As he looked around, he realized he was already surrounded.
There were only missing faces.
Even Ivan Hunt, Lee Yu-na, and Jin Ye-seul, who collapsed more terribly than herself.
Even Ivan’s mother, Belluna Hunt, was looking at her from one side with a sad expression on her face.
And in front of you is Han Soo-young.
It was a very unrealistic sight.
It was also a sight I had been longing for many times during the month that was literally hellish.
“… Really, are you swimming?”
Choi Hyun-woo began to circulate his inner mana calmly while asking such a question.
He, too, was well aware of magic and witchcraft that showed the fantasies he wanted.
He quietly placed his hand on the handle of the dragon sword that Yoo Ji-hyuk had given him.
If he was seeing a vision right now, it was because he could get out of this illusion in an instant just by energizing this sword, which has the power to cut off all kinds of magic and sorcery.
It was such a sweet situation that I was able to calm myself down.
The moment he escaped from the illusion, he breathed mana into the dragon’s sword with the thought that he would never forgive the person who showed him such fantasies.
“Hey, Hyunwoo Choi.”
“… uh?”
Still, Han Soo-young, who was in front of him, did not disappear.
Rather, she even took one step closer to him.
“What did you do now?”
“What, wait… Why don’t you disappear?”
“What? what are you saying now Are you sure you thought I was a fantasy, now?”
“Then maybe… really… .”
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Only then did Choi Hyeon-woo really panic and take a step back.
I looked around, but no one was gone.
Hopefully, really… .
“Really, Sooyoung is you… ?”
“you really… .”
Han Soo-young glared at Choi Hyun-woo like a growling and threatening beast, and startled, he continued to take a few more steps backwards.
“Ji, what about Jihyuk?”
“Jihyuk is okay too.”
Jin Ye-seul, who was behind Choi Hyun-woo, answered.
“I was busy with work, so we went somewhere else.”
She mumbled as if she was in a bad mood for a moment as she answered meekly.
“And thanks to someone who spread even a late middle ear disease or a wanted letter, I broke up with Ji-hyeok, whom I met in a month, and came to catch you.”
“Yesul!”
Lee Yu-na called her name in a hurry as if she was saying such a thing, but Jin Ye-seul just looked at her with a gaze as if she had done something wrong.
“… … .”
Meanwhile, Han Soo-young was walking right in front of Choi Hyun-woo.
She looked at Hyeonu Choi, who was restless, without saying a word, and picked up the metronome that had fallen on the ground.
“Is this?”
Hyunwoo Choi quietly nodded his head.
Han Soo-young looked down at it quietly and put it down slowly.
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, she clenched her fist towards Choi Hyun-woo’s chin.
Choi Hyun-woo, who could have avoided it, did not avoid it, and sat down on the spot with a groan.
Even in a situation where she felt like she was going to lose consciousness at any moment after being hit in the chin, her voice, filled with anger, could be heard clearly.
“Did you dare point your sword at Master? Even if you… !”
Han Soo-young, who was vigorous, kicked Choi Hyun-woo, who was sitting on the ground, violently once.
“If I were dead, what would it be? Isn’t that what it’s like to be alive? No, if I was really dead, you should have been sober!”
“… … .”
“I can’t comfort and support Master who will be sad, but rather, do you drive a nail into Master’s chest?! you really… !!!”
“Sorry.”
His lips parted and he mumbled quietly as he sat down.
Han Soo-young, who was momentarily moved by those words, clenched her teeth and said to him.
“… Later, you go to Master and get down on your knees and pray, until your hands become your feet.”
“I will.”
“And put this thing back right away. Never use anything like this again.”
“I will.”
“Finally, even if that ever happens, promise me that you will never do something like this again.”
“… … .”
Choi Hyun-woo did not answer.
Han Soo-young grabbed him by the neck and pulled him out.
“Hey, Hyunwoo Choi. You don’t answer?”
“… I will not.”
“What?”
“I can’t promise.”
Han Soo-young, who had a puzzled expression for a moment, clenched her teeth enough to hear a cracking sound, then clenched her fists again.
“Okay, if you really want to die like that, then I’ll make your wish come true! Hey, bite your molars tight!”
“Sooyoung, hold on! We didn’t come here to do this!”
Han Soo-young, who immediately tried to smash Choi Hyun-woo’s face, couldn’t do it as he wanted because he grabbed her body from behind.
Han Soo-young began to struggle wildly as if trying to escape from Lee Yu-na.
“Hey, why don’t you let this go?! Do you want me to die from you? Let go of this, really!”
“no! Don’t let it go! No, I can’t!”
Although smaller than Han Soo-young, Lee Yu-na was a warrior fighting in the vanguard, and no matter how strong he was, Han Soo-young was a wizard standing in the rear to the end.
If it was simply a power battle, it was said that the winner had already been decided.
Seeing Han Soo-young unable to shake off Lee Yu-na, Jin Ye-seul restored the shadow of Henir, which she had made into reality, to its original state.
“It’s been a while, but your face is not young.”
“Ivan.”
Choi Hyun-woo, who was sitting down, looked up at Ivan who was approaching him.
“… Did you come all the way here to catch me?”
“If you came to arrest me, did you get caught?”
Hyunwoo Choi nodded slightly.
“I heard that Sooyoung and Jihyuk are fine. Then what do you need to run away for? … If you make a stupid mistake, you have to pay the price.”
“That’s good. I didn’t want to fight with my friends either.”
Ivan said in an unfamiliar, muffled voice.
“But we didn’t come to get you. I came here to take you on a trip.”
“What?”
“I will explain in detail as I go. Let’s move for now.”
“No, Ivan. Wait a minute!”
Choi Hyun-woo looked at him and shook his head slightly.
“I don’t know what you mean, but that’s not okay. If you get involved with me, you too will be in trouble. As you know, I already… .”
“What, a criminal?”
Ivan took out a wanted badge with Choi Hyun-woo from his pocket and held it.
It was a wanted badge with a picture of him wearing a strange mask and wearing raggedy, unrecognizable body types.
“By the way, no matter how you look at it, you are not the person in this picture, is it? This person is much more handsome than you. Not me, of course.”
“Hey, Ivan… .”
“I don’t know. Where do you see this being you?”
He said, tearing up the wanted paper in front of Choi Hyun-woo’s eyes.
“The preparations have already been made there.”
“What?”
Ivan smiled slightly.
“Senior Cass Lyle, Professor Alice Blesbuck, and Evangeline Lohengrin… All the stories are over. Jihyuk had a hard time.”
His words were, in a nutshell:
It was said that he prepared a doll that was literally the same as Choi Hyun-woo and knocked it down during the battle, and that Evangeline Lohengrin would finish the case by recovering a corpse and metronome that was damaged beyond identification.
Choi Hyun-woo shook his head when he said that he was really fortunate that no one was seriously injured.
“… Such a sloppy method can’t work. Above all else, Sooyoung and Master cannot tolerate such a thing.”
Ivan shrugged slightly.
“They asked for it.”
“What?”
“Sooyoung, of course, your master.”
Ivan glanced at Han Soo-young, who was still thrashing around with the words that he would kill Choi Hyun-woo from afar.
“I wasn’t going to say things like this, but that person named Hyunhwa Nam. He said thank you to Jihyuk over and over again. And he said please.”
“… … .”
“It was weeping. Please save me before you go wrong.”
At those words, Hyunwoo Choi bowed his head.
He couldn’t say anything, so he just curled up and trembled softly.
Looking at it, Ivan didn’t say anything.
“… Master.”
After a while, he opened his mouth.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, Ahn Joo-hyuk served as the primary care physician. You only need to heal for a few days. Somebody said that they avoided vital points like a ghost.”
Ivan reached out to him slowly.
“So, take it easy and get up. I need to meet Jihyuk too. We have a long way to go.”
“… okay.”
Choi Hyun-woo grabbed his outstretched hand and slowly got up from his seat.
“Because I can’t cause you any more trouble.”
At that, Ivan smiled slightly as if he had thought well.
Seeing him like that, Hyunwoo Choi asked with an awkward expression as if he was shy.
“By the way… .”
“yes?”
“Where are you going?”
Ivan replied with a chuckle and a smile.
“Antarctica.”
* * *
“Do you know how surprised I was when I opened my eyes? I finally thought I was crazy But people around me told me that wasn’t the case. Jihyuk says you are really alive. Do you know how happy I was when I found out it wasn’t a dream?”
I nodded my head slightly as the voice whispered in my ear.
“How happy were you?”
“I was so happy that Jihyuk forgot that you left me and went to see someone else right away.”
“… … .”
As I shut my mouth, she gently choked me and urged me to answer.
“Why aren’t you talking?”
“… I’m sorry, I was running out of time then.”
“I know, I understand.”
Yeeun Lee, who was on my back, said she understood, but pulled my neck one more time.
“But when I think about it again, I don’t understand. Do you dare leave me and go?”
“… sister.”
“Heh, only in times like this is my sister.”
Ye-eun Lee grumbled and tapped my back and leaned her head.
“Ji-hyuk.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to ask you some questions.”
Ye-eun Lee shook her legs as if she didn’t like something.
“As I said before, if you have a pretty face and good abilities, you should be a noona. Surely it was?”
“Yes.”
“Then who is the prettiest person you know?”
I could feel the strength slowly creep into her arms around my neck.
“… sister.”
“Uhh, so who has the best ability?”
“It’s also my sister.”
“Yes, yes. I know.”
It was a conversation that was almost like getting down and receiving me, but that alone made her feel better, so she shook her legs even louder than before.
“… Thank you always.”
Then she tapped and put her forehead on my back once more.
“I actually wanted to do something like this.”
“Are you choking your brother?”
“I couldn’t hear because my ears were bad. What did you just say?”
“… It was a joke.”
She let out a small sigh.
“I wanted to do something like this. Playing quietly with my brother like this. So, when I was young, there were many times when my younger brother wanted to have it as a birthday present. But now that I think about it… Maybe you just wanted someone to be able to put everything down and be comfortable with you, just like Jihyuk does for you.”
Ye-eun let out a small laugh.
“You don’t know? How can my heart, which used to be stuffy with just things like this, be relieved?”
“… There is also Yeon-kyung.”
“Yeonkyung?”
Yeeun Lee began to ponder her friend’s name.
“Before, while playing with me, Yeon-kyung got my clothes dirty.”
“yes.”
“The next day, Yeon-kyung was nowhere to be seen. I searched for why, but I couldn’t come out because I was beaten in the calf with a stick in the name of daring to get my clothes dirty. And as punishment, I starved myself all day long. We were only five years old at the time.”
“… … .”
“Even so, Yeon-kyung continued to treat me as a friend… But from that day on, I had no choice but to be careful about anything. Because I found out that even a very simple thing related to me can be like that.”
Ye-eun exhaled quietly.
“Yes, Yeon-kyung is a precious friend. My friend who is more precious than anyone. But Jihyuk can’t be like you. As proof, look.”
She glanced around.
Before long, we were just below the world tree.
It was also a place that only a small part of the World Tree’s clan could enter.
“The only people who can come here are you and me.”
Taking a small breath, I carried her on and continued walking towards the World Tree.
… On the spot, we split into three groups and decided to meet again after completing our respective tasks.
The party, including Sooyoung, finds Hyeonu and brings him back.
Leto and Charisna join the other members except for the person named Shurikerishu, who is monitoring Yuno.
And after I was informed that I had just woken up, I headed to the territory of the World Tree to bring Yeeun Lee.
In fact, it wasn’t just for that reason that I headed to the territory of the World Tree.
I quietly raised the status window in front of my eyes.
Branch of the World Tree (Bond / Parasitic / Legendary)
[Effect][Active]
― Part of the world tree can be extracted from the body. Right now, it’s pretty good.
― You can absorb the energy of the target that touches the branch of the World Tree. However, if the opponent’s overall stats are significantly higher, the energy may be taken away. A target with an absolute advantage can unconditionally absorb energy. You can impart energy to connected opponents.
― You can change some of the branches of the World Tree into seeds so that they can take root. The seed of the world tree that has taken root can absorb the energy of the place where it took root and deliver it to the body, and has a weak autonomy. You can control the growth rate by injecting mana. After a certain period of time, it dries up and dies and loses all strength.
— ???
I had not yet realized the last power hidden in the branches of the World Tree.
And it was the same with Yeeun Lee.
The last ability she will awaken is the name of ‘transcendence’.
The ability to become nature itself and to control the world according to her own will.
Her last ability was absolutely necessary, as the place we had to go to in the future was Antarctica, and she might have to fight a high-level spirit that could be called the will of nature itself.
“… Everything has come.”
Before long we stopped right in front of the World Tree and looked up at it.
The very place where the world tree faces the ordeal.
“It’s okay, sister.”
I said as if reassuring Lee Ye-eun, who was shaking slightly.
It wasn’t a lie, it was the truth.
If it were her, it would have been more than enough to pass the ordeal she would face now.
“If it’s my sister, obviously nothing will happen. Don’t worry.”
“… Okay. so be it.”
As she came on my back, I heard all the stories that had happened so far and came to know the situation, and after thinking about it, she asked me with a trembling voice, who said that she had to undergo trials on her own.
“So Jihyuk, please don’t go anywhere and wait for me. Understand?”
“Okay.”
I nodded and told her to be reassured.
“I will never go anywhere without leaving my sister alone. because… .”
As long as we’ve come this far, we’re no different from a community of destiny.
That was the moment I was going to say it.
[The branch of the World Tree responds to Mother, the World Tree… .]
[The World Tree pays attention to you!]
[You are not worthy of the trial.]
[You are not worthy of the trial.]
[You are not worthy of the trial.]
.
.
.
[You are not worthy of the trial.]
[…] Mother, the breath of the world tree descends upon you.]
[Temporarily qualified for trials.]
[You too will be subjected to the ordeal of the World Tree!]
“… Because I will go through trials as well.”
Yeeun Lee felt startled at those words.
I was surprised as well.
Because I never dreamed that I, too, would be challenged.
… Before long, a branch of a giant world tree engulfed us.