Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Cabin (2)
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My house....
Even as the Master actually opened the driver's door, and Ricardo flung open the passenger door, I couldn't snap out of it.
My ceiling?
I really said I'd be fine with just a place to avoid the rain....
"Get a grip and get out."
Even amidst the roaring storm, Yoon's low voice rang clear.
"Rookie. You listening?"
"Just tell him to stay inside...."
Even as the rain soaked the sleek car seats mercilessly, the seniors remained unfazed.
Ricardo, who had already stepped out, was no longer visible, but I could see him reaching to close the passenger door.
"He's just gonna get in the way...."
Crash!
A cabin window shattered. The small kitchen window had broken. Shards of glass sparkled, reflecting the rain. Something came pouring out along with the fragments.
This is really sad.
Yoon reached in with his wet hand and turned off the engine.
"Yeah, figured as much. Just huddle behind the passenger seat."
The wipers stopped, and the windshield was covered in rain.
"Even if the front window shatters, it won't hit your eyes. If the car looks like it's gonna explode, get out on your own."
"Huh?"
No further explanation.
The seniors slammed the doors shut without even opening umbrellas. The overwhelming roar of rain suddenly faded. The streams of water pouring onto the fine leather seats vanished.
Left alone in the car in a daze, I muttered to myself.
"...You want me to stay inside, right?"
No answer was coming, of course.
I vaguely saw the men by the driver and passenger doors moving off. Black shadows advanced forward and disappeared. Creature subjugation in this weather? Could they even stand properly?
I pressed my face to the rear window, trying to see what was happening.
I could barely make out silhouettes of things spilling from my house, whirling through the air on the wind. It was really getting torn to pieces.
They said the cause of this wind was a big butterfly—where was the butterfly?
Boom!
A massive roar echoed.
I turned my head, and my view filled with wet wood. A sharply broken tree branch had torn through the Lamborghini's roof and pierced inside.
If I hadn't been at the window, my scalp would've been split open.
Torn Lamborghini roof, massive tree shard, familiar wood grain.
Staring at the rain and wood pouring through the gash, I shouted.
"The ceiling's back!"
"You think that's what coming back looks like right now?"
Ricardo yanked the door open.
He furrowed his brow with a bizarre grin, then grabbed my collar.
"That's why climate-change creatures are...."
Crash!
The front windshield shattered.
Another ceiling fragment flew in and embedded itself. If Ricardo hadn't roughly dragged me out, the shattering glass would've shredded me.
In an instant, I was drenched. A fierce gust whipped across my cheek.
I stumbled to stand beside the car. The senior released my collar and spun my body forward.
Before fully turning his head, Ricardo said coldly.
"Stay right here."
The perpetual smirk on his lips was gone.
"Don't run off anywhere."
Forget running—I could barely lift my feet.
A fierce gale battered me. Even though I wasn't in the car anymore, it was hard to see ahead. Thick raindrops pelted my entire body nonstop. My socks and shoes grew sodden. Hair clung to my skin.
I narrowed my eyes against the whipping wind and rain with my forearm, searching for the butterfly they'd been going on about.
Thud, thud, boom!
Things flew up from my house, its lid pried open. The cabin splintered into pieces and rode the whirlwind. Bagel, chocolate, beanbag, mattress, dishes, kitchen knife. I watched them spin wildly in the vortex.
And in the center of the spinning mass, I spotted a heavy shadow.
Is that the butterfly at the tornado's core?
And what's that engine-flame streak cutting across the sky above?
"Oppa!"
Ami's clear voice rang down from above.
As my jaw dropped, she continued.
"I'll knock it down, so you catch it, Oppa!"
"Sordi."
Yoon, now close to the whirlwind, spoke.
"If it falls, pin it down."
I didn't have time to process the words.
Boom!
A shockwave slammed into me. The Lamborghini beside me flipped and flew backward. If Ricardo hadn't grabbed my collar again, I'd have shared its fate.
The sharp shock stung my skin as it passed. Flailing, I clutched the senior's arm.
For a moment, I felt the wind stop.
The fierce gale that should have followed the shockwave vanished abruptly.
Why did the raging wind die down?
Because Ami had slammed the butterfly into the asphalt.
A massive crater formed where the butterfly hit.
Ami hovered in the air—wearing some weird boots—peering down into the crater.
"It's still alive."
With the wind dying down, her voice came through clearly.
"Ric. Pin it down."
Something writhed in the hand gripping my collar.
Dazed, I stared at the ring on Ricardo's finger. I'd never noticed he wore one before. A silver snake ring.
It moved, uncoiling smoothly and changing shape.
What the—.
I blankly watched the small silver snake ring elongate, sharpening into a spear shape.
In an instant, Ricardo held a spear in his hand.
Boom!
The silver spear flew. It arced beautifully into the cratered asphalt.
"You're really good."
Ami laughed, looking down into the hole.
"Like a giant butterfly specimen."
The Master walked to the cracked edge of the deeply gouged asphalt.
He drew a dagger—seemingly from his combat suit's sheath. Standing behind Ricardo, I watched the Master bow his head.
"Harvest it?"
"If possible."
Yoon lightly hopped forward.
In the damp air where the rain had weakened, the Master vanished into the hole.
His dry voice echoed up.
"Keep an eye on the rookie."
Why?
Dazed, I stared at where the Master had disappeared. The rain was letting up. The blinding whirlwind was gone now.
In front of me stood the green-eyed senior, half-blocking my view. Ami floated above the hole, hair tied back.
The Master had jumped in and was out of sight....
Boom!
The hole exploded.
Wind surged upward. It erupted with the cabin debris it carried, like a volcano. In a plume shape, with tremendous force.
The rain poured again.
"Ami!"
I yelled in horror.
"Yoon!"
"He'll be fine, so stay put~."
Ricardo stretched out an arm to block me as I reflexively lunged forward.
He snatched the flying spear out of the air, then added coldly without looking back.
"Told you to huddle down...."
"Huh?"
Crack!
Something flew at me. A wood chunk—probably from the shattered cabin ceiling. The wind-borne ceiling piece split in two on Ricardo's silver spear.
"Are you insane?"
"More's coming."
Ricardo ignored me, staying alert.
I looked up sharply and saw countless cabin items rising into the air with the wind.
"My beanbag!"
Splat.
The charging beanbag met its end on Ricardo's spear.
Dazed, I watched him elegantly deflect the incoming objects with his spear. Sliced ceiling bits. Ricocheting bagels. Burst luxury chocolates.
Ricardo spun the long spear in circles. I took in the objects flying off to the side and the raindrops spraying in arcs.
What the hell is this? Are Ami and Yoon okay?
And why are these things flying at us?
Like they're trying to kill me?
Rumble!
The plume-like wind grew larger, dismantling what remained of the cabin.
Mattress, pots, cups, blankets, pillows. The cabin fell apart, riding the whirlwind. Toaster. Clothes. Shoes. Umbrella.
Kitchen knife.
The blade flashed, reflecting the rain. It gleamed briefly amid the spinning debris. Too small—if not for that glint, I wouldn't have recognized it as a kitchen knife.
Ricardo, fixated on the mattress, didn't notice.
The sharp blade flew at Ricardo.
Splat.
Agonizing pain shot through my arm.
"You!"
Ricardo's short voice cut through the storm.
One word laced with shock and fury.
"I told you!"
"Is that the butterfly?"
As Ricardo lunged forward and grabbed the back of my neck where the knife had hit, I looked up.
A massive butterfly loomed in the sky. One pair of lower wings neatly severed. Only two forsythia-yellow wings clung to its body.
It looked like it would crash and die any second.
"Sordi!"
Yoon burst out of the hole in pristine condition, raising his voice.
"Stab the body and kill it! Don't touch the wings!"
Poison, probably.
The moment I thought it, the butterfly grew. It hurtled toward me at a speed no insect should manage. My focus locked on it, blurring the surroundings.
Enlarging yellow wings, swelling abdomen. Flapping as if to engulf us.
The enemy before me crouched to attack.
'When the target's this big, it's easy.'
My vision overlapped with memory.
I shoved Ricardo aside as he tried to block me and yanked the kitchen knife from my arm with my good hand.
Shhhk!
I stabbed the butterfly's belly with the knife. Thick black fluid sprayed.
Wincing at the liquid soaking me, I kept moving. Gripping the knife tight, I raised my arm. Crunching, I split the body in two.
I felt the life drain away.
The butterfly split left and right, crashing onto the asphalt. It flapped flat like paper, sprawling on the ground.
The wind soaked in.
Only then did I feel the pain in my left arm.
"Hilde!"
Ami shot down from the air and ran to me.
"Ugh, Hilde, blood's gushing from your arm!"
"Hildebert...."
Ricardo called my name ominously from behind.
And the stinging pain arrived in my left arm. It was covered in blood. As I looked down at the injured arm, I realized the rain had stopped.
The wind had died too.
The sky cleared.
***
We were in the Master's house.
"Was 'don't run out' that hard to understand?"
Ricardo looked down at me with a grin.
Poison laced his crescent-folded green eyes.
"Or did my words just not seem worth listening to?"
"...My apologies."