#52 At Dawn (5)
#52 At Dawn (5)
At Eun-ha's words, Woo-taek nodded. Bandages covered most of his face, so he couldn't speak, but his meaning was clear. Woo-taek had survived the Silent Mouth's magic thanks to his monstrous vitality, and despite the full-body burns, he'd managed to manifest a Weak Regeneration skill. That had been just yesterday. Until then, the powerful magic energy that had seeped deep into his body had made any surgery or even direct treatment impossible. Now, at least, they could breathe a little easier.
If he hadn't awakened the skill... Eun-ha let out a heavy breath.
"I'll see you back at the clan."
She walked past Woo-taek, who gave a feeble nod in return, and her gaze drifted toward Gu Jin-ha's room. His final surgery had finished early that morning. Visitation was still out of the question, but from what she'd been told, his life was no longer in danger. Now he just needed to regain consciousness...
'Haa...'
What if she'd made up her mind to help just a little sooner? A little faster? Could things have been different? She left the hospital with a heavy heart, and by the time she arrived at the clan building, she stopped to steady her breathing.
...Truth be told, she'd wanted to rest at first. But after seeing them, the thought had vanished.
Revenge against the Alpha—that had been the driving force behind everything for so long. But things were different now. The misunderstanding had been cleared. Now, she wanted to grow stronger, purely and simply.
—Like the Alpha.
She took a deep breath. Just as she was about to step inside, someone grabbed her shoulder.
"Good timing."
A voice she'd heard before. Eun-ha spun around, eyes going wide.
"Disciple of the Spear Saint...? What brings you here? More importantly, are you all right?"
"I wasn't badly hurt."
That was absurd. The woman had held off the Juggernaut alone—there was no way she hadn't been injured. The only reason she was standing now was because a certain Fairy Dragon's light powder had healed her wounds. It had let her recover and get back on her feet quickly.
"Are you all right? Your name is..."
The Disciple narrowed her eyes slightly, and Eun-ha answered at once.
"Lee Eun-ha!"
"...I'm not your superior. You don't need to be so formal. If it's not an imposition, could you show me the way?"
Show her the way—this was the representative clan of Daejeon. Why was the clan lord of the Hermit's Forest here? Eun-ha tilted her head.
"Yes, that's fine, but... where do you need to go?"
"I have business with the Sword Saint."
Eun-ha's eyes went round. She was in the same clan and had never even exchanged a word with the man. It really drove home that the person standing in front of her was both one of the greatest Hunters alive and the direct disciple of Changseon, foremost of the Seven Heroes.
"Yes, ma'am!"
—Eun-ha led her through the proper procedures, and before long they reached the seventh floor. Ha-yeon, Team 1's vice-captain and Kang Tae-jun's secretary, was already there waiting. Just as Eun-ha figured she was free to go—
"—Lee Eun-ha. Wait."
Ha-yeon stopped her. Eun-ha tilted her head, suddenly anxious. Had she done something wrong? She couldn't think of anything. Soon enough, Kang Tae-jun's voice carried from behind the door, and the three of them entered the Clan Leader's office together.
"You're here?"
"It's been a few days, Sword Saint. Are you well?"
The two greeted each other casually, but Eun-ha had missed her timing and was left fidgeting in place. Should she bow? Should she not? She probably should, but if she did it now she'd interrupt the flow of conversation...
Just as her head was starting to spin, Kang Tae-jun's gaze finally landed on her.
"Ah. You're the one..."
"Yes! I'm Lee Eun-ha!"
She bowed sharply. Kang Tae-jun gestured with his chin.
"Sit. It'll take a while before I'm free. And Disciple of the Spear Saint... you didn't need to come all this way."
'Before I'm free?'
"...I wanted to see Seonru again as soon as possible."
Seonru—the name of her white spear. Kang Tae-jun nodded and retrieved it from its stand, but Eun-ja-rim barely glanced at it. She was looking around the room as though searching for something. Eun-ha tilted her head, puzzled, but the Disciple's disappointment was obvious. She seemed to debate something, then parted her lips.
"...I'm a little tired from traveling all morning. I'll rest here a moment, if that's all right."
"Heh. Suit yourself."
'......?'
Did he just laugh? Eun-ha thought she might have imagined it, but the way the Disciple's hand curled into a fist told her otherwise. A soft rustling. Soon the only sound in the room was the Clan Leader organizing his documents. The atmosphere didn't feel hostile, exactly, but Eun-ha spent the next several minutes silently wrestling with the question of why she was even here. Unlike her fidgeting self, Eun-ja-rim was calmly sipping the tea Ha-yeon had brought.
"......."
Still, the Clan Leader had called her here. The vice-captain wouldn't yell at her... right? Her mind was running in circles by the time the door swung open without a knock, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"There you are."
The person who'd opened the door—wasn't there. Instead, a long tentacle was wrapped around the handle. Eun-ha followed it downward and saw a little black puppy trotting in, playing with a Fairy Dragon.
"No way..."
Eun-ja-rim muttered under her breath, but Eun-ha was already certain. She rose from her seat.
"Alpha...!"
An abrupt reunion. Before she ever sensed the magical energy, Eun-ha had recognized him. She'd seen his puppy form before. She knew beyond any doubt that this was the Alpha. Seeing him like this felt even more welcome than his wolf form had.
"——."
The Wolf dipped his head in place of an answer. His tentacles waved in a gesture that looked almost like a greeting. Kang Tae-jun let out another silent laugh. Eun-ja-rim set down her teacup.
"It's been a while, Alpha. Eu—?!"
Perry launched herself at Eun-ja-rim, who caught the Fairy Dragon in open arms, an expression of near-rapture on her face. The two basked in their reunion. When had they gotten that close? Hadn't Eun-ja-rim been the one unilaterally following her around? I shook my head. In any case, the moment I'd been waiting for had come.
I met Kang Tae-jun's eyes, and he nodded.
"Lee Eun-ha."
"Sir!"
She jumped at the sound of her name and snapped to attention. From her perspective, this was probably the equivalent of being dragged into the CEO's office without warning. It would've been weirder if she weren't nervous.
"I called you here to confirm one thing... but seeing your reaction, that's no longer necessary."
"...Sir?"
"Jirisan, Beopgyesa Temple. The Alpha wasn't the Warg that attacked you—he was your savior. That's correct, isn't it?"
Eun-ha answered in a daze, and Kang Tae-jun let out a small sigh. He'd expected as much, but now even the last lingering shadow of doubt was gone.
—The verification was complete. Kang Tae-jun gazed at the Demon Wolf, now proven completely innocent, and nodded. All that remained was to verify whether the Wolf was the kind of person who would betray that trust. And that wouldn't take long, either.
"Understood. And Disciple of the Spear Saint... your business seems to be finished. Are you still tired?"
"......!"
Eun-ja-rim ground her teeth, apologized for the intrusion, and strode from the room. Perry followed right behind her. Kang Tae-jun spoke.
"...You may go as well. I have nothing more for you."
"Ah, yes, sir!"
As Eun-ha turned to leave, Kang Tae-jun's voice followed her, barely above a murmur.
"...You worked hard on the Neverland raid. Keep at it."
"......Thank you, sir!"
Alone now, Kang Tae-jun polished his glasses.
***
'...I honestly thought I was going to die.'
Wedged between the Clan Leader and the Disciple of the Spear Saint, she'd felt like she was being crushed. Thank goodness it had only been a quick confirmation—any longer and... Eun-ha shook her head firmly.
'More importantly...'
Why was the Alpha here at the clan? She'd wanted to talk longer, too, but there hadn't been a chance. She didn't know how long he'd be staying, but surely they'd run into each other again. She was trying to swallow her disappointment when something poked her lightly.
Startled, Eun-ha looked down. Her eyes went wide. The little black puppy was staring up at her.
"......!"
The tentacle twitched, a gesture that looked for all the world like come down here. Eun-ha nodded and crouched. The Wolf opened a subspace and pulled out a single ginseng root. He held it out to her.
"This is...?"
"Payment. For your help."
That low voice, so utterly at odds with the small puppy body, made her eyes fly open. It was unmistakably the voice that had protected her from the dark clouds, from the monster. The full reality that he really was the Alpha washed over her, belated and overwhelming. The misunderstanding had been cleared. They'd finally had a real reunion. Her chest swelled.
"I helped you...?"
Wasn't it the other way around? Twice. No, three times, counting Neverland. She'd lost count of how many times he'd saved her life. And all the while she'd been causing him trouble, chasing after him because of a pointless misunderstanding. What could he possibly mean by that? Her head felt fogged, tangled. But this time, she could ask. He was right here in front of her.
"Wait..."
***
'Not bad at all.'
Vending-machine coffee. I'd thought of it after watching Eun-ha drink hers. I'd grown so used to consuming everything through Devouring, it hadn't occurred to me that there was no reason I couldn't enjoy a drink. I did have a sense of taste, after all.
But everything I'd eaten up to now had been hideous in flavor. Uncooked, inedible without Devouring, and visually revolting, too. I'd never needed to eat them the normal way. But I was in civilization now. Good food was everywhere. I let out a soft hum at the oversight.
"...Hey."
I was sipping the coffee Eun-ha had bought me when she spoke up. I turned my attention back to her. She looked the same as ever, though a little thinner from the Neverland ordeal.
"Why do you say I helped you?"
"Because I received something from you."
"Received something?"
It was true that she'd acted foolishly and rashly. She had no memory of the World from the novel, but when she fell into Agail's illusion, I'd felt that clearly. Still, separate from all that, it was also true that I'd survived Jirisan because of her.
If she hadn't killed the Monster Wolf. If she hadn't driven the Warg to the brink of death, the chance to become an Unformed Warg never would have come.
The Monster Wolf—the Superior Warg—I couldn't have beaten alone. The gap between us at the time had been too large.
—Of course, all of this only happened because of my own actions, but without Eun-ha, things wouldn't have played out nearly as favorably. Foolish or stupid, the fact remained that her actions had benefitted me. From her perspective, I must seem like the benefactor who'd saved her life over and over...
'No real need to bring up Neverland.'
When you added it all up, we owed each other in strange, tangled ways. But that wasn't the real reason I'd given her the spiritual medicine. Weighing every debt against every favor was impossible, but at the very least, she struck me as someone worth investing in.
[Lee Eun-ha (Human)]
[Height 164.4 cm] [Weight 44.1 kg]
[STR 107] [AGI 124] [VIT 131] [MP 389]
Her other stats had started low enough that raising them would have been easier, but sixty-plus points of magic power in that short a span was proof of her talent.
"Even if you say I gave you something... I don't really know what..."
She fidgeted, fingers interlacing and fumbling as if she didn't know what to say. I lapped at the last of the coffee.
'What a shame.'
It had been so long since I'd tasted anything properly good. I almost asked her to get me another, but answered her first.
"Just accept it."
"......."
She let out a breath. Telling her to accept it easily didn't make it any easier for her. The Wolf spoke again, as if reading her thoughts.
"My magic power came from you in the first place."
"How could..."
She seemed disbelieving at first, but then a small sound of recognition escaped her. She'd probably guessed at something.
"If you don't take it, it will just go to someone else."
At that, she seemed to make up her mind. Eun-ha slowly nodded and accepted the ginseng.
"...Thank you."
When the gratitude came, a tangled knot inside me finally loosened. I nodded back. Down below, Eun-ja-rim was making her way back up. Eun-ha must have seen her too—her eyes went wide, and she pulled out her phone as if only now remembering.
"Ah."
—Her shift had started ages ago. The Clan Leader had called for her, but she'd completely forgotten the time. She scrambled to gather herself, and just as the coffee cup beside her was about to tip over, I caught it with a tentacle. I'd never used Intuition and Perception for anything except combat before. It almost made me laugh.
"Ah, sorry, but that...!"
"Go."
At the calm dismissal, Eun-ha flustered briefly, then nodded and hurried off. Eun-ja-rim, having apparently finished her walk with Perry, came to a stop in front of me. She sat down in the spot Eun-ha had just vacated.
"......."
She clearly had something to say, but she stayed silent. I stayed silent too.
"Kyuu-kyu~!"
As I played with Perry using a tentacle, I heard a sigh. She'd sorted out her thoughts, apparently, and spoke.
"...How are you finding it here?"
The sudden shift to formal speech caught me off guard. I tilted my head. She'd been using casual speech until now... had something changed in how she saw me?
"If it's uncomfortable... you're welcome to join my clan."
"It's fine."
"......."
My immediate answer made her chew her lip. She asked why.
"...May I ask why? The Hermit's Forest isn't as large as Dawn, but it's no small clan. If there's something you want..."
I shook my head again. I'd never considered it. I doubted her clan had any mages on the level of Hong Yuri or Ha-yeon.
"...Haah. I see no room for negotiation."
My apologies to her growing stack of sighs, but I had no intention of going to the Hermit's Forest. Was she inviting me so insistently because we'd fought together? Or because she saw me as a military asset? Or maybe because of Perry?
"Still, if you change your mind, come. ...I'll be waiting, just like before."
That last part, at least, I couldn't just ignore. I dipped my head once. As I watched her retreating back, I took another sip of coffee.
—The cup Eun-ha had left behind.