Day and Night (15)
“Damn it… What the hell is…”
Jeongwoo staggered, holding his head. Jaehee saw this and quickly approached to support him, but even after that, Jeongwoo couldn’t come to his senses and shook his head several times.
“Jeongwoo, are you okay now? Are you conscious? You have no idea how worried I was…”
“I… caused you worry. Sorry. I’m fine now.”
Jaehee inwardly let out a sigh and examined Jeongwoo. Seeing Jeongwoo speak and move, he finally felt the reality that Jeongwoo had returned.
“You collapsed like that, and I was really so scared. Haa, thank goodness.”
Jaehee pulled Jeongwoo into an embrace and buried his face in Jeongwoo’s chest.
Jeongwoo’s familiar scent, his body warmth.
Just that alone made his tension ease. It wasn’t like Jeongwoo had lost consciousness on purpose, but while Jeongwoo was unconscious, it had felt like being in hell.
Only after experiencing this incident did Jaehee realize that while he had thought about the possibility of himself dying, he had never once thought about the possibility of something happening to Jeongwoo. He was also able to reconsider just how high his dependence on Jeongwoo had become.
“Thank you. I’ll handle things myself from now on. I don’t know what happened while I was asleep, but I can roughly guess.”
Jeongwoo patted the back of Jaehee’s hand, then pulled a potion from his inventory. It seemed like his body wasn’t moving as he wanted, so he was trying to drink the potion.
Jeongwoo drank the potion in an instant, then drew a sword from his hand.
“Jeongwoo…”
“Yeah. It’s fine. I’ll handle it.”
Jeongwoo spoke calmly as if he were just going to the convenience store and stood up from his spot. Red flames blazed up from the sword Jeongwoo was holding. Whether it was just his imagination or not, somehow it felt bigger and more intense than when he had seen it before.
Jeongwoo stared at Seohuryorang with an indifferent expression. Seohuryorang’s face turned pale.
Jeongwoo playfully swung his sword lightly left and right. Each time, there was a heavy whoosh as it cut through the air.
“W-wait. Zero, listen here. Listen to what I have to say. I was just…!”
Seohuryorang cried out frantically. Gone was her previously imposing demeanor, replaced by an unbelievably servile attitude. Jaehee frowned as he looked at Seohuryorang. Even when he had seen her in the tutorial, he thought she at least cared for her pack. But the way she had killed the foxes earlier, and her current behavior – everything was the worst.
Seohuryorang glanced between Jeongwoo and Jaehee, then stepped backward.
“There’s no point in running away. It’ll be the same wherever you go.”
“W-wait. Zero. Let’s talk this through slowly. I was just an errand runner, that’s all. Th-that’s right. In a way, I’m a victim just like you! Aren’t we unfortunate victims caught up in the Constellations’ fight? When we first met, there was a brief misunderstanding, but we resolved it well, so I believe this time can be the same. Please listen to what I have to say. Hm? First, let’s get rid of those flames on that sword and then talk…!”
Jeongwoo didn’t give any particular response to Seohuryorang’s words and approached with large strides. Each time, Seohuryorang frantically stepped back as much as Jeongwoo approached.
When they had met in the tutorial before, she seemed to look down on Jeongwoo, but now she appeared to be quite afraid of him. No, she seemed afraid of the red flames on the sword. Even while speaking to Jeongwoo, Seohuryorang had a feeling of being wary of something.
Jaehee thought that those red flames that had cut through the young Ouroboros’s shell in one strike might be Jeongwoo’s sacred flame.
As Jeongwoo approached, Seohuryorang stepped back again by that much. Now it looked like there was nowhere left to retreat.
“I was wrong! P-please, show mercy just once. I was just trying to feed my many family members. How could it be a sin for a parent to do such things to feed their children! The strong preying on the weak is simply the law of nature, and condemning that is unreasonable!”
“Seohuryorang. Why are you making such pathetic excuses now? Then since I’m trying to deal with you according to the law of the jungle right now, just humbly accept nature. Don’t tell me that damn rule conveniently only applies to others?”
Jeongwoo lightly shook his head left and right. Due to lying down for so long, his muscles were stiff. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t catch someone like Seohuryorang.
“Even a passing dog wouldn’t listen to such pathetic excuses after coming this far. If you knew it was a fight between Constellations but still got involved, wasn’t it because you received something in return? Then you should have known that dangerous things could happen accordingly.”
Jeongwoo pointed his sword forward. It was a relaxed posture with the blade pointing downward, but seeing this, Seohuryorang returned to her true fox form.
“Just because I call you Zero, did you think you became a Constellation or something! What I’m being wary of is the Constellation behind you, not you! How insolent!”
Seohuryorang screamed loudly in anger and began to seriously inflate her body size. Her large tail also increased in number one by one.
However, she couldn’t return to her original size completely.
Because Jeongwoo’s sword had cut Seohuryorang’s neck.
With those words as her last, Seohuryorang could no longer speak.
Her head rolled off and pathetically rolled all the way to Jaehee’s feet with a “degururururu.”
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Jaehee was startled and fled backward.
Since it was a head cut off after transforming into her true form, the head itself was quite large. The head suddenly began burning in red flames and started to disappear. Jaehee was startled and stepped back one more step.
The large head was completely burned up in an instant. In the place where the head had disappeared, only a nail-sized red gem remained. Jeongwoo picked up that red gem.
[Congratulations! You have conquered the Instant Dungeon (B-rank): Subway of Deception.]
“It’s all over. Let’s go back now.”
“Haa…”
For something he had put effort into, the ending felt anticlimactic. What was that flame that could cut through Seohuryorang so easily? He’d have to ask once they got out of the dungeon.
A black gate opened before their eyes. It was the exit gate that opened when the dungeon was conquered.
Jeongwoo extended his hand as if escorting. Jaehee hesitated for a moment, then took that hand. Jeongwoo’s hand was still cool. Just as the two were about to head outside the gate.
“Kiiiiing! Kyung kyung kyung!”
“Uaaahhh!”
Jaehee screamed and shook his leg, startled when something grabbed and pulled at his leg. When he looked in surprise, it was a young fox. The fox was pouting with pursed lips for some reason and was biting Jaehee’s hem.
“Why, why are you doing that…! You, why!”
“What is it?”
“Kyung kyung kyung… Kiiiiiiing.”
When Jeongwoo grabbed the fox by the scruff of the neck and lifted it up, the fox let its body go limp. Jeongwoo had simply lifted it up, but as if it had been mistreated, it made pitiful crying sounds and moistened its eyes. Jeongwoo was dumbfounded and let out a “heh” with a hollow laugh.
“What’s this? What a brazen little thing. Does it take after its mother?”
“Kiyaaaaaaang!”
At Jeongwoo’s words, the fox brazenly let out a sharp scream and bared its claws. Even though it had just seen Seohuryorang’s neck cut with a single stroke, it was truly an endlessly brazen creature.
“Keok keok keok keok! Keok keok keok! Keok keok keok keok keok!”
The small fox, as if its earlier silence in front of Seohuryorang was a lie, barked loudly and twisted its body. The fox that had struggled free from Jeongwoo’s hand quickly ran to Jaehee’s feet and hugged Jaehee’s leg. Using even its small tail, it wrapped tightly around his ankle and began making whining sounds again.
“Haa…? This is… Hey, you want to follow me?”
“Kiiiiing.”
When Jaehee lifted up the fox, the fox looked at Jaehee with teary, glistening eyes. The fox made whining, whining sounds with all its might.
“Jeongwoo, is this little one saying it wants to follow?”
When he looked at Jeongwoo with a “surely not” expression, the fox whined again.
As if that was exactly right.
“Heo… What should we do about this?”
Jaehee looked at Jeongwoo. It was asking what they should do. But Jeongwoo only shrugged his shoulders and didn’t give any other answer.
“Well. This one isn’t following me, it wants to follow you, right? You have to decide.”
“Is it okay to take a creature that came from a dungeon like this?”
“Strictly speaking, this fox isn’t a dungeon monster. It’s closer to a spirit creature. Taking it out should be fine.”
At Jeongwoo’s words, as if to say “see?”, the fox wagged its tail back and forth.
Jaehee looked at the fox and scratched his head. This was troubling. To ignore it, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. But wasn’t this young fox’s mother Seohuryorang? They were enemies who killed its mother, so why was it trying to follow them? Was it for revenge? The fox rubbed its face against Jaehee’s hand and made pitiful crying sounds while whining. Jaehee hesitated, then finally let out a deep sigh and picked up the fox.
“I can’t help it. Let’s take it. I don’t know what to do after that though…”
“Alright. If that’s what you’ve decided.”
It was when they had passed through the black door and exited the gate.
[♢ Global Mission: Become a King, or Become a Subject. ♢
D-0. The first Global Mission has been completed. ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)￦✧*｡
Some humans still haven’t chosen a king, but unfortunately, the time is up!
But don’t worry! The opportunity to choose a king isn’t over!
Don’t worry even if you don’t like the king you finally chose!! (•̀ᴗ•́)￦ ̑̑
It’s not all over yet!]
