Chapter 117 Nightmare

Hajime found himself running through a dense forest. He seemed to be lagging behind others who were running ahead of him. Hajime tried his best to catch up with everyone, but no matter how fast he ran the wolves behind him still caught up with him. 

Hajime felt his heart beating fast. He was only an arm's length away from the person in front of him. He reached out to grab the other person's sleeve, but he didn't catch it. For safety, the person in front of Hajime jumped to the top of the wall, but when Hajime reached out to grab the top of the wall, he couldn't reach the top. 

As Hajime tried to jump up again and grab the top of the wall, he realized that he was just a little child. He quickly stacked three stones together and grabbed the top of the wall. At this time, the other two people jumped up, grabbed the wall, and climbed on top of the wall. The two looked down at Hajime. 

Hajime looked up and saw Aimi and Asa standing on top of the wall. Hajime cried and begged, "Mamma... Papa, please pull me up." Hajime lowered his head, and the wolves growled at Hajime. "Pappa...Mamma... helps me." 

Hajime raised his head and saw Kenji looking down at him. "I'm sorry, Hajime-kun, I'm getting married. I don't need you anymore," he said, smiling down at Hajime. 

Asa looked down at Hajime, picked up Danno, and held Ichika's hand. He smiled at Hajime and said, "You are a good boy, hang on the wall, don't fall. If you want to live, you must pull yourself up." 

"Papa! Papa... please don't leave me behind," Hajime begged in tears. 

Hajime looked down and saw that there were no longer wolves under his feet, but hot lava, bubbling and rising towards him. Aimi walked up to Hajime and stepped on Hajime's hand with her foot. 

Aimi lowered her head and smiled at Hajime. "You are worth more to me dead than alive," she said.

The people standing on the edge of the cliff pointed their fingers at Hajime and continued to laugh. Then Aimi pulled out a long sword and cut off Hajime's hands. 

Hajime plummeted toward the hot lava, and as he free felled to his death, he could still hear their laughter echoing from above. 

"No!" Hajime screamed. 

"No!" Hajime sat up suddenly, feeling his heart beating wildly. He was sweating profusely and panting. As he wiped his sweat, he noticed that the only thing still lit in the small house was the faded charcoal still burning in the fire pit a few feet away from him. He hadn't had a nightmare in years, but he didn't know why he woke up from it again tonight. He sighed and noticed that the others were still sleeping. 

Hajime slowly stood up as quietly as possible, trying not to disturb the others' sleep. Hajime slowly opened the door, and the only thing still glowing in the darkness were the transparent berries a few hundred yards away from the small stone house. He thought, since he couldn't sleep anyway, he would go pick some golden berries. So, he continued walking towards the pond. 

Since they discovered that this was an enchanted place without any danger, they no longer had someone to keep watch. Although there was no danger here, the tree light reflected by the transparent berries still gave Hajime a strange feeling of being watched. When he went out at night, the hairs on Hajime's neck always stood up.

Hajime slowly approached the pond, wondering if the peacocks would come to perform their dance tonight, but it seemed that they had not come back since the previous two nights. This made him realize that maybe the peacocks would only come back when their golden color started to fade. He then hopes that the golden color on his skin would also fade too. 

After Hajime picked ten golden berries and three transparent berries. He put the berries into a small pouch and put them in his cross bag. He stepped back and bowed to the tree like the peacocks did. "Thank you for the fruit," he said. 

Hajime raised his head and was about to go back to the house when he heard a loud noise coming from the direction of the house. At that moment, the transparent berries on the magic tree stopped glowing. Hajime started to walk back to the house, but he encountered difficulty because there was no light in the trees anymore to help him see in the dark. 

Yul was woken up by the sound of the door opening. At first, he thought it might be the wind that opened the door slightly. He reached out to Hajime and found that Hajime was no longer sleeping next to him. He wanted to chase Hajime, but he was embarrassed by their behavior earlier that night, so he thought Hajime might want to be alone. 

Yul put his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. Although it was dark, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. He slowly began to sort out his feelings. Yul has always been an upright person. Although he had no love feelings for Hajime when he decided to marry Hajime, he never thought about divorcing Hajime. Over the months they were together, Yul slowly let Hajime into his heart little by little because of everything Hajime had done for him. So, when he saw Hajime's tears, he felt somewhat sorry for Hajime, so he kissed Hajime's forehead to comfort Hajime, but he didn't realize that this simple and innocent kiss turned into something unexpected that he couldn't even imagine. 

Yul didn't understand why he had such feelings and affections for Yun, a woman he had just met, but deep down he suppressed these feelings. He knew that if he returned to Tangzang with another woman besides Hajime, it would bring shame to his family. 

In Tangzang, polyandry was a common practice among royal nobles and wealthy classes, but family conflicts always followed. Yul repeatedly witnessed Abrafo's brother refusing to return home because of domestic conflicts between his wife and his male concubine. So, Yul decided that if he were to get married, if his current spouse was still alive, he would not take another wife because Yul didn't want to be the judge and jury between wives. 

While Yul was still sorting out his thoughts, he saw the door being slowly pushed open. He thought it might be Hajime, but then he saw two men dressed in black slowly walking into the house. Yul thought the two men must be thieves, so Yul slowly reached for the sword beside him. 

The two men in black stared at the four-sleeping people in the corner of the room. Instead of walking towards the sleeping four people, they walked to the fire pit. The first man in black grabbed a small package from his waist and was about to pour something into the fire pit, when Yul flew out from the corner of the room, grabbed his hair with Yul's left hand, and Yul waved his sword at the face of the second man in black. The second man in black blocked Yul's sword with his hand, knocking him to the ground. 

Yul turned the sword over and hit the first man in black in the chest with the tip of the sword. Yul grabbed the man by the back of his neck and forcibly threw him to the door. The first man in black hits the door, knocking it to the ground. 

The second man in black in the room stood up and quickly rushed towards Yul. Yul took two steps forward quickly and saw the first man in black slowly getting up. He rushed out of the door and knocked the first man to the ground with his left hand. At the same time, he unsheathed his sword and slashed at the second man in black's face, killing the second man in black instantly. Five more men in black rushed out of the woods and stood in front of Yul. Three more men in black flew over the small house and threw pots of oil on the roof. Two other men also flew from behind the house and threw torches on the roof, causing the roof to be swallowed up instantly in flame. The eleven men stood before Yul with their weapons drawn. 

Yul gritted his teeth and asked, "Who are you? What do you want?" 

The first man in black grunted in pain and said, "Capture the old man." 

The crash woke Abrafo, Michio, and U-ri who were sleeping in the house. They discovered that a pot of oil had broken the ceiling into the other side of the small house and fire began climbing up the walls, blocking their escape route through the front door. 

As Michio and U-ri began gathering their personal belongings away from the fire, Abrafo quickly knocked off the window panels. Michio and U-ri grabbed their personal belongings and threw them out of the window.

Michio knelt on the ground and shouted, "Come on, U-ri." 

U-ri stepped on Michio's thigh and pushed himself out of the window. 

Michio turned around and saw Abrafo grabbing Yul's bags. "Abrafo! Come on!" 

Abrafo coughed and said, "Go on. I'm right behind you." 

Michio jumped through the window. 

Abrafo grabbed Yul's bag and rushed to the window. He threw Yul's bag out of the window, and then he quickly jumped out of the window. He grabbed their belongings and threw them away from the burning house. 

Abrafo stood up and shouted, "We're out!" He turned around and saw that U-ri was not with them. "Where is U-ri?" 

Michio looked up and said, "He was right here when I rushed to get our bags." 

Abrafo and Michio looked at the ground and found two backpacks on the ground, but U-ri was missing. 

Abrafo gritted his teeth. "Shit!" 

"U-ri!" Michio shouted with all his strength. "U-ri!"