Chapter 3: The Girl (2)

My stomach hurts…

Something’s really wrong with my insides, I’m so dizzy…

The girl staggered and hunched over, clinging to a nearby tree.

“Urgh…”

Uncontrollable nausea overwhelmed her.

Chirp chirp- chirp!

The sparrow family circled above her head, twittering.

They must be worried about me.

It was touching, but she had no energy to respond.

She felt feverish, and now she feared she might soil herself as well as vomit.

The girl stumbled and finally collapsed where she stood.

Thud-

Her muscles spasmed and went limp all over her body.

Her vision blurred, and her breathing became as rapid as if she’d sprinted.

[W-What the hell did you eat?! All your organs are necrotizing!]

Ah, it was Mia’s voice.

[Are you fucking insane?! I told you to take care of my body!!]

Bubble bubble bubble.

Even as her insides churned violently, the girl managed an awkward smile.

Mia hadn’t answered when she’d tried talking while picking mushrooms.

But it was nice to hear her voice now, even if it was just an auditory hallucination.

It didn’t matter.

Whenever the girl decided, she could make a wish to bring Mia back to life.

[Hey! Stay with me! Don’t lose consciousness!]

Chirp-! Chirp chirp chirp chirp–!

Thud.

The girl’s head lost strength and hit the ground.

Even Mia’s faint voice faded away.

The three sparrows gathered other sparrows, circling above the girl’s head.

Chirp chirp chirp chirp-

It was already dark, but they kept up their noisy chirping tirelessly.

Perhaps thanks to these small creatures’ efforts to save the girl.

Thump, thump. Footsteps approached from nearby.

A bright light cut through the darkness, sweeping the surrounding bushes.

With it, an old man holding a cane appeared.

“What’s a child doing out at this hour…”

The old man quickly spotted the unconscious girl under the circling sparrows.

Her sky-blue hair shimmered strangely, as if reflecting the heavens or a river.

Though she looked about seven or eight, her delicate features hinted at future beauty.

If not for her dirt-covered, disheveled appearance, one might suspect she was a high-born child who’d been kidnapped.

“…Is this poison? Don’t tell me she ate poisonous mushrooms?”

This area near the valley was known for various toxic mushrooms.

The old man guessed the situation from the girl’s symptoms and carefully reached out to touch her forehead.

It was hot.

So hot it made his palm throb.

If this small child really had eaten poisonous mushrooms, it was a miracle she was still alive.

“I wondered why the birds were chirping so earnestly at night. They must have been trying to save you. I should be grateful for their compassionate cries to help a living being.”

The old man’s wrinkled hand glowed faintly.

A soft light enveloped the girl’s body.

“Hack! Cough!”

Immediately, a fist-sized lump of toxins came out of the girl’s mouth.

“My, my… Such a small body, yet you ate so much.”

This much toxin was like ingesting cyanide.

Between the chirping sparrows and this, she was no ordinary child.

The problem was…

“Now what should I do with this child…”

There were several villages in this area.

It was even near Seoul.

Such a pretty child couldn’t possibly be alone.

Even though he was a monk, he couldn’t just take her without saying anything.

“I suppose I have no choice. I’ll have to take her to the temple for now.”

It seemed his night walk would be longer than expected.

The old man gripped his cane again and was about to lift the girl’s arm when-

“How dare you touch me with those filthy hands!”

The girl’s eyes snapped open, flashing with a sinister light.

“…An Awakened!”

It was an extraordinary power.

A killing intent that seemed ready to tear a person apart.

Should I subdue her?

As the old man deliberated-

Whoosh-!

The girl vanished in the blink of an eye.

She moved so fast he couldn’t even guess where she’d gone.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

The old man just chuckled.

“If our fate ends here, so be it. If there’s still a connection between us, we’ll meet again someday.”

Judging by her strong personality and impressive abilities, she shouldn’t come to any harm wherever she went.

“Ugh… Now how long will it take to get back…”

As the old man headed back to the temple, leaning on his cane.

The girl, who had just regained consciousness, carefully looked around in a daze.

“…Huh?”

Something seemed very different from what she remembered.

Had she been kidnapped?

Chirp chirp, cheep-

Seeing the sparrow perched on her shoulder chirping, she realized she hadn’t been kidnapped.

Well, then there’s no problem.

The pain was gone too, so Mia must have used her power again.

“Mia should’ve lived instead of me after all.”

Anyway, she needed to find a place to sleep soon.

She’d solved the food problem, but she couldn’t sleep on the bare ground forever.

Sleeping itself wasn’t an issue, but this body belonged to Mia.

She thought it would be bad manners to let bugs crawl on that smooth skin.

But when the girl stood up, the first thing she saw was…

[You almost died twice in one day? There won’t be a third time. Next time, we’ll both die for real. If you don’t want to see me die, take care of yourself.]

It was a letter full of rage.

“Uh…”

The words were carved into the dirt, and they looked so deep they might be visible from the sky.

It wasn’t just her imagination.

Right next to the writing lay a blunt stone.

The problem was that one side of the stone was cut at a right angle, like a new eraser.

She knew Mia was a capable Awakened, but…

Seeing how the stone was carved made her break out in a cold sweat.

This was different from before when she had no eyes, arms, or legs.

If Mia really tried to die now, she would have to watch it happen.

“Ugh… W-What did I do wrong…”

The girl felt wronged, having no idea that the mushrooms she’d diligently gathered were poisonous.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

She felt a surge of resentment.

Did Mia have to act so mean all the time?

The girl had no choice but to sit back down quietly.

She looked around quickly-

“…I have my ways too, you know!”

She summoned a soft cotton blanket in exchange for her well-manicured nails.

It was God’s grace.

This was the first time she’d used it for herself, and it felt a bit unsettling, like she was wasting a miracle.

But having taken over Mia’s body, Mia’s well-being was always the top priority.

Mia had told her not to get hurt, so she wrapped herself up in the blanket, leaving only her head poking out.

She leaned her head against a protruding tree trunk. Perfect.

So comfortable!

So warm!

This way, she shouldn’t get hurt for the rest of the day, right…?

Chirp chirp-!

As if sensing how cozy the blanket was, the sparrow family fluttered over and settled on the girl’s chest.

Sharing even that small warmth made her feel twice as good.

“Hehe, good night.”

The girl quickly fell asleep.

Though her body had been fully healed by the old man’s and Mia’s abilities,

She was still young and couldn’t overcome physical exhaustion.

“Hueee-“

She was so tired that she breathed heavily with her mouth wide open.

And then.

“…Sis. What’s with that kid? Is it okay to leave her like that?”

Not far away.

Two sisters out on a camping trip after a long time spotted the sleeping girl.

They’d gone to check out gunshots from a nearby house.

They’d waited to greet a monk who’d left his post.

It was past 9 PM when they finally found a place to pitch their tent.

A spirit had appeared.

“Huh? Am I hallucinating?”

“Sis! Snap out of it!”

What was this scene before them?

The sisters stared at the girl’s face, entranced, as if their souls had left their bodies.

How could such a young child have such long eyelashes…

I looked like a half-baked steamed bun when I was little…

Could she be the child of some amazing celebrity?

But why would such an amazing child be sleeping with a blanket on a mountainside?

Where were her parents? Her guardian?

The sisters couldn’t get their minds back on track.

This had never happened before, even when they’d gone to dangerous Gates or faced psychic attacks.

As the woman with the smaller chest reached out towards the girl, the other urgently raised her voice.

-“Sis!”

It was a telepathic message sent through magic waves, afraid of waking the child.

-“You crazy bitch, why are you yelling when the kid’s sleeping?!”

The voice was so loud it could have split the listener’s ears, making the big-chested woman tremble and snap back angrily.

As if on cue, they both whipped their heads around to look each other in the eye.

They butted foreheads, hissing like cats fighting over territory.

“Hah… Don’t raise your voice like that, sis. It makes you look weak.”

“Yeah! I’m your big sister, aren’t I? Don’t try to one-up me!”

“If it bothers you so much, why don’t you become S-class then!”

“…Hmph. At least I have boobs.”

“…You fucking bitch?”

In the end, the sisters who couldn’t get their act together started attacking each other fiercely.

If they didn’t do this, they might have hugged the girl and started squealing right away.

But their fight didn’t last long.

Chirp chirp-!

A sparrow that had been sleeping on the girl’s chest suddenly flew up and smacked the sisters’ cheeks as it passed by.

It was telling them to shut up because they were being too noisy.

“…Sis, let’s really be quiet now.”

“…Yeah. We should.”

Even sisters who don’t get along know how to separate personal matters from work.

“So. What are we going to do about this kid?”

They couldn’t just leave a child alone like this.

But they couldn’t just pick up a sleeping child either.

It was a problem either way.

Caught in this dilemma, the sisters avoided eye contact and waited blankly for someone to provide an answer.

Finally.

“…Well, should we just pitch our tent here?”

“As expected of you, sis!”

The sisters decided to set up their tent on this unknown mountainside instead of the valley they’d planned to visit.

The only way they could help without directly interfering was to make sure no one bothered the child.

And so, next to the girl sleeping rough, a luxurious tent worth three million won was erected.

To anyone else who might see, it would look like a bizarre case of child neglect.

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