There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 225

Chapter 225: Chapter 219. Night of Contending Feelings

A thorny mudfield. Thick and heavy and lonely. It was like walking through a pool of blood. The thorns were stabbing into the muddy ground and made it bleed.

It was eerie and disturbing, and if Zein didn’t know Joon, he would be scared. It was the soul of someone who repeatedly put himself in a hard situation, voluntarily. And in this lonely, painful field, there was only one solace.

A crimson flower, in the middle of a thorny field. Its color was the only bright thing in the monochrome field.

A single devotion. That was what Zein felt from Han Joon’s mana core. No wonder Radia talked about obsession before. It was like the man dedicated his entire life just for that flower to bloom, even while bleeding all over by his loneself.

It was...tragic.

Even while Zein was sending his water, and trying to make it as soothing as possible, nothing could penetrate the thorny barrier that surrounded the crimson flower. At the very least, however, he could heal that bleeding wound.

Just a little bit.

And when he was done, Zein had never felt so stuffy. He rarely got exhausted while guiding a single esper unless it was extremely disgusting. With Bassena, it was just a matter of stamina, and with other difficult espers, it was just a battle of wit. Han Joon’s mana core was not disgusting or vast, but...it was extremely cold and suffocating. And it sapped his mental energy a lot even though he merely cleaned one level of corrosion.

"How’s your probing?" the soldier gave him a relaxed smile when Zein opened his eyes again.

Instead of answering immediately, Zein stared at the soldier hard with furrowed brows. "Have you gone to the hospital?" he asked.

Han Joon arched his brow slightly, before responding with a deep smile. "All military personnel need to do physical check-ups twice a year, don’t you know that?"

"I don’t," Zein replied truthfully. "But I know those check-ups do not include a specialist."

The soldier chuckled, a quiet sound that was almost non-existent. "It’s...a work in progress," the man said. "But I see now why they are addicted to your guiding," he moved his shoulder, smiling in satisfaction after taking a deep breath. "If it’s not for this...emergency, I might never be able to taste it."

"You can if you join Trinity," Zein shrugged, leaning back and crossing his arms as Han Joon put on his glove again.

"That’s not possible," the soldier replied flatly. "Even if I retired, ex-soldiers are not allowed to join private guilds."

Zein had already heard about this, and he knew it was probably what made Radia so mad in the past. But he thought he might hear something like regret from the soldier if he asked.

Well, it was to no avail. But what did he expect from someone who voluntarily walked on a thorny path?

"Hah--no wonder Radia never forgives you," Zein scoffed, to which Han Joon responded with a soft chuckle. But the tone that he used was undeniably serious.

"I was prepared for that."

Zein looked at the soldier, who seemed to be getting ready to go back to the vault room. He glanced over at Jock then, who fortunately knew him enough to know that he needed private time. Not just from the guard, but everyone else.

Jock nodded and turned around to walk toward the edge of the hallway, where people would need to pass to reach the vault room. Han Joon raised his brow slightly and smiled deeply, staring back at the blue eyes which observed him keenly.

"I really don’t understand what happened to the two of you," Zein leaned back and sighed. As someone who had seen both of their mana cores, he was probably the only one who knew exactly what these two infuriating guys feel about each other. "You’re clearly only thinking about each other, but you both act like the world will end if you get back together."

"That...might be true," the reply came with darkened eyes and a hard smile that got Zein to widen his eyes, looking at the soldier that leaned forward and lowered his head.

"Huh? That the world will end?"

"Well, not this world," Han Joon lifted his gaze slightly. "But ours," he said, "mine and his."

Zein stared at the soldier’s smile--eerie and lonely, just like his mana core. The man always said cryptic things, but at least he was saying something. To him. Which was bizarre, because he should have said things to Radia, not him.

Was it just an impulsive act of leaking out the things he couldn’t share with anyone? Perhaps because Zein was already caught them in an act, Han Joon finally had someone to share things about his hidden feelings.

Not that it made Zein understand things more.

"...yeah, I don’t get it," the guide shook his head in the end, and Han Joon chuckled.

"You don’t have to."

"I’m curious, though..."

The soldier scoffed, turning his face sideways to stare into the blue eyes. "It doesn’t sound like you," being curious about others’ business.