NOVEL WEB Chapter 88
On the Sunday after my internship ended, everyone else either went home or off to hang out with their friends.
Jinhyeon and Yeonhwa did, as did Lapiz and Toojuu Ageha, along with Seolhwa, Katyann, and Minho.
Every single one of them sent me messages asking if I wanted to join. But I had to tell them I had somewhere to stop by for a bit before joining them.
“Justitia. Just checking, but you don’t have any hopes for Minho or anything, right?”
After all, I still had some things to do.
Justitia neither confirmed nor denied it. But having known her for such a long time, I figured that silence was an implicit confirmation.
“…Justi, you know. Even if a couple of people might be awake… even if the body undergoes changes… ultimately, if the mind doesn’t change, people won’t change at all.”
“That’s… true.”
“Justitia even admits her mind is rotten. So, are you clinging to hope for ‘what if’?”
Sitting beside her, I pretended to look sympathetic and continued speaking, nudging her subtly.
“You must feel that deeply, right? This world is too vast and solid for a single person to change it.”
“I know. But if people like him gather, hope… ”
“Have you forgotten the tragedy of Prussia?”
Justitia seemed ready to passionately argue for hope, but after hearing my words, she froze as if chilled to the bone.
“Those kinds of people together led to that.”
Justitia didn’t just turn into a Liberator out of the blue; something big had to trigger it.
And yes, the tragedy of Prussia was that very event. They call it the Prussian Rebellion in the streets, it seems.
To put it briefly, it was an incident where those who cried out for ‘justice’ along with Justitia occupied the Prussia region and demanded change from Heros Company, only to be massacred.
Even justice wasn’t something grand. It was about guaranteeing workers’ rights, humanitarian support for non-citizens, halting human rights violations, fair competition, and so on.
Even to me, they seemed like rational and natural demands.
The issue was, that this entire world wasn’t functioning normally. That’s why Heros Company deployed heroes and their military for bloody suppression.
The rebellion was quelled within a week, and the incident was buried and downplayed in reports.
So, citizens, including heroes, only knew that Heros Company had eradicated a rebel organization.
If Justitia hadn’t been deployed to the scene, she would probably have just moved on, thinking it was just how things were.
“You can’t say you forgot, can you?”
She breathed a shaky sigh for a while, finally managing to squeeze out some words.
“How could I forget… those hellish times.”
I considered mentioning something she had shared before, but thinking it would take too long, I simply poked at the edge of my umbrella instead.
Good thing I did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to say a word.
“As long as you remember, that’s enough. What do you think? Do you still believe you can change the world in a mild manner?”
Justitia didn’t say anything.
“For now, it might be chaotic, and it might be drenched in blood, but… from this blood-stained land, new life will grow.”
“That’s true… Unless Heros Company fades away, the world will remain like this forever…”
“Justitia thinks so too, right? So don’t put too much hope in Minho. All you’d get is one more person like Justitia.”
Smiling, I got up from my seat. I left behind a request to say hello to that person for me and left the office where she remained.
Alright, ideological corrections done. Now onto some friend fun.
…Fun and friends. Which one weighs more here?
Forcing my jumbled thoughts to organize, I headed home first. Anyway, I thought I needed to drop off my stuff before doing anything else.
—
As soon as I dropped off my things, I headed to where Jinhyeon and Yeonhwa were.
There were also Lapiz and Toojuu Ageha, and Minho was busy watching a movie with Seolhwa and Katyann.
As expected, the moment Jinhyeon and the others saw me, they burst into a ruckus as if I had just come back from the dead, asking if I was okay.
“Seriously, I was totally fine…”
It took over ten minutes just to calm them down. It was annoying, but honestly, it wasn’t such a bad feeling. More than anything, it was a little fun.
Not in a way of playing with emotions, but in a pure sense of enjoying it.
“I’m so glad… I was shocked seeing the news about your disappearance…”
“Should I be at the level of being nonchalant after experiencing that? Ugh, it’s harder than I thought. But that’s the right attitude for a rival I recognize!”
“Whatever happened, you’re back safe, right? That’s what matters! I’m so relieved, Blanca!”
Everyone chimed in one by one, each saying it in their own way that they were glad I was okay. But Jinhyeon seemed unusually quiet.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
Jinhyeon seemed taken aback, clearly not expecting me to call him out, but after gathering himself, he finally replied.
“I’m really glad you’re back safe.”
Ugh. Did that guy just smile at me? That smile is just for Yeonhwa. He really is the worst.
Hiding my shock with a smile, I shifted the conversation to their story since I was done with mine.
“Can we start with ours, Toojuu Ageha?”
“Of course, Yeonhwa. Honestly, I’m curious too. Where else could I hear about working under the number one ranked?”
Honestly, I was also curious and urged them to hurry up and share.
With everyone looking expectantly, Yeonhwa puffed out her chest, filled with determination as she began her tale.
“I… I flew through the sky!?”
“Yeah! Well, I guess it’s more accurate to say I hung and moved, but… regardless, it was so amazing!”
And as expected, her story was pretty captivating. Invictus, who seems to take care of everything exclusively for Heros Company, doesn’t usually share personal info much.
But listening to all the lively tales from right under him made me think, yep, he’s really a human after all.
Well, the fact that they’re still enemies I need to take down doesn’t change. But stories are always fun to hear.
“Oh, right. He also made us train! Especially focusing on Jinhyeon. Is it because their abilities are similar?”
“It might be. Jinhyeon’s abilities do seem more like those of Invictus with a few different conditions.”
“But, for sure, when similar abilities are involved, there’s likely to be a lot of advice to share…”
“Exactly. Oh, speaking of which, Lapiz, your office was set up by your grandma, right? How was it?”
Yeonhwa sparkled her eyes in excitement and shifted the topic to Lapiz’s internship.
It was disappointing not to hear more about Invictus, but I wasn’t uninterested in how Lapiz’s internship went.
I wonder how it actually was?
“W-well… I don’t think my story will be that interesting…”
“Lapiz, you tend to downplay yourself too much. That’s not good, Lapiz. You should have a bit more confidence. And… I want to hear it.”
Toojuu Ageha said somewhat sternly but softened up at the end, conveying she wanted to hear it.
Hmm. Somehow that made me feel a bit bad. A toy, a friend? Either way, it felt like something precious was taken from me, which made me want to compete to listen too, and Lapiz smiled shyly.
“I really didn’t do much… I just followed grandma to some construction sites and overturned some mountains on the outskirts…”
“You overturned a mountain…?”
“I-I just barely flipped what she had prepared beforehand with all my strength…”
No way. That alone is absurd.
Only momentarily in shock at such a different level of training, Lapiz turned to Toojuu Ageha with the towel she received.
“Ah, how about you, Toojuu?”
“For me, oh, it was such a valuable time! While it wasn’t precisely the same, I met a senior handling a very similar type of magic. So…”
Toojuu Ageha, when it was her turn, poured out words rapidly, but it felt like it didn’t resonate much with those of us whose powers weren’t ‘Magic’.
It seemed like she realized this after saying all of it, as she glanced around awkwardly and briefly explained to us.
“So… the number of spells I can handle has increased by at least tenfold!”
“Thanks, Toojuu. Summarizing it like that really clarifies it.”
“Ahaha, I’m sorry. I haven’t had a deep talk about magic before, so to be honest, I’m still trying to shake off the lingering excitement…”
“It happens, I get it.”
“Thank you, Blanca.”
If you listen to the stories during their internships, it seemed everyone had grown to some degree. The only one left without any growth was me.
I didn’t feel left behind, though. My current abilities felt sufficient.
Still, I couldn’t help but think it would be nice if my powers developed just a bit more.
To be of help to that person, I felt somewhat lacking at the moment.
“Blanca. More importantly… did anything happen with Minho?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing happened. Lapiz.”
“I see…”
Feeling oddly relieved, I patted Lapiz as I considered stopping by the association soon.