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‘Taeseongyeon!’
His desperate hand reached toward the dust-filled cave. But Dokyeom’s hand closed on nothing as the world slipped away.
The trembling vision. The blurry world. The high, vast plateau of Bisanbiya.
When everything faded into mist, Dokyeom’s eyes shot open.
“Haa!”
He was clutching the blanket, his heart pounding wildly. Cold sweat soaked his forehead and back.
It was definitely Taeseongyeon. He had clearly seen the Sahyeon Guild hunters struggling inside the gate.
They were all fighting step by step in that high black dragon habitat. He would have been relieved if not for the last scene he saw.
They couldn’t be dead.
Dokyeom shook his head. They were putting up a good fight. No deaths yet, and after the initial hurdle of entry, things had stabilized. They were all veterans, so survival rates were high.
The biggest help would be Taeseongyeon.
“…He better not die.”
If he did, Dokyeom would throw away his Authority without a second thought.
He rubbed his face dry, then sighed after confirming no one was around. The room was still warm, and he lay alone in the space that seemed too big for him.
Suddenly, noise came from outside the paper door. The sound of sweeping mixed with Baek Jiwoon’s grumbling.
[If money fell like this snow, I’d bow. But snow up to my knees? If I had a shovel… No. Why am I doing something I’ve never done in Seoul, out here?]
[I, I can do it, so just go inside….]
[Hey! Hyung-nim, that side. Me, this side. If you clear this alone, I’ll die. The person lying in bed will kick me out. So stop taking the broom and let’s sweep together.]
The sweeping sound mixed with the lady’s laughter from the wooden porch. Dokyeom started to get up, then froze when he felt something heavy on his chest.
What the, ?
Something wriggled on his chest. He threw off the blanket with a shiver and saw a pair of round eyes. He stiffened.
“…Ah.”
It was Dali. Holding a cube puzzle, or maybe just clutching his hand. Dokyeom blinked stupidly. How did he get here?
Had he slept through the kid crawling in?
“…Dali?”
Pieek-
Dali opened his mouth slightly in answer, then burrowed back into Dokyeom’s arms. Dokyeom awkwardly patted his back.
“How did you get here? Did you come while I was sleeping? Alone?”
Piee- Pieek-
Dali seemed to sniff Dokyeom’s clothes and scratched the floor. His fingertips were black with dirt.
He must have followed the scent and wandered in.
“What about Agon hyung? Did you see Agon hyung and Yeonhu hyung?”
Dali shook his head instead of answering. Dokyeom relaxed and slumped. At least Dali, who worried him the most, had come. Maybe Agon and Beom Yeonhu, being smarter than Dali, would find their way here too.
“Then only Yisaein is left…”
But Yisaein was someone not to worry about. She had a talent for detection, and could find anyone she wanted wherever the wind blew. Especially on windy mountains, her ability shone.
Once people gathered here, she would sense their presence and come soon. Until then, he hoped Agon and Beom Yeonhu would arrive safely.
“Dali’s belly is plump. Guess you haven’t starved.”
Piee-
Dali’s belly was huge, like Namsan. He must have caught some mountain beast on the way. Dokyeom looked relieved, then got up. He took out a wet wipe from his inventory and started cleaning Dali’s dirty hands.
Suddenly the door burst open.
“Hey, hyung? You up? Aren’t you going to show your face outside? The sun’s high! High!”
Baek Jiwoon flung the door open and stuck his upper body in, grumbling. His eyes didn’t even flinch at Dali, as if he knew Dali was there.
“So now you’re asking the patient to come out and sweep the yard?”
“You’re only a patient when convenient. It’s fine, I already swept it all. The snow was so deep my feet sank right in. If Eomdongi hyung hadn’t gone out every hour to sweep the roof, this house would have collapsed by now.”
Eomdongi, who had been peeking over Baek Jiwoon’s shoulder, waved his hands frantically when his eyes met Dokyeom’s.
“How can a person not wake up until noon? Dali’s having a great time. You usually give Agon hyung so much grief for not coming, now he’s taken the spot. Our Dali, how sad.”
“Hey, you brat. Anyone would think I discriminate against the kids.”
“Not discrimination, but… you do seem to give in to Agon hyung a lot.”
“Stop talking nonsense and go get me something to eat. I’m starving.”
“I was wondering when you’d say that. Yes, ma’am, of course.”
Baek Jiwoon dusted his hands and left the room. He came back with a basket and plopped it down in the room. Inside were steaming potatoes fresh from the pot.
“Eat this for now. Eomdongi hyung says he’ll make lunch soon.”
Baek Jiwoon went back down to the wooden porch. The sound of sweeping resumed in the yard.
Dokyeom picked up the basket and stepped outside. He sat on the porch, peeling a potato for Dali, who had followed him. He took in the white snowy landscape.
The world was like drawing paper. The snow was indeed deep, covering even the bare trees by a handspan, swaying in the cold wind.
Nearby, Eomdongi was arguing with his mother as they headed to the kitchen.
“Uh, Mother. That’s enough. Go outside. I can do it.”
“If you’re preparing a guest table, you need hands. Why are you chasing your mother away? Let me help.”
They were a close mother and son. She patted her son’s back a few times despite his protests and went into the kitchen with a chuckle. Eomdongi hurried after her.
Dokyeom blew on the peeled potato and offered it to Dali. As Dali took it, Baek Jiwoon plopped down beside him.
“So, what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“What else? How are we going to clear this place? I saw you open the door and stare at the tiger yesterday at dawn.”
Dokyeom peeled a potato, put it in his mouth, and looked at the now-clean yard. Seeing the tiger first didn’t necessarily lead to a clue for clearing. They had to find what the ‘Authority’ wanted and resolve or achieve it.
The current ‘Authority’ only knew that someone was always entering its domain; it didn’t bother to find out how many times hunters had been here before.
“This place is like we came to the past. Sigh, at first I thought that Eomdongi hyung might be a monster. I was seriously considering killing him or not when you came right then.”
“Be grateful. If you’d hurt Eomdongi, we’d all be kicked out of this gate.”
Startled, Baek Jiwoon, who had been resting his chin on his hand, flinched.
“Wait. So… what? There’s no monster here?”
“There is.”
It wasn’t nonexistent. But this gate was a reenactment of the past, so the boss wasn’t fixed, and the monsters were diverse. Here, ‘humans’ were ‘third parties,’ not monsters.
Of course, you could kill or attack them. And be attacked in return.
“I don’t want to say it twice, so I’ll tell you when Yeonhu hyung and Agon get here. But don’t attack humans here if possible. It just triggers things.”
Here, ‘humans’ played the role of creating incidents. Things happened because of humans, changed because of humans, and were decided because of humans.
The boss, no less.
So if someone incited the people, things could spiral out of control.
“So we wait here until they come? What about noona Yisaein?”
“They’ll all be here soon.”
Of course, that time shouldn’t exceed six days.
Pieek-!
Just then, Dali stopped eating and let out a sharp cry, staring somewhere. Both Dokyeom and Baek Jiwoon quickly turned their heads to where Dali was looking.
Beyond the fence surrounding the house, two figures flickered. Thinking it might be Agon and Beom Yeonhu, they looked, but the men had bows on their backs, probably hunters from the village.
“Hey, you there?!”
One of the hunters, wearing a hat made of animal hide, knocked on the fence. Eomdongi burst out of the kitchen like a brown bear and rushed to the fence.
“Wh, who there?!”
“Oh, you scared us! You’re as big as a bear.”
“A dokkaebi would cry.”
The hunters, intimidated by Eomdongi’s size and aura, stepped back for a moment. Then they cleared their throats and scanned the yard, the thatched house, and the open kitchen visible through the gate.
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