NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66
The Beach Path of Summer Vacation
I was running towards a boy.
Not just any boy, but one who looked exactly like me.
“Wow, seeing you up close is amazing! You really look just like me!”
The real Hanon smiled at me, seemingly fascinated.
“I heard all sorts of rumors about you. They say I’m the Lightning Kid?”
I hesitated.
That was a bit embarrassing.
I’d kind of ruined his reputation, after all.
“Ahaha, it’s fine, it’s fine. I really don’t care how I’m labeled. Actually, I found it fun to empathize with your exploits. Maybe that’s why.”
Hanon’s red eyes stared directly at me.
“I’m dying to know who you really are.”
Hanon then started to pick up his pace.
Realizing his intentions, I furrowed my brow.
I reached out to grab Hanon.
But he nimbly evaded my arm with his agile body.
Damn it, this evasive master!
Hanon’s unique skill is [Evasion].
His reflexes are so insane that he can dodge even magic attacks.
If he sets his mind to it, catching him won’t be easy, even for me.
“So, I’m going to find out for myself! I’m going to enjoy your life for today!”
“Wait….”
Before I could say more, Hanon dashed into a group of kids training in the morning.
If I chased after him now, things would get messy.
“Damn it.”
I reluctantly turned and headed into the bushes.
Then I loosened the bandage concealing my true face.
My original face was revealed.
As I wrapped the bandage back up, my appearance quickly transformed.
I soon became someone who wouldn’t look out of place in this world.
That was my appearance from the original world.
In this guise, I could show my face to anyone without issue.
I hastily donned a staff member’s outfit and dashed along the ground.
While I changed the bandage, Hanon had already sprinted off and vanished.
He wasn’t just a character who invested heavily in agility for nothing.
He was incredibly fast.
“Hanon must know what I’ve been up to all this time.”
He’d decided to live a day in my shoes.
It was certain he would seek out the people I was involved with.
There are four people closely tied to me in Aaron Hae.
Isabel, Sharine, Hania, and Iris.
“Iris is out of the question.”
Hanon didn’t just act thoughtlessly.
If he were to go after Iris, something could definitely happen.
On top of that, Hanon had a subtle fear of Iris.
“Then Hania is probably out too.”
Hania sticks close to Iris all day long.
Thus, she was naturally excluded.
“That leaves only…”
Isabel and Sharine.
I quickly moved my steps towards the room they were in.
I arrived outside their room and took a light breath.
Hanon was nowhere to be seen nearby.
In fact, the area was eerily quiet.
That was even more unsettling.
It felt like the calm before the storm.
With tension mounting, I raised my hand.
*Knock knock—*
I knocked twice.
“Who is it?”
With a voice coming from inside, someone walked out.
At the creaking open of the door stood a familiar face.
Isabel’s friend, Mina.
Seeing me in staff attire, she tilted her head.
“What’s going on?”
Hanon was not inside.
If he had been, Mina wouldn’t be standing around so casually.
“Sharine Sazarith has been contacted. It seems it was a message from the Blue Magic Tower.”
“The Blue Magic Tower?”
Mina’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Wait, just a second.”
She dashed inside.
A commotion followed as someone inside was awakened.
“Lynn, Sharine! We just received a message from the Blue Magic Tower! Wake up!”
“Uugh…”
The sleepy Sharine was dragged out of bed by Mina.
Dazed, she stared blankly at me.
Looking at her face, it seemed she wasn’t hungover.
Having vomited everything, it made sense there was no way she would be.
After staring at me for some time, Sharine tilted her head to the side.
“…Huh?”
Sharine could see through the bandage thanks to the Milky Way.
She probably couldn’t see my face inside it.
And being the smart one she was, she would have figured something happened to me.
After briefly gazing at me, Sharine rubbed her eyes and turned back inside.
“Wait a moment.”
It seemed she was going to change her clothes.
Sharine went back inside.
With her help, I thought I could catch even the evasive Hanon.
“What if Sharine falls asleep while changing clothes!”
…Should I be able to catch him?
＊＊＊
Thanks to Mina’s assistance, a now-dressed Sharine emerged, looking languid.
“Is that really your actual face?”
It technically is, but…
“It’s fake.”
In this world, I am Bickamon.
So it’s indeed a fake face.
Sharine stared at me with a disappointed look, then leaned her head against the wall.
She still seemed a bit groggy.
“So, what’s up early in the morning?”
Sharine said with a lazy smile.
“Did you miss me since morning?”
“Real Hanon Irey has appeared.”
Sharine’s expression shifted slightly.
She knew I had some hidden intent behind this look.
“What happens next?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m trying to catch him.”
I also had no idea what Hanon was planning.
So I needed to catch him first.
“Is Isabel not in there?”
“Bell is diligent; she must have gone to train.”
“Then it’s definitely towards Isabel.”
I sighed and turned my body.
There aren’t many places in Aaron Hae suitable for training.
So he should be around there.
“Sharine, help me catch Hanon.”
Hearing this, Sharine came up to me and firmly gripped my jacket.
Then she grinned widely.
“Gotcha!”
I felt like giving her a playful smack for being so cute.
“Anyway, we just need to catch him, right?”
“If we’re catching him, can’t we give him a bit of a lesson?”
“That sounds fun.”
Sharine showed her interest.
With that, capturing him was a sure thing.
Just wait.
The real Hanon.
The fake Hanon is coming for you.
＊＊＊
Along the beach path away from Aaron Hae.
A woman strolled along the road connecting to the nearby beach park.
The breeze tousled her honey-blonde hair.
Her name was Isabel Luna.
A current student of Jerion Academy.
After a light jog during the morning training.
She was now enjoying a leisurely walk along the beach path.
Her eyes gazed at the crashing waves.
The typical scent of the sea wasn’t particularly pleasant.
But still, it gave her the sense of summer and wasn’t a bad feeling.
However, aside from that, Isabel’s emotions were sinking.
Since experiencing Lucas’s death.
Whenever she was alone, she often felt this way.
Still, she had improved significantly compared to before.
In the initial stages, her mood sank endlessly, leaving her powerless.
It was as if a massive weight were tied to her feet, dragging her down to the abyss.
That horrible sensation where even breathing was difficult.
Now, much of that had faded.
At present, she could barely keep her head above water.
‘…Am I forgetting Lucas?’
There is a saying that time heals.
Isabel couldn’t quite comprehend it.
But these days, she felt it’s not necessarily incorrect.
Lucas had been her most precious friend.
Having grown up alongside him as a fellow noble from the outskirts, she always believed they would continue doing so.
‘Lucas is…’
Someone who held the place of a friend, and even family to Isabel.
There was a time when Lucas became family-like for her as well.
During Isabel’s childhood.
She had an older brother, a year her senior.
A mischievous brat, yet he took good care of her.
But one day, unfortunate circumstances led to her brother being involved in a carriage accident.
He survived, but gradually weakened due to the injuries, eventually passing away.
Their mother wept daily, mourning the loss of her firstborn.
Their father spent all his days comforting his grieving wife.
In that process, neither of them could care for Isabel.
At such a young age, she had lost the huge figure of her brother.
But in the shadow of her mother’s sorrow, no one understood her grief.
And it was at that moment Lucas watched over her.
‘I must have leaned on Lucas in the shock of losing my brother.’
And that reliance had to pay a price with Lucas’s death as well.
Unlike her childhood, Isabel had grown far too much.
That’s why she felt she couldn’t lean on anyone.
‘No.’
It was fear of leaning on someone.
Having already lost someone she depended on.
She no longer had the confidence to lean on anyone else.
Thus, Isabel crumbled.
She walked towards death alongside her brother and Lucas.
‘Yet…’
Isabel’s eyes landed back on the sea.
It is said that those determined to commit suicide see no colors in their eyes.
No matter what they looked at, everything felt monochrome, causing them to feel none of the world’s beauty.
Yet the sea Isabel saw shimmered emerald and was incredibly beautiful.
The sea seemed to whisper to her.
Live.
“……”
Who was it that brought her here?
Isabel stared vacantly at the sea.
There was nothing to comprehend.
A single person loomed in her mind.
「As long as you’re heated like that, you won’t think of dying.」
That day, Hanon’s words echoed in her mind.
「Isn’t what you’re doing right now the most shameful act against your friends?」
And then the day Hanon awakened her to the wrong direction she was heading on the castle wall.
「Yeah, so let’s see whose opinion proves right in the end.」
That had felt like a promise that he would always be nearby, never disappearing.
「Above all, I have no intention of dating anyone.」
Last night.
She recalled the nonsense she had spilled under the influence of alcohol.
And in that process, she had inadvertently revealed a piece of her inner self.
Even if she was drunk, it was an embarrassing matter.
However.
Because of that, she realized.
‘…I thought I could never lean on anyone again…’
But she was once again repeating the same thing.
A part of her heart felt painfully weighed down.
That was definitely anxiety.
The fear of having lost someone dear twice.
The anxiety of not wanting to lose again.
She realized this was dangerous.
But she had no idea how to shake it off.
“Lucas.”
She softly called out that name.
“Am I broken?”
On the day her brother passed away, she felt like she had dropped an important part of herself somewhere.
At that moment.
“Isabel.”
A familiar voice echoed in her ear.
Upon hearing it, Isabel’s eyes widened in surprise.
The anxiety that had settled in her heart vanished and her expression brightened without her realizing it.
It was an instant shift in emotions, quicker than she could comprehend.
“You….”
Just as Isabel was about to call him as usual, she abruptly stopped.
There stood a boy with black hair and red eyes.
Though his face was familiar.
Isabel’s bright gaze instantly turned icy.
“Who are you?”