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The sword aimed at Cheongi’s neck lost its target and veered off course. Geon Ita’s arm had been caught by something and yanked backward.
“I knew you’d come here. Why do you always act on your own like this, Geon Ita-ssi?! Do you know how long I searched for you?!”
Geon Ita looked at his spasming arm, then shifted his gaze blankly toward the voice. Two people stood on the ledge of the cave. Ju Uiryeong and Lee Jihyun.
The moment he saw Lee Jihyun, the corner of Geon Ita’s mouth curled up.
“Are you going to let go?”
“Sorry, but my employer isn’t Geon Ita-ssi.”
“You can’t hold it for more than a few seconds anyway.”
“The time may be short, but the number of uses is unlimited.”
Countless invisible threads held Geon Ita’s arm. It was her skill,
Even so, against an S-rank, she could only maintain it for about twenty seconds. And even that could only bind “part” of him.
It was a skill with clear weaknesses, but Lee Jihyun had compensated for that handicap with “number of uses.” As long as her mind held out, she could cast it on an S-rank again and again.
“Jihyun-ssi, keep holding him!”
Ju Uiryeong stumbled down from the cave ledge, dragging something behind him. Gray hair fluttering in the snow caught the edge of Geon Ita’s vision.
A white face with closed eyes. Limp fingertips.
It was Han Dokyeom.
“You…”
Geon Ita’s pupils shot wide in an instant. He tried to step forward, but his arm was yanked back again, and his stride stopped before it could land a single step. Only then did the expression fade from Geon Ita’s face.
The moment a strange glint flickered in his black eyes as he looked at Lee Jihyun, his body vanished from where it stood.
“Ju Uiryeong-ssi, hurry! I can’t hold on much longer!”
Following her shrieklike shout, Geon Ita reappeared. Right in front of Lee Jihyun.
She ducked instinctively, and the sword swept past by a hair’s breadth.
“Is it okay for a guild master to kill his own guild members like this?!”
Lee Jihyun’s scream made his hands and feet tremble. Ju Uiryeong dragged Han Dokyeom’s body and hurried toward the tiger, who was watching the scene with wide eyes. He had to finish this quickly while Lee Jihyun held off Geon Ita.
“You’re the guardian, aren’t you?!”
Midway, Ju Uiryeong’s feet sank into the snow and he plopped down. He tried to get up a few times, then gave up, and shouted at the top of his lungs from something like a kneeling position.
“I came because I have something I want to tell you!”
[M-me?]
Cheongi faltered, unable to move forward or back, and looked at Ju Uiryeong. An inexplicable unease rippled from somewhere deep below, but for the first time, Cheongi felt the urge to face it.
Cheongi didn’t want to avoid those fierce eyes fixed on them. They looked too much like their own.
“You’ve been alone in this place for a long time, haven’t you? Why do you fight such a lonely battle all by yourself? Aren’t you lonely? Even if you struggle all alone, no one will ever know. Why do you walk such a hard path by yourself?!”
Someone knew their loneliness. Just that, and the loneliness they had been holding back poured out like a broken dam. Cheongi lowered their ears, unable to find words.
“I know how long you’ve been alone here. But the longer you stay here, the lonelier you’ll become. It might seem real right now, but you’ll come to know it isn’t the moment you step outside!”
[N-no… that’s not it.]
“I’ll help you! I understand you! I’m the only one who can understand you better than anyone, and the only one who can help you. You’re tired of the lonely fight, aren’t you? I know how to end this fight. I’ll help you!”
Why was he saying things like that? Cheongi couldn’t understand why those strange words hurt them so much. With tears welling in their eyes, they backed away from where they stood.
[I… I just… want to live with Eomdongi forever…. Why does everyone keep telling me I did something wrong? Why do they keep saying I’m pitiful…?]
Tears surged up. The only thing the uninvited visitors who came here said in unison was that this world would soon disappear.
They only denounced it all as fake: Eomdongi, them, this place. They only ever said Cheongi was pitiful and should let go.
‘Everyone here is alive like this, so why is this fake?’
[You want to say Eomdongi and this place are fake too, right? Then what about me? Why am I real? Eomdongi is so warm, so Eomdongi is real too!]
“That person died long ago. This is the world of the past. The Eomdongi here isn’t real. That’s why he doesn’t recognize you…! I’m saying this because I want to help you. You can escape easily enough, so why do you walk such a hard road alone?!”
[Eomdongi isn’t fake!]
Cheongi snarled fiercely. A roaring, angry howl scraped across the forest.
Ju Uiryeong trembled before the noise, but he didn’t let his gaze die. He clenched his fists and braced his body.
“What if I find the real Eomdongi for you?”
Cheongi’s eyes stopped, as if frozen in place.
If, really, if. If this place was a past that “actually” happened, then wouldn’t that “Eomdongi” also have been reborn somewhere, living his life?
Of course, it was only an assumption without certainty. Even if he had reincarnated, he might not be Korean. Or he might not have reincarnated at all.
Still, Ju Uiryeong spoke that “assumption” with all his sincerity.
“The Eomdongi here is the one who died long ago. The real Eomdongi is alive outside. That’s why he doesn’t recognize you. The Eomdongi here is just a person who thinks and moves according to a script. That’s not being alive, is it? If your appearance changed, he wouldn’t recognize you, would he?”
[No… Eomdongi has been here with me all this time….]
“This world simply came into being one day! Look, Eomdongi always acts and thinks the same way, doesn’t he? Because he lived like that and died like that in the past! What’s real about a person who lives repeating only the same thoughts?!”
[No! That’s because I keep turning back time…!]
“Then let’s verify it. You and me.”
Ju Uiryeong grabbed the clothes of the man collapsed beside him and shoved him in front of Cheongi. Cheongi’s bright yellow gaze moved to the man lying on the snow. At that moment, Cheongi’s eyes flew wide open.
It was that man. The man Eomdongi showed favor to.
‘Why is that person…’
“You know this person is very sick, right? You knew he didn’t have long, didn’t you? That’s why I brought him. I thought you might be able to save him. So let’s test it with this person.”
Ju Uiryeong’s words didn’t reach Cheongi’s ears at all. Cheongi only stared endlessly, trembling eyes fixed on the unconscious man.
Cheongi knew that man would soon die. Even now, his breath was so shallow.
[B-but… taking over a body without permission is….]
“It’s not without permission. We’re saving this person. You’re extending his life, aren’t you? Look, he looks like he could die at any moment.”
Cheongi felt their heart pound as if it would leap out of their mouth. Even so, they noticed themself being drawn in by that man’s words. Because they hadn’t harmed anyone, as they’d promised Eomdongi… because they could save that person.
‘Then this isn’t a bad thing, is it?’
[Is it… really okay?]
Cheongi asked as if entranced. Saving that person meant the same as taking over that body.
Their body trembled, and their mouth went dry. A strange excitement moved their feet on their own, and their tail twitched.
This was an opportunity. The man they’d thought would last a month had appeared before them, half dead. That itself was an opportunity that would never come again.
[O-okay. I’ll… give it a try.]
‘I’m saving him.’
Heavy paws pushed through the snow. The entranced beast’s bright yellow eyes swallowed Han Dokyeom whole.
The moment the icy wind lashed Ju Uiryeong’s cheek, the tiger collapsed, as if it had turned to ash. Where its form had sunk down, Ju Uiryeong saw a bright yellow light.
A dazzling light wavering like a heat haze. It crawled up through the air toward Han Dokyeom. Like a butterfly fluttering its wings, like a petal shaken by the wind, it settled softly on the bridge of Han Dokyeom’s nose.
When it seeped into the bloodless skin,
“!”
Ju Uiryeong saw Han Dokyeom cough out a breath. The body that had been motionless stirred, and the limp fingertips twitched.
“Cough… ha…”
Ju Uiryeong watched with anxious eyes as the trembling closed eyelids slowly opened. And when he confirmed that the fully opened eyes were that bright yellow, the corner of his mouth trembled too.
‘It worked…. It worked!’
The man with the snow-white face who had just opened his eyes stared at his own hand, turning it over and back with a dazed expression, as if seeing something strange.
The fist he lightly clenched and then released was small. Too white. And also… frail.
“This body… is too weak.”
So weak that dying would be no surprise.
“…Eomdongi…. Surely Eomdongi will… like me, right?”
A white smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth.
He’ll like me. Didn’t he show favor? So… Eomdongi will surely like me too.
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, The Strongest Tactical Maid Absolutely Refuses to Serve! is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : The Strongest Tactical Maid Absolutely Refuses to Serve!
