Chapter 4
“Um, well…?”
I racked my brain, searching for a way to get out of this situation.
“…Just look at you! You seem totally strong!”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you broke the temple door with one hit! And the other men are all, like, huge and muscular too!”
“Hmm.”
Great. Crisis averted for now. Now…
“…Mmm. I’m sleepy.”
I pretended to be sleepy as naturally as I could.
“Gosh, I’m so sleepy after eating… Must be a food coma, I guess. Haaam.”
Yeah. That was natural enough.
I crawled sluggishly back to the bed and lay down. The Lord stared at me with a bewildered expression.
“Will you look at this?”
“……”
I kept my eyes tightly shut. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the Lord’s gaze.
“…Sniffle. Snoore.”
“Good grief.”
As I diligently pretended to sleep, the Lord sighed, tapped my head a couple of times, and then left.
Even after a long while.
Only when I was sure it was safe did I cautiously open my eyes.
“Phew.”
That was close. I almost got into big trouble!
[Be careful. You almost got seriously suspected.]
‘Duri!’
Just then, I heard a voice heaving a sigh of relief along with me. It was a voice I heard inside my head.
I called out to the owner of the voice, happy to hear it.
[Anyway, it’s a success for now.]
‘It’s all thanks to you!’
My escape from the temple wasn’t actually my plan alone. It was our plan.
[Well, ahem, this is nothing.]
The one who made me remember my past life when I knew nothing, told me this place was inside a novel, and worked with me to escape the hands of the adults.
My guardian spirit, Duri, who had always been with me in my past life.
The friend who appeared in my head after my mother left and always talked to me by my side.
If I closed my eyes and thought, Duri’s form would automatically appear in my mind.
The form of a very large, white tree.
‘Not that I actually know if Duri is really a guardian spirit or what its true identity is.’
I just decided to consider this mysterious tree that stayed with me as my guardian spirit.
Well, having something like that made me feel secure, even when I was alone. It was also cool!
And then I gave it the name ‘Duri’. It was a name I took from a tree goblin called ‘Duduri’ that I’d seen in a book once.
Anyway, if it weren’t for Duri, I wouldn’t have been able to change my fate.
[Snap out of it!]
The horrible training. The experiments. If Duri’s voice hadn’t reached me the moment I was exhausted and ready to give up everything…
“You’re the best, Duri. You’re the greatest. My completely reliable guardian spirit!”
[Ahem, well, no need to go that far…]
As I piled on the flattery, I heard a voice that sounded both awkward and boastfully pleased.
Duri pretended not to be, but actually loved praise immensely.
Even though Duri loved praise so much, I hadn’t been able to talk much lately because I was stuck with the Lord. So I had to make up for it now!
[Ahem, more importantly! We succeeded in escaping, but it’s not over yet. You know that, right?]
The voice, which sounded like both a young girl and a boy, took on a serious tone. I could only sense that Duri seemed to be around my age.
[Lord Baek-ri will absolutely not give up on you like this.]
Hearing that, I also wiped the smile off my face and spoke.
“Of course I know.”
[He will definitely try to get you back. So…]
The calm, rapid words suddenly stopped. What’s wrong?
“…Duri?”
I called out to Duri, who had fallen silent. In my mind, I could feel Duri extending branches, senses sharpening.
After a moment, Duri spoke quietly.
[Something… is coming.]
“What?”
At that moment, at Pacheon Mountain.
Doha and his army, Jeokmyeol, were heading deep into the mountain for a subjugation mission.
The mountain, named Pacheon (破天 – Heaven-Shattering) for its sky-shattering height, had strong Yin energy, attracting many evil spirits, and a significant number of evil spirits also originated here.
Because of this, periodic subjugations were always necessary.
Still, it had never been this much of a problem before.
“The energy of the evil spirits has grown stronger.”
“Even with the temple here, for it to be this bad…”
Doha clicked his tongue as he surveyed the mountain.
As he had sensed, Yin energy and demonic aura were pervasive everywhere.
“Make ready. Let’s finish this quickly and go down. Make sure not a single one escapes.”
“Yes, sir.”
The face of the child who had scoffed at his earlier bluster came to mind.
The child who had laughed, asking if any problems could possibly occur with him and his army here.
‘What a funny kid.’
Remembering the child’s supremely confident face, a wry laugh escaped his lips without him realizing it.
‘I don’t know why he’s so full of himself.’
He didn’t know what the kid was thinking, but he was amusing to watch. When he had probed subtly, the kid had even had the nerve to pretend to be asleep.
‘What is he doing alone right now?’ Doha wondered, drawing his sword.
‘We need to finish up and get back quickly…’
At that moment, with a Whoosh— sound, a red light shot up into the sky from between the tall, towering trees.
A signal flare indicating danger.
The direction was… Down the mountain, towards the village where the catastrophe had happened.
Where the child was.
Doha’s face froze solid the moment he saw it.
The danger signal had been fired from the location of the encampment. The mountain subjugation was immediately halted.
They descended the mountain in an instant and rushed back into the village where the encampment was.
‘Why was the signal flare fired?’
But when Doha saw the state of the village, he frowned.
Contrary to his expectations, the village was quiet. There was no sign of any evil spirit invasion.
‘Is the child safe?’
That was the only thought that had crossed his mind since he saw the signal flare. Doha strode quickly towards his tent.
Then, he saw two soldiers guarding the entrance to his tent.
“Haa…”
Seeing them, he let out a sigh of relief.
But the relief was short-lived. The closer he got, the more he sensed something strange.
It was too quiet.
The soldiers showed no reaction even as he approached.
The soldiers just stared into space with unfocused eyes, even with him right in front of them.
Doha grabbed one soldier firmly and shook him.
“Hey!”
“……”
“Snap out of it!”
But the soldier just swayed with the shaking, still unresponsive.
“…Damn it.”
Cursing through gritted teeth, Doha roughly pulled aside the tent flap at the entrance.
The first thing that caught his eye were the items scattered on the floor. Now he could see that the opposite side of the tent was torn apart by something sharp.
And there was no one inside the tent. Doha’s eyes wavered.
The child was gone.
“An evil spirit got them. Find the creature. And find the missing child too.”
The command was given.
Unlike his usual nonchalant self, Doha’s tone was stiff.
“Yes, sir!”
The soldiers’ replies were naturally filled with extra force.
Their always easy-going superior now looked extremely impatient. His bloodless face proved it.
The soldiers who had followed also grasped the situation and their faces hardened.
After giving concise orders, Doha hurriedly mounted his horse.
‘The kid…’
The kid… where did he go?
‘Should I not have left him here?’
Even with the soldiers here, should he not have left the kid alone in the tent?
He couldn’t bring the child to the middle of a battlefield, so he had told him to stay in the safe encampment.
‘Who would have thought the encampment would be invaded?’
Doha felt like spitting at the thought of his past decision.
His hands on the reins tightened. His hand came down on the reins irritably, spurring the galloping horse on even faster.
“Please take me with you!”
“Please protect me.”
The words the child had said to him echoed in his ears.
The brazen, honest, and also desperate voice.
“You, my Lord, are my hero.”
Doha’s teeth grated.
‘No. I’m…’
I can’t be that kind of person. The truth is, I…
Anxiety began to creep insidiously into his mind.
What if he couldn’t find the child like this?
What if the child had fallen to an evil spirit and disappeared, their fate unknown.
What if, like back then, they vanished forever without a trace…
Once that thought took hold, a stinging sense of self-blame pierced his chest.
Even though he tried to pull himself together, telling himself this wasn’t the time, the thought, once raised, filled his mind uncontrollably.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him out at all.’
If only the child had stayed in Cheonsugwan, this wouldn’t have happened.
If only, back then, he had…
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!
At that moment, the ground seemed to shake and a tremendous roar sounded.
Almost simultaneously, the ground split open in the distance. Doha reflexively drew his sword and glared in that direction. At the same time, the sinister energy of an evil spirit prickled his skin.
A giant snake’s head had suddenly thrust out from the ground, revealing itself.
“……!”
Doha’s eyes widened.
It wasn’t just because of the suddenly appeared evil spirit.
In his sight, he saw a small figure. Right in front of the evil spirit.
The moment he recognized the child’s presence, the small body turned its head and looked at Doha.
The bright brown eyes widened in an instant upon seeing him.
“My Lord!”
At that cry, the evil spirit’s yellow eyeballs rolled and looked down at the child.
The giant maw of the snake, having found its prey, yawned open, viciously wide.
It was as if a small cave had opened up before them. It looked like it could swallow the child’s tiny body in one bite.
“Eh…?”
The child’s head turned back again.
The moment the child’s eyes discovered the black darkness lurking within the gaping maw, a lightning-fast sword energy shot forth, fiercely sharp.
KWA-GWA-GWA-GWANG—!
For a moment, it was as if lightning had struck right before my eyes, followed by a sound loud enough to split eardrums.
“Waaahhh!”
I screamed and curled my body into a tight ball.
What was that, what is it!
Then, I heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
When I cautiously opened my tightly shut eyes, an unimaginable scene came into view.
‘Wow.’
What in the world.
Before my eyes was the giant snake evil spirit. More precisely, its corpse.
The evil spirit that seemed about to swallow me whole in one bite was split cleanly in two, its mouth still gaping.
Originally, only its head had emerged, but now its severed body was visible too.
That’s because the sword energy that had been fired had carved a clear trajectory, splitting the earth open.
‘Is, is this for real?’
The giant evil spirit that was targeting me had its life severed by a single burst of sword energy.
And in the distance, the Lord was galloping towards us on his horse.
