# 7
Looking more closely, the man’s cheeks appeared hollow despite his clear expression that suggested he had no concept of hunger. The poor thing seemed to have a sickly complexion, and dark circles seemed visible under his eyes.
“You need to eat something.”
Jin-ha unconsciously began scanning the surroundings to use his Information Eye but stopped abruptly. Currently, he was unable to use magical power.
This was a forest. Fruits hung from trees here and there, and there was plenty of vegetation. Normally, he was confident in his ability to survive for some time if dropped into such a place with nothing. Though lacking in combat ability, he had his Information Eye and artifacts.
But without being able to use his Information Eye, he felt utterly powerless.
“Aren’t I fine? I’m not saying that because I’m hungry.”
That’s exactly what someone with fairy sickness would say.
Jin-ha stared at the man with wavering eyes before suddenly remembering something and searched his jacket pocket. There was one chocolate bar. It was a chocolate bar that a friend had stuffed into his pocket a few days ago.
Jin-ha quickly handed it to the man.
“Eat this.”
“I’m really not hungry.”
The man mumbled, seeming troubled.
“I said eat it. If you collapse…”
“Actually, I just don’t want to eat it.”
“You need to eat.”
He wished he knew the man’s name so he could call him out loudly by his full name. When a colleague at the Anomaly Management Agency had vented frustration about a child who refused to eat breakfast, Jin-ha had found it hard to understand, but now, with such a person right in front of him, it hit home.
Jin-ha roughly tore open the chocolate bar wrapper and thrust it at the man.
“You…! How can someone who hasn’t eaten for four days not be hungry? Stop arguing and eat.”
“I don’t want to…”
When Jin-ha pushed the chocolate bar into the protesting mouth, the man grimaced and was about to spit it out but hesitated. The way his eyes rolled around suggested that now that he’d tasted it, it was indeed palatable.
“How is it?”
“Crunchy, soft, sweet…”
Jin-ha chuckled at the strangely detailed appreciation.
“Seems you like it.”
“I definitely had no appetite before.”
“Well, now you do. Finish it all.”
“This is really strange…”
“I’ll give you candy as a reward when you finish, so hurry up.”
As Jin-ha dangled a grape-flavored candy that had been in the corner of his pocket, the man narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction but chewed the chocolate bar. Fortunately, it seemed they would avoid the scenario of a child refusing food, running around the playground, and suddenly collapsing.
Jin-ha also put the candy into the mouth of the man who had devoured the chocolate bar in an instant. Despite his large body, his docile behavior when tempted with grape candy made him truly childlike.
“It’s good to see you eating well. If I get the chance, I’ll feed you something even more delicious next time.”
“We’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future.”
Though he spoke firmly, would that really be the case? Jin-ha recalled a colleague’s child who had confidently announced his future ambitions during a family day event at the Anomaly Management Agency. The child who had wanted to become the director of the Anomaly Management Agency apparently changed his dream to becoming a pork cutlet restaurant owner the very next week.
Children grew constantly and changed their minds just as often, being quite fickle. This man’s mind was also that of a child, so he probably wasn’t much different.
Jin-ha casually dismissed the man’s words while checking his radar.
“By the way, Hunter Lee Jin-ha, aren’t you curious about me?”
“Well…”
The moon had not yet appeared.
“I think you must be.”
“Hmm.”
“Think about it, Hunter Lee Jin-ha. Hmm?”
“Umm…”
“Come on, Jin-ha.”
The way he kept calling and urging was like a debt collector. The behavior of repeatedly calling his name without giving time to think made it seem like he was begging to be asked his name, but that couldn’t be the case.
After all, one’s name was the first thing forgotten by those afflicted with fairy sickness. Why would he want to be asked about something he himself didn’t know?
Unable to gauge what the man was pleading for, Jin-ha changed the subject with his answer.
“I’m curious about when you plan to get up.”
“…Now.”
The man frowned deeply, retorted grumpily, and stood up abruptly. Jin-ha waited until the clearly sulking man stood up and dusted off his clothes, then extended his hand soothingly.
After a momentary flash of conflict in his eyes, the man’s expression softened, and he glanced elsewhere as he took Jin-ha’s hand. And he gripped it very tightly.
Jin-ha carefully contained the laughter that threatened to escape and began to walk.
“Well then, let’s go again.”
“To find our child.”
“Yes, to find our child.”
He felt like he was getting increasingly skilled at playing along. Jin-ha glanced at the satisfied face of the man.
Treating fairy sickness took a long time. Patients needed to take medication while undergoing mental rehabilitation, and inpatient treatment was common because they tended to cause various accidents if released during treatment. The problem was that fairy sickness itself wasn’t common.
Being a rare disease, the treatment costs were high. It would be fortunate if they could find his family, but if not…
Then, Jin-ha thought, he would have to become a sponsor. Though he had rescued countless people before, he had never felt this concerned about a rescue subject. But this time, he had a feeling he couldn’t ignore it.
“Why?”
“Nothing.”
Jin-ha paused at a faint sound, raising his left hand to look at his watch.
A crescent moon had appeared.
There was a gate within a 1km radius of this location.
* * *
The strangely shaped slime was just the beginning. The deeper they went into the forest, the more monsters appeared. From four-legged beasts to bizarre green spore clusters, to energy aggregates that didn’t even look like living creatures—so many monsters.
Jin-ha led the man while running and running to avoid all those monsters. There was simply no gap to advance forward.
“…This way won’t work either.”
Jin-ha spoke heavily as he watched a giant beetle clinging to a distant tree, licking sap.
“Then where do we go now?”
Jin-ha bit his lip.
Monsters were everywhere. Different monster groups densely divided the forest among themselves to the point where he couldn’t help but wonder how such an ecosystem could be maintained.
It was abnormal. The fairy realm he knew wasn’t like this. Common sense dictated that only monsters with fairy blood or those contracted with fairies remained in fairy lands.
So was this not the fairy realm? But seeing fairy trees here and there suggested it wasn’t entirely unrelated to fairies either.
Perhaps, Jin-ha speculated, this was some kind of connecting point between the fairy realm and the human realm.
“…Let’s try heading to that basin.”
“Didn’t you say earlier we should avoid that direction?”
“Yes. But it seems we have no other choice.”
A crooked smile appeared on the lips of the man looking down at Jin-ha’s grim expression. However, that suspicious smile perfectly concealed itself behind a foolish grin when Jin-ha looked up again.
“It might be a bit dangerous.”
“We’re going together, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then it’s fine. Let’s go.”
Jin-ha felt a touch of emotion, uncharacteristic of him. The man who initially clung to his chest and didn’t even want to get up was now acting so dependable.
* * *
The two, having resumed their journey, narrowly avoided encountering several monsters and reached the basin.
The forest was a vast plain, but on one side there was a strangely formed basin. It looked as if a scoop of ice cream had been lifted out. There were gentle hill paths to the north and south, making it possible to come and go, but otherwise, cliff walls stood like barriers, making climbing seem daunting.
Once entering the basin, there would be no escape until reaching the other side.
‘There’s even a lake…’
When they had passed by earlier, trees had obscured his view, but there was even a lake in the middle of the basin.
Places with water were the most dangerous in the wild. Numerous animals gather to drink water. Herbivores come to drink, carnivores come to hunt those herbivores, and monsters gather to attack those carnivores. That’s what a lake was.
Could they safely pass through here?
Outside the basin was a dense forest, inside was a small plain, and in the center were a lake and a massive tree.
It felt like they were falling into a trap set by someone, that the strange place they had chosen after being driven by various monsters was so peculiar. It was ominous.
Just as Jin-ha thought they should not enter the basin but go around it instead—
Click. Jin-ha acutely detected the sound from his wristwatch and quickly checked his left wrist. His watch, which displayed the moon’s phase to indicate abnormal magical power detection, had changed from a crescent to a half moon. The gate was now within 500 meters. Probably inside that basin.
‘I know. It’s dangerous. But…’
Jin-ha, gritting his teeth, checked the artifacts he had.
He was wearing what might seem like an excessive amount of accessories for a suit—rings, several bracelets, and even a necklace—all of which were artifacts.
“Just follow me and don’t worry. Understand?”
“Yes, as long as I can be with Hunter Lee Jin-ha, I’m fine.”
Well, he’s in a state where he doesn’t even know what worry is.
Jin-ha smiled slightly and headed down to the basin. From above, it had seemed full of vivid green trees, but the situation was different once they descended.
“There are so many spider webs.”
The man exclaimed in a cheerful voice, in contrast to Jin-ha’s darkening expression.
“Too many…”
Trees, grass, everything was covered in spider webs. Even the soil on the ground felt sticky.
