That afternoon was one of the weirdest things Chung had ever seen in his life. Elesis, who always looked strong and confident, suddenly whined to him like a kid asking for help. He didn't really know how to react, but he was willing to listen. They walked away from the group, going closer to the Hamel town.
"I'm trying to move on, but I don't know how. I'm trying to accept the fact that Elsword is already happy with Eve. What should I do?" Elesis asked with a sad look. They were siblings and Elsword didn't feel the same love as she did. All she thought was a wish for her brother to suddenly love her as a woman. But it was becoming stupid now. She had to stop wishing like that.
"Uh… Why did you ask me?" Chung asked as he tilted his head. Sure, he was Elsword's best friend, but Elesis also knew him as much as Chung did. Logically, she should know more about her own brother. Even if it was about Eve, she clearly knew the Queen of Nasods more because the girls stayed in the same room.
"How did you move on? Did you just read books until you forget about your love for her completely?" Elesis asked with a curious look. The problems were different, but she was hoping she could do the same method as Chung did.
Chung turned to silence and looked away from her. His reason was simple, but he didn't want to share it. "Do you have any hobbies, Elesis?"
They stopped walking after that question. Elesis was thinking deeply about that question. Aside from trying to chase Elsword, what else did she like? She realized she had been doing that most of the time. She spent her childhood training too. What activity that she actually loved? "I'm… having an existential crisis," she muttered and looked at the sky.
She thought about Rena and Ara. Both of them confessed and got rejected, but they felt relieved. She did confess to Elsword, but she didn't feel relieved. She needed something else, but she didn't know what it was. What did she actually need right now?
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Elesis sighed and ended up telling Chung how she felt about Elsword. Her brother could be annoying, but she knew when he was actually joking. He had his own way of caring; it was possessive, but that's what she liked about him. He grew up to be a strong man, she actually wanted to be a weak sister so he could protect her all the time. He was a heroic figure in her eyes.
But then Eve took him away for her. Although it wasn't the right word since Elsword confessed first. He seemed really happy with Eve around. She actually missed his happiness, she remembered when he would smile every time she came home from training. Now that she became a questionable sister, maybe he couldn't be happy with her anymore, not even as siblings.
"He's happy with Eve. Isn't that enough?" Chung asked, feeling unsure if it was a good reason or not. He only experienced love towards someone once, then he spent the rest of his time reading books. He didn't think he could be a good advisor for this.
"It should be, but why am I not happy? Do I actually need a hobby now?" Elesis sighed and questioned herself. Something was incomplete in her life, but what was it?
Chung shrugged. "Maybe. What's your dream as a kid?"
Dream? Elesis' dream was to protect people. Seeing their smiles when she was helping her father in the battle brought a warm feeling in her heart. But… that was it. She didn't really have any other dreams. She shook her head as an answer. Maybe it was time for her to have a new dream. "What about you, Chung?"
"I wanted to be a writer," Chung said with a serious look.
It was actually convincing, Elesis believed him. It made sense too because he read a lot of books. She was interested and she started smiling. Maybe she should try reading. "Did you start writing something? Let me read!"
Chung sighed and closed his eyes with a disappointed look. "Well, I have started writing my last will…"
Elesis laughed and slapped Chung's arm. He also laughed with her. It was clear that he was joking and, sadly, it was also clear that both of them didn't have any other dreams.
They heard loud noises, possibly someone fighting. They walked back to the group only to find Aisha and Nisha glaring at each other. The journey to find a new house continued, despite the two girls hating each other at the moment.
"Chung, listen, I have an idea," Elesis said and patted Chung's shoulder. "Do you know those pet trainers? Maybe I should adopt a dog and train some tricks! What do you think? Do I fit to be a dog trainer?" she asked, imagining herself as a dog trainer with a lot of dogs to take care of. Thinking about it made her want a pet.
"Yeah, I can see you training it to be a police dog," Chung answered with a straight face.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?! Then I'll get a parrot and train it to say "dummy Chung" instead," Elesis pouted. After that writing last will joke, she wanted to make more stupid, possibly unfunny jokes with him.
"Just get a merman and train him to be a dancer," Chung smiled and narrowed his eyes at Elesis.
Elesis narrowed her eyes back at him. "What kind of books do you read anyway? It's concerning now," she commented with a confused look. She always imagined a bookworm as a smart person, but looking at him, he was nowhere near her imagination. Both of them didn't care about the awkward atmosphere and continued talking like nothing big had happened.
The lounge bar in the hotel that was filled with laughter had a different atmosphere on the corner of the bar. A magician sat on the seat on the very left, accompanied by her roommate next to her. Aisha faked her identity with her magic to get a drink. Nisha was completely fine after drinking, but she lost her friend already.
"Isn't the light always dim? Everything is sparkling! Hahahaha!" Aisha laughed and raised her hand to reach the lights, which wasn't even close to her. There was a light right on top of her, but she was trying to reach the one near Nisha. She started sobbing and hid her face with her arm on the table. "Then why is my future not sparkling?"
"It's sparkling, Aisha. You mixed it with the room lights," Nisha patted Aisha's back gently.
Aisha looked up at the light above her, then she suddenly laughed really hard and slammed the table. "Ahahaha! It's here the whole time! My goodness, I'm blind!"
Nisha sighed and laughed along with her. Aisha clearly mixed it with the room lights again, but it's not like she can think logically at the moment. Since Nisha suggested the idea, she would have to accompany her roommate.
A certain duo walked towards them. "I'm legal, I'm legal. There's no doubt about it," Lu laughed proudly and sat next to Nisha. Ciel followed her and sat next to Lu. Both of them ordered classic beers to drink. Once again, the bartender hesitated, but eventually convinced with Lu's identity card. She clinked her glass with Ciel's before taking a sip and looked at Aisha, who was still laughing at the lights. "So what happened to her?"
Nisha laughed nervously and faced Lu. She wouldn't tell people about it, but eventually the group would know anyway. "Chung rejected her and left her here a while ago."
Lu nodded while Ciel just heard about the story without any reaction. "Ah, I see. It's not surprising—" she stopped and yelped after realizing something, "—Chung is illegal, though?"
Nisha shrugged with a smile. "He even got an orange juice. He would point a gun just for it."
"Is that so?" Lu laughed at it in disbelief. Aside from him being a bookworm, she didn't know him that much. Would he actually do that for an orange juice?
Nisha suddenly giggled and pointed her finger at Ciel's face. "Do you never drink? Your face is already red."
Lu turned her face to her servant. Nisha was right; Ciel's face was turning red. He nodded slightly in embarrassment. The others might expect a guy like him to be able to drink a lot, but here he was, already wasting from a few sips.
"That's cute of you, Ciel. Laby thinks so too," Nisha smiled at him. Her mirror floated around Ciel, trying to tell him that he seemed cute. He didn't know it was a compliment or an insult, so he laughed it off.
Aisha suddenly screamed when she saw Lu and Ciel, but then she laughed again. "Where—Where did you come from?! Demons don't come from l-lights! Hahahaha! Demons from lights!"
"That would be you if you drink a lot," Lu teased Ciel and pointed at Aisha. She would love to see Ciel get drunk, but looks like it won't be happening now. So she ordered another beer and gave it to Ciel. "Drink up!"
While Aisha was still laughing at the lights, Ciel kept drinking the beer for the sake of Lu's satisfaction. It would take time, but something else brought him back to reality. Two more of their friends came to them. The most concerning friend sat next to him.
"I want a whiskey. My friend said it's good!"
The bartender didn't even hesitate anymore, seeing that the group of friends happened to have adults with child bodies. Nisha glared at Add, who hadn't taken a seat and stood up between her and Lu. At least he changed clothes. "Why did you bring Noah here?!" she yelled and slammed the table with her left hand.
"More like why did HE bring me here," Add replied with a slightly annoyed tone. He knew Nisha would yell, but he still got upset when she did. Her mouth was slightly opened, not expecting Noah to be the one that wanted to come. "You told him about whiskeys. Now he wanted one."
Lu glanced at Noah, who already got his whiskey from the bartender. She sighed and looked at Add. "How is he legal?"
"He's legal by the system. Not physically," Add answered and looked at his roommate. Nisha never heard much about Noah, she got interested in it. Lu also looked at him, waiting for him to say more. "Ask him yourself," he said as he walked to the empty seat next to Noah.
Add and Noah entered their room without bothering with everyone else. Personally, Add wouldn't care about anyone else but Rose. Now that couple was prohibited, he wanted to be with Chung or Ain; a person that won't bother or talk to him even if they were in the same room. But Ain refused to rest and Chung went somewhere with Elesis, so he grabbed Noah.
He went to the mini market on the first floor of the hotel, leaving Noah alone in the room. But in a short time, he came back with two big plastic bags of snacks. "Thank you for doing what I asked for," he said and gave the snacks to Noah. He didn't realize he formed a smile on his face. He was hoping that Noah would shut up with all the snacks he got.
Noah's eyes were shimmering when he grabbed the plastic bags. He knew most of the snacks already, but he never expected someone to appreciate him. He held the plastic bag tightly, hugging them like a big plushie. "Thank you so much, Add! Let's eat it together!"
Knock, knock!
Add opened the door. Rose and Eve came in with more snacks, making Noah even more excited than he already was. Eve gave them a bag filled with four cups of hot chocolates. They gathered on the floor near the window, enjoying the snacks and hot chocolates as the sky slowly turned to night.
The girls' intentions were trying to make Noah tell more about himself, but so far it didn't work. Add looked at the view outside, trying to think of something that might gain Noah's trust. If they couldn't get him to talk, maybe they had to guess what had happened to him. Of course, the girls wouldn't know how to do it. If this was the case, it made sense that his girlfriend tried to ask Eve for help by being roommates. Now… What had happened before when he got the question?
"What are you, Noah?"
"I'm not answering that to a human-like being with a weird eye and shoulder!"
Add lifted up the left sleeve of the nurse uniform he was wearing, revealing a white body part to Noah. "I'm going to tell you something. This is a result of numerous time travelling."
Add had expected Noah to be confused or surprised with what he said. No matter how magical Elrios was, nobody really believed in time travel. But Noah just smiled, accepting it casually. For someone that didn't trust people easily, Add found this weird. But he continued to tell about it; about how he was trying to go back to the past to save his mother. That ended up with a success, but he went back to the current time to be with the gang.
Eve still didn't know what Add was trying to do, but she had to follow up. "I was in that time," she smiled and started her story. The story was about how she was treated as the Queen of Nasods, but she ended up losing everything.
Rose laughed nervously because she never told them but Add about her story. After seeing Add and Eve, she couldn't stay silent. She smiled and pointed at the sky. "I'm from another world!"
Noah's eyes sparkled in amazement as he kept eating his chips. "I swore my loyalty to the queen in my world. Something here was disturbing our world and she sent me for the mission," Rose said proudly, putting her hand on her chest with confidence. "Therefore I will complete this mission. Failure is not an option!"
Noah smiled widely. "You guys are amazing! I'll try harder to help!"
And no, he didn't say anything about himself after hearing them. Add sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't have enough patience for this. "Have you time travelled before? You're the first person to act normally after hearing my story," he said as he stared at the kid.
Noah turned to silence, eating his chips and looking at it. He always thought time travel was a normal thing. Looks like he was wrong this whole time. He smiled and faced them. "Something similar. There were repeated timelines."
Rose and Eve were startled when they heard that. But Add had experienced this kind of stuff too many times. He won't bother to ask more about it; Noah already lived possibly more than a hundred years, but physically he was 16 years old.
Now that Noah told one thing about himself, Add will use the chance to get at least one more fact. He asked if the crystallized body was part of the repeated timelines or not—and the answer was no.
Seeing Eve reminded him of Elsword. Their former leader's hair turned black bit by bit from consuming Dark El. Was Noah's hair always white? Sadly Add didn't have any idea for this, he can't guess anything.
What was so unique about him? The heal was one thing, but Add was still learning about healing magic. What can he guess or ask? "Can't you just heal your own body?"
Clink!
Noah looked at his own hands that had already turned into crystals, making his fingers touch each other to make a sound. But he didn't give any answer, so Add let it go. He would ask more, but pressing his new friend might lead to something bad.
He sighed and thought of something else. Was it affected by crystal-like spells? No, spells worked differently for each person. Oh right, he could talk to Laby—Nisha's mirror! Nisha's mirror was Nisha's weapon, so…
Add pointed at Noah's sickle behind him. If Noah could talk to Laby, maybe he could talk to his weapon too. But unlike Nisha, Noah never talked to his weapon. At least not in front of anyone. "Noah, your sickle. Is it alive?"
There was a heavy tension in the room. Noah smiled sadly and touched his sickle. "It was alive. His name was Clamor."
Now that Noah asked Add to visit the lounge bar for a whiskey, maybe the kid would spit out everything while he was drunk. Of course Add agreed to it and went with him. Might as well recommend him other drinks.
"Oh, almost everyone is here!"
Elsword and Raven approached them. Surprisingly, Elsword didn't try to fake his identity and ordered a sweet drink instead. Lu stood up, giving Raven her seat. "What if I lost control of Dark El when I got drunk? It will be bad!" he explained with a smile to Nisha and Lu. Nisha also got up, giving her seat to Elsword. The boy immediately noticed Aisha, who was sobbing and not laughing anymore. "Hm? What's wrong with you?"
"No! What's wrong with you?!" Aisha yelled at Elsword and slammed her glass on the table. Her face was already red from drinking too much. There was an awkward silence until Aisha started giggling. "Oh… Oh no no no, you're not Elesis. You don't have big boobs!"
Elsword raised his one eyebrow, realizing that Aisha was already drunk. He remembered both of them used to fight all the time when they first met. They didn't do it anymore though because they already matured. But it was sad to see his first friend struggle like this. He smiled slightly; he might know what happened to her. "Did Chung reject you?"
"Oh my god, he did," Aisha answered lazily, putting her hand on her forehead and facing the table. Her eyes were getting swollen from tears, but she didn't realize it. "And I'm dying right now. My eyes are getting heavy, I'm going to be blind soon."
"What did he say to you?" Elsword asked, getting interested in the story.
"I'm sorry. You deserve someone better. Don't bother me, I'm a loser," Aisha answered with the same tone as Chung did. Somehow she managed to remember it clearly, despite her being drunk. She closed her eyes, letting more tears drop to the table. "There's no better person… I want him…"
Elsword looked away from her and turned to silence. Since when did his best friend become like that? Come to think of it, he even noticed something was wrong with Chung on the day Eve asked for everyone's title.
"Actually, something is wrong with Chung."
"You see what I mean? He doesn't seem cheerful."
He DID say that himself. He got to play around with him in the street after that, but he didn't solve the problem. That one time, his friend suddenly changed. Did he ever ask what happened? Nope, he just assumed Chung got a lot of interesting books to read. Since he couldn't really explain why Chung said that, he patted Aisha's back gently.
"Why…? Why did I cheat on him? What was I doing?" Aisha cried without bothering to wipe her tears. "Did I make him this way? No, please… I'm sorry…"
"Do you need a hug?" Elsword smiled and opened his arms. Aisha quickly hugged him, still crying as he patted her back.
"What happened to Ciel?" Raven asked and pointed his finger at the servant. He rested his head on the table and slept instead of drinking.
"He got drunk and praised Lu like a fanatic, so she smacked him," Nisha answered and pointed her thumb at Lu.
Lu already approached Noah and Add, followed by Nisha later. Add simply stared at Noah without doing anything. It seemed that he couldn't accept illogical behavior, so he didn't know how to handle his roommate. Especially when his plan didn't work.
Noah was chuckling, facing Add with half-awake eyes. His face was red, but he kept drinking. He slammed the table and pouted. "I can summon a whale! A huge, smooth, adorable whale! Why can't you believe me?!"
"I just said I believed you. You even showed it to me yesterday," Add sighed and massaged his forehead. Maybe he should have peeked at the future so he could disagree earlier.
"How's it going? You guys seem to be… friendly," Lu said as she stared at the two. She never expected Add to talk with Noah this long. Noah laughed when he heard that and clapped his hands. He kept repeating the world "friendly" to annoy Add.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
And Add actually got annoyed with it. He would escape his own timeline if he wanted to. Noah finally stopped his clap and slammed the table with both hands, facing the working bartender. "More! What drinks that I haven't tried?!"
"You already bought everything since half an hour ago," Add answered, preparing himself for a sudden tantrum from Noah.
Noah startled, then he started crying. "But they have a lot of bottles!"
Raven walked toward them with a drink in his right hand. The bartender served the same drink to Noah, making the child smile. "Why are you drinking alone, though?" Raven asked with a chuckle. He told Noah to raise his glass a bit and…
Clink!
"Cheers!"
Noah stared at Raven with a confused look. He tilted his head, looking at his glass. What does cheers even mean? But… who cares? "Cheers!" he shouted and raised his glass again. Raven chuckled and gave a response.
Clink!
Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!
Noah kept clinking his glass with his right hand and laughing at it. Lu laughed too, but at how stupid this was. She looked at Nisha, who was surprisingly happy with this. "Oh, you're not mad?"
Nisha shook her head with a smile. "Of course not. He brought this upon himself."
"What happened to Aisha?" Raven asked with a curious look. Nisha explained it to him; Aisha got rejected and got suggested to drink away her problems. So here she was, sobbing in a lounge bar. The half-Nasod laughed nervously, looking at Aisha getting comforted by Elsword. "Maybe I should've stopped her."
Lu folded her arms and stared at Nisha with her narrowed eyes. "Maybe YOU shouldn't have done that."
No matter how many excuses Nisha could make, it was definitely her fault. She even admitted that she was wrong, but she didn't regret it. "Chung doesn't love her anymore. It's better if she gets rejected faster."
Lu stomped her foot to the floor. Even though it wasn't her problem, she seemed annoyed with the fact. "They look cute together, though!"
Ah, it's her ship.
"Chung felt like trash after that joke relationship. What do you expect him to do?" Nisha asked as she tilted her head. "He said he doesn't deserve her."
"That's guilt! Maybe low self-esteem! That's why he felt like trash!" Lu shouted and grabbed Nisha's shoulders to make them stare at each other. Raven didn't come up with anything to comment, so he let them talk.
"Don't compare him with your past subordinates," Nisha replied with an annoyed tone.
Suddenly, Noah gave a glass of whiskey to Nisha. She accepted it, grabbing the glass with her right hand. "Cheers!"
Clink!
"Where's everyone else, though? Maybe they're asleep?" Lu sighed in disappointment. She wanted everyone to be here and get drunk together, but it wouldn't happen. Out of her expectation, Nisha could handle drinks. But still, It would be fun if everyone gathered.
"Rose and Eve are busy making plans to expose him," Add answered and pointed at Noah. Since the group didn't know much about him, they could understand that reason. Ain was already away from them, they didn't even know where he went.
Lu looked at everyone and counted with her hands. There were eight of them now. Rose and Eve were in the same room, also Rena and Ara were probably staying in their room. But for some reason, she kept counting the numbers, trying to find mistakes in her counting. She counted them right, there was no reason for her to keep counting. "What's wrong?" Raven asked in curiosity.
The demon's face turned red from imagination. She had a really dirty fantasy on her brain. She wanted to be happy, but she was more worried and concerned the more she thought about it. "I should've gone with Elesis!" she shouted, slightly panicked but very excited.
Add blinked his eyes several times. He got what Lu was trying to say, chuckling and looking away from them. "We left Elesis with Chung."
Special thanks to LucasTheCookie for the idea!
Imagine needing to wait for a year for the next counterpart chapter because 4th path. Thank you game.