Chapter 104
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 104
Outskirts of Seoul, South Korea. The country house where Joo Seol-hwa was staying.
Joo A-rin had come to see Joo Seol-hwa with three pieces of good news.
The first piece of good news was that the direct team's nest raid had been wrapped up successfully.
"Wow, congratulations, sis."
Joo Seol-hwa beamed as if it were her own accomplishment.
It had been a C-rank nest, and a success achieved in alliance with another team at that, but it wasn't meaningless.
One of the reasons the Joo Family had its heir put together a direct team was organizational management ability, after all.
From that standpoint, it could be called a decent result.
It was no easy thing in itself for a shabby new team to win the nest-occupation rights from the start without wandering between hunting grounds, and to link up with another team.
"What's the second piece of news?"
Joo Seol-hwa asked, a flush rising to her cheeks as if she were a little excited.
"The second one is......"
Joo A-rin perched on the edge of Joo Seol-hwa's bed and went on.
"I got first place on the midterms this time."
"First place? No way."
But Joo Seol-hwa's reaction was quite different from what she'd expected.
Rather, as if she couldn't believe it, she calmly laid out her reasoning.
"Seo-yoon is there, and so is that guy who takes first place like it's nothing."
"It's real. Check it yourself."
Joo A-rin held the midterm results text right up to Joo Seol-hwa's nose.
"Like that's going to make me....... What the—?! It's real?"
"When have you ever seen me lie?"
"Whoa. How did you do it?"
As Joo Seol-hwa shouted and grabbed her hands, Joo A-rin continued in a calm voice.
"I didn't do it alone. I got help from someone."
"Help? That person must be a really good person. Keep staying close with them."
As Joo Seol-hwa opened her eyes drowsily and whispered, Joo A-rin let out a small laugh.
Because for that person, the word "from now on" fit better than the word "keep."
"Wait just a moment."
Joo A-rin moved on to the last piece of good news.
She rose excitedly to give Joo Seol-hwa the gift she had been waiting for.
She walked over to the desk, picked up the bag she'd set beside it, and said playfully.
"First, close your eyes."
"What, I'm not a little kid. That's childish."
Joo Seol-hwa pouted her lips as if it were absurd.
"You are a kid. Seol-hwa."
"What kid in the world is over ten years old?"
"Then should I not give you a Children's Day present?"
"......I'll close my eyes. I just have to do this, right? I really can't see anything."
In the end, Joo Seol-hwa not only squeezed her eyes shut but even placed her hands over them.
This much was a pass.
Joo A-rin took out D.H's autograph, which she had even laminated herself so that its edges were crisp and sharp.
She approached carefully and placed it in front of Joo Seol-hwa's eyes.
"Now open your eyes."
"Okay."
Joo Seol-hwa opened her eyes with faint anticipation, then soon let a disappointed look show.
......What's this?
It was just a scrap of paper, after all.
"...Huh?"
But it was only for a moment.
Right after, she spotted the autograph and the artist's name, and her eyes flew wide open.
D.H, the artist of the girl's portrait!
The phrase written in refined handwriting beside the name: Let's meet someday.......
"Wow......."
As if moved, Joo Seol-hwa slowly reached out, carefully clasped the autograph, then sprang to her feet and bounced around.
I love you, sis— I'm probably the first person to get an autograph— This is seriously precious—
Patter-patter—
As she poured out words without pause and flung herself into a hug, Joo A-rin felt glad, but on the other hand a little bitter.
Celebrity or not, she felt as though she'd lost to someone whose face she didn't even know.
"You like it that much?"
"This is no time for that."
Joo Seol-hwa hurriedly climbed down from the bed and took out an empty frame.
She carefully slipped the autograph in, worried it might get crumpled.
Then, without any hesitation, she placed it next to the picture she treasured most.
Heh-heh.
Laughter kept leaking out until her head ached.
Joo Seol-hwa gazed at the autograph in silence for a while, then asked Joo A-rin.
"Sis, do you think we can meet him someday?"
"Huh?"
"The artist invited us, didn't he? Said let's definitely meet."
"Ah, that's......"
She couldn't bring herself to tell a child, It's probably just something people say.
She couldn't turn away from Joo Seol-hwa's expectant eyes in the name of reality.
In the end, she nodded and murmured quietly.
"Right, let's go find him. I'll make sure you meet him."
And she made a resolution.
To bring up going out at the first-half Joo Family general assembly a few weeks later.......
"Really?"
The two sisters held each other tight and shared their warmth for a while.
.......
And around then, the usual recurring routine arrived.
"You're hungry, right? I'll make you spaghetti."
"......Huh? Ah, no. I ate a lot for breakfast, so I'm not hungry."
"That won't do. You have to eat when it's time. Today, I'll make it with a new recipe just for you. I'm going to add soup to a store-bought sauce."
"Uh, sis."
Joo Seol-hwa hastily reached out, but Joo A-rin had already turned her back.
* * *
If life went according to plan, would it even be life?
The savory saltiness of pizza still lingered in my mouth.
Somehow or other, I was now on the coast of Nice, a city in southern France.
I was sprinting with the magnificent view for company, as rolling waves pounded the long line of coastal cliffs and shattered droplets shot upward.
After running breathlessly for a while, I soon came upon the cypress path where Han Soo-hyeok had disappeared.
The entrance into the magic space was the very last cypress on the right.
I couldn't reach out right away and hesitated for a moment.
I had come this far, at least.
I had reached a target I wouldn't have found if I hadn't seen Han Soo-hyeok.
But when I tried to charge in recklessly, worry suddenly got the better of me.
The moment I set foot in there, everyone would be an enemy.
I didn't know what relationship Han Soo-hyeok had with the mysterious group, but I had no expectation of coming back out safely.
.......
But backing down now was out of the question.
After coming all this way.
Come back later?
If I missed the timing doing that.
The only evidence, and the hope of moving on to the next step, would fly away.
Then the trail I had barely opened up would be blocked off.
For that reason, it was also too late to call Reina.
So.......
"I'm going in, all right."
But not as I was now. Only after preparing at least the minimum safeguards.
I rummaged through my clothes and took out two spare strands of Cheonjam Thread I had brought along.
And I twisted them.
Like a twisted doughnut, I wrapped one strand around the other to make it sturdier.
Still not reassured, I even tried Enhancement.
[Enhancing Cheonjam Thread's strength twofold for 10 minutes.]
[Required SP: 15]
It wasn't without a sense of being expensive, but if I thought of it as a lifeline, that thought vanished completely.
If I thought of it as returning the points I'd gotten yesterday from a few words, it sat easy.
[Enhancing.]
I wound the enhanced Cheonjam Thread around two cypress trees.
Since it only needed to support my weight, this much support was enough, and I wrapped the other end around my waist.
I'd felt like I was standing on a bungee platform without a cord, but now that I'd actually attached a real cord, I felt much more at ease.
If something dangerous happened, I'd quickly contract the Cheonjam Thread.
I'd be able to escape at an absurd speed.
Of course, I hadn't accounted for the variable of the magic space and reality being different spaces in themselves.
There was no way to know, and no time either.
Since I'd even used Enhancement, all I could do was hope it would hold.
['Greed' says it's a dangerous place.]
[It asks if you really have to go.]
Still, having Greed with me was some comfort.
I copy-pasted the line I'd used yesterday.
"There are times when a person has to go even if they don't want to. For me, that time is now."
Of course, the reaction was quite different.
['Greed' snorts.]
[It says if you don't want to go, not going is the wise choice.]
It was also a fair point.
But I was originally a reckless person.
When I see a goal, I charge like a wild boar with its tail on fire. A person who has to slam into it first before his mind can settle.
"Got it?"
I tossed a single word at Greed— then looked at the cypress.
To sum up, the goal was to obtain information about the "booster" without being detected.
If I got caught?
Then I'd have to at least ask. What exactly the booster was.
What kind of scheme they were plotting with it.
Whether the target of my questions was Han Soo-hyeok or the Pawns.
Neither seemed like the sort of great person who would answer willingly, but that was a problem to worry about when I got there.
If it really wasn't going to work, if I felt like I was about to die, then wild boar or not, I planned to run.
* * *
I'd passed through magic spaces several times, but the thought I always had was that it felt damn unpleasant.
The sensation of moving between spaces was like squeezing through a narrow, sticky gap between walls.
But once I adjusted, I would briefly lose myself in a sense of foreignness that couldn't be put into words.
It was the same this time.
As the colder air seeped into my lungs, I slowly shallowed my breathing and looked ahead.
There stood the two-story mansion I had searched so desperately for.
But maybe because the sky was low and the weather was gloomy.
It was quite different from the image I'd pictured.
The pretty, charming feel was nowhere to be found; it was bleak and sinister.
Well, it wasn't as if I was going to leave because of that, so first I tried to share vision with Fly B.
Crackle—
But there was no answer.
I sent out Fly A as a test, but it too only hovered nearby. As if something had been cast over the mansion, it collapsed feebly whenever it approached beyond a certain distance.
"Well, damn."
It meant I couldn't count on luck and had to enter directly.
One-star Wind-Style Sorcery of 32 strokes, Concealment.
After erasing my magical presence with sorcery, I checked the Cheonjam Thread tied around my waist.
This seemed fine, so I carefully approached the mansion.
But was it always this big?
Facing it up close, it was a size that could be called a palace without embarrassment, so the door was also damn huge.
I opened it as carefully as I could, but it let out a creeeak—.
"......."
I raised my Heightened Senses as much as possible and first scanned for presences.
There seemed to be no one, so I slipped inside quickly.
I crouched low like a frog and examined the interior.
Aside from it being much darker than outside and feeling like night, it was just as I'd expected.
The interior was filled with wooden furniture that showed the traces of time, and a fair amount of dust had settled as if it hadn't been maintained.
And it was silent. As if no one were there.
Step. Step.
But after a few steps deeper inside and a few breaths.
The moment I detected the fishy scent of blood lingering in the air.......
"Hup."
I realized something had happened between Han Soo-hyeok, the Pawns, and the mysterious group.
"......Did they fight?"
I'd thought they were on the same side, or in a transactional relationship.
I debated whether to go further, but once I realized stopping here would be meaningless, I advanced.
With my nose half-covered by my sleeve, I walked, following the scent of blood.
I left the entrance area and entered a passage at the back.
After walking about five more minutes, I found another door.
Since I guessed that the source of the blood scent lay beyond it, I first stared hard at it.
But I couldn't see well.
I could make out a bulging shape, but it was hard to infer the situation from that.
Either no light was getting in, or the outer wall was considerably thick, or both.
I had no choice but to approach.
Please work.
I crouched beside the door and took out Fly A again.
Buzz—
Fortunately, inside the building, the unknown interference effect seemed somewhat weaker, so it flew well, and the video transmission was smooth.
I opened the door slightly and sent Fly A out.
Fly A switched to night mode and shot into the darkness.
It became another pair of eyes and swept over the interior.
It transmitted exactly what it saw to the watch.
.
.
I barely swallowed the groan that burst out.
"Hup."
Because all I could see were corpses.
There were the black-masked beings that matched the swordsman's memories.
The corpses of the ones called Pawns were piled up like a tower.
I stared at the hall stained dark red and lost my words.
......?
Then I suddenly realized one person was missing.
"......Han Soo-hyeok."
That moment.
"There's one left, isn't there."
A rough voice echoed eerily from the darkness ahead.
Eyes gleaming toward me, buried in the dark.
It was then that cold sweat ran down my back, sending a chill through my spine.
['Greed' warns.......]
RUMBLE—
Dark-red Demonic Energy shot forward as if fired.
The moment I perceived it, the overwhelming crescent had already reached right in front of me.
"Shit......."
The instinctive thought that I had to dodge triggered the Cheonjam Thread.
Space shifted in an instant.