Chapter 105
I used all my strength to hold onto that person, afraid I might fall into the water again.
“You idiot, can’t you even swim!”
But to think that the one who saved me would be that bastard Alteo.
I wanted to confront him, but I was busy coughing up water and catching my breath.
“Cough, cough, hack- cough. You, cough, bastard!”
“I save you and this is how you act?”
I wanted to shout that he was the one who pushed me in the first place, but I was too out of breath to argue back, which was infuriating. It was also the worst that he was the only thing I could hold onto. Although I had no choice with the threatening sound of water.
How much time had passed? Only after I could finally breathe normally did I have the leisure to look around. The place where I had been pulled out was on top of a large, flat rock stuck in the middle of a wide valley. Only then did I realize I didn’t need to cling to him anymore, so I moved away and asked,
“Is this connected to land?”
“How would I know? You were clinging to me so I couldn’t move.”
“Who told you to push me off the cliff? You’re the one who pushed me from the cliff.”
“If I’d known you couldn’t swim, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Huh? This reaction is different from what I expected. I thought he would yell, but he was strangely calm. As I was staring at him in confusion, Alteo stood up, putting his hands on his knees.
“Don’t stare at me. It’s annoying.”
“Where are you going?”
“We need to go back, don’t we?”
“I’ll go with you.”
Not wanting to be left alone in a place like this, I got up with my heavy body. However, due to the pain in my legs, I had to sit down after just a few steps. Alteo glanced at me and then strode away.
‘I need to follow him… I hope it’s not broken.’
As I pressed down on my legs, enduring the pain, I realized it wasn’t broken. It was probably because I had swallowed a lot of water and hit the rocks. In fact, my whole body ached so much it was hard to tell which part hurt the most.
‘This is the worst…’
The only good thing, if you could call it that, was that I hadn’t hit my head on the rocks. It was ridiculous that I had been caught by someone as slow as Alteo and fallen into the water.
‘This is all because memories of my past life surfaced, tsk. When will I be able to be unbothered by it?’
Will there ever come a day when I can calmly think, “That’s how it was back then,” and move on?
Drip, drip-
As I brushed up my wet hair, droplets touched my cheek. At first, I thought it was water dripping from my hair, but it was raindrops.
“This is just great, really.”
As I was frowning, realizing I had to move somehow, Alteo came back. He walked past me without a word, heading in the opposite direction.
‘I guess there’s no path that way.’
As I was trying to get up, squirming, I sat back down, wanting to confirm one thing.
“Ugh.”
I showed signs of being hurt and brought out the countryside Norman persona I had thrown away in front of this bastard who had tried to kill me. I seemed not to have realized it due to the confusion, but Norman, who Alteo was familiar with, would be more advantageous in this situation than a stranger.
“Chairman! I think it’s starting to rain!”
“So what?”
“If the water rises… I can’t move, so I’ll have no choice but to die. Are you going to abandon me?”
Alteo, who had been walking away, stopped abruptly and cursed while stomping his feet. Look at that nasty temper.
“Fuck, I’ve gone crazy and created a useless burden!”
However, he came back to me, glaring as if he wanted to kill me, and held out his hand.
‘I guess he really doesn’t intend to kill me.’
It was a situation where we didn’t know how far we had drifted. This was an issue I had to address, as we might have to spend the night together with Alteo if we weren’t careful. I couldn’t worry about Alteo on land where we had to be wary of monsters and carnivorous animals.
Moreover, I needed Alteo’s labor to find the safest possible place. It would be more beneficial for survival to wait in one place until the search party found us, rather than moving recklessly.
‘Since it’s come to this, let’s see how far I can push him.’
Since pretending to be pitiful would be useless with this guy, I just brazenly made my request.
“Give me a piggyback ride.”
“What the hell?”
“I think my leg might be broken from hitting the rock. I can’t walk. I can’t even put any strength in it…”
I went limp and looked up at Alteo. He laughed in disbelief and then grimaced.
“Hey. Is that something you should be saying to me?”
“Then who should I say it to? You’re the only one here, Chairman.”
“Even so, how can you ask for a piggyback ride? Aren’t you scared?”
“I am scared. Why wouldn’t I be? I almost died because of you just now.”
“I didn’t intend to kill you!”
I had said it in quite a light tone, but his immediate response was a neurotic shout. It made me think he might have some bad memories related to death.
“I just wanted to prevent you from representing the welcome party, that’s all.”
Let’s confirm this too. Although I would have let it go if it were someone else, knowing the pain of trauma, I had no reservations when it came to Alteo.
“You pushed me off a cliff, but you really didn’t intend to kill me? Even if I could swim, did you think I could survive alone in this dangerous forest at night?”
“I was trying to break your arm or leg. But you were stronger than I thought, so I pushed you. I thought you’d find your way back alive. I did hope you’d get hurt in the process, but-”
“You got what you wanted, I’m hurt, so give me a piggyback ride. I told you I can’t walk.”
“Fuck, really. Fine! You crazy bastard. You’re really a lunatic.”
“Not as much as you, Chairman. I still have a lot to learn from you.”
“If you don’t want to be abandoned, shut up.”
“Then I’ll really die.”
“Okay, okay! Stop saying you’re going to die!”
I see. I don’t know what kind of story it is, but he reacts sensitively to talk of dying. If he’s going to be annoying, I might as well keep triggering his trauma. I grumbled as I lay down on Alteo’s crouched back.
When Alteo reached the edge of the rock, he put me down, breathing heavily, and slumped down. Seeing how he struggled but still brought me along without abandoning me, I could understand how stubborn he was.
‘It’s not out of concern for me, but just because of his own trauma.’
If he didn’t have the trauma, he probably would have just stood there watching indifferently whether I drowned or not. He might have even convinced himself it wasn’t his fault if I died because I couldn’t swim.
I looked coldly at him as he caught his breath, then shifted my gaze. There was some distance to the land, but rocks peeking out like stepping stones could be seen. Although the footing wasn’t flat, it seemed better than going into the water.
“I can’t carry you here.”
I know. He was staggering so much just coming a dozen steps. I don’t even expect him to jump. It would only increase the risk of falling into the water.
Alteo brushed back the hair stuck to his forehead and stared at my legs.
“It looks fine on the outside. How badly are you hurt?”
“Who knows? I might need to recover for a few months, or it might heal quickly.”
I deliberately gave a vague answer while gauging the distance I would have to jump.
“Chairman, if you go first and catch me, I think it’ll work.”
“Am I your servant? Is it natural for you to order me around?”
“The current is strong here. If we fall in, we might get swept away and die, you know?”
“Ah, this bastard, really. I told you to stop!”
I made an “oops” expression and smiled slightly. Honestly, it’s quite fun seeing him react to every little thing.
“Alright. But what can I do when it’s the truth? You saw how unstable I was, Chairman.”
Alteo grimaced, glared at me, then turned his head away abruptly. Not wanting to exchange more words, he jumped over and waited for me silently.
Now it was my turn.
With Alteo’s help, I safely touched the ground and sighed in relief. At least there was no more worry about drowning. However, the rain had intensified in that short time, so we weren’t completely out of danger of being submerged.
“We need to find a way up.”
It was fortunate that the surroundings were getting brighter, probably as morning approached, allowing us to see a bit further. But we seemed to be surrounded by cliffs with no apparent way up. Still, since the path wasn’t completely cut off, we needed to find a way out of the valley by moving along the water’s edge.
“Is your leg really broken?”
Is that still what’s important to him in this situation?
“I’m being serious here, if we can’t find a way up, we’ll both die.”
“…Really, until the end-”
“No, prioritize. Can’t you see it’s raining? The valley water could rise at any moment, is my leg more important than that?”
As if to prove my point, one of the stepping stones we had crossed was already submerged. The wider ones were barely holding on, but given the characteristic of valleys where water levels can rise suddenly, it was clear we needed to escape from here.
“I’ll check downstream, you go upstream.”
Now that we were up on the bank, there was a possibility that Alteo might abandon me and leave, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that while staying together. The water level was rising faster.
Alteo finally seemed to sense the urgency and said in a serious tone,
“I want to live too, so let’s cooperate for now.”
Fortunately, Alteo didn’t run away. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say he couldn’t run away. Both upstream and downstream were blocked.
The area I checked had a waterfall, but a large moss-covered rock protruded into the valley, making it impossible to get past.
On the other hand, Alteo reported that upstream, you could climb halfway up the cliff, but it was cut off there. He said there was a shallow cave where we could at least avoid the rain, so thinking it might be better than here, we headed that way.
The cave was round and small, as if scooped out of the wall with an ice cream spoon.
‘It doesn’t seem like the water will reach this high, but…’
I was concerned about the bands of dry soil lining the cave walls. When I touched the soil bands that were layered like sediment, they crumbled and fell off.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
