How to Survive as a Player Chapter 119

#119

Blood flowed from between Sehyeon’s lips. His hand, struggling in pain, fell down helplessly. His body was no different. A body that sank like wet cotton revealed the precarious boundaries of life.

Even the sound of breathing was faint.

“road!”

Asha’s face turned pale as she rushed over to check. Ruhak took a pill lying nearby and poured it into his mouth. Then, he bent back Se-hyeon’s limp neck and kissed her, cutting off her hot breath and pushing the medicine into her. The medicine mixed with blood soon seemed to seep into Sehyun’s throat.

Ruhak laid Sehyun’s body back on his shoulder and took another elixir and tried to pour it into the hideously dented wing bone. As a result, he couldn’t swell.

This was because Asha blocked Ruhak’s arm.

“… No, Archduke. It only takes a little… Just a little… .”

Even though Asha was shaking, she did not let go of Ruhak’s arm. She hasn’t completely settled in yet. If she poured her medicine now, all her hard work was in vain.

“Looking at the other vassals… You shouldn’t do that. Everyone will know.”

So it had to be perfect. All the retainers remembered everything about Sehyeon in detail. If the direction of the wings is even slightly different, he will be suspicious and will be bitter about everything that Se-hyeon went through.

In order to control the public sentiment, Se-hyeon had to be completely cured. He had to smile and wave his hand to reassure everyone as if nothing had happened.

To everyone, Sehyun was that kind of person. A being that can cause disorder and confusion with little comfort.

Ruhak’s jaw clenched tightly. But soon Ruhak put down his elixir and extended his hand to Sehyun’s back again. Asha’s tear-stained face was distorted.

“In a little while… It’s possible.”

The moment the blood-filled hand touched the flesh, the stretched body twitched again. The sound of panting breath seemed tiresome. A shallow moan rang in Ruhak’s ears again.

The hellish time ended when the sound of screaming and breathing became dangerously faint again.

“That’s it, Archduke. Hurry up and take the potion… !”

Ruhak sprinkled the prepared elixir onto the roots of the tightly fixed wing bones. Along with the sound of skin cracking, the smoking wounds began to regenerate in an instant. As if removing skin, the ugly wound was pushed away and the white new skin announced the end of the pain.

It was only when the roots were stably established that Ruhak took his hand off. Sehyeon’s lips were moving with difficulty as he let out a deep breath.

“… end… It happened… .”

The cloudy eyes, filled with pain, fluttered shut. Still, Ruhak could not comfort him. What preceded comfort was thirst.

The hoarse voice, slight trembling, and heavy breathing made everything feel dangerous. Even the air was like that.

There was an impulse in Ruhak’s gaze. The tense nerves crossed the border. And when the boundaries became infinitely more ambiguous.

“scram.”

Ruhak spoke with precarious patience. Asha was about to say something when she realized that her air was heavy and left her room looking anxious.

When the silent steps disappeared and the door closed with a small noise, Ruhak’s fingertips stretched out frighteningly towards Sehyun. And without warning, his deep breath hit him violently.

“under… .”

The tongue that invaded parted the lips filled with heat and pushed up the hardened tongue with force. Ruhak’s eyes narrowed at the small groan that rang out. A bloody hand went up his cheek and groped his delicate cervical vertebrae.

Their lips, which had been pressed together again and again without a gap, stopped at Sehyeon’s touch. The trembling hand that was weakly pushing away was locked in pain.

“Nell… ah… green onion… .”

Tears formed at the corners of my eyes and ran down my cheeks. Ruhak’s perspective also changed. The dangerous atmosphere was left silently.

However, a moment later, hot breath touched Sehyeon’s white collarbone. His strong hand dug inside his waist and reached up to fumble with the wings that had begun to sprout. His short scream rang out sharply.

The wings were soft enough to bite. After stroking the newborn’s wings, which were sensitive to the external temperature, my hand brushed the cramped wing ridge and hugged me tightly again. Ruhak’s long breath lingered on Sehyun’s shoulder.

When the deep breath turned into a long breath, the sound of dangerous words flowed into Sehyeon’s deaf ears.

Those were the self-reproaching words I heard on the scorched deck. Telling me not to forgive myself.

Sehyun’s eyes blinked shut. A series of throbbing pains followed, as if I had been pricked by her needle. Everything was sensitive. It was unbearably sensitive, to the point where I was sick of it.

It was then that pain and other sensations passed through my spine. A hot breath came out like a sigh. Her head was pulled back stiffly, and her eyes were painfully closed.

The creeping heat was a sensation I had already experienced. A sharp, hot pain. And the sensitive sensation that made my whole body flinch. At first glance, it resembled joy.

“ah… Black… .”

Sehyun’s fingertips dug into Ruhak’s shoulder. Ruhak weakly bit Sehyeon’s neck, which was stretched stiffly.

At the end of my tightly closed vision, there were overlapping wings. When the slowly digging black wing feathers were buried deeply between the delicate wing feathers, Sehyeon let out a short breath from the throbbing pain.

A faint sob also broke out. But soon, instead of pain, a faint feeling of heat began to spread. My body flinched and heated up. I felt like I was being swallowed.

My fingertips were shaking. With a heavy breath, Ruhak’s body slowly tilted over Sehyeon. The moment his body bowed deeply, the nerves in his wings were sharply pressed.

“Black!”

My vision was paralyzed and I couldn’t see anything. With his heightened sensitivity, Sehyeon buried his head on Ruhak’s shoulder. His whole body was shaking. But soon a listless feeling of exhaustion came.

I could feel the pain that was evident being gradually erased, as if it had been dissolved in water. When the remaining pain faded away, Sehyun realized the traces of lips exploring the nape of her neck. Before his dark, cold eyes, there was a strong shoulder.

When Ruhak bumped my shoulder, the sensitive feeling soared again. Sehyun closed her eyes and trembled. His mind was drifting away.

The pain from the twisted roots had already disappeared. Sehyun’s hand gradually slipped down. The blurry vision soon turned black. The lips that skimmed the nape of the neck were quite persistent.

That was the last thing Sehyun remembered.

***

‘Nell’ remembered the moment when the world fell apart. Twenty stars drawn in the black night sky.

It was a day when the world was shaken by a strong wind, and the ominous howl of an animal echoed all the way to the walls of the castle, so every house had to lock its doors.

All that came to mind was fragmentary things. This place was a dream that was always repeated, a world of salvation that never changed. A world that survived the apocalypse.

However, the ominous feeling was always the same, and the cruelty was accompanied by grief.

The moment she closed her eyes, the world in Nell’s vision changed. To the seething ruins, shimmering with her flames and shimmering screams. From the top of her world, Nell looked down at the devastation in the foreground as it burned away.

It was an unavoidable tragedy, and an ending that could not be changed.

What Nell faced was the end. Only her trembling fingertips conveyed the faded emotions of that day. It was a past so old that I couldn’t remember it, and it was a world that had become dull after countless experiences.

It was a planned tragedy. It should have been that way.

However, the dream, which was repeated countless times, always had a different ending. A huge shadow fell amidst the vague sadness. The person blocking Nell’s path was smiling like sunlight.

It was small and thin and looked like it might break. Her face was so black, as if it was in shadow, that I couldn’t read it. Only her flame-blond hair was vivid in her memory, and only her dark smile made Nell miss her.

Nell knew him. I remembered my body temperature being hotter than the flames grazing my cheek. Words that were whispered softly.

‘It’s the last time. Next time we meet… It might hurt. I apologize in advance. I’m sorry, Nell. And make sure… See you again.’

Raindrops hitting the world. A tidal wave rising enough to swallow the world behind my dry, wet shoulders, and the dark shadows reflected within it. Even the huge footprints left behind by being crushed by a creature with a hard shell.

Behind his small shoulders, many of his supporters were fighting a vicious battle to prevent the apocalypse. When the rain became thicker, Nell remembered hot hands cupping her cheeks.

I remembered the temperature that passed my lips like the wind and the moment when our breaths overlapped.

The feeling of being burned awakened a dull memory. It was the afterimage that Nell remembered most clearly. She was the kind of person who was so clear you could almost touch her if you stretched out her hand.

But before I could even stretch out my hand, everything that existed before my eyes disappeared along with the rain. The only people left on the ruins were the imperial citizens stained by rainwater. The wonderful emotions that gradually appeared on a face full of despair made me realize that I was alive.

Nell was the only one left at the top of the castle tower where the flames were rising. In his tightly curled hand, there was a black feather that looked like someone had given it to him. That was the only thing left.

It was a quiet morning. It was a time when even the rising sun was quiet.