Chapter 339

The very first thing that came to me the moment I saw her was that I simply couldn't believe it.

Her green hair, the shade that used to shimmer with a faint blue undertone — a hair color that had practically been her signature — had long since lost that shimmer and gone dry and brittle.

Her two golden eyes, always full of confidence and clarity, had gone dull, and on top of that they were so shot through with burst blood vessels you almost expected her to start weeping blood any second.

Could the person in front of me really be the same Lee Ye-eun I remembered, the one I'd known?

The change in her was staggering enough that, honestly, it would have been easier to believe I was seeing an illusion.

"Ji-hyeok…?"

She staggered toward me like she was about to topple over any moment.

I stepped up to her right away and held out a hand.

"…Clan head."

Watching her carefully take my hand in return, I murmured quietly:

"No — noona. What in the world happened to you…?"

Caught in an ache I couldn't put into words, I was asking her that when Lee Ye-eun just stared at me blankly, running her fingers over my hand and my cheek.

"It's really you."

While she was murmuring that in front of me, Sbeungali rambled off something I couldn't tell was a joke or serious.

[If she'd been anything close to this weakened back when we first met — half of half of this weak — the world would've been remade into my ideal ages ago.]

[And this body would have burned it all down. You and your ideal alike.]

[Ahem.]

At Minerva's cool retort, Sbeungali didn't bother hiding how uncomfortable he was.

[She's very weak. From the look of it, she hasn't been sleeping properly, and her meals must've been hit and miss. Well… one look at this room and you can guess more or less what's behind it….]

"Sbeungali."

Looking down at Lee Ye-eun, who was still muttering something, I called his name quietly.

"Put noona to sleep for me. So she gets real rest — and make sure her body doesn't come to any harm."

[Aye, aye. At your service, o master mine.]

Sbeungali answered with a sneer in his voice, but he scattered a strange powder over Lee Ye-eun all the same.

Once the powder settled on her, Lee Ye-eun blinked slowly a few times, and before long she was asleep in my arms, her breathing even and steady.

"Rauné, I really hate to ask, but — mmph!"

"……"

Rauné, having stuffed a root into my mouth, shook its head back and forth as if to tell me not to say another word.

Then, without hesitation, it plucked a couple of its own thin roots and slid them into Lee Ye-eun's slightly parted mouth.

Watching that, I drew a branch of the World Tree out from my own hand and carefully worked it into her limp, drained body.

The idea was to pass her some energy through the World Tree's branch, and along with her weakened body, the World Tree that had rooted itself in her began pulling my energy in for dear life.

"Whew."

After spending some time restoring her, I picked up a blanket and wrapped it around her body.

[This is straight out of a fairy tale I heard long ago, you know.]

Sbeungali said it, letting out a sound I couldn't tell was a laugh or a throat-clearing.

[Only, in place of the handsome, dashing prince, we've got a snake of a thief with a sleazy face. That's the one flaw.]

"…Sbeungali, sorry, but I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. I appreciate the thought — just tone it down for a bit."

[Erhm….]

Sbeungali let out a small, awkward sound and closed his mouth.

After thanking him for the consideration, I carefully lifted Lee Ye-eun into my arms.

It was time to get out of this place.

"…I really didn't think she could get that broken."

Su-yeong murmured, her voice small, sounding like she couldn't believe it.

The sight had clearly shaken her too.

"She was practically an iron woman."

When I'd carried Lee Ye-eun — nearly at the point of collapse, reduced to a wreck — out of there, Shin Woo-seok looked like he might actually faint on the spot, and hurriedly called someone.

A moment later, the woman named Seo-ryeong, whom I'd met before, came rushing over, took one look, went pale herself, and hurried off with Lee Ye-eun.

The abilities the World Tree clan's members had were unusual enough that ordinary doctors couldn't even examine them, let alone treat them, so there was a hospital and medical staff that existed just for them, and word was they'd be admitting her to the intensive care ward there to look after her.

Since things had reached at least a temporary stopping point, I told them to contact me the moment Lee Ye-eun came to, and then stepped out.

Of course, part of me had wanted to wait beside her until she came around… but seeing how much worse a state Lee Ye-eun was in than I'd imagined only made my worry about Jin Ye-seul and Choi Hyun-woo run that much deeper.

And on top of all that, there was the notification window that had popped up right before I'd met Lee Ye-eun.

For that reason alone, there was no time to waste.

System

Quest 'The Fifth Evil' has been completed.

One of the Seven Calamities has been killed.

The sins of the slain Seven Calamity will be borne by whichever of its killers holds the highest kill contribution…….

Kill contribution #1: Yu Ji-hyeok

As a penalty for killing a Seven Calamity, your karma value increases by 100.

Due to the hidden characteristic 'Stranger,' the penalty for killing a Seven Calamity is nullified.

A fragment of Venus's essence leaves a trace deep inside your body, on part of your soul.

"……"

What this notification told me was simple and unambiguous.

Venus was dead.

The news I'd definitely heard right then — that the pyramid had collapsed.

And the notification window that had followed on its heels.

In short, someone had broken Venus's seal, and the moment the seal came undone, Venus had met her death.

[…….]

[…….]

Maybe because I'd already told Minerva and Sbeungali about this a moment ago, neither of them was saying anything even now.

And no wonder — it had come out of nowhere.

What if it's Ahriman — that thought crossed my mind for a second, but I shook my head right away.

Based on what Su-yeong had told me about the contents of the book and everything that had happened up to now, Ahriman itself was under serious constraints when it came to restraining or sealing another Seven Calamity.

In that state, actually taking another Seven Calamity's life shouldn't even be possible….

On top of which, there was no reason at all for it to suddenly go and take Venus's life at this point.

But if — really — Ahriman was somehow involved in this…

"…Let's pick up the pace."

That was all I could tell Su-yeong and Yu-na.

Jin Ye-seul, who was surely in even worse shape than Lee Ye-eun.

Choi Hyun-woo, who'd suddenly become a wanted man.

And Juno, sealed away at the south pole, who might well end up going the way Venus had.

And the friends of Ji-na's, whom she'd said she'd arranged to gather in order to help me….

Should I go see Ye-seul first…?

Worries kept surfacing one after another, each linked to the last.

Not a single one of them was something I could take lightly, but they weren't the kind of things I could easily ask anyone else for help with either.

Above all, every single one of them was a problem that only I could solve.

…Meeting Ji-na's friends and asking for help — no. It probably won't go that smoothly. And I can see how anxious Su-yeong is because of Hyun-woo's situation on top of it….

There was plenty to work through, but time was pressing in far too hard.

How should I move — was going to see Ye-seul first the right call?

I was just starting to get a rough shape of things worked out in my head when —

"Ugh!"

Out of nowhere, a gust so violent I couldn't keep my eyes open came rushing in.

The three of us threw our arms up to shield our eyes and faces, and for some reason, I could feel a familiar presence coming from inside the whirl of wind.

"Whoa!"

The sudden gust died down in an instant, and at the same time a bright, cheerful voice rang out.

"It's true, son! It's Yu Ji-hyeok! He's alive!"

The source of the gust was none other than Ivan and Belluna.

Belluna, clinging tight to Ivan's side, looked back and forth between me and him.

Unlike before, she looked strikingly close to Ivan now — when she looked at me she wore a startled expression, and when she looked at Ivan her face brimmed with affection.

"……"

And Ivan, whose features had sharpened a little from what I remembered, was looking at me without a word.

"Ivan."

"Yu Ji-hyeok."

When he stepped closer, my eyes went naturally to the arm of his that had been severed in the fight with Milited.

Mercifully, his arm looked to be all right — both from outward appearance and from the feel of the energy coming off it.

"Honestly… part of me wants to beat the hell out of you right here and now."

He murmured it in a very quiet voice, and when I saw the glint in his eyes, I could tell he meant every word of that without an ounce of exaggeration.

"…But since you're back safe, even if it's only now, and Su-yeong's with you — I'll let it go."

He let out a long, deep breath, then spoke in that languid, precise voice of his.

"I'm really glad you're both okay."

As he quietly lowered his head at those words, I took a step toward him and said:

"You're the one I'm glad to see okay. How's the arm?"

I let a small smile show as I said it, and he looked slightly startled for a moment before mustering a smile of his own and muttering:

"You're worried about my arm in that situation…? You're a piece of work too."

"Right? Do you have any idea how worried my son was about you two?"

Right next to Ivan, whose eyes had gone a little glassy mid-sentence, Belluna nodded and spoke up.

"Yu Ji-hyeok. The moment your call came in, he got in touch with me and asked for help. Not that I'm complaining — thanks to that, I got to hear my darling son's voice again for the first time in ages, and I loved every second of it."

Even as she said it, she was drawing something out from her front pocket.

None other than the ring forged from my scale.

Holding it, she walked slowly toward me — or, to be precise, toward Rauné tucked inside my coat.

"Here — I'm returning what I borrowed, kinsman."

"……"

At her words, Rauné, still nestled inside my coat, quietly showed itself.

Belluna looked at Rauné and continued in a serious voice.

"No need for thanks, kinsman. You may say you're in my debt, but the truth is that I'm the one who received a kindness."

Belluna gave Rauné one small, unfailingly courteous nod.

"Because of a kinsman's request, I was able to appear on my son's battlefield and step in — and thanks to that, I was able to pull my child, the child of the one I loved, back from death's grip. It even gave me a chance to strike a blow at the being I could rightly call my sworn lifelong enemy."

Rauné listened to her with a solemn expression and gave a small nod.

The rest of us standing around were caught off guard by the sudden turn, but we just kept quiet and watched the two of them.

"I, Belluna Hunt — the wife of Brix Hunt, the mother of Ivan Hunt, and a spirit of the wind — offer you my heartfelt thanks, kinsman. Would you accept my thanks? And would you allow me the chance to repay the kindness?"

"……"

Rauné looked at Belluna without a word.

Belluna gave a small smile.

"My, so kind and so generous. But if I don't repay this kindness, my heart won't rest. You understand that, don't you, kinsman?"

"……"

"Yes — then I'll do as you wish."

With those words, Belluna handed the ring to Rauné, and Rauné took it and, with practiced ease, threaded it onto its necklace.

I'd been quietly watching, trying to figure out what on earth was going on, when Belluna slowly turned to me and spoke.

"My kinsman told me you were in a bind, and asked me to lend you a hand."

Belluna said it and shot me a small, knowing sidelong look.

"And right now, the wind circling around you is telling me the same thing. That you're in an awfully bad spot."

A spirit of the wind who, if she wanted to, could cross to the other side of the earth in a heartbeat spoke to me.

"So… am I right that you could use my help, Yu Ji-hyeok?"

Looking at her smiling face, the only thought that came to me was that if I could, I wanted to squeeze Rauné as tight as I possibly could.

"What in the world did I do in a past life to deserve this."

The woman muttering it, sounding drained of energy, quietly rested a hand on the sheath hanging at her waist.

The woman's hair, so white it looked almost silver, fluttered in the air, and in front of her stood a young man blocking her path.

"I'm not sure I ever told you this."

Nam Hyun-hwa, whose renewed body had settled into the form of her prime, spoke quietly, as if teaching him a lesson.

"A master's sins are not the disciple's, but a disciple's sins are the master's."

Without a sound, the sword slid from her sheath.

Watching her draw her sword and level it at him, Choi Hyun-woo followed the whole thing without so much as a flicker in his expression.

"Which means the price for the disciple's sins is also the master's to pay."

"……"

Even at Nam Hyun-hwa's sorrowful words, Choi Hyun-woo said nothing.

He only slowly drew his own sword in turn and leveled it at her.