NM 09

Chapter 9

Heeyeon’s words made the little girl who had introduced herself as Hawa tilt her head in confusion. Wanting to avoid the awkward topic, Heeyeon gently stroked the girl’s red hair and asked,

“Hey… why were you here?”

It wasn’t an appropriate question to ask a kidnapped child.

But from Heeyeon’s perspective, although Hawa showed slight signs of dehydration, she didn’t look like a kidnapping victim.

She wasn’t tied up, and the only things keeping her company were the canaries. If she wanted to, it looked like she could easily leave the mine and return to the village.

The child darted her eyes around as if gauging Heeyeon’s reaction before speaking tearfully.

“The canaries cried.”

“…”

“I was holding my older sister’s hand and walking through the forest when the canaries cried. I heard them.”

“…”

“The adults always said, ‘If only there had been canaries…’ They said if there had been canaries, my mom and dad wouldn’t have died.”

Heeyeon’s gaze naturally shifted toward the flock of canaries whose feet were bound.

Surely not…

“So you caught canaries and tied them up here?”

At Heeyeon’s question, the child nodded.

As though she understood that she’d done something wrong, her small hands kept fidgeting.

Heeyeon glanced at the canaries.

The little birds fluttered their wings before quickly giving up, releasing their clear cries into the air.

The villagers had been wrong.

The canaries hadn’t stolen the apple.

The apple had drawn the canaries in.

She had a rough idea of how to finish the quest.

Free the bound canaries.

Take Hawa back to the village.

Looking at the cords tied around the canaries’ ankles, Heeyeon thought:

She really caught a lot of them.

“…”

Wait.

They said there were no canaries in this forest.

Did this little girl really catch that many canaries by herself?

And Hawa wasn’t even the first child from Nol Village to disappear.

If the previous children had also vanished because they decided to catch canaries themselves…

The chill she’d almost forgotten swept through her entire body once more.

There were no canaries in this forest.

That was something Heeyeon had confirmed with her own eyes while wandering through it.

Then where exactly had Hawa found these canaries?

More importantly, was it even possible for a five-year-old child to catch flying birds and tie strings around their feet?

Her voice trembled as she asked,

“Hawa… were you the one who caught these canaries and tied them up?”

“No.”

The girl shook her head.

“I untied them from the trees and brought them here.”

So this really is a kidnapping case!

Who tied canaries to trees in the forest and abandoned them like that?!

Heeyeon immediately used her dagger to cut through the strings around the canaries’ ankles.

Freed at last, the canaries flew around chaotically, crying out as though sounding warnings.

Their clear voices overlapped.

Echoing throughout the cave.

Suddenly, Heeyeon remembered something.

The canaries in the mine.

One of the fluttering little birds suddenly dropped to the ground.

Then another.

And another.

The fallen birds twitched their wings helplessly.

Without hesitation, Heeyeon grabbed Hawa into her arms and climbed onto Ehte’s back.

Canaries were highly sensitive to oxygen saturation.

That was why they had once been used in mines—to detect dangerous changes in air quality.

If the canaries died, it meant danger.

Understanding Heeyeon’s urgency, Ehte sprinted forward.

Hawa couldn’t see it.

But Heeyeon, glancing over her shoulder repeatedly, witnessed the horrifying scene with her own eyes.

The canaries flying behind them were beginning to fall from the rear one after another.

The oxygen inside the abandoned mine was disappearing at an unnaturally rapid rate.

Ehte’s horn shone brilliantly within the darkness.

The entrance was still far away.

Amid the rapidly unfolding chaos, Heeyeon finally understood what had unsettled her all this time.

Something was running after them.

Something coming from deeper inside the mine.

It sounded like human footsteps.

Rapid.

Desperate.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!

Her first thought was:

A kidnapper hiding deeper inside.

Thinking more unrealistically, perhaps:

The villagers of Nol who had never returned from the mine long ago.

Whichever it was, if it was a living person, shouldn’t she help them escape?

If it was the former, maybe they didn’t deserve saving.

But the villagers might need answers.

However…

Heeyeon didn’t stop Ehte.

Because something felt wrong.

The footsteps were getting closer.

No matter how fast someone ran…

Could they really catch up to a horse?

She was willing to bet Ehte’s horn that whatever it was…

It definitely wasn’t human.

Yet curiosity.

Fear.

Conflicting emotions.

Eventually, she turned her head.

“Ah—AAAAAH!”

“Noona, what’s wrong?”

“Look forward! Don’t look back! Just look ahead!”

Responding to Heeyeon’s desperate plea, Hawa stared straight ahead.

But Heeyeon couldn’t do the same.

She had already seen it.

A dizzying terror, far worse than mere anxiety, brushed against the back of her neck.

Steeling herself, Heeyeon looked back once more.

She hadn’t been wrong about the sound being footsteps.

But it wasn’t human.

It was something black.

Wrapped entirely in what looked like rotting leaves, the grotesque thing dragged itself forward by slamming a human leg against the ground using what appeared to be its hands.

The problem was…

The human leg was exactly what it sounded like.

A severed leg.

Between the writhing mass of decayed leaves using that amputated limb as a substitute foot, she caught sight of a grotesquely oversized white eye.

“…P-p-peep!”

Heeyeon had instinctively tried to curse.

Instead, only a chirping sound escaped her mouth.

For a moment she was confused.

But she couldn’t afford to dwell on it.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!

The footsteps were getting closer.

She didn’t even need to turn around anymore.

It was right behind them.

Finally—

Light.

The exit.

Clinging desperately to Ehte’s soft mane, Heeyeon threw what she held in her hand behind her.

Just in case, she pulled identical items from her inventory and hurled them backward one after another.

If she kept throwing them…

Surely one would hit.

The sharp sound of glass shattering echoed repeatedly.

After throwing around nine bottles—

[You have hit the target with <Concentrated Malice>.]

[????’s ?? has become Confused. Resistance activated.]

[????’s ?? falls into Despair. Resistance activated.]

[????’s ?? loses Motivation. Resistance activated.]

Its resistance was absurdly high.

“Are you kidding me?! What beginner-level quest is this?!”

Then the final message appeared.

[????’s ?? has been afflicted with a Composite Curse.]

[Affected by Frostbite, Fever, Athlete’s Foot, Cervical Disc Disease, Lumbar Disc Disease, and Tennis Elbow.]

[Resistance activated.]

[Concentrated Malice resists the resistance.]

[Duration Remaining: 20 seconds.]

Something slammed violently against the ground behind them.

Heeyeon risked a glance backward.

Something pale flashed past her vision.

It was the severed leg the monster had been carrying.

Turning deathly pale, Heeyeon immediately faced forward again.

Thankfully, her danger instincts hadn’t failed her.

Checking can wait.

Run first.

Twenty seconds.

That was enough time for Ehte to escape.

The moment they burst out of the abandoned mine, Heeyeon’s face brightened.

She even let out a delighted laugh.

But it didn’t last.

Something pale flew past her again.

The other leg.

Her laughter froze.

Slowly, she looked back.

At the entrance to the mine—the painful scar of Canary Forest bathed in warm sunlight—

The black monster was emerging.

Not walking with legs.

But crawling on its hands.

“…Ehte. Run!”

Ehte immediately accelerated.

The monster chased after them without hesitation.

The green leaves of Canary Forest shook pitifully in the wake of the two speeding figures.

Crying out miserably, Heeyeon kept throwing bottles of Concentrated Malice behind her.

But the creature twisted its body and dodged every one.

Desperately, she searched through her inventory.

Everything glittered and sparkled.

But she had no idea which items were meant for combat.

Should I return to the village?

That veteran player could probably deal with this thing.

No.

Bringing something like this into the village couldn’t possibly be the right answer.

And what if Nameless had already left?

Then maybe the character creation area?

The veteran players were still swarming there.

While Heeyeon agonized over her choices, the clever Ehte made a decision on its own.

The unicorn stopped running across the ground.

Kicking off a sturdy tree trunk, it soared into the sky.

They no longer needed to run.

But their pursuer wasn’t so simple.

Its rotting-leaf-like body stretched unnaturally long.

And it followed them into the air.

“Peep!”

Heeyeon chirped again in panic.

Beside her, Hawa squeezed her eyes shut.

In terms of speed through the skies, Ehte had the advantage.

But the unicorn had burdens to carry.

A beginner with no levels.

A child who could die from a single broken neck.

Ehte descended sharply.

Beneath them spread a gray forest.

The Forest of Ehteh.

Holding Hawa tightly against her chest, Heeyeon closed her eyes.

Sharp leaves scraped against every patch of exposed skin.

[You have been injured by <Leaves of the Forest of Ehteh>.]

[You have entered a Mild Poisoned State.]

[You have been injured by <Leaves of the Forest of Ehteh>.]

[You have entered a Mild Poisoned State.]

[You have been injured by <Leaves of the Forest of Ehteh>.]

[You have entered a Mild Poisoned State.]

Her health, which had been decreasing little by little, suddenly began dropping rapidly.

The poison had stacked.

Staring desperately at the red health bar flashing before her eyes, Heeyeon prayed.

I just want to log out!

Behind them came the sound of branches being sliced apart.

The monster was shredding trees with its blade-like hands to clear its path.

Ehte maneuvered expertly through its own forest.

But they couldn’t keep up this chase forever.

Heeyeon’s health was almost gone.

She couldn’t perform tricks like drinking healing potions while riding a galloping unicorn.

One mistake, and she’d bite her tongue, lose the rest of her HP, and be forcibly logged out.

What do I do?

What do I do?

Looking down at Hawa in her arms, Heeyeon thought:

Should I send Hawa back to the village on Ehte… and sacrifice myself as bait?

She was a player.

A three-day death penalty wasn’t actual death.

But NPCs in Märchen Horizon couldn’t revive.

Once they died, that was the end.

Their quests vanished forever.

Grinding her teeth, Heeyeon spoke to the red-haired child clinging to her.

“Hawa.”

“Yes?”

“If you ever let go of your sister’s hand again and wander into the forest trying to catch canaries and sneak into mines…”

“…”

“…I won’t let you off next time.”

Hawa tilted her little head, trying to look back at her.

Heeyeon pressed the child’s head forward again.

Her grip on Ehte’s mane slowly loosened.

The intelligent unicorn snorted unhappily, sensing her intentions without needing them explained.

Slowly, Heeyeon inhaled.

It was just a game.

But this ridiculously well-made game filled her with genuine terror.

Jumping off a flying horse took more courage than she had ever imagined.

She finally gathered that courage.

Just as she prepared to leap from Ehte’s back—

Someone’s singing voice echoed through the forest.

“Singing as I flow through the mountain valleys—Yodel-ay-hee-ho!”

“…?”