Chapter 18 Part 7: Request – Rescue

Chwaak.

I splashed water on the face of the woman who was still unconscious and groaning.

Then, as if not expecting my actions, Yoo Jin panicked and shouted.

“Wh, what are you doing?!”

“What else? I’m waking this person up. She can’t even see properly, so it’ll be a problem if she suddenly acts violently while I’m taking her.”

“That’s true, but…! Wa, wasn’t there a better way?!”

“She’s a plant. Wouldn’t she like it if I splash water on her?”

‘Still, she’s a person, wouldn’t she dislike it if she got water on her face…?’

Her words blurred.

She initially rebelled according to inertia, but it seems that she had a question of whether a vegetable might really like it.

There’s no time to argue about things like this, so I left Yoo Jin, who was starting to have such doubts, alone and sprinkled water until Alaune came to her senses.

How many minutes had passed since she started standing there like a gourd with strings on it, no longer actively restraining me like before?

Before long, Alaune, who had come to her senses, was looking at me with confused eyes.

“Wh, where is this…?”

“Ah, you’re awake. Are you in your right mind? How many are these?”

“Tw, two…. No, more than that, who are you guys….”

“We don’t have time, so I’ll tell you briefly. You’ve been kidnapped, and you’re about to be rescued. Do you have any questions? You don’t? Good. We’re leaving. Climb up the ladder.”

After quickly telling the purpose to Alaune, who still had a confused expression, I climbed the ladder and went up to the second floor without delay.

Yoo Jin, who had grasped the situation to some extent, hurriedly followed me as I climbed the ladder, but Alaune was just staring at us who were going up, leaving her alone blankly.

“Um, is this really okay?”

“What is it?”

“She’ll be confused. She still doesn’t seem to know what’s going on. We have to explain it in detail….”

“I’m acting to make her confused?”

“…Yes?”

There were two reasons why I didn’t explain it in detail to Alaune.

First of all, there was a lack of time.

It would take too long to properly explain the current situation to a person who has been feeling terrible pain and trapped in a place like this.

It’s time for the guys who fainted to wake up, or for the guys to move to find the people who have been away for a long time.

If I delayed any longer, I might have to fight with the internal guards.

I didn’t think I would lose, but it was too risky to start a fight while protecting Yoo Jin and this Alaune.

And the second reason.

I was worried about the mental state of that Alaune.

“The moment she properly recognizes her situation, I don’t know what kind of unexpected actions she’ll take. I don’t need someone like that to escape. That’s why I only tell her briefly.”

“Ah….”

“In times like this, it’s easier to handle her by making her swept away by the situation. So that she can’t think anything on her own and can just do as I tell her.”

When I was still inexperienced. I often saw it when performing rescue missions.

People who panic and attack the people around them indiscriminately, or make unnecessarily loud noises because they are extremely afraid and get caught by the enemy.

In severe cases, there were even guys who sat down and whined, saying that they didn’t want to escape at all. Saying that they would die if they got caught while running away.

It’s not that those people are stupid. People may not be able to cope properly if they fall into fear.

But, that didn’t mean I couldn’t cope either.

There were too many cases where the rescue target was doing useless things and things went wrong, so I couldn’t just let it go with the excuse that it couldn’t be helped.

So, I chose a method to distract the rescue target.

Understanding her situation, and the thought that she might die if she made a mistake.

If she feels afraid because of that thought, there’s no need to tell her about the current situation, right?

Just like if you urge someone who hasn’t woken up to go somewhere quickly, they will follow you while expressing doubts, it was important to take the rescue target out first before they grasped the situation.

It’s enough to explain what the situation was later.

“Th, then what about me?”

“Looking at you attacking me in that situation, you have courage, and looking at the clues you left behind, you’re not particularly stupid either. I thought it was okay to tell you.”

Whether it was because she couldn’t climb the ladder because she didn’t have legs, I lowered the grappling hook to Alaune, who was looking up at us and flustered as if she didn’t know what to do.

“Just hold on so you don’t fall. I’ll pull you up.”

“…!”

I watched the scene of slowly pulling up Alaune, who grabbed the line with a delighted expression.

…It’s like fishing.

She had her eyes tightly closed and gathered her arms as if she was afraid of letting go, which reminded me of a freshly caught fish.

“Hii, hii…. I, I thought I was going to die….”

“…What are you going to do now? Taking that person with you will be too noticeable.”

“You have to think that you’ll get caught no matter what you do. If there’s someone who can’t see that, it’s someone who’s missing one eye.”

Legs made of roots and green skin that can’t be hidden even with the word unique.

There was no way to hide that and go down to the first floor. I would get caught no matter what I did.

“Then what should we do….”

“Get caught.”

“Yes?”

“I told you. Get caught.”

Of course, that didn’t mean that I would openly let them know that I was taking this Alaune.

It meant that I would get caught, but get caught so that no one knows who did it.

“Yoo Jin, grab my waist.”

“Li, like this?”

“No, from the front. Yes, like that. Okay. You there… I’ll carry you. Get on my back quickly.”

“Yes, yes…!”

Good.

I instantly became a ridiculous sight with Alaune on my back and Yoo Jin dangling around my waist.

“Um, what does this position mean…?”

“Hold on tight as if your waist is going to break. You hold on as if your neck is going to break.”

“Yes?”

Jjaenggeurang!

After confirming that the two people had firmly grabbed my body, I broke the 2nd floor glass with the curtains drawn without delay.

As if they had finally realized that there was an unusual situation on the 2nd floor, I heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards us, but…

What they found was only the back of Alaune, who was hanging on my back and already escaping on the grappling hook.

A secluded mountain village where people don’t pass by often.

Alaune was constantly bowing to me and expressing her gratitude.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…!”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it already.”

“Bu, but you’re really my savior. It’s not strange no matter how many times I thank you!”

After properly learning what situation she was in and what the current situation was.

The returnee, who introduced herself as Grisha, was being clingy saying that she had to express her gratitude to me every minute. (This word doesn’t have an exact translation, but it means being clingy, persistent, or wanting to stick close to someone.)

I told her that I didn’t need that, but she didn’t seem to be listening, so I had no choice but to change the subject.

“That’s enough. There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Yes? What is it? Please tell me anything! I’ll tell you everything!”

“Why were you caught?”

‘…?’

“Those guys, no matter how I look at it, they’re not awakened. There’s no reason for you to be caught.”

It was strange to say that she was weakened because she was forcibly separated from the flowers. In the first place, there would have been flowers before she was forcibly separated.

What the heck did they do to subdue someone who was much stronger than them?

I was wondering about that.

Hearing that story, her face darkened in an instant, she sighed and muttered.

“…I was deceived.”

“Deceived?”

“As you know, I’m a returnee. I was an ordinary person, not this plant-like human who leaks this drug-like liquid.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“After returning by chance, I had inadvertently forgotten that fact. I was just happy to be back in my hometown.”

As if to vent the resentment she had been suffering until now, she told us what she had been through.

How difficult it was to have people’s discriminating eyes looking at her strangely in the city, where it was difficult to move.

How painful the curious gazes towards her were.

“I felt like I was a zoo monkey.”

“…It must have been hard for you.”

“Yes, but I continued to live in the city for a while. Because I missed my old hometown so much. But that was also the limit.”

She said that the more she lived, the more she realized that she was an existence that didn’t fit in the city she used to live in.

Her hometown, which she accidentally returned to after a long time, is impossible no matter how hard she tries to get used to it.

She said that she realized that Alaune, herself, had to live in the forest, not in the city.

“So, I decided to give up city life and live in the forest. …If it wasn’t for those people.”

“Samhwa Sect?”

“Yes. Those people treated me without any pretense. As if they were treating the same person. So let’s continue city life a little more. That’s what I thought.”

“…There’s no way those guys would have done that?”

I don’t know if it’s if she’s like me and it doesn’t show on the outside, but anyone could tell at a glance that she’s a returnee.

If someone like her was walking around the city, it wouldn’t be a person, but a monster.

So the Samhwa guys must have known that she was a returnee.

“It was all acting. Foolishly, I was deceived by that acting. One day, after having a meal with them… I got sleepy.”

“When you opened your eyes, you were there?”

“Yes. Before I knew it, my flowers were torn off, and it was the start of days more painful than the city.”

“From the beginning, they were aiming for your bodily fluids and came to find you.”

Knowing that they couldn’t be opponents in a fight, they took advantage of the gap when she was off guard.

It was an effective method.

At the same time, it was also a disgusting method.

“They wanted to have never-ending activity funds. Drugs.”

“Isn’t it funny? I didn’t even know that they were an organization that hated returnees. I only found out after I was imprisoned.”

“It’s not funny at all.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I guess I haven’t been able to blend into human society for a while, so my joke skills must have rusted.”

Alaune’s joke wasn’t funny, but I couldn’t help but chuckle.

To use a returnee to be used for the activity funds to reject returnees.

It’s contradictory.

“So? What are you going to do now?”

“I have to go back to the forest. …Because this is where I’m going to live now.”

“Yeah. Don’t get kidnapped again.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to be noticed by anyone in the future.”

She looked down at the city for a long time, and then bowed to us for the last time before disappearing into the forest.

She probably won’t return to the city again.

I sighed while watching Alaune’s slowly disappearing back.

The back of a betrayed person is always bitter.