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#153. Narcissism (2)
The boy remembered that day.
The horror I felt from that guy.
The humiliation of being completely defeated by the dictionary.
‘What kind of crazy guy is that…!’
Having been fighting on the streets since I was young, I prided myself on knowing perfectly how to deal with most weapons.
A wooden stick, an iron pipe, a club.
Knives, bricks, whips, etc.
Some guys who hit a little bit also used knuckles or nunchucks.
But I can say for sure.
‘There was no one who used a dictionary as a weapon…!’
I couldn’t even get a feel for the law of relativity.
Just looking at something square and angular would make me tear up, my hands and feet would tremble, and my breathing would become rapid.
‘Does the Magic Tower originally fight with books? Because it is a place to explore knowledge?’
Suddenly, a conversation I had with my past teacher flashed through my mind.
“A book is mightier than a fist.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re pretty good at using your body. Would you like to learn magic from me? Then you’ll become much stronger.”
Back alley, it was our first meeting.
It was when he was beating up kids who were picking on him on the street.
‘That’s what it meant. It was a proverb indicating the superiority of equipment.’
Tears welled up in my eyes.
Then there was no way his knuckles could beat the guy’s dictionary.
Because proverbs are like immutable laws that apply everywhere in the world.
Ahh… the magic tower.
‘It was a scary place.’
In the boy’s head, the tower is built as a place where books compete against each other and show off their thickness.
“Haa…! Haa…!”
A heavy breath escaped from his lips.
I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I’d been running around the mansion.
My heart was about to burst right then.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock!
‘Doesn’t that kid ever get tired…!’
I couldn’t stop for even a moment because of the loud footsteps behind me.
Fortunately, he was faster than his opponent and had been able to make good use of the mansion’s structure, so he had not been caught yet.
But because of my stamina that is gradually decreasing, I don’t know when I will catch up.
‘Should I just apologize for my mistake?’
Then wouldn’t it be possible to avoid getting hit in the head with that weapon?
Despite his sinister appearance, could he be someone you can communicate with?
But what did I do wrong?
‘It was that kid who did something wrong.’
At that time, my feelings of anger were welling up.
“Isn’t that Ain?”
“Why are you running like that?”
“Hey! What are you doing instead of cleaning?”
The voices of the C class kids who were doing chores were heard.
“Who’s chasing after you?”
“Isn’t that the guy from Matap? Are the two of them fighting?”
“Ain is being chased because he lost?”
Ain’s eyebrows twitched.
“No way. It’s not just any other kid, it’s Ain, and you’re being so one-sided?”
“There was a story yesterday about how you fought against that guy Matap 10 to 1 and lost.”
“Hey, that can’t be right. Even so, Ain is in Class B.”
It felt like my eyes were wide open.
For a moment, the confidence I had forgotten about came flooding back to me.
Who are you?
Although he is somewhat lacking in theory, he is a super rookie who is recognized by everyone in the mansion as second only to his disciples in terms of practice.
He is also a romantic man from the cold sector who deliberately stayed in Class B to protect his older sister, even though he has the skills to advance to Class A.
‘So this is what happened to me?’
It was clearly a mistake.
If we fight again, we will definitely be able to create a result that is 360 degrees different from yesterday.
The moment when I regained faith in myself.
Woof!
The sky blue mana that had been at a standstill within the ring began to move again, swaying gently.
Woohoo!
A scene from the past played in my head, followed by anger.
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An ice model with drops of blood flowing from it.
The appearance of the vicious man who threatened my older sister.
‘This kid…! He hurt my sister…!’
Thud thud!
I’ll show you an example…!
So much so that you’ll regret being born!
Squeak─ bang!
Ain suddenly stopped walking and turned around.
The moment I saw the expressionless face of an opponent running towards me at a frightening speed across the hallway and the weapon in his hand.
Binggle.
He turned around again and started running away.
‘I’ll show you the example next time’
I’m busy today.
There is a proper time and season for everything.
First of all, that day wasn’t today.
Knock knock knock knock knock──!
At that very moment, a chase ensues.
Ray was watching the sky-blue mana flowing through Ain’s body.
‘The sky blue mana is accelerating its movement by turning into wind.’
That kind of usage is also possible.
Ray inwardly admired and pulled the sky blue mana from the air.
The moment when the sky blue mana spreads throughout the body and turns into magic.
Hoooow──!
A huge gust of wind pushed Ray’s body explosively.
My body felt so light that I felt like I could fly, and the distance between me and my prey, or rather, my specimen, was rapidly closing in.
“… … !”
Ain turned his head for a moment and his eyes filled with fear as he faced the sight.
The moment when there was less than 5 meters left.
Bam─!
Ain opened the laundry room door and went in.
The series of actions that followed were lightning fast.
BAM─! CLACK!
After slamming the door shut, I locked it.
I even double-locked it.
Bam!
I ran naked and opened the door on the other side.
Dadada!
Finally, he crawled into one of the large laundry baskets in the corner and buried himself in it.
‘it’s okay.’
Even I thought it was perfect.
The other person will make sure that no one is in the laundry room and will go out through the open door on the other side.
Knock, knock, knock─ Knock, knock.
The footsteps stopped at the door.
‘It’ll take a minute to figure it out though. I need to catch my breath for a moment…’
At that time, I was thinking like that.
Bam!
… … ?
Ain’s heart, which was trying to calm down a little, started pounding again.
‘What? I was in a hurry, but the locking spell was perfect?’
It was a bit embarrassing.
But there was no disruption to the plan.
Anyway, the opponent wouldn’t have noticed that I was hiding here.
‘This is the place I always go to when I’m slacking off. I’m telling you, no one’s ever caught me.’
At that time, I was thinking like that.
Knock—knock—knock—knock—
The footsteps came closer without the slightest hesitation.
… … ?
It was a bit embarrassing.
But there was no disruption to the plan.
Even if he had doubted the basket, he would not have been able to immediately find his hiding place among these many choices.
‘I’ll have to search through a few. I’ll have to search through all of this.’
At that time, I was thinking like that.
widely.
The sound of footsteps stopped right in front of me and I showed no sign of moving for some time.
… … .
It was a bit embarrassing.
But there was a disruption to the plan… .
“Eww! Die!”
Ain burst out through the laundry.
*
Ayla flinched when she saw Ray return with Ain at her side.
“You killed him…?”
“Stay alive.”
When I looked closely, my heart was moved.
It was definitely breathing.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen someone drag Ain like this. If anything, it would have been the opposite. Well, you beat ten of us at once… .”
While Ayla was feeling dazed.
Ray leaned Ain against the wall and examined the mana on the ring.
The sky blue mana was temporarily inactive, perhaps because its owner had fainted.
‘I think I need to wake it up first so I can observe something.’
At that moment, Ray, who was thinking like that, created a large number of cold water droplets in the air.
“What, what are you trying to do?”
Ayla, who had been watching, asked.
“To wake me up.”
“If that’s the case, there’s another way. I’ll do it.”
Ayla came up next to me and bent her knees, taking small breaths.
And then he whispered in his brother’s ear.
“Ain! Help me! Who hurt me…!”
“What a bastard!”
Ain suddenly got up and looked around with fire in his eyes.
Then, my eyes met with Ray’s and I almost fell down on the road.
I managed to pull myself together and took ten steps back from the danger, dragging Ayla along with me.
“Sister! Your hand! Is your hand okay? Did that heartless murder weapon hack you? Huh?”
Ayla calmed Ain down.
“No. It was my mistake that I got hurt. Instead, Hayler used healing magic on me.”
“Sister, did you accidentally cut it?”
“Yeah. You misunderstood.”
While the two talked, Ray calmly observed their emotions.
The two were similar yet different.
First of all, they were the same in that they possessed much more colorful emotions than ordinary people.
‘But the central color is different.’
Ain is a sky blue mana.
Ayla is blue mana.
Unlike Ain, whose emotions flow freely as if riding the wind around the sky-blue mana.
Ayla’s emotions were largely caught up in the blue mana that was spread out like ice in the bowl, preventing her from moving.
Also, the same emotions had clearly different directions.
‘They both hold white mana.’
White mana associated with the emotion of worry.
In Ain’s case, if the white mana is directed towards both herself and her older sister.
In Ayla’s case, she ignored herself and focused only on her younger brother.
… I think you said we were siblings.
Were the two growing up in different environments?
Ray, who was curious, asked right away.
“Are you two really siblings?”
“Yeah. That’s right. There’s a three year age difference. I’m 17. Ain’s 14.”
“Can you tell me how the two of you grew up?”
“Well, it’s not a difficult request….”
“Sister, you don’t have to answer that guy.”
It seems that the misunderstanding has been resolved, as the title has been upgraded to ‘guy’.
“The healing magic must have been used with evil intentions. You dirty wolf cubs. How many of you would approach me just by seeing my face?”
It didn’t seem to be the case.
However, the words that Ray responded to were different from wolf or black heart.
“Not that guy, but hyung.”
“what…?”
“Brother. I’m older than you.”
From Ray’s perspective, it was a reaction that was ingrained in his instincts.
During the Guldari era, one of the most important things to maintain the group was the hierarchy and titles.
Ain looked at Ray with a look that said, “What kind of guy is this?”
“Don’t make me laugh. I’ve never had anyone call me hyung. Do you think I’m that easy?”
Ray heard the dictionary.
“But this problem can be easily solved if you call him ‘hyung-nim’ instead of ‘hyung.’ They are different words. Right, hyung-nim Hayler?”
Ayla, who had been listening, asked.
“Hey, how old are you?”
“16 years old.”
“Then I’m the older sister.”
“… … .”
“Sister, me.”
Ayla stared at Ray, pointing at herself with her finger.
So Ray picked up the dictionary.
“Hmm, I don’t think titles are important at all. Call me Hayler, whatever you want.”
Afterwards, Ayla opened up about Ain and her childhood.
“I grew up in a lower-class family. We were almost poor.”
He said that although both his father and mother were alive, neither of them were able to fulfill their parental duties properly.
My father was a gambling addict who was always drunk and violent.
Her mother was said to be an extravagant patient who was ready to abandon her family at any moment for a rich man.
Ain clicked his tongue at that part.
“They were idiots. They couldn’t even act like humans.”
“Ain…! You shouldn’t say that. But they were my father and mother.”
“I don’t recognize those people as my parents. They had no choice but to stay in the corner of the house because of their older sister. If it weren’t for that, they would have run away and lived on the streets a long time ago.”
Ain was very resolute.
As if the only thing he cannot compromise on is his thoughts about his parents.
“… … .”
Ayla looked at her younger sister with eyes filled with pity as she continued her story.
It was a very precarious family.
But he and Ain started working on the streets when they were young, and somehow they managed to survive.
Ain said from the side.
“You’re such an idiot, Sister. What’s so good about those humans that you feed them to them?”
“Ain, please…! We were family.”
Ain looked at his older sister as if he couldn’t understand her, then continued speaking.
“Anyway, my sister and I have done everything on the street. Selling gum, shining shoes, delivering newspapers, washing dishes. We’ve opened a street stall and sold things, and served at a restaurant. Sometimes we even delivered dangerous goods from back alleys.”
In the last sentence, he glanced at Ray.
It was a look in my eyes that said, “What a great and dangerous guy I am.”
The reaction came back from the other side first.
“You…! I told you not to do something so dangerous. You’ve been doing it without me knowing the whole time?”
“Not all the time, just occasionally. And if you know the trick, it’s not as dangerous as you might think.”
Both siblings were smarter than their peers and had tenacity and determination.
The causal relationship was not clear.
Is it because I had to become an adult early that I developed those qualities?
Or maybe it was because he was born with such temperament that he was able to be mature.
However, as a result, the siblings were able to adapt to the streets without much difficulty, although it was not easy.
Of course, there were times when it was dangerous.
“ This is the son of the pelton! ”
Sometimes I was pointed at.
At times like that.
─Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Ain later did whatever it took to break that finger so that he would never be able to point it out again.
“What do you want me to do? I’m an uneducated brat, so what did you give me?”
It was an action to prevent such words from reaching my older sister’s ears later.
Because he didn’t care what people around him said.
Parents were parents.
He was himself.
Even though it rolled around and broke in the world, it became a sharp stone instead of a jewel.
“This is me, what do you want me to do?”
The boy was always proud of his appearance.
I was proud.
In some ways, I loved it.
Although it may not be stylish, I thought it was a very suitable appearance for living in the world.
If you want to deal with the crazy people running around the world, you have to be crazy yourself.
“Anyway, that’s why I like myself.”
That moment.
Wooooowow──!
The sky-blue mana in Ain’s bowl expanded uncontrollably.
It was at that moment that Ray came to a realization.