There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 703: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 38

"I’m glad there’s nothing wrong with your body," Laurel clasped her hands in relief after listening to Joon’s reports during luncheon.

It had become a rather grand event, with everyone joining around the dining table--including the three children who were bestowed tall chairs as their throne at the end of the table. Just this time, any mess would be tolerated.

And Radia was grateful because it was unlikely that Joon would run his mouth in the presence of three innocent minds.

"Yes; I am very healthy, Ma’am."

Wow--even cosplaying his usual model student self. If it wasn’t because he hated to share Joon’s face with the rest of the world, he would have convinced the man to take up acting on the big screen.

"But...I think I have been trespassing for too long," Han Joon continued with the reserved, polite tone that elders usually loved. "Since I’m not a kid anymore, I think it would be best for me to return home."

Han Shin gasped. "Oh, Hyung...our house is already--"

"Ah, no; unfortunately, I’ve never considered that place as home," Han Joon shook his head. "But I also don’t think I was homeless before getting admitted to the hospital."

"Ah..." Laurel smiled wryly, glancing at Radia. "That’s..."

"No," Radia hissed while shooting daggers at Han Joon, who was smiling infuriatingly.

Naturally, Han Joon challenged it. "Why?"

"I told you why."

Han Joon chuckled. For someone getting rejected, he didn’t look disheartened at all. It was as if he didn’t expect his request to be granted in the first place. "Still," Han Joon turned his head to the head of the table. "As someone who is not a family member, I don’t dare to be a nuisance any longer."

The matriarch accepted the rascal’s gaze in amusement, and she smiled. "No."

"Oh..."

This time, Han Joon truly looked disappointed.

"You will stay here as long as you’re still a minor," Ludya said casually before continuing her lunch, and Radia let out a relieved breath.

Oh, at least someone was still on his side in this house. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"Besides, you will never be a nuisance, Joon!" Laurel patted the sullen-looking teenager-in-an-adult-body Joon.

"...thank you, Ma’am."

"Oh, come on! You still don’t want to call me ’mother’?" Laurel pursed her lips.

Han Joon’s lips turned up as he smiled charmingly. "Unfortunately, someone said I’m still a minor."

Han Shin and Bassena coughed on their soup while Radia gripped his fork as if it were a trident. Nothing was safe. No situation was spared. This Han Joon was truly the most dangerous of them all.

The rest of the adults blinked at the statement, which was confusing at first until Reina giggled and made the children confused instead.

Han Joon smiled beautifully at Laurel as he added. "I will gladly call you so once my status is reinstated."

Laurel raised her brows, pressing her lips as she glanced at her seething, exasperated son. How...refreshing.

"This is disappointing," the matriarch narrowed her eyes from the head of the table, staring at Han Joon, and prompting the others to gulp nervously. "Why are you going straight to cheeky? I want to see the shift first."

"Right?" Laurel groaned in lament. "You were so cute and innocent yesterday!"

"Am I not cute now, Ma’am?" Han Joon tilted his head.

"No; but you sure are good-looking," Laurel laughed while pinching Joon’s cheek.

Oh, for fuck’s sake! Radia wanted to bury himself deep underground. While Han Joon had become more casual and loose after returning to society, he also had grown into a naturally reserved man who sometimes got too tired of the world’s bullshit. But this Han Joon? There was all the casual and looseness without the adulting scars to pull his brake.

This was an unrestrained Han Joon on a rapid train heading into freedom. Even Kar was staring at his beloved uncle dubiously.

"It’s nice having a lot of people after a long time," Calix chuckled. "Right, Mother?"

"It’s not like I’m actively chasing people away," the matriarch rolled her eyes, prompting the lunch table to be filled with laughter.

Oh, well...perhaps he should just be patient. Han Joon sighed inwardly. It was easier to do that when he knew he had to be patient. In the past, he had to make sure Radia wanted him fully, and especially, for his father to never know about it. But now?

His father was no more, and he already knew--more or less--the nature of his relationship with Radia. There was no need for him to be patient anymore, so it was harder to do it.

And...was it because he had been told to live freely from now on? The rebellious spirit he had to kill in his youth was waking up from its slumber, taking hold of his instinct and desire. If he was to live freely anyway...why should he hold back?

Minor...minor...what did it matter if he was mentally sixteen? It was so ironic how people used to say he was too mature for his age, but then he found himself in an adult body, being told he was a minor and could not pursue the love of his life. What a joke.

As it was getting harder to hold his desire, it was also getting harder to control his emotions. He used to be able to kill his feelings in a few seconds. Not anymore. He could keep a mask on his face, but his heart kept shifting tumultuously as if everything this body had been holding back was racing to surface all at once.

Ah, so difficult.

The most difficult of all--aside from not touching Radia--was accepting that he was no longer an esper.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t accept being powerless, but...he felt lost. What should he do now that he wasn’t an esper? His whole life, he was trying to be one--just for a sliver of acceptance from his father, and an effort to stay alive. If he wasn’t an esper...

What was he? What should he do? Would he still be useful?

Would Radia still look at him favorably?

Haa...

"Chuun!"

A high-pitched yell broke Joon from the cripling thought. He opened his eyes--which he had closed as he slipped into a failed meditation while looking at the white yard--and turned around. Nari, as always, preffered to run instead of walk, even if her steps were still wobbly. She looked like a penguin sometimes, and this time, she did dressed as a penguin.

"Oh, my snow fairy," Han Joon crouched so Nari could crash into his chest instead of his legs. "Are you going to play in the snow?"

"Yeth!"

"We’re waiting for the twins," Reina told Joon as the little penguin princess ran toward the white yard. "Be careful, Nari!"

"Okiie!"

Or so she said--but the way she dove into the piling snow as if it was made of cotton told them otherwise. Still, she laughed even while rolling around--truly just like her father.

Hmm...but she might also get it from her mother. Honestly, he knew nothing about his sister-in-law aside from that; didn’t even know what she was doing aside from being a mother. He knew that she was a year older and adored his brother, however, which was enough.

Reina glanced at Joon after telling her daughter to play slowly before the twins came, and chuckled at the slightly stiff expression. "Do you feel awkward, Oppa?"

"A little bit," he admitted easily.

Reina laughed. "Well, I entered the academy after you graduated, so..."

Han Joon raised his brows. "You’re an esper?"

"Were--or should I say I was a trainee esper," she smiled. "I did not graduate, and I never had a license."

"...why not?"

Her eyes curled. "Because Shin said I didn’t have to."

"Shin?"

"Honestly, I’m not too fond of fighting--never have," she shrugged. "It might be insensitive of me to say this as someone who was awakened, but...I had never wanted to be an active esper."

Han Joon frowned slightly as he felt his heart pricked--not because he was offended, but because he felt a bit of resonance with that statement. Did he ever want to be an active esper? Did all awakened people want to use their power on the field?

"My passion lies in something else, but you know how society views it," Reina let out a hollow chuckle. "When you receive the power, you have to bear the responsibility and use it for the benefit of the world."

"Ideally."

"Yeah, ideally," she laughed, before looking at the sky in reminiscence. "I spent a lot of time being confused about what I should do, but...Shin told me I should do whatever I wanted."

"Huh..."

She turned toward Joon and smirked. "He said he’ll be a great esper and get a lot of money to support us in the future."

"How cheeky."

Reina smiled fondly at the memory. "He was adorable, wasn’t he? I dropped out of the academy and entered a regular university after that," she giggled. "Once he graduated and got his license, I proposed to him for real."

That was something. Han Joon smiled bitterly at his brother’s pure love story. If he didn’t have to hide, or if he didn’t develop this twisted desire, would he be able to respond to Radia normally? Would they have that kind of relationship too?

"Do you know why Shin could say things like that?" Reina spoke again when she saw Joon’s complicated expression. "Because you allowed him to."

Han Joon tilted his head with a frown. "I don’t think that’s--oof!"

"Kyaah! Chun get!"

Han Joon blinked as the snow slid down his face, stopping him from any convoluted thought trying to settle in his mind.

"Nari! Throwing things to people is ba--aack!"

Reina’s words were buried by another snow throw, and Nari ran away while giggling, crouching in front of another pile of snow to make more ammunition.

"Pfft--she’s just like Shin," Han Joon wiped his face, which revealed a fond smile before it turned comically menacing while he stepped into the white field, raising his arms high. "You dare to hunt me, snow fairy? I’m going to catch you!"

"Kyaaaah!"

Nati shrieked at the handsome yeti coming for her, running around the wide snowy yard while laughing and screaming. But the snow fairy’s small legs were still wobbly, and the handsome yeti soon caught her while growling. She shrieked and laughed while they were tumbling on a snow bed.

Afterward, the yeti punished her by asking her to make a bunch of cute little snow golems with him.

"Oppa, thank you."

"For what?"

"Thanks to you, I can live freely like this," Reina said while fashioning a snow rabbit and placing it on her daughter’s gloved palms.

Han Joon blinked and silently watched his brother’s beloved girls making a snow zoo around him. "Live freely..." he muttered quietly.

Right. Live freely. Radia said he should ’figure it out slowly’. Reina said it took her a long time to decide on what she really wanted to do, so...he could start thinking about what he really wanted to do from now on. Even if he wasn’t an esper.

Oh, but he already knew what he wanted anyway, didn’t he?