CH 245
‘….Koo Hui-seo?’ At the swordsman’s words, I tried to recall anything I could about Koo Hui-seo. He made quite the impression on me when we first met…
‘His body was fused with a tree… Huh?’ As soon as I thought that, the garden that stretched out under the hallway window distracted me. The spooky and dreary trees sparsely planted in that garden looked quite strange.
Then, I noticed something important. Usually, under severe windy weather, leaves and branches would sway at a constant speed; however, there was something strange about those trees.
The leaves were stiff and straight, as if they had been glued on, and there was no sign of fallen leaves at the base of the trunks–even though the branches drooped low.
In addition, those branches moved too strangely to call them ‘swaying in the wind.’ The speed was off; instead of swaying with the wind, they rocked against the airflow. Rather than shaking in the wind, it would be more accurate to say that the branches were wriggling as they pleased.
I wore my eyes out trying to observe that phenomenon, when…I remembered Woo Ragi’s reaction when we first entered the mansion. I asked, “Excuse me, when we entered this mansion earlier…were the trees perhaps…a bit weird?”
Woo Ragi listened to my question and stared at me. “Yeah.”
His answer was incredibly simple. Even though he didn’t stop to explain further, I could roughly assume how strange the trees would have seemed close-up.
However, the grossness didn’t end there. As soon as the swordsman stopped speaking, the trees planted outside, scarily, turned around to look at me. I was appalled by their synchronized movement; goosebumps rising all over my arms, I stepped away from the window.
“Insane…” Fortunately, my eyesight isn’t the best, so I couldn’t see the distant trees in close detail.
But, it looked like something was wrong with its roots… Rather than mere wood, something strange was tangled in the messy roots. It was as if someone’s face was staring at me through the gaps in the underground plant webs. I imagine the reality wouldn’t be much different from my imagination. After all, these things looked similar to Koo Hui-seo’s original appearance.
’I hate that so much…’
The only thing that was comforting me, right now, was that Koo Hui-seo was immobile when he had been fused with a tree. In that state, those things probably couldn’t rush at us. With that in mind, I could finally calm down.
“Are those things related to you?” Woo Ragi looked at the trees’ wriggles.
I nodded. “When I first met Koo Hui-seo… It was like a human and a tree were sharing one body.”
“And?”
“S-So Seo Dawon and I rescued him.”
Woo Ragi opened his mouth as if he had something to say. However, in the end, he said nothing and a short silence enveloped us. Then, he signaled to me with a bob of his chin and walked forward. I hurried behind him.
“Anything else besides that that comes to mind?” he asked.
“Mmmm…” Once again, I groped through my memories.
After we extracted him from the tress, I had seen the ex-chimera be taken away by an ambulance. At that time, I saw the witch’s familiar, a white cat, for the very first time… All that in mind, I hurriedly opened my mouth. “After seeing Chairwoman Shin return home, I came back to my own lodgings.”
“……”
“Mm… Afterwards, I was invited to Koo Hui-seo’s home…” As soon as I said that, I suddenly felt fear. Before I could properly identify the cause, Woo Ragi suddenly turned around and grabbed me. Simultaneously, he pulled me with enough force to dislocate my shoulder.
“Aghh!”
“Duck!” Woo Ragi mercilessly pressed down on my head; helpless, I had no strength to resist. There was no time to complain though. The hallway, far behind us, collapsed; something was rushing at us at a tremendous speed.
Thud, Thud, Th-Thud–!
The passageway, which began to crumble, began dropping to the ground with resounding booms. It probably was more accurate to say that the entire walkway was collapsing. Decorations that were hung everywhere along the walls and overhead lights fell, one after another, as if we were in the midst of an earthquake.
I ran after the swordsman, protecting my head with both arms. “W-What happened…!”
[Nyaaaaan.]
Just then, I heard a charming cat’s meow alongside the sound of something crumbling. As soon as I heard that, I recalled that Woo Ragi told me one of the stone statues had a cat’s head. Of course, nothing changed just because I recalled that fact. I just ran like crazy to avoid death.
Woo Ragi ran ahead and jumped up the emergency stairs at the corner in one leap; gasping, I took two stairs at a time. The distance between me and the swordsman gradually widened. I clenched my teeth, worried that I might miss a step; perhaps that was foreshadowing, my ankle caught against the stairs. “Ack!”
Suddenly, as soon as I stepped on it, my foot broke through the carpet-covered step. There were signs that the place had been left unattended for a long while–such as the cloudy dust that covered the area, but who would have thought the wooden stairs would have rotted?
I couldn’t go against the force of inertia and ended up falling on the stairs. Woo Rago, in front, turned straight around and ran towards me. However, something reached me first.
Bang–!
Something slammed into the bottom of the stairs with tremendous force; since my leg was still stuck inside the wooden planks, I couldn’t escape.
“Nnngh–!”As the wooden boards dug into my leg, a scream automatically tore out of my throat. Furthermore, because of the impact, the stairs started to shatter to the ground.
Woo Ragi reached his hands out towards me,”Idiot! Grab my hand!”
“I-I can’t….” I urgently tried to stretch and grasp the swordsman’s hands, but our fingers missed each other narrowly. After that, I began speedily falling backwards. I wondered if I’d die here, but Woo Ragi followed me down the collapsing stairs.
Crash–!
He kicked the wooden board trapping my leg and smashed it. I shed some tears at the flash of pain–had he broken my bones? However, Woo Ragi dragged me into his embrace without hesitation. Then, kicking the wall, he quickly leaped into the air.
[Nyaa.]
A huge iron mace flew at the swordsman’s back. Judging from the timing and angle, it was unavoidable. No matter how talented Woo Ragi may be, it was impossible to change position midair.
However, Woo Ragi diverted more strength to his arms and bowed over me. Soon afterwards, I heard the eerie sound of bones crushing–the iron mace struck true and hit the swordsman’s back.
“…Are you okay?” I asked.
I could feel the impact through his body, but I somehow didn’t bounce out of his arms. Though Woo Ragi fell downstairs, he barely managed to stand by gaining a foothold on an unbroken step.
I cautiously raised my head to look into his face; the swordsman’s expression looked too unbothered for someone struck by an iron mace.
“Do you think I’d be ‘okay?'”
“S-Sorry…”
Woo Ragi’s brows furrowed, and he stumbled as if he were about to collapse. It was only then I could see the state of his back; shockingly there was a giant hole there. Of course, the exposed cross-section of his innards was colored black, but… the unnatural curve of his battered body was just gruesome.
However, Woo Ragi continued to run without any further delay–the stone cat statue holding the iron mace was still moving, after all. After a long time, we managed to escape and leap out of the cat’s attack zone.
* * *
When the swordsman held his breath, the missing portions of his body were restored speedily. However, I could not say that all was well. Judging from his occasional frowns, he seemed to be in pain despite the external healing show….
Despite that, he ran tirelessly–I felt guilty. However, I couldn’t ask him to set me down My right ankle was definitely broken; the swelling was now visible.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“Huh? Ah, no….” Actually, there was pressure on my broken ankle due to the way he carried me, but I didn’t want to let him know.
Despite my answer, the swordsman slowly corrected his holding posture.
“Th-Than…”
“Agh, Don’t speak.”
I was going to thank him, but Woo Ragi looked more upset than when his back was impacted. He looked down at me with an expression laden with disgust–it was as if he’d really drop me if I continued to make things awkward for him.
‘His body was fused with a tree… Huh?’ As soon as I thought that, the garden that stretched out under the hallway window distracted me. The spooky and dreary trees sparsely planted in that garden looked quite strange.
Then, I noticed something important. Usually, under severe windy weather, leaves and branches would sway at a constant speed; however, there was something strange about those trees.
The leaves were stiff and straight, as if they had been glued on, and there was no sign of fallen leaves at the base of the trunks–even though the branches drooped low.
In addition, those branches moved too strangely to call them ‘swaying in the wind.’ The speed was off; instead of swaying with the wind, they rocked against the airflow. Rather than shaking in the wind, it would be more accurate to say that the branches were wriggling as they pleased.
I wore my eyes out trying to observe that phenomenon, when…I remembered Woo Ragi’s reaction when we first entered the mansion. I asked, “Excuse me, when we entered this mansion earlier…were the trees perhaps…a bit weird?”
Woo Ragi listened to my question and stared at me. “Yeah.”
His answer was incredibly simple. Even though he didn’t stop to explain further, I could roughly assume how strange the trees would have seemed close-up.
However, the grossness didn’t end there. As soon as the swordsman stopped speaking, the trees planted outside, scarily, turned around to look at me. I was appalled by their synchronized movement; goosebumps rising all over my arms, I stepped away from the window.
“Insane…” Fortunately, my eyesight isn’t the best, so I couldn’t see the distant trees in close detail.
But, it looked like something was wrong with its roots… Rather than mere wood, something strange was tangled in the messy roots. It was as if someone’s face was staring at me through the gaps in the underground plant webs. I imagine the reality wouldn’t be much different from my imagination. After all, these things looked similar to Koo Hui-seo’s original appearance.
’I hate that so much…’
The only thing that was comforting me, right now, was that Koo Hui-seo was immobile when he had been fused with a tree. In that state, those things probably couldn’t rush at us. With that in mind, I could finally calm down.
“Are those things related to you?” Woo Ragi looked at the trees’ wriggles.
I nodded. “When I first met Koo Hui-seo… It was like a human and a tree were sharing one body.”
“And?”
“S-So Seo Dawon and I rescued him.”
Woo Ragi opened his mouth as if he had something to say. However, in the end, he said nothing and a short silence enveloped us. Then, he signaled to me with a bob of his chin and walked forward. I hurried behind him.
“Anything else besides that that comes to mind?” he asked.
“Mmmm…” Once again, I groped through my memories.
After we extracted him from the tress, I had seen the ex-chimera be taken away by an ambulance. At that time, I saw the witch’s familiar, a white cat, for the very first time… All that in mind, I hurriedly opened my mouth. “After seeing Chairwoman Shin return home, I came back to my own lodgings.”
“……”
“Mm… Afterwards, I was invited to Koo Hui-seo’s home…” As soon as I said that, I suddenly felt fear. Before I could properly identify the cause, Woo Ragi suddenly turned around and grabbed me. Simultaneously, he pulled me with enough force to dislocate my shoulder.
“Aghh!”
“Duck!” Woo Ragi mercilessly pressed down on my head; helpless, I had no strength to resist. There was no time to complain though. The hallway, far behind us, collapsed; something was rushing at us at a tremendous speed.
Thud, Thud, Th-Thud–!
The passageway, which began to crumble, began dropping to the ground with resounding booms. It probably was more accurate to say that the entire walkway was collapsing. Decorations that were hung everywhere along the walls and overhead lights fell, one after another, as if we were in the midst of an earthquake.
I ran after the swordsman, protecting my head with both arms. “W-What happened…!”
[Nyaaaaan.]
Just then, I heard a charming cat’s meow alongside the sound of something crumbling. As soon as I heard that, I recalled that Woo Ragi told me one of the stone statues had a cat’s head. Of course, nothing changed just because I recalled that fact. I just ran like crazy to avoid death.
Woo Ragi ran ahead and jumped up the emergency stairs at the corner in one leap; gasping, I took two stairs at a time. The distance between me and the swordsman gradually widened. I clenched my teeth, worried that I might miss a step; perhaps that was foreshadowing, my ankle caught against the stairs. “Ack!”
Suddenly, as soon as I stepped on it, my foot broke through the carpet-covered step. There were signs that the place had been left unattended for a long while–such as the cloudy dust that covered the area, but who would have thought the wooden stairs would have rotted?
I couldn’t go against the force of inertia and ended up falling on the stairs. Woo Rago, in front, turned straight around and ran towards me. However, something reached me first.
Bang–!
Something slammed into the bottom of the stairs with tremendous force; since my leg was still stuck inside the wooden planks, I couldn’t escape.
“Nnngh–!”As the wooden boards dug into my leg, a scream automatically tore out of my throat. Furthermore, because of the impact, the stairs started to shatter to the ground.
Woo Ragi reached his hands out towards me,”Idiot! Grab my hand!”
“I-I can’t….” I urgently tried to stretch and grasp the swordsman’s hands, but our fingers missed each other narrowly. After that, I began speedily falling backwards. I wondered if I’d die here, but Woo Ragi followed me down the collapsing stairs.
Crash–!
He kicked the wooden board trapping my leg and smashed it. I shed some tears at the flash of pain–had he broken my bones? However, Woo Ragi dragged me into his embrace without hesitation. Then, kicking the wall, he quickly leaped into the air.
[Nyaa.]
A huge iron mace flew at the swordsman’s back. Judging from the timing and angle, it was unavoidable. No matter how talented Woo Ragi may be, it was impossible to change position midair.
However, Woo Ragi diverted more strength to his arms and bowed over me. Soon afterwards, I heard the eerie sound of bones crushing–the iron mace struck true and hit the swordsman’s back.
“…Are you okay?” I asked.
I could feel the impact through his body, but I somehow didn’t bounce out of his arms. Though Woo Ragi fell downstairs, he barely managed to stand by gaining a foothold on an unbroken step.
I cautiously raised my head to look into his face; the swordsman’s expression looked too unbothered for someone struck by an iron mace.
“Do you think I’d be ‘okay?'”
“S-Sorry…”
Woo Ragi’s brows furrowed, and he stumbled as if he were about to collapse. It was only then I could see the state of his back; shockingly there was a giant hole there. Of course, the exposed cross-section of his innards was colored black, but… the unnatural curve of his battered body was just gruesome.
However, Woo Ragi continued to run without any further delay–the stone cat statue holding the iron mace was still moving, after all. After a long time, we managed to escape and leap out of the cat’s attack zone.
* * *
When the swordsman held his breath, the missing portions of his body were restored speedily. However, I could not say that all was well. Judging from his occasional frowns, he seemed to be in pain despite the external healing show….
Despite that, he ran tirelessly–I felt guilty. However, I couldn’t ask him to set me down My right ankle was definitely broken; the swelling was now visible.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“Huh? Ah, no….” Actually, there was pressure on my broken ankle due to the way he carried me, but I didn’t want to let him know.
Despite my answer, the swordsman slowly corrected his holding posture.
“Th-Than…”
“Agh, Don’t speak.”
I was going to thank him, but Woo Ragi looked more upset than when his back was impacted. He looked down at me with an expression laden with disgust–it was as if he’d really drop me if I continued to make things awkward for him.
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