Jeongwoo sent several messages to Jaehee, but when no reply came back, he realized something had gone terribly wrong. The moment he realized something had happened to Jaehee, his legs trembled.
“Get it together, Woo Jeongwoo. Calm down. The veil is still being maintained, so nothing major has happened yet.”
Even while speaking aloud to himself, he couldn’t calm down. His palms were damp with sweat, and the arm swinging the sword had lost all its strength.
He knew well that he needed to pull himself together at times like this. But even so, he couldn’t calm down. The image of Jaehee collapsing kept replaying in his head. His strength drained and his whole body trembled.
What if Jaehee had collapsed again? What if he didn’t even have the presence of mind to ask for help…!
What if his life was already hanging by a thread…?
As negative thoughts churned through his mind, he couldn’t stay still any longer.
What if he wasted time saving others and ended up losing Jaehee? If he committed such a foolish act again…?
Jeongwoo looked toward where Jaehee was with a face pale as a sheet. He no longer swung his sword at the undead rushing toward him. Though he knew the undead were biting his leg and grabbing his arm, he didn’t even think to do anything about it.
[—Get— a— grip—]
A sound ringing in his ears like tinnitus.
For a moment, he flinched in surprise.
“…Flame.”
[Constellation, Blazing Flame tells you to please get a grip.]
[Warning to Constellation, Blazing Flame. Intervention during a mission is an illegal act.]
[Constellation, Blazing Flame pays a fine to the system.]
[Constellation, Blazing Flame says if you don’t get a grip now, you’ll truly lose everything. Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet, but solve what’s right in front of you now.]
[Warning to Constellation, Blazing Flame. Intervention during a mission is an illegal act.]
[Constellation, Blazing Flame pays a fine to the system.]
[Constellation, Blazing Flame warns the foolish incarnation that this isn’t what they’ve invested in until now. Remember your contract with them.]
[Warning to Constellation, Blazing Flame. Intervention during a mission is an illegal act.]
[Constellation, Blazing Flame pays a fine to the system.]
[Warnings have accumulated, suspending all activities of Constellation, Blazing Flame for one day.
Tests regarding a planet are noble acts that determine the planet’s fate, and strictly prohibit all illegal interventions. If warnings accumulate, activities will be suspended, and if illegal acts continue afterward, intervention in that planet can be permanently suspended.]
[Ancient Memory] Wow. That’s so petty. Shouldn’t you block **** first then? Laws favor the rich, not the poor!
[Constellation, Ancient Memory warning]
[Ancient Memory] Always warning for everything. If you’re going to warn like that, you should **************
[Constellation, Ancient Memory warning. Chat banned for the next 6 hours]
[Winter Night Traveler] Hey, young friend there. I’m on your side. I’m cheering for you!
[Seventh Chariot] Isn’t he sexier when he’s lost his mind? Slurp.
[Responding Exterminator] Ugh, gross. Listen here. There’s about a 2,000-year age gap between you and him, you know? You want to do that? To a little baby? Ew.
[Seventh Chariot] Who cares. If you’re handsome, everyone’s unni, oppa, noona, hyung anyway. Hey hyung! You’re sexier when you’ve lost your mind. Stay like that a bit more. I’ll come to you.
Jeongwoo frowned and sighed.
Though Jeongwoo couldn’t bring himself to say it, he was grateful to Blazing Flame for helping him snap out of it.
The fine paid to the system must have been a considerable amount, even if he didn’t know for sure. The system ripping people off wasn’t a one- or two-day thing.
Moreover, since Blazing Flame didn’t have an abundance of points for various reasons, it must have been quite a strain.
Looking at how Blazing Flame had forcibly intervened, Jaehee must still be safe. If something had really happened to Jaehee, Blazing Flame wouldn’t have simply intervened like this.
Jeongwoo gripped his sword again. He wanted to run to Jaehee right away, but more than that, he had to guard his position.
What had happened to Jaehee?
Could the Manifestation of Nightmare be involved?
The more his head got complicated, the faster he moved the sword he was swinging. His wrist bitten by the undead was tattered and his ankle was a mess too, but Jeongwoo didn’t care about such things and kept swinging his sword.
* * *
“Jaehee! Jaehee! Do you know how worried Mom was?”
Jaehee stared blankly at the woman running toward him. He felt he should say something, but he couldn’t say anything. It was as if someone had punched him hard in the solar plexus.
The long hair of the woman with a face resembling his own fluttered.
This scent resembling the smell of grass was definitely Mom’s scent.
How long had it been since he smelled this scent?
“M-Mom…?”
“Jaehee, yes. It’s Mom.”
Mom hugged him tightly. For a moment, his whole body tingled.
…Ah, it’s Mom. Mom.
All the current circumstances were forgotten just like that. No, he had no choice but to forget. The moment he saw Mom’s appearance, his mind stopped completely.
Was it really Mom? Doubt suddenly surged up, but the warmth and sensation he felt in his hands was definitely Mom.
“Mom! Why, why! Why didn’t you contact me all this time! Why didn’t you come to see me?”
He hadn’t meant to say such things the moment he saw Mom, but words of resentment burst out without him knowing.
Seeing Mom make a bitter expression, he regretted why he said such things, but there was nothing he could do about words already spoken.
Come to think of it, Mom’s current appearance looked thinner than the Mom he remembered.
“Mom, but why are you so thin? Don’t tell me you were sick somewhere? Ah… Is that why you couldn’t contact me? Are you very sick? It’s not a serious illness, right? Ah, they said potions work on those kinds of illnesses too. Mom! Should I give you a potion?”
“Jaehee, calm down. Mom is fine. I dieted a bit before coming to see Jaehee, and I guess it worked. Does Mom look that slim?”
Mom slightly lifted her long pleated skirt. Like a young lady at a ball.
Seeing a faint smile spread across Mom’s calm yet somehow melancholic-looking face, he smiled along. Right, Mom was like that. She always looked at him with that powerless smile.
That smile that seemed forced, where you couldn’t tell if she was crying or laughing.
Seeing that smile used to make him feel frustrated inside. But now, just seeing that smile again made him feel like tears were flowing.
“Mom. Mom is the prettiest. You know…”
“Oh my, our Jaehee, why the sudden tears? I thought you’d grown up, but you’re still a baby.”
When Mom pulled his arm, he pretended to be unable to resist and approached, being embraced in Mom’s arms.
Mom’s warm and cozy embrace. Mom’s scent.
He thought nothing else mattered anymore.
“But Mom, I kept calling you and texting you… Why didn’t you answer? Were you very busy? Why didn’t you come to see me all this time?”
“Jaehee… You know. That person doesn’t want me to see you.”
“That… person, you mean Father?”
“Yes.”
At Mom’s words, he felt his heart being squeezed.
Was that so… Father had interfered.
Mom wanted to see me, but she couldn’t come because of Father.
“Jaehee, you were doing well, weren’t you? With that woman.”
“Uh… Mom?”
“You call that woman Mom too? You were so happy to have a younger sibling, weren’t you? Jaehee, you didn’t even think about Mom, did you? You didn’t care how sad I was, did you? And yet you say Mom is Mom.”
“M-Mom… Th-that’s… She was just nice to me… I was grateful for that. You’re my only mom.”
Though his mouth wouldn’t open at Mom’s accusation, he stammered out an excuse.
He tried to recall his stepmother’s face, but strangely, he couldn’t remember. Instead, a deer came to mind. He didn’t know why he thought of a deer instead of his stepmother. Yiyeong was cute and he was grateful to his stepmother, but setting aside such feelings for a moment, he clung to Mom.
Stepmother has Yiyeong and Father, but Mom only has me.
“…Huh?”
But didn’t Mom say she got married too?
He knew that Mom was the first to get married right after the divorce.
“M-Mom… You also…”
“It’s all because of you, Shin Jaehee. You’re exactly like your unprincipled father.”
He tried to ask Mom if she hadn’t remarried too, but he couldn’t speak.
Mom glared at him with eyes full of resentment, then took out a chair and was climbing on top of it.
“Mom! Mom, what are you doing! What is this?”
“Jaehee. You actually know, don’t you? What I’m doing.”
Looking at Mom grinning, his body froze.
He couldn’t move. Mom looked at him like that and burst into cackling laughter.
