Chapter 13

Chapter 13

What’s wrong with me? Why am I like this?

My arm was trembling like a leaf. I bit down hard on my lip.

All I had to do was throw the knife. It was such a simple thing.

So move already...!

“Urgh!”

Screeeeech—!

The tip of the spear fired at Han Siwoo scraped horribly across the floor.

Han Siwoo barely managed to dodge it before shouting again.

“Hurry!”

I know!

No one was more frustrated with this situation than I was.

So...

Please.

Just this once, listen to me!

I was furious at my own helplessness.

It wasn’t just my heart. Even my body was a coward.

I didn’t care anymore.

Whatever happened, happened!

Putting all the emotions I had been suppressing into my arm, I threw the knife with all my strength.

The knife flew unsteadily through the air in a wide arc.

My heart dropped.

What if Han Siwoo can’t catch it?

But contrary to my fears, the knife I threw landed safely in Han Siwoo’s hand.

For now, I pushed all the worries in my head aside.

The knife, which had been nothing more than an ordinary fruit knife, began shimmering with blue light.

Maybe I had already given up half of my common sense, because strange things like this didn’t even surprise me anymore.

As though my body realized that I had finally done everything I could, my legs began trembling belatedly.

Still, I couldn’t allow myself to collapse until I saw how this ended.

Kiiiiik!

The monster began making a strange sound when it noticed the unusual change.

At the same time, the spear embedded in the floor began growing larger and larger.

It became so huge that calling it a spear no longer seemed appropriate.

Then it shot toward Han Siwoo once again.

A fierce gust of wind swept through the room, blowing my hair around.

I clasped my hands tightly together.

There was no turning back now.

If Han Siwoo’s attack failed, every one of us would die.

And yet...

I wasn’t as scared as I had been before.

Blue light surged around the fruit knife in Han Siwoo’s hand, and a shape resembling a large kitchen knife formed around the small blade that was barely the length of a hand.

Whoooosh—!

The spear rushing toward Han Siwoo accelerated even more.

Han Siwoo raised his knife.

Then he brought it straight down toward the monster’s forehead.

At that exact moment—

BOOOOM—!

A small explosion erupted right in front of me.

Dust from the shattered floor filled the air and blocked my vision.

My eyes stung, but I refused to close them.

Eventually, the dust settled.

Everything around us became deathly silent.

The first thing I saw was two human figures.

More precisely...

I saw Oppa standing in front of Han Siwoo, blocking the attack that had been flying toward him.

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what I was looking at.

I simply stared at the frozen scene like it was a photograph.

Then—

Thud.

The monster’s body collapsed onto the floor.

Time, which had seemed to stop, began moving again.

And so did my thoughts.

A shiver ran through my entire body, from the tips of my feet all the way to the top of my head.

We won.

We actually won!

I forgot all about my shaking body and hurried toward them.

But before I could reach them—

Crack—!

The shield that had been protecting Oppa shattered.

At the same moment, Oppa’s body swayed.

Then he collapsed to the floor.

“Oppa!”

Seeing his condition up close made my blood run cold.

“Are you okay?”

Oppa opened his mouth as if he wanted to answer, but no words came out.

Instead, he slowly shook his head.

His breathing was rough, and the cough that escaped his lips was mixed with blood.

But...

We won.

So why...?

“O-Oppa...”

“...”

His eyes were closed, probably because he was exhausted.

But seeing him like that only terrified me even more.

What if he never opens his eyes again?

“Hey, Kim Jihoon... You’re not going to die, right? Say something... Please...”

My teeth chattered as I spoke.

Before I knew it, tears had filled my eyes and blurred my vision.

I didn’t even have the presence of mind to wipe them away.

All I could do was shake Oppa desperately.

Another weak cough escaped him.

Then Oppa answered in a tiny voice, almost like he was breathing the words out.

“Don’t... shake me...”

“Hyung...”

Han Siwoo stared at Oppa with a devastated expression.

“Siwoo... What do we do about my brother...?”

Han Siwoo was smart.

Even in hopeless situations, he was clever enough to come up with solutions no one else could think of.

So...

Surely he would come up with something this time too.

“We need to stop the bleeding first—”

“Idiot... You think... stopping the bleeding... is enough for this...?”

Oppa’s voice was so quiet that I wouldn’t have heard it if I hadn’t been listening closely.

And it was getting weaker by the second.

“Don’t talk. Just don’t say anything. I’ll find something to stop the bleeding, so just stay still.”

I rambled as I stood up and looked around.

I roughly rubbed my itchy, tear-filled eyes with the back of my hand.

This wasn’t the time to stand around crying like an idiot.

I anxiously bit my lip.

“Please...”

Anything would be fine.

Just give me something...

At that moment—

[If it had not been for the Elixir obtained from the monster at that time, Kim Jihoon might have died.]

Again.

A strange sentence flashed through my mind.

Those mysterious words that always appeared like a miracle whenever I was in danger.

It almost felt like some demon was playing with me.

But...

My legs were already moving toward the monster.

Even if you really are a demon, I don’t care.

Please save Oppa.

When I reached the monster, I stopped breathing for a moment.

What if it suddenly comes back to life?

Fear rushed through me.

No.

It’ll be okay.

I slowly took a breath and reached toward the monster.

The moment my hand touched its hard, slimy body, I squeezed my eyes shut.

I searched through it blindly until my hand found a pouch.

There were all sorts of strange objects inside.

But what immediately caught my attention were two small bottles filled with red liquid.

I pulled them out and ran straight back to Oppa.

“What’s that?”

“This might be able to save Oppa.”

I answered confidently, but the truth was that I had no certainty at all.

Still, Oppa’s face was growing paler by the second.

There was no time left to hesitate.

I quickly opened one of the Elixirs.

Oppa seemed to have completely exhausted his strength.

He didn’t even resist as I poured the strange liquid into his mouth.

By the time the entire liquid had gone down his throat, changes began appearing in his body.

Color returned to his corpse-like pale face.

His torn skin closed before my eyes, healing so completely that not even a scar remained.

Something like this could never happen in reality.

The monster.

The Elixir.

Everything that had happened was completely unrealistic.

And yet...

For once, I was grateful that reality had become so unrealistic.

Oppa’s closed eyes slowly opened.

“What...?”

His voice was still weak.

But he was clearly much better than before.

Only then did I finally breathe in relief.

Now that the tension was fading, I began wondering about the strange sentences that had appeared in my mind.

What exactly was that?

It had told me the monster’s weakness.

And it had given me information about the Elixir.

“What the hell...?”

Oppa finally noticed the condition of his own body.

His eyes widened as he looked up at me.

I held back the tears threatening to fall and barely managed to curl the corners of my lips upward.

“You’re so reckless...”

Oppa gave a weak chuckle.

“Well, I didn’t die, so isn’t that enough?”

How had he survived for twenty-three years with that kind of mindset?

Maybe that was exactly why he had almost died just now.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Yeah. The pain completely disappeared.”

Oppa moved his body around a little before his eyes stopped on the Elixir still in my hand.

I followed his gaze.

There had been two bottles of Elixir.

I had just used one on Oppa.

That meant one bottle remained.

“What the hell is that?”

Oppa asked suspiciously.

For a moment, I wondered whether I should tell them exactly what had happened to me.

But I had no idea where I was supposed to begin.

Even I didn’t fully understand what was happening.

I shrugged.

“Who knows?”

Oppa stared at me.

“You fed me something without even knowing what it was?”

His suspicious gaze landed on me at the same moment he snatched the Elixir from my hand.

I glared at him after suddenly having it stolen from me.

“You sure complain a lot for someone whose life I just saved.”

“...”

Normally, Oppa would have immediately snapped back at me.

Strangely, however, he remained silent this time.

He examined the Elixir with a serious expression before asking,

“Where did you get this?”

“...From that monster.”

Han Siwoo’s expression stiffened along with Oppa’s.

For a moment, I wondered whether something was wrong.

Han Siwoo asked,

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Everything. That this is an Elixir, and that the monster’s weakness was the center of its forehead.”

My eyes widened.

How did he know?

I definitely hadn’t said a single word about it being an Elixir.

And yet Han Siwoo clearly knew what it was.

What?

Wasn’t that information something only I knew?

Oppa watched my expression before asking with a sour look,

“Why are you making that face? You look like someone just scammed you.”

“...I kind of did just get scammed.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing...”

For some reason, I lowered my head solemnly.

Of course.

Why would someone as ordinary as me suddenly receive some special privilege?

“Everyone knows this stuff, don’t they?”

Oppa stared at me.

“Don’t tell me you Awakened too?”

“...What?”

Awakened?

What was he talking about?

“You don’t look like you did.”

“Judging by the fact that none of the usual symptoms appeared when someone Awakens...”

“Siwoo, seriously. What did she even do to Awaken? If people can Awaken just by standing around watching, that’s way too unfair to the rest of us.”

I didn’t really understand what they were talking about.

But I could at least tell they were insulting me.

The two of them whispered among themselves before turning toward me at the same time.

Their expressions were extremely suspicious.

“What exactly are you?”

“What do you mean, what am I?”

“How did you know information that someone shouldn’t be able to know unless they’re an Awakened?”

Only after hearing Oppa’s question did I understand.

Those strange sentences appearing inside my head...

Apparently, they were something that only happened to me.

I had never particularly intended to hide it.

So I obediently told them everything that had happened to me.