Vol 7 Chapter 37

Seeing the red eyes sink deeper as the words continued, Kapros felt he couldn't just keep his mouth shut.

"If that's what you want to do, then do it."

"...But if the continent we all protected becomes engulfed in war again, I have no choice. Because I have responsibility."

Seeing Superior pretend to be a responsibility-laden hero for the first time when he usually acted as he pleased, anger suddenly surged within Kapros.

"Why don't you have a choice? Being a hero isn't a job."

"..."

The world flows on well enough somehow, finding its way even without someone like Superior or Kapros. Kapros had learned through past experience that this was true even for places he had thought couldn't exist without him.

"Kang Mu-heon sunbaenim... Please don't come to the kendo club anymore. You're disturbing other members' training."

After a year of rehabilitation following the accident, and finally being able to return to school, within days a junior who had become the new club president came to see him. It happened around the time Kapros was starting to realize something was wrong, seeing the uncomfortable expressions of past members and unfamiliar new members glancing at him as he habitually visited the kendo club after school despite not being able to walk properly.

Only then, through the struggling, uncomfortable attitude and reluctant request of his once-close junior, could Kapros truly realize that he was no longer the club president, not even a member anymore.

Though some people still treated him the same, it was too hard to bear alone the curious stares and jealous glances born from rumors about someone who had entered as a martial arts scholarship student only to become a regular student due to a tragic incident. And it took a very long time to realize there was no point in feeling hurt about it.

"Think about it. Why would I make you my successor?"

Superior opened his eyes a bit wider at Kapros's words.

"You said you waited 500 years for successors."

"Well... that's true."

"Then do what you want with things you must choose, and if you're worried because of responsibility, pass it to me. And just give advice sometimes like you want."

"No... but... How can you say that so easily without knowing what my past self that I can't remember might have done?"

"That doesn't matter. Just play around like usual."

"You... that's too harsh. I obviously have love and responsibility for this world too. Are you really not worried at all? What if by bad luck the world faces a crisis of destruction? Aren't you worried even then?"

Looking at Superior who asked with an oddly comical expression mixed half with laughter and half with sadness, Kapros thought he might now understand somewhat the words Kion-hyung had said when leaving Asgar that he couldn't comprehend at the time.

"You know... though they say I'm just an NPC that exists only in the game, I didn't want to dismiss it as just that... Though it's just a game... if I can, I want to help those people through this quest."

"I'm not worried. If you could do it, I think I can too."

At that, Superior lowered his head with a "ha!" and finally laughed loudly.

"You can't even use 7th circle properly yet but you're so bold.... How many spells do you even know? Have you learned many sword skills? Yet you're not scared?"

Though his words were unpleasant, Kapros could see Superior's eyes honestly trembling, so he shot back while pretending not to notice.

"You weren't a 9th circle master from birth either, were you?"

"True. But I'm a genius."

After giving such an insolent answer, Superior suddenly rolled over from where he was lying and pounced on top of Kapros.

"Ugh...! What are you doing? Get off."

"No. Let's see you suffocate. Take this!"

Superior, who had tightly hugged Kapros's neck and shook it wildly while making a creepily evil expression, smiled broadly enough to make the scar from his nose to cheek curve.

"Ah, really. Though you're my successor, you seem so different from me. Why is your personality so reckless? Were you always like this? There should be limits even to being manly. I almost fell for you for a moment there."

"What nonsense are you talking about? I said get off."

By this point it was getting annoying, so Kapros answered while relaxing his body, intending to stop the pointless waste of energy, and Superior stopped laughing and spoke while still mounted on top of him.

"I feel better now. I'll look at those memories, so let's go to Lumi."

"What?"

After acting like he wouldn't look, suddenly what was this...

"How could I leave everything to you when you're just learning 7th circle and don't even properly know Ma-Rakian?"

As if seeing through all of Kapros's inner thoughts that he had deliberately cut off more firmly because of Superior's wavering, Superior gave a gentle smile.

"So you just practice hard enough to be able to say you're my successor. That's all there is to it."

After the training ended, like waking from a deep sleep, Kapros emerged from Superior's mental world.

The first thing he saw was Kion-hyung with a strange expression not far away.

"...Hyung?"

"Uh..."

When Kapros called out questioningly, hyung started in surprise and shook his head while rubbing his eyes.

"Ah, no. It's nothing. I just came home and somehow you looked faintly like you were about to log out... I must have seen wrong because I'm tired."

"Really?"

When Kapros looked questioningly toward the window, bright sunlight was streaming in as it was late morning, just before noon. Hyung must have seen things because of the sunlight.

"Are you done with magic training?"

"Yeah. How about you?"

"Well, since I haven't learned anything new, I'm just raising training points."

Despite saying that, the bandages on his hands were so dirty their original white color was hard to find, making it clear he had been brutally destroying hillsides again today.

"Hyung, I'm going to visit Ilumine today..."

"Today? Didn't you say you couldn't go until handling something for a week? It hasn't been a week yet?"

"I finished everything faster than expected."

"Really?"

Kion-hyung's face instantly brightened.

"Then let's go. We should go right now. Yeah yeah."

After smiling at the enthusiastic Kion-hyung, Kapros stood up but immediately sat back down on the floor as his head suddenly started spinning.

'...Huh? What's wrong?'

"Kar, what's wrong?"

"No... nothing. Just a moment."