I Tamed the First Rank Chapter 33
- HoshiMiya
- Jul 12, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Aug 7
“…… Did you disappear because you didn’t want to exercise?”
“I decided to eat tteokbokki just for today and work hard tomorrow……”
“Ah……”
Hyeon Gyu-ha slowly blinked, and his expression slowly returned to his cold, indifferent face.
[Current Status: Murderous Intent.]
Hyeon Gyu-ha looked back in silence and faced countless eyes staring at them. He sighed briefly, took off his jacket, then covered In Yoo-shin’s face with it, holding him in his arms as he flew over to the back of the tents.
Only then did a murmur erupt among the people who were free from the emotional pressure caused by Hyeon Gyu-ha. Although the broadcasting department came to its senses belatedly and stopped broadcasting, the live video that day recorded the highest number of viewers.
***
The breath pouring from his mouth was hot.
Even though Yoo-shin was having the rare experience of sitting in the silence of the sky, he could only feel the presence of Hyeon Gyu-ha hugging him from behind. Even after Hyeon Gyu-ha found out that he hadn’t abandoned him, he could hardly loosen his hold on him.
“……”
In the silence, where only the sound of heavy breathing could be heard, In Yoo-shin sat still, trapped between Gyu-ha’s arms and legs. Soon, Gyu-ha’s breathing gradually subsided and the heartbeat he felt on his back slowed down to a regular speed.
“Did you hate working out that much?”
Hearing his voice that slowly returned, In Yoo-shin glanced at the status window and responded.
[Current Status: Murderous Intent.]
“It’s not that I don’t like it that much…… It’s hard, but I felt a little better when my friend told me that my body’s appearance was improving. There’s no harm in exercising.”
“If you miss this exam, you’ll have to take it half a year later, and I guess I was too impatient because I felt that I couldn’t be away from you during that time. I won’t nag you anymore.”
“Then what do you plan on doing about the dungeon?”
“You don’t have to go.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha answered easily, but In Yoo-shin, listening to him, felt a little complicated. At most, he signed a contract with the Ministry of Ability not to work properly, but just to have a romantic relationship inside the office……?
Regardless of what Hyeon Gyu-ha might say or do behind our backs, they can’t ignore him. And there’s no one who could pressure him or intimidate him with their authority if he slacked off. Upper management probably thought that if they pushed Hyeon Gyu-ha too hard, he might leave with In Yoo-shin, so they wouldn’t be able to come down on him too hard either. They would probably just harass the middle management.
His anxiety grew as he thought about Manager Kim, who was innocently caught in the middle and would go through all sorts of hardships.
‘When he introduced me, he seemed like a nice person…… When I talked to the manager in charge, he said that unlike Team Leader Hong, he has a good reputation in the department……’
He also heard that she was struggling as a single income earner for a while since her husband was hospitalized. Compared to that, he felt that his situation of whining because exercise was difficult meant nothing.
“…… I will exercise.”
“Really?”
“I think I have no choice but to pass if I don’t want to become a salary Lupin (lackluster employee who still gets paid) for half a year. But please be a little gentle.”
“Sure. I’ll do just enough so that Master will never think of abandoning me again.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s voice had a faint hint of joy. Was it that good? However, what he was imagining in his mind was a little different from In Yoo-shin's guess.
“Because it’s easier to manipulate the physical exam than the written exam.”
“…… I’ll do my best to prevent Gyu-ha-ssi from committing any illegal activities.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s scheme—to threaten the supervisor and secretly change the non-passing grade to a passing grade—had to be prevented.
“But Yoo-shin-ssi…”
Still hugging him, Hyeon Gyu-ha placed his chin on the top of his head.
“Can you stay with me today? I’ll buy you tteokbokki.”
“Pizza, not tteokbokki.”
“Okay.”
He sensed a grin behind his back. It was a pretty smile even if I couldn’t see it.
*
Hyeon Gyu-ha soared across the skies of Seoul while holding In Yoo-shin in his arms.
“Aren’t we going to my house?”
“Yoo-shin-ssi’s house is nice, but the mattress there is only for one person.”
Did this mean he wanted me to sleep over? Since Park Seung-gi was a dormitory student, In Yoo-shin, who had never stayed at a friend’s house before, was a little excited.
And when he arrived at Hyeon Gyu-ha’s officetel, he was surprised again and again.
First, it was because of the wonderful view of the Han River visible through the wide window, and then because of the extremely barren interior.
Even if the homeowner pursued minimalism, they were bound to leave their traces in the living space. Although In Yoo-shin barely survived on minimum wage, he raised hamsters and succulent plants. There were also books that he had borrowed from the library.
There was nothing like that in Hyeon Gyu-ha’s officetel.
The basic interior was very clean and luxurious, but that was all. In the space that was maintained like a model house, there were no traces of the individual named ‘Hyeon Gyu-ha’ anywhere.
If it were a hunter’s house, there would at least be a few spare weapons.
“Uh…… I guess you don’t watch TV? Well, there are a lot of houses without TVs these days.”
As soon as Yoo-shin managed to say something out of embarrassment, Hyeon Gyu-ha went for his cell phone.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m buying a TV, and I’ll have it delivered right away. The bigger the TV screen, the better, right?”
“Ah, no! I’m not interested in watching TV!”
In Yoo-shin quickly grabbed Hyeon Gyu-ha’s hand.
“I’m just curious about what Gyu-ha usually does to spend time, since there is nothing to play with at home.”
“I’m usually just lying down without thinking about anything.”
“…… Without any thoughts?”
“Yeah.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha pondered while tapping his chin and then rephrased his words.
“Not these days, I guess. I think of you, Yoo-shin-ssi. Sometimes I think of ways to kill you without using my own hands. Oh wait, it’s better not to talk about that anymore.”
As he said that, Hyeon Gyu-ha quickly grabbed his hand—like he’s afraid of being abandoned again.
In Yoo-shin thought about the difference between the hand he felt at the festival booth and the hand holding him now. The hand, which had no warmth like a corpse, was filled with a gentle vitality just by staying by his side.
“Gyu-ha-ssi, don’t you have any hobbies?”
“Well…… only people with free time can afford to have hobbies, right?”
Holding his hand tightly, Hyeon Gyu-ha led him to the sofa and sat him down. Having a smooth sheen of leather, the sofa was clean as though no one had ever sat on it.
“Um, how should I explain it?”
Hyeon Gyu-ha continued speaking slowly, pondering as if this were his first time talking about it.
“Let’s say you run a hundred-meter race. Running a hundred meters is different from long-distance running, in that you have to sprint as hard as you can. I don’t want to run, but there is a very important prize at stake, so I have to take first place.”
“Do you mean you have to force yourself?”
“To put it simply, yes. You can think of it as a situation where you are forced onto the track to run at full speed to the finish line. But……”
Hyeon Gyu-ha moved with the index fingers of each hand held one by one. His left finger was the runner, and his right finger was the finish line.
“If I run ten meters like this, the finish line will be nine meters away. If I run twenty meters, it moves eighteen meters away. As a result, it keeps moving further away from me as I get closer. And I want to give up because I can’t do anything but run, but there’s no other way. I have to come in first place and win the prize.”
“……”
“This is me.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha waved the index finger of his left hand. He had the same mischievous smile as usual, but In Yoo-shin couldn’t force himself to laugh.
“After doing this for about twenty years, I can’t do anything but run—there’s nothing I can do, and there’s nothing I can think of other than running.”
“…… Isn’t it hard?”
That was all I could say. Only a shallow worry that barely scratched the surface of the life he had walked in the past.
“I don’t even know what hardship is. I guess…… I should say that I feel helpless, because I can’t reach the goal no matter how much I run. So, I engaged in passive suicide. Even if I don’t intentionally jump into the road, I feel like I don’t have the will to avoid a car that’s charging at me.”
Seeing In Yoo-shin’s expression, Hyeon Gyu-ha finished his speech with a curvature of his lips.
“I don’t feel like letting myself die anymore, though. Because you are here.”
There was not a single shadow in his eyes as he lowered his head to make eye contact and smiled faintly. Just like always when I saw myself captured in his eyes.
In Yoo-shin now understood Gyu-ha’s profound boredom.
*
【———!】
The fragment of a degraded god cried out. Having lost its reason, the god stretched out the arms of a frog, not realizing that it cannot reach no matter how much it extended. It stood on tiptoes. It leaped. It screamed. As it repeated its futile attacks, the fragmented god grew weary.
A man simply stared down at it with an infinitely bored gaze.
It’s a game of chicken. Would the fragment’s stamina run out, or would the man’s mana? The answer would be whoever reached their limit and died first.
Finally overloaded by the constant consumption of mana to maintain their abilities, his brain cells screamed.
Ahh.
So it was I who reached the end first.
As if its thread had been suddenly cut, the body that was roaming freely in the sky plummeted down. His upside-down view flitted like a flash, and the exhausted fragment cried out.
His hand, covered in a large film, darted out and blocked the sun. The man blinked slowly as shadows darkened his vision.
It’s great.
It was the feeling of freedom.
*
“Yoo-shin-ssi, wake up. You have to brush your teeth before going to bed.”
“…… Mhm.”
“I’ll take that as a yes to ‘you can wake me up with a kiss.’”
***
HM: I love how HGH was like ‘Let me buy a TV real quick’ …. Like he was like money doesn’t matter. Bigger the TV, the better the view. Wwwww I heard from someone that there’s +19 side stories. Wwwwww 0w0
Editor M: It’s too bad that there isn’t a good word for Hyeon Gyu-ha’s original state of mind. ‘Nihilism’ is similar but it lacks the specific attribute of ennui. On a similar note, the sentence, ‘그래서 소극적인 자살은 방조했었죠’ gave me so much trouble.
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Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Editor M
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