During the time he was unconscious, Kang Sihyun dreamed what seemed like an endless dream, a dream of his earliest days.
If the previous visions shown by God briefly outlined the birth and end of Adam, this time it was much more detailed and lengthy. After all, he had lived a hundred years as Adam over the course of ten days.
As a result, he reclaimed some forgotten memories. He remembered the name of a divine shard and the trivial conversations he had shared with God. Even parts of the conversations he had with Eve came back to him.
It had been an exceedingly long time. So, when Sihyun first abruptly opened his eyes, he worried that too much time had passed.
He honestly thought it might have been a year. However, the first thing Sihyun heard upon regaining consciousness was unexpected.
"How many days has it been since today?"
"It’s exactly ten days since we left the dungeon."
Sihyun was startled by those words, heard in a blur of consciousness. Far less time had passed than he thought.
And he intuitively knew.
He would dream this dream several more times.
At least until he had reclaimed all the memories of his life as Adam, he would continue to experience such dreams repeatedly.
No one had told him, but he was certain of it. And this sleep, it was beyond Sihyun’s control.
It wasn’t a dream he could wake up from if he wanted to. Nor was it something he could avoid if he didn’t want to dream it, and it wasn’t a dream he could refuse if he didn’t want it.
Yes, to borrow a phrase often used by God, it was something like fate.
Then he should rejoice and enjoy the fact that he could retrieve the memories of his time as Adam.
Better to accept this than to sit sucking his thumb in dismay. When Haeun voiced an opinion similar to his own, Sihyun couldn’t help but agree.
Sihyun gave a slight smile to his companions, who were looking at him with surprised eyes. They must have been very worried. He was about to open his mouth to reassure them when,
“Si, Sihyun, your eyes….”
Rarely did Haeun stutter in surprise. Sihyun, wondering why, stared at him, then reached up to touch his eye when he heard the word "eyes."
Nothing seemed particularly wrong.
“What’s wrong with my eyes?”
When he asked, Geonu walked over and brought a hand mirror from the table. Sihyun checked his appearance through the mirror Geonu handed him. He looked quite haggard after doing nothing but lying down for ten days, but something else caught his gaze.
“…Hmm?”
The color of his eyes had changed. From a clear blue that reminded one of the sea to a tangled mix of green and gold—Ruth’s eyes were considered quite beautiful with their mix of blue and gold, but his own newly mingled eye colors were rather bizarre.
It was understandable why Haeun had been startled.
Agh! Haeun eventually screamed so loudly that it seemed the hospital room might collapse.
“What’s with your eyes?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s not it, is it! Are you sick somewhere? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Maybe you moved too violently in a soul state?”
“Sihyun, are you feeling okay?”
“Do your eyes hurt or something?”
“Even if the color of your irises changed, they’re still pretty.”
Hmm, this is chaotic.
Bombarded with questions from all sides, Sihyun blandly assessed the situation. Really, there was no end to it. Asking them to speak one at a time, Sihyun glanced at the person lying next to him.
Ruth was sweating profusely and groaning as he tossed and turned.
This was the first time he had seen him like this.
Always reliable and strong, it was the first time Ruth had shown such weakness, which Sihyun found intriguing. After playing rock-paper-scissors to decide the order, Sihyun began answering the flood of questions from his companions.
“I’m okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Except for feeling a bit weak, everything else is normal.”
“That’s good. I was worried because you couldn’t get up for so long.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, aren’t your eyes hurting?”
“That’s overlapping with the previous question about my health. They don’t hurt. Next.”
“…Why do you answer my question as if it’s annoying?”
“It’s a repetitive question. Next!”
“Sihyun, how are you feeling? Like, are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”
“I’m pretty refreshed, apart from feeling weak. Next.”
The questions from his companions were trivial, mostly concerning his condition, so Sihyun answered them swiftly and got to the last in line, where Armus was.
Why are you there?
After everything, even the Irregular had joined this strange sequence of questions.
“What question do you have?”
“I didn’t come to
ask anything. I just came to check on you. They told me to take a number and wait.”
“Oh.”
If that was it, it was fine. With a nod, as if to say, "Go ahead and check," Sihyun watched as Armus carefully examined his face, then approached the bed.
“Hey, wait…!”
Just as he thought Armus was going to put his hand under his armpit, he suddenly lifted Sihyun up. Caught off guard by the unexpected contact, Sihyun slapped his hand, but Armus continued to examine Sihyun’s arms and legs, spinning him around once before setting him down.
“What the hell… If you’re going to do something weird, at least tell me.”
“Can I do it if I say it?”
“No. So, what’s the result?”
“Your divine power has increased.”
It could still increase?
The casual remark from Armus caused a stir. Haehyuk, Laochun, and Sihyun all looked in astonishment at the giant Irregular. Sihyun’s divine power was already vast. It was like a never-drying spring unless he was constantly in battle.
And now his divine power had increased even more.
Everyone was in shock as Armus sat on Sihyun’s bed.
“But that’s not a good sign. Your body isn’t fully accommodating the divine power.”
“Ah, so….”
Sihyun touched his eye again. Armus nodded, answering the unasked question.
I thought so.
The sudden change in eye color must have been due to the increased amount of divine power.
“What should I do then?”
“Your case is unique. If incomplete growth is still increasing in divine power, then you are already at that increased state, demi-god.”
“What does that mean?”
Haemin, with a rough voice, asked in return. Sihyun looked sympathetically at the boy who seemed completely unable to grasp Armus’s explanation. Feeling the gaze, Haemin scowled.
“What?”
“No. Just….”
Considering the exams, Haemin had always been smart, but Sihyun couldn’t remember when he had become so simple-minded and foolish.
No, he had always been simple.
Then he must have become foolish. Sihyun thought about the detrimental effects that violent and repetitive combat had on teenagers as he called Haemin over. Unaware of the reason, the boy walked up to Sihyun, who was patting his shoulder, and suddenly burst into anger.
Even though his intelligence had declined, his sharpened instincts from fighting allowed him to sense that he was being underestimated.
Sihyun stroked Haemin’s head regardless of his anger, and then looked back at Armus. The boy, who had been blustering, calmed down with a light touch to his hair.
What Armus meant was that if Ruth’s tap was turned the wrong way, then he was a tap that was already locked.
If Ruth was overflowing, then he had already overflowed and finished. The traces of overflow had just appeared on the outside.
That means.
“The color of my irises is temporary then.”
“Right. Once your body adapts to the overflowing divine power, it will return to normal. The problem is that you shouldn’t use your divine power carelessly until then. The power you use in your current state is unstable.”
“Hmm, sounds like I need some rest.”
“That’s accurate.”
Haehyuk joined in, and Armus nodded. At that, the faces of the Class A children, who had been listening with serious concern, brightened.
No, I might have been running around a bit too hard lately, but that reaction was a bit much.
Normally, when told rest is needed, one would first worry if the body was in poor condition, but they expressed joy before worry.
“Rest means it’s not too bad?”
“It’s not something to worry about. Rather, not resting could cause the divine power to run wild and become even more dangerous.”
“Then you should rest well!”
Haewoon cheerfully responded. Sihyun seized the opportunity, sweating at the sight of the relieved Class A children.
Well, the timing was good.
“I was just about to say that I might need a few weeks of rest, so that’s fortunate.”
“…What?”
The children responded in surprise as if they had heard something they shouldn't have. Sihyun stared at the boys with wide eyes, dumbfounded.
“Why are you reacting like that?”
“No. It’s just that it’s the first time you’ve said you’re going to rest. And not just for a day or two, but for several weeks. Are you sure that’s okay?”
Seowoo was concerned, and Haehyuk squinted his eyes in a reaction doubting his own health. Sihyun reassured the overly worried boys by telling them about the dream.
“I think I’ll keep having dreams of my time as Adam for a while
, and I don’t know when they’ll happen. I might suddenly collapse and fall asleep even in the middle of a battle. So, I was thinking of resting until the dreams are over, but since my divine power has increased and I need to adapt, it’s worked out well.”
The casual remark reassured the companions, even if they were feeling ambivalent. After all, Sihyun wasn’t resting because his body was in poor condition. He smiled awkwardly at those who were happily urging him to rest well.
It was a regrettable statement, but it wasn't a time for them to be happy.
“You know that if a dungeon appears while I’m resting, you’ll have to handle it yourselves, right?”
His absence meant they would have to manage everything that happened during his rest period on their own.
In simple terms, it was like temporary independence. From himself.
To do that, Ruth had to wake up first, so Sihyun looked back at the groaning man.
Please adhere to what's in the Korean text.
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