# Chapter 35
When Taesung signaled before using his ability, Lee Hwan first showed his palm and then skillfully drew out his Dolpeung, giving a nod.
After Lee Hwan designated a space to dry the surface of several plant monsters and fired the Dolpeung at the edges to divert attention.
Bang, boom!
And like a combo move, Taesung, who had been waiting, smoothly moved to the side and ignited a flame where Lee Hwan had nodded.
Whoosh- Bang!
Flames surged up to their faces. As Lee Hwan flinched and stepped back from the heat, the flames suddenly subsided.
‘Damn, it’s getting hot.’
This guy was excitedly using his ability without restraint. Lee Hwan carefully blocked it, then wiped the sweat running down his chin.
In the middle, a small field mouse monster suddenly burst out, but it was scorched by the secondary explosion of flames and became a handful of ashes as it was engulfed in the whirlwind of fire.
Lee Hwan handled the remaining small fry with his Dolpeung, and the simple battle was over. The compatibility between the gate and their abilities made for a very quick and decisive battle.
Nevertheless, Lee Hwan looked displeased for a moment.
“Mind the temperature, please.”
He pointed it out abruptly.
In this type of enclosed gate with no ventilation, the temperature rose higher and higher as it heated up. Taesung probably wouldn’t mind since it was his own ability and he had resistance to heat, but Lee Hwan had no desire to fight in what felt like a sauna.
If one wasn’t going through gates alone, it was proper to be mindful of others.
‘He probably doesn’t want to come out roasted like in a cauldron when entering with teammates, so I’m sure he’s careful with others.’
Besides, even though he might not have the memories, hadn’t he developed other skills? It might be bothersome, but using them appropriately would make it less hot than this.
But Taesung didn’t respond and just stared at Lee Hwan again. More precisely, he was looking at his eyes. When Lee Hwan hesitated and turned his head, that gaze traced over his exposed ears and neck.
‘…Did he notice my eyes glowing?’
Unconsciously touching his neck, Lee Hwan only then realized that his skin was burning hot.
‘No way…’
If Lee Hwan’s guess was right… perhaps Taesung was gauging how much temperature Lee Hwan could withstand and for how long.
That’s why, in this terrain, he’d ignited more fire than usual.
‘….’
Before the regression, Lee Hwan’s abilities and resistances had already been quantified through various tests and recorded in Naru’s database.
Taesung had matched with Lee Hwan based on that. How much heat resistance Lee Hwan had. How he reacted to heat when abilities were used, and how much he could handle without getting injured. Thanks to that, they had matched well without much additional coordination.
But now that Lee Hwan was hiding his identity behind a mask, Taesung’s options were limited. If he held back his power too much, the efficiency would drop, but if he just heated everything up, it was questionable whether Lee Hwan could withstand it.
‘What good is having a mouth if he doesn’t use it? I would’ve told him if he’d asked.’
While grumbling internally like this, Lee Hwan felt his heart flutter at the thought that Taesung was trying to adjust to match him.
If it had been Kang Dongha, he would have wanted to punch him… but anyway, that’s how he felt.
The surroundings were still sizzling hot. When Lee Hwan swallowed dryly, Taesung suddenly extended his hand, somehow aware. It was a water bottle.
Lee Hwan hesitated for a moment before taking it. Then he removed the lower part of his mask to drink the water. Throughout the movement of his Adam’s apple, Taesung’s gaze was fixed on it. Lee Hwan somehow felt jittery.
“I’ll adjust it next time.”
Finally, a straightforward acknowledgment. Lee Hwan wiped his mouth, closed the bottle, and handed it back. Taesung took it, but then pulled out a towel from his waist and suddenly pressed it against Lee Hwan’s chin.
‘….’
As if apologizing, the soft fabric gently wiped the sweat from his lower face. An unfamiliar sensation crawled up Lee Hwan’s neck.
His body would relax when the towel touched him, but as soon as he felt the firm hand behind it, his nape would immediately stiffen. Lee Hwan gulped.
Was this behavior appropriate for someone who had just met a masked weirdo twice?
Lee Hwan froze like a statue and glanced at Taesung. Those black eyes were still meeting Lee Hwan’s gaze.
Eyes that seemed familiar yet different from the past. Younger, more innocent eyes. Yet because the way he treated Lee Hwan seemed vaguely similar to before, Lee Hwan felt a tickle in his throat.
“…Let me have that.”
In the end, unable to withstand this awkward, gelatinous atmosphere, Lee Hwan snatched the towel from his hand with a loud sound. Then, slightly lifting his mask, he gently wiped the inside as well, and then brazenly flung it back to Taesung.
A faint sound of chuckling was heard, but Lee Hwan didn’t look and turned around, hurrying his steps. Maybe Taesung was snickering because he found it unpleasant. Lee Hwan tried hard to think of it that way.
From then on, instead of just blasting flames, Taesung used his abilities more flexibly. Lee Hwan’s face, now dry from sweat, stood by his side.
“Where did you come from? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
Taesung asked again in the middle of fighting. Like someone who wanted to show that he still had room to spare in his movements. Lee Hwan hesitated momentarily and signaled that they should focus on the battle.
It was suspicious. With this level of skill, if he had stayed in the country all along, there’s no way he wouldn’t have gained a reputation. Even Taesung had immediately recognized his value at the gate where Lee Hwan first performed.
If he hadn’t just dropped from the sky, Taesung must think he had been staying elsewhere before coming to Korea.
Well, actually, he had dropped from somewhere.
‘From the future…’
But how could he explain this? He had already been burned once for presenting a similar repertoire.
The moment he uttered even the first syllable of “future,” it was obvious that Taesung would overlay the face of that crazy Terminator character in his mind onto Lee Hwan’s mask.
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”
Lee Hwan answered curtly and turned his head.
Their conversation had been like this all along. Whenever Taesung, with his blunt tone, asked about Lee Hwan for some reason, he would cut it off. It was rude behavior, but occasionally it seemed like Taesung didn’t know how to react when spoken to.
In truth, Lee Hwan also wanted to talk with Taesung after so long. Aside from the fact that they had been friends in the past, the more they talked, the more important information he might be able to extract.
However, his eyes that glowed faintly every time he used his ability, the backstory full of holes, and his heart that kept making noise—the thought that the more he talked with Taesung, the more the wall between them would crumble, and the more dangerous it would become, remained unchanged.
Well, at the same time, he felt that kind of regret or expectation.
If their first meeting hadn’t been so awful. Or at least if he hadn’t gone to see Taesung and triggered whatever limitation of causality it was. Would their relationship have been better than now?
Despite having his face covered, Taesung showed a remarkably favorable attitude toward Lee Hwan. It wasn’t the warm friendliness of approaching as a true friend like before the regression, but it felt like a universal law that somehow he would get close to him, which made Lee Hwan’s mouth corners lift.
If he remained as the unidentified Kim Jeongshik, could he expect such occurrences to happen often? Stealing glances at Taesung, who despite talking so much still didn’t have gentle eyes, Lee Hwan walked forward.
* * *
“Aaaah-.”
Lee Hwan stretched his neck long. His voice echoed loudly, spreading around, and at some point, returned as an echo.
“This path is blocked. Let’s go another way.”
It was a method often used in this kind of specially sealed gate. Because they didn’t want to bring in heavy ultrasound equipment.
It had been three hours since they intensified their battle. Perhaps because he was in a good mood, Lee Hwan didn’t even realize he was tired, and today his condition was good enough that he wasn’t getting dizzy or having nosebleeds.
Maybe it was because, unlike last time, he wasn’t trying so hard to look good. Back then, he had been desperate to show his usefulness to Taesung and had moved excessively at times.
If things continued like this, today’s gate would be successfully cleared. He had trained hard, and thanks to good distribution of his physical strength and ability usage today, the aftermath of the penalty wouldn’t be significant.
Even with Jade’s telekinesis, they couldn’t have matched this well. Lee Hwan felt unnecessarily proud.
This was the feeling of being recognized by someone he had been with for a long time. So everything was good. Lee Hwan sensed that Taesung was also satisfied with today’s battle.
When they turned back and headed in a different direction, monsters poured out again, seemingly without end.
By now, dealing with monsters had long become familiar. Moreover, Lee Hwan had coordinated so much with Taesung before the regression that he could fight comfortably without much effort.
However, if there was one thing he hadn’t expected…
“No, that way!”
“…!”
It was that because Taesung had gained skills without memories, he was still clumsy in some ways.
Bang- Bang!
With a loud noise, Taesung rolled once, and Lee Hwan urgently assisted him. For some reason, this battle was flowing unfavorably for them. It was because the attack pattern of monsters that should have been predictable was unexpectedly erratic.
Lee Hwan urgently called out to Taesung, but he couldn’t even take his eyes off the swarm of monsters. Taesung was about to shoot flames in all directions when he finally glanced back at Lee Hwan. If he burned the surroundings like this, Lee Hwan would definitely get burned.
In the end, the fire subsided a bit, and instead, another skill erupted. But the monsters didn’t fall easily.
‘Ah…’
Lee Hwan lamented internally.
The whirlwind and explosion. If he had honed these for just six more months. No, even three more months. Kang Taesung might have found some of his previous condition.
While that battle style was gradually tailored to match Lee Hwan later on, it was essentially Taesung’s.
But having just regressed and lost his memories, it had only been about two months. Taesung seemed to not have fully digested the skill stone as his own yet.
It was natural, but for Lee Hwan, who always remembered the skillful Taesung, it was somewhat unexpected.
‘Ugh…’
The harmony that had been working well faltered for the first time. From then on, their battle became discordant.
