Chapter 83
Chapter 83. Terminal Diagnosis (8)
It was a truth she hadn’t wanted to admit, not even to herself. At the whispered confession, Juyul said nothing for a long moment. Then suddenly, he tightened his arms around her and asked, lips pressed softly against the nape of her neck,
“Can I take ‘not hating it’ to mean you like it?”
“Do… do what you want…”
“Even this?”
The lips that had only lightly touched her skin now moved, slowly brushing against it. At the unfamiliar sensation, she instinctively pulled her neck in, but then something warm and damp dragged across her skin. Startled, Sodam jerked back, clutching her neck and scooting away to the corner of her seat. Juyul let out a quiet laugh at the sight of her frantically rubbing the spot.
“So, not quite that far?”
“Y-you can’t just… you can’t do things like that without warning!”
“When did we ever talk so much before doing things?”
“From now on!”
Before she left Juyul’s house last time, they’d done much more than this more than once. Who would have thought that just a couple months later, his touch would feel so unfamiliar? More than anything, the fact that it had sent chills down her spine and made her legs lock up in reflex was deeply unsettling.
‘Was I always this… into it…?’
She had thought her reactions were within normal range, but maybe they weren’t. She was so thrown off that she couldn’t even look at Juyul properly. She scooted toward the window, trying to hide her burning face. The silence between them stretched uncomfortably—until, finally, a voice, like a savior, called from outside the tinted window. The divider between the front and back seats was heavily shaded, so she couldn’t see the driver at all. Normally, that level of secrecy would’ve raised red flags, but right now she wanted nothing more than to bow in gratitude to that anonymous driver.
As soon as the door opened, Sodam all but leapt out of the vehicle. When she looked up, she was greeted by a dense forest.
A forest. A… forest?
Confused, she turned around to see Juyul stepping out after her and casually jerking his chin toward the trees. As if he’d already forgotten the awkward moment from before, she marched up to him and demanded,
“I thought we were heading to the lodging first! Why are we at the field site already? Do people here not understand what jet lag is?”
“Ah, maybe not? But… how did you know this was the field site?”
“W-well, obviously! We came straight from the airport, and it’s not like this is a hotel—it’s a forest. What else would it be?”
“When we went to that deserted island last time, it didn’t exactly look like a hotel either.”
“But it was next to the field site! So this could be a lodging near the field too!”
Having thought about nothing but Fafnir and Juyul since she’d heard about this assignment, the words had just slipped out. Now trying to cover it up, she found herself countering every question he asked, and it was exhausting. Fortunately, Juyul didn’t push further and simply nodded.
“…Alright. Let’s go with that for now.”
“Not ‘for now’—that’s really what I thought. So, what kind of creature are we subjugating this time?”
“They call it Fafnir. Fire-type. No Esper has gotten a clear look at it yet. It supposedly moves from peak to peak every month, setting fires.”
“Then how do we pinpoint its location? What if it disappears to another area today?”
At her clueless question, Juyul pulled out a small black device from his pocket and gave it a shake. The thing looked so expensive that Sodam instinctively averted her eyes, not wanting to even think about how far it was from her world. It felt like he genuinely believed just showing her the device would make her understand it. She let out a small, awkward cough.
“Ahem. So… what is that, exactly?”
“…You really don’t study at all, do you.”
“As long as I do my job well, who needs extra studying? I gave up on all academics the moment I finished the college entrance exam.”
If there was one thing she really couldn’t tolerate, it was being treated like an idiot by Juyul. But honestly, the common sense of this world was anything but normal for her. She still barely understood how Guiding even worked—how was she supposed to know about some weird machine?
At her grumbling reply, Juyul threw in a new jab—one that sent a chill straight down her spine.
“You awakened at nineteen. Why’d a Guide take the college entrance exam?”
“…Ah, um, well—I’m F-class! So I thought maybe I should try something else I could be good at!”
“Judging by the fact that you’re standing next to me right now, I guess that didn’t go too well.”
“Can you not poke the sore spots? So, seriously, what is that thing?”
Though her voice was more awkward than ever, the content itself was surprisingly plausible. It seemed only Juyul noticed that what she said contradicted her very first lie—the one about amnesia.
When he let it pass as a joke, completely unbothered, Sodam secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It confirmed to Juyul that she was hiding far more serious secrets. But grilling her now would only make her more wary, which wouldn’t help his plans at all. With that in mind, he smiled smoothly and changed the subject as she wanted.
“It’s a device that measures the energy emitted by the creature. We used it in Gunsan before too, to locate that monster… I think it was later dubbed Leviathan or something.”
“Ooh. So we just wait at the lodging, and if it appears, we come out and deal with it?”
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity at the marvel of modern technology, her voice bright and innocent. Juyul’s smile deepened. In the future, Sodam would come to call this his devil’s smile.
“What are you talking about? Of course we have to go out and find it. If it starts a fire and moves on before we get there, it’ll be hard to track.”
“…How are the two of us supposed to find something in this massive mountain? Has the UK Association lost their minds?”
“Obviously, we’ll divide the area. If the other side spots it, they’ll contact us. We’ll just go where it shows up.”
The way Juyul talked about hopping between mountain peaks as if it were like taking a one-stop bus ride made Sodam feel like twenty sweet potatoes were stuffed down her throat. Sure, for a healthy SSS-class like him, it might be easy. But for her, it could literally be a life-threatening ordeal.
She wanted to whip out the Guiding injection she’d brought and shout, “Do you seriously want to put someone who might die through this?” But the thought of Juyul’s reaction, eyes turning cold in an instant, made her swallow the urge.
Clenching her fists and trembling, she took a deep breath to calm herself and finally spoke in a soft but firm voice.
“Esper Baek Juyul, would it be alright if I stayed at the lodging first? Look at my ankles. If I try to follow you through this terrain, they might just snap.”
“Sorry, but the lodging’s up in the mountains too. You’ll have to hike there at least.”
“…How far is it?”
“About an hour?”
The moment he said that, Sodam made up her mind. She would rather camp here on the spot. Without hesitation, she laid herself down flat on the dirt and shouted,
“I’m not going! I’ll die if I go!”
“You’re going. You won’t die.”
“You know how trashy my stamina is! You know it better than anyone!”
Half-losing her mind as she yelled, a fresh wave of frustration surged up. Who knew better than Juyul how wiped out she got after just one round of sex? If anyone in the world could understand her utterly pathetic stamina, it was him. As she shouted in outrage, Juyul looked down at her for a moment before sighing softly.
“Even though you went as far as lying down on the ground, I’m sorry to say—when I said ‘go,’ I didn’t mean on foot.”
“…Then what?”
“Can you feel the ground shaking? You should notice it more since you’re lying down.”
His voice was unreadable—was he teasing her or serious? Closing her eyes and focusing on her back pressed to the earth, she realized he was right: the ground was trembling slightly.
What in the world could be approaching to cause that kind of vibration? As she opened her eyes in confusion, she noticed Juyul’s gaze had shifted from her to somewhere beyond. Following it, she saw a massive mountain jeep rolling toward them.
There wasn’t even time to be surprised. What left a greater impression was the Association staff member stepping out of the jeep with polite formality, only to freeze upon seeing her lying there and gape in confusion. The secondhand embarrassment was enough to make her want to evaporate.
“Um… why is the Guide… lying on the ground…?”
“…”
“I’m not… misinterpreting something here, am I…?”
Juyul and Sodam both turned their backs to the stammering staff member at the exact same time.
