CH 238

Chapter 238

Woo Ragi leaned my body against his and then carried me on his shoulders as if he were hauling a bag of flour. Thanks to this, the pit of my stomach pressed against the edges of his shoulders. I felt bile rise up–beyond feeling upset, I felt like I was going to vomit.

“W-Wait a minute!” I struggled, trying to get him to fix his posture… Suddenly I heard a sharp clap and my butt began to throb.  My eyes opened wide, stunned.

“Do you want to die? Your butt is touching my face.” Woo Ragi, this crazy bastard, just slapped my ass with his palm!

We’re the same age! 1

Humiliation and shame bubbled up within me; I grabbed at Woo Ragi’s hair with all my might, as if I were pulling weeds. Blinded by anger, I couldn’t see anything else.

Woo Ragi slowly turned his head and glared at me, “Are you crazy? Just where are you hitting!?”

“That’s my line–are you crazy?!”

When I said that, Woo Ragi glared at my wrist. My emotions, which rose with my momentary lapse of reason, quickly cooled down in the face of his harsh eyes.

However, I was still frustrated and annoyed. As I released strength from my fingers still grabbing at his hair, the bastard irritatedly shook his head and gripped my side harder. Eventually, I couldn’t endure and clung to the swordsman’s neck.

“Tsk, I told you to take your hands off of me,” Woo Ragi said.

“I feel like I’m about to vomit…! Honestly!”

“If you throw up, I’ll ‘actually’ kill you.”

“……” Instead of answering, I buried my face into the crook of his neck. At that moment, Woo Ragi stopped walking and spouted a few curse words. Fortunately, though, he fixed his carrying posture. It seems he hated the feel of my burrowing into his embrace more than he loved inconveniencing me. That fact was annoying, but he moved cautiously, taking care to not brush against me. At least I didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore.

However, even as I was carried in Woo Ragi’s arms, my condition continued to deteriorate. Earlier, I had thought I felt sick because of the pressure on my stomach, but the nausea had gotten worse.

Eventually, I grabbed his arm and barely managed to open my mouth, “W-Wait…”

Woo Ragi didn’t answer, but hurriedly threw me to the ground when we made eye contact–he must have seen something in my eyes. Lying there, I threw up everything I had recently eaten. “Urgh….”

It was painful enough that teardrops began falling from my eyes.

However, Woo Ragi, who I thought would stay far far away, strode closer. Embarrassed and still feeling nauseous, I tried to scooch away. However, Woo Ragi’s hands were faster than mine.

“…Hey.” He wiped the vomit off the corners of my mouth. He showed me his hand… Unexpectedly, it wasn’t gastric juices or food scraps that had clung to the sides of my lips.

It was vivid blood.

I was even more surprised than Woo Ragi. I opened my eyes wide and stared back at the spot I had thrown up: darkened blood. Bewildered, I raised my head. “It’s blood…”

“You…” Woo Ragi said something, but, strangely, the floor began to spin around me… Soon, I closed my eyes and collapsed. Someone caught me before I hit the ground, but I couldn’t remember anything after that.

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, my body was shaking at regular intervals. After a few more minutes just intaking my current situation, I realized I was on someone’s back.

I frowned and looked around; I remembered that the last person I was with was Woo Ragi. All I could see, though, was darkness enveloping me.

I had no idea how much time had passed. However, judging from my physical condition, it felt like I had rested on his back for at least two to three hours.

The fact that Woo Ragi had continued to carry me on his back this entire time was proof that we were no longer inside my home. No matter how large my new home may be, it’s not so complex nor spacious enough that he’d stumble around in this darkness for hours while giving me a piggy-back ride.

Rather than being at home…I could judge that something had gone wrong, and that Woo Ragi and I were alone and separated from the others.

“…Where are we?” I asked.

“Some zone erected by Koo Hui-seo.” 2

As expected, we seemed to be in some different ‘realm.’

However…Because Woo Ragi replied immediately, as if he were waiting for my question, he must have known exactly when I had come to my senses and opened my eyes. I thought he’d make some abusive remarks, like telling me to get off his back or blaming all his frustrations on me, the ‘homo.’

Though I was on his back for a long while, he had yet to ask me to climb down; the swordsman just continued to silently walk somewhere. I had thought about raising my head to observe my surroundings, but I ended up adjusting my position to rest my cheek on his other shoulder. My heart was uncomfortable, but my body was at ease.

‘He’s got such a pretty face, but his back is…so wide…’

Woo Ragi really had everything except for a decent personality. For a while, I let myself be carried like that, thoughts wandering. However, after a seemingly long time had passed, I cautiously asked, “Do you know…how to get out of here?”

Woo Ragi responded with a shocking answer, “How should I know?”

“Y-You have no idea?”

“You don’t know either.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…! Then, where are we going?”

“…Don’t tell me, you can’t see around you in this level of darkness? You don’t see how those bastards, following your blood scent, keep coming for you?”

“What?”

“That’s why we’re constantly on the move.” With that said, Woo Ragi continued pretty vigorously. Was there really some unseen opponent in the dark Woo Ragi was fighting against? Goosebumps ran up my spine.

I stared straight ahead, but it was hard to identify anything in the dark and could only see the back of Woo Ragi’s head. Eventually, I buried my face into the swordsman’s back and tried to stifle the sound of my breaths. After all, there was nothing else I could do.

[Ruff!]

I could very faintly hear the sound of a dog’s bark or a wolf’s grunt. Simultaneously, Woo Ragi’s shoulders stiffened until they became as hard as stone. A sharp wind brushed past my back; as it passed by, something moist sprinkled onto my hands. It was hot…and smelled nauseating.

“Nngh…”

“Just keep your head shoved down. Don’t be so…! Cumbersome.”

“…Alright.” Since Woo Ragi was moving so intensely, I thought it’d be better to flatten and press myself against the swordsman’s body.

We stayed in that state for a long time; after a while, Woo Ragi’s behavior gradually changed. It seemed that he had dealt with everything that had rushed at us.

“Haah… I’m going crazy.” Woo Ragi sighed, frustrated. Even if he killed all the enemies now, who knew how long this situation would continue?

Of course I was anxious. The only person I could rely on in this unexpected situation–where I could see nothing in the pitch-black surroundings–was Woo Ragi, and…

‘Seo Dawon…must be worried about me, right?’

We couldn’t connect or communicate with the other servants at all. Just then, Woo Ragi suddenly stopped walking. Nervous, I grabbed at his shoulders with tense fingers. “W-What?”

“The sun is rising… Fuck, where is this? Is this Koo Hui-seo’s house?”

“What?”

“Jung Garam’s better at getting a grasp of the field’s underlying structure…” Woo Ragi murmured.

I was shocked and puzzled by his grumbles. The sun rose? Wouldn’t that mean the surroundings should be brighter?

‘Then, why can’t I see anything yet?’

I rubbed at my eyes again. However, I could still only see pitch darkness. Actually, I couldn’t even see the hands rubbing at my eyes. Once again I stretched up my hands and pressed into my eyeballs, but nothing had changed.

By then, I panicked; I recklessly reached out and grabbed whatever was in front–Woo Ragi’s head, of course. I could feel the softness of his hair and the strands in between my fingers, but my eyes couldn’t make out the unique golden color that should be there.

Woo Ragi looked back at me without hiding his displeasure as soon as he felt my touch. Of course, I couldn’t see such actions but I confirmed it through how his hair swept across my hands.

“What?” He asked.

“R-Right now… Is it bright? Is there light?”

“What bullshit…?”

“My…eyes…”

“What?”

“I can’t see…”

“……”

As I spoke, I kept rubbing at my eyes–it felt uncomfortable, like there was something stuck between my eyelid and my eyeballs.

However, because Woo Ragi dropped me to the floor, I could no longer continue rubbing. Bewildered, I was dismayed at the feeling of being pushed away; soon, I felt abandoned in the darkness. “W-Why…?”

“……”

“W-Where did you go? My eyes really are strange! I can’t see anything, okay?!”

“……”

I scrambled to reach out to where I estimated Woo Ragi might be, but I grabbed at nothing. Still, I kept my arms outstretched as I walked around. I couldn’t believe that the Swordsman would just leave me behind and disappear. “Woo Ragi… Ragi-yah! Woo Ragi-ssi… W-Woo Ragi-nim…!”

“……”

“You’re not there? D-Did you really abandon me?”

“……”

“You couldn’t have…right?” After calling out for a long while, I fell into a panic. I sat down and began to helplessly weep.

And, only then did that crazy bastard open his mouth. “…I guess you really can’t see.”

His voice came from behind–not where I had reached out. I stiffened in surprise; Woo Ragi lifted me from the back. I remained rigid in his embrace and stared blankly at the source of his voice.

“Are you a faucet? Stop crying. It’s frustrating.”

“……”

“Would I really abandon you? You’re so dramatic–I just sat you down for 1 minute…”

And I… When I heard those shameless remarks, anger bubbled within me. Eventually, I wiped my tears with my sleeve and cursed at him, “You… You madman! I really thought you went crazy!!”