There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 762: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 45

The twins had always been inseparable.

Everything about them, except for their faces, was different from each other. Their personality, their likes and dislikes...they had their own preferences since their early days.

That, however, never prevented them from doing everything together. Kar preferred savory while Asa loved sweets, but they still shared their snacks. Kar would accompany Asa in reading books, and Asa would stay beside Kar while the older twin was playing with mana. They had different clothing styles, but they always shopped for clothes together. Even later, when it was more about equipment than clothing, they would still shop together.

It was hard even for their parents to separate them. They stayed in the same room, didn’t matter even if they had to have smaller beds because the room wasn’t made for two kids. When one of them got sick, no one could take the other twin away. They could try, but the wailing that came out of them could wake up the whole city, so their parents gave up in the end. It was easier to treat two sick children than calming two screaming babies.

When they entered the academy, however, they could no longer stay together all the time.

They might stay in the same dorm, but except for the general knowledge class, they had their own specialized classes--which comprised eighty percent of their classes. Even if they didn’t want to, they had to spend their day away from each other.

It was uncomfortable at first, but at least they could be together after school ended. Gradually, they got used to being away from each other, and exploring what they liked in their own time.

Still, for some reason, it was hard for them to get close friends when they were alone. Kar had no interest in making connections in the first place, and students were too intimidated by him. Asa was more sociable than Kar, but he was too busy to hang out with the other guides and espers from their generation.

But that was also nothing more than an excuse. Kar and Asa just weren’t used to people who couldn’t understand them with minimum explanation. They were also so used to each other as companions that they would habitually compare people trying to be their friends with their absent twin.

Naturally, there would be no one quite like their other half, and they couldn’t get past the ’acquaintance’ stage with any other people that wasn’t part of their childhood friend group.

That had never been a problem before when they were still living in their bubble. And, well...Kar would continue living in that bubble. Not Asa, however.

Asa decided to go to college to pursue his engineering dream. There was rarely any esper or guide there, and those awakened who did choose to go to college had left their awakened life from the start--unlike him, who was being greedy and wanted to do everything. So, people there didn’t know him.

In the sentinel community, Operation Fallen Star was taught as a part of the curriculum. The recordings of the fight inside the Deathzone were used in guilds as part of the training, and the simulation chip was one of the bestsellers not only in the Eastern Federation but also in the whole continent. Naturally, the people who had the biggest contribution were well known in the community--including the children of those people.

But general people didn’t know much about them. They knew Operation Fallen Star, of course, but they wouldn’t know or remember the faces of the great figures, just like how they wouldn’t recognize the head of Old Houses or the face of the conglomerates. Heck--most of them wouldn’t even remember the faces of the government officials except for those who often came out on television.

Asa, for the first time, entered this whole new world where people didn’t know him. Even if people heard the name ’Ishtera’, they wouldn’t immediately connect him with the Old House. Logically, people wouldn’t think the child of a legendary esper and a legendary guide would enter college.

And, oh...it was fun.

At that point, Asa was already getting used to separation with his twin. He no longer had to stress himself with entrance exams, and he didn’t have to endure people gawking at him or trying to get close to him because of his parents.

Well...people still gawked because he was naturally good-looking with good fashion--thanks to his Auntie Reina--but that was normal. They would look and then walk away, maybe take a picture or two. Still normal. It was easier for him to blend with his peers because he had grown out of the habit of comparing them with his twin, and most of the time, he didn’t have to disclose his family name.

"So...have you found a girlfriend yet?" Nari asked at their monthly meet-up in Althrea.

"Ugh..." Asa dove into his parfait instead of answering--which, in itself, was an answer already.

Nari laughed and stroked her chin. "Let me guess...you couldn’t find someone who tickled your fancy, and then your friends brought you to a mixer, only for all the girls to focus on you."

Asa parted his lips. "How..."

"Your friends felt disheartened and you felt bad so you left, but that only worsened the situation," Nari continued. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

"And several girls approached you at the same time in college, and you couldn’t just pick one because you were afraid of a fight breaking out...right?" Lucy wiggled her brows, and Asa grabbed her face to stop it.

Nari tilted her head. "Fights breaking out? Aren’t you being too...I don’t know, cocky?" she chuckled. "Do you think they’ll bully the girl if you say yes to one?"

Asa pursed his lips and hissed. "What do you know? I found out they were already fighting before I even gave any answer!" he mixed the parfait in front of him in annoyance. "Something like ’you can’t aim for someone I’m aiming!’ and pulled each other’s hair. Why would I agree to go out with girls like that?"

"Whoa..."

Nari arched her brow. Was it different in the regular school? With espers, fighting would mean stuff breaking and the involved getting sent to the infirmary, so there was strict restriction. If they were fighting over someone, they would just duel it out in the arena.

"So much drama in the college, huh? I’m intrigued," her eyes curled. While her parents also went to general college, they were already together, so there was no drama.

Besides, her father was not as criminally good-looking as the twins.

"And you know...even if I take a liking to someone, what then?" Asa sighed. "What if those girls attack the girl I like?"

"Oh, I heard something about this," Byul chimed in. "Someone on social link posted a picture of Asa Hyung talking to a girl, and that girl’s social links were filled with hate comments."

"What the hell?" Asa didn’t even know about this. When Byul showed him the screenshot, he was even more flabbergasted. "That...I was picking up a notebook falling from her bag! The only thing I said was that she forgot to zip her bag, and the only thing she said was thank you. It was even less than a minute, so what is this?!"

Nari wiggled her finger. "Oh, you innocent little lamb--everything can become a scandal."

"The hell? Why would people make a scandal about me?"

"Just because," Byul shrugged. "Maybe they are envious of your popularity, or maybe they just don’t like that particular girl. Don’t you know there are people hating on celebrities just because they are bored, Hyung?"

"Oh, they must have taught you things like that in that new school of yours, huh?" Lucy nudged the boy.

Byul had decided to go to art school to pursue his acting career. With his looks and his parents’ connection, it wouldn’t be hard for him to enter the entertainment industry. Still, Byul fell in love with acting after trying it in his middle school’s theater club, so he wanted to do it seriously.

Well, he was a serious boy in the first place.

"He has a manager now, you know~" Nari giggled and poked the embarrassed boy. "He needs to mind his socials from now on because people will scrutinize his past once he gets famous."

"I don’t even know if it’ll work out..." Byul pursed his lips. "I’ve only appeared as cameos."

"You will, you will--mark my word, Byul!" Lucy patted the boy’s shoulder. "You’ll become a star!"

"Star..." Byul muttered, looking both flattered and sad at the same time.

Nari and Lucy glanced at each other and smiled wryly. They knew Kar sometimes called Byul that: star.

"Anyway, social media is harsh, okay? You better not reply to random people’s messages, Oppa, or you might get in trouble," Nari reminded Asa. Funnily enough, the twins, who were the oldest among them, were the ones most clueless about social interaction. "Just mind who you are talking to, especially when you’re alone."

Scary...the world was such a scary place. Asa groaned. He felt like cruising social life was harder than diving into dungeons. Was that why Uncle Dia and Auntie Rina were against him making social links accounts?

Thinking about it, it would be easier for people to find out he was from Ishtera House if he had social link accounts.

Well, at least they couldn’t send any harmful messages directly to him. But, oh...

"I...have to apologize to that girl..." Asa sighed, feeling sorry about a random girl getting harassed because of him.

"It’s not your fault, but it’s still a good gesture," Nari nodded in agreement. Ah, she raised her oppa well. "But, if you do it recklessly, it might spur more misunderstanding."

Lucy gasped. "Right--you can’t approach her out in the open, and if someone found out you’re massaging her through the link, it might get even uglier."

Once again, Asa groaned. He thought things would be easier after the college entrance exam, but what the hell?

"Well, you can just ignore it, but you won’t be comfortable about that, right?" Nari tapped on the table in contemplation. "Hmm...if only we could find a way for you to talk to her without anyone could see..."

"Umm...maybe there is?" Byul, who had been busy on his link, pushed his screen toward the others. It was a list of participants for an internship program. "That girl...I think she’s participating in the spaceship program that Uncle Dia made for Asa Hyung."

The girls arched their brows. "Oho?"

At that moment, they had no idea that Asa was on his way to finding his long-awaited girlfriend. But he would have to go through many years of arguments, competition, misunderstandings, and forced cooperation before he could even ask the girl for a proper date.