Avoid Former Co-Workers

39 – 39. Disbelief and Hatred (2)

A wave of nervousness came from Erica’s appearance.

I came in with Michelle, but since it looks like she was involved, there’s no way Michelle told me about it.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous at all, but that doesn’t mean I’m sure.

‘I’m going to respond calmly. There’s no way Erica at this point would recognize me.’

I wonder if he came from nowhere to hear bad rumors from other nobles.

At the very least, I don’t think he would have intervened in this conversation just because he caused something to happen.

Yes. I wouldn’t go all the way here to find out or ask something.

“What’s the point of talking casually to someone you’ve never met? Or have we ever met somewhere?”

When I looked at the reaction in the square, I was definitely the only one who sensed something strange.

I believed that no one would ever answer this question. Until about 10 seconds.

“It’s shameless. You can’t count how many people have died and a party has collapsed because of you. Are you pretending to forget that?”

It was as if my heart stopped at Erica’s determined words.

Also, from Erica’s eyes with her arms folded, contempt was pouring out as if she were looking at her rice person even if she died.

I can’t bear to answer.

With a hardened expression on his face, he is barely swallowing saliva from his burning esophagus.

After I didn’t open my mouth for a while, Erica sounded a terrifying warning.

“I won’t say anything else. I hope you don’t think about entering Thembris again. If you do that again… I will never let you go.”

-This is also a lot of consideration for you, a former colleague.

Adding that, Erica stood up from her seat. Perhaps she just wasn’t satisfied with her words, the cold tone continued once more.

“Junon. No matter what end you face, I don’t think Goden or Michelle should sacrifice themselves for you.”

It was a clear warning.

With those words, Erica’s figure was out of sight.

Uncharacteristic of her cold-blooded tone, as if she was going to shoot her because she was determined.

She knows that Erica isn’t the kind of person to say these things to someone she hasn’t even met.

Then what would be the answer?

‘You’re saying… You know.’

It must mean that Erica, like herself, has some memories of her before her return.

“Puha.”

Thanks to that, I laughed out loud.

What happened to a guy like me? What were you expecting just now?

Since the future has changed, will the other members’ eyes change like Charlotte?

If you keep this distance, you’ll be fine?

“It can’t be. You stupid bastard.”

It was a sound that didn’t even work.

Didn’t Erica openly come and warn her, as if asking her to realize that?

“This was definitely complacent. I’m not in a position to think about that.”

If I hadn’t been careful, I would have fallen into such personal feelings again, entered the party and went straight to the train to Hwangcheon-gil.

But she’s glad she’s awake thanks to Erica.

And, after coming to her senses, she finally hears the buzzing outside.

“────. ──?”

“──!”

The muttering sound gets closer little by little, and then a person enters. I see a familiar face again.

Behind Michelle’s face, Erica is staring at me.

Immediately, he delivered a sign with his mouth saying, ‘Push it well.’

‘The only one who knows the situation before the return… Is Erica.’

If Michelle knew that, she wouldn’t be inviting me to join the party like I am now.

Yes. I’ll fall for you as you want

“How… Did the talk with Erica go well?”

Are you okay? Okay. It went very well.

“I’m not interested in that kind of thing, so I hope nothing comes to me.”

“Uh… Huh?”

“I have nothing more to say, so I’m leaving.”

They pass by, leaving the bewildered Michelle behind.

I immediately met eyes with Erica, who was leaning over the entrance and watching.

It was a situation where he would never be able to laugh, but his mouth went up and he let out a laugh.

With all the laughter erased, I approached Erica, who was leaning on one side of her door with her arms crossed from the entrance, and quietly whispered.

“Are you happy now?”

“Looks like you know the subject. Okay. I’ll explain the rest to Michelle.”

My subject. Okay. There’s no way you’ll look at me favorably when you only hold on to my ankles.

Erika. I don’t know how you got those memories back, but I have no intention of entering Thembris either.

‘Rather, it went well.’

No one was chasing me as I walked down the aisle, as Erica must have explained to Michelle.

***

Last night. Erica couldn’t even go to bed on her own.

What kept me awake at night was the strange memories that were cut off like a film.

It was from the moment it flowed in.

And, as she guessed, at the center of her memory, of course, was Junon, who had just given her excellent performance in front of Michelle.

“Are you happy now?”

Junon came over and spoke in a voice that Michelle couldn’t hear.

It was clearly a small voice, but the bluntness in it was conveyed well to Erica.

“Looks like you know the subject. Okay. I’ll explain the rest to Michelle.”

Just in case, Junon quickly disappeared from the hallway as if he had no regrets whatsoever.

The clearest thing in Erica’s memory is Michelle’s death. At the center of the incident was Junon.

If it was just speculation, she wouldn’t have reacted that way either.

-‘Don’t drink!!’

-‘What are you talking about!! It’s dehydration!! You don’t have to feed me any water!!’

-‘I… I’ll bring you something to quench Michelle’s thirst. Just wait until then.’

When Junon, who had said that and ran outside, arrived with various fruits in his bosom, it was long after Michelle’s eyes had been firmly closed.

Belatedly, I remember Junon extracting fruit juice and feeding it into Michelle’s mouth, but I don’t remember anything after that.

“Erika, what did you say that made Junon so ferocious?”

At the gym where Junon left, a dumbfounded Michelle asks Erica.

Unlike her, she is somewhat sharp.

You seemed fine until you talked to Erica, so didn’t the conversation with Erica affect Junon’s change?

Assuring that, Michelle demanded an explanation from Erica.

“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think it’s right for the Thambris party to ask Junon to join the party.”

“What…? Why?”

“I know that guy’s past. He was a stumbling block in a team of promising players.”

“The stumbling block…? Junon?”

“Actually, that team is gone. Everyone on the team is dead. Except for that guy.”

Michelle couldn’t help but wonder.

Isn’t it Junon who single-handedly won against Sylvia, who was said to have been defeated by the upper class, B class students in Dalian?

Even if you simply attribute it to luck, can other cases be counted as luck as well?

Spray Mistellis powder to prevent it from exploding in advance.

As if once again proving that it wasn’t luck, didn’t you succeed in stopping Charlotte’s rampage?

‘I’ve been sparring with Charlotte too… But she was to the point where I had to deal with her with all my strength from the start…’

Even Michelle, who was in charge of firepower in Thembris, couldn’t even guarantee a match when it ran out of control.

The person who overpowered Charlotte with her single body was Junon.

The fact that such Junon became an obstacle in a team was something that Michelle could not understand.

“It’s unbelievable, but it’s true, Michelle. I saw it with my own two eyes nearby.”

“That…”

For a while, Michelle put on a bewildered face, as if she couldn’t believe it.

I was even more confused by the fact that Erica couldn’t lie.

Looking at Michelle like that, Erica quietly recalls Junon in her memories and repeats.

Junon. If only you weren’t at this party, none of that would happen. Called.

***

After trudging out of the hallway, I lay sprawled out in the shade of the lawn where people don’t come often, and I think about it again.

“Sure it is…”

I was relieved for a moment and thought about whether I could have stayed with my colleagues and friends.

However, I had to turn away from having such thoughts.

Because it’s a luxury to have such hopes that don’t fit the subject.

Yes. I was a bastard busy defending my own life, and running into them as easily as I am now was tantamount to reducing my lifeline.

A careless bastard.

I almost did the same thing over and over again, intoxicated by the sweetness in front of his eyes, not knowing that my lifeline was shrinking.

You stupid bastard.

To think of approaching them even after being treated like that for a moment. Did you freak out because you wanted to die?

Looks like he forgot about it.

Being associated with them is an act that directly strangles my heart.

“Yeah. My goal is to survive. I don’t want to make friends with them.”

We were once friends, but we have to keep our distance.

I was once a colleague, but since there is a guy who remembers that, the arrows of ill feelings will surely be directed at me.

I had only myself to trust, and I had to dig up and block everything with my own hands from the things that exploded in the principality.

Everyone, we are back to square one.

“The weather is filthy nice.”

Different from my f*cking mood.

Spring passes by as the chilly air disappears and a cool breeze blows past your cheeks.

A lot of time has passed, but nothing seems to have changed as much as me.

Your body is a bit of a physique, but the things you have to do are absurd.

“I don’t know if I can use magic properly.”

I was sighing, pouring out those complaints to myself.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes.

Without knowing how much time had passed, I kept wanting to turn my back on reality, even swearing.

“Damn the world…”

I did.

“A guy who hasn’t lived half his life is blaming the world?”

“Who… Uh huh?!”

“I can’t use it on the lawn. Get up quickly.”

A single grass can never lift a person.

By the way… I’m floating right now.

Because the grass grew where there used to be lush grass and wrapped around my body, forcing me to stand up.

In front of you is a woman you’ve never seen before.

‘Professor…?’

She murmured that the woman who looked like a professor, ‘as I’ve heard, she has really clean black hair and black eyes.’

“I looked through the student list, but there seems to be only one guy with dark hair and eyes the same color. Your name is Junon, right?”

My name? What use is that now It didn’t matter to me now.

‘How at that moment?’

Spells that limit or restrain movement are commonly used by support mages, but the conditions for such magic are quite difficult.

Suppose you use a rope on a person to stop them from moving.

How can I straighten up?

First of all, wrap the rope around the person’s body and pull it tight so that it cannot come loose.

Then, only when it is tied up straight, does it constitute the definition of the word ‘bondage’.

Crowd control magic is like the principle of restricting people’s movements with ropes.

You can’t see a big effect with one restriction or restraint. This is not a short time, but a law that is effective when enough time is spent.

Therefore, sufficient time is required to cast, and sophisticated control is required to maintain it.

Since that doesn’t work, everyone carries staff, wands, rods, and other wand-type artifacts that help the most in adjusting magic.

If even that saves time, it would be better to use the magic circle efficiently.

By the way, that female professor has nothing in her hands.

Besides, didn’t the magic circle look as if the magic had been cast before it was even visible? Even then, until you relax.

I could tell right away that he wasn’t a normal person.

“It’s okay to mumble earlier, but the blood on your head isn’t dry, and you look like you’ve lived your life. What’s wrong?”

The female professor with light green hair seemed to be scolding me as if it was my fault and not the world’s problem.

So, she just got angry.

“What do you care about that?! Just go on your way!”

“Huh, look at this guy?”

That professor, she didn’t let me go like that for a while.

Until all conversations are over.

***

Academy students usually enter the age of adulthood in the third grade, unless they are repeated.

19 Years old. It is a time to shed the skin of a child called youth and develop the ability to advance into society.

However, in terms of age, even if you are an adult, your heart is not like that.

I have just entered the age of an adult, but I am still close to a child.

‘But, this guy looks like he’s really lived his life.’

Looking at that sharp face somewhere, you’d think the world was threatening you.

Denise, muttering in her heart, is looking at old Junon.

“It’s a little different from what I heard. I thought I heard that it kills temper well.”

“Does it matter if I lose my temper or not?”

That’s right.

Because Denis heard about Junon as Meuniher’s disciple and came to teach him himself.

However, before I explain it, I have to kill that temper to keep the conversation going.

“Kuh, something like this…! Just cut it off…!”

As usual, it was a story with potential in terms of physical strength.

However, it was a story that would only work if the opponent was the opponent.

“It’s useless. There can’t be any meaning in a restraining magic that can only be broken by force, right? At least you have to use magic to get rid of it.”

Come on. As if to say, “Now show off your skills once more,” Denis gave a hint.

Junon, who was struggling so much that even the tendons of his limbs protruded, flinched as soon as he heard those words.

As if he had understood the story, the relaxed muscles contracted in an instant.

‘What is it? It looks like he lost all his strength.’

Of course, that level was too constricted.

Rather, Junon lowered his head and completely drained the power from his body.

If I had to compare it, it was at the level of dangling like dried fish drying on a clothesline.

“That kind of thing… I can’t use it…”

“Hmm? Oh, I’m sorry. I’m old, so I couldn’t hear you. Can you say it again?”

“I’m just an idiot who can’t even use magic properly!! Is that right?!”

Junon’s voice echoed resoundingly in the space where only the two of them were standing.

According to Denise’s personality, she would have said that she was noisy, but she couldn’t possibly do that.

‘Certainly, as Meuniher said, it’s a different shape.’

Why did you want to put on a face that has lived your whole life? Junon seems to have a story like that. It was not something a student would have to cry like a scream out of such desperation.

Things that are cheeky and show off.

Things that came with something in mind. There were also things that jumped on without knowing the subject.

Still, most of them would relent once they showed their skills.

However, there is nothing you can do about a person who has left a huge scar on their heart.

On the surface, they said that this child couldn’t use magic, but in fact, that wasn’t the problem. As you can tell by looking at it.

Isn’t it that the shadow of the abyss that is deeper than that is nestled under the drooping eyes after draining even the strength left in the body?

It wasn’t something that could be seen at a glance on the face of a third-year student who had just entered the age of adulthood.

‘It seems that the wound in his heart is much bigger.’

When I was younger, there were things that discriminated against people and bullied my one and only friend.

Her childhood friend suffering from worldly persecution also once had a face like that.

Yes. It was just that face.

I wish the world would perish. Face called.

Hope for the world to turn upside down and desperation for someone to help me were mixed together, and it was a face filled with feelings of resignation.

Feeling that urgency is somehow familiar, Denis opens her mouth first.

“It’s magic that made you that way.”

Do not answer. However, this silence is the same as some kind of magical solution no matter how many times you look back.

The cause of the boy’s torment was magic.

That’s probably why she replied that she couldn’t use it, and why she let out a lot of screams mixed with rage.

First of all, you need to drive out negative emotions.

“In fact, there is no human who can’t use magic. That’s because the same answer will come out even if you search the entire continent of Kempreton.”

“Is that why commoners can’t use magic properly? Is that why some people switch to non-magical professions?”

You would think so. Because that’s how you’ve been learning.

But that’s not necessarily the answer.

“Wrong. If it’s basic magic, it might be, but anyone’s own magic can germinate. They just gave up their own magic.”

“Sounds that don’t sound like words…”

Junon clicks his tongue in a weak voice. And seeing Junon like that, Denis suddenly laughed and made a suggestion.

“Then why don’t you pretend to be cheated and give it a try?”

At this point, it was time to get to the point.

“I promise to make sure your own magic blooms. In the name of Denis Plaubel Beryl, chief doctor of magical origins in the royal family.”

“…!”