A Sickening Feeling (5)
It was only natural to wonder what had happened. Clutching the burning pain in his chest, Han Sora staggered backward, but her body wouldn’t move properly. The reason was painfully obvious.
Magic? I didn’t even see a casting motion… Is something like this… possible?
She had once heard in class that simple spells could be completed without an incantation, but she’d never imagined it could actually be done.
Probably some improved version of a binding spell.
Countless thoughts flashed through her head, but there was no way she could think clearly. She didn’t even fully understand the situation she was in.
“A… ah….”
Slowly turning her head, she saw only a pitch-black room.
An eerie space with not a single ray of light.
It didn’t even feel like the room she’d walked into earlier without a care in the world, babbling away. And it wasn’t simply because there was a dagger lodged in her chest.
Mana seemed to have flooded the room completely, making it harder and harder to breathe, until even her breaths had turned ragged for no reason at all.
“A… aaaah!”
Before she even realized it, sounds that were halfway between words and screams kept spilling from her mouth. Her body shook on its own before her brain could catch up, and a horrible cry tore out of her throat.
“D-don’t do this! AAAAAH!”
“……”
“P-please… save me. Save me. Please save me. Please, please save me.”
“I-I’m not going to kill you. I won’t kill you.”
“Don’t come any closer! Don’t come closer!”
“N-no, no, no way. Heeheehee.”
Only then did she understand the source of that earlier feeling of dread.
It hadn’t been her imagination, and she hadn’t been hurt in some ordinary way.
The fear she’d felt then surged back up to her throat. The pain of the dagger in her chest had become so faint she couldn’t even feel it anymore.
A sealed space, and a body that wouldn’t move.
What was most terrifying of all was the expression on that face staring at her through a mess of tangled hair.
That same crooked smile, and eyes that looked somehow empty.
What do I do?
She couldn’t think of anything.
What am I supposed to do?
Of course she couldn’t think of anything else. One wrong move, and she’d die. No—death wasn’t even the issue. The only thought occupying her mind was how to get out of here, out of this place, no matter what.
Her jaw was trembling violently, and her whole body had started to shake.
I knew it.
Lee Kiyoung had known this woman had completely lost her mind.
That’s why he told me to put on the cloak and get out.
He’d already known this was how things would end.
“Instructor Jung Hayan, p-please don’t do this. I didn’t do anything wrong… I just….”
“Eeeek!!”
“AAAAAAH!”
With a sharp sound, it felt as if something had been driven into the back of her hand.
“You thief!”
Fush, fush—the sound continued, and pain like being branded with a burning brand spread across her body in scattered bursts.
The agony was so overwhelming she couldn’t even scream properly, and yet the fact that she couldn’t move at all only made everything more suffocating.
“Idiot! Stupid!”
“AAAAAAH!”
It was terrifying. Tears kept pouring from her eyes as pain and fear battered her body, and she couldn’t even tell what was happening to her own flesh anymore.
“It hurts! It hurts! Please, save me. Please… please save me.”
The pain was coming from too many places at once, and that only made it more horrifying—she had no idea what was being done to her.
When she managed to gather her senses, one eye felt numb, and her limbs wouldn’t seem to respond properly either.
I’m going to die.
She was definitely going to die here. And only when even her screams—no, even her voice—were gone did she finally force herself to speak.
Only then did she realize what she had to say to survive.
In truth, it was something she’d realized a long time ago.
She just hadn’t had the chance to say it properly. She’d been too busy screaming.
“It’s… a lie. That never… happened….”
“……”
“It never happened….”
“Ah….”
“It didn’t happen….”
It was barely a voice, squeezed out at the point where she’d lost all feeling in her body.
She kept coughing up blood as she spoke, and the instant those words escaped her lips, the room went strangely quiet.
For a split second, she thought the demon might have left the room, but the quiet voice that soon reached her ears forced her to admit she’d been wrong.
“Wha… what?”
“It’s… a li… lie. That never happened….”
“A lie.”
“It’s true… really true…. I made it all up….”
“Huh?”
“I made all of it up… I’m sorry…. Please… save me.”
“Huh? Huh? R-really? Oh. It does seem true.”
“Please save me….”
“This is bad. What do I do? What do I do? D-did anyone see who came in here?”
The voice sounded a little flustered.
Maybe the excitement had cooled a little because of what she’d just said, but it was very different from the unnerving voice from before.
It really was Instructor Jung Hayan’s usual voice. Her consciousness was fading by the second, but she had to keep it together.
She knew the answer to that question was tied directly to whether she lived or died.
“Y-yes… members of the Red Mercenaries… a few of them….”
If nobody had seen it, Han Sora might have disappeared from this world right then and there.
The expression on that face looked frighteningly indifferent to killing people.
Damn it….
Thinking back, there had been signs. Changryeol-oppa had warned her, and the others had mostly told her not to do anything unnecessary.
Even Instructor Lee Kiyoung had sent her a signal.
Of course she remembered the look he’d given her—like he was staring at a pathetic fool. Tears welled up in her remaining eye.
“Don’t cry.”
“I-I won’t say anything… Please save me.”
“I said I’m not going to kill you. W-where’s the potion? So… this is your punishment for lying. Let’s just think of it that way. Trainee Han Sora! You’re not allowed to fool your instructor!”
“Y-yes….”
“Why would you tell such a lie?”
“I’m s-sorry….”
“But seriously, what do I do? I can’t let Oppa find out….”
“It’s okay… I’m… getting sleepy….”
“N-no! You can’t die!”
The temperature had changed so abruptly that it was almost disorienting. After feeling a warm liquid splashed over her entire body, she finally let her mind go slack.
All she could do now was pray that when she woke up, it would be somewhere else—anywhere else—besides this room.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
No matter how I looked at it….
She went way too far….
I’d expected Jung Hayan to handle things properly, but I never imagined she’d go this far.
Apparently she’d vented every bit of stress she’d been piling up lately, without even realizing it.
If Jung Hayan hadn’t gone to find Sun Heeyoung, Han Sora probably would have died without a fuss, which meant Hayan had driven her right to the edge of death.
Of course, I didn’t scold her for it.
Praising her felt a little wrong, so I went with something else: I told her she’d done well.
Instead of focusing on the fact that she’d left the girl a total wreck, I patted her on the head for catching a bad student trying to do something rotten.
In the end, from Jung Hayan’s point of view, it was the classic case of blind luck working out in her favor.
What had started as a jealous rampage had somehow turned into catching a criminal in the act.
When Sun Heeyoung brought Han Sora to me after treating only the external wounds, Hayan had looked like a sinner expecting the death penalty; once I told her there’d actually been a problem, her expression flipped instantly into smug triumph, and she demanded a reward.
The change in attitude was so fast even I was a little thrown off.
Anyway, I’d been busy, but in the middle of all that, I still managed to spend some pretty enjoyable time with her.
In the meantime, the demonstration had come and gone, and most of the trainees had completed their first advancement.
As for us, the ones handling production training, we’d gathered the mages and given a full lecture on alchemy, while Parang brought Lee Changryeol over on a salary that was, surprisingly, rather Changryeol-like.
Well, he asked for it himself.
More than salary or signing bonuses, he wanted a place where he could train.
His name might have been Changryeol, but his mental state wasn’t nearly as trash as his name suggested, and I had to admit that deserved a round of applause.
What he wanted was a small, quiet room and a heroic-grade item he could use as a weapon.
What an odd guy.
And things were also going well with Yoo Ahyoung.
Kim Hyunsung didn’t seem to fully understand why I wanted to recruit her, but he’d been nodding along while stubbornly insisting she should be brought in, so that was that.
He was still bouncing somewhere between number two and number three, but legendary-grade stats didn’t lie, and the days passed, the better he looked.
It was probably around this time that Han Sora finally came to her senses and started showing up to class.
Of course, her body had been left with enormous aftereffects.
For one thing, most of her mana circuits were ruined. According to Sun Heeyoung, they wouldn’t recover for at least a year, which meant her life as a mage was essentially over.
It didn’t seem like she’d lost absolutely every chance of making a comeback, but in any case, the fact remained that her body had been thoroughly wrecked.
In the end, one eye never recovered, and she was left with a slight limp. She probably had other aftereffects too, but it didn’t seem like she was eager to make a fuss about them.
What I found interesting was that she came to attend the alchemy lectures I was giving.
“Th-thank you for… giving me the chance.”
Huh?
“That day… you were trying to save me… so thank you.”
From my perspective, I’d just waved her off because she was a pain to deal with and told her to get dressed and leave, but apparently she had interpreted it as me giving her a chance.
Of course, the result hadn’t been good, but I hadn’t expected Han Sora to take it that way, so I just nodded.
Absurdly enough, she focused on the class with astonishing seriousness.
I didn’t know whether she was planning to switch careers and become an alchemist after all this, but either way, she hadn’t given up on life.
One especially amusing thing was that, among the group she’d always hung around with, she’d quietly become the target of bullying.
I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but it looked like she’d become the weakest link in the newly formed group in no time at all.
Human beings really are funny….
If I remembered correctly, those same people who used to trail after Han Sora calling her “unnie” had suddenly started tormenting her instead.
What I’d personally seen was only them snickering while treating Han Sora like a pathetic joke, but it was probably worse in private.
Of course, I didn’t feel any pity.
She did look a little unfortunate, limping around with bandages wrapped all over her body, but she was too far removed from me for her pain to really hit home.
Anyway, Han Sora, who was hanging on stubbornly despite living a life that was miserable to anyone with eyes, also made a point of avoiding Jung Hayan whenever possible. If they happened to run into each other, she’d shake violently and wet herself.
What the hell did you do to her?
That was the only thing I could think.
It probably wasn’t the only thing she was suffering from either.
Because of her long absence, she hadn’t been able to appear at the demonstration, so naturally no guild had made her an offer.
That meant she was in the position of having nowhere to go once the training period ended.
In truth, that was the end of it.
My interest in her faded, and I immediately shifted my attention to finding support classes.
Unlike what I’d originally expected—bringing over plenty of talented people I already knew from the future—Kim Hyunsung hadn’t shown much interest in the new recruits this turn.
Of course, he did sometimes stop by to calmly look over the trainees’ faces, as if he half-doubted his own memory, but once he realized none of them were the one he was looking for, he started slowly inspecting the melee classes training in the field.
The introduction was long, but if I had to sum up what I wanted to say, it was this: Parang still had three priority negotiation rights left unused.
Today, once again, I saw Cha Heera casually open her mouth. Thankfully she hadn’t asked right away, but no matter how she started the conversation, I figured she’d end up saying the same thing as always.
“You really don’t want to let her go? Jagi?”
“Let who go?”
“That wild little brat, Han Sora or whatever her name is.”
“Hmm. Fine.”
“Oh?”
“What?”
“Nothing. I just thought maybe you’d gotten a little more generous. You’re not usually the type to track someone down, chew them up, spit them out, and then go back for seconds?”
“It depends on the target. If I’d really meant to do that from the start, I’d have just killed her. More importantly, how much were they paid?”
“About a hundred gold per person?”
“Not much. Or maybe that’s a lot from their point of view.”
“We’re planning to go under anyway, but it still matters that they ran over first to tattle on her. They’re not good people, but good deeds are good deeds, right? Anyway, that Han Sora girl is pretty pitiful, too. I swear I could laugh myself sick at those girls, calling themselves her friends and spilling every little thing about her plan.”
“From their perspective, joining us was the better deal.”
“They even asked if they could join the Red Mercenaries as a reward. I almost split their skulls open, but I held back. Anyway….”
It seemed like she was finally getting to the point.
“You do plan to use them, right? Jagi? We can’t wait on the other guilds forever. I’m doing my best to keep the transfer market shut, but even the small and midsize clans that came to the demonstration are screaming at us to open it already…. What about just taking in anyone?”
“Ugh…. Our guild master doesn’t exactly like that. Parang’s always aimed to be a small elite force….”
“Honestly. Every day it’s Kim Hyunsung, Kim Hyunsung. Are you two sure there isn’t something going on?”
“I told you there isn’t.”
“Fine, whatever. Anyway, you do plan to use it, right? That bitch Yeonju over in Black Swan’s making a scene. She even shouted that the two of you must be in an alliance.”
“We owe them a favor, too. I could probably hand over one of the slots. And in Parang, once Yoo Ahyoung’s recruitment is finished, I think we can just open it up. Ah, and unnie, I’ll just give you the last one. If possible….”
“An Gimo?”
“Huh?”
“That bastard’s been making a racket, saying he wants to come to Parang….”
“Can he not? Unnie?”
“I don’t really care, but… I’m taking money. We’ve invested in that bastard ourselves, too.”
“That’s fine.”
“Wow… and here I thought he was all about loyalty and duty and all that. An Gimo, you filthy bastard. You better not trust him too much either. That guy’s slippery as hell. My head still aches from the betrayal. He came in here talking crap about how this would be his grave, how he’d close his eyes on the same day with the rest of the Red Mercenaries’ comrades, and then said he was going to Parang. I thought he was some kind of tragic actor. Seriously. You never know when he’ll stab you in the back, so I’m warning you now.”
“Got it….”
For some reason, that really did sound like him.
My conversation with Cha Heera was enjoyable, but it was about time to move.
The moment I pushed myself up from the chair, she was already watching me.
“Going to a meeting? Jagi?”
“Yeah. I should go see Yoo Ahyoung. I want to recruit her quickly, but she just won’t come around.”
“Big ones are like that.”
“That’s sexual harassment, unnie.”
“I didn’t say anything about what was big.”
The moment I turned my head, I saw her grinning like she was making fun of me, so I had no choice but to hurry out of the office.