
Sun Yi-han was lying under a large blanket as if buried in it. He was breathing steadily, letting out small, even breaths.
“It seems like Yi-han is more stable now. But…”
“I’m sorry. I was too hasty, Leader hyung.”
I had no words to say. It was my fault. As the leader said, it was something that could have been asked later, but in a hurry, the question slipped out first.
“You don’t need to apologize to me.”
The leader calmly looked at me, as if to say I should apologize properly when Sun Yi-han woke up. Of course, that was my intention. Whether he forgave me or not was another matter entirely.
I never intended to ruin our relationship from the start. From what I heard earlier, it seems like Sun Yi-han doesn’t really understand that mana-like thing… Did something happen in the temple because of that?
As I nodded firmly with a somber expression, the leader softened the atmosphere and smiled gently. He then continued speaking slowly.
“So, Raen-ah. What did you see?”
For a moment, my body shuddered. There was a hint of red in the leader’s eyes.
Footnotes:
- noose: (a loop with a running knot, as in a snare, lasso, or hangman's halter, that tightens as the rope is pulled.) T/N: It's likely the system ↑