Looking at the mirror, he could see a face stained with exhaustion.
Let’s try smiling.
He forced the corners of his lips up, but it appeared awkward. Even when he tried curving his eyes, it was the same – it was not natural.
There was always a glare in his eyes, and because of that, his smile even appeared a little threatening.
‘Why do you look so sorry when looking at us?’ That had been Bom’s question. Her words became a piece of rock that dropped in his head causing a not-so small ripple.
It had never occurred to him that he should control his expression, and that was the problem.
Emotions were automated devices that allowed a broader perspective into a situation while expressions were automated systems stemming off of emotions that expressed one’s condition. He should have predicted that by living through daily lives, his expression would also change depending on his emotion. It was his fault for not recognising that.
That was why Bom realised upon seeing his expression that he was feeling sorry and with that tiny glimpse into his emotions noticed something strange about his attitude. She even succeeded in proving that.
It was fortunate that she had a mellow mindset for him and it could have become the starting point of a massive problem. In that short moment, he felt as if a bullet had scraped past his ear.
The starting factor of all those problems had been his own expression. Therefore, he looked at himself again through the mirror.
What expression was I making, he wondered.
“…!”
It was then. Someone walked up to his knees – it was Gyeoul. In her hand was a 50 cent coin, which she excitedly swung left and right.
“What is that.”
“…I picked it up …at the streets.”
Hehe, she smiled.
Her eyes were curved and so were her lips.
Gyeoul was the one that smiled the least in Unit 301 and she almost always had a pout on her face. Even then, her smile was a lot more natural than his.
“Yu Gyeoul.”
“…Yes?”
“Come here for a bit.”
She obediently followed him. Soon, he lifted her up and sat her on a chair.
“Can you try guessing my expression?”
“…Your expression?”
“Look at my face and try guessing how I feel.”
“…Nn.”
Gyeoul replied with a nod.
He thought of something amusing that had happened recently with Yeorum. Back when she was asking him to teach her how to use the core, he mischievously teased her by saying he didn’t want to and Yeorum turned sulky in response. It was quite an amusing sight that made him smile.
“…?”
However, Gyeoul tilted her head.
“How was it.”
“…Hmm, something else please.”
Was that expression a bit difficult to guess?
Thinking that, he tried reflecting on other situations. Those included the times when he had felt irritated by the actions of the demons as well as when he was hoping Kaeul would stand back up from the ground.
Gyeoul vacantly looked into his face for a while before giving a confident nod.
“Do you get it?”
“…Yes.”
“How did I look.”
“…Looking, handsome.”
Not that.
Gyeoul, however, did nothing but give an innocent smile in return.
That was when they heard a loud noise from Yeorum’s room.
– Kyaaaaakkk!! Unni, unni!
– I was wrong! Sorry, please…!
He wondered what this was about now. The door of Yeorum’s room was pushed open with a thud as Bom walked out with a serious look on her face like a dictator who had just shut down the democrats. Beneath her feet was Yeorum crawling on the ground grasping onto her legs.
“Unni. Bom-unni. Please…!”
“Let go right now.”
“Ah, unni! That’s more precious to me than my life…!”
“I thought you were giving it to me?”
“Like, c’mon. You said you wouldn’t take it…!”
The centre of the situation seemed to be Yeorum’s long sword – or rather, the onion core with 10 lifted seals that was added onto the sword.
It was extremely rare for Bom to be that mad but fortunately, she wasn’t out of it and her degree of anger still appeared to be within the controllable margin.
But even so, she seemed exceedingly infuriated.
Bom took the core out of the sword and floated it in mid-air before bringing out a pair of large electric scissors and carrying it next to the core. The large scissors used for gardening looked quite vicious.
“Wait! Wait! Chotto Matteee!”
“Any last words?”
“Unni, for real! Do you want to see me kill myself!?”
“Nn. Go kill yourself.”
“Unni unni…! Even though I did see your diary! There was so much gibberish I stopped reading mid-way! I didn’t finish reading your ahjussi observ…”
Her voice immediately came to a stop as Bom and Yeorum turned their heads at the same time. Yu Jitae and Gyeoul were listening from the side.
Ahjussi observe what?
“Yu Yeorum.”
Bom said with a smirk. Her mind that was barely holding on seemed to have crossed the line.
“I told you not to touch my stuff. Didn’t I.”
Yeorum had to beg desperately for her forgiveness.
“Great unni please. Bom-unni. Goddess Bom. Little Yeorum’s heart is aching in pain and it hurts so much right now… If that breaks, Yeorum’s heart will break at the same timmee…”
As she was on her knees relaying her apology, there was one specific phrase that rang louder in his ears. ‘It hurts.’ Hearing those words with Yeorum’s voice was something that made him feel uncomfortable.
That was when Gyeoul pulled him by his pants. When he turned to her, she opened her mouth with a bright smile.
“…Looking, sorry.”
His facial muscles faintly flinched.
“…Uhh? …Looking, surprised.”
***
“But you know. In the end, doesn’t that belong to Bom-unni?”
Kaeul said with a smile. Frozen stiff, Yeorum stopped her chopsticks.
“What?”
“Why? It’s true, right? Bom-unni did all the gacha so doesn’t that mean it should belong to her?”
“You think that makes any sense?”
She denied it but not with a loud voice, because it did make sense.
Yeorum frowned. Kaeul was looking at the 10-unsealed core with a flickering gaze. After receiving the same military education for a long time just like her, Kaeul naturally also knew the value of that core.
“Oi. What do you think you’re looking at?”
“Unni unni. Can you lend it to me for just one week?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Why? Why? I also want to use super strong magic! It would be amazing if I put that on my staff!”
“Never.”
Kaeul still grumbled and wanted to use it for a few days so Yeorum eased her expression with a bright smile.
“Do you want to use it?”
“Uun!”
“Really?”
“Yess!”
Yeorum suddenly stood up from her seat before throwing the core into her pants. “Take it,” she said while pushing her lower body forward as Kaeul frowned as if she had seen human faeces on the street.
“I can’t take that…!”
“Why can’t you? You can borrow it as long as you take it!”
“Why are you so dirty unni…?”
Hahaha!
Her laughter abruptly came to a stop and Yeorum turned around in surprise. Gyeoul was grabbing onto the waist of her shorts and slight tension filled the room as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
“What you looking at.”
“…If I take this, can I, really use it?”
“What are you even going to do with it.”
“…It’s expensive.”
“Hehe. Really? But oh no, what should we do? You have to go through my leggings and my undies as well!”
In the end, Gyeoul could not take it either because it was just way too disgusting of a thing to do. It seemed that grabbing onto her pants was already displeasing enough as she immediately went to the bathroom and used both soap and magic to wash her hands.
The value behind the 10-unsealed core was so immense that even Kaeul and Gyeoul, who had no prior interest in it, were greedy for a try.
On the other hand, Yu Jitae had mixed thoughts looking at the core.
In his mind was a memory of the mana that the Witch’s 7-unsealed core had been giving off.
The impression he got back in the 4th and the 5th iterations when he was weaker than his current self as he saw her spell was that a normal [Fireball (B)] would be like a pitcher’s throw while the Witch’s was like a cannonball.
That was good and all, but there was actually a side effect to the ‘onion core’. It increased as the core had more and more seals removed, and was a side effect that was all the more detrimental to Yeorum.
– The core touches a part of the user’s emotions.
– In those times of war, I had always yearned for more power. After living with it the whole time, I thought I had it fully under my control.
– But no.
– It suddenly became difficult to control when my emotions were in turmoil.
– You see, it’s not like I ever wanted to kill both children and adults; humans and animals.
Some time in the distant past, the excuse Valentine had given as she was about to die in his hands was not a lie. On the day of the 724 Revolution of Quebec was when Valentine killed 7,000 people and became the true ‘Witch’.
Of course, Yeorum was not as efficient as the Witch in terms of control over the core. It meant she was still relatively free from the side effects as of yet and that was also why he hadn’t kept a close eye on Yeorum yet.
At least that had been the case.
But now, it was about time to start keeping a close eye on her use of the core. After realising that her power had reached a certain level, Yeorum began preparing for a bloody revenge.
“Dear.”
That night was when Yeorum came to him with a request.
“Can you schedule a duel for me?”
***
It was way too important of a thing to be regarded as a daily matter so he borrowed the name of the Association to carry it out.
Yu Yeorum is one of the superhumans the Association is deeply interested in, so have another duel and check it for us – that was the pretext which he used to request for another duel with Simon Abkarian.
Simon Abkarian.
The Saviour of Gallia, the Hero of France, the representative of Superhuman Without Border.
World Rank 29.
He was the master of the [Great Gallian Swordplay] and was the one who had recently smashed Yeorum to pieces.
“Ehng? Unni lost…?”
“She did.”
Kaeul was curious so he showed her the news articles of the past.
[Finally, a stop. Yu Yeorum loses in a duel against Simon Abkarian in just 15 seconds.]
[The end of an immature act – the wall of a true hero was unable to be overcome]
[Yu Yeorum suffers another defeat. This time, the victor was decided in just 12 seconds.]
[Yet another defeat for Yu Yeorum. A short 9-second duel decided in one blow.]
[Simon states, “A fearless fool that rushes in will die before angels,” as a warning to stop the indiscriminate duels]
[Yu Yeorum gets her additional duel requests ignored by Simon Abkarian… A shameful return.]
One of those articles even included a photo of Yeorum’s head trampled under Simon’s foot.
“Uwah… Yeorum-unni must have been super frustrated. How come I didn’t notice it…?”
It was because she didn’t show it on the outside. Unlike the past, Yeorum no longer ruined everything by being pulled around by her ego. However, the fact that she no longer gets pulled around by her ego did not mean her ego had disappeared.
She must have been quite disheartened on the inside.
“How does she look to you these days,” he asked.
“Who, Yeorum-unni? She’s a lot softer now…!”
“Is that so?”
“Un un. Even yesterday with the core – if we did that when we first met, she would have made a straight face for sure! Insist it’s hers and… like, push me down on the floor and harass me…”
As if she had a PTSD attack, Kaeul touched the goosebumps that had crawled up her arms.
Now that he thought about it, that did seem to be the case. Yeorum was trying her best to contain her personality in order to fit into the daily lives. It was quite shocking how soft her personality had become compared to how she used to rush in and throw a fist whenever there was something she was dissatisfied with.
In any case, after a few days they received a positive reply from Simon Abkarian.
Therefore, leaving behind Bom who had gone to meet Li Hwa and Gyeoul who had to go to school, he headed to France with Yeorum and Kaeul.
Yu Jitae and Kaeul dressed themselves up a little for a disguise. Going with Kaeul’s taste, they wore a fedora, a fake moustache and a pair of sunglasses as they followed Yeorum from behind.
“Why are you, as a girl, wearing a moustache.”
“Uhehe. I wanted to try this once…!”
Anyway,
Yu Yeorum who was referred to as the history’s greatest newborn superhuman, and the Saviour of Gallia, Simon Abkarian – their duel was prepared at the [Gallian Superhuman Arena].
Some of the superhuman broadcasting companies sent reporters and a filming crew as soon as they came across the news to broadcast their duel under the permission of both Simon and Yeorum.
However, their expectations were very low as Yeorum had already suffered several hopeless defeats.
They were more interested with how Yu Yeorum, who was famous for having a dirty temperament, would behave in the fight as well as her appearance after her loss.
“Do you think she’ll last 10 seconds this time?”
“Probably not. The past 3 records were 15, 12 and 9 seconds…”
“But there has to be a reason why she applied for another duel after a few months right?”
“I’d say she’s just immature. Think about it. Simon’s a veteran who’s experienced various wars right? He knows how to deal with little kids and that’s why the fights are lasting even shorter over time. The depth in their ability to deal with situations is just too far apart.”
The reporters whispered to themselves but their opinions represented the thoughts of everyone that was interested in the superhuman industry.
Soon, the superhuman acting as the judge yelled for the entry of the combatants as Yu Yeorum and Simon Abkarian walked up to the middle of the arena.
“15, 12, 9… this time it should be 6 seconds then.”
Oblivious to the existence of the 10-unsealed onion core, the audience had in mind what they thought was a very obvious outcome. The bell rang and marked the start of the fight.
Soon, they were met with a shocking turn of events.
TL: There was a mistranslation in chapter 318. It was Rank 39 not 29 :/