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“Ah, I found two more tigers on the way here and caught them. You never know. The more, the better.”
“Thank you, Jihyun-ssi.”
“But… still no news from Kang Taesan-ssi and Geon Ita-ssi? Isn’t it too much that only I’m working?”
“Ah… Of course, I’m really grateful to you, Jihyun-ssi. Once we get out, I’ll give you three times the commission fee. So please hang in there a little longer. We’ll find Kang Taesan-ssi soon. No, we have to find him. Absolutely.”
“Well… if you say so.”
Ju Uiryeong’s cold gaze fixed on some distant point. He hated winter. Winter nights were long, filled only with darkness. Every time he fell asleep in the darkness where his feet sank and couldn’t move, he dreamed of the time before he came to this world.
Sitting in front of a desk with only a laptop, writing. A time he never wanted to go back to.
“…First, let’s prepare now. We’ve wasted too much time.”
A single snowflake landed lightly on Ju Uiryeong’s nose bridge and melted. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked up into the air.
Snow… started falling again.
“Good. Snow will obstruct visibility, which is helpful.”
The corners of Lee Jihyun’s eyes, smiling faintly, turned behind him. The grotesque body of the tiger with its eyes rolled back reminded him of some unidentified monster living on the ridge.
Looking at it, Ju Uiryeong only whispered briefly. Please take care of it.
***
“Han Dokyeom-ssi. I’ve been thinking all day whether to ask you or not, but I can’t hold it in. Why are you so listless? You’re making me uneasy.”
Dokyeom, half-asleep and curled up with his feverish body, raised his head at the sound from beside him and looked at Yisaein. Yisaein was poking the brazier that Eomdongi had placed for warmth. Then she suddenly turned her head and looked at Dokyeom.
“I thought something was off when we entered the gate. Were you sick even then? With that body, why would you insist on entering a gate? Why can’t you take care of yourself?”
Yisaein, who had been frowning slightly, paused for a moment. The only sound in the room was the faint poking of the brazier. When the sound stopped, she spoke as if she had hesitated for a long time. For her, it must have been the first time. Speaking with such suppressed hesitation.
“…That thing, Han Dokyeom-ssi.”
When Dokyeom remained silent, Yisaein brushed her hair back and spoke with emphasis.
“About that plan… Are you really going to do it?”
“Well… I don’t have anything else to do anyway.”
“Why do you talk as if I have something to do? Who here has more to do than you?”
At the reprimanding tone, Dokyeom was silent for a moment. All he had done for the past few days was hole up in his room, nodding off like a sick chicken.
His fever flared up from time to time, making him delirious, and he shivered with cold, wrapped in blankets all the time.
The medicine he had brought from the hospital was already used up within two days. He was barely substituting with the medicine Orias had given him, but since he didn’t know when this would end, he had to conserve it for emergencies.
“Yisaein-ssi.”
“What? Are you telling me to go out and work too? You might order others around with a snap of your fingers, but not me. Dream on.”
“No, not that… I have a separate request for you.”
Yisaein, who had been poking the brazier, stopped and turned to Dokyeom. Her forest-like eyes showed a mix of surprise and unease, a reluctant expression.
“I can already tell you’re going to say something strange. What request? I don’t listen to hunters who can’t even take care of themselves. What kind of hunter can’t care for their own body?”
Though her words sounded cold, Dokyeom knew that Yisaein was a warm and soft-hearted person. He knew she was thorough and good at distinguishing between public and private, and although she was weak to emotion, she ultimately knew how to sacrifice the small for the greater good.
That was why she was the only one he could trust and ask now.
“You must remember what I said yesterday, Yisaein-ssi. And that others won’t be able to do it.”
Yisaein had no answer, as if hit in the heart. She just stared quietly at the charcoals from which sparks occasionally flew.
Yesterday, everyone’s faces had been as dark as Yisaein’s when they heard Dokyeom’s plan. They had asked him several times. Even Beom Yeonhu, who was usually silent.
Because they couldn’t do it. Even a day later, no one had changed their mind.
“I want you to do it, Yisaein-ssi.”
“That’s telling me to act as the villain, isn’t it? Right?”
Yes, that.
If it was something he could force others to do, he wouldn’t have asked Yisaein like this. If it was something that could be done by begging, someone wouldn’t have left before he even finished speaking last night.
“It’s because… I have no one else to ask right now.”
It would happen soon, maybe today or tomorrow. Today was more likely. His arm was rotting away, and he couldn’t just sit still forever. This matter was important not only to Ju Uiryeong but also to Dokyeom.
“So… just close your eyes for me this once, Yisaein-ssi.”
Yisaein’s fingers curled tightly inward. It had been a while since he asked everyone to leave the room, saying he wanted to rest, so only Yisaein and Dokyeom were left. It was clear he was taking this opportunity to get an answer, as he might not get one later.
“…Before that, let me ask you one thing, Han Dokyeom-ssi.”
At the low, calm question, Dokyeom nodded instead of answering.
“You said it, didn’t you? That if things go well, your body might get better. Is that true? Can your arm really heal?”
What should he answer? Dokyeom let out a long breath. He had indeed said that when proposing the plan. That maybe he could heal his arm.
Of course, no one believed it.
“…At least better than now.”
“So not completely.”
Yisaein looked down with a hollow sigh. But her tightly closed lips seemed to show a resolved expression.
At that moment, a change in the air was felt beyond the door. Yisaein’s head quickly turned toward the paper door. A faint rumbling spread. Through the snow, a terrifying sound of something rushing was faintly heard. Something was about to begin.
As soon as she realized, Yisaein stood up.
“I understand what you mean. Since it’s come to this, I have a lot to ask you too, so let’s make it a two-way deal. I may not be shameless enough to use Yisaein and just wipe my mouth, but just in case. I’m telling you in advance, I’m going to ask something very expensive.”
Before Dokyeom could say anything.
Kwaaang-!
A tremendous sound came from outside, following the ground rumble.
After the sound that seemed to collapse the world, Baek Jiun’s scream was faintly heard. Yisaein was already opening the paper door and heading out, and through the open gap, a fierce snowstorm blew into the room.
Dokyeom also forced his heavy body up and hurried outside.
Kuuung-!
“!”
As soon as he stepped out, the full view of the courtyard was visible. A huge stone monolith standing tall in the yard. And a beast as large as a house that seemed to have collided with the stone. Baek Jiun, who had fallen while holding a basket, was already pale.
“Dokyeom, go inside!”
Beom Yeonhu’s shout came with the cold wind. Instead of answering, Dokyeom searched for Eomdongi. Eomdongi was standing at one side of the courtyard, holding farm tools, looking startled.
“Why… why is a tiger…”
Eomdongi checked repeatedly whether the tiger with white eyes and bared fangs was not ‘Cheongi’. As he did so, a brief relief crossed Eomdongi’s eyes.
Grrrr-!!
The monster roared and swung its huge front paw viciously. Snow flew up, and the courtyard fence was torn out and flew into the air.
“Protect Eomdongi’s mother first!”
At Dokyeom’s shout, Baek Jiun snapped to his senses and crawled on all fours to the inner part of the yard to take cover. While Beom Yeonhu erected stone monoliths to block the tiger, Yisaein quickly sent Eomdongi’s mother behind her back to protect her.
“Wh-what kind of tiger is that big?! Bro, is that really a tiger?!”
Baek Jiun, who had run quickly, grabbed Dokyeom’s pants leg and shouted. A tiger? There’s no way that’s just a tiger.
That beast was the ‘monster’ inside this gate. All non-human beasts belonged here, and in some cases, humans could also become ‘monsters’.
“Jiun, you take Dokyeom and go inside! Don’t let him out!”
“Ah, got it! Bro, you heard, right?! Go to the room quickly! I’ll get scolded!”
“Mother, go inside too, quickly!”
Baek Jiun’s pushing of Dokyeom’s back and Yisaein’s voice guiding Eomdongi’s mother, whose legs had given out from shock, to the room intertwined. Dokyeom reached out his hand to Eomdongi, who stood alone as if abandoned. He was about to shout to come in quickly.
Pieeek-!
Growl!
Dali and Agon bared their teeth, looking in different directions. They were looking at 2 o’clock and 10 o’clock behind Beom Yeonhu, at empty air.
Something black flickered in the blowing snow. By the time he realized the shadow, it was already charging toward the thatched house at high speed.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read Oh No, The Girl I Possessed Has Come Knocking On my Door!! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : Oh No, The Girl I Possessed Has Come Knocking On my Door!
