Chapter 157

Even in the slowly passing time, there were very rare occasions when a day felt fast. It was usually on days when something that hadn't happened in previous lives occurred.

On such days, he habitually couldn't fall asleep for a long time even while lying in bed. If normally he was dragged into sleep like a swamp due to his tired body, now he felt like he was floating a hand's width above the bed, unable to properly settle.

His legs felt stiff and his shoulders resting on the bed were uncomfortable. Just as he was about to fall asleep, his fingertips or ankles would twitch, waking his mind. Soram sighed as he consciously relaxed his body. Some unknown place inside him was still churning. It was the pulsation emitted from there that kept him awake.

His day had been quite tumultuous. He had sparred with Han Tae-un, clashed with the Reconnaissance Bureau Director, and was taken by Director Park Jae-seon along with Tae-un to a restaurant from early evening until sunset. They ate so much meat there that the owner didn't charge for the soybean paste stew, cold noodles, and drinks besides the meat. More than anything else, that time had been the most tumultuous.

Below his knees betrayed his desire to sleep and twitched again. His senses came alive again, and he sensitively perceived even the silence filling the room. It felt exactly like being thrown into water in a small box. It was suffocating and breathtaking.

"Augh, ―, uh..."

The sudden wave of depression was a chronic disease that came whenever there was something to smile about, even in a life repeated over and over again.

Just as the busy day had ended, this life too would end and he would return to the beginning. Neither Han Tae-un, who had awakened three years early following Soram, nor Park Jae-seon, who was particularly attentive to Soram after learning about the abuse in his family, would ever accompany him to that place.

The sound of rustling blankets seemed just like something cracking. After changing positions in various directions, Soram finally opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

He wished a crack would form in that ceiling and a mass too heavy for even a 1st-grade hunter to avoid would fall on his head. He even wished a nail would happen to be there to dig into his brain. Although the memories that had continued for nineteen times remained even when facing death, perhaps physical damage could erase them.

"Huu..."

Once consumed by useless depression, he had to give up on falling asleep normally. Fortunately, accumulated experience had also created ways to deal with such situations.

His pupils slowly moved to the side. The lock on the window his gaze touched unlocked and the window opened. Soon, blue mist poured out from Soram's body. The mist filled the floor of the closed bedroom without gaps and slowly expanded upwards as if water was rising.

The mist, which had passed the bed legs, mattress, Soram's hands, the back of his head resting on the pillow, his cheeks and closed eyes, and finally the tip of his nose, completely covered the room and eventually reached the ceiling. Even though the mist escaped through the open window, it rose faster than it could escape. The hazy mist overlapped and overlapped until the room was covered in blue so thickly that one couldn't see an inch in front of them.

His head throbbed. On the other hand, his body, exhausted from overusing his ability, finally began to relax. The sleep he had been longing for came. This was the ultimate method to pull himself out of the swamp of depression.

Just before falling asleep, something warm flowed from his nose. He could also taste blood in his throat. Soram only turned his head in that direction. He could wash his face and clean the pillow in the morning. The problem with this method was its annoying side effects, despite its effectiveness.

Let's spend tomorrow quietly.

Even a regressor with power accumulated in a broken storehouse couldn't use this method multiple times. So he hoped tomorrow would pass quietly, so that he wouldn't feel this silence as awkward.

***

Jin Soram had changed. Although it was a short time, there was a clear difference between how Tae-un had seen him in Guncheon and when they met again in Seoul.

First of all, he had become noticeably lethargic, and he put up a wall cold enough to exclude all but a few people. Because of this, his image at the headquarters was closer to a difficult and troublesome time bomb than a student hero. Tae-un often felt strange when he saw Soram passing nonchalantly in front of people's whispers.

However, clearly, some fundamental part of Jin Soram remained exactly the same.

Time passed in an instant while Tae-un adapted to life at the headquarters and learned to handle his ability a little better. Passing through an unusually hot summer, the season when ventilation was difficult due to the cold, just like when they first met, had returned.

Wiiing―

So he had no choice but to nag more at the dusty blanket in the sunny spot of the living room.

"What's with this room! How long has this been here since you ate it!"

"Oh really..."

The blanket curled up even more roundly. Tae-un approached it while pushing the loudly whining vacuum cleaner. The guy who could even fly made a half-hearted attempt to escape by wriggling.

"Come out. I need to vacuum there too."

"Just do your room. Why are you bothering someone who's living just fine?"

"Is that living just fine?"

"Everyone has different standards for life, and if you have a narrow-minded way of thinking..."

Wiiing― Wiiiiing―!

Tae-un ostentatiously turned the power to maximum. Dust, hair, cotton and feathers that had probably come from thickened clothes were sucked in and spun blackly inside the container. The vacuum cleaner poked at the curled-up back, forcing its way through.

"Uwaaa."

In the end, Soram had to take refuge on the sofa from the warmly heated floor.

"Don't act up, you little one. I'm going easy on you because you're a kid."

Soram, more than a hand span shorter than Tae-un, grumbled. He often put on airs like this just because he was born a few months earlier.

Sometimes, even when it seemed ridiculous, he would lose his words unknowingly because of the faded atmosphere Soram emitted. But that wasn't the case now.

"I'm going to wash that blanket today too. I know you're not cold, so put it in front of the washing machine."

Wiiiiing―

"Ugh, something scarier than cow sounds in Guncheon has arrived..."

Tae-un also wondered how on earth he had cleaned and lived when he wasn't around.

Soram finally sat up, unable to resist the force pulling the blanket. Although he used the room shabbily, he himself was still fair-skinned.

He wore the cat-printed sweatshirt Tae-un had bought in Guncheon as pajamas. After they became a bit closer, Soram had said bluntly, 'I wear it as pajamas because it's an outfit I absolutely can't walk around in.'

...It should have been an offensive remark, but considering he would wear it all the time while resting or sleeping since it was pajamas, it wasn't entirely displeasing. Even now, Soram was wearing that T-shirt. The shirt that had been quite loose-fitting had now become just the right size.

Soram, staring blankly at Tae-un and the vacuum cleaner, rested his chin on his knee.

"That's like your ability."

"Is it similar?"

It might be similar in that it pulls in and removes scattered things around. Tae-un gestured towards the sofa while separating the front part of the vacuum cleaner. Soram, enveloped in white light clusters, floated gently into the air. The vacuum cleaner, with only its pole remaining, thoroughly sucked up the dust from the gaps in the sofa.

During the two seasons that had changed, Tae-un had also achieved much growth compared to his initial inexperience. The secret to his rapid improvement in skills was thanks to having an unbelievable genius right next to him. Watching that someone, Tae-un learned stable flying techniques, tricks for moving objects, and combat methods unique to flying hunters.

A genius of the same age became a good stimulus, even if not a sense of competition. Ga-eul at the headquarters also improved her skills with a feeling similar to Tae-un's.

"Wow, it's amazing to feel like someone else is making me fly."

Soram flapped his arms and legs in the air. The white light clusters fluttered a bit more, and Soram's body swayed up and down as if riding an amusement park ride. Due to his struggling in the partial zero-gravity state, the sweatshirt Soram was wearing rode up above his waist, revealing bare skin.

"...!"

Soram was hurriedly lowered onto the sofa and covered with a blanket.

"Is it over?"

"...Yeah. Cleaning's done."

No matter how he thought about it, Jin Soram was careless. Even in Guncheon, he had casually taken off his clothes in front of others.

But along with Soram being careless, Tae-un himself was also excessively conscious of him. It must be a symptom that arose because he had given off a pretty and pure atmosphere next to the snow-covered field when they first met. Even after knowing his true nature, the first impression didn't easily disappear.

Even now, discovering the thrown underwear, the person caught showed no reaction, while only Tae-un flinched greatly. He rolled up the underwear in a towel and threw it into the laundry basket.

"Even if it's bothersome, clean up a bit on days like today."

"What's special about today?"

"The day the year changes."

Soram's eyes blinked twice quickly.

"Is tomorrow January 1st?"

"...Yeah."

"I guess we won't go to work."

"Is that more important than turning twenty?"

"Are you turning twenty?"

Oh, Soram clapped his hands.

"Congratulations. You've grown up."

"You're turning twenty too."

"I already have. Congratulations to you only."

"..."

His words caught like a stone in the water he had drunk. It seemed like a typical insensitive remark from Soram, but he didn't want to just let it pass.

"Jin Soram, do you have anything to do later tonight?"

"Probably the same as you. Dispatch if a call comes, rest if not."

"Then come over to my room tonight."

"Why?"

"...They ring the New Year's Eve bell. Let's watch it together."

Tae-un crossed his arms as if to hide his heartbeat while waiting for an answer. Sometimes, he felt resentful of his own excitement and nervousness. He also thought it was ridiculous to be nervous about saying such things.

"I'll probably sleep before midnight."

"Then come if you're not sleepy."

"..."

Soram fidgeted, turning his eyes away as if trying to avoid answering, and then gave an ambiguous reply, "Well... okay. We'll see..."

Tae-un expected him to come nonetheless.

"Han Tae-un."

Just like now.

Soram appeared, opening the door between their rooms, exactly 10 minutes before midnight.