Chapter 91. After a Storm Comes a Calm (1/2)
Seol Jihu and Teresa Hussey stayed at the lake for dozens of minutes, but they knew they couldn’t stay there until the end of time. Now that they had quenched their thirst and filled their canteen with water, they reluctantly left the lake.
Pain still pierced their bodies with each step they took, but things were much better now that they relieved their thirst. Their steps were much lighter as they exited the Forest of Denial and climbed up the Napal Hill. Of course, they didn’t push themselves and took periodic rests, walking both day and night.
On the third night since their departure from the Forest of Denial.
“What are you going to do first when you get back?”
Teresa asked in the middle of their night march.
‘When I go back to Haramark?’
There were many things he wanted to do – meeting his comrades, eating delicious food and drinking beverages until he couldn’t stomach them anymore, treating his wounds, going to the temple, training once he recovered, and….
‘Eh?’
Suddenly, he felt like he was forgetting something important….
[In the future, when you need to go somewhere, anywhere, you give me a call first. Do you hear me?]
‘Ah!’
He barely stopped himself from shouting out loud. In truth, Seol Jihu had hesitated in calling Kim Hannah before he departed for the rescue mission. Ultimately, he decided against it, knowing she would never approve of him going.
He wanted to complete the mission secretly and pretend he didn’t know a thing about it, but… well, now that things had come to this, there was little to no chance that she wouldn’t have found out.
‘My back….’
Remembering the power of Kim Hannah’s slap, Seol Jihu sighed inwardly. Teresa continued talking, not knowing what the youth was thinking.
“Do you want to follow me to the royal palace?”
“Royal palace…?”
“Yes!”
Seol Jihu hesitated. He figured he might live if he requested protection from the Haramark Royal Family. However, he soon shook his head.
Setting aside whether that was possible, he couldn’t stay cooped up in the royal palace forever. Like the saying, ‘the sooner the better’, he didn’t want to risk five slaps turning into twenty just because he was afraid.
“Thank you, but… I think I’ll report back to Carpe Diem first. I have to let them know I’m alive.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll just invite them to the palace too.”
“That’s fine, but actually, I want to surprise them.”
Teresa was rather shocked.
“You have a quite a strange personality. Okay, then, I’ll summon you later.”
It seemed she was adamant on wanting to invite him to the palace. Seol Jihu had no reason to refuse, so he nodded his head.
The grassy path they were walking on soon connected to a wide artificial road. They could then see a grey wall standing tall under the night sky. Although they were still quite a distance away from it, it was undoubtedly a castle wall.
The duo stopped simultaneously. For the next few minutes, they stood still and simply stared at each other.
A castle wall. Without a doubt, it was Haramark.
*
They finally returned to Haramark. Once they entered the city safely, Seol Jihu couldn’t hide his surging emotions. The roads pooling with filthy water, the old and dilapidated buildings shrouded by darkness, everything moved him.
Perhaps because it was late, there were only a few people out about in the streets. Teresa and Seol Jihu crossed the streets side-by-side, only separating once they arrived at the plaza.
They stared at each other fixedly. Were words even necessary? Teresa suddenly held out her hand.
“Congratulations.”
It wasn’t ‘Well done’ or ‘You did well’, but ‘Congratulations’. Seol Jihu took her hand firmly. The Princess’s palm carried warmth that wasn’t present before.
“Congratulations to you, too.”
“Rest well. I’ll summon you soon to the palace, so don’t refuse.”
“Why would I?”
“Hehe, you can look forward to it.”
Teresa winked. It seemed she was referring to the reward.
‘I wonder how much she’s planning to give….’
Seol Jihu chuckled indifferently. He was just about to jokingly ask, ‘Shall I be expecting you in bed?’, but quickly swallowed it back. He had to go back and rest as soon as possible, so he didn’t want to get himself in trouble by making stupid, teasing remarks.
After saying their farewells, the duo turned around. Teresa headed towards the palace, while Seol Jihu headed to Carpe Diem’s office.
‘Why does my body feel so heavy?’
Was it because his body was no longer tense? The built-up fatigue inside him seemed to have exploded when he entered the city as his body lost strength. He used his spear as a walking cane to forcefully drag his feet forward.
When a familiar building entered his sight, he began to sob. One step after the other, he trudged up the stairs before pushing the door on the brink of fainting.
Tung!
“…Huh?”
The door was locked. He tried to turn the doorknob again, but the door didn’t budge in the slightest.
‘Is no one here?’
Kwang, Kwang. He knocked on the door, but there was no response.
‘Could it be?’
A sudden thought popped up in his head. Could Chohong have left for the laboratory to save him?
‘…She couldn’t have, right?’
In any case, he had no choice but to turn back.
‘Damn it….’
If I knew no one was home, I would have followed the Princess to the palace.
A belated regret set in. Seol Jihu grumbled inwardly, and after walking down the stairs, he let out a sigh and looked up at the sky. His eyes caught sight of the building on the other side of Carpe Diem’s office.
‘I guess it finished….’
He became curious who moved in, but that only lasted for a moment. He smacked his lips and turned around. Now that things had come to this, he only had one other place to go. Soon, Seol Jihu arrived at Luxuria’s temple after an arduous walk and dragged his feet inside with great difficulty.
“Um….”
The woman dozing off at the reception desk opened her eyes. When her sleepy eyes caught sight of the youth leaning against a blue spear, her eyes widened in surprise.
He barely managed to eke out his next words.
“I’m looking for a treatment….”
*
Seol Jihu was almost chased out because he threw off his gown completely when the female Priest asked him to show her his wounds, causing her to scream. Thankfully, she stopped screaming in five seconds, and after noticing the gravity of the wounds on his body, she hurriedly called for better Priests.
After being escorted to the emergency treatment room, Seol Jihu maintained his sanity as he was hit with a barrage of questions. He got to lay down on a comfortable bed for the first time in a long while, but his brain refused to let him fall asleep so easily.
The several-day-long pursuit had made his body used to sleeping outside. Of course, the unnecessarily loud treatment room also had something to do with it.
“Spray more healing water!”
“Back, side…. His wounds are at least seven days old. We’ll try Massive.”
“Wait! His left shoulder and thigh are…! W-What the hell!? What happened to him!?”
“This…. It looks like he received emergency treatment.”
Seol Jihu let out a hollow chuckle. The way everyone was running about shouting made him feel like he was at a real ER room.
‘Are my wounds that bad?’
At that moment, the talking in the room suddenly ceased. Seol Jihu was looking at the ceiling with narrowed eyes, but when the room suddenly fell silent, he tilted his head to the side.
‘Is the treatment over?’
Now that he thought about it, he had been feeling like someone was staring at him since a while ago.
“I can’t believe this, really….”
‘W-What…? Who is that…?’
He could barely catch a glimpse of a figure.
‘Why…?’
I might be half-dead, but I came back alive, didn’t I?
While he was feeling somewhat sad, he spotted a strapless Priest robe that looked just like a white dress along with long, ebony-colored hair.
‘Chung Chohong?’
No, Chung Chohong didn’t dress like that. For some reason, Seol Jihu felt as if he’d seen that robe before.
“…Meanie…. I was so worried….”
Her voice grew faint. Seol Jihu strained his ears to listen to her mumbles. It was then that a hand gently touched his forehead. He might have been mistaken, but the hand seemed to be trembling intensely. Soon….