DEB 114

“Yasha! You should’ve said something if you were awake! How could you disappear without a word? And wait… what the hell is that? Why did you bring that guy?”

At the hospital’s main entrance, Huiyun ran into Ash, who had come sprinting out.

Ash scowled the moment he saw the Waiting One standing behind Huiyun. 

It was rare to see him so openly rude in front of someone he wasn’t even close to.

Just what happened while he was unconscious?

Vina and Ash both seemed unusually wary of the Waiting One. 

When Huiyun turned his head, the man met his gaze and smiled gently, an innocent, harmless smile.

Well, I’ll find out soon enough.

“Ash. That was a little harsher than necessary.”

“What did I even say that was harsh? He told me himself I could call him whatever I wanted, ow! Yasha!”

Ash, who had been talking without restraint, was promptly flicked on the forehead and staggered back, clutching his head with a groan.

“Ow… why does it hurt so much? Yasha, did your strength increase?”

“…I haven’t really thought about it.”

Had it?

Was it because he’d drawn upon the power of his prime to its very limit? 

Now that he thought about it, his body did feel lighter than before. 

Even his fingers felt fine despite having flicked the forehead of an S-rank. 

They weren’t even tingling.

He spread them out and inspected them curiously. 

He wanted to summon the system and check if there had been any changes to his body, but the administrator, who had gone off to receive a disciplinary action, had yet to return.

“It could be an increase, or just a temporary effect. I used quite a bit of power at the time.”

“Right! Speaking of which, that power, back then, what exactly was it? Yasha, was it an awakening—”

Ash had been about to mention an “awakening” when he paused, glancing around and realizing they were outside.

Seeing the subtle cue in Huiyun’s eyes to continue the conversation inside, he nodded, and they returned to the hospital room. 

As soon as they entered, Huiyun was greeted by Huigang  and the disciples who had been anxiously awaiting his return.

“Mok Huiyun! How could you disappear without a word? Are you seriously going to keep doing this?!”

“Master Yasha, we need to conduct a discussion regarding your behavior!”

“Lord Yasha, please—at least sit down first.”

Correction: it wasn’t so much a welcoming as it was a wave of scolding.

“…Haha.”

Huiyun chuckled awkwardly, trying to dodge their barrage of nagging, but it was no use. In the end, he was dragged to the bed by many hands and made to pay the second price for having overexerted himself.

“Ugh…”

This is scarier than the penalty.

He rubbed his earlobes, wondering if they were bleeding from all the yelling, as his disciples—now looking visibly relieved—started bombarding him with questions again.

“So, Master Yashya. That power you used… what exactly happened? I thought you avoided awakening to maintain balance?”

“Did you awaken in the swamp?”

More questions piled up. 

Huiyun shook his head before they could overwhelm him.

“No. The situation was urgent, so I borrowed power.”

“Borrowed? From whom?”

“The system. Who else?”

“You can do that? Borrow power from the system? That’s unheard of!”

“It’s more like I drew out power that was already mine. The system just helped. Besides, my system has always wanted me to awaken as soon as possible.”

His casual reply quieted the room. 

The disciples let out small gasps.

“Well… you do have direct communication with your system, after all. I wonder how that works.”

Tap tap. 

Moot tapped his chin and examined Huiyun with interest. 

Knowing all too well what that look meant, Huiyun raised his hand and smacked Moot’s face lightly, as if swatting a fly. 

The other disciples stifled their laughter.

“…”

Expression stiffening, Moot slowly removed Huiyun’s hand from his face.

“…Yasha. I feel like you’ve been unfairly harsh with me since forever. Is that just my imagination?”

“It’s your imagination.”

Who told you to keep looking at me like you want to dissect me?

Having given a proper rebuke to Moot’s irreverent curiosity, Huiyun dismissed the disciples’ requests for a more detailed explanation of the system.

Frankly, he didn’t know enough about it to explain properly anyway.

What mattered more right now was.

“Waiting One.”

The man, standing stiffly at the hospital room’s entrance like he was afraid of intruding, perked up at being called. 

Everyone’s attention naturally shifted to him. 

Eyebrows raised, the man approached Huiyun.

“You called?”

“While I was unconscious… did you make any progress in identifying who’s behind all this?”

From the way Siho had been at the man’s side, Huiyun figured the spirit beast had helped him search for the root cause of the swamp incident.

Given the spirit beast’s clear ties to the system—or more precisely, those managing balance—it seemed likely. 

When asked, the Waiting One scratched his cheek, and that alone was answer enough.

“So you couldn’t find anything.”

“…Yeah. It wasn’t easy. That’s why I asked, remember? If I could stay at your place.”

He explained that he would need to remain on the surface longer due to delays. 

The disciples, however, were not having it.

“Stay? At our place? I’m against it, Yasha! How can you let someone like him in?”

“Me too! Just give him some money and let him sleep somewhere else.”

“Agreed. There’s no reason to bring him home. There are plenty of places he can go.”

Given Vina’s earlier reaction, this wasn’t surprising, strong resistance immediately erupted. 

Huiyun turned his gaze to Verita and Zenith, who had been silent, then sighed.

“I was hoping you’d explain it yourselves, but we’ll never get anywhere like this. Why are you all so hostile to him? If there’s a reason, let me hear it and I’ll decide.”

Judging from Verita and Zenith’s silence, the man hadn’t done anything overtly rude. 

Something else must be going on. 

When Huiyun asked, Vita and Ash averted their eyes, while Vina pressed hard against his temple. 

With three of them avoiding the question, Huiyun had no choice but to turn to the last one.

Now under scrutiny on behalf of the others, Moot brushed back his long hair.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not some serious issue like you imagined. We just don’t have any reason to like him.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because he’s like the swamp administrator.”

Moot answered clearly and looked straight at the Waiting One. 

His frosty gaze, laced with hostility, swept over the man from head to toe.

“This whole mess should’ve been resolved by you. But instead, you had to borrow Yasha’s hand to fix it, and now he’s collapsed because of it. How do you expect us to look kindly on the one who pushed Yasha to this state?”

“You don’t need to look for some hidden culprit, he’s right here,” their eyes said.

Huiyun had no rebuttal.

Because… they were right.

The Waiting One possessed power far too meager for the burden he carried. 

Because of that, Huiyun had to overexert himself and ended up collapsing. 

From the disciples’ point of view, it was only natural that they found him detestable.

After some thought, Huiyun ultimately chose to take a step back.

He had no right to demand, “I’m fine, so you should accept him too.”

It was something the Waiting One himself would have to earn, he needed to prove himself and gain the disciples’ trust before joining them. 

Huiyun moved toward Huigang, who gently stroked his younger brother’s head.

“You made the right call. I’ve been watching too, and in this situation, staying still is the best thing you can do.”

“…Yeah. We should respect what the others want.”

What would happen now?

As Vita had said, if it came down to it, they could just arrange a separate place for him to stay. 

There was no real need for them to live together. 

But that didn’t mean they had to drive him out either, there could still be benefits to living alongside him.

For one, they could gain access to the information he had gathered. 

And as someone akin to the swamp administrator, there might come a time when they could borrow his power—especially once it had fully blossomed.

The non-aggression pact with the demons was over now.

With no telling what gates might open or what crises may come, the Waiting One was a valuable asset in his own right.

He was, after all, the only one among them who could enter the Demon Realm when the rest were stuck on the surface.

It would be ideal if they could accept him.

In the long term, bringing him in as an ally would benefit them all. 

As the master, Huiyun waited with a bit of hope, watching to see what decision his disciples would make. 

That’s when the Waiting One snapped his fingers.

“I know I’m not much help in combat. But I can at least do this.”

“…Huh?”

Even before he finished speaking, the air in the hospital room became noticeably more refreshing. 

The blankets became far softer, and the floor suddenly spotless.

Come to think of it, the Waiting One had also created a livable space for himself inside that horrible swamp. 

It made sense that he might have skills in cleaning, construction, and restoration, Huiyun nearly voiced his admiration.

“Accepted.”

“…What?”

Brother?

Huigang, who hardly ever stepped in, said it with firm resolve. 

Huiyun turned toward him—and caught the look of genuine awe on his older brother’s face.

A vivid image of Huigang’s daily life flashed through Huiyun’s mind.

Living with six disciples meant Huigang had been stuck doing all the chores, forever nagging them to clean up, wash the dishes, stop fighting, or stop tearing the house apart.

For someone like him, the Waiting One must’ve seemed like a godsend.

Huiyun, still recovering from the moment’s absurdity, let out a hollow chuckle.

It’s over.

Now that Huigang had decided to accept him, no one else in the room could oppose it. 

Even Huiyun knew—if Huigang said he was in, that was that.

A clean, decisive victory for the Waiting One.