Chapter 215
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: Side Story - The Angel of Purity (Complete)
Misfortune comes suddenly.
Gabriel, who had worked in the Heaven Realm, knew exactly what that meant.
When guiding lost souls, it wasn't hard to hear all sorts of tragic tales.
Someone died from a stone thrown in jest. Another was mistaken for someone else and shot dead before they could even explain.
Or swallowed a snake in snake liquor, only for it to be alive and kill them. Misfortune strikes without warning—that's what makes it misfortune.
And Gabriel was feeling that bone-deep. Right here, right now.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
Come to think of it, just being here was proof enough, wasn't it?
An inescapable misfortune. There was no way she could avoid the calamity sent by her own creator.
"Gabriel No. 2!! If you're gonna run, at least warn me!!"
Glancing back at the shout, there it was—a terrifying creature.
A body twice her size, drool dripping everywhere, eyes gleaming with hunger.
The thing commonly called a bear.
"My wings won't even spread right now!!"
Of course.
It wasn't some animal a starving angel with non-functional wings could handle.
There was a saying in the world:
Bears tear people apart.
"Why meeeeee?!"
No matter how she screamed or scattered teardrops in the air, the wild bear didn't stop.
"Sniff... It's your fault, Lee Seong-hoon... Waah... God, save me..."
Grrrrowl—
"Eek!!"
Swallowing hard at the bear's low growl, Gabriel racked her brain for a way out.
Even though she was clinging to the tree like a cicada right now.
Even though her angelic powers had all but vanished, leaving her with subhuman physical abilities just to climb up here.
She had to turn this around somehow. And to do that, she first needed to figure out how it had come to this.
"I get it!! I know it's a miracle I haven't run into a bear or wild boar after living in these mountains this long!!"
She knew, but knowing and facing it in real life were worlds apart. Animals had keen senses. Gabriel No. 2 hadn't fled after eating all the fruit.
It had sensed the bear's presence and bolted—but she, oblivious, had wandered around happily and gotten caught!!
There was a limit to stupidity, but right now, she needed a way to resolve this crisis.
Gabriel hugged the tree and thought long and hard, but...
Nothing came to mind.
Of course not. This was a deserted mountain. All she had on her was the clothes she wore.
No wings, nothing she could do, just a useless human—no, angel.
"Is this a sign I should just die?"
The thought flashed through her mind, but her creator couldn't possibly want that—
"Right...?"
As she hesitated, unsure, the bear that had been prowling around grew tired of waiting and approached.
Grrrrowl.
The low rumble of death was chilling, but an even more shocking sight unfolded before her.
The bear reared up on its hind legs.
It placed its front paws on the tree and began climbing—slowly, ever so slowly.
"No way. Wait. That's cheating. Cheating!!!"
She snapped off nearby branches and hurled them, but it didn't budge. Even aiming for its eyes, it stubbornly climbed on.
Was this even possible? She'd never heard of bears climbing trees.
"H-Hic..."
The bear drew closer. At first, she'd flung branches, but now Gabriel could only tremble, frozen in place.
They said people froze when death approached. It was true.
A paralyzed prey. An advancing predator.
The outcome was obvious, but it didn't come to pass.
The drooling bear halted. Not just the bear—Gabriel, frozen herself, turned her head.
There was a person where she looked. Why a person here? The question didn't even cross her mind.
She couldn't see clearly from afar anyway. But she felt it unmistakably.
The aura from the weapon he held. Light reflected off it, gleaming along its pure white blade.
At that moment, the bear climbing the tree plummeted down. As if it had glimpsed something it shouldn't.
It fled without a backward glance. Gabriel wanted to do the same. Fear made her teeth chatter with weird noises.
'A person out here?'
No way. That was something wearing a human form—
As the thought trailed off, the hazy figure sharpened into focus.
A man with black hair like hers. Black eyes, walking up stone-faced to stand before the tree.
"Treasure...? No, hey up there. You okay?"
His words—proof he was human—made tears well up in Gabriel's eyes instantly.
The first intelligent life she'd seen in about four days. A savior in her hour of crisis.
'And his face... looks handsome, kinda...'
The savior of her life—no, her heavenly existence.
Gabriel gazed down at him with teary eyes.
"Can't get down on your own? Ah, you must be hungry too. I'll get you down, so come on and eat this."
And it didn't end there—a chocolate bar materialized in midair.
In that instant.
Gabriel knew.
This man—
"Y-Yes..."
—was a miracle itself.
She replied with a shy smile she'd never shown in the Heaven Realm.