Chapter 39: Male School Heartthrob x Military Academy Student (4): The Cool Guy From the Military Academy Next Door Tells You That the Two of You Have a Child

【"Yes, Isi. His name is Isidore."

Iso looked at the male Zerg expectantly, hoping that the meaning carried by the name would awaken some concern for the hatchling.

Hill raised his eyes and glanced at the female Zerg.

He didn't need to hear the full name to sense the affection the namer had poured into the child.

Perhaps not only into the child...

Hill's gaze lingered on the black-haired female Zerg for a moment before he suppressed the chaotic emotions in his heart and asked in a low voice,

"What exactly is going on? How did he come to exist?"

His guard remained up.

Everything about this hatchling's existence was too bizarre.

A name alone proved nothing.

Iso opened his mouth to speak and suddenly remembered that he was still wearing a mask and hat. He hurriedly removed them and faced the male Zerg directly.

"He came from ten years in the future. He is the hatchling you and I have together."

Hill: "..."

The cold and handsome guy from the military academy next door tells you that the two of you have a child.

Ridiculous.

Time travel wasn't even within the scope of Zerg technology.

It was said that some exceptionally gifted and powerful male Zergs could accomplish such things with psychic power.

But those had to be S-rank, at the very least.

How long had it been since the Zerg race had produced an S-rank male Zerg?

There wasn't a shred of credibility in this explanation.

Yet for a split second, Hill felt he was telling the truth.

He was actually trying to believe this absurd possibility.

"Why should I believe you? Where's your evidence?"

Hill asked irritably.

Confusion flashed through Iso's eyes.

To him, Isidore's existence itself was proof.

But the male Zerg clearly didn't think so.

If even the bloodline connection between parents and hatchling couldn't serve as evidence, then how was he supposed to prove it?

Isidore secretly tugged on his father's sleeve. When his father lowered his head, he proudly declared,

"I have pictures with Dad!"

Iso also looked over.

The two adults watched as the hatchling proudly opened his children's terminal °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and showed off the photos.

Hill's gaze lingered an extra second on the terminal.

It was an unfamiliar model.

Novel.

A holographic screen unfolded in midair.

The wallpaper itself was a family portrait of three, but the hatchling didn't notice. He directly opened the album.

Male Zergs had excellent memories.

Even with only a fleeting glance, Hill had already etched the wallpaper image into his mind.

It was a family photo in front of an amusement park.

The black-haired, golden-eyed female Zerg held the hatchling in his arms, with a bunch of colorful balloons tied to one arm. He looked every bit like a married female Zerg raising a child.

The hatchling was holding an ice cream, cream all over his mouth like a little kitten.

And standing beside them was Hill himself.

He held a pair of matching couple's ice creams and looked at the hatchling with disapproval.

The expression on his own face was so vivid that he had never seen himself look that way before.

Hill went completely blank.

Meanwhile, the hatchling happily flipped through the album and introduced the photos.

"This is Dad reading me bedtime stories. This is when Dad and I teamed up in a game and defeated Papa! This is when we watched the Rose Nebula from the spaceship. And this is the universe Dad painted..."

Hill's gaze stopped on the painting.

Even if every previous image had been forged, this one couldn't be fake.

He recognized his own style.

A painting drawn with psychic power.

Unique in the universe.

He had no choice but to admit it.

This ridiculous thing was real.

This hatchling had come from ten years in the future.

His hatchling.

Hill raised his head and looked at Iso.

The other was looking at him as well.

Their gazes met.

Both fell silent.

Iso lowered his eyes first and respectfully addressed him.

"Lord Hill."

His fingers curled slightly at his side.

Complicated emotions swirled beneath his lowered gaze.

Even though he had already confirmed that Isidore came from ten years in the future.

Even though he had long known their relationship.

Seeing those photos still shocked him no less than Hill.

The person in the pictures felt almost unfamiliar.

That was a happy family.

One with the relatives he had always dreamed of.

So beautiful that it seemed unreal.

Isidore didn't understand why his parents had suddenly stopped talking.

He looked at one and then the other.

"I still have family videos. Dad, do you want to see them?"

Hill pressed a hand against his forehead weakly.

"No... no need."

He accepted the title of "Dad."

He needed time to calm down...

Iso wisely remained silent and gave him space.

Compared to the male Zerg refusing to believe it and walking away with the hatchling, this was already the best outcome.

Not everyone could accept a child appearing out of nowhere.

At least Lord Hill had stayed.

At least he was still holding the hatchling.

As for the things in the photographs...

Those weren't things he should be thinking about right now.

To him, they were merely an illusory and unreal future.

Perhaps one that would never come true again.

Every change created a completely different ending.

And this time, the hatchling had appeared too early.

Before feelings could even form, perhaps they had already vanished.

Iso didn't regret it.

Compared to uncertain feelings, the very real hatchling in front of him was obviously more important.

He was only worried...

Without the male Zerg's affection, without psychic soothing, would the hatchling's health suffer?

As for Hill—

He couldn't think at all.

His mind was blank.

The intelligence and analytical ability that male Zergs prided themselves on were utterly useless in situations like this.

Only one thing was certain.

He had a hatchling to raise.

That responsibility belonged to him.

"What do we do now..."

Hill was lost.

He was only nineteen.

He himself had only just left hatchlinghood behind.

And now he had a three-and-a-half-year-old hatchling to raise...

Hill only saw darkness stretching across his future.

Iso had already considered all possibilities and immediately answered,

"The hatchling needs psychic soothing from his father. If you can provide it regularly, Isi and I will be endlessly grateful. Leave everything else to me. I'll take care of him and won't trouble you."

That was the usual division of labor in Zerg families.

The male Zerg provided psychic soothing whenever he felt like it.

Everything else was ignored.

But Hill doubted that arrangement.

"You'll take care of him? How? You're only one year older than I am. You're a student too."

As a military academy student with heavier duties and stricter regulations, Iso had even less free time than he did.

Iso fell silent.

He thought of the days when Isidore had stayed home alone.

Playing by himself.

Even though he could monitor him constantly and squeeze in video calls, it didn't change the fact that no one was physically with him.

And this was a hatchling with a genetic disease.

He needed companionship even more.

Iso quickly made his decision.

Calmly, he said,

"I can drop out."

"Are you crazy?!"

Hill couldn't believe it.

For him, university was merely a legitimate excuse to leave home.

Whether he attended or not made little difference to his life.

But Iso was different.

He came from the Underground District.

This was his chance to change his fate.

Military academy graduates started as commissioned officers. At the very least, second lieutenants.

With Iso's abilities, becoming a captain or even a major wasn't impossible.

His future was bright.

"This is the best option."

Iso was calm.

Hill thought he had gone insane.

Even if this hatchling was his future child.

Even if there weren't years of raising him and building up affection—

Was it worth sacrificing his entire future?

"Don't decide so quickly. Things haven't reached that point. Let's both calm down first..."

Hill tried to persuade him.

Iso lowered his eyes and didn't continue.

Isidore looked at his parents in confusion.

It sounded like they were arguing.

But not really.

Something about who would take care of him...

Oh no!

Dad and Papa were getting divorced and fighting for custody!

Even though Isidore knew he'd traveled ten years into the past, Dad and Papa were still his parents.

That would never change.

Some ideas simply couldn't change overnight.

In his subconscious, his parents had always been together.

He even knew how miserable children from single-parent families could be.

And he knew that female Zergs without male Zergs became very unhappy.

Panicking, he hugged his father's arm and pitifully pleaded,

"Dad... can you please not divorce Papa? Papa loves you very much, and I love both Dad and Papa. I don't want to be separated from either of you."

Hill froze in astonishment.

He opened his mouth to explain but eventually settled on comforting the hatchling.

"We aren't getting divorced..."

Because they weren't married.

Iso also became uncomfortable because of the hatchling's words.

Afraid that the hatchling would anger the male Zerg, he instinctively stepped forward and crouched before him.

"Isi, don't say things like that. Lord Hill and I don't have a marital relationship."

He was afraid the hatchling would bring their future relationship into the present and make the male Zerg dislike him.

Isidore froze.

To his ears, those words sounded no different from:

"Dad and Papa are already divorced."

"Then... then what about me?"

He looked lost.

If Dad and Papa weren't married, what was he supposed to do?

Iso secretly glanced at the male Zerg before answering,

"You will always be my hatchling."

As for the male Zerg...

He couldn't be certain.

Nor could he make promises on his behalf.

Tears filled Isidore's eyes as he looked toward his father.

Hill: "..."

Male Zergs were different from female Zergs.

They didn't naturally possess overwhelming affection for hatchlings.

At first, he had snatched the hatchling away because he believed he was a pitiful experimental product suffering genetic collapse.

Out of sympathy and disgust for such immoral experiments, he had protected him.

Now that he knew this was really his child...

And that there wasn't a trace of genetic collapse...

He had a headache.

Hill stuffed the hatchling back into Iso's arms and stood up irritably.

"Lord—"

Iso hugged the hatchling and looked nervously at the male Zerg, afraid he would leave.

"We're changing locations. This place isn't safe."

Hill swept the hotel room with psychic power, searching for possible surveillance devices.

Turning to the female Zerg, he asked,

"Where were you staying before?"

"...The Underground District."

Iso's voice weakened.

His eyelashes drooped uneasily.

Hill knew little about the Underground District.

Only that it was chaotic and lawless.

He imagined poor living conditions, crowded housing, no sunlight, and terrible public safety.

And when those words became associated with a hatchling's home, he frowned.

So the female Zerg wanted to drop out and raise the hatchling there?

Without seeing it with his own eyes, Hill refrained from judgment.

"Let's go there. Your place."

Iso raised his eyes in shock.

Before he could object, the male Zerg impatiently interrupted.

"We'll leave separately. You take the hatchling first. Send me the coordinates once you're out of this district."

Hill was already regretting coming here so openly.

Had he known there really was a hatchling, he'd have wrapped himself up even more tightly than the female Zerg.

No—

They shouldn't have met near the school at all.

Seeing that the male Zerg was in a bad mood, Iso could only leave first with the hatchling.

He thought this might simply be a way to send him away.

Perhaps the male Zerg would never come.

Never see him or the hatchling again.

Still, he did exactly as instructed.

Only after leaving the district did he send the coordinates.

It was late at night.

The sky was completely dark.

Only the lights of countless buildings illuminated the city, while all kinds of aircraft flew overhead.

Cold wind blew through the streets.

Iso wrapped the hatchling tightly in his coat to shield him from the cold.

His heart sank.

Only after receiving the message did Hill leave.

He wore a hat and wrapped a scarf around his face.

He destroyed the hotel's surveillance system with psychic power.

He altered the memories of everyone who had seen him.

And erased all memories related to Iso and the hatchling.

Isi's existence couldn't be known yet.

If Isi had appeared a few years later, things would have been much easier.

But right now, both he and Iso were too young.

Neither could possibly have produced such a large hatchling.

No one would even believe they had an illegitimate child.

Instead, people would only question where Isi had come from.

Time travel was too mysterious.

The fewer who knew, the better.

When Hill finally arrived at the location after cleaning up everything, he found the female Zerg standing under a dim streetlight, holding the hatchling and staring at him blankly.

The night wind blew several strands of hair upward, leaving them sticking out atop his head.

He looked especially silly.

"What? Frozen stupid?"

Hill frowned.

He hadn't expected the female Zerg to be this dumb.

Not even finding shelter from the wind.

How was he supposed to trust him to take care of the hatchling?

...】