Chapter 175

"We didn'tsh mean to lie…"

"Even before the inshtitute, we alwaysh played holding handsh… we thought if we kept doing it we wouldn't have to be sheparated… hic, hnnk. Direektuh, we're really shorry for lying to you…"

The kids gripped my clothes tight, stammered out their excuses, and burst into tears again.

I carefully rested my chin on the crowns of their heads as they wept and swallowed a deep sigh.

Kids sold off by their own parents and dragged into a horrific research institute.

If it got out that their abilities were different, they'd probably be split up for good — and it must have been that fear that drove them to desperately pretend they shared a single telekinetic ability between them.

"No, you don't need to be sorry. You were smart, and you protected each other. I'm really proud of you."

"Whaaah! Direektuhhh!"

At the warm reassurance, the tension went out of the kids and they burrowed into me, sobbing.

I patted the twins for a long time, until their breathing settled.

A while later, once the sniffling kids had fully calmed down, I could finally put the question that had been circling in my head into words.

"So if Hayun's the telekinetic… what's Hajun's ability?"

Sniffling, Hayun answered.

"I dunno for shure… but shomehow, whenever I hold Hajun's hand, my ability getsh way shtronger. On my own I can barely lift the bed, but when I hold Hajun'sh hand, even a big car goes whoosh! right up in the air."

The moment those words landed, Lee Jinwoo — listening beside me — sucked in a sharp breath.

"D-don't tell me…! Director, if what Hayun just said is true, Hajun's ability… there's a very high chance it's an 'enhancer type'!"

"Enhancer type?"

At the unfamiliar term, I tilted my head — and Han Soeun, beside me, cut in, voice pitched high with excitement.

"It's so rare you could count the users on one hand across every Awakened in the world! It's not simple physical enhancement — it's a miracle booster that explosively amplifies another person's mana or ability itself!"

"Number Two's right! If it really is an enhancer type, that's the kind of combat power every major guild in the world would kill for. We should run a full workup right—!"

At the two adults leaping up and getting worked up, the startled twins ducked deeper into my chest.

"If it's an ability that impressive, great — but you're scaring them. Let's ease into the tests."

Just as I was flustered, trying to settle the mood —

Teacher Kim Sunja, who'd been watching the whole thing, spoke up abruptly.

"By the look of it, that little one is going to be the key to fixing your eyes, boy."

"What? Hajun?"

"Yes. However I turn it over, there's only one way for you to get your sight back. Use your own ability."

"!"

"That black lump throttling your core. I don't know the mechanism, but the more you use your ability, the smaller it seems to get."

The heavy sound of the teacher's cane came right up in front of me.

"So — the idea is that, like on the ship, you borrow that little one's ability and use your power again. To clear the black gunk stuck to your eyes."

Certainly a hypothesis with merit.

The teacher asked, grave.

"So — do you have any sense of what your real ability actually is?"

"……"

What on earth is my — no, Chae Junhyeok's — ability?

In the black behind my eyes, I turned over every bizarre thing I'd been through, one by one.

The times an unknown, inexplicable power had shown itself in me added up to exactly three.

First, being possessed into the body of a kindergarten teacher inside the illusion Sea-ah had been trapped in.

Second, drawing out the red jewels — Oh Taejin's — embedded in the gladiators' bodies.

Third, borrowing Hajun's power and setting off an explosion large enough to blow a whole side out of the wrecked ship.

Possession? Mana nullification or interference? Or explosion?

Sadly, no common thread — not one I could find, no matter how hard I looked.

Did an ability this scattershot — mind-type, support-type, attack-type, all jumbled together — even exist?

"I… don't really know."

At my deep sigh, Teacher Kim Sunja clicked her tongue lightly, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Tch. An ordinary Awakened knows in their bones the moment they awaken what power lives in them…"

As a transmigrator, I had no way of instinctively knowing Chae Junhyeok's ability.

At the cutting reproach I sat there tongue-tied, until the kids, unable to bear it, stepped in front of me.

"Master! Don't shcold our Direektuh!"

"Th-that's right! Our Director is really smart normally, but sometimes he's kind of dumb and out of it, so it makes sense he wouldn't know his own ability!"

"Right, right! Actually when you awaken you shusually know! But shtill, don't shcold him for being dumb!"^※TL lololol

…You're defending me right now, right?

At the pure, guileless fact-bombing, the corner of my mouth twitched slightly.

The teacher let out a scoff at the kids' answers, then backed off — said I should recover first and we'd pick this up again.

Just then, Cheon Sarang — who'd been watching from the corner — languidly raised a hand.

"Um… but this whole conversation… is it okay that Gyeongha and I heard it? Sounds like a pretty big secret…"

At that one line, I could feel every eye in the room swing to the two of them at once.

Even I, who couldn't see, reflexively turned my head, and Yun Gyeongha called out, frantic.

"I-I would never breathe a word of this anywhere, ever! I'll take it to my grave, mouth shut, I promise!"

Only then did it hit me — shoot.

In the hunter world, tangled up in self-interest, there was no such thing as an unconditional ally.

I hurriedly bowed my head.

"Shameless of me to ask, but if you could keep today strictly confidential I'd be very grateful. Guild Master Han Jewoon or Hunter Seo Jihyeok, fine — but please don't let a word of it leak outside."

"Yes, of course. Get some good rest, then… see you again soon…"

Cheon Sarang answered readily, in her signature languid voice.

Fwip—!

Along with a light farewell, the space rippled, and the two presences vanished completely.

"Haah…"

Only then did I sag back against the headrest and scrub a hand over my face.

Loss of sight, Hajun's ability, and the fact that Chae Junhyeok had awakened.

At the flood of information dropped on me in a single stretch, my head throbbed as if it were about to split.

"All right, all right! Let's wrap it up for today."

Sensing how worn out I was, Lee Jinwoo clapped his hands hurriedly and stepped in.

"The Director needs absolute rest right now. Everyone wrap it up and clear out."

At his firm control, everyone filed out of the room like an ebbing tide.

Click.

The door shut, a heavy silence settled, and in the pitch-black I let out a deep breath and sank away into sleep.

Life in the dark, dropped on me out of nowhere, turned out to be more manageable than I'd expected.

Of course, for the first few days, my sense of direction was shot — I kept banging into furniture, tripping over my own feet, and going down.

On top of that, there were moments when the instinctive dread and stifling weight of my sight being cut off closed my throat up on me.

But soon enough, there wasn't even room to sit in that hopelessness or fear.

Thanks to certain relentless creatures who'd appointed themselves my hands and feet and refused to leave my side for a single moment.

"Open, please."

Clink.

A spoon of rice and side dishes, portioned to a flawless nutritional ratio, met my lips with precision.

Kang Taemin.

The guy had planted himself at my injured side and taken sole charge of waiting on me.

Feeding me at every meal was the baseline — every morning he did up my shirt buttons himself, one by one, until I was reduced, all at once, to nothing but an oversized baby bird.

Physically it was easy, sure — but the sheer excess of his care was, at times, a lot to bear.

And of all of it, the crown jewel was bath time.

"The floor is slippery. It's dangerous."

Under the pretext that letting me wash alone while I couldn't see was absolutely out of the question, he'd tried to follow me right into the bathroom.

At the sound of his heavy footsteps closing in without hesitation, I flinched hard and groped in front of me.

Backing up until my back hit the cold tile wall, I shouted:

"A-are you crazy?! I can wash myself! Out — out, now!"

After a fierce standoff, we settled on him just washing my hair — but even now, thinking back on it, my face went hot with shame.

Kang Taemin, though, was the easy one.

The real trial was elsewhere — the kids.

The maddening overprotection combo the older ones and the little ones had cooked up between them had me by the throat, properly.

First, the older ones — Cha Yul, Sea-ah, and Sihyeok — were dependable, sure, but their methods of control had a distinctly cutthroat edge.

Try to sneak toward the Director's office to check on backed-up work, and Sea-ah would materialize out of nowhere, throw up a huge mana barrier, and seal the whole door off.

"Absolute rest. Don't even dream about working."

"Can't even see, and still at it. Lie down and stay put."

At Sea-ah's cutting shutdown, Cha Yul snorted and piled on.

There wasn't even room to protest the injustice of it.

Because at some point one of Sihyeok's shadows would coil around my waist like a snake, deposit me on the bed, and bundle me up tight in a thick blanket — perfectly pinned.

While the older ones ran an ironclad watch backed with force, the little ones had declared themselves my full-time barnacles.

"Direektuh, where you going? We'll take you!"

I'd get out of bed and take exactly one step, and from somewhere small pattering feet would come rushing in — and weighty cotton-ball weights would clamp firmly onto both my legs.

"Ush too! We're coming too!"

Like ducklings toddling after a mother duck, the kids clung to the legs of my pants and, wherever I went, didn't let go for a second.

If I gave up and sat still, they'd burrow onto my lap, press cherished plushes and gems into my hands, and chirp "Feel thish! Peashe of mind! Peashe of mind" — words I had no idea where they'd picked up.

They even trailed me right up to the bathroom door and shouted, "Direektuh, you done? Don't go thump 'n' fall!" — enough to have me dying of embarrassment.

And there was one more thing — a subtly different one.

The kids, who'd wailed like the world was ending when I first got hurt, had been oddly cheerful lately — unusually so.

Swinging my hand back and forth as they walked, the kids chattered away, bright.

"Direektuh, getting to be with you allll day long is sho, sho niiice!"

"Right! You don't even go out! You're always right next to ush!"

Just as I was pulling the corners of my mouth up at their peals of laughter —

"Hehe, it'd be sho nice if the Direektuh shtayed like thish forever~! Then you'd only ever be with ush, right!"

"Yeah! I hope sho."

"……"

At those unbearably innocent little voices coming from the dark, a single cold bead of sweat trickled down my neck.

Forever… that's a joke, right?

The only breathing room I got was during the kids' training time.

"Ummm… can't we jusht shkip training and shtay next to the Direektuh?"

"Yeaah… what if the Direektuh getsh hurt again while we're at training…"

Worried they'd use it as an excuse to slack off, I put on a deliberately stern voice.

"No. I'm the one who got hurt, not you. Don't even think about skipping — get going."

"Mmnh…"

Reluctant to the last, the kids rubbed their cheeks against the back of my hand, one each.

"'Kaay… we're coming right back the shecond training endsh, sho don't budge — be good and wait for ush!"

Pat-pat-pat, the footsteps faded and the room fell quiet, and only then did I let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Phew…"

Saved. Finally, alone…!

The instant I was sure the kids were completely gone, I got up.

I headed straight for the Director's office, of course.

The mountain of guild work wasn't going to vanish on its own just because I couldn't see.

Lee Jinwoo, Han Soeun, and Icarus's former owner — now Nest Guild's chief of administration — were all pitching in, but plenty of matters ultimately needed the top decision-maker's sign-off, and those had me by the ankles.

If the kids find out, I'll get bombed with lectures. Better do this fast.

"Please, sit."

Steadied into the office chair with Kang Taemin's help, I got his crisp briefing right after.

"Today's key items. Number one, …"

With only my hearing and memory to lean on, I mapped Number Three's readout in my head, hard, and gave rapid verbal sign-offs.

We tore through the backed-up urgent items like that for a good while. When the most pressing matters were finally roughly wrapped —

"Ngh…"

Was it the tension letting go, or the way I'd unconsciously been straining my eyes in the black, searching for light?

Suddenly a hot, aching pain welled up behind my eyes.

As I kneaded my throbbing brow hard, Number Three spoke, quiet.

"Director. If it's all right with you, mind if I give your eyes a bit of a massage."

"A massage?"

"I picked it up a while back."

I nodded, and Number Three stepped out briefly, came back, and laid a warm damp cloth over my closed eyes.

Under his gentle hands, working carefully over the aching sockets and temples, and even the jaw muscles knotted tight from stress, the seized-up muscles loosened, blissful.

The fatigue melted into the warmth, and in a heartbeat my head went hazy.

"Ha… that's good."

Buzzed on the pleasant slack, I let out a satisfied sigh — and then a question drifted up, and I let it slip out.

"Come to think of it, how did that case end up getting handled? The trafficking one."