Chapter 73 Part 4: Exam

A gap in memory.

At least a week, at most three weeks.

A feeling of emptiness took over a part of my heart.

What have I been doing all this time?

Judging from other people’s reactions, I don’t think I did anything too strange.

The training grounds we all arrived at were even more spacious than the gymnasium.

It felt like a place for more serious skill training than the gymnasium.

There were unidentified machines everywhere and people walking around in white gowns.

As I stood there with my mouth open in a daze at the lights bursting out from all directions, Shine grabbed my hand and pulled me.

“This way, Jeff.”

I followed her, as if I was used to her actions.

I didn’t hate Shine’s behavior of taking care of everything from start to finish, but I thought it was a little burdensome.

I slowly released Shine’s hand and followed behind her.

The moment I released her hand, the smile disappeared from Shine’s lips, but as I got closer, a smile appeared on her face once again.

Her expression changed quickly. Even more than before.

Shine had changed.

“Shine. What are you doing here?”

Shine’s movements stopped at my question.

“You’re training to become stronger.”

“Training…?”

“Yes, Jeff.”

“Like you did with Victor?”

“No. You’re learning something different here.”

I looked at Amy with eyes that seemed to want an explanation.

But Shine reached out and grabbed my cheeks, fixing our gazes.

“Jeff. We’re now in the Resistance.”

“In the same place as Amy…?”

“Yes. We’re officially joining. The two of us.”

I desperately searched my memory at Shine’s words.

Jin’s image passed by vaguely.

The last memory I had of him came back to me.

Hay…?

In my last memory, Jin was chewing on rabbit hay.

Did I talk to him?

As I frowned, Shine spread out her fingers and pressed my eyebrows.

“Jeff. Don’t frown.”

“Ugh.”

“It’s ruining your pretty face.”

Shine’s fingers that had been pressing my eyebrows slowly came down.

The hand that gently touched my skin felt strangely ticklish.

When I flinched and tried to pull my body back, she stretched out both fingers and lifted the corners of my mouth.

“You’re pretty when you smile like this.”

“Yeah.”

I smiled as she wanted.

Shine nodded in return for my smile.

The close distance slowly grew distant, and Shine’s sweet body scent faded away.

As I was touching the tip of my nose, Shine spoke to me.

“Let’s start training!”

The training Shine was talking about was exercise to improve physical abilities.

Shine, Rain, and I got on the treadmill and started running at a slightly faster pace.

“This… gasp… when did you start doing this?”

Since I still had some breathing room, I asked Shine while panting heavily.

“Last week!”

Shine answered vigorously.

I looked at her with a confused look.

Shine didn’t seem to notice my gaze, and she smiled brightly and ran vigorously.

A drop of sweat formed on her forehead and gently ran across her eyes.

“Is Rain doing it too?”

“Yeah!”

Rain ran, swinging her bandaged arm vigorously.

The speed at which she ran was not much different from the speed at which Shine and I ran.

Her yellow hair swayed vigorously.

I turned my gaze from Rain to look at Amy.

Her long legs stretched out.

The treadmill spun faster than the speed at which the three of us ran.

Amy looked amazing, maintaining a steady pace without even losing her breath.

Although I don’t remember, my body seemed to remember, and I was able to complete the tough training without difficulty.

Most of it was aerobic exercise, and the purpose was to build up my physical strength.

I wiped my sweat-soaked forehead and panted for breath as Amy handed me a small water bottle.

This was no ordinary water bottle.

It was a dinosaur water bottle, with a bumpy body wrapped around a long tail.

I liked the fact that it focused more on appearance than practicality.

I looked back at the dinosaur head that served as a lid.

Then, a small straw popped up.

I sat down and grabbed both of the dinosaur’s arms.

I sucked down the straw stuck in the dinosaur’s head.

The cool taste of the sweet yet refreshing drink enveloped my whole body.

“Whoa!”

I pulled the straw out of my mouth and looked around.

Rain and Shine were swinging their fists next to the people wearing doboks.

It was a clumsy gesture, but there was a certain desire in their eyes.

“Did anything strange happen?”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, strange?”

“That is…” I mumbled, fiddling with the dinosaur-shaped water bottle.

I felt something strange, but I couldn’t tell exactly what was strange.

There had to be something strange during that gap in my memories.

“Actually, I don’t remember the past few weeks.”

“Remember?”

“Yes.”

“Did anything strange happen during that time?”

“Um…”

Amy, who was sitting next to me wiping off the sweat, came over to me and placed her hand on my forehead.

I closed my eyes at the soft sensation of Amy’s large hand.

“Well? There wasn’t anything strange at all.”

Rather, Amy added quietly and pulled me into her arms, sitting me on her lap.

I resisted, flailing my arms and legs in a strangely embarrassing feeling, but Amy didn’t let go of me.

The tips of my ears turned red.

I lowered my head at the soft sensation I felt on my back and grabbed Amy’s arm.

“You really don’t remember?”

Amy’s voice was full of worry.

I felt conflicted by her words.

“It’s a little blurry.”

“What hurts?”

“I don’t think so.”

Uhm—Amy let out a small nasal sound and stroked my hair.

I flinched at her gentle strokes, but Amy didn’t stop.

I quickly gave in to her touch and relaxed my body.

“Amy, Jeff.”

At that moment, Shine and Rain, who had been learning martial arts with the people in the uniforms, ran towards us.

Looking at the people around them dispersing, it seemed like the training session was over.

“Are you done?”

“Huh?”

Shine, who had been running vigorously, came over to me and hugged me.

Amy hugged me, and I hugged Shine.

Rain, who had been watching from a distance, had her eyes sparkling and ran towards us as if she was flying.

“Hug me too!”

I gave an awkward smile and hugged Rain too.

With two people in my arms, it felt a little burdensome.

I held the two girls in my arms and felt a sense of doubt.

The sight of people scattering from afar.

Rain and Shine were training among them.

But me?

After finishing my simple physical training, I immediately approached the bench where Amy was sitting and sat down.

It was as if I was doing something that was so familiar.

My mind didn’t remember, but my body remembered.

“Shine, I’m not going to do that training?”

“Yeah. Jeff can’t because it’s dangerous.”

“Really…”

I looked up at Amy with eyes that demanded an explanation.

But she also gave me the same answer as Shine.

“Jeff shouldn’t do dangerous things.”

“Is that dangerous?” I asked, thinking of Rain and Shine.

The way they were swinging their short arms and legs around so vigorously seemed a little cute rather than dangerous.

But Amy shook her head and answered.

“It could be dangerous because we sometimes train together.”

“But…”

“Jeff, something was strange.”

Wasn’t that too much of a childish thing?

“But Shine does it too?”

“Tim, Jeff’s older sister, it’s different.”

The answer came from Shine.

She was looking at me with confident eyes.

I shut my mouth at those eyes.

“You understand?”

I felt strange pressure.

I found myself nodding without realizing it.

“Protect Jeff.”

“Shine is a cool older sister.”

“Yeah.”

Amy praised Shine, putting her hand on her head.

“Amy, over there…”

“Huh?”

“You said something earlier…”

“You said something earlier.”

I shut my mouth at Amy’s question.

My lips were trembling slightly.

My tongue moved weakly, unable to finish my sentence.

“What did Jeff say?”

At that moment, Shine, who had been silently listening to our conversation, raised his head and asked again.

His gaze was looking straight at me.

I turned my head away because of the sticky feeling I couldn’t figure out.

“Jeff, what did you say earlier?”

“It’s just… my memory is a little weird.”

“Remember?”

“Yeah. I don’t remember anything from the past few weeks.”

Shine’s expression began to change strangely at my answer.

The corners of his lips twitched.

His eyes slightly curved.

He was clearly smiling, but I couldn’t shake the strangely sticky feeling.

“You really don’t remember?”

“Ah…”

I let out a deep sigh.

I felt like something was wrong.

“Yeah.”

“Jeff.”

A voice whispered in my ear.

I tried to reflexively raise my powers at her voice.

“Have you had a hard time?”

But I couldn’t use my powers.

Because Rain, Shine, and Amy, who were stuck to my body, could get hurt.

“A lot happened in a short period of time.”

“Was…”

“Yeah, Jeff is confused.”

I nodded blankly at Shine’s words.

“Confused?”

“Yeah. Jeff. There’s nothing strange at all.”

“Yeah.”

“Does Amy think so too?”

Shine slowly raised her gaze that was focused on me.

There was no answer.

Amy just reached out and pushed Shine’s head down.

“Shine.”

“Ugh.”

“What did I tell you to do first after training?”

“I told you to wipe off your sweat….”

“Then you should wipe it off quickly.”

Amy said and handed him a towel.

Shine, who took the towel from Amy, muttered softly, “It’s not working well.”

What was it that was not working?

I looked at her with a puzzled look as Shine wiped the towel she had used to wipe her sweat on my face.

“T’ wipe Jeff too!”

The towel was soaked in sweat and damp.

After a short break, the second training began.

Unlike the first, it mainly focused on training how to control and use abilities.

However, Shine did nothing.

She just sat there and looked at me.

“Jeff, let’s start.”

I nodded when I heard Rain’s voice from afar as I was looking at Shine.

What was she doing?

However, my body seemed to remember and got into a ready stance.

“Tire!”

Rain raised her hand vigorously and pressed the small button in front of her.

Then the machine she was sitting on made a rattling sound and started spitting out countless small balls.

Thump thump thump!

It wasn’t very fast, but it wasn’t easy to dodge.

I was startled and crouched down.

Doodadadad!

The small balls fell all over my body.

My whole body felt cold, as if I had been hit with a sledgehammer several times.