"... Huh?" Chin-Hwa's face froze completely as he looked at Hyun-Jae with widened eyes. For a good few seconds, he couldn't register what she said at all. No, he did understand what she said, it's just that his mind refused to take it in.
Standing there, he looked at Hyun-Jae's calm expression, trying to figure out whether she was really saying what he thought she was or was his mind was simply hallucinating.
"I do not wish to be friends with soone who can't seem to comprehend their limits. You used to be a clever and rational person which was why I believed that you're one of the few people I could trust. However, that part of you is long gone now." Hyun-Jae explained, her voice as monotone as ever.
"..."
Just like that, everything chattered inside Chin-Hwa's head. His biggest fear, no, wasn't even a fear in the first place since he never thought a day would co when his relationship, his bond with Hyun-Jae would be severed.
A very cold, suffocating feeling filled his chest and threatened to make him collapse right there and then.
"No, please… Please, president… I made a mistake. I was dumb, really dumb! I should've never done anything like this! I was just worried about yo-"
"We aren't children anymore, Chin-Hwa. I can take care of myself. Even if you were worried about , you should've prioritized your duty rather than your feelings."
"I… I…"
Hyun-Jae noticed the desperate look on Chin-Hwa's face as he looked at her with a pleading expression, almost tearful at so point. Seeing him like that made her frown a little. It pained her to see an old friend of hers turn into such a person.
Chin-Hwa was one of her very first friends whom she really believed were good people. The two spent their childhood together and learned things about each other that others didn't.
She really liked him as a friend and soone to rely on in ti of need. That remained the case for years as they grew up. However, slowly, Hyun-Jae started noticing Chin-Hwa's behavior toward her change.
The way he looked at her slowly shifted and beca very similar to the eyes she would get from other people and would make her shudder. At first, she wanted not to believe it since this was her childhood friend and a trusted companion of hers.
However, with ti, those looks beca more and more common till they eventually beca the only way Chin-Hwa looked at her.
Naturally, the blow from that realization was really strong for her. She realized that Chin-Hwa didn't see her as a friend anymore but sothing far more special. Except, Hyun-Jae never really felt that way toward him.
He was indeed a brilliant man on every front, but she had never seen him as soone to fall in love with. After all, she never found love to be really a topic of interest to her. It wasn't that she didn't want to experience it, it just never really occurred to her that it was sothing she needed.
Nobody around her sparked that feeling within her before and so she assud that it was simply sothing that didn't fit her.
So, even when she knew that Chin-Hwa was looking at her that way, she didn't push him away. Her attachnt to him as an old friend stopped her from leaving him.
However, that decision perhaps was the reason why they reached such a point in the first place. Chin-Hwa started trying to get into her life more actively. It was odd, but Hyun-Jae tried to stop him from doing that multiple tis.
He never listened to her nor acknowledged that she didn't want that at all. So, in a sense, today's events were simply the last straw that broke the cal' back.
"It's not a personal grudge, Chin-Hwa. I just don't think it's a good idea for both of us to remain friends. It's harming you as much as it's harming . We can still work toward a shared goal as fellow survivors but do not try to approach with anything more than that. Consider that a warning."
At the last sentence, Hyun-Jae's voice turned deathly cold, making Chin-Hwa shudder.
He didn't even need to look at her to realize that this wasn't friendly advice. She was threatening him not to get close to her or there will be dire consequences.
Chin-Hwa's heart and soul felt as if they were no longer there. Even the pain he felt beca a horrible numbness filling his entire body. Then, slowly, he turned around and started walking away silently.
"Sigh…" Rubbing her temples, Hyun-Jae closed her eyes as she felt a headache assault her head.
'Hopefully, he really reflects on it.' She thought to herself.
anwhile, Acrypha was floating above the scene, watching with an interested look.
"Humans are such interesting creatures." She murmured as she looked at Hyun-Jae.
***
With that, the day ended in a peaceful manner. The mont the night arrived, all the students went to sleep. No one was able to stay awake to do a night shift from exhaustion nor there was any need for it at the ti.
The next day, Hyun-Jae woke up and imdiately was hit with a pile of tasks. First of all, she had to go over the entire student body, checking their condition and noting down those who received particularly heavy injuries or… died.
After that brutal fight, the number of students that t their end was exactly 8 students. 3 of them were from the frontlines and the rest were from the backlines. Naturally, everyone was devastated by those losses. Their friends and peers have lost their lives during this ordeal, after all.
Hyun-Jae made sure to give them a proper burial with everyone present except for Talon and Chin Hwa. It was a sad mont for everyone, but also a mont of realization that even with everything going as perfectly as it could, death was still but a mont away from claiming their lives.
It was the harsh truth that many of them forgot because of the constant feeling of power they experienced. But, this ca as a reminder that out there, monsters capable of ending their lives were roaming free.
After that, Hyun-Jae went out with a group of students to do the second most important thing… Collect the cores and corpses of the monsters.
Outside, hundreds of dead enemies riddled the place, many of them having shining cores next to them that were begging to be claid. Monsters varying from level 1 to level 13 filled the place. It was akin to a treasure trove.
Naturally, these cores were going to boost the power of the group by leaps and bounds. Till that point, the most they had was a few dozen weapons, mostly common items, a few good skills here and there, and finally, a dozen or so potions.
It wasn't the best arsenal of weapons for a group of students in the hundreds. But, after collecting the hundreds of cores left behind, Hyun-Jae was certain that the power of the group was finally going to break through.
This naturally gave everyone a moral boost like nothing else and kept them on their feet even though they were affected by the horrible fight.
However, even with all this good news, there was still sothing that kept Hyun-Jae's mood in a really bad state.
Even after two entire days, Talon still didn't wake up from his coma. During this ti, Gu Iseul had to visit him multiple tis to heal his injuries. She would drain all of her Aetheris on him till she's about to collapse before she leaves, rests, and cos back.
Naturally, Talon's condition grew better and better with each session and even the brutal injury on his abdon started closing on its own. Yet, the young man himself didn't seem like he had any intention of waking up.
With that, the second and third days after the fight passed peacefully. Hyun-Jae was drowned in more and more work but she still made sure to visit Talon every single day.
For at least one hour, she would sit next to him silently as she watched him. It was her only peaceful ti amidst the chaos. She also used that ti to simply think about everything and have a mont of reflection.
With that, the fourth and fifth days quickly passed too and Hyun-Jae's worries grew bigger and bigger. Talon wasn't waking up at all and Gu Iseul didn't know why.
His vital signs seed fine and so was his recovery process. Iseul thought that his recovery was going to be a miracle in itself, yet, that turned out to be the smoothest part of the entire process.
"I really have no idea when he could wake up… He's in a comatose state, so it could take days, weeks, or even months for him to wake up…" She told Hyun-Jae with a difficult expression. "All we can do is wait."
Just hearing that news ruined Hyun-Jae's mood. However, she still accepted them. After all, Talon was still alive and well, all that was left was for him to wake up.
All that was left was for him to wake up… Just thinking about that made Hyun-Jae smile bitterly. Even in such a situation, she still firmly believed that Talon was going to wake up any ti soon.
'Don't make wait too long, Talon.' She thought to herself as she gave the young man one last look and left the room, closing the door behind her.
***
anwhile, Inside Talon's head.
"Ok, where the hell am I?"
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )
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