episode_0001

Damn.

It’s been a while since I’ve run to the point where my breath is being cut off.

My arms and legs move tirelessly, causing a tingling sensation.

The dryness in my parched mouth tastes as if salt has been sprinkled inside.

I briefly turned my head back to check on them.

I hoped they might have made a mistake or stopped following me, but they were following me perfectly.

If I continue like this, I will eventually be caught. I need to find a place to hide.

As I searched for a place to hide, a large thicket leading to an alley caught my eye.

“Last chance.”

The fact that there would be no more chances flashed reflexively through my mind.

Before getting caught by them, I had to jump into the thicket at the end of that fork in the road.

“Kuah…!”

The thundering sound ringing in my ears and the thudding vibrations of the ground beneath my feet reverberated through my skin.

Although I managed to hide my body barely, I started frantically looking around as if suspecting our sudden disappearance.

Please just leave us alone.

Why do these guys, who look like orcs, relentlessly chase us to kill us at a mere glance?

There’s nowhere else to run, and I’m running out of energy. If they catch me, it’s really over.

When the sound of rustling leaves reached my senses,

I took one last breath and suppressed any signs of breathing.

…

A short time of just about 8 seconds felt like an eternity.

When I cautiously raised my head between the bushes, I saw the figures of those guys getting farther away.

Fortunately, it seemed they weren’t meticulous enough to search the vicinity thoroughly.

“Huff…!”

Only after confirming that their movements had diminished could I finally exhale heavily.

My heart raced so much that it felt like someone was squeezing it.

“I almost died. What are those guys, anyway? Well, now that they’re gone, stop licking my hand and back off.”

“Look, there are eyes here.”

“Yeah, there are eyes, so… Wait, what?”

In this warm weather, there’s no way snow would fall from the sky.

And there wouldn’t be human eyeballs rolling around in the middle of the forest.

Eyes here? What on earth does that mean?

Following his fingertip, I could see leaves with eyes attached.

“What, what is this?”

“They’ve been watching us since earlier.”

“Is it alive? Isn’t there a moment of peace in this damn world?”

Though they appeared to be ordinary-sized leaves, upon closer inspection of the crack in the middle, human-like pupils became visible.

As those red irises stared endlessly at us,

I tried waving my hand or blowing air, but there was no response.

Maybe…

“Ouch!”

A scream erupted as I casually poked my finger.

A deep voice. The owner of the eyes seemed angry just with his gaze.

Tears began to flow from the leaf’s eyes, and all the hidden eyes in the surrounding bushes began to open.

“You damn bastards! After hiding you when you were being chased, are you repaying kindness with enmity?”

A commanding voice echoed throughout the entire forest.

Though slightly dazed by the momentum, I snapped back to attention, thinking I might be able to extract some information.

I can’t afford to miss this hard-earned opportunity.

“A person…? Judging by your appearance, you don’t seem like an adventurer. You need to explain why a wanderer like you is in this forest.”

The opponent is neither friend nor foe but a monster.

Therefore, I can’t spill everything.

Upon pondering the words of the eye-filled bushes, it seems this world contains ‘adventurers.’

I understood that this wasn’t where I originally lived, but I never thought the otherworld I had imagined would actually exist.

First, I need to set aside the idea of leaving and focus on solving the problem at hand.

Should I reveal my identity?

“…”

“Why no response? Could it be that you lot are from the royal family…?”

“I-I’m an adventurer! Despite my appearance, I’m just a sprout dreaming of cutting off the Demon Lord’s head.”

“Oh, is that so? Initially rejecting wanderers but eventually accepting them as part of the group, huh.”

Wanderer.

What does being a wanderer entail? It seemed to imply something akin to being a stranger.

In other words, there are ‘people’ besides us.

More than that, the idea of rejection didn’t sit well.

There was nothing conclusive yet. More information needed to be unearthed.

“Yes, now that I can breathe again. Say, rather than that, could you tell me how to get back to town? I got lost on my way back.”

“Are you saying that an adventurer forgot the location of the only village nearby?”

Sharper than expected.

After all, people don’t just drop from the sky or pop out of the ground like we do.

They must have started from a village where they lived. Impatience clouded my judgment.

But here, maintaining composure in this situation was key.

It’s a request, so please overlook it.

“You guys too…”

Thud!!

“Aaargh!!!”

A sudden turn of events.

While listening quietly, Chaesol suddenly jabbed the guy’s eye with her raised index finger.

As he writhed in pain, every leaf around began to tremble.

Hundreds of leaves started rustling and attracting all sorts of aggro.

“Goodness!!”

Now, the only option left seemed to be to run.

I picked up some dirt from the ground, threw it in his eyes, and had to run without hesitation.

I didn’t know how far his territory extended, but once out of the forest, a path would surely appear.

“Oh, there was still so much to find out, why attack like that!”

“Have you ever conversed with my kind for so long? I haven’t even… ”

Was that the sole reason?

Just being with Chaesol seemed to lead to strange incidents, not to mention my heart racing as if it would burst.

…Still, maybe this was the right move now.

Continuing to stall or hide my identity had its limits.

If I delayed any further, who knew what he might do, or when the monsters from elsewhere would return.

Amidst all this, the gathered information was about adventurers and wanderers’ existence. Some wanderers were being rejected.

It was woefully inadequate, but I had to be grateful for still having my life intact.

The series of complex events was causing confusion in my mind.

And so, without looking back, I ran frantically.

“Crack!”

My abdomen hit Chaesol’s arm, halting me in my tracks.

I sat down on the ground immediately, trying to catch my breath.

Upon closer inspection, it had been a while since I exited the forest; a little more and I would have fallen off the cliff.

I found solace at the cliff edge that appeared after passing through the forest, though I wasn’t sure where exactly I was.

“Phew… at least for now, a sigh of relief.”

“Hey, I see something.”

He pointed beyond the downhill slope while still holding me from behind.

Though the distance made it unclear, various structures and vast lands came into view along with wisps of smoke, suggesting a place where people could gather and live.

“It seems like we’ve come near the cliff by the village. Looks like we landed quite close by. That’s fortunate…”

At that moment, a part of the cliff that supported our feet crumbled, collapsing soon after.

The momentary sensation of floating due to the dizzying feeling of falling made me briefly lose consciousness.

It was almost miraculous that I managed to grab onto the edge.

The cliff rumbled, sending a portion of my body rolling far below into the abyss along with a flurry of dust.

“W-what, why is it breaking all of a sudden?! Why is this happening?! Why…!”

“…”

“Why is it only the spot I’m standing on breaking apart?!”

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that only one side collapsed.

Alone, if I had endured a little longer, it would have ended with me falling. But if I hold hands and climb up, I might survive.

Seeing my fingers losing strength quickly, instead of enduring a bit more, it was a moment where I almost met my end like this.

“…Um, could you hold onto me?”

“In exchange for holding on, promise me.”

“What kind of promise is there in this situation!! We’re going to fall!!”

“Do XX with me.”

This is insane.

I knew very well that something was not right, but negotiating in the midst of this situation? And to say XX at a time like this. No matter how much I want to live, rather than dealing with Chae-seol and all that, it would be better to just fall…

The chain shackle on my foot broke, and along with the dust, it fell into an unseen place.

…

…I guess I’ll have to live for now.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, my body felt heavy.

More precisely, I could feel gravity as heavy as my own weight. My hair started fluttering in all directions, and the sharp sound of the wind brushed against my ears.

Somehow, the distance between that guy and me seems to be increasing.

“Yeo-han…!”

Ah.

I did ask to be caught quickly, didn’t I?

…You damn woman.

If I die like this, I will resent it forever. How hard I struggled to survive until now.

Indeed, being twenty years old doesn’t help in situations like this. If only I had just pretended not to know.

If that were the case, at least falling into another world wouldn’t have happened. There wouldn’t have been any chasing by monsters either.

Thanks to that, I couldn’t even have a proper relationship.

…If only I had known.

It feels like I’m about to die for real. The nape of my neck is tingling.

Thud!!!!