This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 646

I felt as if I was falling, and before I knew it, I quickly moved my arms and legs to wrap around my senior’s body as tightly as possible.

It was to protect her from what might fall behind us.

So, in my heart, I wished I could completely cover her with my own body instead of just my limbs, but I knew that wasn’t possible.

If I did that, I could effectively shield her from the falling debris, but then she would end up being crushed beneath me when we hit the ground.

So, I resorted to this makeshift method, but inevitably, all kinds of debris began to pour down after my senior.

Some of it looked obviously dangerous.

“Ugh…! Ugh…!”

But I didn’t have the luxury to worry about that.

The problem was that my body was too busy colliding with everything around me.

My vision was shaking wildly.

Thanks to that, even while I was dazed, the debris smoothly passed by my senior.

A large shard of glass, I assume, brushed against my forearm, sending a searing pain coursing through me.

It was the reason I couldn’t help but grit my teeth.

I could feel the blood seeping from the wound dampening the shirt I was wearing.

It was just after my battered body crashed into what could finally be called the ground.

Surprisingly, the impact wasn’t as severe as I expected.

Perhaps it was because the floor was made of flesh, not a normal surface.

“Ugh…”

Still, I couldn’t help but groan in pain, as my position on impact happened to be where my right arm faced the ground.

What with the burning sensation being more than enough, pressing down like that brought an overwhelming pain that whitened my vision.

As I groaned in agony, my senior, finally regaining her senses, rushed towards me.

“Dogun, your arm…!”

At first, she thought it was just the impact from the fall, but once she noticed my right sleeve soaked in red, she gasped in shock.

“It’s just a small cut.”

“A small cut? Look at how much blood there is…!”

Not showing her the injured part by covering it with my left hand, she seemed flustered for a moment, unsure of what to do. Maybe she realized this wasn’t going to work.

Suddenly, she wore a determined expression and reached out to remove my left hand from the wound.

Her touch was gentle yet firm, as if resisting any form of opposition.

Before I could protest, she tore off the right sleeve of my shirt.

Then, seeing that there was nothing else around, she began wrapping the injured area with the fabric she had just ripped.

I hadn’t realized how deep the wound was until then.

I didn’t know if it had gotten worse from hitting the ground or if it was already that deep when I first cut it.

Regardless of the reason, it had been a fair amount of time since I got injured, yet the blood kept pouring out.

Perhaps to stop the bleeding, a sharp sensation shot up my arm, and the cloth tightened around my forearm.

Every time my heart raced, that similar sensation ran up my arm, but I couldn’t say anything about it.

The look on my senior’s face was enough to keep my mouth shut; it seemed like if she were to nudge it slightly, tears would spill out instantly.

“…Just keep the pressure on your arm until the bleeding stops.”

“Huh? But…”

“Hurry!”

It was supposed to be her protecting me, and yet, before things even began properly, I ended up getting hurt. It must have been frustrating for her.

I bit my lip, feeling like I was about to explode with disappointment. But sitting there wouldn’t let me escape that feeling.

After a couple of nudges with her knees, my senior finally stood up.

“I’ll take a quick look around, so just stay like that. Let me know when the bleeding stops.”

With that, she walked briskly towards the nearby wall.

Having heard about the Heogye, this was her first time being here, so everything might feel completely foreign to her.

“This air… I mean, it looks like this. Is it safe to drink?”

“Um… probably fine.”

“Probably?”

“Yeah, the last time I fell here, nothing really happened.”

Not to mention, when I successfully returned to reality, the examination through the Doctor didn’t reveal any issues either.

Though, maybe since my stay had been short, it was possible, but if that was the case, I just had to finish things quickly and return to reality before any problems arose.

To do that, I had to pinpoint Yoonseo’s location as soon as possible.

Was there really no way?

In that moment, lost in thought, I couldn’t shake off the grotesque appearance in front of me and felt unsure about touching it.

Just like the last time I fell here, my senior, standing in front of the pulsing flesh, carefully reached out towards the wall.

The moment her hand touched it, the flesh twitched.

Even for someone with a strong stomach, it was enough to make them grimace.

Yet my senior did not flinch.

Her expression didn’t twist in disgust as she pressed her fingertips firmly against the meat.

Of course, it was natural that I would be horrified by such actions.

From my perspective, there was no way I wouldn’t react when those were the very things I never touched when I fell here alongside Chae-rim.

They emanated an aura far from normal, so why would I even dream of touching them?

So to see her do it so nonchalantly was bewildering.

Was she brave, or was she just fearless?

I couldn’t tell which was closer to the truth, but what I was certain of was that, despite my intense worry moments ago, nothing seemed wrong.

If something were to go wrong, undoubtedly something would have happened the moment my senior touched it, but it seemed uneventful.

Was it truly harmless despite its appearance?

‘But there are just too many of them…’

It seemed in this Heogye, the grotesque flesh was everywhere, much like ginkgo trees are everywhere in Korea.

You could find at least one of these fleshy masses anywhere in the Heogye, no matter where you went.

So when I had just fallen here and was being chased by the Another Ones, I initially thought they were using the flesh to pinpoint our location.

I realized not long after that wasn’t the case.

Anyway, these were the very things my senior was now touching, and there must be a reason they were placed here so prominently.

That much was apparent, so despite there seeming to be no immediate changes, I couldn’t lower my guard…

Yet my senior seemed oblivious to my concern and didn’t pull her hand back.

She appeared to be concentrating, not removing her hand from that spot.

That made it impossible to act heedlessly.

At that moment, I sighed quietly, trying to soothe my frayed nerves.

“…I think I found it.”

At first?

I couldn’t comprehend what she meant.

It was such an unexpected statement that I had no choice but to feel bewildered.

“What do you mean you found it?”

I asked her that, and instantly I was met with a reply that opened my eyes wide.

“I found the location of the Expedition Team.”