Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Episode 18. Trip (4)
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Her heart was pounding so hard that she couldn't fall asleep easily.
So the baby had to stay awake until dawn, wide-eyed. Hugging the large teddy bears in her arms, the starry sky from earlier flickered before her eyes.
"Can't sleep?"
There were three tents in total, but only Bom and Winter occupied them.
Bom brushed aside Winter's blue hair. The baby, with her forehead exposed, nodded.
"It was really beautiful, wasn't it?"
Nod, nod.
"Still, you need to sleep now. Want to sleep with your big sis?"
Bom offered her arm as a pillow and pulled Winter into an embrace. Along with the two teddy bears, Winter nestled into Bom's arms.
Only then did drowsiness start to creep in little by little. Winter closed her eyes.
At some point, Winter found herself standing in the middle of the lake.
For some reason, Yoo Ji-tae was smiling brightly and reaching out his hand to her. Startled, the child looked away. Then, cautiously, she glanced toward Yoo Ji-tae.
He was still beaming.
He opened his mouth.
"Winter, come play in the water with me."
Together? In the water?
Winter buried her face in the teddy bear in her arms. For some reason, she didn't want to show her face.
Then Yoo Ji-tae approached and hugged her. He lifted her up and spun her around.
"My Winter. Haha. My daughter. Haha."
My Winter?
My daughter!?
...
In the darkened tent. Bom gazed at the child who had just fallen asleep.
She must be dreaming. Her hands twitched. Her feet twitched. Even letting go of the teddy bear, she flailed her arms about.
Then Winter started giggling.
Bom, who had been gently stroking Winter's hair until then, tilted her head.
'What kind of dream is making her like this?'
Bom found Winter adorable. So she planted a light kiss on the child's exposed white forehead.
Winter kept smiling blissfully for a while.
Early morning.
Something approached and tugged at the sock of Yoo Ji-tae, who was lying in his tent.
What is it?
The regressor slowly opened his eyes. Winter was there. For some unknown reason, she was pulling at his sock, so he quietly slipped his foot free.
Then Winter followed his retreating foot toward him.
"What are you doing?"
"...!"
Thinking he was asleep, Winter jumped in surprise and frantically looked around before grabbing a frying pan to hide her face.
This kid, what is she up to?
Yoo Ji-tae couldn't understand the blue-haired baby's thoughts again today.
Winter cautiously lowered the frying pan and glared at him with tense eyes. But when their gazes met, she hid behind it again.
Why? What?
For now, it was morning. Planning to prepare breakfast as usual, the regressor pulled out pork belly from his inner subspace.
Bom, Summer, and Autumn were already splashing around in the water. Bom bounced the ball she'd brought with her hand. The ball floated a bit high. Summer leaped in a picture-perfect pose for a spike, sending it straight into Autumn's face. "Guhhh...!" Laughter erupted.
Dragons had great stamina.
He took the frying pan from Winter's hands. Suddenly empty-handed, she panicked and looked around, searching for something to hide her face.
In the meantime, he reignited the fire and started grilling the pork belly in the pan. Salt and pepper seasoned. Along with ssamjang and kimchi. On the other side of the box Bom had prepared were ssam vegetables.
There were some freshwater fish left from yesterday's catch. Yoo Ji-tae cleaned them and skewered them in curly shapes by the fire. Being small-boned freshwater fish, they would be fine to eat bones and all.
Then something tugged at his pant leg.
It was Winter.
"What."
Unlike usual, where she'd panic upon eye contact, today she averted her gaze but cautiously pointed somewhere.
Toward the Lake of Life, where Bom, Summer, and Autumn were.
What did she want?
As he pondered, Winter carefully took his hand. Her small white hand gripped two of his large fingers fully.
Winter tugged gently at Yoo Ji-tae.
The regressor followed her awkward steps.
Then, realizing something, he stopped cooking.
He picked up the baby and entered the water together.
Not knowing much about water play, they just swam together.
For some reason, Winter splashed even more excitedly than yesterday.
After finishing breakfast-slash-lunch.
"Did everyone have fun?"
He asked in a dry, parched voice.
The dragons replied "Yes!" with brighter expressions.
It was time to head back now.
"Leaving already?"
Had they seen him packing? Myeong Yong-ha, who had been leisurely enjoying his morning over there, approached with his wife and son.
"Yes. Thanks to you, we had a great time."
"Uhahaha! Pretty impressive, right? I confessed to my wife the first day I found that place."
Myeong Yong-ha's wife smacked his arm. How could you say that? She coughed.
Around then, he noticed Myeong Yong-ha's son staring blankly at them. Curious, he followed the gaze and saw the boy staring intently at Winter's face.
Well, he'd been doing that since yesterday. Whenever Winter played, Myeong Yong-ha's son would watch her dazedly.
"The big sis is leaving now."
"Ah, yeah......"
It was a calm voice for such a young child.
Winter now looked about five years old, so he called her big sis.
Not particularly curious, but he decided to ask.
"What's your name?"
"Jun-il. Myeong Jun-il. Jun-il, say bye-bye to big sis now!"
The little boy said, "Yeah. Bye, big sis," and cautiously waved at Winter.
Winter, who had been ignoring him from Yoo Ji-tae's arms until then, turned her head to look at the boy. Then she waved back casually.
They parted ways with Myeong Yong-ha's family like that.
After packing everything.
As they prepared to leave, Winter stared blankly at the Lake of Life.
"She's going to miss it."
Bom voiced Winter's feelings.
No helping it. They couldn't live here forever.
He casually packed while Bom handed him a water bottle.
"What's this for?"
"If we take some water, it might ease Winter's disappointment a little."
There was such a method?
Yoo Ji-tae approached Winter and crouched down. He bent at the waist to fill the bottle with water.
With somewhat gloomy eyes, Winter watched his actions.
He handed the bottle to her.
"Let's go."
Winter took the bottle and stared blankly at Yoo Ji-tae before nodding.
Their seasonless journey ended like that.
The air felt heavy.
One of the sweat drops beaded on her face trickled down her cheek.
The small hands gripped tightly in his trembled helplessly.
Ugh, ngh......
It was a groan endured through pain, only spilling out like a dying breath when it became unbearable.
His wife, who never let out a whimper no matter how much it hurt, was gasping for breath today.
Myeong Yong-ha silently held his wife's hand.
Doctors and healers bustled about as always that day too, but there was no improvement.
It had been about ten years since she'd fallen ill. Right after the Great War ended, she'd been exposed to a virus spewed by an ancient monster. Ever since, once a month like clockwork, she suffered excruciating pain and chills.
Even in this era where medicine and magic had advanced to revive the dead, there were diseases they couldn't conquer.
Hers was one such illness.
Ah... ngh......
Myeong Yong-ha had sought out the world's top healers and doctors. He'd poured every effort he could into treating her.
Sometimes it seemed like her condition improved, but no. False hopes only tormented him more.
Ngh......
A voice that swelled to bursting then forcibly suppressed.
Myeong Yong-ha ground his teeth to the breaking point.
"Honey."
"......"
"Honey. Ha-won."
He gripped his wife's hand tightly.
Her hand felt especially small today.
Gazes of concern fell on her pregnant belly.
As her body deteriorated, she'd wanted the child even more. Myeong Yong-ha had tried to dissuade her. Giving birth in her condition was dangerous. But she wouldn't bend. Unable to hold back, he'd yelled at his ailing wife. How can you even think of having a child when you can't lie straight? If you have any sense, take care of your own body first.
But she told him her life wouldn't last much longer. She wanted to leave a trace of her love for him in the world before dying. It was stubbornness through and through.
Whenever that happened, Myeong Yong-ha felt infinitely small and pathetic.
What kind of ranker was he?
What use was being the world's top druid?
What meaning did the money and fame in his hands hold?
Even grasping such greatness, all he could do was tremble and call his wife's name.
Ugh, hnghk......
As night fell, the voice she could no longer suppress spilled out as a frail scream.
"......"
After his wife fell asleep.
Myeong Yong-ha staggered to his 'hideout'.
His colleagues, who had come to visit, were there. One of them, chatting idly, waved at him.
"Yo, Grasshead."
But Myeong Yong-ha's expression was off. Guessing the situation, they fell silent.
It had been quiet for a while. But it flared up again today.
Myeong Yong-ha, with a dazed look, pulled out the herbs procured that month.
Precious items, but more than half bought with money. In other words, most were mediocre enough to purchase outright.
The truly rare ones had already been given to his wife.
Still, he didn't give up.
Habitually, he moved his hands.
Myeong Yong-ha opened the natural subspace within his skin and took out the herbs. Then he began brewing porridge.
There, he found a small black root.
This... I remember.
The dubious man from the Lake of Life had given it to him.
Thinking back, that family was peculiar.
The 'Taesan' within Myeong Yong-ha's body had warned about the man. Nature deemed him an enemy, and the underground entities judged him evil.
At first, he'd thought they had to fight.
But the moment he encountered the olive-haired girl beside him, Nature and all changed their stance.
It was a reaction he'd never seen before.
It was as if...
Anyway, that wasn't important now.
Myeong Yong-ha's fingertips turned into white roots. 「Root of Judgment (A)」, a skill analyzing mana and efficacy in herbs. He began analyzing the black root the man had given him.
"......"
The next moment, he doubted the information flooding his mind.
"Yong-ha."
Then, someone tapped his back.
Turning, there stood a lanky man taller than him but slimmer. One hand held a blue orb, the other a vodka bottle.
The man ranked 2nd in the world superhuman rankings, unbound by nationality.
Alias 'BM'.
Also his longtime colleague.
He hadn't shown his face at their hideout for months due to massive dungeon raids. Even in the chaos, Myeong Yong-ha welcomed his friend.
"Whoa! BM. It's been months, hasn't it? You're busy, right?"
Clink. The drunk chuckled.
"Dude. I'm still busy. Take this."
BM offered a small orb.
"Try it on Ha-won."
"What the... what's this?"
"Good stuff. I'm out."
"Thanks, BM! Seriously."
BM downed the vodka and left the hideout.
He analyzed the black root from the suspicious man and the orb from BM.
Both were astonishing tonics, unfamiliar even to world rankers. Honestly, he'd never seen their like, making analysis difficult.
But they were definitely beneficial for vitality.
Concluding that, Myeong Yong-ha carefully brewed porridge with the two ingredients. A cubic magic circle formed, fusing the materials together.
Myeong Yong-ha returned to the hospital room with the porridge.
The pain somewhat subsided; his wife, soaked in sweat, lay staring out the window, stroking her pregnant belly.
"Honey."
She turned.
Myeong Yong-ha handed her the porridge. Her trembling hand lifted the spoon. He brushed her sweat-damp hair behind her ear. "Did you work out while I was gone?" With a silly joke, he wiped her sweat with a towel.
Myeong Yong-ha prayed desperately to gods he wasn't sure existed.
He'd sacrifice anything if needed.
Please, let there be a miracle...