HIF 43

Time Passes So Quickly

It was a narrow space. Cold air rose from the wooden floor. There was a smell of dust.

The slanted ceiling hung low. A large window was cut into the upper part. The pitch-black night sky, looking as if it would swallow everything, was visible.

“…I won’t touch anything from now on.”

My voice scattered into the empty air.

“Really.”

I said it sincerely, but it didn’t send me back.

I was bewildered by being in an unknown place. I hadn’t thought that lightly touching a painting would cause me to drop right into a place I’d never seen before.

A lantern floating beside me illuminated the surroundings. Park Yul had made it float earlier. I was glad it had teleported along with me.

Creak.

With every step on the floor, a creaking sound echoed. I hadn’t even taken a few steps before I could look around the entire place.

All I found was a dusty pouch in a corner. Inside it were pure white seeds.

…And that was it. There was no door or anything to get out.

‘I’m trapped.’

The moment I realized that, a chill of fear washed over me. I quickly turned my head towards the floating lantern beside me. I pulled it close and hugged it. It was neither cold nor hot, but it shone brightly.

Only after taking a deep breath did my heart seem to calm down a little. I wiped the corners of my eyes with my sleeve. Right. Since I was the one who got myself in here, getting out was also my responsibility. The person who caused the trouble should clean it up.

But what could I possibly do here right now? I raised my trembling hand and placed it against the window in the ceiling. The glass touching my palm was cold.

As I stared into the empty darkness, I suddenly thought the light from the lantern I was holding seemed to have brightened a little. I lowered my head. It had definitely gotten brighter.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a clear yellow light burst forth. I squeezed my eyes shut. Before I could even open them again,

Tap, tap.

A sound of knocking came from the window above. My body flinched. Was it someone who brought me here? Or was it Park Yul? My heart pounded fiercely. Hesitantly, I slowly opened my eyes.

It was bright outside the window. Right in front of me, golden hair fluttered in the wind. Pale green eyes directed at me sparkled. Park Yul was on the other side of the window, his hand pressed against it.

Park Yul’s lips, curved in an arc, slowly opened.

Wait.

From the shape of his mouth, it seemed like he was saying that.

Park Yul disappeared from my sight for a moment. And soon, I sensed a presence behind me. There was a hand gently wrapping around my waist, almost like an embrace.

My body was lifted up. When I came to my senses, I was already outside the window, being held by Park Yul. The sound of wind brushed past my ears.

“…Yul.”

“Yi-han-ah. Were you very scared?”

Park Yul landed lightly on the slanted window frame.

“It seems there was Teleportation magic on the painting, and it activated suddenly.”

Park Yul was still holding my waist with his firm arm. For some reason, it felt a bit warm. The slope wasn’t as steep as I thought, so it would be fine to let go now.

“How did the magic activate without a caster…?”

Park Yul’s voice, muttered as if to himself, sounded right by my ear. Maybe he had forgotten he was still holding me.

“Thank you, Yul. You can let go now.”

“Really?”

Park Yul’s hand slowly moved away. At the same time, his voice continued slowly.

“But are you really sure? It’s quite high up here.”

High? The sky in front was completely pitch black, so I couldn’t gauge the height. I glanced down. Far below, small trees of a dull color were densely packed.

Wait. Small trees?

“No, don’t let go. I was mistaken.”

I quickly turned my body to face Park Yul. I lightly grabbed his clothes. It wasn’t that I was scared. It was just that since it was higher than I thought, there was no need to be apart.

I heard Park Yul’s voice tinged with laughter.

“I was still holding on.”

My mind snapped to attention. Only now did I feel the hand firmly supporting my waist. When had he grabbed me again?

I glanced up at Park Yul’s face. Park Yul’s eyes were curved beautifully. Was my reaction that amusing to him? I opened my mouth in a calm voice.

“Actually, I knew it too.”

Park Yul nodded. Of course, his expression wasn’t one of believing my words. Park Yul gently patted my lower back.

“Then did you also know I would come find you?”

“……”

“So you thought I wouldn’t come looking for you.”

“No. I just thought I could get out on my own.”

“Then why are your eyes so swollen?”

Park Yul lightly brushed the corners of my eyes with one hand. Then he hugged me tightly.

“Let’s go down now. It seems everyone will be back soon.”

The wind brushed against my skin. My body slowly descended.

Now I could see that the place I had been was the very top floor of the mansion. No wonder it looked too high to be just two stories from below. So there was a space like this.

My feet touched the ground. Park Yul lightly tidied my disheveled hair.

Creak.

Soon, the sound of the front door opening was heard. We came down just in time for everyone’s return.

“…We’re back.”

“We checked everything. All the Rifts were closed.”

“That’s a relief. Then let’s just take a quick look around here and leave.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to depart right away?”

“There’s something to check together. Let’s go inside first.”

We moved our steps into the mansion. Opening the door to the second-floor room, we stood before the painting. Min Joo-hyuk opened his mouth with an admiring voice.

“It seems the painting was done by the owner of the room himself.”

He said painting was a hobby, but did he know that too? I spoke to Min Joo-hyuk, who was looking at the painting with sparkling, interested eyes.

“How do you know?”

“Well? Just the feeling.”

I see. It wasn’t the answer I expected, but it was reason enough. Intuition is correct more often than you’d think.

Min Joo-hyuk carefully examined the painting from various angles and continued.

“But there’s no signature to indicate who painted it.”

“Ju-hyeok. Did you also check the magic on that painting?”

“The Teleportation magic? Since it only responds to the caster’s Mana, I didn’t examine it in detail.”

“But that magic activated just now. Only once, though.”

“…How?”

As Song Ha-gyun spoke, Raen twitched his hand. A faint light flickered and faded repeatedly over the painting.

“I don’t sense anything special. As Ju-hyeok said, without the caster’s Mana present, it’s just an empty shell of magic.”

“Right? Then there’s nothing we can confirm for now.”

Park Yul lightly brushed over the painting as if redrawing it with his hand. Then he turned his body this way.

“If there’s anything to find out, let’s come back later. We can’t stay stuck here.”

We went down the stairs. In the quiet building, the sound of footsteps on the stairs echoed softly. From the stairs that someone must have busily gone up and down every day, an old creaking sound was heard, as if they hadn’t been stepped on for a long time.

As I was about to step outside the door, following everyone who had gone ahead, I turned around. I saw an empty hall submerged in darkness. A transparent chandelier hung from the high ceiling.

If I closed the door and left last, this place would be completely submerged in darkness. As I was having that thought, something soft like fluffy cotton touched both my ears.

I turned my head. It was Song Ha-gyun. When I brought my hands to my ears, I felt a fluffy, round texture. It was as if he had put ear muffs on me. Whether he had cast magic or not, no sound was blocked, and I could hear everything clearly.

“Thank you, Ha-gyeon.”

“…Yeah. Let’s go.”

Song Ha-gyun grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.

Behind me, the sound of the door closing echoed quietly.

◇

We walked slowly along the forest path. The dense trees gradually became sparse. It seemed we were almost at the edge of the forest.

From beside me, Raen’s voice was heard.

“It seems it will snow soon.”

“Today is already the last day of the year.”

Whenever a year ended and the first sun of the next year rose, pure white snow always fell. As if telling us to cover up the past and start anew.

‘Even when I was at the temple, I always faced snow on the first day of the year.’

The path in front of the annex where I lived was one no one passed by. Leaning against the wall of that building, I would crouch down and watch the snow piling up softly. Sometimes I would press my handprint into it.

Snow would pile up again on the clear mark I left. Then I would place my hand on it again. The cold snow would slowly melt under my palm until I truly felt that I existed in that place.

By the time my hand turned red, I would go back inside the room. It was a cold winter. The start of the year was always piercingly cold.

“Time passes quickly, Raen.”

Another year is passing like this.

When the snow falls and the year changes, spring will come almost immediately in just a few days, so the end of this winter and the warming of the days aren’t far off. Raen gently stroked my hair.

“Maybe it’s because we’re together, Yi-han. Precious time always passes quickly.”

Raen’s hand slid down smoothly. Then he gently enveloped my hand.

“But that’s a relief. We still have so many days to spend together.”

Raen looked at me and smiled brightly. Raen’s words might be right. The moment I took a step, thinking that,

Poof.

A clear sound I had heard once before echoed in my ears. A feeling as if passing through a thin veil swept through my body. A cold wind blew in.

I opened my eyes. The surroundings were bright. Far away, dawn was breaking. A red sun was pushing away the blue dawn densely studded with stars.

Having always seen only pitch-black skies, the white sky I now faced felt unfamiliar.

I took a step. Unbeknownst to me, a bit of accumulated snow crunched under my feet. A small snowflake lightly landed on the tip of my nose and melted away instantly.

“Already like this…”

Time really passed this quickly. Unbeknownst to me, a new year was beginning.

Min Joo-hyuk, who was walking ahead, quickly turned his body towards me. Then he lightly cupped both my cheeks with his warm, firm hands before letting go. My cheeks instantly warmed as if they were burning.

Min Joo-hyuk’s brown hair fluttered lightly in the wind. It sparkled as if sunlight had seeped into it. A bright voice, just like that appearance, continued.

“Seon Yi-han, look at this.”

Min Joo-hyuk took out a transparent fragment from his pocket. Inside the hexagonal pillar-shaped fragment was a small golden flower. The fragment placed on Min Joo-hyuk’s hand gradually turned into fine powder and scattered in the wind.

The surroundings sparkled and shone. The falling snowflakes and the scattering golden powder all shone. Everything was so vivid. It was an all too unfamiliar moment. I clenched my fist tightly.

Then someone firmly grabbed my wrist. My body flinched.

“Ha-gyeon?”

Song Ha-gyun slowly lifted my wrist. Then he gently unclenched my tightly clenched fist. Under his slow, calm touch, the strength left my hand on its own.

Even though the surroundings were bright from the rising sun, Song Ha-gyun’s pupils looked sunken as if they held no light at all. Song Ha-gyun quietly held me within those eyes.

“…Here.”

Song Ha-gyun placed a fragment on my hand. It was the same shape as the one Min Joo-hyuk had taken out. The sparkling light before my eyes gradually scattered and disappeared.

“What is this?”

As I said that, I felt something heavy covering my shoulders. A sweet fragrance spread around.