Hoping for a Miracle in Fantasia
I came to Fantasia hoping for a miracle. So when the human in front of me said, “The White Bear of Gangnam Samwoong?” it hit me like a truck.
Humans tend to never forget their firsts. Whether it’s their first love, first teacher, or first senior in the military. Even if that “first” was the bastard who made me truly understand what a hostage situation felt like.
“Please… I’m begging you. Save me…”
The White Bear was the reason I first realized I couldn’t leave Eris alone. When I went out to buy a tie, got dragged into contact with Carpediem, and felt real fear for the first time—that was when Eris sent me an emergency text begging for help. All because of this guy.
Sure, Eris’s acting had turned the whole thing into a ridiculous comedy back then, but the situation itself had been anything but funny. It was something I could never forget no matter how hard I tried. Even if he’d been paying me with bread and money every time, I still wouldn’t have forgiven him.
So I never imagined the day would come when the same bastard would be on his knees begging me to spare his life.
“It’s bread delivery day, so why the hell did a corpse show up instead of bread?”
I had no idea who had done this to him or why he’d come here of all places. But the fact that he’d dragged himself here meant he’d come prepared to face the consequences.
“You know what happens if you break the contract, right?”
THUD!
I grabbed the White Bear by the hair and slammed his head into the floor. Too harsh? What’s too harsh about it? This was the same fucker who once tried to kill Eris when she was alone. No matter how cute he looked on the outside, his insides were pitch black. Even if he showed up covered in blood on his pure white body, begging for his life, there was no reason for me to feel sorry for him.
If anything, he’d shown up on a Sunday—the day he was supposed to keep his promise—half-dead and without any bread. That was a clear contract violation.
“W-wait, Hyun-woo. I don’t know who this person is, but he’s badly injured. Treating him so roughly…”
“This bastard came here once before to kill the boss lady. Why the hell should I show mercy to someone like that?”
I yanked the White Bear’s snow-white hair and lifted his head. “Take a good look at this fucker’s face. He’s a possessor, right? He killed someone to possess this body. Do you really think he only killed the person he possessed? No. He’s probably killed a ton of people.”
The White Bear kept his mouth shut tight, as if he had nothing to say. Yeah, even if he had a hundred mouths, he still wouldn’t have any excuses.
“If you lived well by killing other people, you should’ve known that one day it could be your turn to die. Am I wrong?”
“I-I’m sorry… Just once… Please, just spare me once…”
“Sorry? Since when the hell did apologies work in this world? Have I ever stopped hitting you just because you said you were sorry? Even I can’t stop myself once I start.”
I let go of the White Bear’s hair. He collapsed face-first onto the floor without another word.
“I don’t know who beat you up, but get lost. Unless you want to die for breaking the contract.”
“It’s… not a contract violation…”
The White Bear’s hands trembled violently as he reached into his clothes. Only then did I notice he wasn’t wearing his usual martial arts uniform. Instead, he had on a white hoodie.
“What is it?”
What the White Bear pulled out was bread. The bag was stained with blood, but he painstakingly wiped it clean with his hand before offering it to me with both hands in a polite gesture.
“I came… to deliver the bread tribute. Please… just once. Spare me just this once. At least… save my little siblings…”
“……”
My heart felt like it was softening. Maybe this was why bosses in organizations sometimes turned into beautiful girls. So that if they were ever on the verge of death, they could weaken their enemy’s resolve. Beauty traps have worked in every era, after all.
“Bringing just one loaf counts as a tribute?”
The White Bear was panting so hard he could barely speak anymore. He couldn’t even answer. The hand clutching the bread was shaking so badly it looked like his life could end at any second.
“If you were going to die anyway, why the hell did you come here? Should’ve gone to a hospital or something.”
That was when it happened.
“Control… Control…”
Eris, who had been lying on the floor, muttered while holding her staff. A pure white orb gathered in front of her. Unlike last time, it was a very small sphere. It shot toward the White Bear.
The trembling hands stopped. Life returned to the White Bear’s hazy eyes.
“B-Boss lady…?”
Eris had healed the White Bear. Why?
“This bastard tried to kill the boss lady. Why are you healing him?”
If she gave some stupid answer with that blank face, I was going to seriously scold her—boss or not.
“Hyun-woo.”
But Eris’s expression was dead serious. Her body was already unstable, and using magic again had clearly exhausted her. Even so, she refused to let go of the staff.
“It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Healing someone who tried to kill you.”
“Of course it’s frustrating.”
“Right. Logically, it doesn’t make any sense. I know that too. There’s no guarantee this guy won’t betray us out of ingratitude.”
“Then why…”
“Still… I know this might sound pathetic, but can you think about it for a second? Why do you think the White Bear came looking for us? Maybe he thought there was still a chance he could survive. Maybe he came here hoping for a miracle. In that desperate moment, maybe we were the ones who came to his mind—”
—Then, since we’re Fantasia, shouldn’t we be the ones to make that fantasy come true?
“To become a single ray of miracle in this harsh, dark reality… That’s the kind of Fantasia I want. I can’t turn my back on someone who came to us when they thought they were going to die.”
It was frustrating.
“I’m not saying I’ll forgive and heal just anyone. But if we were the ones who came to his mind in that moment… doesn’t that mean he at least wanted to believe in us?”
It was ridiculous idealism.
“So he won’t betray us. I’m sure he’ll continue to have a good relationship with us from now on.”
If Mohanya had heard this, she probably would’ve coldly denounced it as nonsense. But the boss lady had always been like this. She was the kind of idiot who would willingly possess a weaker body just because she felt sorry for her little sister, and who never once doubted someone’s words even if there was a chance they were lying.
And I wanted to protect this boss lady who lived inside that foolish fantasy.
Because the one who had saved me from my suffering was her Fantasia.
“Besides… Eris really likes bread…”
After saying that, the boss lady closed her eyes again. She fell asleep with soft, steady breathing.
Was she talking about herself liking bread? Or her little sister? She was an incomprehensible boss lady until the very end.
That’s why I liked her.
“Thank the boss lady, White Bear. If it weren’t for her, you would’ve died by my hand.”
When I spoke in a cold voice, the White Bear looked down at his now-perfectly healed body in shock.
“H-How… I was definitely on the verge of death…”
Yeah, to be honest, even I was surprised. I thought it would at most reduce fatigue, but she had completely restored someone who was moments away from dying. It really was a fantastical ability befitting the boss lady.
“We’re Fantasia, and the boss lady is the boss of Fantasia. She can cause miracles like that, can’t she?”
“Ah… Aaaah…”
The White Bear walked over to Eris. Then he knelt down. He placed the bread he was holding in front of her and began to cry.
“Thank you… Really, truly, thank you… I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life…”
The White Bear, who used to swear every time he opened his mouth, was now expressing sincere gratitude without a single curse. But how exactly was he going to remember this grace for the rest of his life? All he could do was bake bread. Was baking bread how he planned to repay the favor?
I was watching with dissatisfaction when suddenly a title appeared above the White Bear’s head.
What the fuck.
The explanation said that titles had ranks from F to SSS, with a separate EX rank. EX was a unique title that only that person could possess. F to SSS could be held by multiple people, and the rank was determined by how many people had it.
From what I remembered, the White Bear of Gangnam Samwoong had been C- rank. That meant it wasn’t a unique title. It was something that could be taken away if someone else wanted it badly enough.
The fact that a new EX unique title called White Bear of Fantasia had appeared while he no longer had the previous one meant—
“White Bear. Don’t tell me you’ve been excommunicated.”
At those words, the White Bear shot to his feet, then immediately dropped to his knees in front of me again.
“Boss! Please, I beg you—save my little siblings!”
He didn’t just kneel; he slammed his forehead against the floor.
“I know it will be hard for you to forgive my siblings, but please, just this once! I know how shameless this is. But if you’ll just spare them, I’ll do anything!”
“Haah.”
A sigh escaped me. What the hell had these bastards ever done for me? Why should I help them?
But the title White Bear of Fantasia had appeared. Eris had chosen to save the White Bear, and the White Bear had chosen to serve Eris for the rest of his life. No matter how you looked at it, the White Bear was now a member of our organization.
The moment he called me “Boss,” it was already set in stone. Whether he was a murderer, whatever past he had, or even if he was the first bastard who ever made me feel wary.
He was an organization member now, so I had to take care of him. Since I was the one who chose this boss because I liked her, I had to follow her with sheer grit and willpower. What other choice did I have?
“Tell me what happened. At the very least, I need to know that much before I decide whether to help or not.”
“It’s embarrassing to say, but the reason I almost died was entirely my own fault. The Murim Alliance found out that we tried to attack Fantasia and failed.”
“We didn’t tell anyone, though?”
“I know. The ones who discovered that fact and reported it to the Murim Alliance were the Sichuan Samsa.”
“Sichuan Samsa?!”
“Do you know what the Sichuan Samsa are?”
“No, I don’t.”
It was just that thing, right? In the military, there were officers from the Three Four. Those guys were usually insanely strict. If it was called Sichuan Samsa, it sounded like the Four Heavenly Kings among the Three Four officers.
“I’m hearing the name for the first time today, but ‘Sichuan Samsa’ sounds incredibly ominous.”
“You seem to have good intuition, Boss. Those guys really are ominous. They’re the three snakes of the Sichuan Tang Family.”
“Sichuan Tang Family?”
I didn’t know much about wuxia, but I had heard the name Sichuan Tang Family plenty of times. In most wuxia novels, the characters who used poison and hidden weapons belonged to the Sichuan Tang Family. Ah, wait a second.
“Don’t tell me those guys use poison needles?”
“Are you sure you really don’t know? The Sichuan Samsa are extremely skilled in combat using poison needles.”
So that was it. Just how far into the future did that crazy bastard Mohanya know about?
Still, I had definitely learned from Mohanya how to fight and win against poison needles.
“Helping shouldn’t be too difficult, then.”