194 – Nymph and the Ugly Chick #4
“That’s wrong. It seems that she’s not waking up at all!”
I shook Ari back and forth, slapped her cheek, and hit her everywhere.
But Ari didn’t regain consciousness.
Madam Jo Mo-ryeong, witnessing this, said,
“Ari is trapped in a dream…! They’re trying to trap Ari’s soul in the dream while revealing themselves to seize her body…!”
What should I do?
I felt like I would regret it for a long time if Ari never wakes up.
I wanted to wake Ari no matter what.
But I had no special methods available.
Seeing me in despair, Jo Mo-ryeong took a deep breath and said,
“There is a way you can help, Mr. Il-do. But it could be dangerous. If you’re not careful, you might be in danger yourself.”
“What should I do?”
Swish—.
Jo Mo-ryeong took out the red thread of Athena she had shown earlier.
She began to wrap it around Ari’s pinky finger and said,
“This thread serves as a USB to connect our souls. If you tie this thread around your finger and fall asleep, you may be able to share a dream with Ari. You will end up dreaming the same dream.”
It was a surprisingly modern explanation.
I understood it very well.
So this red thread is meant to dock us like a USB!
As I firmly wrapped the thread around my own finger, Jo Mo-ryeong solemnly warned me.
“If the spirits notice your intrusion, they may interfere and prevent you from escaping the dream. So, remember that this is only a dream.”
I entered the dream to wake Ari—
That’s what my mission entailed.
I had ventured into various cracks before, but this kind of mission was a first for me.
Life has thrown some unusual tasks my way.
—Kkungkkungi…!
—Hioong…!
—Zziji…!
At that moment, Kkungkkungi, Bang Bang, and Ahn Ahn stuck themselves to my body.
I could tell that these animals wanted to join me in the dream.
I tied the thread around their legs as well.
Then Inoi spoke up.
“I, Inoi, also want to try entering a dream…! If I go into the dream, I might be able to hit those wicked spirits…!”
“I, Morales, must also work hard to make Core Ari into a higher-ranked Core…! Turning her into a High Core, becoming a priestess, is the fastest and best method…!”
The Nymphs showed enthusiasm as well.
While Inoi was searching for a lullaby on her phone, I took out a pill from my pocket.
It was a medication exclusive to the Awakened, which would put someone into a state of pseudo-death.
Still, after an hour or two, they would awaken fine.
With that feeling, I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I found myself in a very familiar scene.
It was a training center.
“Is this a dream?”
It was an incredibly vivid place.
The smells, the sensation of dust and sand on the floor, and the warmth of the sun in the sky were so alive that it was hard to believe it was a dream.
“How fascinating.”
Curious about where friends like Inoi and Kkungkkungi might be, I looked around.
But sadly, I didn’t see them.
Rather than searching for them, I decided to find Ari first.
Ari must be here somewhere in this training center—
# # #
Having searched high and low in the training center, I couldn’t find Ari.
I moved ahead with a feeling of unease.
For some reason, I had an inkling of where Ari might be.
On a personal level, I hoped she wasn’t there.
“Hey, Yu Ara. Don’t wag your tail just because you’re in the same squad as your brother Joon-Hun? Don’t you know how to behave? Huh?”
“Your butt sticks out like a duck! Boys don’t like girls with sticking out butts, got it? Boys think you look fat if you have big breasts like you!”
During training, Ari was always being bullied at the back of the cafeteria.
She had particularly poor relations with the girls of the second batch.
It was mostly the second batch girls who bullied Yu Ari, who was passive and innocent.
Every time that happened, Yu Ari would cry alone in a corner.
“Ari.”
I called her name.
The girls from the second batch who were bullying Ari looked startled and said, “I-Il-Do sunbaenim─.”
It was a scene I had experienced several times before.
I frowned as usual and spoke sternly.
“You girls, you’re Park Do-Young and that batchmate, Jo Ju-Hee, right? If you think you can bully someone who’s falling behind just because you’re ahead of them, you’ll regret it later. I know this from my own experience.”
I was the clear evidence of someone who, after peaking, had fallen low and looked foolish. After a moment, the second batch students glanced at me and quickly ran away.
I turned to Ari.
“Ari, let’s go! We have to get out of here!”
I was determined to get Ari out of this place.
For some reason, that was the only thought in my head.
But then Ari, who had shrunken back, said,
“No… I don’t want to go home. No matter what… I will endure and escape. I want to do what I want…!”
That was right.
Ari during that time felt like this.
Though she was passive and clumsy in many ways, her will not to go home was overflowing.
“No, that’s not what I mean. We really need to get out of here, I’m telling you!”
My only thought was to take Ari out from that spot.
Then Ari asked,
“Where are we going?”
“……”
What is this?
Suddenly, my mind felt blank.
Where was I trying to take Ari?
I knew we had to get out of this place.
What am I doing here right now?
Just then,
Kkungkkungi—.
I heard something barking like a dog.
Turning my head, I saw something trotting toward me from somewhere.
It was a squirrel!
A dog-barking squirrel!
Squirrel Beast Kkungkkungi!
“Right! I remember! This is all a dream! Ari, we have come to get you! Get a grip! Ari, this is all a dream! It’s a dream! You need to wake up now!”
I shook Ari vigorously.
Ari frowned.
“A dream? Am I in the training center?”
“Yeah!”
“I always thought when I woke up from training, maybe this is all just a dream. I wondered if being forcibly drafted was just a dream. But… it wasn’t a dream.”
“No! It really is a dream! Ari, you are a doctor, right? You are currently in a coma because of possession! Think hard! Who are you! Think of this dog-barking Squirrel Beast!”
“I’m a doctor…? A Squirrel Beast…?”
It was just then.
“Um, I think it was Haildo who told us about the rule that men and women shouldn’t be alone at the training center.”
Someone’s cough and bold statement jolted me from my thoughts, and I turned to see Seo Ye-rim, dressed similarly to other trainees, with her long hair tied back.
That’s right.
Seo Ye-rim had that hairstyle during her trainee days!
Back then, she ranked below me in positions!
She used to call me sunbaenim and spoke to me formally!
When I think about it now, it feels like a very distant past.
In fact, it truly was a long time ago.
Seo Ye-rim using polite speech… That was something I thought I would only see in a dream, and there I was, seeing it in a dream!
“Is that you, Il-do sunbaenim?”
“Wasn’t Il-do sunbaenim off today?”
“Look at that posture!”
A swarm of people started rushing towards me.
Among them was my former batchmate, Kang Cheol-Min, who had passed away.
“Haildo, you came so they all rushed here again. I don’t know why a guy without skills who can’t even fight is suddenly so popular. I’m the one who looks better than you, anyway.”
Yeah, that guy was always provoking and displaying his competitive spirit towards me.
And I was indeed very popular back then, just like he said.
If I were to liken it to a game, I was the vanguard at that time.
I was in a position that was looked up to, running ahead of others.
Based on this time, in about a year, I would achieve my first additional awakening and enter my golden age.
What nostalgic days those were.
But this was just a dream, and I needed to wake Ari.
“Ari, listen to me carefully from now on. I don’t know what will happen here. And I don’t know what anyone will say. But you need to focus only on me. Because we are getting out of here.”
I tightly bound my hand and Ari’s hand together.
It was to ensure we wouldn’t get separated, no matter what happened.
“……”
Ari, whose hand was tied to mine, shivered slightly.
Was something coming to her mind?
Of course, Kang Cheol-Min, seeing that, scowled at me and angrily said,
“Hey. What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
“No! You are not Kang Cheol-Min! This is just a dream! If you’re appearing as a ghost in front of me, I apologize! I’m planning to escape from here! So don’t block my path!”
I didn’t even know where to go— I just thought I needed to get out of this place.
Of course, Kang Cheol-Min wouldn’t let me be.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going? We’re under a curfew right now. What’s wrong with you? Did you eat something strange and suddenly go crazy? Want to have a ranking showdown?”
Swish—.
Kang Cheol-Min drew a knife.
Now that I looked, it was an incredibly basic and crude form of mana enhancement.
To see that weapon these days, one would have to go to an antique shop or a museum.
“In nine years, I’ll show you how I fight. Kkungkkungi!”
—Kkungkkungi…!
Kkungkkungi let out a furious bark and fluffed up its fur.
Kkungkkungi lunged at Kang Cheol-Min, who appeared very startled by that sight.
“What, what is that!”
—Zziji…!
Vwoom-.
At that moment, a golden honey ant flew in.
Seeing that, I shouted at the opportune moment.
“Ahn Ahn! Cut Zziji!”
—Zziji…!
Swish—!
Ahn Ahn rushed at high speed, using her horn to slice through Zziji.
Kang Cheol-Min soon screamed, “Aaaah!” and collapsed.
It was quite a satisfying scene.
“You uncivilized F-ranks! This is the power of an A-rank Awakened! Mwahaha…! Based on the current situation, I would rank first in the world!”
Was this what they called mass slaughter?
It felt great to show the power of an A-rank Awakened to those F-rank Awakened who hadn’t undergone additional awakening. Of course, my laughter didn’t last long.
“……”
“……”
The training center, which had just been noisy, suddenly fell silent as if frozen. And everyone at the training center, engaged in various tasks, turned their eyes toward me.
Their stares were completely hollow and chilling.
It gave me an eerie feeling that made my skin crawl.
Soon Seo Ye-rim scowled like a demon and shouted,
“Get him!!!!”
What a terrifying cry it was.
Of course, the original wouldn’t have the same genuine anger behind it.
Aaaaaaaah—.
Soon, the people at the training center began to roar and rush towards us.
It was a very scary sight when suddenly a bizarre sound rang out.
Turning my head, I saw Kkungkkungi, who was seated on a statue of a soldier holding a grenade, strumming a guitar made of spider silk while singing.
—Hioong, Hioong, Hioong—.
The singing was tremendously strange and wonderful.
So the people rushing toward me one by one began to stop and listen intently.
Whatever it was, it was a good thing for me!
# # #
Yu Ari was completely confused.
However, the man’s words kept echoing in her mind.
“Focus only on me—,” he had said.
Yu Ari gazed at the red thread tying her to him.
For some reason, this scene felt incredibly fateful and deeply stirred her heart.
“Sunbaenim, you said this is a dream? You also said I became a doctor. You told me I could do better than I am now. Is all of that true?”
“Yes! You were thriving far more than I ever was! Believe in your potential! You are Yu Ari!”
The man was breaking through a dark void.
The ground beneath her seemed like a cliff, and it looked like one misstep would send her plummeting to the bottom.
From that abyss below, people were crawling up.
“Help me…! I, Inoi, am asking for help…! For some reason, I woke up from this cliff…! If I fall like this, I won’t become Inoi but a flattened pickle…!”
“I, Morales, am asking for help too…! Hiiick…!”
Haildo and Yu Ari saved the Nymphs, and the Nymphs began hitting the people crawling from the cliff with their fists.
“Don’t come up…! Bad spirits must be made flat…!”
“Muhuhuh, it’s fun to kick the ladder…!”
Thud thud thud thud thud—.
Aaaah~.
It was a chaotic situation in every way.
Yu Ari’s eyes spotted something.
“You wicked girl…. You deceived me… You… Killed me…!”
“For money… Selling out a batchmate… You duckbutt bitch…!”
They were students from the second batch.
They were the women who facilitated Yu Ari’s work at Lee Joon-Hun’s pharmaceutical company.
Though Haildo and the Nymphs seemed unaware, upon hearing their words, Yu Ari felt a pang of conscience and swiftly took out a scalpel from her pocket and threw it at them.
“I’m the type to repay what I’ve received!”
Swish swish-.
The scalpel struck them in their heads with a pop.
“Gah!”
“Eek!”
As a non-official S-ranker from Korea, her skills were quite impressive.
“You, Park Do-Young and Jo Ju-Hee. The girls who relentlessly tormented me…! You’re alive…! I know you’re living so well, yet you appear here like a ghost. This is definitely all fake.”
Soon, Yu Ari realized that all of this was a ‘dream.’
And at that moment, lots of things began to shake violently.
Sssss—.
Soon her consciousness began to awaken, and everything began to shine as if wrapped in bright light and dazzling illumination.
At that moment, Yu Ari only clearly focused on the red thread entwined around her hand and the image of the man Haildo connected to it.
It felt like destiny and felt like some kind of prophecy.
