Chapter 414

Two months. Not two days, not two weeks—he had gone completely without food or water for that entire time.

"Yes?"

I completely misunderstood! Earlier, I thought someone had fallen into the pool, but now I see—the real danger was that he might starve to death.

"How can a person go sixty days like that? Ah, then I should at least buy you some porridge—no, wait. The hospital. We need to go to the hospital first."

"It's okay."

"Y-you're really going to die at this rate! Kim Giryeo-ssi!"

At the homeowner's words, a whirlwind of thoughts raced through the visitor's mind. Before the shock had even worn off, Seonwoo Yeon moved on instinct. Convinced that the alien's life might be in danger, she strained to haul him out of the water.

"My body's been modified, so I'm fine."

Splash.

So this must be how an elephant feels when it's suddenly dragged away while happily rolling around in the mud. But if he stayed silent simply because he found it annoying to explain, he would soon end up in a hospital bed.

"!!!.!!!!"

"Ah, even though you're Awakened, your hearing isn't that good, huh...?"

After a long silence, the alien living in the mansion finally spoke. More precisely, he opened his mouth to stop the human who had mistaken him for someone in mortal danger.

***

About ten minutes after the aquatic alien had been dragged out of the swimming pool.

"Why is there no hair dryer in such a huge house?"

If he were an ordinary human, properly drying himself after swimming would have been essential to keep from catching a cold. But despite being a psychic capable of manipulating air, Seonwoo Yeon had no idea how to create warm air.

As a result, she could only fidget helplessly—though fortunately, she was searching for a hair dryer inside the home of someone she knew. Thanks to the alien's insistence, at least they had avoided a trip to the hospital.

"Um, I went ahead and took a few towels from the drawer..."

Moreover, the weather happened to be mild and pleasant.

"Just sit still in the chair. You'll dry off quickly."

Giving up on finding a tool, Seonwoo Yeon immediately began using her innate ability.

Swish.

As the visitor manipulated the airflow, the moisture on the other person's skin gradually began to dry.

"Isn't the wind too strong?"

For now, she had at least managed to get this far... but the question was, how on earth was she supposed to deal with what came next?

"If... if you're cold, please tell me right away."

The visitor's gaze wandered uneasily. Judging from her nervous behavior, the atmosphere in the mansion's living room was far from comfortable.

At first, Kim Giryeo's silence and corpse-like stillness made him seem intimidating. But the next emotion to rise within her was a faint sense of worry.

I pulled him out of cold water, but somehow his complexion looks even worse now.

It would almost have been better if he'd gotten angry and told her to leave. But ever since he had refused to go to the hospital, the alien had not said a single word.

He simply sat there with his eyes closed beneath his thick monolids, breathing quietly.

"Are you okay?"

After a while, unable to endure the silence any longer, Seonwoo Yeon finally spoke.

At last, the blond man who had remained wordless until then showed a faint reaction.

"Hunter Seonwoo Yeon, do you happen to know?"

"What do you mean?"

It was a rather strange way to begin a conversation.

"There are three kinds of miracles in this world that can never be activated, even if the formula itself is correct..."

"Yes?"

"As for the three great mysteries of the skill system..."

"Yes."

"The first is splitting a planet in half. The second is reversing time. And the last is most likely resurrection."

"Hmm."

"And it seems all three impossibilities share the same underlying cause—but I won't go into the details. I think it might startle you, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi."

"I-I see."

By then, most of the moisture had dried. Seonwoo Yeon placed the damp towels into the laundry basket and finally began a serious conversation.

"Kim Giryeo-ssi, it seems like what happened last time really shook you."

He kept spouting strange things, then slumping into his chair like a corpse. Anyone who saw him like this would naturally begin to wonder.

"It wasn't enough to shock me."

But she had not expected such an immediate denial.

"I just didn't know what to do, that's all."

"Could you explain that a little more clearly?"

"Ahn Yoonsoung, metaphorically speaking, was an exceptionally rare talent."

Seonwoo Yeon sat down on the nearby sofa so she could hear him more clearly. The homeowner continued speaking for a while.

"More precisely, he was an irreplaceable talent. After all, he was the first friend I ever made—in either my past life or this one."

"Ah..."

"Honestly, in my previous life, I never had such a personal relationship with anyone."

"I see."

"So I suppose I simply don't know what to do when I lose someone precious to me."

His tone was calm. His choice of words was simple.

Hearing that, Seonwoo Yeon's brows curved upward. Meanwhile, still perfectly composed, the homeowner suddenly brought up another unexpected subject.

"Are Italian sports cars really that good?"

At first, he mentioned the car he had noticed in the outdoor parking lot of the [Faith] guild.

Then the alien's thoughts moved on to rice, bags, and finally accessories made of platinum or gold.

"Or was it simply the satisfaction of owning something more expensive than what other people have—something so important that it was worth killing a person over?"

Seonwoo Yeon answered.

"I'm not really sure about that, but..."

She deliberately chose the most direct wording possible. After all, if she carelessly used metaphors, the alien might misunderstand.

"At least the motives of the killers who targeted Hunter Ahn Yoonsoung were fairly common."

"Really?"

"On this planet, currency doesn't have the same value in every country. With one hundred million won in Korean money, there are places where a person wouldn't have to work for the rest of their life. These days, many countries are struggling with the problem of low-cost contract killers."

The long-haired woman took a deep breath.

"Even if someone offered me a trillion won, I would never hurt another person."

"Hmm."

"But there are all kinds of people in the world. Maybe that's exactly why something like this happened."

When the visitor finished speaking, a brief silence fell.

Being unexpectedly confronted with such awkward silence in someone else's home was more uncomfortable than she had expected. So Seonwoo Yeon spoke again to break it.

"By the way, the last time I saw you, you were completely expressionless, so honestly, I thought you were fine..."

In a way, perhaps this was the question she had wanted to ask all along, even before coming here.

"Of course. I adjusted my emotions because it was necessary."

As Kim Giryeo began to answer, Seonwoo Yeon settled into an attentive posture.

"Anyway, because of this incident, I've experienced an unexpected rejuvenation."

"Yes?"

"If an old soul suddenly starts getting angry like a young person in the prime of life, what else would you call it but rejuvenation?"

"Rejuvenation?"

"I never imagined I'd behave so immaturely at my age. My goodness. To punish a criminal more harshly simply because I couldn't control my emotions..."

After all, the heart of a living creature wasn't made of tin. In a way, perhaps such a reaction was only natural.

"So that's why I kept saying private punishment isn't allowed."

For reference, in the past, he would already have lashed out without restraint.

But ironically, even Seonwoo Yeon was still a living creature in the end.

"I already made the criminals pay the price they deserved, so why do I still feel uneasy?"

"That makes sense."

"Should we at least go back and beat the ones we locked up in prison?"

"No."

Seonwoo Yeon kept her own thoughts to herself and simply nodded along for the moment.

Despite the awkward atmosphere, the conversation somehow continued.

"Ahn Yoonsoung was truly the friend I liked most."

_ _

"How does an Awakened person end up dying like this..."

There was no particular expression on his face, but judging from his pessimistic tone, the alien seemed to be in a rather gloomy state.

"By the way, something suddenly occurred to me. When someone like you, Seonwoo Yeon, goes through a difficult time, how do you get through it?"

One surprising thing after another.

"Hmm."

She had never imagined that a creature as extraordinary and rational as him—someone capable of controlling his emotions through magic—would ask her for advice.

"For now, the proper thing to do is simply leave it to time."

Fortunately, it wasn't a difficult question.

Seonwoo Yeon calmly adjusted her posture and began to explain.

"No matter how difficult things become, if you grit your teeth and endure them, eventually you'll get through it."

"Time."

"It's strange, isn't it? But speaking of time—were you serious earlier when you said you wanted to be left alone for ten years?"

"Why? Did that sound a little excessive to someone from Earth?"

"Very much so. We even have a saying that the landscape itself changes in ten years."

Still, maintaining this light atmosphere was difficult, considering how serious the matter was...

"Hunter Kim Giryeo—no, Kim Giryeo-ssi."

Once a habit stuck, it was hard to get rid of it.

The man sitting in the single-seater chair nodded as if agreeing with that thought.

"But no matter how I look at it, ten years still seems far too long."

"I know. You pointed that out three seconds ago."

"More precisely, what I meant is that it would be a waste for Kim Giryeo to spend such a long time suffering."

The homeowner fell silent.

"Stress may have given rise to people like me with supernatural abilities, but I've also heard that mutations aren't always beneficial to our bodies."

What followed was the government official's sincere concern.

"So, I have a suggestion..."

_ _

"What were your hobbies, Kim Giryeo?"

Judging from the context, the "Kim Giryeo" she was referring to did not seem to mean the body's original owner.

"Reading? Cooking?"

First she had been curious about the alien's name, and now she was asking what a creature that had lived in the sea did for leisure.

The mage wearing human skin soon responded to the primitive mage's question.

"Reading."

The answer was brief.

"So you liked reading books."

"Because I was a scholar."

"Then from now on, it might be good to spend your time regularly doing something you enjoy."

"Hmm."

"This is partly based on my own experience, but when you're going through a tunnel of suffering..."

_ _

"Even if it's something really trivial, you need at least one thing you can focus on."

Give it time and simply continue following the habits already ingrained in your body, and eventually things will improve.

When Seonwoo Yeon said this, the scholar of magic nodded.

"Then would going to the ocean perhaps help in this situation?"

"Yes?"

However, agreeing with someone's advice and blindly following it were two very different things.

"If I had to choose a hobby, it would be reading books. But if I had to choose one thing I wanted to do, it would be going to the ocean."

Wanting to see the ocean.

Honestly, that was probably the last thing anyone living right by the coast would normally say.

"The coastline is visible the moment you stick your head out of the house, so isn't it strange that he still finds the surrounding environment fascinating while living somewhere like this?"

But before Seonwoo Yeon could voice her doubts, Kim Giryeo added an explanation.

Although he had moved here quite some time ago, his busy schedule had kept him from exploring the area much.

"Aha."

In that case, wanting to see the sea made perfect sense.

Besides, it was a quiet weekend. There was no reason why one unemployed man and one government official couldn't take a walk along the sandy beach.

***

"It doesn't feel like we've been talking for that long, but it's already dinnertime."

There were no cries of seagulls.

A little later, the alien and the government official left the mansion and headed toward the nearby shore.

"It's still a long way from vacation season. Around this time of year, there usually aren't many people around..."

The sun had already set, and a lingering chill remained in the air.

But what was a short walk when someone who had gone through something painful wanted one?

"Quiet and peaceful."

Before Seonwoo Yeon stretched the sea, bathed in the fading hues of sunset.

At regular intervals, the sound of the waves reached her ears, soothing the uneasy corner of her mind with their steady rhythm.

Indeed, it was very different from seeing the ocean filtered through a television screen.

Step, step, step.

Seonwoo Yeon quietly enjoyed the natural white noise of the shore.

Thud.

But soon, in the middle of that peaceful moment, an unfamiliar sound intruded.

Her closed eyes snapped open.

"Hmm?"

The instant she looked ahead, she saw the blond man walking straight toward the sea.

Startled, Seonwoo Yeon hurried after him.

"Gasp. Wait! Don't go in there!"

She grabbed the hem of her companion's clothes and urgently pulled him back.

"It's fine. Even if I fall into the water, I won't die. I can breathe with magic. You saw me perfectly fine in the pool earlier, didn't you?"

But at first, he had assumed her shout was because she was worried he might drown.