Jaehee frowned and lifted Jeongwoo’s clothes thoroughly, checking several times again.
It was impossible. Of course, potions weren’t a cure-all. If it was a wound that even high-grade potions couldn’t heal, there was nothing that could be done.
But Jeongwoo’s wounds appeared at a glance to be just bruises or cuts. So why weren’t they healing?
Jaehee glanced at Jeongwoo, then placed his hand under Jeongwoo’s nose. It was because the thought suddenly occurred to him, even though he knew it couldn’t be.
“Phew, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong, so why isn’t the potion working? Is that why Jeongwoo just left it alone? Because it couldn’t be treated with potions? I’ve seen him drink potions before though…”
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand. He thought he should check when Jeongwoo woke up, and was about to get up from his seat.
“Kaengkaeng!”
“Oppa!”
Yeong-i and Mirang came in together, hopping excitedly.
“Yeong-i! Kaengkaeng! Ah, Father, Stepmother…”
Jaehee lifted Yeong-i up in his arms, then saw his father and stepmother with wide eyes behind her and bowed his head. Now that he looked, this entire area was a mess.
“Good heavens…! Jaehee, what, what happened here? Why is this place like this…”
“Ah, i-it’s fine. P-probably…? Haha, w-well, the Management Bureau said they’d send people. F-first, this side is clean, so please come this way.”
His stepmother’s face turned pale as she stammered, and his father also couldn’t hide his surprised expression. Jaehee was saying it would be okay, then remembered that Kim Jisu hadn’t returned yet and called his father and mother to his side.
He didn’t want to alarm them, but it was better to be careful since he didn’t know where an attack might come from.
“Jaehee, are you hurt anywhere? Why didn’t you tell us earlier? If I’d known it would be like this, I would have brought more emergency medicine from home.”
“Hey, we have potions, so what does it matter? And anyway, even if I told you, there’s nothing you could do about it right away, so I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to just worry you. There was a third attack after Father and Stepmother left for home.”
“Haah, this doesn’t make sense. What crazy bastard would do such a thing in this situation…!”
“Now, now, I’m fine, so please both of you come this way. Jeongwoo still hasn’t woken up, so I haven’t been able to leave.”
His stepmother looked around the ruined surroundings with a worried face, then looked at Jeongwoo and sighed again.
“Jeongwoo must be very tired. But is Jeongwoo sleeping because he’s tired? Or… did he faint?”
“Ah… I was actually about to ask Kaengkaeng about that.”
“Kaengkaeng. Jeongwoo won’t wake up. Why won’t he wake up? I’ve already come out.”
“Kaengkaeng! Kaengkaengkaengkaengkaeng!”
Kaengkaeng cried as if answering, but since it was only kaengkaeng sounds, Jaehee frowned. Could it be that he can’t speak? But Kaengkaeng definitely helped Jeongwoo enter his dream.
“Oppa! Jeongwoo oppa is fine. He’ll wake up soon. He’s just a sleepyhead.”
“Huh…? Yeong-i, you can understand what Kaengkaeng is saying?”
“Kaengkaeng and I are friends. I can understand what my friend says!”
Yeong-i, who had been running around with her brown hair tied in two braids fluttering, nodded her head.
At her matter-of-fact words, Jaehee stared at Kaengkaeng with wide eyes. Kaengkaeng wagged his tail as if feeling wronged, then turned his head away primly. They said Yeong-i was a medium, so could she understand even what monsters say…
“You’re saying Jeongwoo is just sleeping? But he won’t wake up even when I try to wake him?”
“Kaengkaengkaengkaeng! Kaengkaengkaeng! Kaeng! Kaengkaengkaeng!”
Kaengkaeng made plausible kaengkaeng sounds again as if answering. Jaehee glanced at Yeong-i, but Yeong-i just spun around the office and didn’t say anything.
“Yeong-i…?”
“Ah, I don’t know. Kaeng said something, but it’s too difficult so I don’t understand.”
“Yeong-i…”
“He just says it’s fine! Kaengkaeng! I’m still a baby. I don’t know such difficult words.”
– He just fell asleep from using too much internal energy. He’ll wake up when he recovers.
Kaengkaeng tapped the floor with his tail, then let out a deep sigh. Only then could Jaehee feel relieved.
But wait, if you can communicate like this, why did you make kaengkaeng sounds?
Jaehee glared at Kaengkaeng with wide eyes, but Kaengkaeng primly looked at Jaehee once, then ran around the office with Yeong-i.
And soon Yang Yumi and the Management Bureau people arrived. Yang Yumi looked shocked at the wrecked office, but soon began calmly organizing the surroundings.
* * *
When Yang Yumi and the Management Bureau people arrived, the gloomy atmosphere became lively. They had also sent out a notice to the guild members who were outside to gather quickly, and Jaehee was in the middle of discussing future measures with Yang Yumi.
“Will tonight be okay?”
“…I wonder. First, Jeongwoo needs to wake up so we can deploy the veil…”
Jaehee muttered, glancing at Jeongwoo who still showed no signs of waking.
Who could guarantee that tonight would be safe?
He was deliberately not looking at the system window because he was afraid to check the number of subjects. His stomach churned when he thought about how many people were all relying on him.
How did it come to this? Not long ago, he was just a high school student who was nothing.
Jaehee glared at Jeongwoo lying down once, feeling like this was all somehow Jeongwoo’s fault.
“If not Jeongwoo-ssi, can’t anyone else maintain the veil?”
“It’s probably possible. If I designate them… If designation isn’t possible, there’s also the method of temporarily excluding Jeongwoo from the subjects. The problem is who can endure that time outside the veil. Excluding Woo Jeongwoo.”
“Probably one person won’t be enough, and we’ll have to form a team to go out. It seems other Kings did it that way. If that’s burdensome, they just didn’t accept more subjects and only deployed one veil where they were.”
“We can’t do that though… Well, he’ll wake up soon. When Jeongwoo wakes up, let’s tease him about being a sleeping prince in the forest.”
At Jaehee’s words, Yang Yumi burst into giggles. Yang Yumi’s laughter seemed to soften the tense atmosphere a bit.
“Yumi-ssi, have all the injured been confirmed?”
“The report hasn’t come in yet, but it should be organized soon. The Management Bureau only brought the kids who work well. If something major had happened, a report would have come in, so since there’s nothing, you can think it’s okay. I’ll make sure the guild master doesn’t have to worry about minor things. This time, in many ways, the entire country is indebted to the guild master.”
“No, Yumi-ssi, don’t say it like that. I’m just doing what needs to be done.”
“The more it’s a crisis situation, the farther we get from common sense, and the bottom of human nature is revealed, right? Honestly, at first I thought, no matter how outstanding their abilities are, Jaehee-ssi and Jeongwoo-ssi are kids who just graduated high school, so I was worried about what the section chief believed in them for. But now I’m admiring that the section chief’s eye was accurate.”
“Ha, stop buttering me up. I told you about the territory declaration, right? Right now it won’t work because we’re short on the number of subjects, but before nightfall, I’m planning to make a territory declaration. Where did the Management Bureau say the recommended places were?”
“Yes. Right now there are several candidate sites, but we’re checking more. First, we’re looking mainly at places where the population is concentrated and there’s definitely no King. That needs to be certain so it won’t burden Jaehee-ssi.”
“Territory declaration could lead to war if done wrong, but there’s no choice right now. We have to save people first.”
Yang Yumi took out a map with several circles drawn on it and gave it to Jaehee. In the digital age, a paper map was even an unfamiliar object, but in the current situation, a paper map was more convenient.
“Please make territory declarations centered on the circled areas. The Management Bureau will help as much as possible. For the remaining places with red circles, you can deploy veils.”
Jaehee nodded and scanned the map. The two deliberately didn’t exchange stories with specific numbers. Because if they knew how many people were in which area, it would make their hearts heavier.
First, the plan was to deploy veils in major cities, and make territory declarations in other areas first.
“Tonight, protecting the guild master will be the top priority. Looking at how things are going, there will definitely be an attack tonight too.”
“…So you’d better do well. If something happens to Jaehee, I won’t let the veil or anything else go.”
“Huh? Jeongwoo!”
Jaehee, who had been exchanging words with Yang Yumi, was startled by the voice heard from behind and stood up.
