The Dream Flower's Price
While walking along the road, they encountered an old beggar. “Hoo, thank you again today.” “Thank you so much!”
Yuseong and Dohwa bowed at more than ninety degrees in a polite greeting. Choi Gakseong found the sight utterly adorable and pressed a handful of candies into their palms. They were brightly colored, featuring various fruit flavors including strawberry.
“All right, it’s late now, so be careful on your way home.”
“Yes.”
Receiving Choi Gakseong’s farewell, the pair left the dojo and walked the night streets. Because of their height difference, Yuseong matched her pace to Dohwa’s, walking slowly.
“Sister Yuseong, how many more nights do I have to sleep?”
“...Hmm. It’s already been three days, so including today that makes four.”
Dohwa spread all her fingers wide, then after deep thought folded her thumb. Her shoulders slumped.
“Hiiing, there’s still more than half left...”
“It’s okay. Master said Hwaran truly misses you, so she’ll probably return sooner than a week. That means... less than half left, right?”
“Really? Yay!”
Dohwa thrust both arms into the air in celebration. Seeing that bright smile, Yuseong smiled too, but... she knew. She kept thinking about what Dowol was ultimately going to cut down. Or perhaps she had already cut people down.
Is it right for me to be here?
Yuseong pondered for a moment. The lessons at the dojo had been informative. Just as one would expect from elders who had taught countless students over decades, they instructed her from basic stances all the way to practical responses. Of course, Choi Gakseong had apologized with clear regret, saying there simply wasn’t enough time to teach her properly.
In an era when skills were accumulating and the country itself was tilting, they ate and slept without any shortages. No, from the very beginning she had never stepped forward into truly dangerous situations.
I’m living far too comfortably.
Yuseong recalled an uncomfortable truth she could not deny. One might ask what was wrong with that, but she had left Jeju Island with the ambition of becoming famous and earning her family’s recognition, yet everything was far too peaceful.
I know that, too.
Until she could carry her own weight, she was nothing but a burden to her master. In a world where even the skilled were dying, she was still too soft. And compared to those who carried noble aspirations, her own goals were truly vulgar.
“Sister Yuseong.”
“Yes?”
At that moment Dohwa tugged on Yuseong’s sleeve. Yuseong, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to attention and looked at her. Dohwa pointed off to one side.
“It’s a glowing flower!”
“...It really is?”
The place Dohwa pointed to was a dark alley that received almost no light. Even at noon the sun would never reach such a recessed corner, yet inside bloomed a blue flower wrapped in grains of blue light. It was beautiful, but unscientific and abnormal. Before she even sensed the mana within it, Yuseong was certain the flower was not of this Earth. To Dohwa, however, such concerns seemed irrelevant; she let go of Yuseong’s hand and dashed toward the flower.
“You’ll fall if you run like that.”
Yuseong marveled that even a sick child could possess such stamina. Then, just as Dohwa drew near the flower, she belatedly spotted the shadow hidden behind its glow.
“Wait!”
Yuseong sprinted forward and swiftly lifted Dohwa into her arms. With her free hand she readied herself to draw the dagger she had brought along, just in case.
“My my, what noisy young ladies.”
Although the shadow, the flower, and Dohwa were all close enough that she had halted their advance, they were already within speaking distance where they could see one another’s faces clearly in the blue flower’s light. Thanks to that glow, the man’s features gradually revealed themselves. His clothes were somewhat thick yet shabby; his beard and hair were unkempt. Strangely, however, his eyes were not weary but clear. It was an old man. Those clear eyes filled Yuseong with unease, and her wariness toward him rose. Even though he appeared to be a frail human without a single trace of mana.
“Ah, I’m sorry. It’s such a strange flower that the child’s curiosity got the better of her.”
Yuseong bowed first. At the same time she searched for any other presence nearby, but there was none. It was obvious that the weakest of the three people in this alley was this old man, who was not even a sick Awakened.
“Child, do you want this flower?”
“No, it’s not that...”
“Yes!”
Yuseong refused, but Dohwa did not. The old man raised a single finger and spoke quietly.
“Answer one question correctly and I’ll give you this flower.”
“I’ll do it!”
“You’re quick. I like that. Then tell me, what is the floral meaning of this flower?”
“...”
Blinded by her desire for the flower, Dohwa had spoken without thinking, but now that the actual question had arrived she was at a loss. In less than a second her eyes grew watery as she looked pleadingly at Yuseong.
How would I know the floral language of a flower that emits light when I don’t even know its name?
Yuseong, however, did not know the answer either. In the end she had to improvise the most plausible floral meaning she could think of.
“Uh... hope?”
“Close, but wrong. The answer is goal and dream. And the flower’s name is the Dream Zenith Flower.”
“...You didn’t just make that up, did you?”
Yuseong’s voice was thick with disbelief. This flower was obviously not from Earth at first glance, and it seemed unlikely the old man would know anything about the game’s settings.
“Hmm, then I won’t give it to you?”
“You can’t not give it!”
When the old man pretended to sulk, Dohwa wailed. Fortunately, that appeared to be the exact reaction he had wanted; his attitude returned to normal.
“...Then how about one dinner? I happen to be quite hungry. Give me one meal and the flower is yours.”
The old man spoke as if he were being generous, but Yuseong’s eyes turned icy. One meal versus one flower. Even by the standards of two months ago when she had been a boss, this would have been called a thief’s mentality; now it was outrageously expensive. Of course the flower was a catalyst, but the catalysts piled in the café were also catalysts. More importantly, the food, the catalysts, the café where they would eat, and the house itself all belonged to Dowol, not her. She could only refuse.
Yet Yuseong could not reject him outright. Not only was Dohwa staring at her with desperate eyes that begged ‘please buy that for me,’ but—
-Gurgle~!
Right on cue, a rumble sounded from the old man’s stomach and his eyes took on the same pleading look as Dohwa’s. Suddenly cast as the desperate savior of the socially vulnerable, Yuseong had to endure those gazes. She was not cold-blooded enough to reject them mercilessly.
I can just share my own portion.
After a quick mental calculation, Yuseong let out a small sigh.
“...I can’t prepare much, but if that’s all right with you...”
What is dignity? There are many factors, but the easiest to understand is to look upon an entity that solemnly gazes down at you from on high. Especially if that entity is one that can toy with your life, your fate, and your very existence on a whim.
And here, the colossal being that fulfilled those conditions was a massive presence that brightly illuminated the entire area even in the pitch-black night. If someone wearing glasses took them off and looked, it would appear as though a dozens-story building was burning down entirely, but if one caught even a hint of its outline, one would realize it was not a building but a giant burning serpent.
“Fuck.”
Nam Hongryeon steadied her trembling legs with a curse and drew up her mana. Otherwise it felt as though the giant steel bastard and its monster legion would charge forward at any moment to devour their weakened ranks.
If that was the case, there was no problem. If they began to collapse now, it felt as though the entire line would crumble…
No. It wouldn’t be that simple.
Nam Hongryeon looked at Ha Dowol, who had not moved from her spot for seventy-two hours and was radiating the most threatening aura among them.
Is she even human? No, she’s not human.
A human could not do that. No human could remain in a state of not eating, not excreting, or sleeping while maintaining perfect concentration and recovering at the same time. Her shoulders felt heavy. Her breath froze solid the moment it left her lips and scattered as frost. Perhaps because she had not slept for so long, auditory hallucinations had begun to reach her.
But even so.
Nam Hongryeon believed that if the Awakened gathered on this battlefield alongside Dowol resolved themselves for death, they could at least cripple the steel serpent and perhaps even defeat it. Of course, the reason they had not done so until now was because the sacrifice would be far too great. From the perspective of the future, it was far too dangerous a gamble.
Of course, that assumption only held if the steel serpent was alone. In reality, because it led an army of youkai, the outcome remained unknown. This was not a duel but a war. Not a concentration of power but its dispersion. They had to postpone all-out war until the shells expended while the steel serpent advanced to the front line were replenished and the catalyst coating was completed. In truth, the latter had caused the delay. For that reason, Korea had refrained from launching a reckless attack until three full days had passed.
“Fuck. If you’re going to fight then fight, if you’re going to run then run. Why the hell are you just staring at us?”
One of the Awakened beside Nam Hongryeon wiped away sweat and spat out the curse. And as if the gods had heard his wish, an anomaly occurred.
“Communication magic? That’s not the standard channel! Trace the source immediately!”
“There’s a person on that steel bastard’s head!”
Lee Han stood atop Gangcheori’s head, looking down at the Awakened as he made his appearance.