"You are called the Fairy King, so I thought you were the king of the fairies. You are not?"
Haseol spoke while sitting before the television in the living room, where he had sat several times before.
"Hehe. The title Fairy King does leave room for misunderstanding when one first hears it."
Bisan accepted Haseol's words with a smile.
"When Myun stood before the fairies, I thought the conversation would obviously go well, but it only got more hostile. It made me flinch."
Haseol complained as he lay facedown on the table.
"Bisan is the King of the Night. Do you think the night treats him as its king? Of course not."
Myun protested as though he had done nothing wrong.
"Come on, fairies and the night are completely different."
Haseol immediately argued back.
"How was the Fairy Realm?"
Eska, who was sitting on the sofa, asked.
"It was fascinating."
"Do you understand the sensation of entering a Fairy Realm?"
Eska asked with curious eyes.
"Do not ask pointless questions."
Myun cut off the question first.
"Ahaha. I do not know anyway. I can only enter the way Myun taught me to."
"Do you not understand it through sensation or knowledge?"
"Not at all."
At Haseol's answer, Eska looked disappointed.
"It seems you truly have no talent."
"Cough!"
Haseol choked as he drank cola filled with ice and began coughing.
"Is that something to say to a human who's just come back from work?"
Myun could not deny it, so he scolded Eska another way.
"Then were the defenses for guarding the ability gear in the Fairy Realm adequate?"
"Defenses......"
Haseol recalled the appearance of the Fairy Realm he had borrowed.
"I just piled everything up in an open field."
At Haseol's troubled answer, Bisan looked at Myun.
"Myun, what is going on?"
"What do you mean, what is going on?"
"Even if it is Haseol's Fairy Realm, can other fairies not come there?"
"They can. The spirits have not severed the paths."
"You are not about to say that you trust the fairies and that they would not steal the ability gear, are you?"
"As if I would. The spirits living there will notify Haseol if an outsider enters."
"I see."
"If anyone tries to take something without permission, they will stop them. Even if someone strong comes, they will hold out until Haseol returns. Or I can go there myself."
"That should be enough, then."
Bisan nodded.
"For now, I made the Pairing Effect enter from Haseol's solar plexus and go toward his back. If there is anything else you intend to put into Haseol's body, take that into account."
"I laid my magic circle on the left side."
"I had the blood spread from around his neck."
Eska, Myun, and Bisan looked at Shura.
"If I teach martial arts, there is a chance Si Haseol will awaken to martial arts."
"Is there even a chance of that?"
Myun reacted skeptically to Shura's words.
"Cough."
Haseol choked again.
"There is, though the odds are lower than winning the lottery."
Eska calmly told him the truth.
"Cough. Cough."
"Awakening to martial arts lies even more in the realm of talent than learning magic, so mathematically, it may as well be impossible."
"Cough. Cough. Cough."
"Still, we cannot ignore the possibility entirely."
Bisan nodded as though he agreed.
"If I teach him, it's possible. I have talent as a teacher."
Shura spoke calmly with an expressionless face.
"......"
"......"
"......"
No one responded. They only looked at Shura with eyes emptied of feeling.
Having heard over and over that he had no talent, Haseol stared at his cola with a half-lost expression.
Seeing Haseol like that, Bisan spoke.
"Haseol."
"Yes?"
"Having no talent for supernatural abilities is an advantage right now. Be proud of it."
"Is that so?"
"If not for Haseol, we might not have been able to stop even one Rootstream. That is remarkable."
"Then I should think that way. I should think that other humans ought to live grateful just because I exist."
"Not quite that far......"
Bisan swallowed the rest of his words with a troubled smile at Haseol's resolve-like declaration.
"Then, Shura, do you have no intention of teaching Haseol anything?"
Eska asked Shura.
It did not sound accusatory. It felt as though she were simply asking for a fact.
"Give him a weapon."
"A weapon? What changes if we do that?"
Myun asked in confusion.
"Among ability gear, there are pieces that grow by consuming their owner's experience points when their owner has too little talent."
"Oh, there is something like that? Then there is no problem."
"Yeah. If he uses one, it can grow while receiving my teaching as well."
Haseol smiled as though things had worked out at Shura's explanation.
The others' reactions, however, were distinctly uncomfortable.
"Why? Is there a problem?"
Haseol asked, puzzled by their reaction.
"A tool that takes what its owner should receive. What do you call that?"
"What do you call it?"
"Cursed."
"......Ah."
The image of fighting with a cursed tool flashed through Haseol's mind.
"Since it came up, I'll go right away to find ability gear Haseol can use."
Shura neatly straightened her suit and left the house.
"Cursed ability gear?"
"That is the kind of thing we have to find."
"Yees. Take care."
Haseol said goodbye with a strange expression.
It almost seemed as though he hoped the search for ability gear would fail.
After Shura left.
"I will go look for ability gear at the place where the first ghost appeared."
Eska said so as she rose from her seat.
"If you go too, how will you know if a Rootstream appears?"
"I arranged for a Slap Portal to appear by the entrance if a Rootstream appears. I can take that to move there."
Eska explained, pointing to one side of the entrance.
"Okay~."
Haseol nodded.
"Myun, Bisan."
Before stepping out through the entrance, Eska briefly turned back and called to them both.
"Yes."
"What?"
"When a Rootstream appears, make sure at least one person can follow Haseol. If there is an urgent matter, call someone else."
"We will do that."
Eska left the house.
"Take care."
Haseol saw Eska off with another farewell.
"Then I......"
Haseol returned to the living room.
"What should I do?"
"You?"
"Yes."
"You woke up at dawn, did you not? Rest."
"Can I? Should I not do something like training so I can become stronger?"
"Resting is better. We don't know when another Rootstream will appear."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
Haseol answered as though he did not feel entirely at ease.
The responsibility he bore was too heavy.
If he did not do something, he could not help feeling anxious.
The scale of what would happen if he failed was simply too absurd.
"Resting is right."
Bisan told Haseol the same thing.
"Is it really?"
"Do you remember the scene when the world ended one year later?"
"Uh...... I think Rootstreams had spread across almost all of Earth, and I saw people dead inside them."
"There were many Rootstreams, were there not?"
"There were. An incredible number."
"Imagine that many coming into existence within one year."
"Ah."
"Then resting while you can is the right thing to do, is it not?"
"It is."
Haseol nodded and lay back.
"The predecessor said work would come pouring in, so considering that, it would be best to rest......"
"The predecessor."
Haseol sprang upright before he had finished lying down.
"Shall we go again?"
"To your predecessor?"
"Yes."
"You are not going to rest now?"
"No."
Haseol nodded without any hesitation.
At that immediate answer, Bisan tilted his head, more puzzled than before.
"Why?"
"She told us to leave, but she did not tell us not to come back."
"You do not have anything to say to her?"
"I have a great deal to say. Is not the problem that there is too much to say? I imagine it is the same for all of you."
Haseol sought agreement from Myun and Bisan, who remained there.
There was much he was curious about.
There were more questions than he could count.
Myun and Bisan had foundational knowledge about supernatural abilities, so they would surely be able to ask more than Haseol could.
"You will need a guardian, so I will come with you."
Bisan rose from his seat.
"Yes, yes. What about you, Myun?"
"I went to the Fairy Realm, so I'm going to rest."
Myun said that and flopped down on the sofa.
"I went to the Fairy Realm too, though."
"Then you should rest too."
"I suppose this is the concept of voluntary overtime."
Haseol smiled as though he did not particularly mind and got to his feet.
"You don't complain that you're the only one working?"
Myun looked at Haseol while lying on the sofa.
"It feels as though problems keep coming up even when there are many boatmen."
"Does it feel as though the boat is heading into the mountains?"
"I do not care where the boat goes, but it feels as though the boat has a hole in it and they are fighting with their oars."
"Kahaha! That is true. Other than me, every last one of them does whatever they please."
Myun laughed as though he understood perfectly, and Haseol looked at him with a gaze that contained many meanings.
"Shall we go?"
As soon as Myun turned his head, Haseol turned his eyes to Bisan.
"I contacted Eska. We will enter when a Slap Portal appears in the yard."
"Okay."
Bisan walked outside first, and Haseol pulled down his cap, slipped on his sandals, and followed him.
He was dressed as always: a cap marked with an hour hand and a minute hand, a white T-shirt, and jeans.
The garden overlooked a clear sea.
The sky was clear, and the clouds were clean.
"Hoo......"
Looking at the open, refreshing view, Haseol drew in a deep breath of air.
Then a Slap Portal began to open in front of him.
Screeech.
A straight line was drawn through the air, and it moved to form a rectangle.
The rectangular door blocked out the morning sea and showed a space with a dark, chilly atmosphere.
Bisan walked through the Slap Portal first, and Haseol followed without much hesitation now.
An empty street.
Rows of one-story shops stood abandoned and ruined.
"I will be back."
Haseol activated Bloodline State by touching his thumb to his neck, then walked toward Rootstream.
"Have you thought of what you will ask?"
"Hmm~. I do not know."
Haseol approached Rootstream as though he had not given it much thought.
"Since it is uncomfortable to meet her, perhaps we should first ask how long she plans to stay here?"
"......Good."
At Haseol's words, Bisan stared at his back and nodded.
It was uncomfortable to meet her.
He would ask how long she would stay here.
The meanings contained in those two sentences.
"Even in this situation, are you thinking of others first?"
"What? I do not understand what you mean."
Haseol answered as though he truly did not know, then walked into Rootstream.
[Playing a game inside Rootstream, on a blood-soaked floor, is not an ordinary situation.]
Though Haseol pretended not to know, Bisan continued without paying him any mind.
[There must be an uncomfortable circumstance, and we need to resolve it. Is that not why you came here?]
"I would not go so far as to say we need to resolve it. I just think it would be good to listen, and if there is something I can help with, should not I help? That is about it."
Haseol scratched his head shyly.
[Excellent. It seems you were not chosen for no reason.]
"Is this not normal?"
[It is not normal.]
"If an elderly or weak person falls on the street, everyone offers a hand, do they not?"
[Hehe. To you, Haseol, is this situation no different from that?]
"It does not cost money, after all."
Haseol answered lightly and walked toward the supermarket in the distance.
"Hello~."
Though he had been hurriedly told to leave last time, he opened the supermarket door with a bright greeting.
Creak.
The old, rusty door opened wide with an unpleasant sound.
Blood was spread across the floor.
The traces of blood were thicker and clearer than when he had come before.
And the sharp, metallic smell was more distinct.
The air was damp and unpleasant, clinging to him stickily.
"......"
Haseol stood still for a moment, staring into the supermarket.
The sound of dripping water, echoing ominously through the empty space as though in a horror film, pierced Haseol's ears.
A person with limbs severed, hanging in midair.
A person whose arms and legs had all been cut off.
But rather than lying collapsed on the floor, she hung in the air.
A rope was looped around her neck, and she dangled from the ceiling with her head bowed deeply.
What was strange was that the severed surfaces of her limbs were linked by white light.
Her arms and legs floated in the air, as though trying to reattach themselves to her body.
Drip. Drip.
Blood flowed from the severed ends and echoed through the empty space.
Like water droplets falling in a cave.
Her limbs floating in the air trembled.
It seemed the white light was trying to fasten the arms and legs back to her body.
And, as though preventing that, black light connected her to the ground.
Like iron chains holding a prisoner in place.
A woman with the cute image of a small face and black bobbed hair, wearing a bright red hoodie and a bright red skirt.
The person hanging by her neck with her limbs severed was none other than Asha Peyrn.
The predecessor of the task Haseol was now handling.
"Ha."
Haseol let out a short breath and ran toward Asha.