Eat The World Tree

Chapter 237: Baobab Tree (1)

Gororong.

“Hmph, hmh, hmph.”

Humming a tune, he put on his coat and sat down on the two people lying in their sleeping bags.

He flicked the foreheads of Taeyang and Aori, who were still sleeping, making sure it made a loud noise. The clear sound echoed early in the morning.

Thwack!

“Kyah!”

“Ugh!”

Since they had talked late into the night, the two ended up sleeping in. Lee Hyang chuckled as she watched the two of them roll on the ground, holding their foreheads.

“But seriously, don’t you need to sleep?”

Thanks to his power, he didn’t need to sleep, which was convenient at times like this. Of course, it drove him crazy when he wanted to sleep but couldn’t. In those times, he drank alcohol or used magic.

However, Lee Hyang looked at him with worry, her eyebrows forming an inverted V shape.

“At least get some sleep for one night.”

“Stop worrying. Wake them up.”

Rustle.

Lee Hyang, who had finished preparing and put out the fire to ward off mosquitoes, shook Aori awake.

“You two should learn from her. She wakes up early and gets ready to move.”

“… What time is it, hyung?”

“How would I know?”

“We went to bed too late yesterday.”

Rubbing his eyes, Taeyang grumbled as he got up.

“If hyung hadn’t been so excited talking about himself for four hours…”

“What did you say?”

I did talk a lot. That’s because the things I experienced in this world were quite interesting.

“You two kept interrupting whenever I tried to move on.”

“… Ugh.”

Whenever I tried to change the topic, they would pester me.

-No way, hyung… confessing there, ha… seriously.

-The girl must have been a saint.

-Wow~ I knew hyung was indecisive, but not to this extent!

When I told them about being kidnapped to a dungeon filled with hundreds of trees trying to violate me, they were astonished and asked why I didn’t just live there.

I refrained from talking about my experiences in the past or my previous world. But I did mention that I came from another world, as it was necessary to explain certain things.

“Do you think it’s normal to have sex with a tree? Don’t be ridiculous!”

“No, that’s scary. There’s no way a world like that exists!”

Trembling.

Crazy people.

Their reactions were so entertaining that the story went on a bit longer. Taeyang, reflecting on this morning, looked up at the sky with a dazed face.

Then he stared at me with incredulity, his voice filled with disbelief.

“… Even so, it’s not manly of you to have kept your hands off your mentors.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It seemed like they liked you. You even lived together. Isn’t that wrong?”

“Shut up and get up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Taeyang began to get dressed grumpily.

“Sometimes, there are trees that want to be the first to make a move.”

“Say that one more time.”

“… It’s not bad to take things slow. Ongbaong, Ongi bai Ongi.”

Jump!

As Taeyang got up, Aori also wriggled out of her sleeping bag like a caterpillar.

It was fortunate that they had brought two sleeping bags from the dungeon.

“Your Highness.”

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“Yes.”

“I felt bad for Baekdo.”

Don’t say such nonsense.

As I raised my hand, Aori quickly got up and started tidying her hair.

Why did she only listen when I raised my hand?

We just met yesterday, but they acted like close siblings. Since I was older than them, it was not wrong. I was forced into the body of a twenty-year-old when I came to this world. They knew that.

“Let’s get going.”

Once the preparations were done, I was the first to get off the ground.

I used purification magic to clean my body, causing dust and dirt to fall off.

I took out an artifact from my backpack to check Sansuyu’s location.

[→]

It was still east.

“Why don’t you just give up?”

“… Ha.”

The standoff continued. The number of cameras had increased, and dozens were now gathered. All of them were focused on just two people.

“Why are you so determined to find Lee Shiheon?”

“I told you, it’s personal.”

“… Can you beat him?”

“Ha. He’s just one person.”

Cameras adjusted to capture various angles of them.

[Jiing?]

Guseul spoke incredulously.

“It’s hard enough to beat him in a fight.”

“He’s just a wizard.”

“A wizard? What are you talking about? That’s not his specialty.”

She seemed to have heard something wrong. Lee Shiheon was not a wizard.

Guseul, feeling the tingling in her wrists, said to her.

“Aren’t you tired?”

She wiped the sweat off her chin. Bao laughed incredulously.

She knew she couldn’t knock her opponent down by a narrow margin.

Bao knew it too.

She wondered which organization she belonged to. But only for a moment. Bao grabbed the back of her neck with the gauntlet on her arm.

Crack!

The sound of neck bones turning. She enjoyed the sharp pain and then returned her neck to its original position.

Bao’s body, now reaching 2 meters, began to show signs of movement towards Guseul.

Her mouth twisted grotesquely.

“Krr.”

Breath spewed through sharp teeth. Between the glaring eyes, a flash of light emerged.

With a bowed head, a mass of magical power rose from his shoulder blades.

No matter how much he drew it out, the magic wouldn’t disappear.

The protective aura on Bao’s body wouldn’t break, no matter the attack.

A chilly wind blew, and Guseul bit her lip.

‘All this trouble because of that Lee Shiheon.’

Arms and legs, all four limbs were like sharpened weapons.

Guseul’s hands were sweating. She couldn’t use her full power here.

As Bao took a step forward, Guseul stepped back.

The forest, with its irregularly tangled trees and leaves, made it impossible to tell which direction they were heading.

Holding the bow in her hand, she held her breath.

She bit down on the magic pill hidden in the corner of her mouth, enveloping her body in magic.

“Hmmph—”

The trees of the forest shook violently, tearing apart.

Leaves and branches bent in one direction from the blowing wind.

A charging giant tree.

At the same time, multiple spells exploded around Guseul.

Fire arrows. Waves. Earthquakes. Countless trap spells. Bao, the baobab tree, charged, breaking through each one without any thought of avoiding them.

Instead, the more magic hit her, the larger she grew.

Her bulging muscles were visible above the trunk-like body.

Veins squirmed on the skin. The killing intent leaked from her enlarged eyes.

Bang!

The pulse of air erupted.

If you dodged the fist, the ground below would crack.

As if to prove that if you got hit by that attack, you’d be turned into a bloody mess.

She focused on widening the distance instead of making shallow counterattacks.

“… Tch.”

Guseul pulled out something blue from her chest.

She checked the cameras around her.

The cameras hadn’t yet captured her movements.

Now’s the time.

She pulled the trigger of the artifact she had taken out.

Bang!

The sound of a shot. A streak of light, like a bolt of lightning, struck Bao’s shoulder.

A straight line of blue magic burst forth.

Rrrrrrrk!

An automatic rifle.

A barrage of countless bullets rained down on Bao’s body.

Seeing Bao withstand it unscathed, a bitter smile spread across her lips.

An entire magazine emptied in an instant.

Bao, who had crouched down once, raised her head and looked around her body.

“Hm….”

Blood gushed from her thigh, which had been pierced through the protective aura. Did an artery rupture?

Guseul, who had fallen to the ground, transformed the gun into a smaller form and tucked it back into her chest so that the cameras couldn’t capture it.

“Interesting.”

She didn’t bat an eye. But it was true that her body had taken some recoil.

Her creaking knee would be healed soon.

Confirming this, Guseul quietly stepped back without answering.

‘This is my chance.’

If she landed a hit and then ran, it counted as her win. That’s how life works.

She had no choice but to use the artifact she had been trying to save, which hurt her pride, but she couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

Guseul enveloped her body in magic and zigzagged through the gaps between the trees.

Thanks to the bullets lodged in critical areas, Bao eventually couldn’t chase her.

“Huff, huff.”

Guseul, who stopped midway, wiped her sweat and searched her chest.

She looked behind her. Bao wasn’t following.

Contrary to her earlier enthusiasm, she gave up sooner than expected.

How could someone fight all day? Did they not get tired?

“If she had used her power from the beginning… I might have been eliminated. How much magic does she have?”

She rummaged through her backpack and took a sip of water.

Then she continued searching her chest.

“Huh?”

Feeling something missing, Guseul searched every corner of her body with both hands.

Inside her vest, nothing.

In her pockets, nothing.

Inside her chest bound with bandages? There’s no way she would’ve stored it there.

Maybe it’s in her backpack. She dug her hand deep inside. Still nothing.

An artifact that tracked the position of one of the participants in the Forester Selection Competition.

‘Damn…’

Guseul pressed her forehead with her hand.

She had been tricked.

“Hyung.”

With an emotional face, Taeyang looked up at the sky.

His eyes were filled with such brilliance, like a deer about to cry.

“What?”

As I, leading the way through the forest, asked him, Taeyang lowered his head and murmured sadly.

“Even thinking about it now… I think you should meet your mentors soon.”

“Crazy bastard.”

Tap tap.

“Your Highness.”

“What? Why are you talking again?”

“Take care of Teacher Ddabok* too.”

Why were these two acting like this?

“You’ll be really sad if you lose someone important.”

My face hardened at Aori’s words.

I knew what she meant.

Cheondo, Baekdo, Hwangdo. I hoped those three could live happy lives in the future, given their unfortunate pasts.

If they wished, I was always ready to act for them.

I’d give them my liver and gallbladder if they asked.

“Aori.”

“Yes.”

“You guys have no boundaries.”

But that has nothing to do with men and women sleeping together.

They had the wrong idea.

Comfort = sex. Reward = sex.

For these two, everything was linked to intimacy.

Moreover, the two people they were talking about didn’t have romantic feelings for me.

Cheondo, she was a good person. I’d follow her as my mentor for the rest of my life.

Baekdo, our first meeting wasn’t great, but now I could say she was my closest friend.

There were no accidents, but we had a relationship of mutual trust.

But would that develop into a romantic relationship?

Let’s think realistically.

“Hyung.”

After listening to my story, Taeyang declared.

“There’s no such thing as friendship between a man and a woman.”

“What about you and Aori?”

“She’s not a friend, she’s an enemy. And I hate promiscuity.”

I looked at Aori. She nodded, seemingly in fierce agreement with Taeyang’s words.

“Anyway… if you don’t believe us, just close your eyes and say you love them.”

“You want me to suddenly confess to my mentors?”

“If their reaction isn’t good, you can say it was a joke.”

What kind of response was that?

Taeyang, pounding his chest as if to say, ‘trust me just once,’ seemed overly confident about something.

I stroked my chin and thought deeply.

Confess to them?

“I am curious about their reactions.”

“Right?”

If I get a chance to meet them later, I should try it.

Of course, that’s a story for much later.

I continued moving my hands.