Chapter 85: Cross the Line

He was afraid that the side effects Chaewon carried might never be overcome, might instead further damage his body. And at the same time, it worried him that Chaewon was not someone who would easily back down.

But even so, Su-ha could not block the path Chaewon had chosen for himself. More than anyone, he knew Chaewon hadn’t chosen this road lightly.

To stop him simply because he looked fragile, because he carried handicaps others didn’t…

And because Su-ha himself harbored feelings for him…

That would be nothing short of an insult to Chaewon.

Su-ha was his guide. If so, then the best he could do was walk alongside him and make sure Chaewon was hurt less, suffered less, on the road ahead.

“Alright.”

After gauging Su-ha’s reaction as well, Gi-yoon nodded. Watching Chaewon’s face visibly brighten, he continued,

“If you can, go ahead and attack as much as you want. But I’ll respond properly, so don’t resent me later for being too harsh.”

“Yes! I absolutely won’t!”

Despite being told to attack him, Chaewon answered in an excited, almost lifted voice. From the first time they met, Gi-yoon had thought so, this guy was interesting.

Up until then, Ye-seon, who had been quietly listening from inside, spoke up.

“Then let’s begin again.”

He had his concerns too. But Chaewon had strongly insisted, and if it was Gi-yoon, he had the ability to prevent any major accident even in difficult circumstances. For now, all he could do was trust their choice.

As they returned to their positions, Su-ha suddenly stepped in front of Gi-yoon.

“…What?”

Gi-yoon frowned, and tension instantly filled the training room. Their poor relationship was infamous throughout the center.

Yet without the slightest change in expression, Su-ha spoke politely.

“I’ll be counting on you, Team Leader Joo Gi-yoon.”

Gi-yoon’s expression twisted far more than before, this time not from displeasure, but surprise.

In that single sentence, he felt how much the dynamic between the two had changed. When they had first met Chaewon, they hadn’t even spoken to each other at the restaurant. Clearly, a lot had happened since then.

Gi-yoon hadn’t known Chaewon long, but even in that short time, he’d grasped certain things. No matter how much he and Su-ha might dislike each other, with Su-ha acting like this, there was no reason to keep his edge.

Others didn’t matter, but he didn’t want to look bad in front of Chaewon, whom he found increasingly interesting.

“Yeah. Sure.”

If anyone else had said it, it might have sounded rude. But coming from Gi-yoon, and directed at Su-ha, of all people, it was surprisingly gentle.

Su-ha didn’t take issue with his tone and returned to stand before Chaewon.

“…Thank you.”

Chaewon spoke first.

“For what?” Su-ha asked, genuinely unsure.

He seemed unaware of what he had done for Chaewon. Watching that, Chaewon lightly bit his lip.

That simple phrase, I’ll be counting on you, stirred something deep inside him. He’d rarely experienced someone asking a favor on his behalf. And the fact that it had been Su-ha made it mean even more.

Thinking suddenly of Jin Su-ha, the man who had filled his thoughts the night before, Chaewon smiled at him.

“I’m always really grateful.”

For some reason, he felt certain this training would go well.

****

With a dull thud, Chaewon was struck in the shoulder by a shard of ice and thrown backward.

Su-ha clenched his fists so tightly his palms nearly broke skin, biting down on his lip. He’d already lost count of how many times he’d had to restrain the urge to run to Chaewon.

He knew the attacks weren’t lethal. Whenever Chaewon failed to block one, Gi-yoon weakened the force or altered its trajectory. But knowing it wasn’t fatal didn’t make watching it any easier.

If he wanted to, Su-ha could probably ensure no attack ever touched Chaewon, just like I-hyeon once had. But Gi-yoon deliberately didn’t do that. Even if he significantly reduced the force, he allowed the attacks to hit. There were things one could only learn by feeling real pain.

Su-ha understood that. That was why he endured, fists clenched until blood threatened to bead. Ye-seon, too, silently observed for the same reason.

“Haah…”

Chaewon pushed himself up from the floor and wiped his nose with his sleeve. Blood smeared across the fabric, but a nosebleed was nothing to him now.

“Why aren’t you attacking?”

Gi-yoon’s voice was cold, like the very nature of his power.

Even while attacking, Gi-yoon intentionally left openings for counterattacks. If he truly pressed him, Chaewon wouldn’t stand a chance to strike back.

But for some reason, at decisive moments, Chaewon retreated instead of attacking. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find the timing. He was hesitating.

“Still can’t do it?”

As he spoke, Gi-yoon formed small chunks of ice and sent them flying. Chaewon raised a shield, then altered its shape, wrapping the projectiles as if forming a pouch and neutralizing them before straightening up.

He had blocked them, but the strain still struck his energy. The metallic taste of blood rose in his mouth.

Even now, his attempts to vary his usage of power were commendable. But the problems remained.

Whether he took the hit directly or blocked it with force, Chaewon suffered damage either way. The longer the exchange dragged on, the more exponentially disadvantageous it became for him.

Which meant all the more reason to overwhelm the opponent early and neutralize them quickly.

He knew that. That was why he’d proposed this training.

“What, trying to be a saint?”

Whether it was Gi-yoon’s natural style or deliberate provocation, he continued needling him. At the same time, the air around Chaewon froze, dozens of ice arrows forming and encircling him.

Chaewon immediately layered power around himself. Instantly, Gi-yoon’s attack bombarded the spherical shield he’d created.

“Ugh!”

A groan escaped him amid the cracking explosions. Blood seeped from between his lips as he coughed. His whole body felt battered; his fingertips stung.

But he wasn’t shaken by the pain itself.

What gnawed at him was his own weakness, failing to launch even a proper counterattack in this situation.

He knew logically that even if he poured every ounce of strength into a decisive blow, he wouldn’t touch a single hair on Gi-yoon’s head. And Gi-yoon had already given permission.

Yet at the final moment, Chaewon kept hesitating to cross that line.

He scolded himself over and over, weak, foolish, but it changed nothing.

The thought of using power that could truly endanger another, someone like Gi-yoon, someone like himself, made him shrink.

As his thoughts spiraled, his concentration wavered.

Gi-yoon didn’t miss it.

Crushing fine shards of ice into a larger mass, he hurled it. Chaewon, unable to raise his power in time, took the hit head-on and was thrown back, rolling across the floor.

In an instant, the ground was stained red with the blood he coughed up.

Bracing himself with one hand, Chaewon fought to steady his blurring vision.

This was nothing.

He didn’t need to ask to know Gi-yoon was controlling his power immensely for his sake. In a real battle, an enemy wouldn’t consider how much damage he could endure. They wouldn’t leave openings. They wouldn’t wait for him to regain his senses.

He couldn’t complain over something like this.

Drawing in a rough breath, Chaewon forced himself upright again, wiping his bloodied mouth. His sleeve was already soaked.

Watching with lips pressed tight, Su-ha signaled Ye-seon.

He didn’t mean to end the training.

Understanding the signal, Ye-seon activated the mic.

“Chaewon, Guide Jin Su-ha will begin guiding now.”

Though directed at Chaewon, it also told Gi-yoon to ease up slightly.

When Chaewon turned to look at him, Su-ha slowly drew up his power and began non-contact guiding.

Carefully regulating the dispersed energy so it wouldn’t reach Gi-yoon was, in itself, training for Su-ha as well.

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