episode_0285

ㅡㅡㅡ♩ ㅡ♪

ㅡㅡㅡㅡ♬

The performance continues.

As time passed, winter came,

Even if everyone lies down and is buried in the cold snowflakes.

ㅡㅡㅡ♩ ㅡ♪

ㅡㅡㅡㅡ♬

Please, my musician,

Your kingdom is disappearing,

I hope that it will touch someone’s fingertips and continue on forever.

… … .

“… Haha, hello. The umbrella really suits you. ”

『… … .』

and,

In the end,

Enough to forget the face of ‘you’, my only friend,

After a long time,

Our song reached you.

… … .

At first, you were even cautious about talking to him.

Now, he smiles and talks to me as if nothing happened,

I guess the trembling corners of the lips are the same now as they were then.

You, who walk around with a fake smile just like ‘I’, a liar.

When I see you smiling so hard and touching the corners of your lips, I feel like going up to you and playing a prank.

『… … Is that so? This parasol goes really well with you.』

We shared our compliments.

We parted ways after exchanging a few compliments in the apartment hallway.

I thought our distance was appropriate at this level.

Because, in the end, ‘I’ am just a black bug.

Unlike the mischievous princess who loves to lie, he is a bug who only knows how to make music.

Knowing that no one wants to be friends with a disgusting insect, unless it is a special species,

‘I’ who only looked at ‘you’,

He went far away and just played music.

『… … .』

Even without the black bug, the face of ‘you’ who gets along with others.

He looked very lonely and desolate.

… … .

… … .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. The girl in the black dress has moved in.

– She is a girl who likes jokes and compliments.

– Even the smallest thing will do. Compliment our playful young lady.

– He will repay praise with praise, and other things with other things.

Caution! Don’t make eye contact with the girl or lift up her skirt on purpose.

​2-1. You gave us light.

– Your compliments always make our mischievous young lady excited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

​

Sagak…

The sound of insect footsteps.

“… … !”

As Banharin passed through the tall trees, she pressed the corner of her left eye.

A sudden itch stops her in her tracks.

I was in the middle of climbing the ridge of Mt. Goryongsan, and it was not too far from the entrance I first entered.

She stops walking and looks down at the floor.

Always a black suit.

Down the curve of her hips, her sturdy boots, resembling combat boots, trample on dead weeds.

Pass the buck.

The Goryongsan Mountain I saw once is grayish white.

A spring where everything freezes to death, unable to overcome winter.

The ridge is covered with dead white weeds, like a thick layer of ash.

Could there be any life in this place where there is nothing to eat or drink?

The peaks lined with gnarled trees looked as miserable as the rough beard that a balding middle-aged man could not bring himself to push away.

“The view is good because there are no obstacles… Oh, there’s a big bug passing by.”

“I’m going to cut it and throw it away.”

But this is a real monster territory.

Banharin, who ‘observed’ the surroundings with sharp eyes, swung the cleaver in his hand and carved marks on the surrounding trees.

Phew!

The sword thrust in with all its might pierces the tree and comes out on the other side.

“Oh, that’s a sign to keep you from getting lost, right?”

“Also, to mark the spot, some monsters pretend to be trees and wait for their prey, so I poke them.”

“Aha.”

Gulp…

Black blood flows out through the cracks in the stabbed tree bark.

“If other hunters find a suspicious tree, they should first stab it with their swords. On the other hand, if you see a tree without any sword marks, I recommend cutting off the neck first.”

Kwajik!

Banharin, who had stabbed the suspicious tree with a knife, lightly kicked the trunk.

Then, the ‘tree monster’ that was spewing black blood like sap fell down with its back broken in half.

“Keeeek…!”

A ‘tree monster’ with a back bent like a bow in one refreshing joint.

Its appearance is identical to that of the surrounding tall trees.

Banharin gently pulled out the deeply embedded sword and looked back at Eunha.

“It’s so easy, right?”

“No.”

“For your information, the name of the tree monster you just saw is [Woodworm]. Hunters affectionately call it woodworm, mimicry bug, back-stabbing tree, disgusting tree, X-foot X-kki, etc. ”

“I’d like a mimic caterpillar.”

Eunha examines the inside of the ‘mimetic caterpillar’, which has been folded in half and has its side burst open, revealing its flesh and blood.

In the back, Kim Sa-rang, with an interesting expression, is pulling out her beloved sword and poking the poor trees.

It was less tense than I thought… It felt like I was on an experiential learning trip.

In a way, it’s natural. Because there are things I’ve seen before.

Banharin pulled out the grayish-white weeds on the floor and wiped the blood off her sword.

Sagak-.

The sound of insects is heard again.

Banharin frowns.

Since coming here [Goryongsan Crack Field], my left eye has been itchy.

The feeling of countless baby spiders waking up and knocking on the egg sac.

Banharin took off the black blindfold covering her left eye.

Sagak-.

One day, from the day I ‘opened my eyes’, my left eye became blind.

Even with the [Silver Potion] prepared by Eunha, the vision in my left eye strangely did not recover.

As if the ‘current state’ is the best.

Inside her eye socket, something round like a pure white spider egg was wriggling and wiggling.

‘It’s not… dangerous, right? It’s been a few weeks since my left eye became like this…’

Even the galaxy doesn’t seem to know about ‘this’, so it’s just difficult.

Who knows what it feels like to live with an unknown bomb planted in your eyeball?

( 『You cannot leave the ‘territory’ yet, so you should support your companion with your eyes.』)

( “Your eyes will open soon.” )

I remember what the bug girl I met at [Euncheon Restaurant] said a while ago.

It just passes through Banharin’s eardrums like an illusion.

Sagak-.

“Mr. Banharin. Where is this guy’s magic stone?”

“A little further inside.”

Galaxy fiddles with the cross-section of a dead ‘mimetic caterpillar’.

Banharin, who had been guarding the surroundings, turned his back and showed Eunha the location of the magic stone.

Stop…

Eunha, who was looking for the magic stone following Banharin’s words, raised her head.

“… … .”

Banharin has been keeping her back turned and watching her surroundings closely since a while ago.

A slight feeling of discomfort hits the back of my neck and I run away.

… … How did you see it?

Is there an eye in the back of your head?

Indeed, A-class hunters are different.

Eunha, who had shaken off her sense of discomfort, focused on collecting magic stones.

Sreung-.

A few evenings ago, Eunha received a ‘gift box’ from Eunbangul… Eunha stuffed all the survival tools used by hunters into her carrier.

She cut through the bark of the ‘Etchai Beetle’ tree with a dagger with a cute rabbit picture on the blade.

‘There’s also something like a mountaineering pickaxe… I wonder if it’s meant to be used when climbing somewhere.’

Kkeuggeuk!

If you use the 3-minute ‘Body Strengthening’, you can insert the sword somehow.

Kkeuk! Kkeuk!

A galaxy that works hard to tear apart the flesh of monsters.

Move your arms back and forth with force.

“… … Oh…”

For some reason, Kim Sa-rang comes closer and watches Eun-ha with admiration.

The ‘mouse’ that was hiding on the tree also came down and quietly watched the galaxy slashing.

Eunha receives strange stares from those around her, and eventually pulls out a ‘magic stone’ that emits a blue light from between her flesh.

“Okay!”

“That was awesome.”

“I just mined one magic stone. What is this?”

“That was really great.”

[Crack Field] is also the third one, so it looks like a hunter.

Eunha hums a tune as her shoulders feel lighter as she gradually gains experience.

ㅡㅡㅡ♩ ㅡ♪

ㅡㅡㅡㅡ♬

A familiar rhythm.

The humming that echoed throughout the gray-white world reached quite far.

Sagak-.

Banharin, who was fiddling with the ‘inverted cross hairpin’ on her bangs, looked back at Eunha absentmindedly.

A mockingbird that has fallen on the floor.

The eyes of the galaxy were hidden by the branch-like arms of that bastard.

“Why is that?”

“… … No. Did you hum too?”

“I felt like calling you for some reason.”

Only the corners of the lips, which are languidly raised, are visible.

… … .

… … .

“Let’s just collect the magic stone and move on. If we go a little further into the center, there will be a bug-type monster nesting in the ruins…”

From then on, progress continued.

Banharin uses her ‘Observation’ skill to observe the surrounding trees, then kicks a tree trunk to make the ‘Mutual Insects’ bend their backs like a bow.

Kim Sa-rang, who had been following her and stabbing all kinds of trees with a knife, luckily finds the monster and cuts it in two with a single stroke.

“Your Majesty, I have defeated two evil monsters.”

“You don’t split one in two and plant the head in the ground to make two.”

“If you cut an aloe and plant it, it will grow.”

“It’s a bug. Just collect the magic stone and come back quickly.”

“Your Majesty…”

Crunch.

Kim Sa-rang, who had become gloomy, lightly lowered her sword.

The magic stone is easily revealed from the corpse of a monster cut down without resistance by her ‘skill’.

“Wow, it really cuts easily. It’s amazing.”

But soon, Kim Sa-rang feels happy because of Eun-ha’s compliments.

She flapped the sleeves of her black gi and handed the magic stone she had collected to Eunha.

“I picked it up here.”

Kim Sa-rang was happy as she stuffed the magic stones she had collected into the carrier of the galaxy.

For a moment, the ‘mouse’ hiding in the tree giggled, wondering if it was a squirrel courting him.

Sagak-.

I climbed the hill, avoiding the occasional black hole in the ground or the ‘happy woman’ who was hiding behind a tree and looking in my direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2. Watch your step.

– Mountain paths where no one has walked are especially dangerous.

– We pray for your safe daily life.

​

– If you find a round hole big enough for an adult male to fit in,

– Getting closer might not be a good idea.

​

​

3. We are happy.

– I am happy.

– You are happy too.

​

– Sometimes we go on a journey to find happiness, and the end result is happiness.

– So you should be happy too.

​

#. Smile.

– Smile.

– When you find us happy, smile happily too.

​

– We make you happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

『… … .』

Something with a smiling face, hiding behind a tree with only its head sticking out.

Every time that thing appeared, this side also faced ‘that thing’ with a smiling face.

Otherwise, it would be looking this way from a tree closer than before.

“… … .”

The world’s expressionless Ban Harin.

I spotted ‘that thing’ poking its head out of a tree 10 steps ahead.

He frowned slightly and turned his head to the right.

Then, looking back at the scenery to the right, ‘that thing’ hiding behind a tree 7 steps away is looking straight at Banharin.

A woman whose lips corners rise to her cheekbones because she is so happy.

He blinked with a complicated expression on his face.

The eyelids blocked the view for a moment,

The face of ‘that thing’ peeped out from a tree five steps away.

“… … .”

Wherever I turned my gaze, I saw ‘that thing’s’ face.

From a closer location than before.

From the moment you spot it, it approaches you quickly and gives you an eerie smile.

“I’m happy~…”

“… … Phew.”

After a while, she let out a short sigh,

He brought both hands to his mouth and lifted the corners of his mouth.

Ban Harin, with her expressionless face and only the corners of her lips raised.

Her smile(?) makes ‘that thing’s’ face become serious.

The way he glanced at the galaxy next to him seemed to be asking for her opinion, asking if she was smiling.

“Oh… why are you laughing like that?”

“… … .”

“Smile a lot. Since you’re alive, shouldn’t you live happily?”

Fortunately, I guess they’ll say I laughed.

‘That thing’ that evaluated Banharin’s face even gave her some words of encouragement before disappearing behind a tree.

Eunha, who had been watching the scene from the side with an anxious heart, approaches Banharin.

“Are you okay?”

“I was hurt.”

“Just smile. Why are you picking a fight? Did you see that they’re embarrassed too?”

Banharin, who lowered both hands, returned to her original expressionless face.

“There’s a crazy rat bastard right next to me who adds ‘nya’ to every word, so what would happen if I threw away my concept and laughed out loud because I thought it was the right time?”

“Anything will do.”

Eunha, who smiles languidly but says what she wants to say.

Banharin reassured her, saying that it was something that was within the scope of what she had ‘observed’ in advance, and then hurried her steps that she had stopped.

How many minutes passed like that?

Banharin, who was climbing the bleak gray-white world, was the first to reach the peak.

… … .

“… … The basin you see over there is the center of this [Goryongsan Crack Field].”

Banharin, who was the first to cross the ridge, spoke.

Her right eye fills with admiration, as if looking at a magnificent view.

Next, ‘Mouse’, who came down from the tree because he didn’t want to be alone because of the monsters, followed by Kim Sa-rang, who was proudly swinging her hair in a ponytail, climbed up the ridge and let out a small exclamation.

Sagak-. Square…

The sound of bugs’ footsteps that I once heard.

Eventually, the galaxy with the slowest steps,

I climbed the ridge, hugging my chest, which was larger than my head.

“… … .”

The galaxy captured the expansive landscape in its field of vision.

[Crack Field] A crack in space floating hundreds of meters above the ground.

Blue mana is scattered from cracked gaps like spider webs.

The sight of the blue mana grains orbiting around the ‘rift’, forming a giant halo, was like looking at a beautiful work of art.

​

And, just below the crack,

In that place, which can be described as the center of this place,

There is a beautiful and huge castle.

“… … .”

“The mana of the cracks is said to change the surrounding environment, but this is like another world. It looks like an architectural style that does not exist ‘over here’. ”

It’s a beautiful castle that looks more like something out of a fantasy than an old medieval castle.

A spire soaring high into the sky and surrounding walls.

Around the castle, a wide basin is filled with land where people live.

Hidden in the winding mountains and cut off from the outside world,

One little world.

It was like looking down from the ridge at an anthill built by humans.

“… … Dead city.”

Just one word.

Only Kim Sa-rang, a martial arts lover who is not very interested in fantasy,

He looked at the castle in front of him and calmly expressed his thoughts.

It’s a dead city.

Like the gray-white landscape surrounding it.

Cities and castles that have forgotten the warmth of life are silently dead, covered in gray-white weeds.

Thump. Thump.

Eunha looked down at the ‘world’ in front of her and grabbed her left chest.

Why is that?

The sight before my eyes, the city where the people lived,

Looks familiar.

(Behold, the kingdom of You that you have created.)

(The one who covered the kingdom, where every day was the same, with bright colors… was none other than a single black bug.)

​

What I see before my eyes is a gray-white kingdom that has died silently.

Memories that were once mixed up come back to me like trauma.

Eunha, who had been blankly blinking, looks back at Banharin.

“I should go there.”

“… … To that castle, you know… There’s no problem going there, but since this is my first time here, I might get lost. And if I think about the monsters I might encounter along the way…”

Sreung-.

I put down the carrier I was carrying like a backpack.

Eunha opens her carrier and picks up a heavy titanium bat, then shakes her head and takes out an old saw that was next to her.

Thump, thump.

Galaxy moving forward with a saw.

She sawed down the trees that had taken root around her, one by one.

Kkeuggeuk… Kkeuggeuk…

One tree. Two trees.

Three trees…

Kkeuggeuk… bang!

“Kieeekㅡㅡ!”

A ‘mimetic caterpillar’ that was hiding in a tree struggles after being sliced by a saw.

Phew!

A branch, writhing in pain, gets stuck in Eunha’s shoulder.

She continues sawing without a care.

“road.”

“Keeeekㅡㅡ!”

Kkeuk! Kkeuk!

“road.”

Originally, the best way to find directions was to ask the locals.

After a few more saw cuts, the poor ‘worm’, writhing in pain, pointed towards the trembling branch.

Only then did Eunha stop sawing and look back at Banharin with a smiling face.

The galaxy’s eyes are obscured by the swaying branches.

“It’s over there!”

“… … .”

Who else but Eunha would ask a demon for directions?

I don’t know. Why does that make sense?

Sagak-.

The sound of insect footsteps lost in memories.

The goal is a castle built in the center of the ‘crack’.

Banharin, who was holding back her itchy left eye, quietly watched Eunha’s back as she walked down the ridge in front.

… … The back of the galaxy running ahead like a brat.

Light footsteps moving forward with brisk strides, guided by the blue light of the crack.

It’s like a butterfly with its beautiful wings spread wide…

“… … It is dangerous to go alone. If you can’t even see your own feet, don’t lead the way. ”

“If you try hard, you can see it?”

“I started writing from the moment I felt tired when I looked down at my feet.”

She was so lovely and dignified.

… … .

… … rustle.

“Huh?”

Meanwhile, after a while,

Galaxy almost rolled forward while descending the ridge due to its unusual center of gravity.

After that, Ban Harin followed her, blushing in embarrassment as Kim Sa-rang grabbed her arm.

I turned my head as I noticed the grass swaying ‘behind me’.

Sagak-.

My left eye is itchy.

Is it a monster or a monster?

She wiped her face as if it were a habit and headed towards the grass that she had ‘seen behind her’ without making a single sound.

“… … .”

A bare patch of grass without a single branch.

There, Banharin,

I found a pumpkin wasp, curled up like a snail, crawling on all fours and stalking the galaxy.

“… … .”

… … .

Is it a good idea to follow the galaxy?

A pumpkin bee hiding in the grass swings its plump buttocks and runs out of the grass to hide behind a nearby tree.

“… … .”

Banharin watched the scene silently.

How many times have I looked down at the swaying buttocks of a pumpkin bee?

… … Hot and spicy!

Only then did the pumpkin bee discover Banharin, startled,

He covers his face with his small hands.

When you do that, your vision goes dark, so do you think other people can’t see you?

“… … Ha. Right.”

The world’s expressionless Ban Harin.

She bent her knees with a face devoid of emotion,

I poke the pumpkin bee’s steamed bun-like cheek with my finger.

『… … ?』

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

『… … ??』

“While you’re at it, would it be okay if I poked you in the stomach?”

Hot and spicy!

A startled pumpkin bee,

‘Fly’ ran away to the Milky Way to avoid the strange man.