The Novel's Extra-Chapter ss68: Side Story 68 – Chae Nayun (23)

Rejected.

No, it was more appropriate to say that she didn’t get a response, but she could tell from Kim Hajin’s expression that she had been rejected.

“…”

Chae Nayun blankly stared at the ceiling.

She was caught up in the atmosphere when Kim Hajin mentioned that he would save her brother. The emotions from her previous life welled up at that moment and she failed to prevent her confession from spilling out of her mouth.

The problem was that her emotions and the current timeline didn’t match at all.

Kim Hajin had no idea about the Chae Nayun before she regressed, so she was just an idiot that he spent roughly four months with from his perspective.

Even she would be surprised if an idiot like her suddenly confessed out of nowhere.

“Eh… huh…? Aaah… AAAAHHHHH!” Chae Nayun screamed while punching her mattress.

Yoo Yeonha finally managed to fall asleep not too long ago, but she forcefully opened her eyes at the ruckus Chae Nayun was causing. She couldn’t fall asleep as she kept thinking about what Yoo Jinhyuk had told her, so she glared at Chae Nayun with bloodshot eyes.

“Nayun…”

“AAAAAH! AAAAAH! AAAAH!”

“Haa…”

Yoo Yeonha used her mana to conjure makeshift earplugs and covered her ears with them.

Chae Nayun finally managed to calm down after kicking up a fuss in the middle of the night, but her entire body felt hot. It was so hot that she couldn’t fall asleep because of it, so she got up from her bed.

She walked out to the balcony and stared at the sky.

The sun rising from the west faintly illuminated the sky. It was already sunrise, but she didn’t feel refreshed at all.

Chae Nayun leaned on the balcony railing and let out a sigh.

“… I like you.”

‘I really like you. I only like you. I like you the most.’

“I like you, but…”

Chae Nayun was left trembling in embarrassment and shame after failing to suppress the words she desperately wanted to say out loud to the person she loved.

***

[The identity of ??? has been unraveled.]

[Chae Nayun’s setting has been updated – Regressor.]

[You have gained 1,000 SP.]

I stared at the system message with my eyes wide open. It was already dawn, but I failed to sleep even a wink. No, I wasn’t sleepy at all.

‘Regressor.’

That single word was more than enough to shake my very soul and form countless theories and questions in my head.

Why was regressor suddenly added to Chae Nayun’s setting? Then, is her first life the real world or is her second life the real one?

I had a splitting headache after these torrents of thoughts came crashing down on me, but I knew very well that my complicated thoughts simply didn’t occur because I saw the word regressor in her setting.

“… I’m having a fever.”

My cheeks felt hot and my heart was beating like crazy. Chae Nayun’s bold confession kept ringing in my ears.

“Ah…”

I ended up grabbing my hair at the complicated feeling welling up inside of me. It wasn’t that I had never dated anyone before or was never confessed to. Of course, I was usually the one confessing and her boldness did take me by surprise. However…

It was strange.

I was supposed to focus on the keyword regressor, but my heart was forcing me to think about something else.

“… This is driving me crazy.”

Chae Nayun was a character in my novel. She was a person I created with the settings I wrote with my own two hands…

Yes, that was right. She was a person. She wasn’t just a character in a novel, but technically a living breathing person.

Kim Suho came back at daybreak. “Oh, Hajin. You’re already awake?”

He left around three in the morning and came back drenched in sweat. I guess he went to train or something.

“Yeah… I’m awake now. What did you do outside?”

“Ah, I went to hunt some monsters. There are quite a lot of them in the vicinity,” Kim Suho replied with a sheepish smile before sitting on his bed.

It seemed that he really liked his new weapon judging by how he kept affectionately touching it.

“Oh right, what did you do with Chae Nayun?”

“…”

My heart felt like it was caught off guard and hit by a straight punch at his sudden question.

I simply tilted my head in confusion and Kim Suho brightly smiled.

“Some strange vibes were coming from the two of you,” he said with a sheepish grin.

“What strange vibes are you talking about?” I retorted.

I had no idea why, but I ended up looking at my smartwatch to search for the location of the [Butterfly Sapling] that I saved a while back.

“Rather, are you free sometime soon? There’s somewhere I need to go with you,” I changed the subject.

“You need to go with me?”

“Yeah, I found an item.”

“Hmm… I think I’m free next week, but what item is it?”

“I’ll tell you once we’re there.”

“Okay, sounds good to me!” Kim Suho replied before standing up and heading to the bathroom.

Shwaaaa!

I read [Kim Chundong’s Diary] while Kim Suho was taking a shower.

“… What the hell is this?”

The content of the diary was that the extra I possessed, Kim Chundong, traveled to another world and lived as Jin Sahyuk’s subordinate named Kindspring. He was her most loyal subject, but he was betrayed in the end.

I could deduce from the content of this diary that Jin Sahyuk recognized me as Kindspring and…

It was then.

“Ack!”

A sharp pain struck my head. It was the familiar feeling of a pair of hot fangs digging themselves into my skull, the feeling of another streak of stigma being added.

I grabbed my arm and plopped down on my bed.

“Ughhh…”

I helplessly trembled and squirmed in pain before I lost consciousness.

***

The Pharmacy Club left Trooper and came back to the portal station in Seoul. The club’s mood was quite downcast after realizing that our main goal, the Tears of Heaven, ended up being a dud.

“… Our car is waiting outside,” Chae Nayun weakly said.

There were a lot of people at the portal station, but I was certain that she was talking to me.

“… Okay,” I replied as nonchalantly as possible.

All of us exited the portal station and a limousine appeared just as Chae Nayun spoke. The driver opened the door for us and everyone hopped in.

“Just drop me and Yi Yeonghan at the bus stop nearby,” Kim Suho said.

“… Alright,” Chae Nayun weakly replied.

The limousine set off and the club members got off one by one as time passed. Kim Suho and Yi Yeonghan were the first ones to get off at the bus stop. Shin Jonghak got off at Frost Sanctuary’s headquarters, Seo Youngji at the association, and lastly Yoo Yeonha at Essence of the Straits’ headquarters.

“I’ll be going now. Oh right, I already prepared a place for Evandel. Just let me know once she’s born,” Yoo Yeonha said.

“Ah, okay,” I replied.

Only the two of us remained after Yoo Yeonha got off.

The air in the limousine felt suffocating.

Chae Nayun simply looked out the window without saying anything. Her face and upper body looked relaxed, but I could see her legs trembling.

“…”

I quietly stared out the window as well.

Time passed and various sceneries flew by in front of my eyes before we finally reached the hospital. We were dropped off in front of the VIP ward located deep within the hospital grounds.

“Hey, this is our stop. Let’s go,” Chae Nayun said.

“Huh? Ah, alright.”

She walked ahead, but her legs looked quite unnatural for some reason. Anyways, I simply followed her.

We were able to pass through the heavy security simply with her identity until we finally reached Chae Jinyoon’s room.

“This is it. Do you want to go in?”

I nodded in response.

Chae Nayun told the guard to open the door, which instantly opened at her command.

It was a wide and brightly lit room. Chae Jinyoon was on a bed that was so lavishly decorated that it didn’t look like a hospital bed at all.

“Oppa… I’m here… This is… erm… my friend. His name is Kim Hajin…” Chae Nayun stole glances at me while introducing me.

I awkwardly smiled and walked over beside her.

“Hello, my name is Kim Hajin. I’m here to diagnose your symptoms,” I said.

“…”

“Can I go ahead?” I asked Chae Nayun.

She hesitated for a moment before nodding in approval.

I placed my hand on Chae Jinyoon’s forehead.

“Hmm…”

However, I couldn’t figure anything out. I couldn't find anything with my current level, so I was left with no choice but to use my stigma.

Shwaaaa…

I infused stigma into my hand. It enhanced my gift before entering Chae Jinyoon’s body. I continued until I used up all of stigma, but I failed to find a cure for his illness.

However…

“… What?” I asked.

Chae Nayun was suddenly beside me and looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment while holding onto my arm.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked again.

“… You might kill him.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” I said with a laugh.

However, it didn’t seem like Chae Nayun was joking. I stared at her mortified expression when a thought suddenly flashed in my head.

What if I did something bad to Chae Jinyoon in her previous life? No, then there was no way Chae Nayun would have feelings for me, right?

“Hey, no, I mean… a joke. Yes, that’s right… I was just joking. Rather, did you find out anything?” Chae Nayun asked after immediately composing herself.

“Yeah, a little bit. The main problem is his heart,” I said.

I failed to find the root of his illness, but this was probably enough.

“… Heart?”

“Yeah, what did the doctors say?”

Chae Nayun stole a glance at Chae Jinyoon before looking me in the eyes, “They said there’s nothing wrong with him.”

“… That’s what they would’ve probably said.”

Actually, there was nothing wrong with his heart itself. The problem was with how his heart was running right now. In short, his heart functions were all tangled up and in a mess.

I was certain there was a way to bring his heart back to normal. There was definitely a way if I could combine the Heart of Adaptation in me with various other medicinal ingredients… Yes, that would be worth a try.

Knock! Knock!

A vicious-looking bodyguard entered the room and said, “Milady, visiting hours for outsiders are over.”

Chae Nayun tried to shoo the bodyguard away, but I simply nodded and left the room.

“I’ll be going first,” I said.

“Huh? Ah, okay. Then I’ll bring you home,” Chae Nayun said.

“Nah, you stay here and spend more time with your brother…”

***

Chae Nayun was struggling after sending Kim Hajin away like that yesterday. She went online hoping to catch him in the game, but he never came online.

[X Man (Offline)]

“Haa… My heart hurts…” Chae Nayun let out a sigh after coming out of the game capsule.

She thought she would be fine since she lived longer than him, but she felt her heartstrings tugging as if her heart was throwing a tantrum.

She pondered if she should send him a message and say that it was just a joke to mess with him, but… that sounded too cowardly…

Ring! Ring!

Her smartwatch at her desk loudly rang to inform her that a message arrived.

Chae Nayun instantly shot up and ran to check her smartwatch.

[Hey, Chae Nayun.]

It was from Kim Suho.

Chae Nayun felt anger well up from inside of her. She was about to ignore the message and put her smartwatch down when…

[I’m going with Hajin to look for an item. Do you want to tag along?]

“…”

Chae Nayun’s eyes shot wide open at the message.

Gulp!

She nervously gulped and thought:

‘It’s still not over. There’s still a lot of time for us to make memories together. At least six months or even a whole year if we take things slowly. Then I can simply confess again after we develop feelings for each other…’

‘Well, he might hate me for doing this while being aware of the future. Or he could ask me how I knew about the future if he ever finds out… but worst of all, he could already be aware that I know the future…’

‘However… I can’t help but feel selfish… I want to hold him in my arms someday. No, I want to hold him in my arms right now. He was the one that made me take up the sword, he was the one who brought salvation to oppa, and he was the reason that everything happened in my life…’

‘So I’m not going to give up simply because I got rejected once. The only thing I can do now is to love him even more passionately than before…!’

[I’m going.]

Chae Nayun immediately replied and jumped online to start searching for things in a frenzy. Her fingers typed so fast that they started to become blurry.

[Summer Fashion]

[Female Hero Summer Fashion]

[Perfume Suggestion]

[Summer Dress?]

[Something other than a dress]

[What should I wear?]

[Blouse]

[Luxury Branded Blouse]

***

It was now mid-July, which was the peak of summer vacation.

I arrived at the East Sea harbor as promised and stared at Kim Suho in disbelief.

“Oh! You’re already here, Hajin?” Kim Suho said.

That bastard Kim Suho… Why was he smiling so brightly with Chae Nayun beside him?

“Oh, Kim Hajin is here! I was waiting for you,” Chae Nayun said with an awkward smile on her yacht.

“…”

However, something felt off about the entire thing. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the blinding sunlight or the scent of summer, but her squirming silhouette on the yacht deck looked quite… lovely.

“Heave-ho!” Chae Nayun hopped in front of me and smiled brightly.

Her smile was adorable and reminded me of a cartoon character from my previous world.

“I heard that you guys were going to some island, so I prepared a yacht. As for manning the yacht… I’m sure you can do it, right? Well, I just came to lend you the yacht. I don’t mind going home if you tell me that you don’t want me to tag along, but…” Chae Nayun said while squirming in her white blouse and blue shorts.

She looked innocent in her current fashion compared to her usual look.

I sighed and replied, “… Just come with us if you want. I can drive the yacht.”

“What?! Really?! Wait, no… Ehem… If you say you want me to tag along then I guess I have no choice…” Chae Nayun cleared her throat and did her best to suppress her smile.

I frowned and pinched Kim Suho on the waist as I found his sheepish smile to be quite annoying.

Kim Suho screamed, “Ack!” before stepping away from us.

“Then, let’s go,” I said.

All of us headed to the yacht. I stood at the helm after being forced to be the helmsman of the yacht.

Chae Nayun came beside me and said, “Wow, Kim Hajin is so good at driving!”

She rested her chin on my shoulder while mumbling nonsense. I mean… We didn’t even set sail yet…

I simply smirked in disbelief, but suddenly turned around. I looked at the forest behind the harbor.

I couldn’t sense anything from it, but… nobody’s going to come chasing after us, right?

“What’s wrong, Hajin?” Kim Suho asked.

I shook my head in response and replied, “No, it’s nothing… We’re setting sail now.”

Krwaaaa!

The yacht pierced through the surface of the water. The sun was shining brightly and made the water around us glimmer like jewels. Water splashed around us as if it was raining.

Kim Suho conjured a fishing rod with his mana and prepared to fish while Chae Nayun pretended to lose her balance and leaned against me.

She looked up at me and smiled brightly.

I tried my best to act indifferent, but… I felt a faint smile forming against my wishes.