Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: First Clash (2)
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Two days.
Far too short a time to prepare for such a grand undertaking.
"Hoo..."
In the early dawn hours when few people were around.
Wearing a completely ordinary short-sleeved outfit.
Tuberose walked along a Seoul roadside, her hair swaying—white-based with a faint yellowish tint.
Pockets stuffed full of vials.
The method of administering this minuscule dose was simple.
"...Yeah, yeah. Huh? Eh, whatever. Hurry up and buy it."
A boy walking ahead of her. His face clearly showed exhaustion from studying late into the night.
As she passed the walking boy, Tuberose jabbed a syringe into the nape of his neck.
-Pluck!
She injected the drug at high speed.
Finishing the dose before he could even feel the pain.
"Ah, sorry."
"...Yes."
The boy whose shoulder she'd bumped apologized to Tuberose with an awkward smile.
That concluded the clinical trial.
Now, the boy would suddenly drop dead two days from now, oblivious to the reason.
His corpse would revive as an ent and wander the outskirts of the city.
'...This is what terrorism is. Not some half-baked nonsense.'
Tuberose watched the boy's receding back as he walked away, clueless.
She emotionlessly slipped the syringe back into her pants pocket.
This elixir of eternal undeath manifested slowly and painlessly when administered in tiny amounts.
Of course, the fatality rate was 100%.
She had never seen a single exception outside of the Cornerus Family.
In other words, it was a one-strike instant-kill virulent poison.
A horrific demonic engineering weapon that could infect enemies and turn them against their allies.
Flower operatives had already been deployed long ago, dosing countless people.
'If we get past this time, it'll be complete.'
Once the drug was perfected, that might herald the day of war.
Cistus's long-cherished wish would finally come true.
"Come on... try stopping this if you can, you monkey bastard."
She turned her head, taking in the city's scenic skyline.
Ha ha ho ho. A picturesque slice of harmonious daily life overflowing with familial bliss.
Utterly different from her own, but no jealousy stirred.
Flower members were like vermin that had crawled up from the abyss of life, clinging to the fringes of morality.
They were indomitable because they had abandoned human decency.
Why did they obey executive orders so absolutely, even committing suicide without hesitation?
Scholars offered various theories, but her view differed.
The people in Flower had all experienced despair once at the World Trees' judgment.
Those who lost family or lovers to the World Trees' decrees.
Those stripped of wealth, status, and livelihood, left in utter desperation.
Injustice sufferers who could no longer distinguish right from wrong—that was Flower in essence.
'...The World Trees are false gods.'
The Wood Spirit King and the Heavenly Demon.
There was a reason they clashed with the World Trees.
Had they opposed them from the start?
On the contrary, relations had been amicable at first. Over time, both great figures realized the truth.
People's views shifted when discrimination arose under the pretext of danger, all due to the World Trees' rulings.
A woman in Flower had lost both her loved one and her homeland to a World Tree's judgment.
She barely held her sanity, surviving day by day on medication.
Their methods were wrong?
That was idealism.
Just look at the Hunter Association's dark underbelly—human trafficking was commonplace.
Noble Wood Person girls sold into slavery for sexual servitude.
That's just a tiny fraction?
Ridiculous. Didn't the World Trees themselves take innocent people as "husbands" to feed on as nutrients?
Tuberose stood at the city's edge.
One by one, robed figures appeared behind her.
"...Preparations complete?"
"Yes."
Tuberose murmured, her eyes burning with vengeful fury.
"Everything for Cistus-nim and the Saintess-nim."
She knew they were irredeemable trash unworthy of mercy.
She didn't care if they died.
No intention of begging pathetically for her life.
Unlike them, she wouldn't dress it up as justice.
"......"
Why fight among the same repulsive scum? We all know the score.
Hunter Association. World Tree Foundation. Religions.
And countless corporations and prestigious families.
Thinking of them, Tuberose smirked.
*****
Dead Flower is good Flower.
It had been two days since realizing that while killing them.
I didn't know what they were thinking, but I couldn't lower my guard.
'Even if they barge in anytime, anywhere, they'll die anyway.'
-Swish.
I dressed Shiba and placed the kindergarten hat on her head.
"Beep!"
Shiba's head sprouted tree branches, so her hat was a bit larger than the other kids'. It made her even cuter.
"Shiba, can you do well today?"
"Yeah!"
Shiba nodded brightly with a beaming smile, spreading her tiny arms wide.
I picked her up in a hug.
"Daddy... coming?"
"Of course~ Daddy's going too."
"Hee hee hee~!"
Our giggling daughter was too adorable.
Shiba's long green eyelashes and hair tickled my cheek.
We pressed our cheeks together, staring at each other and chuckling.
'...Academy's early dismissal again.'
Lately, skipping too often had drawn warnings from the institution.
Messages urging me to fulfill my duties, and even twenty texts from my instructor hounding my attendance.
...But no choice—I was skipping Academy again today.
Well, it was our daughter's performance.
Hitting drums and singing with her little hands? They had to understand.
Instructors and teachers would get it if they were fathers too.
Just this once. Just this once.
-Creak.
Confirming no one around, I opened the door and left the dorm room, still holding Shiba.
I stood in front of Azalea's door in the same position.
"Shiba, time to greet Mommy."
"Azalea?"
"Yeah, Azalea."
Shiba glanced at me, then nodded as if understanding, knocking on Azalea's door.
-Knock knock.
-Come in.
A voice came from beyond the door.
I entered the passcode I'd memorized for Azalea's room long ago.
"We're here...... you? Come in."
Azalea, fully dolled up.
Standing at the door, she looked far prettier dressed up than usual.
The sheer outfit from way back when we drank together.
Seeing the straps of her underwear peeking out, Azalea hesitated and asked.
"...Not really kindergarten-appropriate, is it?"
"It's pretty, but yeah, kinda."
Too stimulating with kids around.
Azalea nodded and went back inside to change.
I sat in the kitchen with Shiba, waiting.
Shiba played with her hands, smiling innocently.
"Dada."
"Yeah?"
"Puppy!"
She folded her fingers, wiggled them up and down, pointing at the shadow.
I pretended to be super surprised, stroking her head.
"Hee hee hee."
"All set."
Azalea soon emerged. This time in cute spring outing clothes.
"This okay?"
"Yeah. Looks good. Pretty."
"Hee hee."
Her face lit up happily at "pretty."
Azalea approached, hugging both Shiba and me at once.
The warm family embrace was brief. She snatched Shiba from me like reclaiming her.
"Did Shiba behave?"
"Bee~"
"Hee hee."
Azalea's smile, inscrutable.
She pressed Shiba's face to her chest, then thrust out her duck-like pout toward me.
A desperate plea for a kiss.
"...Hurry."
Out of Shiba's sight, her insistent skinship. I lightly kissed her glossy-tinted lips.
Her tongue slipped in, tapping my palate.
-Slurp.
Tingly sensation, then she quickly withdrew.
Licking the corner of her mouth, Azalea gave a sly fox-like grin.
"...Sweet, right?"
Licking my lips at her question, a faint sweetness lingered on my lower lip.
Not just lipstick.
"Mine's sweet too."
Her provocative quip.
"I still can't believe you like me."
"......That's old news."
"Not that old if you think about it. Three months? Four?"
Anyway, just a few months ago.
After some emotional turmoil, she accepted my confession, and now this.
"...So you hate it?"
Azalea puffed her cheeks, glaring reproachfully.
I didn't hate it. Loved it.
But... wasn't it amazing?
Post-relationship, her gaze deepened whenever she looked at me.
Did loving Wood Persons affect their looks? Her skin was whiter now, body slimmer than when we met.
Hips seemed a bit wider too—sexier.
-Stroke.
Azalea kept petting Shiba's head while endlessly caressing my cheek.
Squish squish, like it was comfy. She poked fingers into my cheek, giggling delightedly.
"What am I, a doll?"
"Feels nice."
Azalea was skipping Academy today too.
She minded the minimum attendance, so skipping once was fine.
Instead, we'd watch Shiba's talent show together.
"Shall we go?"
The couple heading to their daughter's performance.
Shiba saw Azalea as her mom, so we were practically married.
Azalea seemed to think so too, gripping my hand tightly.
"Let's hurry."
*****
The kindergarten was already packed with parents.
Familiar ones chattered, bragging about their kids.
From the balloon-arch entrance to helium balloons on the ceiling, the place was vibrantly decorated in every color.
Azalea and I sat at a table, gazing at the empty stage.
"So she'll perform there?"
"Yep."
"......So nice. Our kid will do this someday too, right?"
If we had one, probably.
Lots to do first, but after that.
I smiled lightly at Azalea.
"Ah... not that Shiba isn't my daughter."
"I get it. What you mean."
Shiba was her daughter too, but she wanted her own biological one.
"Want one?"
"......"
-Nod.
Her face flushed red as she nodded.
"Lots of people don't have kids these days."
"I don't want that."
Recalling tales from my world, I commented, but Azalea firmly opposed.
If I suggested no kids, she'd argue in earnest—she was that resolute.
"Anyway, eat some fruit. Ahh."
"......"
Like she wanted no more talk, she skewered fruit on a toothpick and fed me.
Apples and more quickly filled my mouth.
As I chomped away, a familiar face approached.
"Shiba's parents, hello~"
Shin Hye-young.
Azalea's face brightened instantly.
"Ah, Teacher! Hello."
"Hello~ You two look so close."
Clap. Habit from handling kids? She clapped to draw attention while greeting.
Shin Hye-young smiled brightly in her yellow apron.
"Do you know how hard our Shiba prepared~?"
"Really?"
"Of course~ Oh right. It'll go on the kindergarten homepage after filming. Won't she look so pretty?"
Azalea agreed, pulling a camera from her bag.
"...When'd you bring that?"
"Gotta for something like this."
She set it up skillfully, smiling.
"Record the kids growing up, watch together at home later—good memories."
"Yeah yeah, got it."
They always clicked so well.
Shin Hye-young was a bit older, but same age group as us or her.
Looked like she'd made the balloons—fragments clung to her apron.
"Ah, starting soon, gotta go."
"Thanks for your hard work."
Off went Shin Hye-young.
Watching her cute teacher outfit, Azalea poked my side.
"......Like that kind of outfit?"
"Nah, just the balloons stuck on."
"She seems to really like Shiba, huh?"
Our Shiba had unbeatable charm.
Leaning back on the chair, I stared at the empty stage.
Then, as the kindergarten teacher grabbed the mic and ascended—
-Vrrr vrrr vrrr!
Phones buzzed everywhere.
Mine vibrated louder than usual from my pocket.
-Beep beep beep.
The emergency alert tone hit, and everyone raised their phones simultaneously.
🚨 EMERGENCY ALERT 🚨 [Emergency Disaster Text] - Terror incident occurred. Close doors and cease all outdoor activity immediately- Why now... of all times.
'These bastards.'
So tactless.
My face hardened the instant I checked the message.