-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 73
-----------------------------------------------------------------
***
The surprise of seeing Han Cheon-seong fall into my arms, the moment my body stiffened—it all happened in a flash.
Yet, that brief spell felt incredibly long to me.
In terms of actual time, it was barely a few minutes... but I had no idea how I was supposed to act.
"..."
Softly.
As Han Cheon-seong, leaning against me, let out a faint breath, a somewhat hollow laugh escaped me.
"Even if he said he was fine, he must have been utterly exhausted."
As I muttered this, I couldn't help but find it remarkable how dedicated the student had been to the spar, to the point of losing consciousness.
The student had long since surpassed his limits, purely burning himself out with sheer willpower.
But no matter how strong that will, limits undeniably existed.
He kept burning with determination, striving to move forward. Yet, the body couldn't respond infinitely to willpower.
Gently.
I carefully detached the student from my embrace, then gently bent my knees.
Carrying Han Cheon-seong like this to go anywhere felt awkward, and more importantly, he was simply exhausted and asleep.
There was no great cause for concern. If I let him rest like this for a bit, the student would naturally regain his strength...
"What should I do?"
After a brief moment of deliberation, I carefully placed Han Cheon-seong's head on my lap.
I wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but I thought this might be the most comfortable for the student right now.
Gently.
Seeing the student resting on my lap, I felt a wave of awkwardness myself. I wasn't sure if my lap could provide even a little comfort for Han Cheon-seong, and the whole action felt strange.
Moreover, the sensation of the student leaning on my lap was peculiar.
"This is... because it's Han Cheon-seong."
I muttered a single word, firming my resolve.
Since I had already decided to show favoritism towards Han Cheon-seong, wouldn't it be alright for me, an instructor, to extend this much goodwill?
Yes, thinking that way, I didn't find this action particularly strange. Even if the student I had decided to favor was a female student, I would have acted the same way.
"It wouldn't have been... much different."
I didn't know why I was muttering such things, but I was rationalizing my actions.
"..."
The awkwardness lasted only for a moment, then I found myself gazing at Han Cheon-seong, who was deeply unconscious.
He didn't toss or turn, as if my lap wasn't uncomfortable, and just breathed quietly, which somehow made me feel relieved.
Conscious of his soft, steady breathing, a smile still escaped me.
"So really... I told him repeatedly to rest."
Recklessly pushing through the spar only put a strain on his body.
Yet, even though Han Cheon-seong had lost consciousness, he didn't seem entirely bad.
He burned with determination, translating effort into action. He showed an intense will to move forward. He was even burning with such resolve here in the academy, not on a battlefield.
No one would say anything if he trained a bit more casually, taking it easy...
As I felt during our first meeting, Han Cheon-seong's mindset was fundamentally different from other students. He was serious about training, always putting in heartfelt effort.
Gently.
As I carefully tidied his disheveled hair, I found myself truly taking him in once more.
"..."
The Elimian earrings I had personally given him stood out, and his features, one by one, also caught my eye.
Even with a hint of youthfulness still remaining, it didn't feel... entirely childish.
In fact, his mature side was quite prominent compared to others his age.
I had felt it during our conversations, and it was evident in his usual attitude during lectures.
Han Cheon-seong was clearly younger than me, yet he often gave off an impression that wasn't typical of someone his age. Only now, seeing him sound asleep like this, did he truly feel like a student who had just turned twenty... a mere youth.
"His sleeping face looks a bit like a child's..."
Even as I spoke, his sleeping form seemed to exude a strange purity.
It was as if, strangely, Han Cheon-seong hadn't been touched by the world's grime.
"...Come to think of it."
There wasn't just one or two curious things about him.
Commoner background, Common attribute. I had repeatedly checked his family relations and other details, but there was no significant information.
It was as if he had suddenly fallen into this world. Compared to other students, he had far too little information.
Then, a sense of incongruity struck me.
In contrast to the purity I felt, Han Cheon-seong's circumstances were anything but.
In fact, it was strange that he remained untainted, given the numerous difficulties Han Cheon-seong faced.
As a commoner, with a low-grade attribute, and no family to rely on. He would have had to solve everything on his own, and nothing would have been easy.
This world was far colder than one might imagine.
It was a world that judged people by their attributes, their origins, their families, and countless other things.
From the very beginning, this 'world' itself greatly discriminated against people.
With the attribute granted upon adulthood, it was unequivocally declared that one's worth was determined by their grade.
As my thoughts continued, my heart sank.
"How could this be?"
...I began to observe Han Cheon-seong carefully, but in a different sense than before.
When I truly considered his circumstances, from Han Cheon-seong's perspective, I was someone who had almost everything.
Family, relatives, even my attribute.
I lacked nothing. There was hardly any of what one would call 'adversity' in my life. Although I had faced a few major crises on the battlefield, my life before that had been remarkably smooth.
And here I was... someone like me, scolding Han Cheon-seong, wanting him to move further forward, placing great expectations on him.
'Wouldn't it have seemed too unreasonable to Han Cheon-seong?'
Me, who had everything, placing such expectations on him.
"..."
I didn't know why these thoughts were only occurring to me now.
These were things I should have properly considered long ago, but it was only now, seeing Han Cheon-seong exhausted and asleep like this, that I could finally reflect on myself.
Clenching my jaw. I felt a sigh about to burst out of me, without my conscious will.
And the reason for it was also so simple.
"Because Han Cheon-seong quietly endured it all..."
Han Cheon-seong always endured and accepted it. He hardly ever showed any sign of difficulty.
It wouldn't have been strange for him to say he was struggling, yet Han Cheon-seong had always tried not to show any weakness to me.
It was as if... he was consciously trying to do so.
Just in today's spar, for instance, not a single word about wanting to rest or being tired came from Han Cheon-seong's lips until I told him it was okay to take a break.
As if he was forcing himself to appear fine to me...
"..."
At that, it felt as though my breath hitched.
Every single one of those behaviors now became acutely clear to me.
Without even realizing it... had I, in some ways, been leaning on Han Cheon-seong?
That I could expect things from Han Cheon-seong. That he was the kind of talent I could hope for...
Such thoughts suddenly welled up. The thought that I might have taken his "I'm fine" too literally.
Softly.
Even now, as I looked at the exhausted, sleeping student, my lips involuntarily faltered.
A wave of apology welled up.
This reality, where looking at the student I was supposed to guide and teach instead made me reflect on myself, truly felt foolish.
And not just once, but multiple times.
"From now on, I'll... do better by you."
Looking at Han Cheon-seong, who couldn't hear her, I made a firm resolution.
That if a time came when Han Cheon-seong struggled even more, I would be his pillar of support. That I would properly help him as long as my hand could reach him.
And like the mistakes I had made before, I would never again treat Han Cheon-seong coldly...
Through the window, the night sky had already darkened, and I absently checked the time.
"6:27 PM."
How had so much time passed already? And yet, I felt as if I had forgotten something.
Then, it immediately hit me what I had overlooked.
"That's right, Student Glesea."
Han Cheon-seong and Student Glesea had an appointment.
Thinking that breaking this would put Han Cheon-seong in a difficult spot, I immediately shook his shoulder.
"Han Cheon-seong? It's 6 o'clock now. You have something planned today, don't you? You need to wake up."
***
Tap. Tap.
The sound of a tree branch tapping against the park ground echoed continuously.
The woman performing an act more suited for a child was, surprisingly, a remarkably beautiful woman.
A woman with calm features beneath her blue hair, sitting on a park bench and passing the time. Glesea lifted her gaze, for what felt like the hundredth time, to look at the various entrances.
"..."
Still, no one was visible at the park entrance.
To be precise, a few people had appeared, but none of them were the person she was waiting for.
'He's too late.'
It was too strange. Why wasn't Han Cheon-seong, who had always been so punctual, coming today?
The very act of waiting for him now felt unfamiliar.
ㅡ6:34 PM.
She had already been waiting for well over 30 minutes.
And today, the time spent waiting for Han Cheon-seong felt especially long to her. It felt as if she had been waiting for more than an hour, not just 30 minutes.
Whoosh.
Then, as the wind blew and her hair scattered, she tidied it while muttering softly.
"Could something have happened?"
The Han Cheon-seong she knew wasn't the type of man to break a promise.
He was a man who listened intently to her words, and even if it seemed trivial, he paid close attention and spent time with her.
Then she realized how foolish her words from a moment ago had been.
Han Cheon-seong had clearly said he had a prior engagement with Instructor Kali today. So there was no way something could have happened to Han Cheon-seong.
Given Instructor Kali's reputation, that was simply obvious.
'If that's the case...'
There could only be one answer.
"Did he forget about meeting me?"
They had just talked about meeting a few hours ago. Could Han Cheon-seong have forgotten his promise to her?
As she thought about it, she felt incredibly strange.
Nothing must have happened to Han Cheon-seong. -> Then he should have come to meet her. -> But Han Cheon-seong hadn't come.
In this chain of thought, there was hardly any other possibility to consider besides Han Cheon-seong forgetting their appointment.
"..."
Then, without warning, a memory from her childhood resurfaced.
ㅡ"Okay! Glesea, you hide behind this box. The seeker will never find you!"
That day, she had blindly trusted the words of the child she thought was her friend, and kept hiding behind the box.
She had continued to hide until very late at night.
And... she was finally discovered late by her sister, who had been frantically searching for her. The words her sister spoke that day were still vivid in her mind even now.
ㅡ"Glesea. Those children you were playing with today... they're absolutely not your friends."
ㅡ"They left you here and went back by themselves. Glesea, don't ever play with those children again. How could something like this... Sigh. I really... I feel like I'm going to get so angry."
Seeing her sister, teary-eyed as she looked at her, Glesea could only stare back.
It was the first time she had seen her sister, who was always so confident and smiling, filled with such indignation. She couldn't say a word.
"..."
The sudden memory made her breath quicken.
Remembering that day always brought a sharp pain to her heart.
She knew that she had been ostracized by those children and that's why it happened. But her sister's anguish, more than anything else, had left a deep mark on her heart.
More than anything else, she hated seeing her sister in such pain.
After all, her sister was her everything.
"..."
Breaking from her thoughts, she bit her lip.
She had felt good today, having had a brief conversation with Han Cheon-seong.
Even more than she expected... she had been truly happy.
"He called me his friend... yet."
She had believed that Han Cheon-seong, of all people, had genuinely called her a friend.
Because Han Cheon-seong, when he said it, had seemed so sincere.
'But he did.'
So why wasn't he showing up now?
"..."
She let out a deep sigh, yet sorrow welled up inside her.
Even when she had belatedly realized she was being ostracized in her childhood, her emotions hadn't welled up like this. If it weren't for her sister's mournful expression back then... she could have simply dismissed those children as 'just like that' and moved on.
But now, something was different.
She didn't want to foolishly wait for someone. If she had been fooled again, just like back then...
Gently.
"...Haa."
As she rose from her seat, an uncontrollable sigh escaped her.
She let out the emotions she couldn't suppress in her chest through a sigh, and continued to walk.
Click.
Click.
As she walked out of the park, her spirits sank.
'Perhaps.'
Perhaps Han Cheon-seong had forgotten about her while he was with Instructor Kali.
That he might not have deliberately forgotten or ignored their appointment. She found herself thinking that way without realizing it.
A hollow laugh escaped her at her own thoughts.
"How foolish."
Why was she trying to rationalize it so much? She felt like she was going to start hating herself.
Click.
Just a few steps from exiting the park, her feet strangely wouldn't move.
'If I wait a little longer...'
Wouldn't Han Cheon-seong come? Because Han Cheon-seong was different from the other people she had known. If she just waited a little longer...
"Glesea!"
At that moment. She reflexively turned her body towards the urgent voice calling her name.
There, panting heavily...
Was Han Cheon-seong.