Chapter 10
‘I saw him. I definitely saw him.’
I had been wondering which building Calix might be in among all these places, when—like a miracle—I spotted him standing by a second-floor window of the building in front of me.
But there was a problem.
‘If he’s that awake, I can’t kiss him.’
I’d only meant to sober him up a little, but maybe I’d cleared his head more than I thought.
Scolding myself, I looked toward the window again.
‘He’s gone.’
Calix was no longer there.
Hope flared up inside me. Maybe he’d held out as long as he could and finally fallen asleep?
I decided I had to go up and check. If I listened by the door, I’d be able to tell whether he was awake or not.
‘Let’s see… The room he was standing in front of was on the second floor, near the center. Good.’
I hurried across the training grounds and was just about to enter the building where I’d seen Calix—
“Hey, Riana! Not that way!”
The vice-captain’s shout rang out behind me.
Damn it. Why now of all times?
“Yes?”
I turned around, pretending not to hear well. The vice-captain was already waving and walking toward me.
“Are you directionally challenged? I told you the bathroom’s behind the building. How far were you planning to go?”
“Huh?”
“What were you doing all the way out here?”
There was no way I could say I’d come to sneak into Calix’s room, so I improvised.
“Ah, well, I went to the bathroom, and then I ended up moon-gazing and wandered this far.”
“Moon-gazing? Hahaha! You’re pretty sentimental, kid. If you’re done, let’s head back inside.”
And just like that, the vice-captain kindly escorted me back to the dining hall.
‘Ha…’
If I had to describe how things were after returning—
‘It’s total chaos.’
In the short time I’d been gone, everyone had apparently drunk even more. Compared to when Calix was there, the number of completely drunk people had skyrocketed.
“I’m telling you! On the last mission, I punched a kobold bare-handed!”
“That’s an exaggeration! Kobolds are fast—how’d it get hit by your fist?”
“No, seriously! I swear!”
The senior mercenaries were busy bragging about their heroic exploits.
Meanwhile, the vice-captain was scolding people over what happened earlier.
“I told you idiots! You should’ve gone out and helped drink earlier! Don’t you know the captain’s personality?”
“Well, the rookies were drinking on their own! It’d have been awkward to interfere!”
“You should’ve used your brains. Useless bunch.”
Amid all that noise, there was one person who felt completely separate from everything else—my rude fellow recruit, Jude.
He sat alone at a corner table, radiating a dark, shadowy mood.
‘I guess I’ll go over there.’
I quickly went and sat across from Jude.
“What are you doing all alone?”
“Leave me alone. I’m not in the mood.”
“Why?”
“You seriously don’t know?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.”
“….”
Jude finally looked up, stared at me with dead fish eyes, then turned his head away sharply.
“Forget it. Let’s not talk.”
“Why? You have to talk for me to understand.”
“Even if I did, I don’t think you’d get it.”
“Why?”
“……Just stop!”
Looking irritated, Jude raised his voice, his face reddening.
“If you think you’re impressive for drinking all that alcohol for me, knock it off.”
Oh wow. What a terrible personality.
Jude seemed to get even angrier on his own and kept snapping.
“I won’t be intimidated by something like that. Get that straight.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“I’ll pay back today’s debt.”
“Sure. Do that.”
“…Damn it!”
Jude slammed the table once and stood up.
“I’m heading back to the dorms. I need to check whether Boris is breathing properly.”
“Okay. See you.”
I let him do whatever he wanted, but I still didn’t understand why he was so angry.
Once Jude left and I was alone at the table, my thoughts naturally drifted back to Calix.
‘Hmm. How am I supposed to get into Calix’s room?’
No matter how I thought about it, sneaking past all these people unnoticed seemed impossible. They might be drunk, but they weren’t blind. That meant I’d have to go in openly…
‘I need a reason.’
Just then, I heard the vice-captain’s voice from the table next to me.
“I’m telling you, Riana’s healing really is the real deal. I guarantee it. She’ll be a huge help to us.”
Ever since the hair-loss treatment, his trust in me seemed to have skyrocketed.
Wait a second… If that’s the case, would he believe this too?
I went behind him and tapped his shoulder. When he turned around, he smiled warmly and introduced me to the others.
“Oh! Perfect timing. Everyone, take a good look. Riana here will be fixing all sorts of things for us from now on.”
“Vice-captain, actually…”
I leaned in and whispered into his ear.
“There’s something I’d like to discuss privately. Could we talk for a moment?”
“Huh? Of course.”
The vice-captain readily agreed and followed me outside.
“What is it?”
I put on a very worried expression and spoke.
“When I was outside earlier… I saw the captain, and he didn’t look well at all. He seemed really drunk.”
“Ah… that’s probably true. He’s surprisingly weak to alcohol, and he overdid it earlier.”
“Right? Exactly! I thought so. He was breathing heavily and looked like he might collapse. I saw him at the second-floor window of that building—he almost looked like he’d fall.”
“That bad? That’s serious. He has an important schedule tomorrow morning.”
“Oh no! An important schedule tomorrow? In his current state, that won’t do at all.”
The vice-captain’s expression grew grave.
“I shouldn’t have brushed it off. This is bad. Maybe I should bring him some water.”
Trying hard not to smile, I said seriously,
“If it’s okay with you… may I treat the captain’s intoxication?”
“What? You can do that?”
“Of course.”
“That’d be a huge help. Let’s go right away. I’ll come with you.”
‘It’d be a problem if the vice-captain stayed in the room.’
I quickly added a condition.
“Thank you! Ah, but please let me go into the room alone.”
“Huh? Why—”
“Treating intoxication requires extreme concentration. If someone else is there, I might lose focus. It could make him twice as drunk.”
At this point, the lies were flowing effortlessly. God, please forgive me.
“Oh dear, that won’t do. All right. I’ll take you to the room and wait outside.”
“Thank you. Let’s hurry.”
“All right. Follow me.”
I followed behind the vice-captain with a worried look.
When we reached the door to the captain’s office, he opened it slightly and looked inside.
“He’s asleep on the sofa by the window. Go on in.”
“Thank you. I’ll be right back.”
“All right. I’m counting on you.”
Click.
I closed the door behind me.
Calix lay there, eyes closed, leaning against the sofa by the moonlit window.
Without realizing it, I took a deep breath. It felt like my long-held mission—successfully awakening him—was right in front of me.
If I kissed him now and succeeded in awakening him, the day of the world’s destruction would never come. And I could finally live my new life in peace.
My heart started pounding.
One step, then another. The closer I got to Calix, the louder my heartbeat seemed.
‘Once I awaken him, I should leave right away.’
For a moment, I felt a bit regretful about leaving without really experiencing life as a mercenary. I might’ve enjoyed a completely new kind of life here.
But the hesitation didn’t last long. Even outside of this place, the world would be full of new things.
‘Don’t overthink it. Awaken him, then leave immediately.’
With my thoughts settled, I stepped right up to the sofa where Calix lay. Despite my worries, he seemed fast asleep. Considering how drunk he was earlier, that made sense.
Bathed in moonlight, Calix’s face looked unreal.
‘He really is handsome. It’s almost a shame I won’t see him again.’
I slowly leaned over him, placing my hand on the sofa beside his head, and lowered my face toward his lips.
I was close enough to feel his breath. He must have been able to feel mine too.
I could even see his long eyelashes resting beneath his closed eyes. Whether it was just how he looked or the alcohol, his lips seemed especially red.
Just a little more, and my lips would touch his—
“……”
Calix’s eyes slowly opened.
His blue eyes, filled with moonlight, quietly locked onto mine.
