Chapter 111: The One Who Came to Save Them

Catching Lee Won-jae as he fell was nothing short of a miracle. If they’d been even a little later, he would’ve been swept away by the raging current with no chance of escape.

Still dizzy and barely holding himself together, Lee Won-jae asked whether the owner of the fur he was clinging to was a monster. Sung Ji-woo replied with the rather unhelpful explanation that it was the general store’s mascot.

‘A mascot…?’

Lee Won-jae recalled the large dog that had always greeted him at the shop with a bright, innocent expression.

“The color’s kind of similar, I guess….”

The fluffy texture of the fur felt nice. More than that, it oddly soothed his shaken nerves.

“Was it always this big…?”

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure which one is its original form.”

At Lee Won-jae’s question, Sung Ji-woo shook his head, admitting that even he didn’t really know. He ended his explanation—one that hardly explained anything—by saying the only thing he knew for sure was the name he’d given it: Pilgrimage.

“Either way, it looks like it came to save us,” Son Ji-hwan said, as if there was no need to say more.

Lee Won-jae nodded.

“Yeah. That’s enough for me.”

There was no doubt about it—this reliable creature had come to rescue them. As if it understood their words, Pilgrimage barked cheerfully a few times, then started running again, nose to the ground, following a scent.

Around the same time, Chae Min-jung—who had helplessly watched Lee Won-jae get carried off by the eagle—set out in earnest to find the rest of the guild members.

Empty potion bottles were scattered pitifully around her feet. The potions she’d packed like a traveling merchant were now almost completely gone.

“All of this cost a fortune….”

She grumbled, but knowing her life mattered more than potion prices, she had no choice but to accept her now-broke reality.

Besides, she’d set aside a non-sale emergency stock in the first place, so even using them all wasn’t a real problem.

What stung was that everything she’d used today had been high-grade, expensive potions.

Since Sung Ji-woo had given her a dedicated shelf in his general store, she’d mostly been making low-grade potions ever since joining the guild.

“When we get back, I’m going to have to work myself to death.”

To replenish what she’d spent today, she’d need to work day and night for several days straight. Some of the ingredients were rare enough that she’d have to make frequent trips to the auction house.

She decided she should ask the quick-footed Son Ji-hwan to go with her.

She wasn’t worried about being unable to get out—or dying. Even in parties full of nobodies, she’d managed to survive on her own just fine.

Back then, she’d only broken one arm—nothing life-threatening. She hadn’t even been left with any psychological trauma.

If anything, her nerves had only grown stronger. Trials like this didn’t faze her anymore. Despite having no idea where the guild members had vanished to, she was almost disturbingly calm.

“Still… I hope Lee Won-jae’s okay….”

She worried more about his fragile life than her own. In hindsight, she regretted not forcing a few more potions on him, even if he’d complained about the weight.

At least he didn’t seem to be dead yet. If he were, she would’ve known.

“But how did he end up falling alone…?”

Before they’d been split up, Chae Min-jung had applied tracking potions to all three of them. They couldn’t pinpoint exact locations, but they could roughly sense direction.

That was how she knew the three had regrouped at one point—their presences had overlapped, all coming from the same direction.

She’d tried to head that way herself, but a sudden surge of mountain berserkers had made movement difficult. Then, all at once, the three presences vanished.

And after that, she sensed them from the sky.

At first, she’d thought she’d messed up the potion.

Or maybe the three of them had suddenly ascended to heaven.

Right around when she was thoroughly confused, Lee Won-jae appeared—caught in an eagle’s talons.

The other two presences were still in the sky. Figuring some monster-related incident had occurred, she began tracking Lee Won-jae instead.

“…Huh? Looks like they’re back together.”

A short while later, she sensed all three presences reunited. And they were rushing toward her—at a speed no human should’ve been capable of, just like when Lee Won-jae had been carried off by the eagle.

Feeling a massive presence above her to the upper left, Chae Min-jung looked up.

“What the hell is that…?!”

Something blotted out the sun overhead. The glare vanished, but identifying the object wasn’t easy.

A fluffy white belly filled her entire field of view.

The easiest conclusion was that this grotesque creature was a monster. Acting on instinct, Chae Min-jung grabbed an offensive potion.

Given its size, she chose the strongest potion she’d been saving, fixed her gaze on the sky, and prepared to throw it—

“Woong!”

A familiar bark rang in her ears. Her hand jerked reflexively. She barely managed to catch the potion that nearly flew upward from the recoil.

“Whoa, that was close….”

She exhaled in relief and looked toward the source of the sound.

“Pilgrimage…?”

Before their eyes even met, she recognized it instantly. Chae Min-jung had a one-sided crush on Pilgrimage. It wagged its tail like a gentle lamb in front of Sung Ji-woo, yet wouldn’t even offer her the bridge of its nose.

That subtle wariness had hurt her feelings—but she could forgive it.

Because it was cute.

Pilgrimage picked Chae Min-jung up in its mouth and tossed her onto its back. Landing on the soft fur, she reunited with the three already riding there.

“No wonder the positions felt weird. So you were all here?”

She didn’t look particularly surprised. If anything, the other three were more taken aback. Sung Ji-woo hurriedly checked her condition.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Nope. Totally fine. Completely fine.”

Using oddly emphatic phrasing, Chae Min-jung climbed up near Pilgrimage’s neck and happily enjoyed the feel of its soft fur.

With all four of them aboard, Pilgrimage flew back toward the eagle’s nest. Sung Ji-woo turned to Chae Min-jung.

“Do you have anything you can use to treat injuries?”

“Potions? Yeah, I’ve got a few. Who’s hurt?”

“Not me—Lee Won-jae.”

“Oh, right. Hold on.”

Remembering Lee Won-jae being grabbed by the eagle monster, Chae Min-jung quickly pulled out a healing potion and tossed it to Son Ji-hwan. Catching it cleanly, he opened the cap and poured it liberally over Lee Won-jae’s wounds.

“Argh—! W-wait, hold on…!”

Lee Won-jae writhed in pain, but Son Ji-hwan didn’t stop.

“Wow, that’s brutal. I heard it feels like pouring disinfectant directly on an open wound….”

Chae Min-jung clicked her tongue, and only then did Son Ji-hwan look apologetic.

“Is that so?”

Lee Won-jae couldn’t even touch the injured area, his hands hovering awkwardly as he groaned. With his face soaked in tears, he glared resentfully at Son Ji-hwan.

“I seriously… seriously thought I was going to die.”

His whimpering voice was weak, but the potion worked quickly, sealing his wounds cleanly.

“It didn’t heal naturally, so the pain will linger. There might be aftereffects, too.”

At Chae Min-jung’s explanation, Lee Won-jae’s complexion turned even paler. The pain didn’t fade—it kept on going. In the end, he clenched his teeth on the hem of his clothes.

“So where are we going right now?”

“Uh… no idea?”

Sung Ji-woo shrugged, saying he didn’t know either.

By then, Pilgrimage—cutting tirelessly through the sky—arrived at a lake. The remains of the eagle’s nest, washed down through the canyon, floated forlornly on the water’s surface.

Among them was a single egg.

Despite everything, it remained intact, perfectly whole.

Pilgrimage opened its mouth and bit down on the egg.

Crack.

A thunderous sound echoed, like a boulder splitting apart. Spitting out the shell fragments, Pilgrimage picked out the monster core hidden inside.

It then landed in a safe spot.

“Wow, isn’t it a genius?”

Amazed by its intelligence, Chae Min-jung even clapped.

“At this point, you could practically call it a divine beast.”

“Our kid’s pretty smart, huh?”

When even Lee Won-jae praised Pilgrimage, Sung Ji-woo shrugged. Normally, it did nothing but eat and act cute—but right now, it was no less than their savior.

As the four of them dismounted one by one, Pilgrimage shrank back to its usual size. The moment Sung Ji-woo took the core, a massive tremor shook the air, and a gate exit appeared before them.

“Good job. You did great.”

Sung Ji-woo hugged Pilgrimage in praise, and Pilgrimage enthusiastically licked his face, expressing its affection without restraint.

Together, the four of them and Pilgrimage passed through the gate exit. At the same time, Pilgrimage vanished.

As if its task were complete, it disappeared without a trace. Sung Ji-woo didn’t try to look for it.

Yu Hui-ro slowly opened his eyes from a deep afternoon nap. He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept; his head felt hazy. His heavy eyelids resisted opening.

Because of that, the remnants of his dream lingered longer than usual.

“……”

It was hard to tell dream from reality. A gentle smile rested on Yu Hui-ro’s face.

For the first time in a while, Sung Ji-woo had appeared in his dream. He’d held him warmly. He seemed to have whispered pleasant words, though Yu Hui-ro couldn’t remember them clearly.

He wanted to stay in that embrace all day. And he wanted to hold him, too. The Sung Ji-woo in his dream had looked tired somehow.

“……”

The hazy illusion vanished as if it had never been there, leaving only bleak reality behind. Just as Yu Hui-ro sighed deeply, Son Seong-cheol approached him.

Yu Hui-ro shot him an irritated look. Thinking it’d be better to go back to sleep, he pulled the blanket up.

And just as he turned away and closed his eyes—

“…I’ll let you meet Sung Ji-woo.”

A voice, like a hallucination, reached his ears.