Chapter 136

"..."

"What's wrong, why are you keeping quiet? What is it?"

"I've never been bad at studying, but when it comes to talking about abilities, I feel like a poor student."

Hm? Ah. He still hasn't found a clue.

"Well, you're only in your first year, and it's not an ability that's clearly visible, so it can't be helped."

"Still."

"Let's just go over what you've figured out so far..."

Soram's lips, which had been staring at Tae-un, started to twitch slightly.

"Han Tae-un."

"What?"

"Say 'teacher'."

"Teacher."

"Oh."

He thought Tae-un would answer boringly, but unexpectedly, there was something thrilling about it. Tae-un poked Soram's cheek as he giggled softly.

"Jin Soram, don't do the teacher thing."

"Why?"

"If there were teachers like this, I wouldn't have made it to university. How could anyone focus on studying?"

Tae-un opened both palms in front of Soram. White light quickly gathered on his palms.

"This is what I've figured out. First, there's an ability that works like attraction and repulsion. It can enable flight, add power to attacks, and is used in over 90% of combat. This has gradually improved in skill over the past year."

"Yeah. If that's one side, what about the other?"

"The other is the ability to bring something to me."

"Isn't that attraction?"

"It's similar in some ways, but different from simply pulling. And this one is much more unstable and immature."

Tae-un bent and straightened his fingers, continuing with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.

"And by feeling, it seems to operate in a completely different way from the force I recognize and handle as attraction."

Hooh. Still, it contained everything Soram had observed so far. To observe himself this objectively, he must have made truly painstaking efforts.

"The ability to bring things doesn't seem immature to me. You used it well on me. Drawing away my ability."

"That's one of the strange parts, it only works well with you."

Huh? Only with me?

"What else do you want to take after stealing Soram's innocence?"

"..."

While Tae-un was at a loss for words, Soram chuckled and pondered.

"Could it be that you had two awakening origins? I heard there are such cases abroad, though not in our country."

"No, it's definitely just one. I can be sure of that."

"If you say so."

Then encompassing two things in one... It's possible if you insist, but it bothered him that Tae-un himself clearly recognized them as different functions. Maybe they needed to look into cases of foreign awakeners with similar abilities.

At that moment, Soram's eyes were covered by a large palm. The hand pushed his head and shoulders, laying Soram back down on the bed.

"Stop thinking now and sleep. You look tired. If you still can't figure it out after thinking more, we'll consult about it."

Soram relaxed his body and closed his eyes in the darkness Tae-un had created.

"Okay. For now... I guess we can think about it a bit more slowly."

He thought that maybe it was okay to move a little bit at a time, still immersed in peace.

***

"Then the next question, ID... 'PoramPoramPorami' has given us this question."

"Poram Poram what? You? This isn't about me, is it?"

Soram's voice sounded incredulous from within the screen. The chat window in the bottom left was quickly filling up with 'ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ' (laughter).

"What does Chief Jin Soram do for fun during his free time? I'm curious about hunters' unique hobbies. That's the question."

The lively question was transformed into a monotone speech by Tae-un's low voice. Soram rubbed his temple and pondered with an "Hmm..."

[He seems like he'd enjoy playing the most, but I can't imagine what he'd play ㅋㅋㅋ]

[He probably doesn't exercise... since he trains regularly anyway...]

[Why are you seriously contemplating this, Soram-ah ㅋㅋㅎㅎㅎ]

The video uploaded to the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters channel was an interview planned to replace the canceled March regular press conference.

The PR department had pre-selected questions, and the hunters sitting in the studio took turns reading questions and giving answers. As a result, the atmosphere was a bit more lively than a rigid press conference. This was also the intention of the PR department.

"Well. To be precise, I don't really like playing itself. When there's no work, doing absolutely nothing is the best. It's also difficult to have time-consuming hobbies because we never know when we'll be called for dispatch. When I rest, I never get up from bed."

After finishing his answer, it was Tae-un's turn. Soram, who had become the interviewer and received the next question, made a "Huh" sound and pointed at the question sheet.

"It seems like you've only picked people with weird IDs today. The next question is from ID 'Let's see Cloud Tae-un's back' user."

Tae-un, who had been unperturbed throughout the interview, made a choking sound in his throat. Soram's lips, who glanced at him, became slightly pointed.

"Didn't everyone write what they really wanted to say in their IDs and ask formal questions? Anyway, it's not allowed. Since we're required to wear full suits outside, I'll be the only one seeing Chief Han Tae-un's back. By the way, Chief Han Tae-un, does your name use the 'Tae' character for 'big'?"

"...Yes. That's the correct character."

"Then what about 'Un'?"

"It means cloud."

"Oh, really? I had no idea. Then it's 'Big Cloud'."

"Oh, that somehow suits him. It seems like it would be a huge cumulus cloud."

Ayoung, who was watching the video with the actual people from the screen in front of her, agreed. There were many similar opinions in the chat window as well.

"Ayoung-ah, that's an edited version."

"Huh? It seems so. It says 'edited version' in parentheses."

"No wonder Han Tae-un's boring answers and moments of silence were all cut out. Every time he closed his mouth, the PR director's face grew more haggard."

"...Still, he talked a lot for him."

"Wow, you have no conscience. Do you know how many times I covered for you?"

"..."

While the two in reality were bickering in the opposite manner of the interview, on the screen, Soram received something from a PR staff member.

"What is it? Something urgent just came in. Ah, the Chinese characters for my name. They say this question is coming up too much in the chat window."

Ayoung looked up from the screen.

"That's right. Soram oppa, what does your name mean?"

"I still don't know. But if you watch a bit more, it'll come up."

"Huh?"

"Well. What Chinese characters were used again? I've never paid attention to it, so I don't know. What could it be?"

The past Soram answered exactly the same as the present one. At that moment, a voice cut in from the side.

"It's written with the character 'So' meaning 'shine' and 'Ram' meaning 'indigo'."

"Huh? How do you know that? You? Chief Han?"

"I saw it somewhere before."

"The 'Ram' character is the indigo color from the rainbow, right?"

"Yeah."

"Shining indigo... Wow, doesn't it mean something like the dawn sky? It's really pretty."

"Hmm? I wonder if that family gave me such a nice name...? Well, I guess they couldn't have known I'd turn out like this when I was a baby."

"What's wrong with you?"

Tae-un immediately spoke in a deep voice from the side.

"Those people are the strange ones."

"You're getting serious again even though you know I don't care at all. I know too. Anyway, I didn't grow up the way they wanted, right?"

"That's right. Oppa's family is the strange one. If their child grew up like oppa, they should be carrying him on their backs. A 1st-grade, and the best fighter among 1st-grades, with a strong mentality that lets him brush off what others say, and as handsome as a celebrity..."

Ayoung's volume gradually decreased as she looked at Soram, who had become one with the desk, then regained strength.

"Of course, it would be nice if you became a little...! more diligent!"

Soram rested his chin on his hand and chuckled.

"If I become a hardworking chief, you'll both hate me."

"Huh? No way."

"It's true..."

Woong―

After the long-drawn-out mumbling, the sound of a phone vibrating arrived. Soram pulled his phone, which he had thrown in front of him, with his fingertips.

"If it's a phone call at this hour, it must be the Director."

"Huh? Really?"

"The Director doesn't usually call on the pager unless he's out of the office. Yes. I've answered the phone."

Perhaps it meant he wouldn't add boss calls on top of the already annoyingly ringing pager. Anyway, from the first word, the unchangingly affectionate greeting was heard.

"Soram-ah, good morning. Are you feeling better?"

"Of course. It's been a while since I fully recovered. You know I've been playing around while getting paid for free for a month now, right?"

"The kid who said sleeping all day wasn't enough is saying such things now? Are Tae-un and Ayoung with you?"

"Uh... They're both here in front of me, healthy and well. Do you have something to say to the team? We'll listen together."

Soram switched the call to speakerphone. Now the Director's voice could be heard by the other two as well.

"A new dungeon has broken out, and it's been identified as a dungeon that might be a bit difficult for other teams, but perfect for Team 7. I called to ask if Soram, Tae-un, and Ayoung would all like to go stretch their muscles together after a long time."

"Ah. Um... Now that you mention it, I'm curious."

"It's a 2nd-grade mimicry dungeon."

"Wow, a mimicry dungeon. It reminds me of Tae-un oppa's first day. Come to think of it, it was exactly this time last year."

Three 1st-grades for a 2nd-grade dungeon, and a mimicry dungeon which tends to have lower attack power compared to other dungeon types. It seemed the Director's overprotection hadn't ended yet. Ga-eul, who had also been injured, was still being cherished and hadn't participated in any big dungeons either.

This 2nd-grade dungeon was probably passed on with confidence that it would be advantageous for the Flight Team.

"What do you think? Will you go?"

How could I refuse? Soram thought with a slight smile.

"Yes. Soram will deploy."

And he answered lightly, mixing rhythm into the syllables. Ayoung followed suit and answered as well.

"Ayoung will deploy too."

Everyone in the Flight Team except one person had answered. The two who had already answered looked at the remaining person. Tae-un's eyes sneakily escaped to the side.

"I'll... go too."

"Aw, that's no fun."

"Ugh, no sense."

Tae-un didn't have the courage to refer to himself in the third person. He'd rather be scolded.

At that moment, a voice mixed with laughter was heard from the speaker.

"Who's this 'I'?"

"..."

To reiterate, Director Park Jae-seon, who warmly embraced and cherished everyone in the Rift Phenomenon Management Headquarters, was Soram's mentor.