episode_0118

Lee Ha-yul’s fierce battle clearly came as a huge shock to everyone, but looking at the result alone, he ended up being eliminated in the round of 16 of the finals.

Of course, there are a few crazy people who look down on it because it is only the round of 16, but if you look at the results, it was like that.

Artra didn’t really think that it was uncomfortable.

Above all, I had no intention of blaming Lee Ha-yul.

There was no reason to do it.

This is because the opponent was the opponent, and Lee Ha-yul knew that he did the best he could.

What is the blame? Rather, it was something that should be praised for a job well done.

[sorry…]

“……”

That’s what I was thinking…

Atra controlled the corner of her mouth that was about to tremble and looked away.

As soon as the finals were over, Lee Ha-yul sneakily came to see me. I thought so because I heard that right after the evaluation, I was going to meet Elia’s family, who I was close with.

And when you come here like this.

I don’t know why Lee Ha-yul is so sullen and lowers her head in front of him.

I don’t know why he’s so withdrawn, as if he’s about to be yelled at.

I don’t know why Atra seems confident that she will scold him…

I felt eyes on me from the side. When I turned my head, I saw Liana with eyes that looked like she was looking at a garbage bag.

-Why are you making fun of me like that?

– In front of you.

‘……’

Where Liana pointed, there was Lee Ha-yul, cowering. Atra couldn’t scream any further and kept his mouth shut.

Feeling complicated in many ways, I naturally sighed.

“Ugh…”

– Flutter!

And Lee Ha-yul’s shoulders shook once loudly, and his entire body trembled.

‘ah.’

Atra then realized his mistake and opened his eyes wide.

I let out a deep sigh in front of the child who was very frightened that he might be scolded…

– eww…

A sigh escaped Lee Ha-yul’s tightly closed mouth, and Liana, who was standing next to her, looked at her in astonishment.

Atra was startled and waved her hands.

First, I tried to correct the misunderstanding. There’s no need to be so sullen. I will never get scolded. In the first place, the current results were good enough…

– I don’t have much of an idea about special admission. I don’t intend to close my eyes and deny it, but on the other hand, I also don’t intend to just accept it.

I tried to correct it.

My body suddenly stiffened at a remark from the past that came to mind.

– They said they would do it for now since it was the appointment chosen by the president, but it is true that they had doubts because there was nothing proven yet. Do you understand? You might not know this if you were an ordinary cadet, but there are higher expectations for you as a special student.

This is a statement made by my past self.

– Everyone, including me, is the way the public sees it. Setting aside the circumstances. You are the first and only special chosen by the owner of the cradle.

Considering Lee Ha-yul’s position, this was a remark made to at least raise awareness.

– I am in a position where I have just awakened, so I understand, but I will not be able to make such excuses in the future.

“……”

Atra’s complexion turned pale. Although it was a little bit, I realized why Lee Ha-yul looked so sullen.

Why does he look scared? Why does he think he will be scolded by Atra?

It may be because Lee Ha-yul remembers the remark that Atra himself had forgotten.

It went around and around and in the end, it was past karma.

“I’m sorry…”

Atra closed her eyes tightly and hugged Lee Ha-yul, who was cowering heavily.

Lee Ha-yul, who looked pitiful and flinched every time she moved, was held in her arms.

He was embarrassed at first, but then buried his face in my chest as if relieved by the hand stroking his head.

They say you have to be careful with every word you say when raising a child.

Atra suddenly remembered a sentence he had heard in the past.

He is a child who has an unfortunate past and is currently in danger in many ways… but in the past, he made extremely extreme and thoughtless remarks.

Atra felt murderous intent toward her past self and strongly hugged Lee Ha-yul, who was writhing in her arms.

…unfortunate past.

Lee Ha-yul, like Atra, lost his parents at a young age.

However, Atra immediately awakened as a superhuman and lived in a high-quality educational institution.

Lee Ha-yul was able to enter an old orphanage only after wandering through the back alleys with her damaged body from the fire.

We did not receive much help there, and the situation was similar at the next orphanage we moved to after the orphanage collapsed in a fire.

In such a past, they would have felt an intense lack of affection, and some common sense would have been absent due to the lack of education.

…That’s probably why he didn’t refuse even when Changhae’s successor hugged him so tightly.

Atra’s eyes sank as she patted Lee Ha-yul’s back.

What Atra, who claimed to be a teacher, had to teach… there were some parts like that.

Rather than simply increasing military power, we must also teach people the knowledge they need to know in life.

Of course, you should refuse a hug from someone you don’t know or someone you aren’t particularly close to.

Although Atra himself was not a very experienced person, it was clear that he needed to be taught.

So time passed.

Atra, who was looking down at Lee Ha-yul, who was sleeping darkly in his arms as if the tension had eased, with a strange look in his eyes, suddenly looked around.

When the shield was lowered, the empty interior of the special seating area came into view.

Liana was forced to return home due to grading of the mid-term evaluation, and the others had already left and there was no one there.

“……”

After shaking his head for a moment, Atra stood up.

Naturally, Lee Ha-yul, who was also held in his arms, was also there. Atra comforted Lee Ha-yul, who was squirming due to the sudden movement, and walked away.

There was no reason to wake up a child who was sleeping so soundly. It would be better to just let him sleep since he is already asleep.

With that thought in mind, Atra headed to his quarters.

– Tiring!

On the way, the hologram projector hanging around Lee Ha-yul’s neck sounded an alarm.

I wanted to know something, so I checked and saw a text message from a contact named ‘Hong Yeon-hwa’.

“……”

– pop

At Atra’s gesture, the hologram sank. Next, changing to a silent state was accomplished with a simple operation.

* * *

Old abandoned factories are scattered all over the place. No matter how much you talk about peace, accidents big and small are bound to happen.

The same was true for an abandoned factory in Germany. The city near here collapsed for some reason, and the machinery that would have been active has long since become an unusable waste product.

The inside of an abandoned factory where even thieves would turn away because if they tried to rob it, all they would get was a bunch of scrap metal.

The man, leaning back on a creaky, miscellaneous chair, tapped his legs in annoyance.

– Jijijik…

The man frowned at the deafening noise and looked away.

There was something rectangular in front of the man.

The edges were black, and the glass in the center was producing noise.

It is a communication device that runs on electricity rather than magical power, which was used only before the cataclysm.

“It’s a plague.”

In other words, it is a lump of scrap metal that is still in service hundreds of years ago.

The man lowered his head helplessly at the thought of using a communication device that would now require a funeral, let alone retirement.

In this day and age, who doesn’t know about holograms? Also, where are the people who don’t use it?

We live in a world where everyone from babies with no breast fat to old people with wrinkles wear smartwatches on their wrists.

The selfishness of civilization itself, representing the present era. If you don’t know about holograms, you will be treated as a barbarian.

“Fuck. I was once a master of a noble family…”

The man felt like he had become a barbarian.

How did I end up stuck in a place like this?

It was around this time that a small lament continued.

– Jijijik─!

The communication device that only made noise sent out a screen. The picture quality was poor, and the screen kept stuttering.

This is because the signal is interrupted by the influence of the magic wave.

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of shame every time I stared at that screen.

I would like to get a smartwatch or at least a hologram projector… but if I do that, my location will be revealed at once, and a punitive force will pour in right away, so of course it’s impossible.

Honest citizens use it without any hesitation, but criminals are forced to run away once their location is identified.

The man sighed and stared at the screen with dry eyes.

The screen moved busily. The perspective changed, weapons collided, magic was unleashed, and colorful colors exploded.

This is the scene of the finals of the Siyoram tournament, which makes the world buzz around this time every year.

From the looks of it, it looks like a highlight summary is being sent out. The man rested his chin and stared at the screen.

“… It brings back memories.”

After a moment of appreciating it, the man felt a strange feeling.

Men also stood on that stage at one time. It was a fierce time when competition for the top position was heard as a promising talent.

The man recalled the past.

A family that was prestigious enough to be proud of.

Expectations and hopes pouring in from all around us.

Confidence in one’s potential.

My own flame used all of that as a driving force to burn brightly.

A past where hearts were filled with confidence and hope for the future.

“Pfft…”

And suddenly, I burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of my current situation.

I never thought I would face a future like this.

The reality was that it was a gutter, a very shitty situation.

After I lowered my head and giggled to myself for a while, the screen changed.

– Boom!

A heart that suddenly beats violently. The man suppressed his laughter and looked away at the bright doctor.

A strange person was seen on the screen.

Two eyes closed as if they were blind.

The left arm is empty, as if it had been thrown away somewhere.

A small body that looks as if it would die if one were hit incorrectly.

At first glance, she looks like a gisaeng brother who is above her standard and should be receiving a disability pension.

In addition, it is a bizarre appearance that runs wild across the flooded stage with an agile appearance that does not match its appearance.

“Is it him?”

Even though it is buried in such a dark corner, there is news to be heard.

A special admission student at City Yoram.

A leading figure of the next generation who is receiving expectations and hopes from those who are not in trouble.

It is the subject of warnings from nearby trash cans and fussing about it rather than cutting it off in the bud.

– Boom… roar!

“Huh…”

With his heart pounding again and the embers rising, the man let out a light breath.

Seeing the reaction of something that was always indifferent, it seems like it’s not a big fuss.

Of course, this was not a boundary but a distorted expectation.

I shook my head, took out the cigarette I had in my pocket, and put it to my mouth.

Sigh… I lit a fire with my fingertip and held it to the end of the cigarette.

– Howling!

The cigarette burned down without leaving even a pile of ashes due to the sudden surge of firepower.

“Ami.”

The man frowned and looked down at his solar plexus. I couldn’t control my firepower because of that damn thing.

‘Fuck, it was a mast.’

The man with his hair messed up stood up, and the screen changed again. The subtitle ‘Final’ appeared at the bottom of the screen.

The man turned his head towards the screen. Flames and tidal waves were seen violently biting each other in the center of the stage.

“……”

The man’s eyes stared intently at the screen.

As time passed, the flames and tsunami cleared, and the fog created by biting each other gradually subsided.

and.

The man caught the eye of Hong Yeon-hwa, who had a bloody look that looked as if it would tear some people to death.

The man who burst into laughter shook his head and turned around.

“Your temper is still the same.”

The light from the communication device illuminated the man’s back.

Red hair, reminiscent of a burning fire, stood out even in the dark abandoned factory.