The Trash Wants to Live

ED: Ozriel

PR: Naa_chi

I looked at him confused, wondering why he was kissing me so firmly. Kwon Jae Hyuk, however, kept his gaze on mine.

His eyes, filled with intense emotions, were deeper and darker than before. His gaze made my insides hot. I tried turning my head away in embarrassment, but I couldn't move from his firm grip. I had to keep my eyes down to avoid his gaze but he was still looking at me, making my skin tingle like he was licking me.

"Uhh…”

He didn't let go for a while. When he raised his head, I was finally able to breathe.

To my disappointment, Kwon Jae Hyuk's fingers, which had been brushing my hair back, slowly slipped out. The sensation against my scalp sent chills down my spine.

I looked up at Kwon Jae Hyuk; my face held between my palms in embarrassment. He was looking down at me with a straight face as if he were exposing his sentimental feelings.

“Good night, Yoon Jae."

"Uh… Yeah."

Then he turned and disappeared into the dark hallway, satisfied. I stared blankly into the hallway while searching for the handle of the door to my room. I entered the room and then I laid down

"Haa…"

Why did he kiss me? As the skill window floated before my eyes, I could see Kwon Jae Hyuk's ability was half full.

…He was quite persistent in doing this though. He didn't even ask if I had used it properly. He could have at least checked it once.

"…I don't know."

I still felt the strange sensation of a large hand on the back of my head, still in my hair. Thanks to Kwon Jae Hyuk, whose intentions remained unknown and in whom my doubts grew even more, it was a tumultuous night in many ways.

* * *

My mind was restless, but my body was exhausted, so I slept badly. I rested for a while after breakfast, worrying a little about my weak body and mind, but Ki Hyun Joo approached me.

"SNT researchers are outside."

"And?"

"They are requesting your permission to come in."

Hm? What did this mean? I wondered why this was happening now, when permission should have already been obtained from Ki Yoon Jae's father and grandfather. I laughed at their not-so-funny joke.

"Why? I said yesterday that they can just come in and do whatever they like."

"…You said that, and the house owner said I should get permission from you."

Those words made me feel a little better. I didn't know if they would criticise me for feeling good about this, but they could also have put pressure on me by telling Ki Jae Mu the reason I was angry yesterday. Coming here with such a low profile meant that I was no longer considered a pushover, and that they recognized me as an important person.

‘Should I milk this a little bit more?' I thought about it for a moment. It wouldn’t be hard, but the only problem was…

I have to go to school tomorrow.

Since I had to finish work today and go to school tomorrow, I decided not to waste any more time by creating trouble. I told the researchers to enter the property, and then went out to see them. The person who spoke to me yesterday, who seemed to be the one in charge, walked up to greet me.

"Mr. Ki, thank you for your permission to come in."

"It’s nothing. I can give you that much convenience.”

I responded, holding a glass of lemonade while lying on a sunbed in the garden. They sat down on the sunbed beside me.

"I’m Tanisha Reason. I'm part of SNT's first research institute.”

"As you know, I'm Ki Yoon Jae."

She held her hand out as if she were asking for a handshake. The conversation cut off after the greeting. She thought for a while then opened her mouth.

"I don't know much about politics because I've been doing research all my life. We don't even know what our side has decided to pay Sungwoon for this. I apologise if I’ve come across as rude for saying this in a roundabout way, but I'm not a good talker and I don't want to be rude to you." 

“…”

"I've been ordered to study the creature myself. Yesterday's discourtesy was… is entirely our fault. His behaviour towards you was uncalled for; he was in such a hurry that he crossed the line. He's been put on probation. By any chance, if you want an apology, I will bring him in and make him apologise."

I was a little relieved by her humility. Tanisha still seemed impatient, but kept her cool. It seemed she was telling the truth about not knowing politics.

“For ten years, we at SNT have researched and studied people with psychic abilities. At the same time, I thought that humans couldn’t be the only ones to develop these abilities. Obviously, anything, whether plant or animal, could have developed abilities like humans.”

Tanisha put her thin gold-rimmed glasses back on and moistened her dry lips with her tongue. She looked as if she wanted me to acknowledge the importance of her words.

"But nothing appeared, nothing. While I was contemplating nothing changed; I thought there would be a big emotional opportunity when a human being awakens a different ability. I thought that the desire to live, the desire to succeed, was what separated us from them. Then, just when we thought that there would be no animals with abilities other than humans, that thing appeared before us."

Tanisha pointed to the bull still lying on its belly. A creature that came from a dimension created by someone who gave humans this mysterious ability.

Wouldn't they have skills? Or wasn't that huge body an ability itself? She was excited by the unknown before her.

“We just want to know. Why did an unknown being give us such power, and what kind of place is inhabited by one who can give us such power?"

Hmm… I think I've heard this a lot somewhere before. Except that the subject of the sentence was "an existence comparable to God" or "an alien."

Why did aliens show UFOs when they visited our planet? Why did they steal cows from a ranch? Or what were the ancient relics that reminded us of the existence of alien beings?

Listening to her, I couldn't help but think of it. When I slowly pulled myself back out of my thoughts, she took my hand, and her eyes glowed.

“Doesn't it bother you, Sir? Of all those many places, why did they choose Earth?"

"Well… I don’t know.”

Tanisha's appearance was a little similar to that of a fanatic. Despite my gloomy reaction, her eyes were still shining.

“If you help, perhaps we can figure it out. Please help us! Let's unravel the mystery of supernatural abilities!"

Please, please help us…! Tanisha began to beg, forgetting that she was in charge. Should I fret about this? I made her an offer.

"All right, Tanisha.”

"Mr. Ki…!”

"But on one condition.”

I stood up on the lengthy bed and turned a little. I sat down facing Tanisha, bent over with my elbows on my knees and my chin resting on my hands with my fingers laced together.

"It's not an unreasonable condition. You know that bull belongs to my friend, right?”

"That's right…"

“Shouldn't my friend, the owner, know his partner better than others? Please let us see the data you've studied as well.”

Tanisha seemed a bit worried about my request. I smiled broadly and decided to lighten her worries.

"Not many people will see it. My friend and I… At most, you could count them on one hand? They will be guild members –not Sungwoon company – and if you keep it a secret that you're sharing it with me, I won’t have to show it to my grandfather or father. I can leave it as a document if you wish."

“Hmm, is that all?"

“One more thing… we would like to have what you produce in this research. Oh, of course, we don't want to receive it for free. We just want you to put us first when you start selling. More than any other country. More than any company. I want you to make sure I get what I want, even if it’s just a prototype."

"That's… Haa… fine, but you know I can't decide this on my own, right? Please give me time to get the approval.”

“Fine.”

As Tanisha got up and went back, I laid back on the sunbed and drank my lemonade. As Tanisha left, she said something and the researchers murmured among themselves.

In any case, I stretched comfortably and put on the sunglasses I kept in my front pocket. The weather was so nice…

T/N: So… I was thinking of taking a new project, and it's a harem again. Forgive me, distraction is a scary thing, because there are just too many good novels out there. And for the cover, you can check my ko-fi gallery, I made some ugly designs to avoid the purge lmao and chapter 42 is also ready on my store. Feel free to check it out! TY!

P.S I bought  vol. 5 of Trash of A Fantasy Novel which in the manhwa is around chapter 80+, so if anyone wants to read, just go ahead and it's mtl. Before I deleted it lmao