Fairy Trap

“Euh, aah!”

The stimulated heavy-built man stepped forward threateningly and let out a roaring sound.

Although what he was trying to say did not come out as a word, it’s quite certain to be repulsion against what he just said.

Faced with the man’s murderous expression, Sethian still looks unperturbed and calm, oblivious to even the slightest threat.

“My deal with you was that I would give you the missing part of your bodies to get your voices back. I kept my promise.”

When he commissioned the two people in front of him to eliminate all of Canael’s assassins, including the deputy guildmaster pair, he planned to look for an alternative if they ask for something beyond possible.

However, they surprisingly demanded something very simple, yet something that no one else could ever help them realize.

Initially, he was quite surprised that someone from the common people requested physiological alchemy from the golden arts category.

On top of that, even Sethian only became aware of the fact that ‘even the crown prince can use golden magic’ after looking through the history books of the tower.

He wasn’t sure if they used the Thieves Guild or if it was information obtained through a more sinister route, but they failed to catch on to the most important bit, its ‘counterpart’.

The caster’s vitality.

And the magic stone imprinted with the caster.

As a result of Lenox pestering Roa with a lot of questions, it was said that since only a small part of the body would be reconstructed and with the addition that the subject was still alive, it would only take a generous supply of the vital fluid once and that would be the end of it.

In Yi-Gyeol’s case, since it is a body completely created from nothing, even every movement and every breath requires vitality so a continuous supply was essential.

Constructing flesh and bones was as simple as that. He even nonchalantly shared his life force. Despite this, in reality, the biggest problem was the magic stone.

Sethian tapped the crown prince’s brooch on his chest.

“However, your tongue would only last as long as I am imprinted on the crown prince’s magic stone. The owner of the mana stone will not change if I become the emperor, but if someone else ascended the throne, of course, it will no longer be mine.”

“….”

As the massive-built man’s face crumpled even more viciously, the guild master was still unresponsive. At that instant, he unprecedentedly approached in a blink of an eye.

Not only that but three lines of transparent thread were already wrapped around Sethian’s neck in no time.

Knowing that unique strings with high brittleness is the man’s main weapon, Sethian could have managed to avoid or prevent it by a narrow margin as soon as it wound around his neck but he didn’t.

No matter how tempered his body is, his neck was a vital point of his body.

If the tensely wounded strings tightened as it is, no matter if it’s Sethian, he wouldn’t be safe.

But Sethian wasn’t the least bit bothered or agitated.

As if convinced that the small guildmaster in front of him wouldn’t be able to kill him.

“Choose. Will you aid me become the emperor, or helplessly wait praying for me to ascend the throne?”

Within the guildmaster’s emotionless stare, bloodthirst and conflict converged together.

⋆♚⋆♛⋆♚⋆

Yi-Gyeol unceremoniously jumped up from the bed and sat down as soon as he woke up and opened his eyes.

On a peaceful morning, he was left alone in a bedroom full of uneasy silence as per usual.

When he came to his senses, he was already fumbling around the side of the bed next to him.

The cold sheet without a single warmth made his rapidly beating heart turn cold.

‘Seth…, Where is Seth….’

His heart was pounding and his head was spinning.

There were a lot of negative imaginations in his head.

He fully understood that the assassin who appeared the day before was an ally.

But the anxious imagination that swiftly came to him out of nowhere gradually went dark, leading to Sethian’s demise.

It was such an unreasonable delusion.

If it’s really as such, the people outside wouldn’t be guarding this bedroom as leisurely as they are now.

Then it occurred to him suddenly.

Are the people who have always stood outside the door protecting him actually still there?

What if in fact they really have all disappeared, leaving only him alone.

If something really happened to Sethian….

“No, no, no….”

He closed his eyes and shook his head, muttering.

The depression that presented itself once again and the resulting delusion made his chest stuffy.

He tried to change the course of his thoughts.

Sethian would most definitely be composedly doing his job at this moment.

He must be very busy working. But even that has been eroded by his negative emotions.

Unlike usual, he didn’t wake himself up and didn’t kiss him to give him vitality.

Overlapping with the thought that the traces left on his body were completely gone, the fervent warmth of the previous day has also faded.

Then the ugly thought that it would have been much better to imagine Sethian dead came to him.

He’s not wishing for something bad to happen to him, but at least he could think that he did it ‘unintentionally’.

Upon thinking that Sethian might have been distancing himself ‘voluntarily,’ the tremors in his body persist.

He lifted his head and slowly looked into the empty bedroom.

There were more times when Sethian was not with him, but then he somehow still felt warm.

Not a single sound could be heard.

Without any presence of life. It feels like he’s blankly sitting inside the room where he lived in his original world.

He can only stay awake there for two hours.

During those times, he was always like a machine.

He would eat when he was given something to eat. When he washed or went to the toilet, he would receive a little help and sit on a chair in the bathroom. Then after finishing all of his business, he would be laid back down in the room, left alone either counting sheep or staring dazedly at the ceiling, until the remaining seconds to go back to sleep.

Whenever he called them on his cell phone because he missed talking to his family or wanted to see their faces at least, they would always be annoyed asking why he called or say to just quickly tell them what he needed with frowns on their faces.

So in the end, he couldn’t ask for anyone. He couldn’t say he missed everyone’s face, since no one else would listen.

It was so cold as if he had been thrown out in the middle of winter.

And the numbing cold that he felt at that time seemed to stay with him even now.

He tried to suppress his frustrating delusions and depressing feelings, but he couldn’t get his head straight.

Telling himself to stop overthinking, he set his feet below the bed, deciding to just ask the person who was definitely standing by outside the room.

“…!”

His vision suddenly turned dizzy and he fell down to the floor.

He doesn’t have any strength in his body.

His slumped leg was unable to move as if it was not a part of his body, and even his arm that barely touched the floor was precarious as if it would soon break.

It was as if the disease-stricken him in the past.

‘No… It doesn’t make sense. Why….’

His head seemed to have turned blank due to the abnormalities in his body.

Even though his eyes were clearly open, his vision became dark and he couldn’t even hear his harsh breathing.

It felt as if time had completely stopped.

Muddled by the terrifying sensations and the overwhelming anxiety, at that moment,

Tok, tok.

Faint sounds from somewhere grew louder and louder.

As a result, his sight cleared and his auditory senses opened.

Even his strengthless limbs started moving, as if they had never stopped functioning. Only later did he realize that he was damped in cold sweats, like someone who had forgotten how to breathe.

‘What the hell was that just now?’

He patted his ashen face with his hands and washed his face dry.

His head was still filled with confusion, but as if to interrupt his thoughts, the small noise that came quickly brought him to his senses.

Tok, tok.

Turning his head to the sound, he saw a crow clinging to the window and knocking on its door with its beak.

Perhaps noticing that his gaze was now on it, it knocked even louder on the window.

The negative thoughts that dominated his mind instantly had been pushed out to the other side.

His head that went into overdrive gradually cooled down, and at the same time rotated quickly.

The crow would have come to convey something related to Zair and to draw himself into the trap they had dug.

Showing this weak side of himself, in other words, only makes a good excuse.

‘Let’s just think about what we have to do for now.’

‘Seth… He wasn’t like that.’

Yi-Gyeol got up from his seat, imprisoning his delusions within the depths of his mind.

He was worried that he would be out of strength again like earlier, but he got to stand as if the incident never happened.

Relieved inwardly, he approached the window with a smile on his lips. The crow shook its head cutely as if greeting him.

Maybe it’s because it has been a human soul or that it’s acting like a person, so the crow didn’t open its beaks until the window was opened.

It was conveying its voice through its mind anyways, so it would have been able to ignore anything blocking the window and call him loudly.

Once the door opened, the crow landed lightly on the window sill and tilted its head to the side while narrowing its eyes as if smiling at him.

一 Hi there. Do you not feel good somewhere?

“No, I tripped while getting out of bed. I got a little careless I guess.”

一 My gosh, you’re so clumsy!

The playfully harsh crow flapped its wings and let out a laugh.

一 I brought you Zair-nim’s message!

“Message?”

The crow shook its head twice and lifted one of its front feet. 

A small piece of paper was curled up and held, gripped by its front foot.