The Returner Wants Complete Victory

33 – 033. Kwon Bo-kyung

Barrier stones were installed in a large circle around the tent.

It took about 30 minutes to apply magic that would cause an explosion if the object was to be dismantled carelessly.

Koo─.

As soon as I returned and sat down on the mat, I heard a small snoring sound coming from the tent where Eunha had entered.

The sound of even breathing could also be heard from the tent where Noah was.

Rustling.

However, Bo-kyung kept tossing and turning, as if she hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

30 minutes.

1 hours.

And then, it was time for a shift.

Bo-kyung still couldn’t sleep.

It seemed like he hadn’t said anything since daytime… .

The kid got weird again.

To be exact, it was right after the first battle.

Just like in the carriage on the way to Kirnyu, I felt like the atmosphere had calmed down.

Was the problem that you knowingly or unknowingly put pressure on yourself during the battle?

Or, is it too obvious that you were considerate when going to see the body?

Tuk-tuk.

When I knocked on the tent door, Bo-kyung opened the tent door and came out as if she had been waiting.

Both eyes were full of sleepiness, but the redness of the eyes was not necessarily due to sleepiness.

What should I say?

Honestly, I don’t know why he’s doing this.

There are a lot of things to point out, but I don’t know what exactly is causing it.

It has been too long since the corners of my heart were worn away to understand the confused child who had just entered Proa.

“You can shift with Noah in two hours.”

“… yes.”

In the end, this was all I could say.

*

Day 2.

The march continued smoothly.

They encountered a few wild chimeras along the way, but Bokyung subdued one or two with a bow, and Noah and Eunha finished off the enemies that came close.

Although she clearly performed well, Bo-kyung was still sagging.

Day 3.

Certainly, as we moved further away from Kirnyu, the frequency of encountering chimeras increased.

On the first day, there was no battle at all except for helping Kyoko and her group, but on the second day, we encountered the chimera three times, and today, we encountered the enemy a whopping six times until nightfall.

At best, there were only two or three in size, so there was no major hindrance to the march.

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Unlike Eunha, who was proud of catching the chimera, Bokyung just quietly collected the magic stone and returned to her seat.

And around this time, other My Way team members also began to notice that the air surrounding Bokyung was strange.

“sister. Is there any problem?”

At dinner time, Eunha was the first to ask Bokyung a question.

The conversation between the two usually started with Bokyung saying something, so this could be said to be quite an unusual case.

“no… . why… ?”

“just. Otherwise, that’s okay.”

Even though Bo-kyung answered with obvious signs of a problem, Eun-ha nodded and said that she understood.

Is it okay? What happened?

I winked at that galaxy.

hey! Ask more!

Anyone can see that there is a problem!

The tone of your voice is different from usual. Is ‘if not’ an acceptable answer? uh?

Among these, who is Bo-kyung comfortable enough to confide in?

Do you want me? Could it be Noah? There’s only you!

However, contrary to my expectations, Eunha chewed the energy bar and as soon as she ate it, it went straight into the tent.

Is that a person… ?

Wouldn’t the butterfly next door be more sensitive to human emotions than that one?

no. Maybe he knew and did it on purpose.

Noah and Bo-kyung, who soon finished eating, also cleaned up their seats and entered the private tent.

I wish Eunha would ask a little more questions.

In the end, I guess I’ll have to figure it out somehow.

The weight of a damn leader.

This was an unknown territory that I had never experienced in the first round, when all I had to do was take the lead and swing the spear.

Tuk-tuk.

After completing the installation of the barrier stone, I knocked on the door of the tent where Bo-kyung was located, even though there was over an hour left until my shift.

Bo-kyung must have been unable to sleep as expected and greeted me with a face that was no different from when she came in.

“If you sleep that little, you’ll faint while marching.”

“… sorry.”

What on earth are you so sorry about?

I sighed inwardly and said.

“If you’re not going to sleep anyway, come out.”

At my words, Bo-kyung picked up her shoes, put them on, and came out of the tent.

When I sat down on the mat and tapped the seat next to me, he hesitated for a moment and then came over and sat down.

How should I open up the conversation?

After realizing that I had no gift for speaking, I had no choice but to say the same thing as Eunha.

“Is there any problem these days?”

“… no.”

“Hey. The tone of your voice is different from usual. Instead of suffering alone, speak out loud. “I won’t say anything.”

Bokyung looked like she was going to cry at my words.

That image is exactly what you see when you come from Emur to Kirnyu.

I killed the coachman of the Martial Artist League, and Eunha killed the robbers by directly stabbing them with a dagger.

It seemed to overlap with what was seen right after that.

“There is, but it’s not because of my senior. “It’s just my problem that I have to solve, so don’t worry about it—.”

“Don’t talk nonsense, just say it. “It’s more of a nuisance to be doing this now.”

After hearing what I said, Bo-kyung lowered her head and wiggled her hands.

Bo-kyung looked at the ground for a while and then smiled.

It was a laugh bordering on self-deprecation.

“It’s just, I… “Isn’t it so useless?”

What kind of bullsh*t is this again?

“What does that mean?”

Fortunately, the words came out after going through one filter.

Bo-kyung was still looking at the ground.

“just… . Everything is like that… .”

Bo-kyung’s voice as she said that was weak, as if it would go out if she blew on it.

“Even in the carriage… Eunha rushed at you at first. I didn’t even know that and was laughing like an idiot and asking my senior about useless things… .”

“That’s what makes him special. “I acted without even telling you in the first place, so how can I keep up with you?”

“Right. I knew from the tutorial that Eunha was something special… . But after that, it’s a different matter.”

After that, you’re talking about Eunha personally cutting off the robbers’ lives with a dagger.

“Well, Eunha was overdoing it. There was no need to kill them all, but if you left them, I would… “I’m afraid I should kill him.”

Bo-kyung paused for a moment before saying, ‘I have to kill you.’

As if he was cautious about saying that word.

“That has nothing to do with the special nature of the galaxy. Because that specialness won’t make your heart stronger… .”

“In battle, all you have to do is fire one or two arrows from afar, but once you start fighting, you can’t do anything… . “When I was training, it felt like something happened.”

“The day before yesterday, when Kyoko went to see the bodies of her team members, she gave me a break, because I was afraid I would be shocked when I saw that… “That’s right.”

A mumbling that was almost like talking to myself continued.

I closed my mouth.

Rather than hastily comforting her, I think it would be better to let her get out all the things she had been keeping inside.

“… But this is all my problem. The reason I can’t shoot an arrow when fighting is because I’m not good enough. The reason my senior only cares about me is because I’m not good enough. Eunha was what my senior needed from the beginning, and I was just an added bonus—.”

“That’s not right.”

However, the promise I just made was in vain, and I cut Bo-kyung off before I could finish listening to him.

I didn’t know you were thinking like that.

To ask, “At what point did you feel that way?”, didn’t he already tell it all?

From what was said in the bar warehouse before the tutorial ended, to what Eunha asked if Eunha would save her sister when evacuating from Nightshade, to what happened in the carriage.

I thought I was getting better during training and became a little brighter again, but in the end, when I went into practice, I realized that nothing had changed, and I collapsed even more than before.

I don’t know why, but I was comparing myself to Eunha and urging myself to become a useful person, almost to the point of obsession.

As if he was thinking that if he couldn’t do that, he would naturally be abandoned by me.

Have I ever done anything to make you think like that?

Or, what happened on Earth?

How should I talk about this?

I continued speaking, choosing my words carefully so that my words would not be misunderstood.

“You might have thought so at first, but not now. “What I said in the carriage—.”

“sister.”

At that time, I suddenly heard Eunha’s voice from behind me.

When I turned around in surprise, I saw Eunha sticking her head out through the tent door with half-closed eyes.

Her hair, which was usually tied in pigtails, was completely loose and messy, as if she was saying she had just woken up.

“Don’t try to establish a rivalry with me.”

“… uh?”

Bo-kyung asked back with a dumb expression at Eun-ha’s sudden words.

And I was embarrassed too.

What kind of crazy thing is that?

“Don’t compare yourself to me, just do what you do.”

… Does this sound like something you’ve heard before?

“After about half a year, you will be able to shoot arrows even if you are fighting. “Isn’t that okay then?”

After saying that, Eunha disappeared back into the tent without even hearing an answer.

Isn’t this completely crazy?

Even so, Bo-kyung opened her big eyes even wider and stared blankly at the tent where Eunha had disappeared.

“Ignore what that crazy b*tch says. To continue what I was saying earlier, remember what I said in the carriage. I will never abandon you just because you are a little slow at learning. Even if you say you can’t fight—.”

“Aha.”

As I was picking up the unorganized words to quickly straighten things out, Bo-kyung suddenly burst into laughter.

“Aha, ahahahaha. under… .”

It wasn’t a cool laugh, but on the other hand, it wasn’t the self-deprecating laugh from earlier either.

“… “Bo-kyung?”

“That’s Okay. It’s okay, senior.”

I had no idea where the change of heart came from.

Did he feel relieved because he said what was inside him, or did he feel relieved after hearing what I said?

I didn’t want to think that I was comforted by comfort that wasn’t even like Eunha’s comfort.

“just… . Just, it’s okay. really. “I think it’s still scary to see people die, but still.”

He was still shaking his hands with a lack of confidence, and his eyes were also red.

“Because you said you wouldn’t abandon me. I’ll try my best. “I’m shooting an archery. Like Eunha said, wouldn’t it be okay in about half a year?”

Still, he didn’t look as depressed as before.

“Well, I’m really sleepy. Can I sleep a little more today? Instead, I will be on alert tomorrow… .”

“done. tight.”

Compared to digging into the ground and pulling it out, staying on guard for a few more hours is not worth the effort.

On a two-week expedition, I only sat down and took a nap… .

under.

I really don’t know.

What on earth?

*

“That’s better.”

It was a sound Noah suddenly brought up while eating breakfast.

It was something that came out of nowhere without any context, so not only Bokyung and Eunha looked at Noah.

Even though everyone’s attention was focused on him, Noah seemed to not feel pressured and continued speaking with a grumpy expression as he ate his second energy bar.

“It’s better to be so scared that you can’t do anything, rather than people killing people like in a game.”

It was an unusually long speech.

And, it was clear to whom it was being addressed.

Bo-kyung’s face turned as red as an apple.

“If you take death lightly, you end up letting yourself and your teammates go easily.”

“Uh, is that… ?”

“And your skills are already sufficient. I just don’t trust myself. They can’t shoot because they’re afraid we’ll get hurt. Same thing. “It’s much better to not be able to do anything for fear of getting hurt, rather than those who shoot at their teammates regardless of whether they die or not.”

“… thank you… .”

Bokyung held her face and lowered her head.

The exposed nape of the neck was red.

─What are you?

─ Don’t talk to me.

─ What are you?

Eunha and Noah’s voices played like background music.

Bo-kyung still couldn’t raise her head.

I guess he’s doing that because he feels sorry for not being able to sleep all night and staying up all night.

I decided to think that way.