Chapter 366
Chapter 366
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 366
Chapter Title: Poor King...
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"Poor King..."
Aori's mutter made Sun chuckle.
"What can we do? Big bro needs it."
"But whenever the King hears about trees, he really looks like he's gonna hurl."
Everyone has their own traumas etched into their minds.
Especially someone whose life flipped upside down just from being impaled on a tree. That trauma must be deeply ingrained.
When Sun and Aori had spoken to Lee Siheon, they could sense fragments of the trauma he carried.
"And now that kind of person is starting to accept trees."
"Isn't that amazing?"
"You bet it is."
Usually, even with the strongest resolve, people give up after three days.
Even ordinary folks struggle with that. For Lee Siheon, who had lived as a wreck once or twice...
How much determination must he have mustered to change?
"No matter how much the world has changed, people don't change easily. It must be a bunch of reasons piling up that got him here."
Aori nodded at Sun's words.
It was an obvious conclusion anyone could reach, easy to empathize with.
They both thought the same thing.
A person who hated trees that much was beginning to accept his destiny.
It might not seem like much to others, but for him, it was a huge leap.
Sun muttered seriously.
"Aori. Big bro's mind is pretty focused right now."
"...Yeah."
"And we're the ones supporting that."
Remember that. We can do it, right?
"Yeah. We can do it."
Aori nodded firmly. She clenched her fists, expressing her resolve.
Sun's lips curved up at the sight.
"Good girl."
The two were born to serve the King.
They were experts at human psychology and responding to it.
"But is the King really struggling that much?"
"Yeah."
Sun shrugged at Aori's question. Asking more would just hurt his mouth.
The state of Lee Siheon's mind, as Sun assessed it, was too complex to explain in words.
He recalled the story about Lee Siheon he'd heard in the Cradle.
-Our Master... Honestly, if she ordered me to do something right now, she'd probably be the person I trust most.
-That precious to you?
-Of course. She basically saved my life.
Lots of subjective interpretation and exaggeration, but that just meant she was that important.
Even when Sun first met Lee Siheon, he had this hollow look.
"He was worn out from the pressure of needing to solve something quickly. To the point where those around him had to relieve that exhausted mind somehow."
Subconsciously, he'd leaned heavily on the people around him.
Sansu-yu became that support, along with his masters and lovers.
That was Sun's judgment.
"And now he's even rejecting those masters."
Lee Siheon had opposed Heavenly Path. He'd voluntarily pulled out one of the pillars he relied on.
That would bring immense mental pressure.
"Big bro's human, after all. He's wearing down bit by bit."
"...Human? The King? He's super strong."
"It's not about skill or talent. His lifestyle and mindset were more ordinary than we thought."
He'd gone through too much in too short a time.
His growth was remarkable, but he hadn't had a moment's rest.
"Something's chasing him. I don't know where that anxiety comes from."
But Lee Siheon's excessive confidence and drive for improvement.
His over-the-top respect and attachment toward certain people—all stemmed from that mental state.
"I see."
Aori nodded again. She had no choice but to nod.
She'd always left the thinking to Sun in their daily lives.
"What we have to do is simple. Just one thing."
"...Yeah."
"Help Big bro as much as we can."
Outward confidence often stems from deep anxiety.
Knowing one's shortcomings well, but resisting when there's no escape.
The struggle of life. An active defense mechanism.
Some call it resilience.
Others might see it as bravado.
"Got it."
"Yeah."
Sun and Aori both reached into their pockets at the same time.
They'd entered a dark alley. Like one body, they quickly scanned the surroundings.
-Zzzap!
A short burst of magic. Lingering electricity struck the hidden hunters around them.
"Guh, kaaack!"
Flies dropping into the quiet spot.
-Whoosh!
A dagger aimed at Aori grazed her shoulder blade.
"Poison won't work."
Wriggle. Tree sprouts emerged, turning into skin as they regenerated.
Numerous hunters began surrounding Aori and Sun.
"We were a bit late spotting them this time?"
Fluent Chinese flowed from Sun's mouth. The hunters' eyes narrowed.
"Guess it's natural, showing up so openly in Nagoya. Aori?"
"Yeah."
"Kill 'em all."
A fierce glow lit Aori's face.
-Crunch!
Tree root-like tentacles burst from her waist, spreading like wings in all directions.
The eight-pronged things split wide, piercing the hearts of the hidden hunters.
-Splat!
Spilling entrails. Blood. Vomit.
Sun stood at the center, smiling bitterly.
Maybe that's what they call a biological weapon.
His body shuddered in terror at the grotesque sounds echoing.
-Grind...
Twisting bodies. Unfocused, bloodshot eyes.
A walking disaster. A monster unfit to be called a girl stood there.
If hunters have ranks, criminals have tiers too.
Stricter criteria than hunters, for inciting social unrest.
Aori was one of them.
An S-rank disaster, reached by all Flower executives except the off-spec Wood Spirit King and Heavenly Demon, and those nearing that realm.
"Sun."
A living catastrophe.
Aori turned, her eyes gleaming with childlike innocence.
"Now we go see the King?"
A long time ago.
How should one think about a girl so broken she couldn't move, better off dead, turning out like this?
"Let's go."
But that wasn't important.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Hoo..."
Today's cigarettes clung perfectly to my lips.
"Big bro, didn't you quit smoking?"
"......"
"King... Chain-smoking's bad for you."
I stared blankly at the sky with unfocused eyes.
"Sun..."
"...Yes."
A raspy voice croaked out hoarsely.
"Wahhh, the King's so pitiful..."
Aori clutched her chest, tears streaming down her face.
Regardless, I continued my monologue doggedly.
"If trees smoke, does the filter make them live longer...?"
My hand holding the cigarette trembled. The sucked-down filter showed veins clearly through the thin skin.
"B-Big bro! Please snap out of it!!"
Burning cigarette ash. Sunset glow.
Back since dawn, now night falling. I wiped my philtrum with damp hands.
Salty sweat and sap stench filled the air.
Sun's face looked especially cruel as he shook my shoulders.
"This is the result Big bro chose!"
"I know. I get it, but..."
-Cough.
A dry cough. No blood was a relief.
"I know this kid, Jeong Si-woo... He lives super hard to save his sister?"
"Big bro, I've heard that... Don't say it."
"He dives into dungeons risking his life. Contracts spirits... Gets shot. Sun, that's normal, right? People get stronger. Yeah?"
"King... Let's go eat some pretty girls. Not trees... Just the girls you like..."
"But why am I the one getting eaten?"
I dropped my head limply. My reflection in the lake shore faded into the ripples.
Gaunt cheeks, shadowed wreck-of-a-person face around the eye sockets.
Oh right. I'd changed my mask's form unconsciously.
Trying to get eaten less by making my face uglier.
"Where next."
"Big bro... Wahhh!! There's a place like the last one, but rougher at night..."
"......"
Silence stretched. I lit another chain-smoke right there.
-Puff.
Thick cigarette clouds billowed. Good thing this was the pleasure district. I could smoke freely.
Right now, I felt I could embrace anyone.
I looked at Sun and Aori.
Yeah. They'd gone through what I had.
"You guys lived hard lives."
"...Waaahhh!!!"
Sun and Aori collapsed to their knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"You worked hard looking for me."
"Nooo!!! Nooo, Kiiing!!!"
"Lead the way."
Tree roots growing under the lake.
Tree trunks by the roadside.
All the buildings were trees.
The world was full of trees.
I had no choice but to seriously contemplate nature's love.
Sun and Aori, half-crying, grabbed my shoulders and led me.
"I got nothing to say to Big bro's girlfriends..."
"Sun. I'm just a bastard... That's it."
"Sob."
-Click.
The door opened again. Sun and Aori didn't escort me further.
A fight without a sword.
The King's service industry.
If a fallen kingdom's queen were sold at a slave market, it'd probably be like this.
"Oh my. Handsome. A top-quality S-rank, rare these days~"
Why do they all say the same thing?
"Come in, come on. Customers are waiting."
"Yes."
"Oh right, oh right, look at me~ Wear this outfit."
"This is too... open, isn't it?"
"I'll pay extra."
"......"
Me. Doing this for daily wages...?
"No money."
"Oh dear."
As if mishearing, the woman covered her mouth.
"A young guy... Sigh. Fine..."
She thought I was doing this because I liked it, probably.
I tried to say more, but choked on some emotion in my throat and gave up.
Fine. Let's go with that.
Parting the curtain into the room, seeing countless tree protrusions, I giggled in self-loathing.
"...Master. Sansu-yu."
Fuck, I'm going in.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "......"
"Big bro. Must've been a mix-up. Seriously, I swear!"
"......"
"Who knew it was an SM place!!!"
Sun panicked, rambling excuses.
Beside him, Aori wiped tears while rubbing my skin with her hand.
Vivid tree whip marks remained.
Activating halted regeneration, the scars finally faded.
"Should I, uh, go complain for you, Big bro?"
"King... Got done in by Sun. So pitiful... But so sexy..."
I flicked Aori's forehead as she breathed heavily at the half-healed scars.
"Ow!"
Aori toppled with a game-character onomatopoeia.
I swept my hand over my forehead.
"...These days, do knots have suction too? Like. Yeah? Level up with age and learn new tricks?"
"Th-that's... knot-fellatio."
"......Huh."
I was speechless.
"Kuhuhuhu, huhuhuhu. Fuck. Huhuhuhuhu."
"Sun, the King's lost it... Do something!!"
"Fuck, how was I supposed to know that place was like that!"
I laughed through tears.
"That Wood Spirit King bastard... Kekeke. How'd he live like that?"
"Big bro. Get a grip. Grip!"
It was just too funny, absurd, and pitiful.
Wasn't he a doctor?
Messing around without talent till the world ended—what the hell did he do for it?
Only after going through it did I understand his grand purpose.
"King, boo hoo."
Aori rubbed her cheek on my shin, crying with me. I pulled my leg away and shouted in my bloodied throat.
"Next."
"Y-Yes? Rest a bit, Big bro..."
"Fuck, bring the next one!!!"
Was my body the priority now?
Figuring out survival came first.
Once my mind snapped, it felt like I'd realized what was truly precious.