# 10
“I…”
“We’ll bask in the sunlight together, listen to music, sing songs, and enjoy hobbies.”
“All… right.”
Jin-ha reluctantly agreed. In truth, he didn’t dislike spending time with the man. He was concerned about him. The issue was whether it might negatively affect his rehabilitation, which was something to decide through consultation with a doctor.
As Jin-ha was trying to calm his somewhat troubled mind, the man leaned in close and grinned.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Looking forward to what?”
Jin-ha awkwardly increased the distance between their faces and turned his head away as he asked.
“To what interesting things Hunter Lee Jin-ha will teach me.”
“…”
“Just so you know.”
There was no follow-up. Jin-ha moved only his eyes to look at the man. When their eyes met, the man smiled as if he had been waiting for that moment.
“I’m not easily satisfied.”
“…”
“But don’t give up. It was Hunter Lee Jin-ha who told me to do something interesting.”
The man had always seemed to become talkative when excited, but now it was particularly noticeable. It was almost burdensome. Jin-ha couldn’t hide his bewilderment but awkwardly nodded.
“I understand.”
“You must fulfill your promise diligently. Say you promise.”
“Promise…?”
“Hurry. Or was it all lies?”
“…I promise.”
“Good.”
Only after hearing Jin-ha’s answer repeatedly did the man seem satisfied, chuckling before closing his mouth.
In Jin-ha’s life, no one had been this annoying since Cha Ki-young. He thought he disliked this type of person, yet he found himself concerned about the man—a strange situation indeed.
Jin-ha shook his head and stood up, extending his hand to the man.
“Let’s go then.”
“Alright.”
The gate was truly just ahead now.
The man, who believed they would win the game of tag once they reached the gate, took Jin-ha’s hand with visible excitement.
Having escaped the spider that ruled the basin, they only needed to cross this precarious ice bridge to return safely to Earth. Jin-ha, who had been tense throughout, finally felt at ease.
As they walked, Jin-ha asked:
“Do you like tea?”
“Tea?”
“You asked about my hobbies earlier. I enjoy time spent drinking tea. Later… I hope we can drink it together.”
“Then I’ll prepare some delicious tea.”
“You will?”
When Jin-ha asked, the man just smiled. It seemed he hadn’t meant anything particular by it.
Perhaps it was just an extension of playing house.
“What kind of tea snacks do you like?”
“Well… I don’t particularly enjoy snacks.”
“You don’t enjoy snacks but carry them in your pocket?”
“My friend put those in there forcibly.”
Upon hearing a dissatisfied “hmm,” Jin-ha turned around to see the man smiling as if nothing was wrong. Before Jin-ha could speak, the man asked again:
“Then what do you dislike?”
“What I dislike… hmm.”
He wasn’t the type to have strong likes or dislikes. He didn’t find anything particularly delicious or disgusting, enjoyable or unenjoyable.
Even his tea-drinking hobby was merely a reminiscence of times spent with his parents.
“I don’t think there’s anything in particular.”
“You don’t dislike anything? Then you don’t dislike anyone either?”
“Ah…”
As a few faces flashed through his mind, Jin-ha was silent for a moment before confessing the truth.
“Actually, there are people I dislike. Quite a few, in fact.”
“Would you tell me what aspects you dislike?”
“Why do you want to know that?”
“I need to know what kind of people my spouse dislikes so I can do better.”
Jin-ha’s eyes rolled in discomfort.
Even knowing this was just pretend play, being so close and whispering like this made him instinctively want to back away. He once again convinced himself that this manly figure was just a child who barely reached his waist.
Having successfully reimposed this view, Jin-ha answered with a more relaxed expression:
“It might be hard for you to understand right now.”
“Tell me.”
“I absolutely cannot stand disorderly people.”
“Disorderly…”
Watching the man furrow his brow as if not understanding the term, Jin-ha smiled.
“So be neat and diligent. I’d like to see you grow up that way.”
Just as he said this, they stepped off the ice bridge onto the island.
The ground shook with a rumbling sound.
“Ah…”
Quickly pulling the man behind him, Jin-ha sighed as he realized the source of the sound. The trunk of the enormous tree in the center of the island was splitting open. Its bark cracked, revealing the white flesh beneath, and as it opened further, the soul of a dead fairy that had been sleeping inside the trunk appeared.
Wasn’t a fairy soul in a fairy tree supposed to awaken only when nearby fairies were in danger?
Resisting the eerie fear that ran down his spine, Jin-ha pulled the man’s arm.
“I’ll draw its attention; you go in first.”
Fairy trees varied in the powers they could manifest, depending on the abilities the fairy had in life. Most merely formed barriers in the forest, but some fairy trees could move their roots and branches to repel enemies, and others could accumulate power to manifest the fairy’s soul to influence the world.
To think such a large tree was a fairy tree!
Cursing his own stupidity for not realizing it sooner, Jin-ha pushed the man toward the gate.
“Go first. Hurry. I said go!”
“But…”
“Run!”
At Jin-ha’s urging, the hesitant man’s footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
“I didn’t expect this…”
Jin-ha twisted his lips into a smile. He knew he was making an expression he had never made before.
He truly hadn’t expected it. He never thought the day would come when he would throw himself into danger for someone else. Yet when the situation arose, his body moved instinctively.
After suppressing the fear pounding in his heart, Jin-ha took a deep breath.
“Okay. Now…”
Jin-ha counted the explosion scrolls remaining in his bracelet. He took out three and hurled them toward the tree.
Boom! Bang!
Sparks flew with the violent explosion sounds. Jin-ha saw the awakened fairy soul looking at him through the flames and smiled through gritted teeth.
As he wasn’t a combat Hunter, he couldn’t defeat a fairy soul with such a massive tree as its vessel. But now, it was enough just to buy time.
If he could only keep the fairy’s attention until the man entered the gate…
Just as he was about to check how far the man had gone, the fairy soul burst out of the tree and charged toward Jin-ha.
Jin-ha ran in the opposite direction of the gate.
[You…?]
The fairy soul, which had flown at him looking ready to strike, hesitated strangely after getting a closer look at Jin-ha.
Though he didn’t know why, it was an opportunity. As Jin-ha tried to escape, the fairy soul suddenly lunged toward him.
The fairy soul wasn’t a physical object but something like an energy collective. Now it was trying to envelop Jin-ha within itself.
“Cough…!”
Upon contact with the fairy soul, Jin-ha staggered backward as his head spun. Blood splattered with his cough. A strange sensation he had never felt before swirled inside his chest. Jin-ha tried to retreat further from the fairy, but before he could take two steps, his legs gave out.
Jin-ha squeezed his eyes shut.
“Get your hands off what’s mine, you stupid fairy.”
At that moment, a sharp voice growled in his ear. In his hazy consciousness, Jin-ha felt someone firmly grip his waist.
With difficulty, he raised his head to see the man picking him up. Cradled in the man’s arms, Jin-ha asked breathlessly:
“Wh-what are you doing… here? Hurry and escape…”
“This is a most unwelcome sacrifice, Hunter Lee Jin-ha.”
The man muttered ominously as he wiped the blood streaming from Jin-ha’s mouth with his thumb.
“I went along with it thinking it might be interesting, but it’s not interesting at all.”
“What…?”
“It was quite fun until now, but you just ruined everything. A truly terrible job.”
“What do you…”
“So this is something I’ll have to repay over and over.”
“The fairy…”
Jin-ha tried to say something but couldn’t continue as he vomited blood. The man’s face contorted as he looked at Jin-ha’s pale complexion and unfocused eyes.
“I told you to let go, didn’t I?”
The fairy retreated hesitantly. It seemed to have much to say, but before it could speak, the man violently waved his hand. The fairy was then pulled back as if caught by something, thrust back into the tree, and fell asleep inside it again.
Unable to see this scene due to his wavering and fluctuating vision, Jin-ha grabbed the man’s arm with trembling hands as the blood rising in his stomach ceased.
“Escape… we must escape…”
“It’s alright now, Hunter Lee Jin-ha. I’ll explain everything.”
Clicking his tongue, the man lifted Jin-ha higher and whispered:
“My name is… Lee Jin-ha?”
However, the man didn’t have the opportunity to explain or clarify as he wished.
Because Jin-ha, who had been gasping in his arms and repeatedly urging him to flee, suddenly went limp. Blood poured from the mouth of the unconscious Jin-ha.
This seems so good. Thx for picking it up.