Chapter 59: Stay, you are so beautiful(5).

Whirr- Clang!

The metal bat hit the floor where Chayeon had dodged by turning her body.

Three men who had approached before she knew it were standing there.

The man who had swung the bat made a “kheuk” sound as if his hand was tingling and shook his arm.

People.

Not demons, but people.

“Hey there, are you alone?”

The man at the front spoke, conscious of the sword in Chayeon’s hand.

He was big.

He was a large man.

He had definitely swung the bat, but he spoke calmly.

Were these kinds of people already appearing?

Let’s just chase them away appropriately.

If she controlled her strength and kicked them, wouldn’t they just fall out on their own?

That’s what she was thinking.

But her foot wouldn’t come off the ground.

“How did you end up here all alone? Where are your parents?”

The man pretended not to know anything and spoke in a friendly tone.

However, only his subtly rough breathing couldn’t be hidden.

The two men behind him were looking up and down at Chayeon with unpleasant eyes.

“…Th-that.”

Chayeon barely opened her mouth.

However, no more words came out than that.

The clicking sound she had been hearing since a while ago was the sound of her upper and lower teeth colliding.

Why wouldn’t her body move?

They were just people.

Not scary demons.

They didn’t even look like Ineungnyeokjas.

They were just three men who were a little big, who would be wiped out if even one 5th-grade demon appeared.

The man’s appearance overlapped with the scenery of the prison.

Perhaps even a scenery from a much more distant past.

“…Ah, aah….”

The exquisitely beautiful girl, trembling with her eyes wide like a rabbit’s, stimulated the men’s lascivious desires.

The real sword she was holding in her hand, she didn’t know where she got it from, was threatening, but the girl was trembling and couldn’t even think of wielding it.

“Hey, calm down. Don’t you have a guardian? Your mom, or your dad?”

One step.

The man approached closer.

Accordingly, Chayeon took a step back.

“Don’t worry. We aren’t scary people.”

Another step.

“Want to come with us? We’ll help you.”

Another step.

With a thud, Chayeon’s back touched the wall.

“So, can you put down what you’re holding first? It looks dangerous.”

The man grabbed Chayeon’s right hand and took out the sword.

The moment the men who had recovered the weapon smiled bitterly.

Huaaa-

Her red eyes slowly turned black.

Soon, the trembling in the girl’s body subsided.

“Get your hand off.”

“Hm?”

The man was flustered when the girl, who had been teary-eyed and scared until a moment ago, suddenly looked up and said that.

Black energy dug into the men through their eyes, ransacking their brains.

“…Huh? Uh uh…?”

The girl reflected in the man’s eyes was no longer a girl.

The monster that had fallen from the sky a few hours ago and was tearing and eating people was standing in front of him.

“Heo…heueo, ha, euaaaaak!”

The man screamed and swung the bat.

Clang!

A sound like hitting an iron wall rang out, and the man trembled as the shock traveling up the end of his arm caused a reaction. Despite being hit on the head with the bat, the girl, no, the monster, was looking at them with an unconcerned expression.

“Euaaaaak!!!”

The three of them rushed out of the convenience store without hesitation.

<<Sorry for borrowing again without permission.>>

The Heukgu, who confirmed that the men were moving away, handed over the initiative to Chayeon again.

“…Ha, hahaha…….”

Tears had come out a while ago, but now laughter came out.

Her legs gave way, and she sat down on the spot.

It was unsightly.

What was this?

Was it something to be this scared of just because they were a little big?

The Heukgu didn’t even need to come out.

Her body had completely changed with the Heukgu’s recovery.

Even if they swung a metal bat like just now, it wouldn’t be able to damage Chayeon’s body unless it contained special energy.

Even if bullets flew, they wouldn’t be able to pierce Chayeon’s body.

But Chayeon couldn’t even move, let alone resist.

Just because they were big men.

Just like in the prison.

…Just like in front of her father.

It felt like she had gone back to being a child.

The puny and small Chayeon.

The big and rough hand in front of her.

Her father’s body, which was particularly large.

That might have just been how it felt in the young Chayeon’s memory.

After her father died and she started exercising, she probably had a much bigger and sturdier body than her father.

She wasn’t afraid of her father anymore.

That’s what she had thought.

She had definitely overcome it.

From the year she turned eighteen, she didn’t care when she saw men with large builds.

She had been okay after she had trained and trained and had big muscles that wouldn’t bow down to anyone.

Although her body had become small again, she was actually stronger.

She thought it would be okay because she also had the Heukgu.

She had definitely been okay.

She had been okay even during the Joo Jiho incident.

When had it become like this again?

The incident in that prison had ruined everything.

She missed Arena.

“I have to protect them.”

Chayeon muttered without even being aware of what she was saying.

“I have to protect them…

…I have to protect Mom… I have to protect Arena…”

<<This is dangerous.>>

“I have to protect them…

…Don’t tremble, don’t tremble, don’t tremble…”

Only after the Heukgu put strength into her several times and reassured her did Chayeon’s trembling subside.

She went around several more marts, grocery stores, and convenience stores in the alley, but all she got was the chocolate bar she had gotten in the beginning.

The ones that were covered as the exterior walls of the buildings collapsed were already full of traces of rats and animals gnawing at them, so they could not be eaten by humans.

She had taken the trouble to remove the debris, but she had wasted her energy for nothing.

Perhaps because she had swept away the demons, people were starting to loiter.

“Student! It’s dangerous to walk around alone!”

A group of people approached Chayeon and tried to get her to join them, but it was impossible to know whether they were really worried or had other intentions. She managed to fend them off by saying that her group was waiting nearby.

As she walked a little further, she encountered dangerous-looking people again in the alley.

“Hehehe.”

Unlike the men from earlier, who had at least pretended, this time they didn’t even hide it and approached Chayeon with lecherous eyes.

Was it thanks to the fact that she had been burned once, or was it because the Heukgu had calmed her down?

Perhaps it was because the other party’s physique was not very large.

Unlike before, she wasn’t scared at all, but rather felt it was ridiculous.

“Let’s not act stupid.”

“The world has become a mess, where would the law be? Don’t resent us too much.”

“It’s better to follow us quietly.”

The men, who were swallowing words like “so pretty” and “so sexy,” approached.

Chayeon grabbed the wrist that was reaching out from the front.

As she lightly twisted it as it was, the middle of the man’s arm broke off with a snap.

“Aaaaagh!!!”

The man couldn’t stand the pain and sat down.

She didn’t intend to go this far.

But did she need to show leniency to these bastards who had sold off their conscience and fallen into beasts?

Chayeon’s eyes flashed red.

“Y-you f*cking! It’s a monster!”

“Euaaaa!!!”

Perhaps they had imagined something from those eyes, the men in the back turned pale and abandoned their comrades without the slightest hesitation and ran away in a hurry.

Only the man kneeling in front of Chayeon was left, shedding tears and snot and sweating cold sweat.

“Hey.”

“Heop!”

“Get lost.”

The man got up and ran as soon as those words fell.

Chayeon was silently watching the scene of him stumbling over a stone on the way and tumbling ridiculously.

It was already a complete night.

Even though the world had collapsed, the moon was still shining brightly.

When she returned to the intersection, which was the gathering place, the other three were already there.

Two chocolate bars, one slice of cheese.

That was all they had gotten.

When Chayeon reported that she had looked around other places nearby but there was nothing suitable, people made a fuss about how she could walk around alone.

“It’s a big harvest.”

When she returned, Yeonkyung’s reaction was better than she had expected.

Because she had only gotten two chocolate bars after walking around like that, she had been shrinking back, but Yeonkyung seemed to think that there was a high possibility that she would get nothing at all.

Tak-

Yeonkyung handed out cups filled with water. One good thing was that it was snowing heavily. Three cups of water, which had been purified by using a cloth after scooping up and melting the snow, were placed on the table where eight people were sitting around.

Even if something went wrong, Yeonkyung, who was the pinnacle of healers, was with them, so it wasn’t a big problem.

‘Come to think of it, can this person not recover from fatigue?’

Suddenly, that question arose.

It was strange that she could revive people, but she couldn’t recover them from hunger or fatigue.

She thought the Heukgu would tell her the answer, but there was nothing special.

‘Well, there must be a reason.’

Wolmyeong divided the chocolate bar and cheese into eight pieces and distributed them.

When she thought something was strange and looked, the amount Chayeon received was more than others.

Was it because her stomach had been rumbling a while ago?

Or was it because they kept treating her like a child?

Neither was a welcome thing.

“Um.”

“Eat without complaining.”

Before Chayeon could complain, Yeonkyung said sternly.

“It’s obvious to anyone that you’re the one who’s having the hardest time right now. No matter how strong you are in martial power, if your mind is weak, you’re likely to become prey for demons.”

Was she having a hard time?

Harsh words continued.

“If you don’t want to be treated like a child, show a steady appearance befitting it. If you’re hungry in this mental state, you’ll collapse more easily, so eat and get your mind right. Because we have to fight starting tomorrow.”

In contrast to Yeonkyung’s rapid-fire words, Chayeon’s mouth was closed like a clam.

Did she know everything?

“…Thank you.”

She put the piece of chocolate on her hand in her mouth and swallowed a sip of water.

Another piece, another sip of water. Another piece, another sip.

The chocolate melted in her mouth and disappeared after three times.

She swallowed the thin piece of cheese down her throat.

Grumble-

Her stomach cried out that it was not enough.

Why was that sound only coming from her stomach?

Her face was burning.

“Take mine.”

The woman next to her handed her chocolate bar and cheese again.

“Oh, no, I can’t.”

“I’m okay. I filled my stomach on the ship when I went to the island.”

“Oh, filled her stomach on the ship.”

The man next to her admired and muttered. Oh, ajusshi…….

Soon, other people also started to give her their food, saying she should eat.

In that way, chocolate and cheese began to pile up one by one, and in the end, more than half of it came back to Chayeon.

“Eat.”

Yeonkyung said in a firm voice as if she wouldn’t allow any objections.

“…Yes.”

Chayeon picked up and ate the chocolate bar and cheese pieces placed on her hand one by one.

Perhaps because it was dry, her throat was a little dry.