Episode 4. An Unwalked Road (2)

< Episode 4. An Unwalked Road (2) >

In my dream, Kim Dokja called me Cheon Inho. However, when I listened carefully, it sounded

like he was calling me Lee Hakhyun.

No, when I listened again....

「⬛⬛⬛.」

I'm not sure what he was saying.

But there he was, and I was standing next to him. We were looking at a very large snowfield.

A snowfield with letters floating on it.

It was so big, it seemed like no matter how much letters there was, they would never be able to

cover it all.

「How long have you been here?」

I may or may not have asked that question.

「A very long time.」

I don't know if that's what Kim Dokja said or not.

As I stared at the snowfield for a while, I noticed something like footprints.

They were human footprints.

As if to test the waters, he gestured at me and started walking along the footprints.

I followed him too.

「This person must have really big feet.」

We walked, overlapping our footprints on top of each other. Occasionally, I'd take a wrong step

and leave a footprint in the wrong place.

「Ah.」

Kim Dokja laughed, and I laughed, too.

「⬛⬛⬛ is going to get angry.」

I could almost hear him saying that.

And I wonder how long we walked.

I don't know why, but the big footprints split into two directions. One big footprint kept moving

forward, and the other big footprint started walking diagonally.

So were there two the persons leaving big footprints from the beginning?

I couldn't be sure.

They were all the same size.

I'm not sure why, but here the owners of the big footprints suddenly became two. So one walked

straight ahead and the other walked diagonally.

I stared at the path of the footprints in front of me, and then tried to follow them for a few steps.

I must have taken a dozen steps.

「It stopped.」

The footprints stopped here. Where had the owner of these footprints gone?

A strange thought occurred to me as I stared at the footprints.

Perhaps the owner of the footprints was still standing on them.

When I turned around, Kim Dokja was standing tall and looking in my direction.

I waved at him and asked.

「Can I keep walking this way?」

Kim Dokja nodded.

I asked again.

「I might make a mistake like I did before.」

「It's okay.」

「I might make a mess of the snowfield.」

「It doesn't matter.」

Is it really okay?

I wanted to ask again, and again, and again.

Kim Dokja smiled and said something. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear his last words.

「I'll keep watching you.」

It sounded like that.

*

"Inho-ssi! Inho-ssi!"

My whole body ached: the wound in my side throbbed and the pain in my broken left arm was

excruciating.

"You said you weren't going to sleep! It's already started!"

"Uh, sorry."

I must have fallen asleep. I wondered why I had such a fairy tale-like dream,

"Pinocchio wasn't good during the operation either."

I guess it was because I heard about Pinocchio. Kim Dokja's last words still echoed in my head. When I looked around, the stomach was already pumping out digestive juices.

Jung Heewon was spraying 'Mucus of the Hammer Seahorse' all over my head. My shoulders

slumped as the sticky liquid trickled down.

"Stay still, you said it's safe to apply this."

Jung Heewon smeared her own body with the Mucus of the Hammer Seahorse.

Our plan was simple.

One, smear our entire bodies with mucus to resist the ichthyosaur's digestive juices.

Two, when the digestive juices start spewing, stick a 'Stone Hog's Pointed Thorn' into the

openings.

This is the exact same tactic that Kim Dokja did in the original novel.

The difference is....

"By the way, who's Kim Dokja?"

"What?"

"You mentioned him in your sleep."

"Oh."

I thought for a moment, then opened my mouth.

"It's just a friend's name."

Jung Heewon asked, squeezing my mucus-covered head.

"Then what about Ji Eunyoo?"

"Did I say that name too?"

"Yes. You asked me to save you."

Did I have a deadline in my dreams?

"It's the name of my editor."

"Your editor?"

I thought it would be okay to be a little honest. I didn't know what Cheon Inho's real job was

anyway. He was probably a swindler or something.

"I used to be a writer."

Still, it's better to be a writer than a swindler.

Jung Heewon asked in surprise.

"Wow, a writer? What kind of books did you write?"

"That... Do you know web novels?"

"Web novels? Is it like a webtoon?"

"That... like Lord of the Rings...."

"Oh, Lord of the Rings! I've seen the movies! Is that what you wrote?"

"Well, something similar...."

I don't know why my voice kept getting lower.

[A constellation who hasn't revealed their modifier is asking you to speak up.]

Easier said than done.

I sighed lightly and said.

"Would you mind not telling the others?"

"Why? I think it's cool."

This is why you shouldn't introduce yourself.

"Let's start with that side first. Hold this and insert one on each opening."

"Maybe because you're a writer you're good at changing the subject."

Jung Heewon grumbled, but stuck the thorns where I pointed.

As expected, the physicality of a main character was truly something else.

There were four openings.

Jung Heewon stuck one thorn into each of the three openings, then closed them tightly to keep

the digestive juices from flowing out.

"There's only one left."

"Let's shove the rest of them into this one opening."

"Is that okay?"

"Yes. It'll probably work better."

The 'Stone Hog's Pointed Thorn' is an item that grows by sucking the fluids of sea species.

Kim Dokja had only used one thorn for each opening.

But in theory, the more thorns you put in an opening, the better.

The more thorns there are, the more thorns will grow at the same time, and the faster the

ichthyosaur will fall.

"One."

Digestive juices gurgled out of the thorn.

The second thorn was inserted, and the ichthyosaur's stomach began to wriggle grotesquely.

It wasn't so easy from the third thorn on. Jung Heewon frowned as she stuck the thorn into the

hole again and again.

"After the third one, it's a bit difficult, can you... support me from the back?"

"I'd love to, but my arms are like this."

"Support me with your back. Like this."

I stood with my back against Jung Heewon's back. Inhaling and exhaling, she pushed the thorn

with all her might into the opening.

The part we were standing on shook for a moment, but the thorn went in just right.

After taking a breath, Jung Heewon asked.

"Are we done?"

"Yes. Now we just have to wait."

"It's really simple."

The job was done faster than I thought. In the main novel, Kim Dokja even practiced stabbing to

get this done... Why did he struggle so much anyway?

[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' admires your composure.]

[A constellation who hasn't revealed their modifier says it's easy because it's a 'sea serpent'.]

According to my calculations, the time it'll take to subdue the ichthyosaur is half a day to a day.

Considering the number of thorns it has, and the fact that it's smaller than the original, it could go

down sooner than that.

Now it was just a matter of waiting.

I felt a sudden chill rush through me as I relaxed, probably because I was soaking wet from the

river.

Jung Heewon looked at me wistfully as I shivered, then made an unexpected suggestion.

"Shall we stand back to back?"

"If you don't mind, may we?"

"Please sit that way."

We meekly sat back to back. The warmth of Jung Heewon's body transmitted through my back,

and I felt a little less cold.

Jung Heewon asked.

"By the way, how did you come up with this method?"

"It's just something that often appears in web novels."

"You're a writer, I see."

As my back warmed up, I slowly dozed off.

I wish I could use the 'Elaine Forest Essence' sold in the Dokkaebi Bag, but I couldn't right now.

The Elaine Forest Essence recovers your body's wounds completely while you sleep.

I couldn't leave her alone without knowing what would happen.

She kept talking to me as if she knew my condition.

"Tell me something funny."

This was the most embarrassing moment of my life as a writer.

In fact, writers are not very funny people. None of the writers I know are funny.

Still, I managed to squeeze out some dry humor.

"In my novel, there's a character named Jung Heewon."

"What?"

"She looks really strong on the outside, but she's actually a fragile person. She doesn't shy away

from fights because she's a very hard person, so she often breaks."

I thought of the 'Jung Heewon' I knew.

Suddenly, I had a question.

Can I really say that the Jung Heewon I know is the Jung Heewon behind my back now?

I continued.

"She's good at physical work and have a quick mind. When she was in high school, she was

confessed to by junior girls."

"...."

"She's bad at bearing public criticism, but she's good at kendo. She's been going to a kendo

academy since she was a kid."

Jung Heewon, who had been listening until here, clapped her hands. She was genuinely

impressed.

"That's great, you almost got it all right."

Of course I did. Most of it comes from the main novel.

"But the last one is wrong, I never went to a kendo academy, I just went to kendo club at school."

I know. I said that on purpose.

"That's a shame."

"I went to the nationals, and I was elected district representative, but I quit."

"Why?"

"Because of an injury."

This was a story I didn't know.

More accurately, it was a story I hadn't written.

"Injury? Were you hurt badly?"

Jung Heewon was silent for a moment, and then, a beat too late, she answered.

"Yes."

It hit me like a ton of bricks. There must be a story in this world that I didn't write.

I suddenly remembered that Jung Heewon's attribute was 'Crouching Figure'.

How did she become a 'Crouching Figure'?

Originally, 'Crouching Figure' is an attribute that is generated based on the strong mental shock

of an incarnation.

However, Jung Heewon was already a 'Crouching Figure' before she met the Cheoldoo Group.

"Inho-ssi, how did you become a writer?"

"Oh, I..."

I naturally opened my mouth to speak, but I shut up again. An eerie sensation flickered across

my chest.

「How did I become a writer?」

I suddenly couldn't remember.

It was then that the ichthyosaur's stomach wriggled ominously.

I quickly kept my balance and said.

"I think it's about to start."

There was no time for distractions now.

The fight was about to begin.

The ichthyosaur would go down first, or we would go down first?

I took off the shirt I was wearing and used both sleeves to tie Jung Heewon's and my wrists

together.

Jung Heewon asked anxiously.

"Aren't you going to get cold? Ugh!"

The floor vibrated sharply.

The ichthyosaur was twisting its body in pain. The thorns had begun to dig into its body in

earnest.

Author's Note

Meanwhile, there is more.