OL Ch 18

Chapter 18

“Teacher…! Please… Please wake up.”

Hayun’s lips trembled uncontrollably. Just moments ago, Seo Iju had been talking incessantly, appearing no different from her usual self.

“It was all my fault. Please! Don’t joke around like this.”

Ah, if only he hadn’t focused solely on listening to Teacher’s words. The thought stabbed at his heart. Instead of relying on news reports, he should have paid more attention to his surroundings. That way, he could have found Seo Iju sooner. Although Hayun himself couldn’t pass through the door she opened, Seo Iju might have been able to.

‘I should’ve taken Teacher to the hospital.’

Had they rushed her to the nearest hospital immediately upon discovery, she might still be alive.

“…Stupid idiot. Thick-headed fool.”

If only he had thought things through properly. If only…

Finding this place was purely coincidental, but Hayun couldn’t help feeling guilty as it seemed too much of a coincidence. Unable to contain his anguish, he trembled uncontrollably. He felt like banging his head against a wall. However, Seo Iju’s presence indicated that someone might be pursuing her.

Hayun sobbed silently, biting down hard on his lip despite knowing he needed to act rationally. His chest heaved as tears streamed down his face. Suddenly, golden light encircled the rims of his eyes. In that instant, dozens of gates materialized around Hayun and Seo Iju, engulfing them. Spaces connected, merged, and separated before finally leading them to a familiar location.

As if aware of Hayun’s state, all the doors within this space remained silent. In the crimson void, Hayun once again swallowed his sobs. When he brought Seo Iju from the cramped space to this vast area, he noticed injuries that hadn’t been visible earlier.

Her left ankle was missing. To prevent excessive blood loss, it seemed, someone had tied a yellow shopping bag around the stump. Hayun repeatedly bowed and straightened towards Seo Iju.

The crimson space gradually stabilized, transforming into gold, but Hayun’s mind remained consumed by redness. Unable to hold back any longer, he let out a wail:

“Heuuu… Eugh, T-Teacherrr!”

Just as he started sobbing uncontrollably, the dagger given to him by Seo Iju fell to the ground with a sharp clang.

Clang, clang-clang.

Not only did it clang loudly, but it also spun around and pointed at Hayun with its tip. He glared at the dagger with red eyes. It felt like the weapon was chiding him to get his act together immediately, as if saying there was no time for this. That’s what he interpreted from the gesture.

Hayun alternated between staring at Seo Iju and the dagger before picking up the latter. Even this simple action caused him immense sorrow due to grief. However, he couldn’t afford to do nothing.

‘Please stop crying and think! You fool.’

Hayun repeatedly smacked his forehead hard. Each strike dislodged teardrops that fell like pearls, but he paid them no heed. Instead, he focused on contemplating the dagger.

[Complete the key.]

‘Key.’

What did she mean by ‘key’? The answer immediately came to mind as Hayun looked down at his bracelet. It had to be this.

However, he didn’t know how the bracelet could serve as a key or how to use it. Hayun examined the bracelet closely. It was adorned with a gogok that seemed more fitting for display in a museum. From afar, they appeared merely as decorative beads, but upon closer inspection, each one was indeed a gogok. They varied in size and shape, without any uniformity.

Embedded in the middle of the jade decorations were intricate gold fittings, shaped like circuits, finely crafted. However, these items were all of uniform size.

‘They couldn’t complete the key due to missing components. That’s why they kidnapped Mun Taegang but failed, leading them to target Teacher.’

The gogok seemed to be components of the key. Hayun polished them meticulously despite their varying sizes. He found the irregularly shaped gogok more believable than the uniformly crafted gold pieces.

‘Like gallstones or kidney stones.’

He felt like he’d had this thought before, but that wasn’t important now. Clutching his head tightly, Hayun struggled to comprehend how one could carve gogok using only a dagger.

“…I don’t know anything about this. What am I supposed to do?”

Mookyeong would have noticed something crucial right away. Fighting back tears, Hayun bit down hard on his lip.

‘There has to be some kind of clue, any clue at all.’

Hayun began searching Seo Iju’s pockets. All he found was a piece of silver plastic wrap. It puzzled him why someone would carry such an item in their pocket.

Frustrated with hself, Hayun clenched his fists. Just as he was about to strike his own head, something glinted from beneath Seo Iju’s shirt.

‘Is it a laser pointer?’

Curious, Hayun gently lifted the edge of Seo Iju’s shirt. It was near where she had been applying pressure to stop the bleeding earlier.

‘It’s shining inside her.’

A green light emanated from within Seo Iju’s abdomen. Realizing how to use the dagger, Hayun twirled it around his fingers.

“….!”

Hayun sprang up abruptly. He didn’t want to do this, but he had no choice; circumstances forced his hand. Biting his lip until it became raw, he eventually sat back down, resigned.

He didn’t want to inflict any more harm on Seo Iju’s body. With his eyes fixed on the spot where he saw light, Hayun inserted his hand into Seo Iju’s wound. The unfamiliar sensation made his jaw tremble uncontrollably. At that moment, he felt a slight tug on his bracelet.

Green lights began moving towards his hand. They brushed past his fingers and gathered in his palm, allowing him to firmly grasp them. As he slowly withdrew his hand, blood gushed out. Carefully, Hayun opened his crimson-stained fingers.

Revealed was a pearl twice as large as the biggest one on his bracelet.

‘How do I attach this to the bracelet?’

To incorporate it, he needed to drill a hole for the bracelet thread. Hayun inspected each bead, searching for the knot holding the bracelet together.

However, he couldn’t see any knots. The thread didn’t resemble a regular string either. It wasn’t a fishing line, white thread, or even rubber.

“What on earth?”

Despite his frustration, Hayun marveled at the bracelet perfectly fitting around his wrist. With all those heavy pearls, swinging his arm should’ve caused the bracelet to sag, but it remained snugly secured. Yet when he tried widening the gaps between the pearls, they easily parted. However, pulling on the thread itself did nothing.

‘I need to hurry.’

He had to move quickly. He needed to return to Mookyeong as soon as possible. Kim Deukcheol was not the issue; rather, it was the falling monster carcasses from the sky that concerned him. Hayun anxiously worried about Mookyeong’s safety amidst this chaos.

Hayun searched through the bracelet’s contents once more before impatiently clenching his fist around it. He wanted to hurl it away but couldn’t bring himself to do so. The previously bright pearl was now flickering dimly.

‘I just need to cut and reconnect the bracelet.’

However, considering he might not be able to reattach it afterward, finding the knot wouldn’t change anything. Whether cutting or untying, the result would be the same.

Hayun put down the bracelet and grabbed his injured arm.

“Huuu…”

He had learned basic first aid techniques from Baek Jinha, but this was his first time applying them practically. Whenever he got hurt, Mookyeong usually stepped in immediately, preventing Hayun from gaining any real-world experience. But now, Mookyeong wasn’t there.

He needed to finish quickly and find Mookyeong. Taking deep breaths, Hayun attempted to set his arm himself. He had only ever seen this done before but never tried it personally, so he naturally struggled with it. After emitting animal-like screams three times, he finally managed to realign his bones. However, setting his arm didn’t instantly fix everything; his hand trembled uncontrollably, lacking any strength.

‘I can’t hesitate anymore. I mustn’t delay.’

Continuing deep breaths to dull the pain, he clenched the knife between his teeth. Stretching the bracelet as far apart as possible, he gripped its threads with both hands. With a nod of his head, he sliced through the thread using the knife.

The moment the thread snapped, mysterious characters flowed from both ends and floated in mid-air. The letters continuously shifted their shapes, reminiscent of when he first read the gate’s signboard. The characters alternated between familiar alphabets or Chinese characters but never transformed into Hangul. At times, they seemed to glitch, resulting in strange symbols appearing. As Hayun tracked the moving letters with his eyes, he realized that the pearl he was holding began vibrating.

‘I thought it was just my hand trembling.’

Hayun slightly loosened his grip. Around the pearl, white lines were wriggling, as if trying to form shapes. Some already curved into distinct forms. Recognizing what they resembled, Hayun uttered aloud:

“Seo Iju.”

The swiftly moving characters suddenly stopped. Hayun looked back at Seo Iju’s pearl. The white lines had aligned themselves neatly now. Although hastily scribbled, they formed elegant calligraphy reminiscent of Seo Iju’s handwriting.

Meanwhile, gaps appeared between the characters emerging from the threads. It seemed like three more letters could fit perfectly within these spaces. Hayun once again uttered Seo Iju’s name aloud, and as he did, the characters from the pearl filled the empty spots.

Hayun gasped sharply. In that instant, all the floating letters were instantly sucked into the ends of the broken thread. The bracelet returned to its original form, as if it had never been severed. Relieved, Hayun exhaled while observing Seo Iju’s pearl now integrated into the bracelet.

‘Did it work?’

He wasn’t sure how this process functioned, but something had occurred. Feeling dazed, Hayun carefully secured the bracelet. He didn’t know if the key was complete or not, but all that remained now was to open and close the gate. Despite his lack of understanding due to his poor intellect, he knew he had to try.

Hayun glanced at his hands stained with Seo Iju’s blood before wiping away tears from his eyes using his forearm. After drying his face, he approached Seo Iju, lowered her clothing respectfully, and covered her with a blanket taken from his bag.

“Teacher, once everything is done, I’ll come back for you. Definitely. Please wait just a little longer.”

Now was not the time to stand still and cry. He could weep after completing his task and returning here. In fact, only then would it be appropriate to shed tears. Suppressing his sobs, Hayun opened the door marked with the name of the labyrinth.