Above Your Head

Chapter 15: I\'m Not Your Father (2)

"Ham Eun-jeong, your mother, was born with the talents of a Great Witch."

"…"

Those really were some crazy-sounding words.

"Ah, please do not put on such an expression. I will get hurt."

"Ah, sorry. Did I look like a mentally-ill girl who is suffering from middle-school second-year syndrome[1]?"

"Was it that serious…"

I looked at Bo-ram\'s tearful face and checked my surroundings for a moment. Strangely enough, there was no one walking on the road.

\'I have a bad feeling…\'

As the residences in this neighborhood were only occupied by employees, it was normal to not have that many people on the streets in the day. However, they should have children and the children should be coming back from school at this time, but I could not feel a single presence.

\'Is it magic?\'

However, unlike when I saw the cloaked spaceship, I did not feel anything strange now.

Was it impossible to know everything? Or was it the limitation of my ability to [See]?

"Um, sunbae-nim?"

"Ah, right. Well, finish that crazy thing you were saying. What is the talent of a great witch again?"

"If I were to say… Ham Eun-jeong, no, auntie? Anyway, she was born with a special power. It was to the point where all the magicians in the world kept their eyes on her since the moment she was born."

That story was so absurd that it made me doubt if it was set in the 21st century, but I did not bother to tackle the point.

Actually, I was well aware that she was speaking the truth.

Supreme Magic Tower, Protection Barrier Class

Trying to tell you the truth, Kang Bo-ram

It was not anything difficult. If I enforced her title to be of [Current Nature], it was possible to read her thoughts to some extent.

The titles could change every minute into [The lying…] or [The one who does not know much], so I could easily say that there was almost no one who could lie in front of me.

\'Ah, should I have used it on the aliens?\'

It didn\'t feel like they were lying, but it was unfortunate I did not get to read their titles because of how confused I was. While it was true that I didn\'t want to get involved in needless things, it wasn\'t that bad to gather as much information as I could.

"So what are you trying to say? That I also have a special power because she is a special existence and her blood is flowing in me?"

The important part starts here.

I have lived without showing it off, but I am, without a doubt, a person with supernatural powers… And I am certain that the source of that power is this.

\'The only thing that bothers me is the [Nightmare]…\'

I am not particularly intelligent, but I grew up hearing that I matured early. The reason for that was the nightmares and memories that had been harassing me since I was young, which had a lot of influence on how my ego was formed.

Uh, are you not going to call me mom?

Of course, that nightmare was an exception.

"Hmm, I do not know if this would disappoint you, but you are a completely normal person. It is something that cannot be understood, but… It was a matter where even the great magicians of the magic tower came personally to check. Considering how it is impossible for a woman born with the talent of a Great Witch to get pregnant, your existence was an incomprehensible case."

Come to think of it, it did seem like I received all kinds of tests when I was young. I thought those were similar to an IQ test.

\'So she does not know the ability I have?\'

If that was the case, I had another question.

"What is it then?"

"Sorry?"

"Let us say that everything you said is the truth. Why are you coming to me with this secret if I am just a normal person then? Isn\'t it obvious that I would consider you to be a crazy person?"

It was hard to grasp her intentions.

Sure, let us say that the aliens approached me because of the record-breaking score I got in The Great War. And Celestia said that she sensed [Something] from me.

But to tell me such things when she considers me to be a normal human being? And using a girl like her as an agent?

\'Did they think a beautiful girl like her would work out well for a high school student like me?\'

Anyway, saying all of those things even when she knew I would treat her as a crazy person meant that they had their reasons for it.

Bo-ram let out a sigh as expected and explained, "It is to protect you. The [Eye of the Sky] that is in the Supreme Magic Tower… Be careful!!!"

"What…Uwek!?"

I was pressed down on the shoulder by a shocking force and fell down.

She looked like a beautiful girl who was not even 1.6 meters tall, but she had the strength of a gorilla.

Bang-!

I heard a loud explosion while I was sprawled on the floor. Surprised, I looked up and saw that the entire building next to the road we were walking on had disappeared.

"What the…?"

"Damn, they are already here! Was that girl from before also with them?!"

"What do you mean that girl from before… Ugh!"

Bo-ram grabbed my collar and raised me up when I was about to say something. She was so rough that I floated in the air like straw even though I would be of certain weight because of how tall I was.

Kwaduk!

A huge spear stabbed into the floor, accompanied by an explosion. It was so intense that my skin could feel the vibration of the spear.

"Oh my."

I was surprised, but not shocked. Instead, I kicked the ground to roll backwards.

Piing!

A heavy spear struck at the spot where my head had just been.

What was going on with these crazy bastards? To think they are trying to kill me without saying anything.

Bo-ram stood in front of me with a pale face. Judging from her disheveled hair, she seemed to have been attacked.

"Are, are you okay!?"

"Well, I am. Although my head almost exploded with that attack."

I grumbled and stood up, and the man who threw the spear whistled at me.

"Whew~ What is with this guy? He is completely calm though? I heard that he is a normal person who knew nothing about Another Plane, but it seems like that is not the case?"

"Also, this bastard was the son of that pimp, right? People said that he is a skilled master in martial arts and that he can even defeat level 3 martial artists with his bare hands."

"What? Someone with no abilities defeating a person with abilities? Is that possible?"

"I heard that there are retards who actually got humiliated after challenging him."

I hid behind Bo-ram, my only shield, and looked above the head of the men who were chattering.

Black Moon Society

Spear Specialist, Magon

There was nothing useful that you could tell from the title, obviously.

Telling me that he uses a spear was something I could know just by looking at the weapon he was holding, so it was useless information. Permanent titles are really an annoying concept.

While I was checking the title of the man, Bo-ram became enraged and was releasing a purple aura.

"You guys! Are you doing this knowing that sunbae is a class 2 protection target? This is something that cannot be forgiven!"

"We are doing this for money, so who cares? As long as we do not get discovered."

"Hahaha! I was worried because they gathered so many of us, but it is dumbfounding that our opponent is a mere apprentice magician. No matter how famous the Supreme Magic Tower is for being righteous, this is not right."

"Does it matter? It is good for us if we earn some easy money."

People started walking out of the alley one after another.

There were all sorts of people, from a punk who had piercings in his ear and lips to a man who looked like an office worker.

They looked like people from the modern times, but the steel pipes and skull-mounted staffs in their hands were a great disparity.

"My God. I completely misjudged the operation, starting from the strategy. How, how are there so many…"

Bo-ram checked her surroundings with a pale face.

Her steel wristlets appeared on both of her arms immediately, but the number of enemies was still increasing and soon surpassed thirty.

It was a problem of a completely different dimension than just having thirty normal punks. Each one of them possessed an aura of a powerful person that could not be ignored at all.

However, it seemed like that was not the end of them.

"Captain! An intruder entered the second dimension… Kwak?!"

"Wh-what is it? Reinforcements?"

"Attack!"

A commotion started among the guys who were surrounding us confidently. It was because a line got drawn in the air and strange-looking people standing at around 2.5 meters tall appeared and collided with the attackers.

They were wearing black capes, strange-looking masks, and their bodies were completely covered, so it was impossible to identify their appearance or gender. However, they were so powerful that you could hear a sound similar to thunder when their fists collided with the weapons of the assailants.

Bang!

Flash!

And as I got exposed to the rampaging flashes and loud noises, I felt that my insides were churning.

No, when I got a hold of myself, I realized that was not everything.

"Cough!"

I vomited some blood.

I was not joking, but my insides churned for a moment before I vomited blood.

"Stay right behind me!"

Bo-ram stood in front of me and extended her arms to the sides. The wristlets that were equipped on her arms released some light and a barrier of light that looked like a hologram surrounded us.

"What was that? How did I get attacked?"

"It was not an attack, but the man over there hit something like a warhead with his spear, which caused shockwaves. I was not prepared even when I know that the bodies of normal people are weak…"

She felt sorry while I felt bewildered.

"What? Shockwaves?"

So I did not suffer from an attack, but became a mess like this just from the after effects?

\'I will really die if I make a wrong move here.\'

My body was not particularly weak because of the effects of my title, but this was beyond common comprehension.

When I turned my head, I saw people moving at such a high speed that my eyes could not follow.

The one that looked like the head of the assailants, Spear Specialist Magon, swung his spear towards the man wearing a strange-looking mask and a sound split the air apart. It was proof that the tip of the spear had surpassed supersonic speed.

"They are complete monsters."

"Magon of the Black Moon Society, and Semi of the Thanatos Sect! For master-class people to come as mercenaries, just what… Hap!"

The moment Bo-ram let out a yell and swung both of her arms like a whip, the arms of the man in a suit got twisted in a weird direction and he was sent flying.

"Kugh! What is with this barrier!"

"Hmph! I was afraid because there were a lot of you, but none of you would be able to get past my barrier, you know?!"

Unlike her usual shy self, she yelled so fiercely that it was almost unrecognizable and took a step back.

Several assassins didn\'t engage the unknown enemies, but all of them got repulsed by the barrier surrounding Bo-ram.

It seemed like the barrier not only defended against attacks but also amplified them and sent them back.

\'Come to think of it, she said that she belonged to the Protection Barrier Class of the Supreme Magic Tower, right?\'

I remembered her affiliation that I saw previously and ran alongside her.

The surroundings were a mess.

Bang!

Chwaruk!

"Uwaaah! Save me!"

"What?! What are they?!"

"My sword aura does not work!"

"Even the mental attacks are not working! No, these guys… They are not humans?"

When the masks of the mysterious men broke while fighting the mercenaries, screams were heard everywhere.

Because the faces hidden by the masks were made with metal.

"Do you know them?"

"I-I don\'t! Hu-human-shaped robots. I have never heard of such technology."

"Don’t they look like aliens?"

"Al-aliens?"

Bo-ram put on a bewildered expression even though we were in a hurry.

"There are no aliens in the world."

"…..."

1. ?2? is colloquial term that translates to "middle two disease", i.e. "middle-school second-year syndrome" or "eighth-grader syndrome" or "year-nine syndrome", typically used to describe early teens who have delusions of grandeur, who so desperately want to stand out that they have convinced themselves they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.