Chapter 71 : Unlucky
This damned underground passage.
Gude chewed out a curse and tapped his waist before placing his foot on the stairs that started again.
Going up and down, and going up again.
“Why is it so complicated!”
Gude, screaming like a person who did not understand the aning of the word secret passage, adjusted the water bottle in his arms once again.
His legs were too short and chubby to walk this long, long underground tunnel.
Even amidst the struggle, he did not entrust the item in his arms to anyone else, sweating profusely as he swung the candlestick here and there to illuminate his narrow field of vision.
“Huff huff, we are almost there now. Right?”
Discovering the outline of a large pillar in the direction the faint light extended, he pressed his subordinates with excitent.
“Yes, Gude-nim. If you turn right in front of there, the stairs will appear!”
Joy was also evident in the voice of the man who had to co along while listening to all of Gude’s irritation beside him.
However, no one had a more welcoming expression than the man following at the very back of the line holding the jar containing holy water.
The man, whom Gude had specifically picked to carry the large jar containing blue liquid, raised the corners of his mouth, forgetting even the fact that they were running away from intruders at the thought that he could now stop this arduous task.
But arriving in front of the pillar, his face turned to the color of dirt again.
Because what unfolded before them was a dense set of stairs with no end in sight.
“There is a door to the exit at the end there, Gude-nim.”
At the words reawakening the annoying truth he already knew, Gude furrowed his brow and took a step.
One step, one step, as he moved forward, his knees and thighs went numb and sweat flowed like rain, but he could not stop.
One step.
Finally arriving in front of the right corner, Gude rummaged through his pocket, making a loud jangling sound.
It was at that mont.
The candlelight flickered, and Gude’s shadow distorted.
“Ueok!”
Clang!
Following the agonizing scream of the man moving the jar at the very back, the bursting sound of a bottle breaking rang out.
The mont he realized that they now only had two candles left, the flustered Gude shouted.
“What is it, what is happening!”
But that was it.
Before the remaining five people could even draw their swords, a nauseating smoke was rising from beneath their feet.
***
“Huff huff, we are almost there now. Right?”
“Yes, Gude-nim. If you turn right in front of there, the stairs will appear!”
Seya looked back at the breathless sound of the manager coming from the front.
“I guess we’re really almost there now.”
Mir nodded at Seya’s words, even knowing it wouldn’t be seen.
Small sighs of relief burst out from behind the child.
These were children who had walked relying only on Seya and the small candles of the n going ahead, in order not to be caught following.
Walking in the darkness with the tension that they must not make a sound was too exhausting a task for the children.
“Since that jerk was whining so filthily, I thought there was still a lot left.”
Seya, standing at the lead, also tapped his shoulders as if glad to finally be liberated from that whining sound.
“Is running all that’s left now?”
Perhaps hearing Seya’s muttering, Nihil’s voice, standing sowhere in the middle, trembled anxiously.
“Yeah, so we should untie this now too.”
Seya shook the rope tied to his waist to show them.
Nihil felt the vibration transmitted to his waist and held the rope tightly.
This rope connecting each other was sothing the Little Duke had thought of.
It was because if they went relying only on the sound of Seya’s steps in the darkness, they might get separated from each other.
Thanks to it, the slow children ca this far without falling behind, but for the fast children, it was an annoying shackle.
For Nihil, who belonged to the slow side, untying it was inevitably regrettable.
“Can’t we just keep it on? We can just run while wearing it.”
“Of course not. Running and walking are different. If we ss up, we might all fall together.”
Nihil, who had benefited greatly from the rope, asked while hesitating to untie it, but Mir’s answer was sharp.
Since there was nothing wrong with those words, the children who had benefited from the rope, including Nihil, had to finish untying the rope while groaning.
“You’ll all be able to run away, so don’t worry too much. We’ve already done a similar thing once.”
The Little Duke, who was standing third from the front, spoke in the darkness as if to encourage them.
“That is true, but…….”
“If you fall, no one will help you, so just run like you’re going to die. I’m going to throw it now.”
Nihil, who was muttering unconfidently, glared at Seya who cut off his words this ti as well.
In fact, the surroundings looked dark so nothing could be seen, but since it was the sa for the other side, he could glare to his heart's content.
“Three, two…….”
As if there was no such thing as ti for ntal preparation, Seya tapped the floor and started counting.
Right, these guys were these kinds of guys.
Nihil bit his lip at the extraordinary guts of Mir and Seya that he realized anew.
“One!”
Seya jumped forward without an ounce of hesitation.
The target was the man carrying the candlestick in front of the man holding the water bottle.
“Uat!”
At Seya’s charge, the man who was struggling to carry the water bottle fell over making an unsightly sound.
With a crashing sound, blue liquid splattered in all directions.
Before the man could turn around at the commotion that happened behind him, Seya snatched the candlestick from his hand.
Mir received that fire with a movent that had no superfluity.
Everything was smooth.
***
Gude’s chubby hand, unable to adapt to the darkness that suddenly visited, groped the empty air.
Even though he had imdiately dropped the key, he showed an unpleasant level of tenacity by never letting go of the water bottle held dearly inside the clothes on his remaining arm.
Thud!
However, as he collided with Nihil who ca running imdiately after, he ended up dropping even the bottle he was cherishing so much.
Far away, pasak. The sound of a thin bottle breaking rang out.
“No!!!!”
His scream, pressing down on his throat, rang through the stairs.
Whether he did or not, Seya shouted while quickly picking up the key rolling at his feet.
“Run!”
He saw the n turning their heads this way and that in panic at the young child’s voice, but having lost their vision and stomachs, they only flailed in the empty air and could not impose any particular restraint.
Mir ran in the direction where the voice of Seya taking the lead was heard.
The darkness was thick, but because there was a risk of being caught by the n, they did not carry a single ember.
They had no choice but to run relying on the sound of each other’s footsteps.
Hearing the sounds of the n retching from behind, it seed the operation was perfectly successful.
In order not to miss Seya running ahead, Mir ran and ran again.
Not long after, the sound of bumping into sothing with a ‘thump’ and a clanking sound were heard from ahead.
It must be the sound of Mir, who arrived first, opening the door with the key.
The thrill of success ran through his head.
Flop.
It would have been better if not for the ominous sound heard from behind.
“U, Uang…….”
Why is an ominous premonition never wrong; the small crying sound following from behind proved that what he heard just now was not simply misheard.
It must be one of the guys who fell behind.
It was unfortunate for the guy who fell, but he had to keep going.
Because there was no expectation that everyone could escape from the start.
Saving a stranger he had never t before was a choice one could choose only when one’s own life was guaranteed at the minimum.
Himself and the few friends from the streets.
This was Seya and Mir’s small world.
A small but overwhelming world that they, who had nothing, barely gathered in their arms.
Mir squeezed his eyes shut listening to the sound of footsteps gradually slowing down right in front.
However, it seed Mir’s best friend was intending to take a step out into a slightly bigger world before he knew it.
“Mir.”
Because Seya, who had stopped before he knew it, called Mir in a low voice.
“Just go.”
“Mir.”
“They are strangers anyway. You said it. That you would just leave anyone behind if they fell.”
“I heard one set of footsteps moving away.”
Seya whispered as if to calm Mir who was speaking breathlessly.
“It’s obvious who it is.”
Right, it is obvious.
There was only one face that ca to mind, so Mir bit his lip.
He realized it from the mont that unlucky face smiled without even getting angry.
No, maybe he noticed from the mont he first saw him.
That that immature young master would bring a huge wave to their own small world, that if it was Seya, he was a child who would willingly jump into it, and that then he himself would have no choice but to follow his friend again.
“Take this and go. I’ll go in a little bit.”
Fumbling for the hand of the unresponsive Mir, Seya pressed the key he took from Gude into it.
The child, having squeezed Mir’s hand once, ran back the way he ca.
Now that the flash bomb had almost faded away, Seya ran into the faint light.
Perhaps bumping into the children running toward the entrance, the sound of footsteps cut off intermittently.
But he did not co back.
Mir blankly watched the direction the footsteps were receding.
“Ack! Is he crazy? Where is he going? What? Why are you here again?”
Nihil, who bumped shoulders with Seya, asked irritably when he bumped into Mir who was standing still.
Mir, having looked at Nihil once, quietly picked up Nihil’s hand.
“What, why are you holding my hand so creepily? Huh?”
Nihil, who was trying to shake off Mir’s touch, stopped his action at the sensation of the slightly lukewarm and damp key entering his hand.
“If you go straight like this, it’s the door. Once you get out, take care of it with this.”
“What? Hey! Where are you going!”
Having placed sothing round on the hand, Mir was sucked into the thick darkness by himself.
***
“You damned brats! Uwek!! I’ll kill you all! If I catch you, I’ll kill you all!”
Gude shouted while retching continuously, perhaps because the aftereffects of the vomit-inducing bomb still remained.
Even though the number of people who regained their senses to so extent had increased, they probably couldn't move easily now that all the candles that were at least lighting the front had gone out.
“What are you guys doing! Catch them all and kill them!”
As his body did not move as he willed, he started giving orders to the subordinates around him to kill them repeatedly.
However, there was no way his subordinates possessed particularly strong stomachs capable of overcoming that intense nausea.
‘Still, they will regain their senses soon.’
The Little Duke thought while moving his steps carefully so as not to make a sound.
“So, I’m sorry.”
The child piggybacked on his back whispered in a voice full of tears.
“It’s okay. You aren’t as heavy as I thought.”
For saying that, the Little Duke’s back was soaked with sweat, so the child quietly gripped the boy’s hem.
Rather than the weight of the child who was nothing but bones, the fact that even that slightly hoarse voice was getting smaller, and that the blood flowing from the child’s foot was enough to wet his leg, made the Little Duke’s heart heavier.
The child, who was exceptionally skinny among them, could not run properly in the darkness and eventually fell down the stairs.
If he hadn’t chased after and caught him in the middle, he would have rolled down to the end of the stairs.
Thinking of the terrible situation that didn’t happen, the Little Duke frowned.
Perhaps luck was not on the child's side either; he said he hurt his leg on the fragnts of the broken water bottle in the process of falling.
Flinn beca anxious because there was no way to check if the blood continued to flow because he wasn't healthy, or if the blood wouldn't stop because the wound was deep.
It seed he needed to get out quickly and treat him.
He wanted to go up before all those n regained their sanity, but the problem was that their positions had been swapped with the n while chasing the child down.
‘Should I just push through and go up?’
A reckless plan ca to mind and then subsided with a hiss.
The risk burden was too great to charge while carrying a child through those folks who had their eyes lit up.
“Squeak.”
“Ah. You were here too.”
The Little Duke, who was catching his breath and frowning, smiled faintly at the sound of the small friend coming from inside his bosom.
“Pardon? I have been here since earlier.”
Perhaps because the Little Duke who suddenly started talking to himself seed to have lost his mind from exhaustion, a voice full of fear ca from behind his back.
Co to think of it, the children here didn’t seem to talk to animals very often.
Soone with a hearty appetite even drooled imdiately.
Recalling the face that made excuses saying the squirrel looked cool repeatedly, the Little Duke swallowed a laugh for a mont.
“Hmm, anyway, it would be better to go ahead for now.”
The Little Duke said to the small beast invisible in the darkness.
This smart creature must have understood the Little Duke’s words.
The warmth that stayed still for a mont vanished in an instant, and a chill larger than the vanished volu hovered, so.
Although it was a bit lonely, thinking it was better than being in danger together, it was the mont the Little Duke took a step.
Thud!
A striking sound that was by no ans small rang out from above where Gude and the n were.
“Uak! What is it!”
Along with the sudden scream, the Little Duke felt sothing heavy rolling down from above.
Only after a human shape brushed past the Little Duke’s side could he realize that what rolled down was one of that group.
“Damn it, it’s this way! They pushed from this side!”
“They said it’s over there, you idiots! Go quickly and catch them!”
The voices of the n scattered here and there were gathering toward the left end.
For the Little Duke, it was an opportunity that wouldn't co again.
He ran with all his might using the commotion as a cover.
“No, it’s not! It’s not , it’s that guy!”
“Aack! This is my arm!”
Leaving behind the sounds of them grabbing each other’s arms and legs and fighting in the darkness, the Little Duke ran.
Scurry.
Although he almost sprained his ankle slightly at the feeling of sothing climbing up his leg.
A familiar warmth was felt on his shoulder, and soft tail fur brushed his cheek.
“Is it you, Darami?”
At the welcoming voice, the small animal on his shoulder seed to stiffen a little, but since it usually showed this reaction when he called its na, the Little Duke could smile.
“You didn’t go. You are the bravest squirrel I know.”
“Squeak.”
The small friend who answered shortly looked down at the n below the stairs from the slightly less small friend’s shoulder.
It was eyes that seed to pierce through everything even in the darkness.
***
Only after the shouting sounds of the n grew distant could Flinn stop his legs which felt like the muscles would burst.
“Are you okay?”
This ti, unable to simply answer that he was okay, the Little Duke slumped onto the stairs.
No matter that he is nothing but bones, he wasn't a weight suitable to carry and run with.
Sweat flowed like rain.
“Can you go alone? You just need to go a little more now.”
The Little Duke thought they had probably passed more than halfway.
“Uh, uh, then what about you, Young Master?”
“I’m going to rest a little and then go. Don’t worry.”
“Just a little?”
The child feared as if the ‘little’ the Little Duke ntioned would beco forever.
“Do, don’t do that and let’s go together. I’ll try carrying you this ti.”
Perhaps they weren't just empty words, the child put his hands under the Little Duke’s armpits and tried to lift him.
However, with the small child’s strength, he wasn't even dragged, let alone lifted.
At that rate, he would only bleed more.
Thinking that all his efforts so far would eventually co to nothing, the Little Duke carefully pried the small hands loose.
“I’m really okay. Go first. Even if I get caught, they won’t be able to kill right away anyway.”
Thinking like that made his heart a little more at ease.
Right, I felt I could buy at least a little ti if I gave the na of the Piteos family.
Once his mind was relieved, fatigue flooded in all at once.
“Still, if by chance, you get out, go to the Piteos mansion, and call people.”
The mont the Little Duke, who finished speaking intermittently, closed his flickering eyes, hands ca in deep under his armpits again.
With a brute force that couldn't be compared to just a mont ago.
The strong force that made his eyelids lift of their own accord lifted the Little Duke upward this ti.
No, can one suddenly beco this strong just by resting for a mont?
“Have you finished your unlucky last ga?”
Onto the head of the Little Duke, who was thinking stupid thoughts that didn't match with his clouded judgnt, a politely rude remark settled down.
“Oops. Here ‘unlucky’ ant ‘ominous’, Young Master. Mir tends to confuse words.”
Seya’s nonsensical defense was a bonus.
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