Rescuing Someone From a Fire
It's hot.
So hot that it hurts.
"Cough, cough!"
And the smoke is unbearably acrid and painful on top of it.
But the thought that my grandmas were trapped in this hell hurt even more than the flames did.
Is this what they call human emotion?
In just one year, I've come to understand so many feelings I never knew back when I was weak and human.
"Grandma!!"
Through the wall of fire, I could finally see it — a room that hadn't caught yet, right in front of me.
The other rooms were already consumed by flames, so there was no point in checking them.
Please, please let her be in that one intact room.
If she's not... I might just fall apart.
'Tch... to think I'd develop such a weak little heart! This human body is hopeless!'
These were the only two humans I'd come to know since reincarnating into this world a year ago.
And they were my precious Subordinate #1 and Subordinate #2.
Please, be safe!
Thud!!
Ssssssss—!!
"Kyaah?!!"
The moment I grabbed the doorknob of the closed door, a scream tore out of me before I could stop it.
That doorknob...!
It was searing hot!!
Gripping a handle like that would leave me with a terrible burn.
I might never be able to use that hand again.
"Like I'd let myself think such weak little thoughts!!!"
Ssssssss—!!
I seized the scorching doorknob with one hand.
The stench of burning flesh spread through the air as an excruciating pain slammed into my brain.
Every instinct in my body screamed at me to let go, but I clenched my teeth and turned the knob anyway!
BANG!
When the door swung open, the room inside was — thankfully — still free of smoke!
"L-Lee Ru-ri, sweetheart?!"
It was Grandma Han Yeosa — my Subordinate #1!
Thank goodness. She's alive!
But... my Subordinate #2, Grandma Kim I-so, was collapsed on the floor.
She wasn't moving at all.
"Lee Ru-ri, sweetheart, why on earth are you in here?! It's dangerous, get out at once! Cough, cough!"
Dangerous, she says.
Because I'd opened the door, smoke had started pouring into the room.
This was no time to check on the grandmas — we had to get out first!
"Go out through the window!!"
I shut the door behind me in a flash and threw open the window.
Agonizing pain shot through the hand that had gripped the doorknob, but I ignored it.
The flesh had already burned beyond saving, anyway.
"Sweetheart!! Your hand!!!"
Don't talk about it. My hand doesn't matter one bit.
"Hurry, out the window! Grandma Kim I-so, wake up!!"
I shook Grandma Kim I-so, but she didn't seem conscious.
She must have inhaled smoke...
Had Grandma Han Yeosa noticed the fire and somehow dragged her into this room?
"Lee Ru-ri, sweetheart... at least you climb out the window. We..."
At those words, I understood.
Truly... humans are so terribly fragile.
So fragile they couldn't even climb out of a window at this height...
Grandma Han Yeosa's body had aged.
She'd needed a cane just to walk, so getting over the windowsill was simply impossible for her.
"Hnngh...!"
I grabbed the fallen Grandma Kim I-so and tried desperately to haul her upright.
But with the strength of a child who would never grow, lifting a grown adult was impossible.
As I struggled, the flames swallowed the door in the blink of an eye and began flooding the room with even thicker smoke.
'So this is how it ends...?'
It ends like this?
I'm supposed to stand here and watch my subordinates die while I'm powerless to stop it?
No.
I refuse.
Even if I have to throw away every ounce of a Demon King's pride!
I will NOT become some weak, human king who abandons his subordinates and runs away alone!!
"HERO!!!"
I just screamed.
Not because I knew something —
I simply shouted, without a single thought behind it.
"You said my life is watched over by 'Readers' — well, you're one of those 'Readers' too, aren't you, Hero!!"
Grandma Han Yeosa stared at me in shock, but I had no time to care.
I kept shouting.
"If you could curse me like this, you could do something else too, couldn't you!! It was my fault! I'm sorry! I'll do everything exactly as you wish — so please......"
Tears streaming down my face, I prayed desperately to the Hero — the one with whom I should have died in that explosion, together.
"Please, grant me even the smallest power to protect my subordinates...... I'm begging you, Hero......"
And in that moment —
A change has occurred to the Hero's Curse.
Effect 4. Your body will never grow.
This effect is being changed as follows:
Effect 4. Your appearance will never change.
"...!!!"
In that instant, strength suddenly flooded into my body.
With the modification of the Hero's Curse, all growth sealed over the past year is being applied.
Every single day, I had worked to build my strength and endurance.
But because of the curse, none of it had ever taken hold...
'I can feel it — I'm stronger!!'
With the curse rewritten, every ounce of that year's effort was finally reflected in my body.
"Get out first, Grandma Han Yeosa!!"
I grabbed hold of Grandma Han Yeosa and summoned every last shred of core strength — and to my astonishment, her body began to lift off the ground.
"L-Lee Ru-ri, sweetheart?!"
She stared at me, stunned that a tiny 101cm child had managed to lift even part of her grown body.
No time to gawk!
I trained a whole year for this — this much had better be possible!!
The me of right now had gone from strength weaker than a toddler's to exactly toddler-level strength.
Not particularly impressive, but... it was enough to get through this crisis.
"Sweetheart, you have to get out too!"
With my help, Grandma Han Yeosa finally climbed onto the windowsill and made it over.
'And with that, Grandma Han Yeosa is out of danger!'
All that remained was Grandma Kim I-so.
"Uuurghhhaaah—!!!"
Milking every last drop of strength I had, arms and legs trembling, I somehow managed to hoist Grandma Kim I-so onto my back.
'My strength isn't enough to push an unconscious person over a window!'
But... if it was just walking while carrying her, I could manage that much.
BANG!
I flung open the kimchi refrigerator in the room.
Thankfully, it was packed with all kinds of drinks — the ones she'd stocked up just for me.
"I'm sorry, Grandma! I'm using these without asking!"
I cracked the drinks open and splashed them all over the head and body of the grandma on my back.
Then I soaked a thin summer blanket in the drinks as well,
Whoosh!
and draped it right over Grandma Kim I-so's head and body.
There wasn't enough drink left to soak myself too, but it didn't matter.
Whoosh, roar, crackle...!!
I looked back at the place where the burned-away door had once been.
And toward Grandma Han Yeosa, watching me anxiously through the window, I smiled.
"Watch me from outside, Grandma!! And thank you for everything!!"
I forced my legs to move.
Behind me, I could hear Grandma Han Yeosa's heart-rending screams, but there was no time to look back.
Roar!!
Hot.
The searing flames of hell had begun burning me alive.
I couldn't breathe, every moment was agony, but I kept walking with everything I had.
Running would have been better, but for me — barely toddler-level after a year of training — that was impossible.
'Grandma Kim I-so, please live.'
I've lived long enough, you see.
Three thousand years as a Demon King, plus one year as a human — that's more than a full life.
Ssssss!!
Ah — danger.
My left eye had gone blind.
The feeling in my legs was wrong too.
Ah... they'd all burned away, hadn't they.
Bad — really bad. I have to get out before my legs give out entirely.
In that hell where a single second stretched like an hour, I clung to the grandma with everything I had and kept walking, refusing to let her go.
I walked, and walked, and walked some more.
How much time had passed, I couldn't say.
It felt like tens of hours to me, but in reality it was probably less than tens of seconds when —
"Someone's coming out!!"
"The kid!! The kiiid!!!"
Along with the shouts of the crowd, I finally, finally escaped the burning heat.
"A child came out carrying her grandma on her back!"
"Take her, quick! Where's the ambulance?!"
The neighborhood residents caught Grandma Kim I-so off my back.
Only when the weight was gone from me did I finally...
Thud.
let myself collapse.
"Aaaagh! Th-this little kid... she's burned all over...!!"
"Is she dead...?"
"Lee Ru-ri, sweetheart!! Oh... dear God, please...!"
I figured this was the end for me.
But before I died, there was one thing I absolutely had to confirm.
"Grandma..."
"...!! Lee Ru-ri, sweetheart!!"
Grandma Han Yeosa clutched my hand tight.
She probably wanted to throw her arms around me, but she couldn't — she was afraid my burned body would break apart if she did.
"Is Grandma Kim I-so...?"
"She's okay! Thanks to you, she isn't hurt! She's breathing properly!"
I see.
Thank goodness...
'Yeah... I'm satisfied. My second life was a good one, because I met you two. Goodbye...'
And there, my consciousness cut out.
A change has occurred to the Hero's Curse.
Effect 3.
Your life is watched over by the 'Readers.'
A curse activates: if your view count drops too low, you die.
Should you meet your death, you will die in the way you hate most.
The following effect is being added to this effect:
You are not permitted to die by any means other than a low view count.
Even if the pain drives you to wish for death itself.
Flash!!
My mind came rushing back.
I was pretty sure I had died — completely, unmistakably dead...?
The instant consciousness returned, unbearable agony began slamming into my brain.
AAAAAAARGH!!!
Being stabbed with needles from head to toe would have been merciful compared to this.
It hurt so much I couldn't even scream.
"I bought a recovery item from the Anomaly Shop!! Use it on her, right now!!"
"Huh? You're a hunter? Great work!!"
Splash!!
I felt some kind of liquid being poured over my body.
And at the same time, miraculously, fresh flesh began to regrow across my burned-away skin.
"No, no good. One won't even make a dent. Damn it — guess I'll have to think of it as a donation! I'm going all in — every last point I own!!"
Along with someone's — some total stranger's — shout, more and more liquid came pouring down onto me, one after another.
Were they really spending points they'd bled to earn... on the shop... like this?
It seemed they were truly spending what amounted to their entire life savings — for my sake.
Shiver, shudder...
As the horrendous pain gradually faded and fresh skin spread over my body, my whole frame began to tremble lightly.
And my left eye, which had been blind, and my right eye, which had gone dim, both began to see again.
For the first time, I could look out at the world once more.
'Grandma Kim I-so...?'
I could see Grandma Han Yeosa holding my hand, tears of joy streaming down her face.
But where was Grandma Kim I-so?
Was she being treated somewhere else?
I shifted my eyes and looked around.
And then I...
saw something I wish I never had.