Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Purity
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-Thud thud thud thud!
The helicopter carrying the fainted sisters roared into the sky with its propellers.
There had been plenty of mishaps... but in the end, I never got an answer from those sisters.
The reason they tried to kill me.
When I eavesdropped on their call through the tree, I heard that the rape wasn't their idea—it had come from higher up.
-Thud thud thud!
Squinting in the morning sunlight, I watched the helicopter disappear into the distance.
Outside the dungeon, back at the academy.
We were kept apart from familiar faces for a while under pretexts like treatment and circumstance investigations.
Was that why?
After being transported back to the academy like cargo, I felt hostile glares piercing me.
-Prod.
Someone poked my back.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Turning around, I saw Azalea standing there, her eyes slanted sharply like a cat's.
"...Did you stay well?"
"Unbelievable."
She snorted derisively.
Just minutes ago, her face had been full of worry, but now she seemed a bit better.
"Nothing happened, right? Please, for heaven's sake, don't vanish on your own like that. My heart nearly stopped."
"My heart's the one that dropped, not yours."
"...Don't keep just piling on favors and then die. And we're friends—shouldn't that count for something?"
Azalea always emphasized that we were friends.
According to Se-young, Azalea had put tremendous effort into tracking my coordinates.
When had this woman, who once hated me so much, grown this close?
I didn't hold back my smile under the mask.
"Thanks. Sincerely."
Having someone move for my sake felt pretty good.
Beyond Azalea, many others had rolled up their sleeves to help me.
Even though, publicly, I was just some lowly human cadet A.
If I'd claimed as much, it would've meant I was destined to be saved in the end.
...Even for a shady guy like me.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
"Still, declaring we'd be friends back then and causing all that chaos wasn't a wrong choice... Why's your face like that?"
As I reminisced about the one past decision I thought was right, Azalea's face turned bright red.
She seemed about to say something, then clamped her mouth shut and averted her gaze a few times.
Then she tugged at her collar and cleared her throat.
"Ahem. It's just... first time hearing a thank-you like that..."
True to her awkwardness with relationships.
Or was it just with me?
I genuinely wished she'd drop the formal speech already.
-Tug tug.
"Sian."
Another woman awkward with relationships was there.
I turned to Cornus, who was pulling at my clothes.
"It's Si-heon, not Sian."
"...Si-heon."
"What?"
Cornus pouted and lightly smacked my shoulder.
"You haven't come to training since that day."
...Ah.
In this situation?
"Sorry... Got kidnapped, couldn't help with training."
"Got it. Now pay up for the help."
"Pay?"
"Mi-ho said helping friends is obvious."
Cornus reverted to her usual expressionless face, as if that settled it.
"And she said to get proper compensation for helping."
"Kukuku, yeah? What do you want?"
"Mapo spicy rose tteokbokki. New one came out."
"Car's here. I'll buy it later, so head in. You too, Azalea."
Hearing me, Azalea fanned her still-red face and stepped forward.
Just before getting in the car, she turned back as if remembering something.
"Oh. Right. That kid..."
Shiba.
The word hit me while I was already stewing, sending chills down my spine.
"Shiba? Uh, uh, why? Something happen—"
"C-calm down. She's in my room. Eating, too."
Slam.
Tension released.
Good. My held breath returned.
I'd broken into a sweat in that brief moment from the shock.
As I sighed in relief and patted my chest, Azalea stared blankly at me from the car.
Her eyes hinted at expectation.
"That... I did good, right?"
"Yeah, you did great. Thanks."
Grinning at my follow-up, Azalea got in the car. Cornus did too.
Now just me.
I wanted to follow Azalea straight to Shiba, but transportation was basically mandatory.
"Hey, you coming or not?"
Lee Se-young. Beside her, banging on her car's hood, a woman with crimson hair leisurely smoked.
Cheondo, exuding sensuality as always.
Even her outfit had changed to something tights-like, making it more pronounced today.
-Click.
Sitting in the familiar passenger seat, the two opened the doors and entered.
In the car with the engine off.
The heavy silence broke with Lee Se-young's opener.
"That's everything?"
I'd explained earlier the circumstances of my kidnapping.
Kidnapped for no reason I knew, turned into their plaything, and how I took control of the place.
"That's it."
"...Yeah. That's why I'm frustrated. Some nobodies messing with my cadet."
Vroom.
The engine started.
Lee Se-young leaned back in her seat, stretching. Her armpit exposed coolly.
Deliberately provocative staging. Se-young smirked teasingly.
"Still got some perv left in you, so your mental health's fine."
"First person I've seen check like that."
"Works like a charm. They say it doesn't even twitch when you're exhausted."
"Watch your language in front of Master, please."
"Oh right. Forgot since it's been a while with just us."
Lee Se-young covered her mouth and glanced back.
Cheondo sighed with a displeased face.
"...Like teacher, like student."
"And like master, like disciple. You're the sluttiest dressed here."
"Shut it."
Cheondo snapped at me and wrapped herself in her half-off gonryongpo.
She seemed aware of her provocative look.
I chuckled at Cheondo.
"Hey."
Lee Se-young alternated glances between Cheondo and me, then whispered in my ear.
"You didn't go after her too, did you?"
"Why would I touch my master?"
I made an X with my hands.
Lee Se-young exhaled in relief, understanding.
"Figured. Not like it's anyone else, it's you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hitting on strangers on sight."
True, so no retort.
Her insisting on "hitting on" made it kinda cute.
"Anyway, moving on."
Lee Se-young cleared her throat a few times and resumed.
She signaled to Cheondo behind her, who finally spoke slowly.
"No fluff. First, Lee Si-heon, you're being targeted right now."
The mood turned serious; I straightened up politely.
"I knew that much."
"Right. The problem is multiple organizations are after you."
Cheondo pinched her brow with thumb and forefinger.
"I heard from that girl. World Tree husband candidate? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Didn't want to be a husband."
"I see. Don't keep secrets from me henceforth."
"Yes."
Cheondo crossed her legs. Through the fine holes in her tights revealing her body's lines, her porcelain skin seemed to peek through.
"Do you know about Flower?"
Cheondo continued in a clear, jade-like voice.
"Roughly, but I might have misconceptions, so explain."
"Sure. Flower... Think of them as a group hating the current society ruled by World Trees."
Bitter tone.
"A world where one word from a World Tree decides life and death. Saving humans from that—noble cause, in a way."
"You agree somewhat?"
Her words didn't sound negative, so I asked. Cheondo closed her eyes in response.
"Their goal isn't wrong, if you ignore their dirty methods."
"I see."
"Anyway, Flower is a coalition of seven organizations. They're gathering the Leaves of Prophecy."
I swallowed and focused on the new terms.
Cheondo smacked her lips as if bitter, then stared straight at me.
"One of those leaves is you, Lee Si-heon."
"..."
"And the prophecy says if they can't recruit you as an ally, they must kill you."
"What?"
Stunned, I asked again. Lee Se-young supplemented.
"Remember when you met Lee Seong-han?"
"Oh, that time... But that was some unrelated cult, right?"
"Low-level groups act without knowing higher intents. Blindly loyal cults make good tools."
Got it.
"But the issue is you're not just targeted by Flower. Fucking ridiculous."
Nodding to Lee Se-young, Cheondo pulled a long pipe from her gonryongpo, filled with tobacco.
-Flick.
She lit it and opened the window.
No one here minded smoking anyway.
"World Tree of Resentment."
"Who's that?"
"Don't know. A World Tree from this world, but unconfirmed—probably like the World Tree of Healing."
Puff. Cheondo exhaled hazy smoke out the window.
"World Trees can intervene in the husband candidate system by their mere existence. Considering your directive's penalty, it's likely abusing that."
"Why target me?"
"...Nothing come to mind?"
Nothing. I had karma, but unrelated to any World Tree of Resentment.
My husband candidates were...
'Wait.'
A thought flashed.
Who were my husband candidate targets?
I'd assumed the World Tree of Purity, since she'd always responded to me.
The first day I asked while dropping trou.
When I vented cynically about the world.
The system always came from the World Tree of Purity.
So I'd taken it for granted.
But the system never guided me.
Just "first husband candidate" once, and to become worthy once.
If multiple World Trees could control the directive?
Then the World Tree of Purity might not be my wife tree.
What then?
Who was the tree I raped before coming here?
Who was the woman telling me to take responsibility for her mom?
What was the World Tree of Purity?
Whose daughter was my daughter?
"...Hold on."
"Something clicked, huh."
"Not that..."
My head heated up. I breathed deep, taking time to ponder.
Lee Se-young and Cheondo watched sympathetically, giving me space.
World Tree of Purity.
'What are you?'
No answer.
Might never come.
Like when common sense was implanted upon arrival here.
A baseless certainty that we'd never converse again.
Yet, leaving traces of her existence.
-Shiba is our daughter.
That "our" was clear in my mind.
About the unfair treatment since arriving.
If purely to screw me, quests wouldn't have rewards set.
Nor would they let me manipulate status with points.
Ultimately.
When some World Tree tried to kill me.
She alone sided with me.
Blindly, without complaint.
"Sorted your thoughts?"
If right, the World Tree of Resentment's identity would follow naturally.
I said lowly.
"Yes."
Who dragged me here to lead me to death.
The sisters made it clear.
"Worried?"
I didn't answer Cheondo.
Misreading it, she spoke softly.
"Don't worry. A master protects her disciple. Hone your skills carefree."
Grateful words.
But I'd never worried.
No—rather, clarity dawned.
After blindly hacking through thorny darkness, I finally glimpsed the sky beyond.
Raising my head from the matted grass. Facing the world squarely.
Confidence I'd break through the suffocating snare.
"Thank you."
...The goal was in sight.