Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Witch's Cabin (3)
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The next morning.
-Ding ding ding~ ting~ diriding ding~!
Why was this bleak modern morning, without even a bird's chirp, so welcoming? I groped around my bedside table and turned off my phone alarm. Bathed in warm sunlight, I woke up naturally.
"Huaaaam……."
I stretched with a big yawn and got out of bed. From outside the door, I could hear Mom preparing breakfast. She'd grumbled about how annoying it was that I was staying another night, telling me to hurry up and get married, but deep down, she seemed pleased that I was sticking around one more day.
"Good morning."
I scratched my belly as I shuffled into the living room. Dad had the news on, casually reporting the weather and road conditions. As I glanced at the TV, Dad casually remarked,
"Traffic's backed up."
"It's fine. I can take it slow."
Huaam. I yawned again and headed to the bathroom. While brushing my teeth with a plastic toothbrush, I couldn't stop marveling at modern civilization. In that pseudo-medieval land, I'd had to make my own bamboo toothbrush and salt toothpaste…… Even then, it always felt grimy no matter how much I scrubbed, and the mercenaries hated it because they were obsessed with cleanliness. Of course, none of those mercenaries had decent teeth anyway. If they even rinsed their mouths, that was lucky!
I grabbed a cool barley tea from the fridge, chugged it down, and sat at the table. Breakfast was seaweed soup. The steaming hot soup, simmered with beef, gave off a rich, savory aroma. I neatly set out the utensils at my spot, Mom's, and Dad's, smacking my lips. Wow, grilled mackerel too! Smells amazing.
"Mom. This breakfast is killer again today. Amazing!"
"Oh my, what's gotten into you since yesterday?"
Sitting around the table as a family for a meal—why hadn't I realized how happy and precious this everyday routine was before?
‘……Time to get my act together and start being a better son.’
I calmed my swelling emotions and picked up my spoon. The seaweed soup, tasted after so long, was truly, truly warm and truly, truly delicious.
* * *
"Good morning!"
I opened the office door with a bright greeting, and everyone looked baffled. Well, I couldn't blame my teammates for reacting that way. I'd never once greeted them like this in the morning.
‘But I'm a changed man now!’
Reflecting on my experiences in that land full of lunatics, I felt moved and grateful that my current colleagues were normal people. For starters, company folks usually didn't kill people. Back there, everyone was a potential murderer. I smiled warmly as I looked around at my colleagues' faces. Ah, those kind faces!
"……Sir, you know it's Monday today, right?"
"I know."
"But you seem in such a~ good mood?!"
"Something like that."
"Gasp, don't tell me……."
"Don't tell me what."
"You got a girlfriend? Like, that woman you were set up with the week before last?"
"Nah, nothing like that. I told you I'm not interested. Work's killing me as it is."
"Oh~ I was just asking in case. You look way too happy!"
Of course you'd be thrilled if you'd rolled through hellish pseudo-medieval land and returned to modern civilization? I swallowed those words. Even working at a game company, saying that out loud would get me labeled crazy or a chuunibyou.
"Let's just work. Work."
I sat at my desk and turned on my computer. Ah, who'd have thought my desk would feel this welcoming? Nice to see you, desk. Nice to see you, monitor. Nice to see you, keyboard. Nice to see you, mouse!
I dove into work with unprecedented focus. I even turned down coffee breaks, and as I hammered out the planning docs, my junior stuck out their tongue in amazement.
‘Work's going too smoothly?’
Was it because the game-like experience felt so vivid? Using my experiences as fertilizer for my brain, tasks that I used to hate untangled effortlessly. Emphasize this element here, that one there. This point will definitely grab attention, and……
"Huu……."
How much time had passed?
"Ugh, it's way past quitting time already."
I stretched and looked around. It was already pitch black night. The empty office had only me left. Come to think of it, I think my junior had freaked out at my intensity and bolted like they were fleeing……
‘Work's going so well, I can't stop.’
At this rate, promotion's a sure thing. I chuckled as I tidied my desk and grabbed my bag. Then, a single sheet of paper slipped from the documents. Instead of writing, it had a crow drawn on it.
"This is……."
Crows.
Come to think of it, were there files on the Crows?
‘……It was all just a dream anyway, but it still bugs me.’
It felt off. I stared at the crow drawing for a while, then set my bag back down. And turned the computer back on.
‘Just check and go, just check…….’
Starting with my own files, then shared ones, I scoured everything I could access. Crow, crow, crow, crow……
Crows.
"……."
Surprisingly, there was no information on the Crows anywhere.
No, saying "nowhere" wasn't right.
The info on the Crows was in a place I couldn't access.
I glared at the one locked file that wouldn't open.
[Cㄱ0ㅜ]
Weird filename.
Normally, I'd think, "Glitch?" and move on.
But now……
‘[C] stays [C].’
[C___]
‘[ㄱ] becomes [R] if you switch to English input.’
[CR__]
‘Number [0] looks like letter [O].’
[CRO_]
‘[ㅜ] is probably the sound…… [W].’
[CROW]
"Crows……."
I felt a chilling gaze on my back. That eerie creepiness made me, like a horror game protagonist, scan my surroundings. As if a ghost, zombie, or goblin might pop out any second.
"……."
But nothing happened.
Because this is "reality"?
Or……
I tried to open the locked file again, but I couldn't. Might as well do what I can. I copied the locked file to my USB.
[70%…….]
[80%…….]
[90%…….]
[95%…….]
[99%…….]
Just as the copy was finishing, the door burst open with a bang! I jumped and looked over. In the dark hallway, the security guard shone a flashlight.
"What're you doing here this late?"
"……W-Work. Work. Just finishing up now."
[100%]
[Copy complete]
I yanked out the USB and pocketed it. The guard eyed me suspiciously for a moment, then nodded.
"……Get home safe."
"Y-Yes. You too."
I scrambled to grab my bag and bolted. My heart pounded like mad.
‘……But did our company even have a guard like that?’
I tried to recall, but for some reason, I couldn't remember the guard's face at all. Just a vague, dough-like impression lingered……
‘Weird…….’
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
I hurried home. For some reason, even the convenience store I always saw open 24/7 was closed, and all the streetlights were off. Whoa, should I report this to city hall? How is this possible…….
No moon in the sky, surroundings pitch black. Not a soul around, giving it an eerie vibe. I walked faster, then faster. An inexplicable dread crept from my ankles up my body.
‘I hate this feeling…….’
Just turn this corner, and home's there. Once inside, I'll be safe. Thinking that, even without anyone chasing, I broke into a run. The moment I rounded the corner.
"……Gasp!"
I stopped dead and caught my breath. In the middle of the pitch-dark alley stood a child. Silver hair cascading in waves.
She looked just like someone I'd seen before.
Strangely relieved, I approached step by step. The child had eyes closed, humming a tune with lips pursed. It was somehow melancholic.
"Um……."
The moment I tried to speak.
-Shwoop!
-Psssh!!!
-Kwaaaah!!!
The lurking darkness surged from all sides toward the child like it had been waiting. Snake-like, octopus-tentacle horrors devoured her at blinding speed. I watched, unable even to scream.
Humans are fragile. Face something insanely terrifying, and your body locks up, helpless. That was me. I wanted to rush and save her, but my legs wouldn't move. Wanted to yell for help, but my mouth wouldn't open.
"……!"
All I could do was tremble.
If I had mana, skills, if Ayla, El, Lloyd were here.
I'd been thrilled to return to "reality," yet here I was, pathetically wishing for that.
‘Somehow, I have to do something…….’
Move. Move! Even without being a Druid, without mana, without skills—I have to save that child. Amid the suffocating pressure threatening to make me faint, I desperately repeated. Move now! Save that child!
Kang Tae-oh!
Theodore!
-Piyoooo……
Then, a familiar cry rang in my ears. From the gaps in the darkness tentacles that swallowed her, tiny lights leaked out. One, two, three, four—the lights multiplied.
-Boom!!!!
-Fwoosh!!!!
The light became a massive rainbow flame. The rainbow flame shaped into a beautiful phoenix, beating powerful wings. The wings burned and repelled the darkness. I stared, dumbfounded.
"G-Good……."
Good thing.
I couldn't finish before blacking out.