Eat The World Tree

Chapter 340: Hongyeon (5)

“Dowon….”

Hongyeon’s hands meticulously traced my face.

Starting from my nose, grazing my jawline, touching my earlobes, and tapping my eyelids.

She seemed desperate to imprint the sensation into her palms.

“Are you… truly Dowon?”

Even so, Hongyeon appeared unable to believe the reality before her eyes.

She asked, wiping the blood on my lips with her own hands.

Her intermittent breaths brushed against me.

“…This isn’t a dream, right? No, it can’t be a dream.”

“What on earth were you doing-”

-Snap!

Suddenly, Hongyeon wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and pulled my face into her embrace.

“I’m sorry for not recognizing you. I’m sorry… sob, I’m so sorry.”

The absurdity of someone she believed dead coming back to life.

For me, it had only been a few months, but for Hongyeon, it must have been years of waiting.

Or perhaps, there was no waiting at all. She must have thought I was dead.

Even so, her reaction was entirely beyond my expectations.

“Your wounds… sob, your wounds-”

She began to sob, touching the grotesquely decaying areas of my injuries.

Tears streamed down her face as she held me tighter.

“Idiot… even at that moment, you tried to protect me, didn’t you… you fool, you stupid fool… sob… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

It would have been nice if she could either apologize or curse me, not both.

Apparently, Hongyeon’s feelings for me were not as light as I had thought.

We were just colleagues, no more than that.

It was true that her affection toward me was unusually high.

I had assumed it was simply because of the good memories we shared. But maybe that wasn’t it.

Leaving all that aside, I couldn’t read the emotions she bore as she held onto Dowon, whom she thought she had lost.

Perhaps, what I left Hongyeon with wasn’t just a heavy responsibility.

After Cheonma’s death, what burdens did Hongyeon try to shoulder?

To my knowledge, Hongyeon cared for Dowon even more than Cheondo did.

The more I thought about it rationally, the more I could see Hongyeon’s struggles.

I felt I could almost understand why she was with Flower now.

Acceptance brought understanding.

“…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry….”

“Why are you apologizing so much?”

At my words, her shoulders trembled violently.

She hesitated, as if scared to say what came next. Her whole body shook.

The dam of emotions broke for Hongyeon, and she was too overwhelmed to regain her composure.

In the end, I had no choice but to hug her myself.

When I embraced her small frame, the trembling subsided significantly.

“Tell me. What happened? Is it because I got caught in the explosion?”

“That too… I’m sorry.”

“Do you want to get hit before talking, or just talk now?”

“……”

This attitude might be more familiar to her.

I thought as much and spoke, and Hongyeon froze in place.

Surely, she wouldn’t still respond to my threats.

She was someone who didn’t flinch at parental scolding or the harshest teasing.

Concealing the injury on my back as much as possible, I waited for her answer.

I tried to think of ways to turn her words into a joke, so I could respond lightly.

“…I.”

But her response soon shattered my expectations.

“I couldn’t… protect Dowon….”

Her voice thick with despair clung to her throat and refused to escape.

Hongyeon clung to my clothes as if she would tear them apart.

“I couldn’t protect the place you tried so hard to safeguard… because I lacked strength. I couldn’t keep it.”

Whether it was out of frustration or sorrow, she began pounding on my chest.

“…I couldn’t save the child you rescued. Not the one who was always so understanding…. Not the mother who lost her child in her forties. None of them.”

The faces of the people I once knew flickered in my mind.

The girl I took in so she could work for her own future.

The one with an uncanny talent for handling paperwork.

The widow I met while patrolling the lower reaches of Dowon to maintain order.

Even after all this time, Hongyeon remembered them all.

“Because I was weak…. Because I was incompetent. I couldn’t protect them. I should have done better.”

She had been afraid to speak, but once she started, her rage and regret overflowed, and soon she was shouting.

For a long time, Hongyeon poured out her emotions.

How much weight she had carried, and how much she had lost, were all laid bare.

“I…. I… sob, hic.”

Meanwhile, as Hongyeon wept,

I couldn’t help but think about where her anger had been directed all this time.

-Drip, drip.

Tears pooled on my chin and soaked the floor.

In that brief moment, we had our reunion.

‘…….’

While comforting Hongyeon was good, it seemed my injuries were worse than I had thought.

As the strength drained from my legs, I leaned more heavily on Hongyeon until she collapsed, and I fell on top of her.

“…Do… won?”

Hongyeon, who had only just stopped crying, noticed something was off.

‘Cistus….’

Even though I hadn’t gone all out, I had briefly pushed my limits.

It was only a moment of exposure to the explosion, but—

-Gulp.

I coughed up blood again.

Feeling the dampness on her shoulder, Hongyeon instinctively pushed me back to see my face.

Her tears, which had barely subsided, were ready to flow again.

“No… no. Wait…. I’ll-”

“Stay still. I’m not going to die.”

“How can I just stay still after seeing you like this!!!”

“Hey.”

“……”

Swallowing her breath, Hongyeon finally regained some composure and closed her mouth.

“You’ve really changed a lot. Why are you panicking when I said I won’t die?”

“…I.”

“Don’t worry about it. Back then, the rumors of my death were unavoidable.”

“I’m not blaming you!”

“Then you know. You know my nature. If I thought I was dying, I’d say so. Do you think I would have become the Young Demon if I could die from something like this?”

Even so, the explosion’s destructive force was unmatched.

There was no means of defense against it.

To make matters worse, Flower’s small fry were beginning to gather nearby.

In my current state, fighting them would be tantamount to suicide.

“Yeon.”

Reading the resolve in my eyes, Hongyeon grabbed my hand urgently.

“…Where are you going?”

There was no time.

“If I stay, you’ll really end up killing me. If Flower catches up, I’ll die. I already said I’d let you know if I was about to die. This is that moment.”

“I-I’ll stop attacking!”

“Then the World Tree will accuse me of colluding with Flower and kill me instead.”

“Should I protect you—”

“Do you think I’d go to such a place?”

“…….”

Eyes wide open, hands trembling, Hongyeon looked utterly lost.

Finally, she grabbed my arm, hugging it tightly as if refusing to let go with her entire being.

“…Don’t go. I don’t want to part ways again.”

Let go. I’d die if you didn’t.

Who would have thought trying to confront one World Tree would turn out like this?

‘What a cursed mess.’

The World Tree of Growth—it was on hold for now.

“Hey.”

Reluctantly, I unclasped Hongyeon’s hand and hugged her as tightly as I could.

“Why…!?”

Hongyeon fidgeted nervously, flustered by the sudden embrace. She gave me a bewildered expression, confused by this abrupt and passionate gesture.

It was as if she was asking why I was acting this way.

There was plenty of time to think. Her unexpected appearance meant I needed to revise my plans somewhat.

There was also much I wanted to say.

“First, what is it? That.”

Setting aside her original sins and everything else, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude as someone who had spent time by her side.

Whatever her actions had been, Hongyeon had extended Dowon’s lifespan significantly.

Thanks to her, the three peach trees I knew were able to create more memories.

There were likely many regrets.

And as much as there was a gap in that time, I couldn’t fully understand what Hongyeon felt.

“It must’ve been hard for you.”

For Hongyeon, who had poured out her pain, this was the least I could say.

“You’ve done well.”

Hongyeon looked at me with a dazed expression as if she’d been struck on the head.

It was clear she never expected to hear such words from me.

“…Done well?”

“We should have a drink, but now’s not the time. We’ll meet again someday.”

“Ah, wait…!”

“Flower… they seem to hold significant power too.”

Just before I put on the Infi Mask and hardened my expression, I lowered my head to meet Hongyeon’s gaze.

For a brief moment, as our eyes met, a flicker of light appeared in her pupils for the first time.

I smiled.

“Stay right there.”

After saying one last thing, I immediately disappeared from the spot.

Flower had the means to pursue me beyond the cradle’s confines.

I didn’t grab Hongyeon’s desperately outstretched hand.

Though she looked on the verge of tears, she no longer appeared as despondent as before.

I wasn’t sure what she was thinking.

But at least she seemed more hopeful than before.

In the end, the only one injured was me, with my scorched back.

-Thud!

I moved far from the altar to focus on recovery, but the scars wouldn’t heal no matter what I tried.

Was meeting an old connection worth the price?

“Ugh.”

Sighing, I perched on a tree branch, spending a long time there until my damaged organs began to recover.

Raising my head, I looked toward the sky.

The long night that had engulfed the cradle during the assault was finally giving way to dawn.

El Academy. Lee Shiheon.

The only two words Hongyeon received. They must have been his way of hinting at his identity.

Throughout the night, Hongyeon kept repeating that name to herself.

Perhaps…

Dowon had never revealed his name. So it must truly be his.

“…I need to find out.”

Hongyeon, who had previously ignored anything unrelated to her studies, was finally beginning to take an interest in the outside world.

Rumors were already quietly spreading within her faction.

Hongyeon’s demeanor had changed significantly.

If her eyes once resembled dried fish, lifeless and gaunt, they now reflected some brightness.

Under her, Guseul harbored suspicions about these rumors.

‘This is strange.’

Could a person really change so suddenly?

Guseul had seen Hongyeon’s face countless times. She remembered the expression all too well—grim and misanthropic, resistant to any ordinary change.

And yet, Hongyeon had changed. It was baffling.

‘…Still, in the grand scheme, maybe it’s a good thing?’

The word was that her personality had softened significantly.

If that was true, perhaps this could aid their plan to recruit the Tree Spirit King, given Hongyeon’s influential status.

“Um, Deputy Director.”

“What is it?”

“About the Tree Spirit King… how about gathering more information again?”

Having observed Hongyeon’s mood all day, Guseul cautiously suggested it.

This recent incident had made Lee Shiheon, the Tree Spirit King, even more enigmatic.

They needed to gather more intelligence and allocate personnel accordingly.

“Are you insane?”

But what came back was Hongyeon’s cold refusal.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“I’ll give you another task.”

“What? But my current assignment—”

“Are you defying your superior’s orders?”

Now relegated to the grunt work. A single wrong word had landed Guseul in this situation.

She swallowed her frustration and bowed her head.

“I apologize. What would you have me do?”

Only then did Hongyeon’s expression soften.

“El Academy. Lee Shiheon.”

“Eh?”

“Investigate that man. Use money, people, anything you need. But under no circumstances are you to harm him or provoke him!”

Having proposed investigating the Tree Spirit King, Guseul was denied outright and instead assigned to investigate the same person as grunt work.

‘What is this? Some twisted prank?’

With a dumbfounded look, Guseul awkwardly nodded in agreement.