STM 133

Ever since I opened my eyes in Adeye Lu’s body and started living in Tubain, I’ve always kept death in mind. This body and life are merely borrowed, for I never know when fate might reclaim them.

But I never dreamed I’d die from frustration. Right now, I was on the verge of suffocating.

That damn bear plopped down in its seat, spreading its arms even more sluggishly. Sitting and stretching its arms out to the sides was ‘ㅎ’. The word it just mimed was,

[Fine.]

Mo interpreted it for me, but honestly, it wasn’t really necessary. The bear bastard was so painfully slow that even without Mo, I had more than enough time to figure it out.

Looking back at the conversation I’d barely managed to have with that damn bear, it went like this. This bear was indeed Sarne’s divine beast, and it claimed it had learned the Korean initial consonant expression method from a ‘friend’.

That’s right, that friend was none other than the Borhumi divine beast. The moment I realized it, I nearly roared with rage.

What the hell did that snake bastard do?! Did it go back to its hometown to recuperate, drained of all strength, and spread some weird trend?

I wanted to ran straight to the Crimson Tide Forest, grab it by the throat, and shake it. On second thought, I wanted to ask the bear about the snake’s well-being, but I forced myself to hold back.

If I did, I’d just waste time waiting for an answer, and my blood pressure would rise. But there was something about its answer I didn’t understand.

Didn’t the Borhumi divine beast use that method because it was weak? Then, could Sarne divine beast also have a problem? I asked a moment ago, and this was the answer.

Fine.

In the meantime, I asked how it would express ‘ㅉ’. The bear spread both arms wide to draw a ‘ㅈ’, then held up two fingers. Something about it annoyed me.

And that was all I managed to figure out in over an hour. The bear was fine. That’s all.

“…So you’re fine, but since you can’t make sounds, you express yourself physically, right?”

I asked and waited for the bear to get up, as slow as ever. But it just stayed still. What? Did it get slower?  I was starting to suspect something.

‘No, I can speak.’

A voice echoed in my head. Beautiful and clear, like a siren’s voice. The disconnect between the appearance and voice momentarily scrambled my thoughts. But I quickly realized it was the bear’s voice and jumped to my feet.

“You can speak! Then speak, dammit!”

I unleashed the roar I’d been holding back, but the response was cold. The bear groaned as it slowly got up again. And just as I was about to explode with frustration, the ‘body language’ finally ended.

[‘This is fun,’ it says.]

……This crazy bear!! Forget divine beast, I was about to charge at it and grab its scruff, but Mo revealed an important fact.

[It’s time to return to the mansion.]

Holding the back of my neck again, I thought. It’s a villain. This isn’t a divine beast, it’s the final boss.

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“He said to make sure to keep the date?”

Doctor Kim, receiving Solongo’s report, hummed and tapped her fingers on the desk.

“Wasn’t the hunting tournament supposed to be a time when an incident occurred bringing the Duke Kun and the traitor closer? It’s clearly a trap.”

“That’s likely.”

Doctor Kim nodded in agreement, yet her gaze drifted into the void. Solongo grew impatient, she couldn’t wait and proposed.

“We mustn’t let them discover Lord Lu’s true purpose yet. We need another plan. We don’t know what they’ll do on the day of the hunt, so Lord Lu absolutely must not go there.”

She spoke firmly, yet her worry was evident.

“But if Lord Lu doesn’t attend, they might suspect all of Adeye and turn us into enemies.”

Contrary to Solongo’s seriousness at finding no breakthrough, Doctor Kim offered a simple solution.

“Do we really need to stop Lu? We can just postpone the hunting tournament.”

Ah! Solongo gasped in admiration and nodded.

“I’ll find a way immediately.”

“…….”

“Matriarch, what is it?”

“It bothers me that Hoiga emphasized the date.”

When Doctor Kim voiced her suspicion, Solongo replied.

“He probably thought that only by pressuring us would the Adeye family bring Lord Lu on the desired date.”

“True, an ordinary person might have emphasized the date so blatantly. But Hoiga is a master at deceiving others, honed over ten years.”

“Are you implying it’s a double trap? That he deliberately wants us to suspect him and avoid that date? But isn’t it a fact an accident happens during the hunting tournament?”

Doctor Kim tapped her desk again, then nodded.

“Yes, maybe I’m overthinking it. But since we don’t know his true intentions, we have to be as careful as possible. More importantly, don’t tell Lu about this. Since we haven’t heard from him yet, it seems he hasn’t even entered the Acorn Forest.”

Doctor Kim muttered, staring at the unresponsive communication device.

“No need to add to the worries of a kid struggling alone in enemy territory with no allies.”

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“Butler, what’s wrong?”

Rick had more work than he could handle while Tairok was gone. Even so, he never forgot his nightly habit of checking in front of Lu’s room. Day after day, Lu entered the fog and didn’t return until evening.

His routine was to return, wash, sleep, and leave again before sunrise. It was now time for dinner and rest, yet the butler stood before his room, talking anxiously with another servant.

“Aide Rick.”

The butler recognized him and hurried over.

“Master Lu has skipped his meal and remains lying down.”

“Did he go out into the fog again today?”

The butler nodded.

“But today, it seems something troubling happened inside. The servant who went to change the washing water said he was covering his face with his arm.”

The butler paused with a grave expression.

“They said a single tear was streaming down his cheek.”

“He was crying?!”

Rick shouted in surprise, then quickly lowered his voice.

“Why on earth?”

“Well… Seeing as he was crying and also sighed, it seems something was troubling him.”

Something troubling him in the fog…

“It seems he couldn’t find a way to lift the curse.”

Rick muttered, then stared at the door to Lu’s room with a complicated expression. He hadn’t realized how committed he was to the Kun family. He reflected on how deeply rooted his own prejudice against Lu had been.

“Tell the servants not to disturb him today, so he can calm his mind alone.”

Seeing him work so hard made him hope. If Lu did really lift the curse, he could serve him faithfully for the rest of his life.

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“Ha, ha, ha.”

Leaving the estate earlier than usual and running nonstop left me gasping for breath. Just as I thought my lungs might burst, Mo delivered welcome news.

[We’re almost at our destination. ]

Yes, the “We’re almost there!” shouts from hikers descending the trail were all lies, but Mo’s words were trustworthy. The directional arrows guiding the way began blinking encouragingly.

As expected, an open space soon appeared, along with the large rock and hut I’d seen yesterday. And the ‘people’ standing before them were also similar to yesterday.

“Adeye Lu.”

Black Bear approached me quickly the moment she saw me. I gave her a nod, then shifted my gaze behind her.

That damn…, no, the bear divine beast was sitting there like a doll again today. It seemed to just roll its eyes to check on my arrival.

I hadn’t noticed yesterday, but those eyes were the most alert of the three divine beasts I’d met here. Then again, only someone exceptionally cunning could so intelligently torment someone’s nerves like that.

I’d barely slept all night, finally calming my mind, but seeing that bear’s face already made the back of my neck stiffen. I quickly looked away.

Black Bear was staring at me with a hardened gaze. Looking at her face, she seemed to have stayed up all night too. Right, I should hear from her first, before that bear bastard.

“Are you alright?”

I hadn’t seen her wake up yesterday, so I came to check on her, but she abruptly asked.

“Are you Salvation?”

“Well…”

I didn’t feel the need to say yes or no. She seemed to have her own complicated circumstances too.

“I can see divine beasts. Being able to see non-human beings is the ability of the Adeye family.”

“Not divine beasts. I heard the Adeye family can only barely see low-level spirits.”

“I can see them.”

What can I do about what I see? I said, pointing behind her.

“It’s still here today. The Sarne divine beast.”

“…How am I supposed to believe that?”

Exactly. That was what I wanted to say. I looked at her in confusion.

“If you don’t believe it, why did you faint the moment you heard it yesterday?”

“……”

“Have you ever seen an incredibly huge, toy-like bear before?”

She turned her gaze away, but it was trembling with panic. I didn’t need an answer to know. She had seen it.

“That’s interesting. I heard you can’t see divine beasts.”

“I didn’t see it directly. It’s just… when I was little, I vaguely sensed some kind of presence. Even though it wasn’t visible, just its presence…“

”Did it feel like a big bear?“

Black Bear looked at me with confused eyes, then said harshly again.

“I can’t believe a word you say. Not without proof.”

“Alright. Then I’ll ask the divine beast if it can provide proof.”

Her eyes widened slightly. I warned her as she looked surprised.

“But the answer will be slow. This bear… the divine beast has some issues with communication.”

“What kind of issues?”

“It’s slow.”

“And?”

“Very slow. Really slow.”