Chapter 224 – The Tournament (24)
“Cough! Cough!”
Coughs mixed with whines fills the room.
Kim Min Hyuk sighs at the sight.
“Is that OK?”
All eyes turn towards Park Jung Ah in bed.
Park Jung Ah is hiding under the blanket with a face reddened from a cold.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to mind it since you can’t even do that.”
According to the symptoms of my poison, this is what happens near the end of the recovery period.
If it was truly serious, it would be hemoptysis instead of just coughing.
Past that would be death.
“Well, she’s not a newbie, it’s the first time I’ve seen a 70th floor challenger catch a cold.”
Park Jong-sik says.
That’s right.
Even easy difficulty challengers become immune to mild colds once they’ve passed the 20th floor.
In addition, Park Jung Ah has put a significant effort training her resistance skills such as Poison Resistance because of assassination threats.
“Why don’t you send her to a better room first?”
Park Jong-sik made a conjecture.
Would that be better?
“It’s okay.”
Park Jung Ah’s hoarse voice is heard from within the blanket.
What’s there to do if she says it’s fine?
“Then we’ll leave. Thanks to a certain someone, we’ve become busier. Please take care of her for a few days.”
“Alright, I have nothing to do anyway.”
They reminded Park Jung Ah to take care of herself and then bid farewell.
As they leave, Kim MinHyuk sends a message to me.
[Kim Min Hyuk,30th floor: Jung Ah may feel sorry for us and insist on getting up. You make sure she rests as long as possible. Just take a week off. ]
[Lee Ho Jae, 50th floor: Aren’t you flooded with work now?]
[Kim Min Hyuk, 30th floor: Yes, but not that much. Take this opportunity to give her a break.]
Kim Min Hyuk tells me that Park Jung Ah always pushes herself on a daily basis.
Her perfectionism had exhausted the people around her, although things have recently improved, she’s still harsh on herself.
Kim Min Hyuk also says it’s worrying because even though she doesn’t exhaust the people around her, she is still too cruel to herself.
[Lee Ho Jae, 50th Floor: Okay. There’s a good medicine for that.]
[Kim MinHyuk, 30th Floor: ... I don’t know what it is, but I’m anxious.]
I spot Kim Min Hyuk and Park Jong-sik walking outside the dormitory building through the window.
I wave to them when they look towards the window, then sat down beside the bed.
Park Jung Ah’s face peaks out from hiding within the blankets.
“I told you to wait a few days.”
She hides in the blanket again.
“...Sorry.”
Don’t say that.
I open the blanket and put my hand on Park Jung Ah’s forehead.
If a normal person had such a high fever , they’d be sent to the emergency room immediately, but it’s not so serious for Park Jung Ah.
She’ll be fine after some medicine and a nap.
“Ahbooboo, release another blessing. The previous one is no longer effective.”
[Okay.......]
Ahbooboo replies.
He’s been like this since last night.
The talkative Ahbooboo had become gloomy at some point.
[Hey, what’s wrong?]
[It’s nothing... Just a little uncomfortable.]
This bastard is a sword isn’t he?
[Hey, look at Seregia. She hasn’t said anything. No agitation, as silent as always.]
[Actually, I was also a little shocked yesterday.]
The quiet Seregia suddenly spoke.
Ah, you were shocked too?
[Yes. Warrior, is this the way the world is? ]
Seregia asks
That’s unusual.
[What?]
[Nothing...]
Somehow Seregia seems gloomy too.
Ahbooboo says she wants to be the plant in the fishbowl while floating around in the air. I scold him and tell him to release the blessing.
The scent of poison that has been vaguely lingering around the nose disappears.
“Haven’t you harmed yourself or something lately?”
The still Park Jung Ah asks.
I nod.
“It’s been a while. What’s up?”
“Nothing... I am just asking. I’m afraid I’m getting in your way.”
She’s asking me if she’s taking up my training time.
Of course not.
I came to the tournament with thoughts of taking a rest for a while.
If the schedule was really tight, I would’ve already returned to the stages by now.
“It’s amazing. I’m always busy accelerating my growth.”
“I’m doing it now.”
“Yeah?”
Training is always a must.
I’m adjusting aura in midair while chatting with her.
“Then... Even last night? ”
“...Of course not last night. That’s dangerous.”
[It is.]
[It’s awesome.]
I ignore Seregia and Ahbooboo are particularly in sync today.
Dealing with aura is different from playing with clay.
A mistake during its operation could lead to a disaster.
I don’t know what Park Jung Ah is happy about, she is laughing
It is good to see her laugh.
I take the herbal powder from the inventory, put it in a bowl, and mix it with water.
Fortunately, it was grounded in advance.
When the powder is completely dissolved, I hand the bowl to Park Jung Ah.
“Drink it.”
“My sense of smell tells me not to drink it.”
“It’s good for you. Drink it quickly.”
Park Jung Ah drinks it in one breath.
It should taste like hell because it’s far too bitter.
As expected, Park Jung Ah’s face crumples up and coughs.
I quickly take out another drink from my inventory for her.
I’ve drunk it before, so I know how nauseous it is.
“What’s this?”
“An herb called Sanguncho.”
This is the herb used by Myong Myong when I was poisoned.
In addition to detoxification, it has a sleep effect. It is the perfect herbal medicine.
I saw it in the store so I bought some.
“You’ll fall asleep for a while. You’ll feel better when you wake up .”
“Sleep?”
“Yes.”
She won’t sleep for days like me.
I adjusted the dosage.
She’ll only sleep a day or two so she can get up and eat..
Maybe.
I move the chair to the bedside and wait for Park Jung Ah to fall asleep.
It’s been a long time since I looked after someone like this.
It’s the first time since I’ve looked after Myong Myong.
“I don’t feel sleepy.”
Park Jung Ah says.
I can see her trying to keep her eyes open in order not to fall asleep.
It’s clear she’s drowsy.
Park Jung Ah asks me to talk to her.
I ask her wanted to hear. She says she wants to hear about what happened since the end of the last tournament.
I decided to talk about what happened to me as I cleared the 40th-49th stages.
I had many stories to tell because those stages were different since I met many people instead of constantly slaying monsters.
These stories might be interesting for Park Jung Ah and can help her in various ways.
As I talk, Park Jung Ah falls asleep.
She tried everything to avoid sleep like biting her mouth or pinching her legs, but lethargy eventually consumes her.
I properly cover her in the blanket.
I get up from the chair and head to the window.
There was a lot of disturbance outside just now..
Because of the frog monster in front of the front door of the dormitory.
A frog is sitting in front of the building where people pass frequently would definitely will cause a stir.
That guy is frozen like a haetae statue.
People probably knew the frog would truly not attack or hurt them so they watched and touched it.
Fortunately, no one attacks it.
It’s like watching animals at a zoo.
I can see that people have changed a lot nowadays.
Compared to before.
They no longer have a kind of ruthlessness..
Although they haven’t reached my level, I felt that everyone was tumbling over dangers in the past.
Everyone stayed sharp and built mental walls against each other.
I knew that breaking those walls was the goal of the Order of Vigilance and Kim Min Hyuk, but it is strange to see people so docile.
It looks like another world.
“Frog.”
[keeekkeeek!]
I call the frog over the window and it answers immediately.
This guy is more dog than frog.
It’s usually a person’s mind that determines their identity rather than their physical bodies, but this guy doesn’t seem like that..
“Roll around.”
The frog begins to roll around at my command.
It doesn’t roll casually, but follows the movement of the man I had tortured before..
People seem to have fun watching the frog.
Those are the same reactions to seeing a little dog performing tricks on his master’s instructions.
[Why are you abusing the poor frog again?]
[It’s not abuse. It’s an effective exercise.]
Of course, it will cause some muscle pain afterwards.
That’s because it doesn’t exercise normally, so it can’t be helped.
I stop the frog threw it some meat chunks from my inventory.
The frog begins to eat.
I’m worried about whether I should’ve given it worms instead of meat.
People seem to enjoy watching the frog eat the meat.
This makes me feel like a dolphin keeper.
They ask if they can feed the frog.
I reply that it is okay so long as the food is not harmful to the frog.
In fact, I don’t know what is harmful to it, but the frog should be able to distinguish edible food.
People take all kinds of food from their inventory and give it to the frog.
The frog refuses food with strong fragrances, but eats lots of raw meat and vegetables.
[How surprising.]
“What?”
[You get along with people better than I thought. Is it because you’re all fellow countrymen?]
“Hard to say.”
I don’t think so.
I recall when I met people in the past.
It was during second tournament.
I was nervous at that time.
I was afraid I would never get along with others.
I was afraid that I would be a loner even after returning to earth from tutorial.
My psychology at the time was to get along with others, I didn’t want to be different from them..
I didn’t want to leave the tutorial anymore.
Naturally, I lost my passion to grow and to clear the floors. I became more comfortable with the status quo.
Maybe in my heart, I intended to fail the stages.
[How about now?]
Ahbooboo reads my thoughts again.
Next time you meet kirikiri, ask her what happened.
“It’s different. The distance between me and them is much further now than then.”
Although I think the distance between me and the public is getting further, it’s interesting to see that Ahbooboo thinks it the opposite.
[How...?]
How are we becoming further apart?
It’s difficult to explain.
After pondering for a while, I decide to use my attitude towards the people in the stages as an example.
“I used to treat people in the stages different from those I met here. That’s because they’re actually different types of people.”
They are not the same.
Even if I can get along with the people in the stages, They will eventually leave me.
In Idy’s words, they are imprisoned.
However, there was an exception on the 18th floor after the end of the tournament.
I was very discouraged at that time.
[How about now?]
“The same. I treat them the same way. Because they are not different.”
So I gradually became alienated from people.
I treat the people I meet in the stages and the other challengers the same way.
I can laugh and converse with people I meet in the stages.
I can eat with them, understand them, and resonate with them.
Under the condition that it doesn’t negatively impact me.
Even now.
The sound of someone turning over came from the bed behind me.
[But you don’t seem to treat people that way.]
[Of course. I’m human too. Even if I only meet people once or twice a year, there will be people who are more welcoming]
[Is that so? Those people should really be thanked. ]
[Yes.]
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