105
Set stared expressionlessly at the screen with the phone placed on the table. However, no matter how long he waited, the screen showed no signs of movement.
“Ji-ho: Make sure to eat your meals” 7:36 AM
Since Yeon Ji-ho’s message received in the morning, there had been no reply even as noon approached. Below that, messages sent by Set had already piled up.
“Ji-ho”
“Did you eat” 7:41 AM
“Eat and then do it” 7:42 AM
“Ji-ho” 7:51 AM
“Are you very busy?” 8:12 AM
“Ji-ho” 8:15 AM
“Ji-ho?” 8:42 AM
“Reply” 9:19 AM
“Ji-ho” 9:20 AM
“The number doesn’t disappear” 9:22 AM
“Give me a reply” 10:14 AM
“Ji-ho” 11:12 AM
“Ji-ho” 11:13 AM
“Ji-ho” 11:14 AM
“Ji-ho” 11:15 AM
At first, he comforted himself to wait since Ji-ho said he was busy, then he felt quite disappointed thinking that even if busy, couldn’t he check his phone at least once? Eventually, he became anxious wondering if something had happened to Ji-ho.
Nevertheless, all Set could do was urge Yeon Ji-ho for a reply through the phone. It was a miracle in the first place that he could contact Yeon Ji-ho through the phone.
‘Your Excellency, I… think I can touch this object.’
When he first discovered the object, Set knew what it was but didn’t know how to use it properly. He only knew that while staying with Yeon Ji-ho, when he contacted somewhere through this “phone”, food would arrive.
If the god hadn’t touched the phone in front of him, Set wouldn’t have thought of this object.
After finding the phone, Set started looking for a way to contact Yeon Ji-ho with it. As he pressed various parts of the phone, he came across the words “Uncle Seon-rok”.
However, unlike being able to read the letters, writing them was a different matter. Set felt strange at that moment. He had never thought about how he could speak with Yeon Ji-ho, or how he could read this world’s letters so naturally.
‘If Your Excellency can read letters, we can use translation magic. I’ll manage it.’
Apophis took the phone away like that and returned a few days later. The back, which had only an apple drawn on a white background, was now intricately embroidered with magic circles.
That’s how they barely managed to contact Yeon Ji-ho, but…
“Damn it.”
Set muttered a curse under his breath. He thought he’d be able to breathe easier if he could at least contact Ji-ho, but that wasn’t the case. The breath he could finally take was rather too insufficient, making him realize that desperation even more acutely.
Last night, Set asked Yeon Ji-ho about news of Hadad. His main questions were whether Hadad was bothering him, or if he was threatening him with force.
But every time, Yeon Ji-ho only answered like this:
“Ji-ho: I’m fine :)”
At first, Set didn’t know what was attached at the end of the reply. Then Apophis, who was peeking from the side, stretched his neck out and told Set that if he tilted his head sideways, he could see it.
Whenever asked about Hadad, he abbreviated his replies to “I’m fine” or “Nothing special”. Every time Set saw those replies, he clenched his fist so tightly that it turned white. It was the first time he felt his own incompetence so enormously.
Yeon Ji-ho probably knew too. Even if he complained about his pain to Set right now, Set couldn’t rush over and solve it.
Set’s eyes closed miserably. Picking up the phone with no reply, Set went outside the caravan and approached Chronos, who was lighting a fire in front of it.
“Your Excellency, do you have anything else to burn?”
He seemed to be cleaning up trash. Set shook his head at Chronos’s question and stared blankly at the bright red fire crackling in front of him.
Then, without realizing it, he put his hand into the fire.
“Your Excellency!”
Only upon hearing Chronos’s shocked cry did Set discover the burn on his hand. If Chronos hadn’t rushed over and grabbed Set’s wrist to pull it away, Set would have completely burned his hand in the fire.
“Your Excellency, why on earth…”
Set didn’t answer Chronos’s worried question and simply shook his hand to remove the ash and burn marks. Then he turned his back and left the place.
Well, he didn’t know why he did it.
As he looked at the fire, Set felt like he wanted to enter it. It wasn’t that he wanted to give up his life, clearly. Then suddenly remembering that he had met Yeon Ji-ho only after entering the flames, Set sneered.
Was that why?
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Set began preparing to move again today. Today, he planned to find Yggdrasil and meet that damned so-called god again. However, Yggdrasil, which looked like an ordinary tree, was difficult to find easily.
It was then. The notification rang from the phone Set had put in his inner pocket.
“Ji-ho: Sorry I was busy” 12:04 PM
“Ji-ho: What are you doing today, Set?” 12:05 PM
Set, who had suddenly stopped in his tracks, forgot where he was going and fiddled with his phone. After sending a reply and confirming that the number didn’t disappear again, Set stood still as if his legs were nailed to the ground, just looking down at his phone.
At that moment, a huge shadow fell over Set’s head.
Set reflexively avoided what was falling on his head without realizing it. When he dodged, he saw it was a huge tree. However, the tall tree fell and unfortunately rolled onto Chronos’s firewood, where the embers had not yet been extinguished.
The fire started spreading instantly. Set moved faster than anyone to relocate the caravan. Apophis, who was creating a gate inside, also ran out of the caravan.
“Your Excellency, are you alright?”
“No problem. Any damage?”
“No. No lost items, no one injured. Shango and Isquis had gone to the doctor for a moment…”
Apophis briefly chanted magic to extinguish the fire. It wasn’t difficult magic, just water magic to summon water from a nearby well. For Apophis, an excellent magician, it was certainly simple magic.
“…!”
Apophis’s eyes widened as if they would tear. Pillars of fire began to rise one after another before his eyes.
While water magic and fire magic are opposites in nature, they also have an innate harmonious energy, with only a very small difference in the incantation when chanting. Because of this, he accidentally caused fire magic instead of water magic.
Fire added to fire grew in size. As it spread to the point of flooding the forest before long, Set moved. He intended to scoop water from the well with his sword aura and fling it.
Misfortune upon misfortune piled up. It took over three or four hours to extinguish all the fire. If Apophis’s mana hadn’t been sufficient, even that would have been impossible.
But it seemed difficult to restore the completely burned field. Chronos looked at the mostly burned field, except for the caravan, and said with a sigh:
“…We had bad luck.”
Set silently looked at the burned field. At that moment, another notification came from the phone. He mechanically opened the screen and checked, seeing a message from Yeon Ji-ho.
“Ji-ho: Finished the tests and they say I’m healthy :D” 3:54 PM
“Ji-ho: Don’t worry too much about me” 3:55 PM
Unlike before, instead of hastily typing a reply, he just stared at Yeon Ji-ho’s message. His eyes were dark and low, unlike the gentle “Set” that Yeon Ji-ho had shown in the message.
Set eventually didn’t reply to Yeon Ji-ho’s message. Instead, he started searching for something else on the now familiar phone. What he finally found was a contact listed as “Uncle Soo-cheol”.
Soon, he moved his clumsy thumb to send some message. Set stood still on the burned field, waiting for a reply. Then finally, when the number 1 disappeared and a reply came:
“Uncle Soo-cheol: I sent a picture.” 4:21 PM
Set touched it with his slightly trembling finger. Then a picture sent by Soo-cheol filled the screen.
“…”
It was, well.
His lover, who had become as thin as could be, as small as could be. Yeon Ji-ho was lying neatly on the bed, covered with a thick blanket. On his bony arm that stuck out from beside the blanket, objects Set didn’t even know were attached in layers.
Moreover, something was attached to Yeon Ji-ho’s mouth. Set knew what it was. Because one day, while watching a drama on TV, he and Yeon Ji-ho had joked about it.
‘Ji-ho, why is that attached to their mouth?’
‘It’s called an oxygen mask… Um, only really sick people use it. People who have difficulty breathing.’
But why, why was his lovely lover wearing that?
