CH 96

Bam!

The giant monster—or more precisely, what used to be the giant monster—fell, diced into such small pieces that it was difficult to decipher its original shape. The rock-like remnants scattered everywhere like a mountain erupting. Hawa nodded mindlessly as she watched Chi-Woo clap his hands clean.

In the beginning of their time together in the sanctuary, Hawa had doubted at times whether Chi-Woo was really a hero. Now, however, all her suspicions and doubts were gone, and she attributed Chi-Woo’s awkwardness in close-quarter combat to the fact that he wasn’t a warrior; there was no doubt he had in spades all the other necessary skills in battle from aggression to an agile and strategic mind. 

‘One or two of them… I can deal with just fine, but it’ll be difficult for me to take on more than three at the same time,’ Chi-Woo thought while looking at the giant monster he had destroyed. He now knew why Ru Amuh had made the judgment to run away before. Even though Chi-Woo had gotten stronger, he wouldn’t survive if he was surrounded by dozens of these monsters.

‘Should I go down or continue?’ Although he had been worried that the fortress might be crawling with monsters, it seemed unlikely now. No more monsters had appeared after the giant monster despite all the noises he’d made during the fight. Those that had fallen off the cliff with him last time must have died, or there could be some other reason he wasn’t aware of now. Whatever it was, it was more than fine by him.

“Let’s go.” After finishing off the giant monster, Chi-Woo began climbing the mountain with Hawa’s guidance again. Chi-Woo’s guess that the number of monsters at the Evalaya mountain had decreased was soon proven correct, and he met only one more monster while climbing. It was a flying monster that screeched ‘Biip, Biiip!’ loudly as soon as it saw Hawa and Chi-Woo. But unlike before, they didn’t get surrounded by herds of monsters, and Chi-Woo simply ignored the lone monster. Eventually, the monster grew frustrated and came down itself, only to get its neck severed by Chi-Woo. Peace returned to the mountain yet again. 

The fortress they arrived at wasn’t that different from the last fortress they went to. There were hardly any civilian areas, but were instead filled with defense mechanisms. As they expected, the storage rooms were completely empty with not even a single grain on the ground. Just in case, Chi-Woo searched every nook and cranny of the fortress, but didn’t find much. Since the fortress was unexpectedly not that large, they were able to look through it by sunset, but Chi-Woo’s hands were still empty. All he could find was a piece of clothing to replace the rags he’d been wearing as clothes. 

‘Should we return…?’ Chi-Woo smacked his lips thinking he had just wasted his time when Hawa suddenly said that she found food. Chi-Woo followed Hawa to the area skeptically, but when he saw hidden food supplies inside the walls, his mouth dropped open.

“How did you find it?”

“Even the guardian of Salem is just a person, and there’s a limit to a person’s imagination,” Hawa spoke as if finding these supplies wasn’t a big deal even though she had been working hard to look for them all day. “I simply put myself in the man’s shoe and thought, where would I hide my food supplies if I were him…?”  Hawa then crossed her arms and muttered, “Well, I did get a clue from what that princess boasted about.”

Chi-Woo remembered vaguely how Eshnunna had talked about the guardian of Salem dividing supplies and what-not in preparation for something. Thus, he asked curiously, “What was the clue?”

“Do you want to know?”

“Yup.”

“I will tell you if you grant me one request,” Hawa said matter-of-factly without the slightest change of expression. Chi-Woo smirked. He knew Hawa was trying anything, just anything to get her revenge. 

“I will ask Eshnunna later then,” Chi-Woo responded coolly, and Hawa turned her head while clicking her tongue. 

“By the way…there’s quite a good amount,” Chi-Woo remarked while looking at the sacks of food that filled up one part of the wall. No wonder the inside of the room looked small compared to the exterior. “We probably won’t be able to take everything, right?” 

“Probably.” Hawa hung her head, and Chi-Woo nodded. Then the ball that had been sitting on his shoulders shook its entire body.

“What the fuck?!” So surprised by the sudden presence he felt on his shoulder, Chi-Woo accidentally cursed. He hadn’t sensed this presence with synesthesia or his ESP. ‘What is it?’ After calming his heart, he looked down at the being that was still twisting its body all around. 

First of all, the thing was quite small. It was the size of a bun with fillings that he sometimes bought in the streets. Not only was its size similar, but it also looked like a bun save for the semi-transparent, watery insides.

“…What are you?”

“Pyu.” Not even a ‘Kyu’, but ‘Pyu’. It was a little cute when it chirped like that.

“What is that?” Hawa asked.

“I don’t know. It looks like a slime, but…is there a slime like this?”

Hawa narrowed her eyes and observed the slime closely. 

‘Do you know what it is?’ Chi-Woo was about to ask Mimi when the mysterious being jumped down from his shoulder. “Byu!”

It bounced to the pile of food supplies.

“Ba—ump.” It widened its mouth and swallowed a sack of food. It was a shocking and puzzling sight, as the bun-sized thing had somehow swallowed an object several times bigger than it was. Chi-Woo stared at it blankly, but when it swallowed another sack, he hastily tried to stop it.

“Nonono! Hey, hey! No! You can’t eat that!” Chi-Woo grabbed the bun and lifted it up to shake it so that it would throw the sacks back out. 

“Blu—rp.” Bam! 

“Urgh.” Something dropped on Chi-Woo’s nose with a thud, and Chi-Woo opened his mouth wide open again. The sacks the bun had eaten were dropping out of it now.

‘How…did this guy…?’ Chi-Woo wondered as the bun repeatedly swallowed the sacks and spat it back out again.

“…A bag?” Hawa said while tilting her head.

“You think it’s a bag?”

“Yes, I think it’s trying to show us that it can take these sacks.” 

Then something came out of this bun’s body, which soon took the shape of a hand giving a thumbs-up. After a three-second pause, Chi-Woo let out a deep breath and asked, “Is that perhaps…you?”

“Byu,” the bun replied. It was hard to tell what it was saying, but it seemed to be saying ‘yes’ while raising its thumb even higher.

“I see. It is you! It’s you!” The bun bounced up and down in agreement. “Hah! So you decided to come out!”

Hawa looked back and forth between Chi-Woo and the mysterious being vehemently confirming his guesses. Not knowing that Chi-Woo had communicated repeatedly with the mud monster through hand signals, Hawa couldn’t guess the identity of this jelly bun. 

After their reunion greeting, Chi-Woo waited until the bun finished storing all the sacks inside itself. It surprised him more and more as the bun swallowed things larger than its size one after another. He almost wanted to cut it open with a scalpel to see what there was. After his new ‘bag’ had stored all the food supplies, Chi-Woo went down the Evalaya mountain while humming.

“Okay, so tell me what made you decide to come out in the end? Did you have a change in heart?”

“Byu, byubyu, byubyubyubyu.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Byu…byu, byubyubyu byu.”

“I see. But to tell you the truth, I don’t really know what you are saying.”

“…”

“Anyways, I think you have made the right decision. You should live your own life now without thinking about your purpose.” Chi-Woo laughed and gazed at the bun on his shoulders and asked, “So, are you going to be with me for the time being?”

“Byu! Byubyubyu byubyubyu…. Byubyu?”

“Well, there will be no problem with that. We have to battle again some time later. Let me see.” Chi-Woo licked his lips. “I can’t just call you, ‘you’, and since you decided to start anew, why don’t we make a new name for you…?”

The steamed bun looked expectantly at Chi-Woo. Chi-Woo contemplated for a moment and knocked his fist against his left palm like he’d suddenly thought of a good idea. “Oh yeah. What about we just use the sound you make and call you pyupyu? How about it, pyupyu? Don’t you like how cute your name is?”

Slap! Chi-Woo’s face turned to the side. The steamed bun had created a hand and slapped Chi-Woo as soon as it heard its new name. Chi-Woo clutched his sore cheek and angrily yelled, “What the heck? Why did you slap me?”

The steamed bun angrily yelled back at him, “Pyu!”

“If you don’t like your name, you could have just told me!”

“Pyu, pyu! Pyupyupyupyupyu!”

“You want to fight or something?”

They began to have a shouting match. Hawa looked at them and silently shook her head.

*     *     *

The moon was illuminating the night sky. A hooded figure made his way to the entrance of the fortress, his nose wrinkling as a sharp, metallic smell of blood hit him. Corpses that were completely shredded apart and disfigured were sprawled around the fortress. Moreover, the sturdy walls were now covered in cracks and showed signs of intense battle. 

The figure sighed and busily moved towards the bleak and ominous fortress without any sound or presence. He didn’t know how long he’d been walking, but he stopped when he passed the rock bridge across the fortress wall. He saw a person from far away—no, it was something that looked like a human. It stumbled and walked unstably. It sometimes couldn’t control its body and looked around with its mouth wide open. Its unnatural movement made it look like an alien or monster in human flesh. 

The figure saw this strange being from far away and quickly hid, sticking close to the wall and doing his best to keep his breathing faint while moving away. However, while he was trying to carry out his plan, he felt a foreboding gaze on his body.

Swish! As soon as he turned around, something that looked like cloth or fabric disappeared from his view; it disappeared so fast that he almost thought he had imagined it. The figure was about to scan his surrounding with higher caution than before when—

Kyaawwwwh! With the sound of someone crying or laughing, something passed the figure. The figure froze; he hadn’t been mistaken. The atmosphere became one level chillier. He clicked his tongue and hid in the darkness, quickly going deeper into the fortress. After he passed the narrow alley and went into the square, he was finally able to hear other people. 

Even though the Shahnaz shaman had gone missing, this place had once been where the shaman enshrined the statue of the goddess. Dozens of people were gathered around the shrine. Rather than staying inside, quite a few of them were just lying down on the street. There were also many who were groaning in pain from their injuries. The figure smiled bitterly. It felt like just yesterday when they all happily made plans for the future here.

However, the figure couldn’t linger outside the square forever, so he quietly moved further inside. Even though he deadened his footsteps as much as possible, numerous gazes snapped to him as soon as he entered.

“Ru…!” A blond woman with a ponytail rushed towards him, but stopped when she saw who it was.

“I’m sorry.” The figure gave her a small smile and pulled down his hood. “That I’m not Ru Amuh.” He was no other than Allen Leonard.

“No…I was also worried about you since you didn’t come back even though it turned dark.”

“I tried to come back before sunset, but it didn’t work out like that.”

Ru Hiana responded with a rueful smile. “It’s great that you came back all right.”

“I’m not sure if it’s all right though.”

“?”

“I haven’t produced any results even after going through much trouble.” Allen Leonard showed his empty hands.

“…It can’t be helped.” Ru Hiana smacked her lips, but she soon made a soft smile and continued, “Since Ru Amuh also went out, let’s wait a bit longer. Perhaps he might…”

“And that’s not the only thing.” Allen Leonard cut her off in a grave tone. “They have become more active.”

“What?”

“If I’m not mistaken, they seem to have grown more hostile, and there’s an urgency in the way they move.”

“Is that really…true?”

“That’s what I felt during our trip back. If it hadn’t been for Ru Amuh and the two of us, we would’ve lost another person to the monsters.”

Ru Hiana’s face darkened at the gravity of his words.

Allen Leonard looked around and said, “It seems the number of people has decreased…” 

“…The princess has disappeared,” Ru Hiana replied with some hesitance. 

Allen Leonard furrowed his brows. 

“Not just the princess. Two more recruits have also…”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. The princess left while saying that she couldn’t just stay like this, and…” Ru Hiana trailed off.

“First Zelit, and now even that princess… It’s a mess.” Allen Leonard could only sigh. Things were quickly deteriorating at the fortress. The recruits and natives were pushed to the corner and had to struggle to live day by day like refugees. 

“We should have saved Teacher,” Allen Leonard said.

“…”

“No matter what happened, Teacher should have been brought back.” Allen Leonard’s words carried a hint of blame towards Ru Hiana and the others for not bringing back Chi-Woo. And of course, Ru Hiana knew that Leonard was referring to Chi-Woo. Allen Leonard continued, “I was right. Those guys hadn’t completely disappeared. They were merely keeping a low profile since they were afraid of Teacher.” 

And they returned as soon as Chi-Woo disappeared. Ru Hiana looked miserable, weighed down by her guilt about Chi-Woo. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s my fault.”

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blame you,” Allen Leonard apologized. He knew that there was nothing more pointless than allies fighting among themselves in a situation like this. He had cast the blame in frustration. “Since Teacher is no longer here, we will no…”

“No,” Ru Hiana said firmly. “Senior isn’t dead.” 

“Are you sure?” Allen Leonard asked with wide eyes, and Ru Hiana nodded vehemently. 

“How do you know?”

“That’s what Ru Amuh said,” Ru Hiana replied confidently. “He said that Senior is still alive, and he’ll definitely return.”

“…”

“Uh, he said that’s what he sensed…” Ru Hiana’s confidence crumbled and gave way to a bitter smile when she saw how taken aback Allen Leonard looked. Since neither Ru Amuh nor Ru Hiana knew about Chi-Woo’s ‘sharing’ ability, it was understandable that Allen Leonard would think they were just being hopeful.

“…Is that so?” Allen Leonard smiled thinly. “If that’s really true…” He suddenly began laughing. “Sorry, it’s just a bit funny.” When Ru Hiana stared at him, he waved his hand and continued laughing. “Isn’t it funny? You and I are both heroes who have saved a World, but we’re so powerless here.”

“About that—”

“Moreover, there are so many heroes here.”

“…”

“But we can’t do anything, and we’re just hoping… I’m starting to understand what the people in the world I’ve saved must have felt like.” Allen Leonard softly laughed for a while and continued, “But even then, he’s a really strange guy.” He stopped laughing and sighed deeply before looking up and continuing, “It feels like if Teacher comes back, I’ll be able to have hope again.” 

He looked up at the twinkling stars in the night sky and smiled brightly.