# 8
Jin-ha hesitated briefly, but soon strengthened his resolve.
“There must be a gate somewhere ahead. This is the best route.”
“Our child is somewhere beyond there too, right?”
“Yes. I’m sure of it.”
Jin-ha played along and began to carefully lead the man forward.
The densely grown large trees, coupled with spider webs filling even the narrow gaps between branches, allowed only dim light to reach the ground. Because of this, it felt like late evening despite it still being daytime. Strangely, despite the abundance of spider webs, not a single spider was visible.
This made Jin-ha even more tense.
“Hey.”
After walking for about 10 minutes, the man spoke up.
“When we find our child, let’s go on a picnic. How about taking some of these spider webs with us? I think they’d be good for making a swing if we twist them together.”
“We don’t have time for that now.”
“Not now, but when we’re almost out. Hmm?”
“No.”
“Why?”
His questioning voice was grumpy and sullen. Glancing at the man, Jin-ha belatedly realized his mistake.
The man was looking at Jin-ha with narrowed eyes, his expression precariously close to bursting into tears. It was a face that suggested he could become either an angel or a devil depending on how Jin-ha responded.
If Jin-ha offered an excuse the man didn’t like, he might lie down on the ground and refuse to move another step. Jin-ha chose his words as carefully as possible.
“Rather than a picnic, I’d prefer a quiet, cozy place where we can talk comfortably as a family.”
“…Still.”
“If you want, we can go on a picnic too. But the spider webs are really not an option.”
“Why?”
“Well, I dislike spider webs.”
“Hmm, then I guess we have no choice.”
Crisis averted. Jin-ha smiled while secretly wiping away nervous sweat. He hadn’t known he had talent for soothing children, but faced with this crisis, the right words just came naturally.
“So you’ve been looking around so much because you dislike spider webs.”
“That’s right.”
“Should I take the lead then?”
“Pardon?”
Seeing the man’s concerned expression, Jin-ha felt guilty. In truth, he didn’t particularly dislike spider webs. He’d just made it up to get out of the situation.
Even if the other person had a child-like mental state, was he being too liberal with his lies?
“No, it’s fine. For now, we should prioritize getting through this area.”
Just as Jin-ha was deciding they should hurry, feeling needlessly guilty, a shadow passed quickly overhead.
Jin-ha felt a chill and looked up.
In the dark view above, something moved swiftly among the tangled branches and spider webs.
It was a spider. A giant spider with a body about the size of a four-year-old child was standing on the web. With its legs spread out, it would look even more enormous.
In the moment Jin-ha gasped, one spider began to descend, letting out spider silk from its rear.
“…Run!”
The moment Jin-ha shouted through gritted teeth, the man’s hand he’d been tightly holding slipped away. Turning around in surprise, Jin-ha’s eyes widened.
Spider webs were tightly wrapped around the man’s body. Bound and unable to move, the man with wide eyes was being pulled upward.
“Don’t move!”
As Jin-ha extended his right hand, the ring on his fourth finger transformed into a dagger and settled in his palm. Jin-ha immediately jumped up, used the man’s shoulder as a foothold, and cut through the spider web leading upward in one swift motion.
“Ugh…!”
Jin-ha quickly chased after the tightly bound man as he rolled on the ground, cutting through the webs in one go before extending his hand. The man’s eyes sparkled as he said:
“I want to ride the swing one more time.”
What an exasperating response.
Jin-ha skillfully concealed his irritation, grabbed the man’s hand, and started running. By now, several spiders had descended from the trees and were chasing them, moving their eight legs.
“Swing…”
“I’ll let you ride one when we go on our honeymoon. For now, we’re playing tag.”
“Tag?”
“Yes. If the spiders catch us, we lose.”
Swoosh, a spider suddenly dropped from above and swung its front legs. Jin-ha pushed the man in the opposite direction while ducking to escape.
“I want to win. What about you?”
Jin-ha asked provocatively after barely escaping the threat of the spider’s blade-like front legs. The man’s expression, which had been sulky until just now, brightened considerably.
“I want to win too.”
“Then let’s win.”
It wasn’t as simple as treating him like a child. He needed to be handled like someone enchanted by fairies, enticed to play. There was a subtle but significant difference.
The man, falling for Jin-ha’s provocation, excitedly ran and quickly caught up with him.
“Alright. But if we win, we go register our marriage.”
“Agreed.”
Jin-ha was beginning to care less about the growing number of empty promises. Survival was the priority now. He smiled slightly and checked behind them.
Already about fifteen spiders were in pursuit. The one fortunate aspect was that the spiders weren’t particularly fast on the ground.
Leading the man, who was genuinely excited, treating the whole situation as a game of tag, Jin-ha spotted a plain beyond the bushes and was delighted. There were no spider webs on the plain. The reason spider webs were so dense under the tree shade but absent outside was obvious.
The spiders clearly disliked light.
“We’re almost…”
Just as the two were about to leave the forest, a spider that had been hiding in the undergrowth, waiting for its prey, suddenly jumped out.
Clang!
Jin-ha’s dagger collided with the spider’s front leg. Unfortunately, Jin-ha only had two hands, and the spider had more legs. Another leg immediately swung toward his face.
“This way!”
Jin-ha pulled the man sharply, pushing him toward the plain while grabbing an explosion scroll hidden in his bracelet and throwing it. The scroll flew like a dart and lodged in the spider’s forehead.
Boom!
With the explosion, one spider’s head was blown off. Fortunately, it seemed to be a type without explosion resistance.
“We won…! Now we…”
Sunlight shone down from above. The man shouted excitedly as he basked in the warm sunlight. Jin-ha continued to drive him forward without stopping.
“Not yet!”
“What? Then when do we win?”
“When we reach there!”
In the direction Jin-ha pointed, there was a gate that looked like a hole punched in the air. The distance was about 300 meters. Not far, but the problem was that the gate was on a small island in the middle of a lake.
The island was connected to the mainland, but the path was on the opposite side of the lake. Going around the lake would be quite a distance.
Jin-ha clicked his tongue.
“Come on, just a little more…”
Jin-ha, who was about to encourage the man, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He had noticed earlier that spiders avoided light. He had also guessed they wouldn’t chase them onto the plain. But there was something strange about the behavior of the spiders pursuing them. The spiders that had stopped in the shade were watching them with their eight eyes as if measuring something, then lowered their bodies.
Had they given up?
Just as he thought this, an even larger giant spider suddenly jumped out. Its body was about the size of a bull. The ground shook with each step it took.
“Let’s go!”
“Okay!”
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Behind the two running figures came footsteps that sounded like they were crushing rocks. Due to its size, the spider’s legs were long, and no matter how fast Jin-ha and the man ran, the distance between them gradually decreased.
Jin-ha pulled out another explosion scroll and threw it backward. However, unlike earlier when the scroll had embedded in the spider’s head and exploded, this time it bounced off the armor-like shell without penetrating and exploded uselessly in the air.
And this explosion scroll was the most powerful attack scroll he had…
After a moment of hesitation, Jin-ha turned toward the lake.
“Let’s go this way.”
“I can’t swim!”
“It’s alright.”
At this rate, they would be caught in no time.
Jin-ha pulled out a scroll from a different bracelet than before and threw it toward the lake. The dart-like scroll suddenly glowed bright blue, and ice formed beneath it. A straight ice bridge appeared.
The two splashed through the shallow water and climbed onto the thick ice. Jin-ha went first. The man, already breathless from running so much, couldn’t muster his strength and slipped.
“You can do it. Not much further!”
“Okay.”
Jin-ha pulled the man up onto the ice with all his might.
That’s when it happened. The giant spider from the plain leaped and landed right in front of the two of them.
“Ugh…!”
Boom, the water churned violently as the spider landed roughly. Water splashed, drenching the two of them. As they coughed and wiped the water from their faces, a shadow loomed over them. The spider’s pitchfork-like front legs were plunging down toward them. The man looked up, then turned to Jin-ha and reached out his hand.
“Get out of the way!”
Jin-ha grabbed the man’s outstretched hand and pushed him back forcefully. His body moved without time to think. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult since the man was already throwing himself in that direction. The wet ice surface was slippery, making it even easier.
The man, who had slid far away, stretched his hand toward Jin-ha with wide eyes. Jin-ha didn’t take his hand. He had lost his balance and fallen, and now he just stared at the spider’s front legs dropping from directly above, then turned his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
Crash!
The ice shattered into pieces.
“Lee Jin-ha! No!”
