Chapter 385

Chapter 385

Eat The World Tree.

Episode 385: Scars

Inside the Hunter Association office.

Data and articles, piled precariously high, filled every inch of the room.

A mountain of documents leaning against the desk toppled over, scattering like grains of sand washed ashore.

The worst punishment a human could face. A declaration of heresy, absolving anyone of guilt, regardless of the method of death. An act that deviated from the justice and morality the World Trees so vehemently proclaimed and enforced, to the point where no one would condemn the act of throwing stones, but rather criticize the one being stoned.

-I knew it.

-I thought he was a good person because he saved so many people.

Harsh criticisms seeped in.

-That motherfucker deserves to die.

Even the normally ignored, mindless barbs of discontent were now directed at him. Blood stained the fingers pressing the keyboard.

-He’s a student at the academy. There’s no way. Why was he declared a heretic? How many students has he saved?

└Are you defending a heretic now? There must be a reason, stop showing off how empty your head is.

└Idiot.

└The world’s gotten so soft lol. Even criminals get defended, right?

Even his achievements and accomplishments were reinterpreted as the fruits of evil.

Those who dared to question it were swiftly silenced.

A woman, rereading each line of the comment section, slammed her hand down on the keyboard.

Bang!

Fragments of the keyboard and springs scattered into the air.

Sharply broken pieces of plastic flew into Lee Seyeong’s face.

“Se, Seyeong… calm down.”

Seyeong’s face was cold and dry, her lips stiff. Her complexion was deathly pale, as if she had returned to a time long past.

Byeol reached out and rubbed Seyeong’s shoulder, trying to comfort her.

“Shiheon will be fine. Okay? Let’s calm down.”

“Hey, Han Byeol.”

Paper documents, swept up by the wind from the window, floated in the air.

At Seyeong’s voice, Byeol gave an awkward smile.

“…I understand how you feel. But… Seyeong, Shiheon doesn’t want you to get involved.”

“Then, should I just stay still?”

Her discharged phone showed countless missed calls.

Not a single one was answered.

Seyeong’s bloodshot eyes were stained with dry tear marks.

“…I’m going to save him.”

“Seyeong, wait! Let’s think about this a little more. Okay? It’s really dangerous for you this time.”

“Then what do you want me to do? Just sit here and do nothing? Watch my man get insulted?”

Byeol tightly shut her mouth.

She was worried about Seyeong, but Byeol herself was already deeply wounded.

“Fuck it. They said that motherfucker deserves to die. Those bastards.”

Seyeong’s eyes turned bloodshot as she read each comment.

Her lips twitched, and her hands trembled. A frightened Byeol slowly lowered her head.

“But…”

“Han Byeol, are you kidding me?”

Lee Seyeong also knew.

That cursing wouldn’t change anything.

She thought she knew why Lee Shiheon had rescued Sansuyu without saying a word and even cutting off contact.

That man would do it hundreds of times over.

She understood his heart. She understood it over and over. Lee Seyeong had also considered giving up her life many times.

Perhaps even now, if something happened to Lee Shiheon, she would run to him.

So would Byeol, so would Jin Dallae, and so would most of the women who had shared a bond with him.

“He told me not to, so why is he acting recklessly alone? That crazy bastard…”

“Seyeong.”

Byeol timidly called her name.

She was just as worried.

Yet, the reason Byeol hadn’t acted until now wasn’t because she was too busy, but because she thought she understood Lee Shiheon’s intention.

Lee Shiheon was trying to resolve it himself, and he didn’t want them to get involved in the process, not even a little.

Seyeong probably knew that too.

It was just a difference in opinion.

“Don’t stop me.”

“Seyeong…”

“I’m going to gather people right now, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll storm the World Tree-”

The surging emotions were hard to control.

“Hey!!”

Typical introvert behavior. If they couldn’t communicate, they got angry.

Byeol, shouting loud enough to fill the room, glared at Seyeong.

Lee Seyeong, her words cut off, opened her eyes in surprise.

“Stop it. Don’t you get it? If you get involved here, it’ll only burden Shiheon more.”

“…”

“You know, you’re the best at seeing how the world works, aren’t you? Is it only you who loves him, you crazy bitch?”

An enraged Byeol couldn’t hold back her tears as she shouted.

“I love him a lot too! I love him so damn much, you bitch!!! I even introduced him to my parents…”

Her disheveled yellow hair hung down.

Lee Seyeong, who was about to say something, was silenced.

For Byeol, who had lost her parents, introducing someone meant that her feelings went beyond mere affection.

“If you go, you’ll end up a heretic too, and Shiheon will come to save you again…”

Then he’d get hurt again.

The situation would only worsen.

It was an obvious outcome.

Byeol didn’t know why the World Tree was hostile to Lee Shiheon. That was why she felt even more frustrated.

He was supposed to be a candidate for the World Tree’s husband.

So why were they so desperate to kill him?

“I know that, you bad girl… It’s not just you who loves him… sob.”

“…”

Her two little fists clenched tightly, and tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping onto her chin.

Round teardrop stains spread across the papers piled on the floor.

It wasn’t that she was reluctant to help because she valued her position as vice-president; she truly didn’t know what to do.

Lee Seyeong didn’t understand how frustrating that powerlessness was.

Unlike Seyeong, Byeol tried to remain as calm as possible.

She was different from Lee Shiheon or Lee Seyeong, who acted before thinking.

That was why Byeol envied her.

She didn’t have to endure this kind of pressure.

But this time, it was different.

In a situation where Lee Shiheon’s life was at stake, Byeol had to stop Seyeong from acting rashly.

Seyeong, looking at Byeol, parted her unmoving lips.

“Shiheon’s health isn’t very good.”

Friendship, strained by differences in opinion and approach.

“When we went to Japan. Before he got together with Jin Dallae, do you know what he said to me?”

“…”

“He told me never to leave him. Not to try to die.”

How did he know that?

Jin Dallae said he had never said such a thing.

She didn’t believe it, but if it were true, it meant that Lee Shiheon had seen through Lee Seyeong’s heart.

“I’m his noona. I was his teacher. I took care of him when he couldn’t do anything, I trained him. If I can’t be by his side when he’s struggling, then what kind of lover am I?”

“…If you go, I’ll kill you.”

“He’s only twenty years old. He just became an adult. And…”

Seyeong and Byeol, facing each other, couldn’t continue their words for a long time.

A quarrel that would never be resolved.

Only a suffocating silence lingered around them.

A Warm Morning with Shiba

Clink, clink.

The sound of washing dishes livened Shiba’s spirits.

Shiba, who woke up in the morning, rubbed the sleep from her eyes and jumped off the bed.

“Mom!”

She spoke well now and did her homework diligently.

There was even a time when Shin Hyeyeong was surprised to see her easily solve equations that middle schoolers struggled with.

At the sound of Shiba’s small, cute footsteps, Jin Dallae, who was washing dishes, turned her head.

“Yes, did our daughter wake up?”

“Shiba’s hungry.”

Jin Dallae, wiping her hands on her apron, knelt and hugged Shiba, who toddled over.

Her mother’s face looked unusually tired today.

Shiba felt curious but lowered her head into the warm embrace.

“Mom, I dreamed about Dad the other day.”

“……Oh?”

“…He cried a lot.”

Tap, tap.

Jin Dallae, gently patting Shiba’s back, brought her lips to Shiba’s cheek.

“……”

Jin Dallae couldn’t speak for a long time.

After holding back for a long time, she finally managed to say a few words.

“Mom will make you breakfast soon. Let’s wash your face and hands.”

“Peep!”

She seemed to understand now what it meant to protect her family.

Shiba, taking small steps, went into the bathroom and struggled to climb onto the stool in front of the sink.

Splash, splash.

Shiba cupped her pebble-sized hands and washed her face with water.

Jin Dallae gave her a warm, bitter smile as she watched Shiba.

“……Ah. I’m losing my mind.”

There must be a reason.

There wasn’t much she could do while taking care of her daughter.

“Ouch!”

Jin Dallae, slicing scallions, frowned at a very small pain.

Blood dripped from a cut on her finger.

Jin Dallae, clasping her hands together as if praying, brought her forehead to her hands.

‘……’

Please, let nothing bad happen.

Jin Dallae could only wish from a distance.

Scars

Human bodies bore scars.

Until the grafted skin over large and small wounds regained its function.

The body of a wounded person inevitably bore marks.

Others saw the scars and realized what kind of wounds the person had suffered.

They tried not to poke at those wounds.

Occasionally, they might ask, “How did you get that?”

Strangely, the criteria for scarring varied from person to person.

Some were naturally gifted with excellent healing abilities, so even severe injuries left no scars.

Conversely, some people suffered throughout their lives because their bodies scarred easily.

‘…So what? What do you want me to do?’

She went to Lee Shiheon’s room.

Baekdo, who burst into the house, forcefully flung the door open.

Bang!

A loud sound as if the door would fall off.

A slight scent of blood and medicine. A woman lying on the bed and a man leaning against the wall caught Baekdo’s eye.

“Found you. I finally found you.”

Baekdo stepped forward. The man’s eyes slowly opened.

Emotionless pupils painted in achromatic colors.

Baekdo tried to say something to him, but…

“You seventh-rate Disciple… you left without a word. Where the hell…”

She couldn’t find the words to say.

“……”

Human bodies bore scars.

Sometimes, due to unique traits, some people scarred quickly, and some had many scars.

But there were also people who forcibly erased those scars.

To hide them from others, to show only a good appearance.

When you peeled back the layers of such people,

Their insides were often very rotten compared to their seemingly fine exteriors. Many people realized this too late.

The human heart was the same.

Rustle.

And then, there were those who scarred so easily that they gave up on healing as their bodies broke down first.

One arm with rotting skin. Traces of gunshot wounds. A haggard appearance. A hand that didn’t even twitch.

A thigh cut by a sword, bound with bandages to stop the bleeding.

Empty potion bottles were placed by the woman’s head.

Did you know that there were mental illnesses in the world? Diseases of the mind that broke down if not treated in time.

A passing remark.

“…Lee Shiheon…?”

A man who came rushing without tending to his scars remained here.