Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Training Camp (7)
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-Click.
The lights inside the dorm went out.
After what happened with Azalea, there was no way I was in any condition to drink. In the end, I had no choice but to slip away from the drinking party a little early.
The clock's hour hand was hovering around 11 p.m. Perfect time to hit the hay.
"Ughhh..."
I collapsed onto the bed like a corpse, letting out a groan.
The supreme fluffiness soothed my weary body and mind.
'......'
Lying there staring at the ceiling, today's events flashed through my mind like a montage.
Azalea.
The teary eyes I'd seen that evening and the smile she hadn't wiped away until the end were stuck in some corner of my head, refusing to budge.
'Yeah... No way things would go smoothly for me when it comes to women.'
Even in my previous life, complaints from girlfriends were a daily occurrence. The problem's probably with me.
Still, Azalea's attitude today had been pretty shocking to me.
-I'll be by your side forever.
......What had I done to make her cling so hard?
Her words about devoting her life to me felt more like a burden than touching. Maybe because they were sincere rather than romantic—it hit harder that way.
-Am I... not attractive enough?
Not attractive? No way.
But seeing her as a woman was a stretch.
If it had been one of the other girls around, I probably would've just fooled around that day and called it quits. But with Azalea... hard to put into words. Some indescribable feeling.
I just hoped she wouldn't stress over it and things would work out. Something like that.
While attending the academy, I prided myself on knowing quite a bit about Azalea.
Not like cohabiting with someone like Cheondo or Baekdo, but we'd talked a lot and shared daily life, so I figured I knew her better than family.
After inheriting authority in the Jinmok Group, Azalea had lived insanely busy.
From building childcare facilities to resolving incidents everywhere. Her lavish investments in helping others—probably only I knew about that at the academy.
Yet in class, she'd force her eyes open to avoid dozing off. Seeing those faint dark circles under her eyes made me feel sorry for her for no reason.
-Tap!
......How did such a diligent girl end up like this?
My bitter-smiling face reflected on the phone screen.
[2 seconds ago]
Azalea: I haven't given up.
"Aigoo...... Dalrae-ya."
They say if you can't get a girl in one life, you get girl luck in the next.
Guess I built up so much resentment from failing in my past life.
-Tap!
Azalea: ......You're reading this, right?
Azalea: Sorry, my feelings got ahead of me.
Azalea: But it's sincere.
Before I could finish reading the previous ones, the next messages flew in.
Her typing was so fast, the emotions in each sentence vibrated through the signals.
'Feelings got ahead... That's what I said.'
I pressed the power button, and the screen went dark.
I needed to wash up, but my body wouldn't move.
Ever since arriving here, fatigue kept piling up.
My arms and legs tingled, my throat was parched—I desperately needed water.
"What to do."
So much to handle ahead.
Overwhelmed by an indescribable frustration, I slowly closed my eyes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Ugh."
I wiped away tears with tissue and blew my nose.
The pent-up injustice bursting out in floods of tears was inevitable.
"Good girl, that's it."
"......"
"Si-heon must have no eye for talent."
Bead patted the curled-up Azalea's back on the bed.
Her face flushed from alcohol, she dabbed at her tears with tissue.
"Don't badmouth Si-heon.... It's because I'm not attractive enough."
"Oh-ho, so when I comfort you, you badmouth me?"
"Not over it yet."
True, rejected—but time was on her side.
Her stubborn vow to try again somehow was already the ninety-fourth.
Even just the mumbled love confessions probably topped a hundred repetitions.
They say innocent girls turn scary when they first learn love. Seemed true.
Bead could only stick out her tongue.
"They say the one who waits wins."
"Dalrae, you're obsessed..."
"Problem?"
"None~ Nope~ Si-heon that guy's blessed. Sigh, here, drink this water. There, there."
Azalea gulped down the iced water Bead offered.
Her eyes were swollen red from crying, yet tears kept flowing.
In a fit of pique, or maybe her head spinning, Azalea hammered her phone screen with her right hand.
"......Phone."
"Why the phone? You gonna text? Hey, that's the worst thing after rejection... Don't. No, ah!! You already did..."
Ugly drunk texts after rejection!!
Bead covered her face in secondhand embarrassment.
Whatever now, her reaction seemed to say. Azalea glared at her and continued.
"Heard Si-heon likes someone... Who do you think it is?"
A question with hidden intent.
Staring into Azalea's bloodshot pupils, Bead deliberately let her voice tremble.
"You, you don't mean... You're gonna do something to another girl because of love?"
"That might not be bad.... Kidding. So who do you think?"
Was this the Azalea who vowed never to harm others?
Her cold "kidding" didn't land as a joke.
"I think Cornus. Huge chest and all. Suddenly hanging out glued together—probably her."
"Nah, liking Lady Cornus? Status difference."
"I could do better than her."
"Ah, right..."
Ninety-fifth confession.
Only after hitting a hundred did Azalea finally drift off.
"......Love..."
"Look at this? Confessing even in sleep. How much does she like him?"
Poking Azalea's sleeping cheek.
Confirming she was out, Bead sighed, got up, and straightened her clothes.
'Seeing this, that Lee Si-heon guy's something else.'
She slipped on a black cardigan and brushed off dust.
Taking a deep breath in and out. The puppy-like bright face she'd maintained all day slowly hardened into blank dryness.
A different Bead from her usual exaggerated gestures.
She covered Azalea with the blanket, murmuring.
"The one that person likes."
She tidied the vanity and messy dorm floor, then left.
"......Probably off flirting with some teacher somewhere?"
Or if not.
"Maybe sharing affection with that almighty Heavenly Demon."
Unlike her sarcastic words, her tone was eerily calm and cold.
Bead pulled wet wipes from her pocket and scrubbed her hands.
Due to her below-average body temperature, her hands were deathly pale compared to others.
"Hero among women."
Not her usual metaphor, but fitting for him?
Inheritor of the king's bloodline, no less.
And someone she had to deal with.
Bead checked messages on her phone.
Ignored some guys' texts lightly, sent casual bright replies to others.
Don't waste time maintaining relationships.
Recalling childhood lessons, she cleared her ties.
"Whew."
Can't keep up this agent gig forever. Bead grumbled inwardly.
Yet bound tight to the organization, nameless Wood Person that she was, she could only follow orders from above.
Grown from the start to be controlled.
Trees without any stimulation in life.
Scrolling Messenger, Lee Si-heon's name from an old chat caught her eye.
Worry creased her emotionless face.
'Ally or enemy, who knows.'
She didn't want to kill if possible.
"Better make the right choice when the time comes."
More important than trivial love stories, that era approached slowly.
A cataclysm where powers shift. A disaster shaking history's foundations, incomparable to the previous Heavenly Demon.
When it came, no more academy life.
And not just that.
Hotel food now? Could turn to rubbery wheat bread.
"For now, just watch."
Before purging World Trees sucking the world's vital blood, enjoying this boring routine wasn't bad.
"A person from another world."
She hid the massive spoiler about this world in the blowing dawn breeze.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ -Tick.
The sound of a clock echoed.
Not the usual grandfather clock noise.
Clearer, more melodic—a addictive cogwheel sound etched in the brain, hard to shake.
Vision blurred like severe nearsightedness without glasses.
Floating sensation. Realizing it was a dream snapped me awake.
Lucid dream?
Tiredness making me try new experiences.
Never dreamed like this before.
Frowning at the fog, I focused ahead.
Suddenly, the dreamscape unfolded like a panorama.
'......A tree.'
Even dreaming of trees in sleep now.
Two stumps, one dying tree.
Already stuffy from yesterday, seeing unwanted trees soured my mood even in the dream.
Approaching, I deliberately crushed a protruding root.
[Ugh!]
A woman's groan rang sharply in my ears.
The root moved; I slipped and fell back.
No pain in the dream.
On my butt, I eyed the tree suspiciously.
A voice had come from it just now.
"......What are you?"
Trees that speak are World Trees.
To me, World Trees are harmful.
Thus, this one too.
[......]
The invading World Tree annoyingly stayed silent.
I glared; it finally spoke slowly.
[You're quite different from the one I knew.]
"Who are you?"
[Really don't know? The trees you toppled?]
I toppled? Only the withered ancient ent I actually killed.
I sat cross-legged, scanned around.
Thought it was just a dream, but heavy external influence.
"Tree Spirit King?"
[......You know.]
"Yeah, one of the top culprits who ruined my life."
Grudge World Tree and Tree Spirit King.
Deeply entangled with me.
Recalling after ages surged stress to my head.
I scratched my scalp wildly.
"......So much to think about, and you're stirring trouble again."
[Different from him. Memories unstable... Successor?]
"Dunno. Would I know?"
[......]
Silence stretched as talk halted.
Seemed it had something to say. But I'm human, distinct from this world's Tree Spirit King.
Successor or not, no connection—only bad vibes.
It couldn't extract info from me.
"World Tree of Time."
[Well-informed.]
"Felt weirdly tired since coming here... Your doing?"
[Necessary procedure to summon you.]
World Tree killed by Tree Spirit King—obviously Time's.
Today had oddities aplenty.
No fatigue buildup from physique, yet slept deeply on plane and car.
I raised my foot to stomp the stump, then paused.
"Yeah... World Trees so selfish, dragging me here unasked. I get it."
Not even funny anymore.
Dragged around plenty before.
But now, I had power to resist.
"Scared to die, so dream-pulling?"
[Not scared. Body vanishes in a week anyway. As one who clashed with your predecessor, one request.]
My eyebrow twitched.
Knew nothing of predecessor, but seemed I could pry needed info.
"......One question from me."
[What?]
I planned to share what I knew.
But first, this.
"What am I in this otherworld?"
The World Tree fell silent.
Rotten branches on ground particle-ized, fading slowly.
Time up? Felt like it.
As it vanished in the dream, final words.
[......I'll tell all I know. Any temple here, come there.]
Postponing answer?
Not hard, so I nodded.
Yesterday's done and dusted.
Under crumbling earth, I flopped down, muttering a curse.
"Rot."
Human relations, then my identity.
......A damn world leaving no room even for faint regret over rejecting the confession.