Chapter 7

TL:SmolProcrastinator

PR:Banchou-sama

Episode 7

As soon as Se-young opened the door, he felt faint. Momentarily forgetting that it was the middle of the night, he let out a panicked shout “Ack!”

The entire rooftop was drenched in a sea of fire.

“Gee, really?”

Se-young felt a pang of fear as the fiery scene on his roof overlapped with the images from his dream. Where did the fire come from, and how could the flames roll around like waves on a cement floor with nothing to burn? It was a chain of mysteries.

Yesterday, a sword fell out of the sky. Today, a fire broke out on the cement floor. 

I’m not even sure if it came from the sky or popped out of the ground. 

With the fire raging outside, Se-young, who was stuck in the house and couldn’t move, crawled on the ground to the corner of the railing and turned on the faucet.

*Squeak*

*Shhhhh*

As he doused the sword with buckets of water from the faucet, the surrounding fire that had burned as high as his waist quickly fizzled out. It was a rather dull ending to the mysterious flame.

“Haa! Haa! Haa!”

Se-young sat down in front of the door, gasping for breath. He had repeated the process of drawing water from the faucet over ten times to put out the entire rooftop.

“…Hurts.”

Se-young felt as if he was going to die from the severe pain in his aching arms and stiff back. It was his first time he’d moved that much in two years. It had been a while since he last felt the sensation of sweat flowing down his cheeks. Se-young threw off his coat with a sulky whine.

After the heat from the fire had dissipated, all the steam from the roof rose up, filling the area with a humid fog, as if one had just entered a sauna.

Suddenly, Se-young, who had inadvertently looked towards the bottom of the window, came to a realization.

“…Oh”

There laid a dusty but neatly rolled up water hose.

——

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

“……!”

[12 o’clock at night]

Se-young, who had been sleeping, opened his eyes and began to rise out of bed.

Th-That’s the sound!

The chilling feeling sent goosebumps all over his skin.

Just as expected.

Like the previous night, a reddish light was seeping through the gaps around his door.

Se-young stood up and went outside. As expected, the rooftop was once again transformed into a sea of fire. The upside-down sword in the middle of it all was burning a bright, red-hot color. Se-young hurriedly ran to the faucet to douse the fire. After going back and forth five times with his arms screaming out in pain, he dropped the bucket.

“Wait…!”

Se-young was hit by an overwhelming urge to curse at himself.

I forgot about the fucking water hose. 

——

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

The thundering sound of a thousand war cries,

The deafening blast from a war-horn announcing the advancement of an army.

Se-young jumped out of bed reflexively. He woke up with a start but got up without rushing like the previous day. This time, he connected the water hose to the faucet and calmly doused the fire. Somehow, he was getting used to this.

Se-young pondered the scenario while turning off the light.

When I woke up, I could clearly hear the sound, but where does the drumming come from? And why the fire?

Se-young automatically shifted his gaze towards the sword stuck in the middle of the roof.

There’s no concrete evidence, and I can’t even begin to explain what is going on, but the main suspect is definitely you!

——

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

Thousands of thundering war cries,

The blast of a horn announcing an advancing army.

“Dammit… ”

Humans are an adaptable species. As he woke on the fourth day, Se-young rubbed his eyes in irritation at the strange echo of the drums.

*Yawn~*

Se-young, who had one hand in his pocket and the other around the hose, sprayed water at the flames while his eyes teared up from yawning. After a few days of restless sleep, fatigue was now an ever-present annoyance.

——

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

Thousands of war cries,

The blast of a horn…

“Ah! Fuck! What the hell!”

Se-young wrapped a pillow around his head, clogged his ears, and let out an irritated complaint. He walked outside still wrapped in a blanket, nerves frayed and patience wearing thin.

——

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

Thousands of…

*Thwap!*

A pillow flew at the closed door.

“Just let me get some sleep! Let me sleep!!”

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

“Ugh!”

Se-young gritted his teeth as he struggled to stand up and go outside.

——

A fiery flower bloomed like a seed of life between the inverted sword and the cracks in the cement floor. The ringing sound slowly grew louder.

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

However,

*Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle.*

Haah. Victory.

The spark which had just been born was immediately washed away by tiny rivers that flowed through the cracked cement. The water came from the hose’s overflowing tap.

*****

[11:59 P.M.]

1 minute ago.

Se-young dragged out a chair and sat down, holding a hose in one hand while checking the time on his phone in the other.

[12:00 A.M.]

Come on!

At exactly 12 o’clock, Se-young opened his eyes and plugged his ears, gripping the hose tightly in his hand.

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

“……!”

Most of Se-young’s nervousness had to do with the uncertainty surrounding the sword. However, as he had suspected, the strange sound was clearly emanating directly from the blade. After extinguishing the fire early on, Se-young turned his frown towards the sword.

——

*Tak Tak Tak Tak!*

*Click! Click!*

After the first few days, Se-young turned to his PC for help. He searched for clues all day long, writing down several promising results in his notebook while attempting to overcome his exhaustion. By the time the sun went down, all the boxes in the living room were turned upside down, as if a hurricane had blown through the apartment.

After a long period of searching,

“Found it!”

Se-young held up the tiny, coin-sized cross as sweat poured down his forehead.

——

*Dun Dun Dun Dun!*

“……”

At midnight, the sound of drums once again rang out from the sword. Se-young boldly positioned himself right in front of the blade, instead of maintaining the typical distance. He glanced around, clutching the cross in his hand. Apart from the occasional lit-up building in the distance, the midnight atmosphere was dark and silent.

Se-young kissed the cross in his hand with a quivering face and pressed it against a spray-bottle. Then he aimed the spray-bottle at the sword.

*Squirt-! Squirt-! Squirt-!*

Se-young, after spraying the liquid three times, glanced at his spread-out notebook. He placed his left hand at his navel, then moved it to his forehead and across his shoulders.

“Amen, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!”

*Squirt-! Squirt-! Squirt-!*

He sprayed the liquid three more times and glanced around. After clearing his throat with a hearty “A-hem” and taking a deep breath, he commanded once more in an even louder voice:

“I command you by the power of the Lord vested in me ~ !”

*Gulp*

“Satan! Begone! …Why the fuck isn’t this working?! ”

Eventually, Se-young couldn’t stand it anymore and simply threw the spray-bottle at the sword. Then he shut the door and returned back into the house.