#hachuling

“What’s this? One of my cute little brothers made friends with the irregular?” Hachuling mused, holding his chin with a playful smile. “I’m going to have to investigate this, don’t you think? It might be interesting.”

“Why are you talking like you weren’t coming in the first place?” Yuri complained, crossing her arms over her chest. “We need you to bypass their monitoring, or it’ll be a pain finding him!”

“Always sending me to do the dirty work… why do you get to have all the fun, Yuri?” He was already typing up a storm on his computer as he whined, looking into a certain Khun Aguero Agnes. When was the last time he had been concerned with another member of the Khun family? Not in quite a while, he guessed. He kept tabs here and there—a good Scout always had information on everyone’s positions and gossip—but nothing interesting like this had popped up before.

A.A., huh. Reading the information on the screen, he’d definitely heard the rumors. Another family outcast like him accompanying an irregular who could ignite the Black March. Curious.

Would he show the same devotion for this special irregular that he had for Khun Maria Jahad?

Hachuling had to see this for himself.

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Hacking into A.A.’s lighthouse was a breeze—well, he was a baby regular. He didn’t reveal anything to his teammates, either, despite Hachuling’s undeniably intimidating presence as a ranker overpowering him inside of his own makeshift base. He simply turned his communications off and met him outside.

Hachuling perched on a rock, watching A.A.’s distrustful glare with a sly grin.

“Don’t look at me like that, Princess Maria’s step stool,” he teased. A.A.’s expression didn’t falter, despite the fact Hachuling was intentionally targeting his weakness—how amusing.

“And? What does a member of the Khun family want with me?” A.A. didn’t miss a beat with his counter question, his tone as full of suspicion as his gaze.

Hachuling hopped down from his perch gracefully, approaching his brother with clear intent. It was time to test his priorities, as well as his resolve. Had he really made the decision to move on from his past, where he had once given everything to support a woman who chose power over him—or was he just putting on a front to look cool?

“Do you want to see the princess?” He asked coolly, striding past A.A. and tilting his head back to catch his reaction.

“…!” A.A.’s expression revealed his shock, and Hachuling narrowed his eyes smugly. Bingo.

“I’ll take you to see Princess Maria.”

“Why?!” A.A. swung around to face Hachuling, who took a couple more steps away, smiling to himself.

“Because it’s fun to upset the Khun family. I’m an outcast too!” He turned around, opening his arms in a flourish.

Watching A.A.’s reaction, it was obvious—he was still fixated over Maria. It made sense… judging by what Hachuling knew, the wounds were fairly fresh.

There was no way he wouldn’t accept his proposal. If he knew his family well enough—the irregular was nothing more than an interesting toy to him, ready to be discarded at a moment’s notice. The second something of meaning was dangled in front of him, why would he choose to stay with such a weak boy, even if he was in possession of the Black March?

Hachuling extended a hand, welcoming A.A. to accept his offer. “Come on,” he encouraged, hammering the final nail in the coffin.

The harsh slap to his hand took him by surprise, and his smirk fell along with his arm.

“I’m not climbing the tower for Maria,” came A.A.’s cold reply.

Oh?

“What?” Hachuling shrugged his shoulders, smile back on his face. He sensed the presence of someone observing out of sight and knew his time to taunt the younger Khun was coming to an end, but he continued, nonetheless. “You plan to rise to the top of the Khun family?”

“Higher.” Higher? How bold, and with such determination in his voice. Was this really the same Aguero he’d heard the rumors about?

“That’s a big dream for someone too scared to pull a knife on me. But…” he dodged a swipe from A.A.’s friend with ease, landing a couple meters away. Time’s up, it seemed. “It seems like you have pretty decent allies. Well, good luck.”

How interesting, Hachuling mused as he walked away leisurely. He wondered what was going on in that baby regular’s head. Just barely completing the floor of tests, and he’s already decided he would aim higher than the Khun family?

How did he envision that outcome to look in the first place?

Most people didn’t make it up the tower to start with.

There were many climbers who got this idea in their head that they would surpass Jahad in some way, only to be crushed underfoot, or turned to extremes like FUG. There were also the people who were all bark and no bite, simply opting to live a cushioned life once they realized how much they would struggle to climb.

The impression Hachuling had, after that encounter, was that A.A. fit none of those categories.

Maybe he was biased. The kid was another Khun defect, like him. But he saw the potential. A.A. was already top of his class as a regular, leading a princess of Jahad around of all people, as a light bearer when he was a Khun—if that wasn’t already fascinating, he didn’t know what was.

Best of all, he had refused Hachuling’s proposal. So his teammates—that irregular, specifically—were already more important to him than the woman he gave everything for. Curious, indeed.

It seemed they wouldn’t have one recruit to Wolkhaiksong, but two. Momentarily, he thought about how difficult it would be to convince Yuri Jahad, and shrugged.

Well, he would just have to sit back and watch the two kids for the time being. If they made it to floor 77 together—which at this moment, Hachuling was almost certain they would—it shouldn’t even be a question.

If A.A. and the irregular both realized their full potential, they would shake this tower to its core.