Adaptation (6)
My body felt like it was freezing over. This space reeked of dust and filth. The stable, filled only with the gut-churning stench of horse manure, echoed with nothing but oppressive silence.
“The carriage… it’s not here…”
“I-It was definitely supposed to be right here…!!” Saren stammered, clearly panicked. But that wasn’t the only problem.
“There’s only one horse left. It looks like the master took all the others when he left.”
Vivian’s indifferent tone pushed me deeper into the abyss of despair.
Thud—!
Bang bang bang—!!
“Eek!!”
The door rattled violently. Saren jumped in fright and threw herself into my arms.
“Open it already!! What the hell are you idiots doing?! Just break the damn thing down!!”
“Yes, sir!”
The rough voices from outside grew louder. Crack—! The door protecting us shook fiercely, letting out a deafening clamor.
“Fuck…”
What now? One horse, three people. Each of us carrying a bag. No matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn’t see any way out. The situation felt utterly hopeless.
“Push harder!!”
Kwaaaaaang—!!
“Brother! What do we do now?!”
“……”
I squeezed my eyes shut. This situation had veered far from the prologue where Vivian was supposed to lead us in our escape. Once again, I had no idea where things had gone off track. Why? Should I have listened to Vivian when she first suggested heading for the back gate? That made no sense. Think about it. Who in their right mind would abandon a carriage and try to outrun that many soldiers on foot? Choosing the stable was obviously the right call.
Boom—!
But the failure was undeniable now. Was this another guillotine ending? I would rather die than face that again. If I was going to die anyway, and I had a dagger with me, maybe I should just end it myself before they caught me? Saren and Vivian would meet again in the next life anyway.
“Ha!”
I shook my head fiercely. I hadn’t even been caught yet, and here I was already thinking about dying. There was still a sliver of hope. If the three of us could somehow escape together, that would be enough. So first, I needed to stay calm and figure out how to get out of here. Think. Think, damn it. Think.
“Young master?”
“…?”
Vivian’s voice, close and urgent, snapped my eyes open. She had stepped right in front of me. She pressed the white bundle she had been carrying so carefully into my hands. Its unexpected weight nearly made me stumble.
“Take the young lady and run. The two of you, as fast as you can.”
“…What? What about you?”
I asked, but she simply smiled and continued.
“This is all medicine for the young lady. If you can find water, dissolve it in the water and give it to her. If there’s no water, crush it as finely as possible. Once a day. You must do this.”
My brow furrowed. All this heavy bundle was Saren’s medicine? She hadn’t brought a single thing for herself?
With those final words, she moved to the shaking door and pressed her back against it.
“W-What are you doing, Vivian… it’s dangerous… come back…”
“I’ll hold them off as long as I can! So go, quickly!!”
Thud—!! Thud thud thud thud—!!
Every time the door shuddered, her face twisted in pain.
“Young master, hurry!!”
“That’s right, Brother! We have to go now!!”
Saren shouted along with her, but my gaze refused to leave Vivian. Wasn’t this the same as throwing her own life away? I couldn’t just turn and run. How many people could simply say “thank you” and leave in a moment like this? And above all else, we couldn’t do this without Vivian.
That was when it happened.
Crunch—!
Shunk—
“……Huh?”
The sound of the door caving in. At the same time, a sharp spear burst through Vivian’s chest, rising grotesquely.
“Guh—!”
“Someone’s standing right here!! Focus your thrusts here!!”
With that shout, shunk— shuuuunk— five more spears pierced her body in an instant. The sticky blood coating the spear tips dripped down the sharp blades, falling to the floor with soft, wet plops.
The sight made my vision spin. My mind grew hazy.
“Cough—!!!”
“Vi… Viv…”
Dark red blood erupted from her mouth and splattered across my face. I took one step, then another, slowly walking toward Vivian.
“Brother?”
Saren’s call from behind made my feet stop on their own. Because of that voice. That impossibly bright, cheerful voice. What was that alien tone doing in a moment like this?
I slowly turned my head. And there she was, staring at me with empty eyes that held not a single trace of emotion. Those crimson eyes never blinked once. I swallowed hard without realizing it.
“This is our chance to run, you know?”
“B-But Vivian… she’s…”
“Vivian?”
“The spears… they…”
Creak— creak—
Saren’s head tilted slowly to the side.
“Why is our dear brother making such a fuss over the death of a mere maid?”
“……What?”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Or perhaps.”
She blinked once, then stepped closer, pressing her body against mine. She raised a hand and slowly traced the line of my face with her finger, whispering in a tiny voice.
“Don’t tell me… you had feelings for Vivian…?”
A chill ran through my entire body at her touch. This wasn’t the Saren I knew. The girl who had always smiled sweetly at me and spoken with refined, ladylike grace. The person standing before me now felt like an entirely different being.
“Why aren’t you answering me?”
Her voice was low and cold. Her eyes had frozen over like ice, and there wasn’t the slightest trace of warmth left in them. Why had she changed so drastically?
“……”
Without a word, I turned my head to look at Vivian. Her blue eyes had already lost their light. Blood dripped steadily from her mouth and nose. Her body, impaled by six spears, hung limp like laundry left to dry in the wind.
Grind—
Standing before that blood-soaked horror, I clenched my teeth. Seeing someone die was still terrifying. It still crushed my chest with unbearable weight. But something else frightened me even more.
Vivian’s death meant the story I was supposed to create had completely derailed. That single fact drove me to the edge of a cliff.
“……Let’s go.”
“Hmm? Let’s go together!”
Saren answered in an innocent voice. I didn’t even respond. I walked past her toward the horse. Right now, I had to survive. No matter what it took—crawling, struggling, anything. I had to live. As long as I was alive, another chance might come.
Someone might laugh at me. They might say I should just die quickly and regress. But when the condition for regression is death, is it really that easy? If I could just click an ESC button and die, I would have done it countless times. But that wasn’t how it worked.
I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to feel any kind of pain. I just wanted to live. Even rolling in a pile of shit, this life was better than the alternative. And more than anything, I needed to cling to this absurd, empty hope if I was going to endure this hell.
“Damn it…”
This was bad. There was one thing I had overlooked—I had only ridden a horse once in my entire life. And that was during a trip to Jeju Island. What now? In my head, I could picture myself grabbing the reins and galloping away, but my body wasn’t about to follow that fantasy.
Thud thud thud—!!! Crack!!
“There they are!! Break it faster!!”
“B-Brother!”
“Tsk.”
The stable door shattered open, revealing countless eyes fixed on us. Fortunately, Vivian’s heavy corpse seemed to be buying us time, but how long would it last? Either way, we couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer.
I placed my foot in the stirrup first, closed my eyes tight, and threw myself up.
“Hup!”
Luck was on my side. Somehow, my body landed perfectly in the saddle on the first try.
“Saren, the bags!!”
“Here!”
Saren handed me the three bags, then quickly climbed up behind me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist. Just like I had seen in dramas, I gripped the reins hard, kicked the horse’s flank, and shouted.
“Yah!”
The pure white horse lifted its head sharply, let out a loud neighhh—! and burst forward with a snort. It kicked through the stable’s back door and began to gallop ahead.
“Haa… haa…”
It was an unfamiliar fear. Every stride sent jolts of pain through my tailbone, and the thin reins felt far too fragile to trust with my weight. I had never even ridden a motorcycle before, so I clutched the reins for dear life, terrified of falling off. My hands turned bone-white from the pressure.
We burst out of the stable and raced toward the dense forest in the distance, where not even light seemed to reach.
“Puhaha!! Brother, we did it! I knew coming to the stable was the right choice!”
“……”
Saren shouted in excitement. But no words came from my mouth. Because this was clearly the wrong answer. The path we were taking wasn’t escape—it was another road to death. Vivian’s sacrifice had only delayed my demise for a little while.