Chapter 4: The Girl (3)

Life in the basement was indescribably horrific.

Though she’d entered expecting pain as atonement,

The twice-daily meals were bitter, sour, and fishy.

Free time was only to recover from the exhaustion of prayer.

If she hadn’t met Mia earlier, she might have misused this God-given power.

Mia… her friend, benefactor, and hope.

So she had to keep her promise to Mia no matter what.

She had to survive.

For Mia, trapped in this body, she’d go on forever.

Munch munch-

The girl sleeping while chewing her blue hair flinched.

As morning broke and sleepiness faded, the terrible dreams she’d suppressed in her subconscious surfaced.

-“Wake up! It’s prayer time!”

-“Oh, holy one, this way! Please bless the believers!”

Memories of being dragged around by believers, spilling blood and flesh, with no limbs.

“I-I’m up!”

The girl who’d just woken up hurriedly sprang up.

Her eyes weren’t even fully open from sleep, and then-

“Oof…?!”

Wrapped in the blanket like a cocoon, she lost her balance and flopped over.

She was so groggy that she felt no pain.

Instead, she nodded off while lying there, her head bobbing.

So sleepy.

I want to sleep a little more.

I can’t make any more wishes.

This is Mia’s body after all…

“Mmm…”

As the girl was drifting back to sleep on the edge of dreams and reality,

“Huff… hah…”

“C-cute…”

Unfamiliar voices came from nearby.

Chirp chirp! Chirp!

And Daddy Sparrow jumping on her head as if telling her to get up.

Finally, the girl slowly opened her eyes, pushed by the pressure.

“Haa…aaa…?”

Her reflexive yawn cut off abruptly.

She’d spotted something huge standing opposite her.

A rectangular cloth mixing passionate red and black.

It was so big it looked like a house made of fabric.

Huh… what?

That wasn’t there yesterday…

As she looked around creakily, she saw two women sitting right next to her, staring intently.

For some reason, they were grinning with their mouths stretched wide, waving one hand.

“…Eep!”

This is bad!

I must have invaded someone’s house while sleeping!

Did the sparrows move me?!

Or maybe I rolled down a slope!

The girl hurriedly tried to stand up.

“Ah! If you get up so suddenly…!”

And again, wrapped in the blanket, she toppled over sideways.

Thankfully, her head was small and her body so light that it didn’t hit the ground.

“W-we’re not weird people!”

“Here, we have sausages. Want some?”

The girl’s face turned pale.

She was trembling so much that even the blanket wrapped around her shook.

She clearly looked alarmed and wary of the two women.

“Here! Johnsonville sausages! D-do you like mustard? Or ketchup?”

“Sis! Kids these days don’t like that stuff! It’s all about the fire chicken sauce!”

The sisters urgently skewered a sausage on a fork and waved it around, but-

“I-I was told not to take food from strangers…”

The distance between them and the girl only grew.

She looked so cute, hiding behind the blanket like a matador, that they wanted to hug her.

But the sisters, busy fighting monsters, had never dealt with children before.

When food failed to win her over, they quickly tried a second approach.

“Tsk. You should listen to adults. If you’re uncomfortable, where are your guardians? We can take you to them…?”

At the word “guardian”, the girl immediately abandoned her blanket and started to run away.

Her ragged breathing was loud as she ran with all her might.

“…Sis, shouldn’t we catch her?”

“Let’s do that. Seeing how she’s running, she might be a runaway.”

At first, the sisters also got up to chase the girl.

With their physical abilities as S-class and A-class Awakened, they thought they could catch a child in the blink of an eye.

However, just as the sisters picked up speed to catch up-

“Don’t follow me!”

As if her fear had been an act, a shout full of killing intent came back.

It was such intense bloodlust that even the sisters, who easily caught most monsters, flinched.

Moreover, the girl’s speed began to increase.

“We-we’re going to lose her!”

“I’ll go!”

The younger sister, an S-class Awakened, focused and accelerated in earnest.

Whoosh-!

Her speed was so incredible that the dense trees looked as thin as toothpicks.

She thought she’d catch up quickly at full power, but the distance to the girl didn’t close easily.

The girl’s movements – kicking off trees, rolling on the ground, stepping on branches – made the sister wonder if she was even human.

In the end.

“Hah… If I keep chasing, I’ll just end up hurting myself.”

Running in such an obstacle-filled place was troublesome even for her.

How much worse would it be for a child?

At that speed, if she bumped into something, she’d break at least one bone.

In the worst case, she could die without anyone being able to help.

Finally, the younger sister had to trudge back to the tent, head lowered like a defeated soldier.

“What? Why are you back alone?”

“…Looks like the kid was a proper Awakened. I couldn’t chase her for fear of getting hurt.”

It was a speed that others might not have even noticed.

Only then did the sisters, who’d been entranced by the child’s appearance, clear their throats and gulp down drinks, regaining their senses.

They belatedly realized they’d been acting excessively.

“Let’s leave her be. If she’s an Awakened, she might just be playing in the mountains alone. We don’t want to be mistaken for kidnappers, do we?”

The younger sister agreed with her older sister’s words.

“R-right! No wonder her skin was so clear and her hair so nice!”

“Yeah. The blanket looked new too, and seeing how naturally she moved around the mountain, she must be from a good family. It makes sense if she’s used to the mountains and came up alone.”

Even in these turbulent times, rich people’s vacation homes were everywhere.

The sisters were the same, weren’t they?

They’d settled for Bukhansan because they didn’t have time for a far-off vacation.

“That’s right! As usual, sis, you’re correct. If she’s well-off, Johnsonville sausages wouldn’t even catch her eye.”

“…You only call me ‘sis’ at times like this?”

The sisters, who’d been focused on the girl, turned their heads in unison to look at each other.

Their eyes were the same color, but their expressions were completely different.

“Boob monster.”

“Flat chest.”

“Eek!!”

And so the sisters began their usual meaningless bickering.

They never imagined that the girl might have run away with no parents or home.

* * *

Summer passed, and autumn approached.

The scenery of Bukhansan, once damp with humidity, turned yellow.

The babbling stream became so cool that dipping one’s feet in it was uncomfortable.

And on a huge rock overlooking that stream.

“You crazy bitch! You’re going to die like this! Please go down to the city!”

“…No. If I get caught, you’ll be in danger, Mia.”

A filthy stick was lying there limply.

The girl’s appearance had changed noticeably after two months of living as a beggar in Bukhansan.

“No! Don’t worry about me! This is your body now!”

“But you wouldn’t even let me shower…”

Mia’s voice boomed, echoing around them, but the girl paid no attention.

She was too weak for that.

Moreover, Mia’s voice was so lovely that even her anger sounded good.

“Wh-what about the embarrassment?!”

“Yeah, I understand… So there’s no problem. Let’s live here together…”

She felt dizzy.

She’d eaten some bread left by hikers in the morning, but it wasn’t enough.

She’d have to drink plenty of stream water.

“Nooo! You’re not listening! Really!”

The girl ignored Mia’s nagging complaints.

She’d learned from experience that Mia also lacked survival skills.

When Mia had angrily asked why she kept collapsing after eating things, she’d shown her the poisonous mushrooms.

-“It’s because you’re eating spoiled food!”

Mia had said, so the girl ate the same poisonous mushrooms and fainted three times before realizing.

Ah.

These white mushrooms make you sick when you eat them.

Everything was unfamiliar to the girl who’d been confined underground.

The chilling sound that sometimes rang out while wandering the mountain.

Why the mountain collapsed during rain.

Why adults threw things at her whenever they saw her, and so on.

Unlike when she was helplessly mutilated, she couldn’t do anything even with an intact body.

In the end, the only difference from being underground was one thing.

Sometimes, appearing at will, she was with Mia.

Ultimately, this world was just hell for a sinner like her who couldn’t atone.

Splash!

[Hey! Snap out of it!!]

The girl lost strength and sank into the water while bending down to drink from the stream.

The water was so cold it gave her goosebumps.

But her fever was high enough to make even that water feel warm.

“Hah… kuk…!”

Her consciousness was fading.

The girl flailed desperately, but it was impossible to fight the current with her emaciated body.

Thud!

She must have hit something while being swept downstream.

Blood oozed from her head, and she no longer had the strength to struggle.

And then…

“Monk, the pollution levels are alarming. We should consider relocating the temple…”

Thump, thump.

Among a group of people walking along the stream,

An old man urgently approached the water and stretched out his long staff.

“Child! Grab this!”

Though the voice came through her hazy consciousness,

The girl… no, Mia didn’t miss this chance.

She focused her recovery on her lungs and arms, and grabbed the staff with all her remaining strength.

“Monk Jamyeong! The child!”

“Hold on tight!”

The others who’d come with the old man hurriedly followed his sudden action, but the monk focused all his attention on saving the girl clinging to his staff.

“Don’t just watch, go and bring the child!”

And so the girl was pulled to shore by the monks’ arms.

Plop plop, she was so wet that the gravel floor quickly became soaked.

It wasn’t just water.

Her head seemed badly injured, as the water mixed with blood turned pink.

“Monk! The child, her body is very hot!”

Her labored breathing made it seem like a candle about to be extinguished.

“Someone go get winter clothes! And prepare some hot soup!”

“Yes!”

It was fortunate that the old man was with them.

Monk Jamyeong, one of the nationally famous religious Awakened.

His ability was healing using natural energy.

Monk Jamyeong hurriedly placed his wrinkled hand on the girl’s forehead.

Remembering what happened a few months ago,

The old man’s eyes widened as he realized the child’s face was familiar.

She looked dirtier than before, as if she hadn’t washed properly.

But even in that state, her river-like blue hair and delicate features couldn’t be hidden.

“Ah… So this was the fate that connected us… My carelessness has caused you suffering…”

The child he thought was just from a nearby village had appeared in this state.

There was only one possibility.

She must have lived alone in these mountains, without ever going down or receiving anyone’s protection.

“Child, come with me. Let’s go eat some delicious food and regain your strength.”

His chest ached with guilt.

But Monk Jamyeong knew the child hadn’t lost consciousness yet, so

He smiled warmly while infusing energy into her body.

Despite her filthy appearance, he gently stroked her head as if she were his own child.

‘…I’ll let it slide just this once, old man.’

This time, even Mia closed her eyes without protest.

After the child who’d been breathing with difficulty closed her eyes completely,

“…We must return for today.”

Only then did Monk Jamyeong shed a tear as he picked up the child.

“Monk! We’ll carry her!”

“This is my karma, so you go prepare a place for the child to rest.”

And so the girl was taken to the temple with the monk.

It had been about two months since she escaped from the basement.

—