Chapter 82 – Heavenly Demon’s Disciple (4)
[Chapter 5 – Verse 2] A Raw Gem Indeed!
It was an unexpected, last-minute plan, but there wasn’t much I needed to prepare for a 100km athletics marathon.
At most, running shoes?
But since running is the foundation of all exercise, I had already bought a good pair long ago.
Aside from that—
“Hm… maybe a water bottle and a towel.”
Although I doubted whether I needed those anymore, since I barely sweat from most physical activities now.
From far away, I saw Song Sun-young approaching quickly on a bicycle.
…She looks more mature.
Tight athletic wear that emphasized her figure, red-tinted lips, expensive sunglasses…
She looked like she’d stepped right out of a famous women’s fashion magazine.
Screech—
Stopping her bike in front of me, Song Sun-young greeted me.
“How do I look?”
…Was that supposed to be a greeting?
“If you skip the subject, how am I supposed to know what you mean? Your outfit looks nice.”
“You understood perfectly fine. So does that mean only the clothes are nice?”
“Of course the hanger looks good too.”
“Then don’t remove the subject if it leads to misunderstandings.”
“Ah! I see!”
Apparently I was the one at fault.
It felt unjust, but our conversations had always been like this—even in the dream—so I was used to it.
Do I have complaints?
Unfortunately, no. Which is precisely the disappointing part.
“You better know I’m doing you a favor. My time is very expensive.”
“Thanks for coming.”
I didn’t add useless lines like “You shouldn’t have come.”
“…You changed a bit.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Before, you always said rude things. You treated me like some delusional 8th-grader who thought the world revolved around her—like a tragic princess with a terminal case of narcissism.”
“……”
Did I really act like that?
I don’t have a bad memory, but I don’t remember that at all!
“Moon-soo.”
“Yeah?”
“In Nam Hae-soo’s dream, what exactly did you experience?”
“I experienced many things.”
“That ‘many things’ didn’t include women… right?”
“…It didn’t.”
For someone who doesn’t sweat much anymore, I was suddenly very grateful I brought a towel.
“Really?”
“Yes. Really. Not a single one.”
“……”
“……”
“…Fine. I’ll believe you for now.”
She finally removed her suspicious glare and spoke as if doing me a great favor.
It’s not just my body…
It seemed the experiences in the dream had influenced my mind and behavior too—whether that was good or bad.
Unless I quit being a shaman, it was probably an inescapable fate.
“Shall we go?”
“Yeah.”
I started running on foot, while Song Sun-young pedaled beside me on her bicycle as we began the 100km route.
Running technique, stamina distribution, breathing control…
I’d already learned all of it inside Nam Hae-soo’s dream, so there was no difficulty.
“Not tired?”
“Not at all.”
I replied casually to Sun-young’s question, sweat forming lightly on her forehead.
“No wonder I lost.”
“Want to race again?”
“Only if you give me something if I win.”
“Like what…?”
“Buy me the two-person set at Parnaru Restaurant.”
“Geh!”
She wanted to eat a two-person meal alone at that infamously expensive place?
What a wicked…
“If I lose, I’ll buy it.”
“Deal!”
I gladly accepted her charitable offer!
“What’s with that smile? So cocky. You already look like you’ve won.”
“Of course! I’m an active athlete, you know?”
Talent means nothing without effort. There’s no way a swimsuit model could beat me.
“The event is freestyle, 100 meters.”
“Fine.”
A very Song Sun-young-like choice—she had weak endurance.
My main events were long-distance like 10km and 4000m, but that only meant I was slower compared to first-division monsters.
There was no universe where I’d lose to a model.
Tap tap.
“By the way… you’re still not tired?”
“Not at all.”
We were chatting casually as if on a walk, but technically we were measuring my record for the 100km marathon.
If I shut my mouth and focused, I could run faster, but since this wasn’t an official match, I didn’t feel like going full power.
Besides—
This might be a chance.
A rare chance to score points with a girl I dated in the dream and got dumped by in reality!
I used to take our relationship lightly, but after hearing the story about that prince Leon, I became anxious.
“Moon-soo. Remember?”
“Remember what?”
“What I said on the hospital walkway after you woke up from the dream…”
“Sun-young! Wait!”
“……”
Ever since being hunted by the snipers hired by Nam Hae-soo, I had developed the habit of constantly observing and scanning my surroundings.
And something bizarre just caught my eye in my surveillance net!
“I love you so much…!”
“P-put the knife down!”
On a tree-lined path in the park—
A man in his mid-twenties was holding a kitchen knife in a reverse grip and threatening a woman about the same age.
“We need to call the police—!”
“Try talking it out first!”
“Student! Calm down and—!”
The woman was cornered with nowhere to flee, and the witnesses couldn’t intervene because of the knife.
In broad daylight?!
I sprinted toward the life-and-death situation without hesitation.
“I think about you all day, and you go to him? I won’t forgive—!”
“Are you crazy?! Back off now or I’m calling the police!”
“It’s too late! We’ll die toge—!”
Crack!
Before he could finish, I brought my heel down on the top of the man’s skull as he raised the knife over the terrified woman.
Instantly—giving him no chance to react.
Compared to the gun-wielding criminals I fought in the dream, a guy with a kitchen knife was nothing.
“Moon-soo!”
“I’m fine.”
“Not you. The pretty lady.”
“…She should be okay?”
I replied halfheartedly to Sun-young, who had arrived a moment later.
The woman’s wrist—momentarily grabbed by the man—was red and swollen, but her fair skin didn’t have a single scratch.
However—
“She’s not getting up.”
Just like Sun-young pointed out, the woman had collapsed onto the park lawn and couldn’t stand.
Hmm… Maybe I rushed it.
Whatever the reason, an athlete just used violence against a civilian.
A proper judge would clear things up, but for a moment, I regretted my meddling and felt a twinge of reflection.
“She’ll be fine.”
It was likely a mild concussion or shock.
“You saved her because she was pretty, didn’t you?”
“Of course not. My standards for women are extremely high.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then what about me?”
“Hm? You? Back then, on the school rooftop…”
***
As I was answering Song Sun-young’s question, my vision suddenly changed.
A dirt road. Tiled-roof houses. Silk clothing…
The people around me wore traditional clothes and moved through architecture you’d see in a historical museum or folk village.
And then—guards.
“Who goes there!”
“An intruder!”
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
Soldiers wielding crude spears began rushing toward me in a swarm.
Should I surrender? Or run?
The decision took no time at all.
Tap.
I was confident in my running. There was no reason to gamble with danger.
Who knew what they’d do to me?
And the location wasn’t ideal either.
“Kyaa!”
“A thief?!”
Several extremely beautiful young women wearing matching uniforms—holding rags, brooms, and other cleaning tools—stared at me in shock.
Maids? No…
Court ladies.
Women who worked inside a palace.
It was too early to jump to conclusions, but the ornate buildings, the enormous scale, the people’s dignified clothing, and the overall cleanliness…
Everything suggested this was no ordinary place.
“Stop right there!”
“Hm. Mind if I borrow this spear?”
“Kyaagh?!”
Dodging the spear pointed at me, I kicked the soldier’s hand.
Fwip~ Grab!
The moment the spear left its owner’s grip, I snatched it mid-air and mercilessly swept aside everyone blocking my path.
“Aagh?!”
“Guagh?!”
And whenever my path was blocked by a wall or fence—
Tap.
—I didn’t detour. I performed a pole vault using the spear and sailed right over.
“…What kind of disaster is this?”
I didn’t know the roads, but if I ignored obstacles and kept heading in one direction, eventually I’d escape.
The starting point couldn’t have been worse.
And I didn’t expect this at all!
I had only saved a woman threatened by a stalker. I never imagined I would be sucked into a dream on the spot.
Ding ding ding!
Urgent bell sounds echoed throughout the area.
“Shut the gate!”
“Shut the gate!”
Creak—THUD!
The only entrance closed right in front of me, blocked by a towering fortress wall far too high to jump over.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“You can’t escape now!”
“Reveal your identity!”
Sorry to the soldiers panting and sweating heavily as they surrounded me but—
“…I’ll just break through.”
Whenever the spear tip dulled from the rough fighting, I swapped it for another and forced my way through the encirclement.
Another route…
Whish!
A chilling sensation made me lower my head just as an arrow sliced past.
“Neighhh!”
“Neighhh!”
Riders on horseback came into view—each holding a bow.
Mounted archers?!
This type of military unit didn’t exist in the world of the romance fantasy novel “I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count’s Family.”
Yet here they were, shooting arrows at me with frightening accuracy… all while galloping at full speed.
Fweeee—!
Their accuracy was so high I couldn’t ignore the arrows.
“This is insane!”
Mounted archers—shooting from a distance I could never outrun.
I knew their terror from history books, but experiencing it firsthand was far worse.
“Move!”
Judging escape on open ground impossible, I dashed up the stairs leading to the top of the fortress wall.
“Neighhh!”
“Neighhh!”
As expected, the mounted archers couldn’t climb the stairs, so they gave up the chase and instead aimed their arrows upward at me.
“Excuse me.”
“Ghk?!”
I grabbed a soldier by the neck with my left hand, lifting him and using him as a shield.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
With reflexes that had already surpassed human limits, I dodged every arrow fired at me.
“I’ll take you on—”
Thwack!
A bold-looking officer stepped forward but collapsed instantly, my spear piercing straight through his throat.
And the sword he dropped—
“Good.”
I’d only learned spear techniques briefly in the military, but I had trained in swordsmanship under Valentine for a long time.
In tight spaces, a shorter weapon was more advantageous anyway.
Slash! Slice!
Cutting down every enemy in my way, I sprinted along the top of the fortress wall.
It’d be nice if they gave up soon…
Clang!
For the first time, my blade was blocked.
“Who are you?”
“You’re pretty good.”
The man didn’t answer my question and spoke something completely different.
He didn’t look like part of the regular army I had faced so far.
His clothes were more like those of a hunter or a bandit.
Young, handsome—uniquely dressed.
I had no intention of wasting time, so I swung my sword again—
Shrrk—
“Huh…?”
“But that’s all you’ve got.”
I couldn’t react at all to the mysterious man’s slash.
Thud.
What the…
My waist was severed. I died absurdly, just like that.
***
“Moon-soo? Moon-soo?”
“…Yeah.”
Instead of a blood-soaked stone wall beneath me, I saw a clear blue sky.
“Phew! Thank goodness! I almost called Chief Seo because I thought you fell asleep again.”
“Chief… you mean Seo Hye-joo?”
“Yep. That one.”
Sitting neatly beside me on the lawn, Song Sun-young handed me a water bottle.
“Want some?”
“Not really…”
“Drink. You definitely got heatstroke.”
“…Okay.”
I drank the water she offered without arguing.
My whole body felt drained of strength.
And that wasn’t just a feeling.
I died so stupidly…
Since I wasn’t asleep long, I didn’t need rehabilitation, but dying in the dream seemed to have lowered my physical stats slightly.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“About five minutes?”
“I see.”
The woman I saved still showed no sign of waking, and the man who had threatened her with a kitchen knife was now tied up and being dragged away by police.
Wee-oo! Wee-oo!
An ambulance sent by Chief Seo pulled up along the park road. Nurses and doctors poured out—
And she came along too.
“Huh? You weren’t asleep?”
Chief Seo Hye-joo blinked when she saw me and Sun-young perfectly fine.
“I woke up right away.”
“…I see. We’ll have to check how many brain cells died.”
Realizing I had died in the dream, she worried about aftereffects.
“Please look at her first.”
I pointed at the woman in her twenties who still showed no sign of waking.
“Unlucky.”
“Right?”
Who would expect a civilian I rescued to fall into a dream?
It was ridiculous.
Unless it wasn’t coincidence… but intention.
Time to return to my real job.
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