176 – Target – 1

First, after handing over the materials that were among the easiest to process—the divine beast’s bones, teeth, claws, and hide—into the arms of Glittertoss and leaving him shut in the smithy, the Lumen party decided to spend time on self-training as Gi-jun had said until the equipment was finished.

They trained their bodies to fully handle their rapidly risen stats, honed their combat senses through practical sparring centered on the party leader, Gi-jun, and practiced various skills.

Meanwhile, Gi-jun also took separate time to practice handling Vulcan’s Hammer, but since wielding two shields to combine offense and defense suited him best, it seemed unlikely he would have to use the hammer unless it was an exceptional situation.

However, as they made their way through this harsh continent of Leta, crises that could not be overcome without an Epic-grade weapon would surely arise—so he decided to train to be able to unleash a decisive blow for such times.

“Hyung, what if we can’t return to Earth later?”

Eun-shin, who had finished a breathtaking day of training and was relaxing in the open-air bath with Gi-jun, suddenly opened his mouth.

“I think living in Uralta would be fine. We could just go to a cooler region for the summer.”

“I just got goosebumps.”

“Ah…”

At Gi-jun’s immediate reply, Eun-shin made an awkward expression and raised a hand to scratch his head.

“I’m sorry, Hyung. I guess that was a bit much, huh? I shouldn’t be having such weak thoughts already.”

“It’s not that, I was actually thinking of something similar.”

“I knew it, Hyung!”

It was not a matter of whether he could return to Earth or not, but rather that if he were to stop fighting and retire, he wanted to live in a region with hot springs like Uralta, though.

In a way, the very fact that he was having such thoughts might have meant he was already ruling out the possibility of returning to Earth on his own.

“Honestly… I don’t really miss Earth that much anymore. Frankly speaking, I’ve lived here longer than I did on Earth.”

“If we talk about that, it makes me feel my age, so let’s stop, Hyung. I can say this with confidence: my mental age is still in my early twenties.”

“Actually, Ji-hye seemed to be the same way.”

In fact, Gi-jun had felt a bit mentally aged due to suffering excessively in the tutorial channel, but because the ten years he spent with Biche and Lucy had been so peaceful and happy, he felt like he had become a bit childish again.

Calling it a net zero, could he not say that his current mental age was at a similar level to when he was on Earth?

‘It’s a good thing. Even if I were sent back to Earth right now, I wouldn’t seem like an old man.’

However, even if he could return to Earth, would he really be able to adapt there?

Having been heavily suppressed on Earth, it was only after coming to Leta that he was finally able to reveal himself.

His desire to return to Earth was not desperate enough to endure that.

To be sure, there were people he missed on Earth, but now there were also people here whom he held in his heart just as much… no, perhaps even more.

“Right… You and I, and probably Ji-hye too. Don’t we all think similarly? Because in many ways, Earth feels distant and faint.”

“Why are you getting so serious again? We might be able to return to Earth someday.”

At Eun-shin’s words, who had seen through Gi-jun’s complex feelings and was trying to comfort him, he replied with a bitter smile.

“How do you think Min-i or Brother Su feel?”

“Uh…”

At Gi-jun’s sudden words, Eun-shin racked his brain in thought.

Reflexively, the thought, ‘Min-i Nuna wouldn’t care even if it were hell as long as Hyung was there,’ came to mind, but since Eun-shin also understood Gi-jun’s twisted perception to some extent by now.

Even if he said it openly, Gi-jun would have laughed it off as a ridiculous joke.

“And as for Mok-su…”

“Wouldn’t Uncle Su be similar to us? He doesn’t really talk about Earth.”

“But that wasn’t the case.”

“Huh?”

Eun-shin reacted as if he had not imagined it at all.

As expected, it seemed Mok-su had not said anything to Eun-shin.

Gi-jun spoke in a calm tone, concealing his bitterness.

“There was a time when we were drinking, and he said that. He asked, ‘Can we really return to Earth?’ with a very serious expression.”

“That uncle…”

Eun-shin replied with a hollow expression at those words.

“If that’s the case, he’s really something else too. He never showed any signs of it normally.”

“So I told him firmly. That I would make sure to send him back.”

“Why are you trying to act cool toward another man?”

“This punk, always speaking like that.”

“But saying you’ll send him back, doesn’t that mean you’re planning to stay, Hyung?”

As expected, Eun-shin’s dagger was always needlessly sharp.

At Eun-shin’s remark that accurately pointed out Gi-jun’s dilemma, he blinked his eyes a couple of times and replied.

“We’ll only know when the time comes.”

“Hmm… Ah, then Hyung, what do you think about Min-i Nuna? Do you think she wants to return to Earth?”

“Min-i? Min-i is… well.”

Gi-jun replied honestly.

“Honestly, I have no idea what Min-i is thinking. It was like that before too… but even more so now that we’ve met again after being apart for ten years. The only thing for sure is that she is looking much further and on a grander scale than I am, though.”

“I see.”

Eun-shin nodded.

They said admiration was the emotion furthest from understanding, and indeed, it was exactly that.

It was the moment he became convinced that Ye-min’s romance would be far more difficult than he had thought.

“You think of Min-i Nuna as difficult, Hyung.”

“Hey, you punk, stop throwing daggers at your ally.”

“Hyung, since it’s not cool for me to keep interfering, I’ll put it simply.”

Eun-shin rose from the hot spring, looked down at Gi-jun, and spoke while needlessly putting on airs.

“Right now, your position is equal to Min-i Nuna’s, or even higher, Hyung.”

“You put on such a show just to drop that line…?!”

“Anyway, there’s no need to overcomplicate things. I’ll head out first.”

Leaving Gi-jun behind, Eun-shin headed to the changing room, quickly changed his clothes, and sent a message to Ye-min as he walked out.

[Eun-shin (Leta): Nuna, I think I’ve figured out the answer.]

[Ye-min (Leta): What is it? Did you find out something Oppa likes?]

[Eun-shin (Leta): Nuna, you don’t share any common ground with Hyung.]

[Ye-min (Leta): Shin-ah, if you suddenly say strange things, Nuna will get angry? Don’t you remember consulting seriously with Jun-i Oppa and launching the Earthling Guild just a little while ago?]

[Eun-shin (Leta): No, not that, but something more personal—then let me ask, do you think Jun-i Hyung wants to return to Earth?]

[Ye-min (Leta): Of course. Jun-i Oppa is a person with more responsibility than anyone. Even now, isn’t he working hard for other Earthlings? Oppa is someone who will move without rest until he takes everyone back to Earth. The reason I’m holding onto this guild and working hard is all to ease his burden.]

[Eun-shin (Leta): Then what about you, Nuna?]

[Ye-min (Leta): As for me, I must follow Oppa’s will. Hurting Oppa by trying to control everyone according to my own desires is an experience I decline to repeat.]

[Eun-shin (Leta): What a yearning love.]

[Ye-min (Leta): Nuna is really going to get mad, okay?]

[Eun-shin (Leta): Just kidding. Anyway, next time you meet Jun-i Hyung, don’t talk about such difficult topics and talk about something more personal, personal.]

[Ye-min (Leta): But I think Oppa would find that burdensome…]

Eun-shin lowered the hand holding his Letaphone and let out a sigh.

Because there was at least one thing about Ye-min that he knew better than Gi-jun did.

It was the fact that, in essence, she had not changed in the slightest.

“I think this is starting to look really hopeless in earnest…”

When he was moving with Ye-min, he had had no doubt that as soon as they reunited with Gi-jun, Ye-min would actively make her move and they would quickly become a couple, but for some reason, the possibility felt increasingly distant now.

Rather, did it not seem that Scintilla or Lora, who were in the same party, had approached much closer to Gi-jun’s heart than Ye-min?

“What is hopeless?”

“Gasp!”

At the voice that suddenly came from behind him, Eun-shin turned around in fright.

He was even more startled because the person he had thought of just a moment ago, Lora, was staring intently at him.

For him, who was supposedly an assassin, to have his back taken—truly, this vampire nun was no ordinary person!

“I thought you were suspicious from the beginning. You were a spy.”

Had she just come out of the bath like him? Captivated for a moment by Lora’s flushed, smooth cheeks, he recalled Ji-hye’s face in his mind, desperately calmed himself, and replied.

“There’s no way I’m a spy. We aren’t even enemies in the first place.”

“I misspoke. Then, to put it differently… you were instructed by Ye-min to observe us, right?”

“Gasp.”

“At first, I thought you were observing us because you worried about Jun-nim, doubting if we were suitable people to be in the same party, but that was not it. You were simply monitoring our contact with Jun-nim. And you were reporting that to Ye-min!”

Eun-shin felt as if his body were freezing at Lora’s extremely accurate point.

Even if he granted that she could notice him observing them since she had experienced it firsthand.

But to think she even noticed that he was reporting to Ye-min, how on earth!

“Uh, I’m sorry. Actually, I was also monitoring you.”

That mystery was resolved all too easily by Lora’s confession.

When Eun-shin took notice, a small insect that had been flying around unnoticed landed on the back of Lora’s hand, its eyes flashing red.

Lora, who crushed the insect under the control of blood magic to death in an instant, spoke with an ambiguous smile.

“Humans are easily changeable beings. Unlike Jun-nim, who welcomed and accepted you as soon as you reunited, I couldn’t know what you, who had been separated from Jun-nim for ten years, would think of his current self… That’s why I had been secretly observing you. I’m sorry.”

Dumbfounded, Eun-shin did not even have the energy to argue.

In any case, since he had also observed Lora and Scintilla and informed Ye-min of what happened between them and Gi-jun, he could not complain further.

“But… telling me this directly.”

“I felt sorry for continuing to observe you secretly… and after seeing the contents of your reports to Ye-min, I learned there was no need to be on guard. Also, fighting against the divine beast together made me think of you as a trustworthy comrade-in-arms.”

“Then why did you accuse me of being a spy in the first place?”

“I wanted to make our positions as similar as possible to ease my own guilt.”

“Are you a genius?”

Certainly, it was true that he could not argue with Lora since he had also done wrong!

In the first place, since he had also not known he was being monitored by blood magic, was it not a game he had lost the moment Lora obediently confessed that fact?

Eun-shin spoke in a completely drained voice.

“Let’s just let this go. As long as you don’t monitor me in the future…”

“As I said earlier, I think of you as a trustworthy person. I look forward to working with you.”

Lora lightly bowed her head, wearing an ambiguous smile that was half apologetic and half relieved.

In truth, it was a situation where he had every right to be angry, but Eun-shin cried inwardly at himself, unable to act tough against a beautiful woman wearing such an expression.

“And I trust that you will no longer report every single detail about us to that person either.”

“No, um, yes. I will. Looking at Nuna’s state now, it doesn’t seem like that would be meaningful anyway.”

Sighing and nodding, Eun-shin gave her a polite bow.

“I’m sorry too. You must have felt very uncomfortable. I should apologize properly to Scintilla-ssi as well.”

“No, actually, I didn’t feel that bad.”

At his words, Lora replied with a smile, drawing up the corners of her mouth.

“Rather, it felt like boasting about the relationship between Jun-nim and me to that person, so it was actually quite enjoyable.”

“…”

This person was scary.

She was the type of person who, if she became an enemy, would stab at an unexpected moment in an unexpected way.

Facing Lora, who wore an absurdly attractive expression, Eun-shin trembled.

Then, a sudden curiosity arose.

“By any chance, did you ever monitor Jun-i Hyung with that blood magic earlier?”

“Of course not. It’s impossible for me to doubt Jun-nim.”

“No, it’s not a matter of that. You like Jun-i Hyung. I think that if Min-i Nuna had an ability like yours, she would have absolutely peeked at Jun-i Hyung.”

“There’s no way I would commit such a vulgar act of spying on Jun-nim for such personal feelings.”

Lora, who firmly denied his rude assumption, added in a very resentful voice.

“Furthermore, there’s no way I could use blood magic without the spirit by his side noticing…!”

“So you did try in the end.”

He simply could not help but point it out.