A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 52: Mana Disease

Jin hurried after them with the pouch held tight against his chest, while Shu walked ahead with the bat resting on one shoulder and Nari’s hand in the other.

"Thank you," he said, bowing his head a little as he walked. "Really, thank you so much for helping me again."

Shu looked at him, then let out a small breath through his nose, his eyes moving over the bruises on Jin’s face before he answered.

"It’s all cool," he said. "Though, damn, you really do keep getting in trouble huh?"

Jin gave a weak laugh but that didn’t last, as his fingers tightened around the pouch, like he still thought someone might jump out and take it again if he loosened his grip for even a second.

Shu stared at him for another second, then his brows lifted a little, "hold on," he said. "You’re that kid from the hunter hall."

Jin blinked, then nodded quickly, relief actually flashing across his face for a second, since getting remembered felt better than getting pitied.

"Yes," he said. "My name is Jin."

"Right, Jin," he muttered, finally placing him properly. "No wonder your face looked familiar. You really have a bad luck with people it seems."

He smiled awkwardly after hearing that, though his eyes dropped to the pouch again right after. The little bag looked so worthless from the outside that it was honestly amazing three grown men decided to act like beasts over it.

"Yeah," he said, his voice lowering a little. "Lately I keep running into people like that."

He adjusted the pouch against his chest and kept walking with them, but the way he held it made it clear he still wasn’t over what almost happened back there. His next words came out slower too, like he was only saying them because Shu asked first.

"I’ve been taking whatever work I can get to earn money for my family," he said. "And places like that always have bad people around, especially when they smell weakness on you."

That caught his attention, ’hmm, if he is running around trying to earn money for his family and judging by the pouch he is holding, it could only mean one thing.’

"Your family, could they be sick?" he asked, glancing at him.

Jin looked at him in surprise for a second. It was such a simple question, but it clearly landed harder than it should have.

’He actually cares enough to ask?’ he thought, clutching the pouch a little tighter. ’Most people hear "family" and start tunning out, everyone had their issues, so no one wanted to hear about someone’s family.’

Jin looked down at the pouch for a second, then gave a small nod, deciding that there was no point hiding it now.

"Yeah," he said. "My mother has cancer." A weak smile appeared on his face, then faded just as fast. His thumb kept rubbing the pouch while he looked at the road ahead.

"And my little sister has something else," he continued. "We don’t know what it is, the people at the camp don’t know either."

Shu stayed quiet and let him talk, because the kid clearly needed to get it out. Nari looked between them and held onto Shu’s hand a little tighter.

"It started months ago, after the world changed," he said, lowering his eyes. "At first we thought she was just tired and weak, but then the attacks started."

His mouth tightened after that and the weak smile disappeared. When he spoke again, his voice shook in a way that made it obvious he was trying very hard to keep himself together.

"She gets seizures," he said. "Her whole body starts shaking, then she screams out in pain, before eventually passing out."

He swallowed and looked away, with his grip on the pouch tightening hard enough to wrinkle it. Even his breathing got uneven after saying that much.

"Sometimes she wakes up crying," he said. "Other times she stays unconscious for a while, and every single time it happens, I think that might be the one that kills her."

Shu’s eyes narrowed a little the moment Jin said seizures, intense pain, and blacking out after the world ended, making something click in his head.

’Ah,’ he thought. ’So it’s that.’

He knew what that meant. In the novel, some people failed to adapt after mana flooded the world, and their bodies started breaking down instead of awakening cleanly.

’Mana disease,’ he thought. ’And from the sound of it, her case isn’t light either.’

Normal herbs wouldn’t fix that, at best, the stuff in Jin’s pouch might calm the symptoms for a bit, but it wouldn’t touch the real problem.

Jin noticed Shu had gone quiet and looked at him nervously. Hope and fear sat on his face at the same time.

"Do you know something?" he asked. "You made a face just now."

Shu looked ahead again and let out a small breath, already annoyed at himself for reacting too clearly, ’haaah, I can already tell this is about to be annoying as hell.’

"Maybe," he said. "Keep talking first."

Jin hesitated, clearly not sure if he should believe that or not, but the look on Shu’s face didn’t change, so he kept going.

"The seizures got worse after the first month," he said, his voice dropping lower. "At first it was once a week, then every few days, now it’s almost daily. The herbs help a little, but they don’t stop it anymore."

He paused for a second, swallowing hard before continuing.

"Last week she had one so bad she stopped breathing for a bit," he said, his voice cracking at the edges. "I thought... I thought that was it. I thought I lost her right there."

Nari’s grip on Shu’s hand tightened again, and he could feel her small fingers trembling against his palm.

"But she came back," he said, forcing a shaky breath out. "She always comes back, but every time it happens, I can see her getting weaker. She can barely walk now, can’t eat properly, and the people at the camp just keep giving me the same herbs and telling me to wait."

Shu stayed quiet for a few more steps, letting the kid get it all out before he said anything. The truth was, he already knew what this was, and the answer wasn’t something Jin wanted to hear.

’Mana disease,’ he thought, his jaw tightening a little. ’The body can’t handle the mana saturation, so it’s breaking down from the inside. In the novel, people like that either awakened properly or died. There was no middle ground.’

But that wasn’t entirely true either.

’No,’ he thought, remembering something from later arcs. ’There was one way. A rare skill that could stabilize mana rejection, but it required a specific core type and someone with high enough Circuit to force the integration.’

He glanced at Jin, then at the pouch in his hands, and felt that familiar annoyance settling in his chest.

’And of course, the kid has no idea any of that exists,’ he thought. ’He’s running around with basic herbs trying to treat something that needs a completely different solution.’

Jin noticed the silence stretching and looked at him again, that same mix of hope and fear sitting on his bruised face.

"You really know something, don’t you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Please, if you know anything that can help her, I’ll do anything. I mean it, anything."

Shu stared at him for a long second, then looked away with a small click of his tongue.

’Anything, huh,’ he thought, the word sitting heavier than it should have. ’People always say that until they find out what "anything" actually means.’

He was about to answer when a system screen popped up in front of him, making him stop mid-step.

[New Mission Available]

[Title: Mana Rejection Emergency]

[Objective: Stabilize Jin’s sister before her body collapses]

[Time Limit: 72 hours]

[Failure Condition: Target death]

[Reward: Skill - Mana Integration Lv.1]

[Reward: 50,000 Credits]

[Bonus: Reputation boost with civilian networks]

He stared at the screen, his eye twitching.

’Are you serious right now?’ he thought, reading the mission again. ’You want me to save someone I just met? With a time limit? And the failure is death?’

The system, as usual, offered no sympathy.