Chapter 120 – Retreat (7)
– Am I not that attractive?
It’s not that she lacks charm.
However, it was difficult for me to see Azalea as a woman.
If she were any other woman, I might have engaged in a fleeting dalliance and moved on. But with Azalea… I experienced a feeling that was hard to describe. I wish she wouldn’t worry about me and just be happy. Something like that.
While attending the academy, I became quite confident in my knowledge of Azalea. Though we didn’t live together and get to know each other as closely as Heaven and White Peach did, we still shared many conversations and day-to-day experiences. I must know her better than her own family.
Azalea had been incredibly busy since taking over the authority of the Jinmok Group.
From constructing childcare facilities to resolving incidents occurring in various places, she generously invested in helping others – a fact likely known only to her at the Academy.
Despite her best efforts to stay awake in class, dark circles formed faintly under her eyes, a sight that evoked a touch of sadness.
*Knock knock!*
…How could such a diligent person end up like this?
Her face, wearing a bitter smile, was reflected on her phone screen.
[2 seconds ago]
Azalea: I didn’t give up.
“Oh, Azalea…”
They say if one couldn’t date a woman in their past life, they’ll be blessed with a woman’s fortune in the next. Perhaps I had a lingering grudge from my previous life due to my inability to find love with a woman.
*Knock knock!*
Azalea: …Are you reading this right now?
Azalea: I’m sorry, I think I was getting ahead of myself.
Azalea: But I’m sincere.
Before I could finish reading the previous message, the next one arrived instantly.
The typing was incredibly fast. The emotions embedded within each sentence were palpable, as if they traveled through the airwaves.
‘I was putting my heart first… That’s what I said.’
As I pressed my phone’s power button, everything went dark.
I needed to wash up, but my body wouldn’t move properly. Since arriving here, I’ve felt a continuous, accumulating fatigue. My arms and legs were tingling, and my parched throat urgently craved a glass of water.
“What am I going to do?”
There were so many things to resolve in the future. Overwhelmed by an indescribable feeling of frustration, I slowly closed my eyes.
* * * * *
“Ugh.”
With a tissue, I wiped my tears away and blew my nose.
It was inevitable that the pent-up, unfair tears would eventually burst forth.
“You’re kind, so kind.”
“…”
“Si-heon just doesn’t see it.”
Gu-seul gently patted the back of Azalea, who was curled up on the bed.
With her face flushed from drunkenness, she wiped her tears with a tissue.
“Don’t blame Si-heon… I’m the one who’s not attractive.”
“Oh, so you curse at me because it comforts you?”
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
It’s true that she’s been rejected, but there’s still plenty of time.
This was already the 94th time she had made a stubborn resolution to somehow try again. Just by repeating her murmured love confessions, it seemed like it could easily reach a hundred times.
When an innocent woman experiences love for the first time, she is said to change terrifyingly – was that really true? Gu-seul had no choice but to stick out her tongue.
“Patience wins in the end.”
“Dallae, you’re so obsessed…”
“Is there a problem?”
“No~ No~ Si-heon is truly fortunate. Drink some water. That’s right, good.”
Azalea gulped down the ice water Gu-seul held out to her. Her eyes were sore from crying so much, but still, the tears wouldn’t stop.
In a fit of anger, Azalea rapidly tapped the screen of the cellphone she held in her right hand.
“…cell phone.”
“Why the cell phone? Are you going to message him? Hey, that’s the worst idea… Don’t do it. No, ah!! You already did it….”
Shameful Kakao Talk sent after being rejected!!
Embarrassed, Gu-seul covered her face with both hands. Azalea, unfazed by her friend’s reaction, shot Gu-seul a glare and continued speaking.
“I heard Si-heon likes someone… Who do you think it might be?”
An enigmatic question.
As Gu-seul gazed into Azalea’s wide-open eyes, she deliberately made her voice tremble.
“Y-you…don’t tell me…you’re going to do something to another girl because of love?”
“Well, it might not be a bad idea… Just kidding. So, who do you think it is?”
Was this truly the same Azalea who vowed to never cause harm to others?
Her cold remark, claiming it was a joke, was anything but humorous.
“I think it might be Sansooyu? Her chest is really big too. Judging by how they suddenly became close and cling to each other, it’s probably certain.”
“What, does it make sense to have feelings for Sansooyu? There’s a difference in social status.”
“I could do better than that person.”
“Oh, really…”
This marked the ninety-fifth confession.
Azalea finally fell asleep after reaching one hundred confessions.
“…love…”
“Look at this? She confesses even in her sleep. How much does she like him?”
Gu-seul playfully poked Azalea’s cheek as she slept.
After confirming that Azalea was indeed asleep, Gu-seul sighed, got up from the bed, and straightened her clothes.
‘Seeing this, that Lee Si-heon guy is really something.’
She put on a black cardigan and brushed off the dust from her clothes.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling, her cheerful expression, reminiscent of a puppy, slowly turned into a dull and emotionless one.
Gu-seul murmured as she covered the sleeping Azalea with a blanket.
“Because that person is the one he fancies.”
A completely different appearance from the usual Gu-seul, whose exaggerated gestures had diminished.
At the dressing table and the dormitory floor, Gu-seul hastily tidied the messy room and left the lodgings.
“…Where else would she be, if not whispering sweet nothings with her teacher?”
And if that’s not the case.
“Perhaps she’s sharing affection with that remarkable Heavenly Demon.”
Contrary to the sarcastic words, the tone was incredibly calm and icy cold.
Gu-seul pulled a wet tissue from her pocket and wiped her hands. Due to her lower-than-average body temperature, her hands were exceptionally paler compared to others.
“Heroic sensuality.”
Though metaphor wasn’t her preferred manner of expression, what other term could be more fitting for her circumstance?
She was none other than the one who inherited the royal bloodline. At the same time, she was also the person he had to deal with.
Gu-seul took out her cellphone and browsed through the messages she had received.
Some men’s messages were casually disregarded or met with moderately cheerful replies.
Don’t devote too much time to maintaining relationships. Gu-seul recalled the lessons from her childhood as she severed her connections.
“Phew.”
She couldn’t keep up this agent act for much longer. Gu-seul silently grumbled to herself.
Yet her body remained firmly bound to the organization. As a nameless operative, she had no choice but to follow her superior’s orders. She was a life bred for manipulation from the very beginning.
These operatives led lives devoid of any real excitement. As she scrolled through her messages, she noticed Lee Si-heon’s name, someone she had conversed with long ago. Worry crept across Gu-seul’s emotionless face.
‘I don’t know if he’ll be an ally or an enemy.’
She didn’t want to kill people if she could help it.
“It would be better to make the right choice when the time comes.”
A far more critical time than a trivial love story was gradually approaching.
Perhaps it was the turbulence that would arrive with the changing century. Before, it had been nothing short of a catastrophe that shook the very foundations of history, incomparable to the Heavenly Demon.
When that time comes, there would be no reason to attend an academy like this ever again.
And could it be only that?
The hotel-style food we take for granted now could be replaced with wheat bread that has a rubbery texture.
“Let’s just watch for now.”
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to enjoy this mundane daily life before driving out the world tree that feeds on the blood of the world.
“He’s from another world.”
Gu-seul hid a massive spoiler for this world within the winds of the breaking dawn.
* * * * * *
– Tick.
The sound of a clock reaches the ears.
It is different from the noise of ordinary grandfather clocks.
Instead, it is a clear and beautiful, addictive gear sound that embeds itself in the mind and refuses to be easily dislodged.
My vision was clouded, as if struck by a terrible case of nearsightedness.
A sensation of floating in my body. As soon as I realized it was a dream, I was wide awake.
A lucid dream?
Perhaps it’s due to fatigue, but I’m experiencing all sorts of unfamiliar things.
I’ve never had a dream like this in my life.
Frowning at the haze before my eyes, I focus on the scene right in front of me.
Then, as if a panorama, the dream environment materialized.
‘…Trees.’
Now even my dreams are filled with trees.
Two stumps, one collapsing tree.
My mood worsened despite being in a dream, seeing the unwelcome tree because of yesterday’s events.
As I approached the tree, I stepped on the protruding roots without any reason.
[Argh!]
A woman’s moan rang sharply in my ears.
As the roots shifted, I stumbled and fell backwards.
In the dream, I felt no pain.
I eyed the tree before me with suspicion as I sat on my backside.
Moments ago, I had heard a voice coming from that tree.
“…Who are you?”
A tree that can speak is a World Tree.
To me, the World Tree is a harmful entity.
Thus, this tree must also be harmful.
[……]
The World Tree that invaded my consciousness gave no response, acting disgraceful. Only when I focused my gaze did it slowly begin to speak.
[You look quite different from what I remember.]
“Who are you?”
[Don’t you truly know? The tree you toppled?]
Though it speaks of being toppled, in reality, the only tree I had slain was a withered, twisted Ent.
I adjusted my position, sitting cross-legged, and scanned my surroundings. I had thought this was a dream, but it seemed to be a dream heavily influenced by external pressures.
“Are you King Mokryeong?”
[……You are aware, then.]
“Yes, one of the most formidable figures I’ve faced in my life.”
The World Tree of Resentment and King Mokryeong.
They are dreadfully entwined with my existence.
As I recall them after such a long time, stress surges through my head.
I vigorously scratch my scalp.
“…I have so much on my mind, yet I find myself in this situation again.”
[He was somewhat different. His memories were unstable too… Have you, by any chance, succeeded the next generation?]
“I don’t know. How would I know that?”
[…….]
The conversation ceases, and silence stretches on.
It seems there is more to say, but for now, I am distinctly separate from King Mokryeong in this world.
Regardless of whether I am the next generation or not, we have nothing to gain from this, only causing each other distress.
The tree is unable to extract any information from me.
“The World Tree of Time.”
[You know it well.]
“Ever since I arrived here, I’ve been feeling strangely fatigued… Is that because of you?”
[It was an unavoidable process to bring you here.]
Since it is said to be the world tree slain by King Mokryeong, it must indeed be the World Tree of Time.
Today, there were quite a few peculiar occurrences. Despite my exceptional physical abilities preventing fatigue, I found myself strangely sound asleep both on the plane and in the car. I was about to strike down the stump before me but halted my thoughts halfway.
“Right… I’m well aware that the World Tree beings are so selfish that they summoned me here without a word.”
It’s no longer amusing. I’ve been dragged around like this far too many times.
However, the difference between the past and now is that I possess the power to resist.
“Did you draw me into this dream because you’re afraid of dying?”
[It’s not fear. A body that will vanish within a week anyway. There is one favor I must ask of you, as someone who has faced off with the powers of your ancestors.]
My eyebrows furrowed. I know nothing about my ancestors, but it seemed I could glean some necessary information.
“…Let me ask one thing as well.”
[What is it?]
I also intended to share the knowledge I held.
But before that, I must know this.
“What am I in this world?”
The World Tree fell silent.
The rotten branches that had fallen to the ground turned into particles and slowly began to vanish.
Has the time come? That was the feeling I got upon witnessing it.
As the World Tree gradually faded from my dream, it left behind its final words.
“[…I will tell you everything I know, as far as my knowledge extends. It doesn’t matter which temple in this place, just come to any of them.]”
Was it postponing the answer?
It wasn’t a difficult request, so I nodded in agreement.
The events of yesterday were ultimately over and done with.
Beneath the vanishing earth, I lay sprawled out and held a single curse word on the tip of my tongue.
“Damn it.”
First, human relationships, and then my own identity.
It was a damned world that left no room for even a trace of doubt about whether refusing the confession had been the right choice.