Chapter 23

[23] A Dangerous Talent, Beyond Mere Brilliance

Even after some time had passed, Rokan showed no sign of returning to his seat.

Had he really just needed a little time to himself, or was there some other reason I didn’t know about?

I had no way of telling.

I asked Sia if she had any idea.

No, I’m not sure. He didn’t look particularly tired to me.

Sia tilted her head, just as puzzled as I was.

In the end, all we could do was wait.

As the awkward silence dragged on, I asked Sia a question to lighten the mood.

“Sia, about that sword aura. Do you know what it is?”

Since gates had first appeared and people had begun to awaken, there had never been a single report of an aurora-colored sword aura.

I had no idea what it was, but I thought Sia might have seen one, since she’d spent so long in another world.

But after watching the footage again and thinking in silence, Sia shook her head.

[Hmm… I don’t know, either. I was going to ask Grandpa about it because I was curious, but he’s stepped away.]

Even Sia didn’t know what it was.

“It feels like we’re getting further and further into a maze.”

[Exactly. The mana pattern recorded by the wearable camera is strange, too. I’ve seen all sorts of patterns before, but… this is new to me.]

Sia explained that analyzing a mana pattern usually made it possible to guess what kind of power it was. But she’d never seen a pattern like this, so even that seemed impossible.

She looked just as frustrated as I felt. She was clearly curious about the sword aura, too.

[Still, Grandpa knows what it is, right?]

“Probably.”

While we waited for Rokan, we kept replaying the part where the aurora-colored sword aura first appeared.

But Rokan didn’t return to his seat until more than twenty minutes after he’d left.

“I’m sorry I stepped away so suddenly.”

[It’s okay, Grandpa. Are you feeling better now?]

“My head was just throbbing for a moment. I’m fine.”

He said he was fine, but he didn’t look it to me.

His brow was still slightly furrowed, as if his head were hurting.

And maybe it was just my imagination, but the calm air I’d always sensed around Rokan seemed to have vanished. That bothered me, too.

He looked as though something had shaken him.

“Let’s pick up where we left off. We were talking about the sword aura, weren’t we?”

“Yes. I asked Sia, but she said she’d never seen anything like it either.”

[Grandpa, what exactly is that sword aura?]

Now we’d finally be able to solve the mystery.

But—

“It’s difficult for me to explain right now.”

Rokan answered firmly.

He hadn’t said he didn’t know. He’d said he couldn’t tell us.

Sia and I turned toward him almost at the same time.

“I’ve told you before that you have an extraordinary talent, haven’t I?”

He hadn’t said it just to make me feel good. Whenever Rokan gave me advice, he always added some variation of that.

But then he followed it with a startling declaration.

“I was wrong. Your talent isn’t merely extraordinary. It’s dangerous enough to consume you.”

[…!!!]

Sia covered her mouth with both hands, stunned by Rokan’s words.

I was just as shocked.

I looked at the frozen image on the screen in front of me.

That beautiful aurora-colored sword aura—the power that had saved me when I was on the verge of death—was that dangerous?

“So, Minjun, don’t enter any gates for the next few days, at least until I tell you otherwise.”

[Is… is it really that dangerous, Grandpa?]

Sia asked Rokan, trembling.

“I told you. If things go wrong, that power could consume Minjun.”

[T-then Oppa might…?]

Perhaps she was imagining the worst. Sia’s face turned deathly pale.

“He’s all right for now. I’m only taking precautions in case something happens.”

After reassuring Sia, Rokan continued.

“Once you’re strong enough to fully control a dragon’s power, at least you won’t be consumed by that force. At least…”

The fact that he repeated “at least” made me uneasy.

“Until then, you’ll need to wear a control device that can suppress that power.”

“A control device…?”

“Yes. Even if I start making it now, it’ll take at least a few days to finish. Until then, Minjun, don’t even think about going near a gate.”

He was so firm that neither Sia nor I dared to argue.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, even though you must have had so many questions.”

“That’s all right.”

Usually, he would’ve said that with a kind smile. But now, Rokan looked deeply troubled.

“Shasha will explain the rest, apart from the sword aura. I’m going to make the control device you’ll need.”

With that, Rokan left.

Even though Rokan had reassured her several times, Sia still seemed anxious after he’d gone.

I told her nothing bad would happen, and that if we looked at it another way, this could even be a good thing. I did my best to reassure her.

“If I can learn to use it properly, it could become a powerful weapon. Rokan said the chance of anything happening to me because of it is low. As long as I’m careful until the control device is ready, everything will be fine.”

[…You’re right, Oppa.]

After I coaxed and comforted her for a while, Sia finally seemed to relax and gave me her usual smile.

“Shall we finish watching the footage?”

[Yeah!]

Sia fell silent for a moment, still looking stunned. Then she spoke.

[Oppa, I’ve never seen Grandpa act like that before.]

“It’s okay. It probably isn’t anything serious.”

Rokan had left, but we still had to finish the review.

We started playing the footage again after leaving it paused for several dozen minutes.

[Well, setting the sword aura aside, Oppa…]

Sia calmly resumed her explanation, as if she hadn’t been worried just a moment ago.

[You did well to charge toward the enemy even though you were outnumbered. If you’d run away, you might not have been able to draw out the dragon’s power properly. Dragons don’t run away, no matter what the situation. Understanding what it means to be a dragon will help you use that power in the future. But if you look here…]

Her voice was gentle, but Sia carefully and dispassionately went through everything I needed to improve.

The actual fighting had lasted only a short time, but Sia had a lot she wanted to explain, so the review went on for quite a while.

Then, after some time had passed—

[That’s it!]

The long review was finally over.

“Finally. Thanks for watching all that footage for so long. Your eyes aren’t tired, are they?”

[I’m fine! And I actually had fun.]

She’d been watching the footage for a long time and should’ve been tired, but Sia seemed a little disappointed that she couldn’t give me any more feedback.

Maybe she genuinely enjoyed teaching me. Or maybe she just wanted to spend time with me however she could.

It could’ve been both.

I casually asked her, “Sia, is there anything you want to do right now?”

[Something I want to do?]

“Yeah. It feels a little strange to head straight home, and Rokan told me not to go into any gates for a while, so I’ll have a lot of free time… Come hang out with me.”

[Okay! I’d love to!]

Sia looked like she might jump for joy.

Judging by her reaction, she’d probably been hoping I would ask.

[I’m happy doing anything with you, Oppa. Is there something you want to do?]

“Same here. I’m happy doing anything with you. So this time, instead of telling me what I want to do, tell me what you want to do.”

[What I want to do…?]

She thought for a moment. Then her eyes lit up, as if she’d come up with a good idea.

[How about we finish watching that footage?]

“We already watched all of it. Do you still have more feedback for me?”

I asked because the review was already finished, and I wasn’t sure why we needed to watch it all again together.

If we were going to watch something together, wouldn’t a movie be more fun than that footage?

[It’s not that. There are parts we haven’t seen yet. I want to see what you do in the dungeon when you’re not fighting—when you’re chatting with people or taking a break.]

From what I could tell, Sia wanted a glimpse of my everyday life.

More specifically, my everyday life inside the gate.

She might have been curious about what I did in there while she was away, or how I got along with other people.

I didn’t mind showing her those ordinary moments. There was just one thing…

Then she’d see me killing the villains, too.

Even if they were scum who deserved to die a hundred or a thousand times over, I still didn’t want Sia to watch me kill them.

More than anything, I didn’t want her to hear the insulting things they’d said just before they died.

“You want to see all of it, right?”

[Yeah! All of it!]

“There’s really not much to see. You might get bored.”

[No, I won’t. It’ll be like watching a vlog, right?]

I tried to talk her out of it by telling her the footage wouldn’t be very interesting… but it didn’t work.

The look in her bright, eager eyes made it clear she was determined to watch it no matter what.

In the end, I changed tack. I decided to tell her the truth and try to get her to skip that part.

“Actually, the end of the footage shows me killing the villains. I’m not sure you’d want to watch that. How about we skip that part?”

I thought that would be enough to convince her. Watching someone die wasn’t exactly pleasant.

But—

Sia didn’t so much as change her expression.

[No, that’s okay. Let’s watch it together.]

“Are you sure? It’s gruesome.”

Before she was reincarnated, Sia had been afraid horror movies would give her nightmares and refused to watch them.

But now, she confidently nodded at my warning.

[Maybe I would’ve felt that way before… but not now. Besides, they weren’t really human. They were beasts wearing human skins.]

She insisted she wanted to see it all the more for that reason.

In the end, I gave in to Sia’s request and agreed to watch the footage with her.

For now, I’d just have to think of a way to keep her from seeing that part while we watched.

There had to be a way, right?