Vol 5 Chapter 32

A new video update at a time like this, of all times.

'The ones released so far were Kion-hyung, Caesar, Yu-wan... Then who could it be this time?'

As he waited anxiously, the homepage finally loaded completely. Without bothering to look at other boards, he clicked on the familiar announcements section, and indeed, a new post was visible.

[ Episode 3. The Return of Memories ~ The Fourth Return ]

'It really has been updated...!'

Feeling tension spread throughout his body in an instant, Kapros took a moment to catch his breath. After staring intently for a while, he pressed the title forcefully, and soon a much smaller screen than at home flickered and turned black. He stared at it, unable to even blink carelessly, as if it were a sign that the video was about to start.

At the same time, even the fact that he was in a hospital room slowly faded from his mind.

Swoosh...

A sound resembling TV or radio noise, yet chilling to the core, was heard faintly at first, but gradually grew louder. When the video first started, he couldn't tell what the sound was, but as he listened carefully, he soon realized it was the sound of wind.

As he realized this, clumped shapes slowly emerged from the black darkness. Finally, in the brightened screen, there was an unnamed forest.

The forest was not green at all. The screen, which had been scanning the dried-up dead branches and the land where no living creatures were visible, soon zoomed in on the end of a thin tree branch with severely dried, rough bark. A single yellowed, withered leaf was precariously hanging on. That leaf was being swept by the fiercely blowing wind like waves, swaying as if it would fall at any moment, yet stubbornly holding onto its place.

Swish swish swish... swish swish...

How many times had it escaped the crisis of almost falling? Finally, just as the wind suddenly stopped and the leaf was about to calm down, it happened.

Suddenly, a figure darted out from between the long, intersecting shadows of the black trees.

'What's that?'

The movement was too fast, and although Kapros quickly narrowed his eyes to look closely, he couldn't see the exact form of the figure. At the same time, the leaf that had been brushed by that figure sadly split and crumbled like dust with a soft sound, despite having held on for so long.

The shadow that had darted out passed by the falling leaf fragments and lightly stepped on a dry branch that looked like it might snap at any moment, leaping onto another branch. The movement was so incredibly fast that the form was barely visible, but a flash of silver in the darkness at least confirmed that it was a person.

As soon as he appeared, the screen unhesitatingly followed, accelerating into the depths of the forest. The shadow, which had been jumping from tree to tree regardless of left or right as if weightless, finally stopped with a thud on a relatively thick and high branch after a while.

Somehow, it had climbed to such a high place that the ground was dizzyingly far below. The screen, which had been showing the man standing and looking somewhere, briefly showed only up to the nose part of the man's face covered by his clothes, then quickly panned down to his body.

It was then that Kapros could finally realize who the protagonist of the fourth episode video was.

'What day is it today?'

Although he couldn't see the face properly because it passed by too quickly, he had seen the hair. There was only one person he knew with that silver hair tinged with purple. The dagger at his waist and the milky, mist-like jewel embedded in the back of the sword hilt, which flashed briefly as the camera moved down past the black-clothed upper body, were like a confirmation.

It was the person he had just seen on the website and inadvertently in the nurse's photo. The person he had met once and parted ways with, but who had left a strong impression due to his unique appearance and personality: Lucrecian.

The camera's gaze, which had passed the waist, suddenly moved down to the long fingers exposed below the gloves. As if on cue, the hand lightly clenched into a fist and then opened, suddenly revealing small, sharp blades. As Lucrecian inserted them between his fingers and turned his head towards somewhere, the screen following his gaze suddenly darkened.

No, it hadn't darkened, but it seemed that way because something too large had filled the view.

It was a tree.

However, it was so enormous that it couldn't fit entirely on the screen, and it was also the only tree with lush, living leaves. The tree, with its stretching branches so large and numerous that it was beyond imagination, stood like an emperor in the middle of the withered forest.

But what made this tree completely different from the others, apart from its enormous size, was that everything from its trunk to its leaves was of an unpleasantly dark, gloomy color.

After looking down at the tree for a long time, Lucrecian rolled his shoulders a few times to loosen up, then swung his blade towards the tree. It was a light movement that showed no sign of tension.

With a swish, the glinting blades flew and disappeared into the massive tree. It was even less rippling than throwing a stone into a lake. However, a moment later, a tremor that started from the tips of the giant tree's branches spread to its entire body.

Whoosh- whoosh- whoosh- whooooosh!

The branches swayed like a giant bird flapping its wings, sending enormous waves of wind throughout the forest. Even the branch Lucrecian was standing on was shaking wildly, but he remained motionless, maintaining his balance and staring only at the large tree. He looked as if he was waiting for something.

'What on earth is he trying to do?'

It was then. The leaves covering the giant tree all stood on end at once and began to shoot up into the air.

Fwoooosh!

The scene of the black leaves scattering all at once was shocking even to Kapros outside the video. It felt as if a massive storm was blowing through the entire world, and even reaching him here.