Then Suddenly, a Unicorn Appeared (1)
Then Suddenly, a Unicorn Appeared (1)
A sudden explosion rang out, and emergency sirens shrieked loudly.
The underground research building, now lit by flashing emergency lights, was bathed in red light as the atmosphere shifted into something ominous.
Flustered researchers tried to assess the sudden situation, guards dashed over at once, and cadets calmly drew their weapons to prepare for battle.
Everyone who had been hastily assessing the situation stopped moving in that instant.
They stared blankly at the same spot.
It was a mystical sight.
Inside the glass wall where the monster had been contained, from a hole punched clean through the ceiling, a single pure white horse drifted down with a light step.
Even amidst the red-stained surroundings, its pure white hue seized countless gazes.
A physique so massive that a grown man would seem like a child beside it.
And jutting proudly from the very center of its forehead, as if flaunting its grandeur, a long horn.
"A unicorn?"
Professor Alida murmured. Without the presence of mind to fix her half-slipped glasses, she stared blankly at the unicorn.
She worked at this lab and received reports on the monster breeding status. Among them was information about the unicorn.
Siyoram was raising a unicorn.
Back when Siyoram was newly established—the era when the Headmaster was active—the Headmaster had brought in a unicorn and prepared a place for it on an empty plot of the grounds.
That place became a habitat for the unicorn.
A paradise just for the unicorn, furnished with trees and blades of grass brimming with vital energy thanks to the Blessing of Growth, and lake water without a single impurity.
Completely different treatment from the low-ranked monsters brought in, isolated, and used for samples and experiments.
It made sense. A unicorn was a tremendously precious specimen.
Unicorns were typically a high-ranked mythical species.
On top of that, their population was so low that they were difficult to find even in high-grade dungeons or the Demon Realm.
"Why is a unicorn here...?"
So it was a mystery.
There was a separate zone for the unicorn. Not even faculty, let alone cadets, could approach without authorization.
Barring the very few personnel who occasionally entered for sample collection or information recording, it was a zone free of outside interference.
The unicorns were living peaceably among themselves in that area.
Meaning, there was no reason for it to come out of there.
But it had come out.
It had suddenly dashed that long distance, bored a hole through the ground, and landed gracefully in front of Lee Ha-yul.
'In front of Cadet Lee Ha-yul?'
Everyone's eyes shifted back and forth between the unicorn and Lee Ha-yul.
Within the crimson space, only the area around them was pure white.
Partly because beams of bright light poured down from the hole in the ceiling, and partly because both beings themselves were pure white.
A unicorn was what was commonly called a white horse. Its hide was white, and the mane growing elegantly at the nape of its neck was white as well.
Lee Ha-yul was similar. His hair was snowy white, and the white mana billowing over his body rippled just like a mane.
Moreover, the pure and clean aura they gave off was very similar.
"Wow..."
A cadet opened their mouth in admiration. Even with the sirens still blaring and the warning lights flashing, they couldn't help but admire.
A pure white and beautiful... innocent and delicate child, and a unicorn standing tall with a majestic presence, looking down at the child. The scene was like a single painting.
At this, everyone stopped what they were doing and simply stared at that mystical spectacle.
Even Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been about to smash the glass wall and rush to Lee Ha-yul the moment the explosion went off, was the same.
Normally, she would have slapped away that thing approaching Lee Ha-yul, unicorn or whatever monster it was.
But because the atmosphere flowing between the two was rather mystical, Hong Yeon-hwa also halted briefly and observed the situation.
Soon, the two beings who had gathered all eyes began to move.
The unicorn strode forward with long legs, approaching Lee Ha-yul.
At the sight of the white horse gradually drawing closer, Lee Ha-yul cautiously extended one hand.
Like a scene from a painting, as if a moment from a fairytale was unfolding right before their eyes— everyone felt anticipation and excitement as they swallowed hard.
And then...
- Puh-reu-reung
[Huh]
The unicorn chomped down on the nape of Lee Ha-yul's neck.
Lee Ha-yul, who had been carefully reaching out a hand, went stock still.
The white mana that had been rippling over his body scattered softly.
Suddenly, Lee Ha-yul's body trembled, then went completely limp.
The unicorn bit down and lifted Lee Ha-yul, visibly handling him with great care, as if lifting something precious.
As though carrying a kitten by the scruff of its neck, the unicorn lifted Lee Ha-yul, then turned its head to examine the stares fixed on it.
The atmosphere changed.
The eyes that had been bright and sparkling in front of Lee Ha-yul turned indifferent in an instant.
Having scanned the surroundings with a disinterested air, the unicorn leaped into the hole in the ceiling without hesitation.
It had an attitude utterly free of attachment, as if its business here was now done.
The people who had been absorbed in the fairytale-like spectacle blinked vacantly.
"...What the hell is that crazy horse-head bastard?"
Hong Yeon-hwa, whose lover had just been abruptly kidnapped, belatedly twisted her face.
Hong Yeon-hwa clenched her fist tight. Mana gathered, and soon ferocious flames blazed up.
She pulled her fist back. The rising flames detonated. The fist shot forward. A red line was drawn and slammed into the glass wall.
- Kwaahang!
An explosion rang out that instantly overpowered the siren noise. Kararak! The specially made glass wall, designed to prevent monster escapes, crumbled to pieces in a single blow.
Without delay, Hong Yeon-hwa chased after the unicorn, leaping up through the hole in the ceiling where light was pouring in.
When she climbed through the hole, a green lawn spread out before her. Almost directly ahead, she could see the research building they had entered earlier.
Hong Yeon-hwa turned her head, following its presence.
She couldn't see it well. Only after enhancing her vision with mana could she spot a white dot disappearing beyond the horizon.
Fwoosh! Calamity Flame spread across her entire body. The mana she had crammed in combusted, multiplying her physical ability.
She drove her legs down as if stamping on the earth and pushed her body forward.
Gritting her teeth, she kicked off the ground. There was no sign the distance was closing. If anything, it was getting farther.
A unicorn. The poster child of mythical species. Its rank was high and its physical ability was excellent.
Distance? It was a bit far, but not so far she couldn't hit it.
It was within Calamity Flame's effective range. If she indiscriminately fired Calamity Flame, she could definitely hit that horse-head bastard.
But if she did that, Lee Ha-yul would be in danger.
Though Hong Yeon-hwa had her own confidence in controlling Calamity Flame, she couldn't guarantee that Lee Ha-yul wouldn't suffer even a single scratch in the process.
'Expansion Ability.'
Fwaaah...! The flames, which had swelled fiercely, contracted.
'Flame Advance.'
Fwoosh... The contracted flames seeped into Hong Yeon-hwa's body.
The embers of Calamity Flame subsided.
Instead, Calamity Flame blazed as if exploding within Hong Yeon-hwa's body. The Calamity Flame, not emitted externally, combusted inside her.
- Kwaahang!
The ground she trampled burst apart. Hong Yeon-hwa's form elongated above the cracked earth.
An outrageous sudden acceleration. A body amplified incomparably beyond normal pushed against the ground.
'You horse bastard, I'll kill you.'
A unicorn was a precious mythical species. Hard to find even in dungeons or the Demon Realm, and absurdly difficult to bring back intact even if you did find one.
Plus, it was a specimen with a fairly good reputation.
A peculiar class of entity that scorned filth and chaos, skewering and killing fellow monsters.
Its purity was emphasized; it was moderately gentle to those pure in body and mind.
She didn't give a damn.
No matter how precious or expensive it was, Hong Yeon-hwa had no intention of leaving that thing alone when it dared to bite Lee Ha-yul and bolt.
Seething emotions. The Calamity Flame that held them blazed even more explosively.
Sensing that murderous momentum, the unicorn turned its head to check behind. The distance that had been widening drastically closed in on the flames.
The flames had subsided, but an even larger and more ferocious momentum approached.
The unicorn kicked off the ground in fright.
.
.
.
She missed it by a hair's breadth.
"Aaaagh! You son of a bitch!"
Hong Yeon-hwa let out a shriek and clutched her hair.
By a hair's breadth. She had closed the distance instantly. Within a few dozen seconds, her amplified body had caught up to the far distance and closed in right behind it.
She reached out her hand. The plan was to grab the horse and stop it, then smack it around while retrieving Lee Ha-yul.
Just before she could, the space in front of the unicorn split open. A pure white space that seemed to tear apart left and right. The unicorn leaped straight into it.
Hong Yeon-hwa's hand brushed the horse's tail. The bit of tail hair she touched was annihilated, and the space closed.
Right in front of Hong Yeon-hwa's nose.
"Agh!"
Her insides boiled furiously. The emotions she hadn't yet resolved underwent incomplete combustion. She felt suffocated, and for now, she just wanted to smash something.
"Whoa... you're really angry, huh?"
Baek A-rin, who arrived shortly after following from behind, came face-to-face with Hong Yeon-hwa snarling like a savage dog.
Hong Yeon-hwa turned her head.
At the menacing glare still boiling with unresolved emotion, Baek A-rin shrugged her shoulders.
"Whoa, whoa... calm down. I think you're too worked up."
"Do I look like I could not be worked up? A crazy horse-head made off with my kid?"
"My... kid...? Um... Anyway, cool your head and think about it. There's no way Ha-yul would be done in by a single unicorn."
Baek A-rin smoothed over her grimacing expression as she continued.
"His physical ability seems weakened, but his other talents should be perfectly fine, right? He has magic, too. Even if he just set a bunch of spirits loose, he could lay waste to the whole area. If worst comes to worst, he could just release Calamity Flame like crazy and burn up the unicorn and everything else."
"Huuu... I know that."
The points Baek A-rin was explaining were things Hong Yeon-hwa already knew.
Though Lee Ha-yul was said to be an undead, he was a powerful superhuman who had killed the Twin-headed Poison Dragon.
He was a kid who had grown so strong that, if he fought all-out now, even Hong Yeon-hwa couldn't be sure of the outcome.
Yet the reason Hong Yeon-hwa had chased after him anyway was because that was no reason to just sit still and do nothing.
And also...
"Then why did Ha-yul go totally limp like that?"
She had seen Lee Ha-yul go completely limp when bitten on the nape of the neck. At that sight, the suspicion had crept in: maybe he hadn't been able to respond?
"Even taking that into account, if his master were in danger, the spirits would have come bursting out at once. And the going limp part... maybe it's a case similar to a kitten...?"
"What are you on about with cats?"
Hong Yeon-hwa's face colored with disbelief.
There was a phenomenon where if you grabbed a kitten by the scruff of its neck, it would stop moving or its excitement would subside. Hong Yeon-hwa knew of it.
Lee Ha-yul? When the unicorn bit his nape, his body trembled, then went completely limp.
It had been cute.
'...Maybe it is similar?'
It might be a more useful tip than she thought. She'd have to use it later.
After clearing her throat with a cough, Hong Yeon-hwa projected a hologram from her smartwatch.
A map appeared on the hologram. In one corner of the map, a red dot pulsed.
"What's that?"
Baek A-rin tilted her head and asked from beside her.
"Ha-yul's location."
Hong Yeon-hwa answered with a casual air, checking the map.
Baek A-rin blinked.
"...Did you put a location tracker on him?"
"I installed a location-sharing app on Ha-yul's smartwatch."
"Uh... you got his consent, right?"
"If I ask, he'll probably allow it?"
"So you didn't..."
"Ha-yul will definitely do it."
Hong Yeon-hwa replied shamelessly and headed in the direction where the red dot was located.
* * *
Lately, I've been thinking that life is really full of twists and turns.
I've been going through all sorts of things. Most of them are incidents where I insistently stuck my head in and got smacked, but occasionally, there are also events that crash in even when I didn't intend them to.
Honestly, I wonder if I'm just born with misfortune hanging over me.
Wasn't my life pretty rough even from childhood? And after coming to this side of the world, I've suffered all kinds of hardships.
Of course, there was also luck that felt like multiple layers of heaven-sent fortune had descended, but it feels like the misfortune was greater.
At this point, I contemplated the current situation once more.
Is my current situation one where I've been beaten by misfortune?
- Puh-reu-reung?
[Tickles]
...It was ambiguous.
I let out a deep sigh and gently stroked the unicorn that was nuzzling its head against me.
Though it was clearly nothing more than a horse, it wiggled the corners of its eyes as if beaming and pressed its head in even more.
While doing so, there were times when the tip of its horn would naturally poke at my body.
It didn't hurt.
With a strange expression, I stroked the horn.
This wasn't the unicorn that had bitten me and carried me here earlier.
The horn of the unicorn currently pushing its head against me was not so much imposing as it was adorably small, no bigger than my fist.
It was a baby unicorn that hadn't yet matured.
My skin prickled a little.
I lightly turned my Observation around. I observed the unicorns surrounding this place and staring fixedly at me.
A nest-like bed fashioned from gathered leaves. Placed on it together with the baby unicorn, I was receiving the undivided attention of the unicorns.
Their eyes were very bright and sparkling. They were full of goodwill, kindness, and a curiosity whose reason I couldn't fathom.
With an awkward expression, I observed right in front of my nose.
Directly ahead was a mountain of random fruit. Fruit the unicorns had carried over and presented to me.
'Really, what won't happen in this world.'
I had been bitten by a unicorn and kidnapped to what seemed to be a unicorn nest.
I let out a deep sigh and tapped the hologram.
While sending a message to those around me telling them not to worry, I picked up a piece of fruit and bit into it.
- Nhom nyom nyom...
The texture was quite nice. It was refreshing, too.
I bit the fruit with a strange expression.
For some reason, the unicorns' expressions appeared satisfied.
* * *
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