Chapter 114: The Witch’s Hut Part 4

"Aah…!!!"

I woke up while breathing heavily.

"…Here…"

This is my room, isn't it?

What happened? Last night, clearly…

"Ugh!"

When I tried to recall the memories of last night, a sharp pain struck my head. I grabbed my temples and collapsed. It was a good thing I was in bed; if this had been the bathroom, it could have been bad.

'It feels like something important happened…'

Fear, tension, I can feel those, but I can't remember what actually happened last night.

-Pyooooo…

Only a faint and strange cry lingered in my memory.

I waited for the headache to subside before getting up. When I checked the time…

"This is crazy…!"

I'm definitely late. I hurriedly dressed, grabbed my bag, and dashed out. Damn it, damn it, damn it, if I run at full speed, can I catch the bus? I ran until I was out of breath, but as I turned the corner, the bus was already gone. This is crazy. Today, of all days, I can't catch a taxi either. In the end, I had to wait for the next bus. I would arrive at the office with a late mark for sure.

"I'm sorry."

After being called in and scolded as expected, I returned to my desk and searched for headache medicine. Fortunately, there were two pills left in the back of the drawer. I swallowed them without water and turned on my computer. Wait a minute, now that I think about it…

"..."

Yesterday, there was definitely a locked file…

It's gone.

It was there, but now it's gone.

The file [Cㄱ0ㅜ].

No matter how much I searched, it wasn't there. No one else could have touched my computer…

What the hell?

The missing memory of last night and the suspiciously vanished file. It all felt unsettling.

"…Ah!"

Just as I irritably put down the mouse, something came to mind.

I definitely transferred it to the USB.

I rummaged through my bag. Luckily, the USB was still there. I was about to plug it into the computer when I paused.

There might be a problem with the computer.

I'll check it at home later. I carefully placed the USB in my inner pocket.

"Assistant Manager."

At that moment, as if he had been watching, my junior colleague spoke to me from right beside me. I cleared my throat and looked at him, trying not to show my surprise.

"What?"

"The manager is looking for you."

"..."

Ah, why now? My head was already killing me. I bit my lip, let out a long sigh, and stood up.

"Hey, cheer up. How about a drink tonight?"

"…Sure."

I nodded at my junior who was making a playful gesture of downing a shot with a loud smack.

"Manager, you were looking for me…"

"Assistant Manager Kang."

His voice sounded off. I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them. The manager who was wearing an awkward wig was glaring at me fiercely.

"What's wrong with the Season 2 advertisement plan for AOE?"

"It would be helpful if you could be more specific…"

"If it's Season 2, it should grab people's attention like Season 2! It needs to be bold! Flashy! It has to be a visual feast!"

He knows next to nothing about the game, yet he's going on about boldness and flashiness. This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

However, I couldn't defy my boss. My job was important.

"Yes, I'll make it bold and flashy. I'll highlight the theme of Season 2."

"Good. And don't bother with that nonsense about crows or whatever it is."

"… Huh?"

"Get going."

"..."

Did I ever mention anything about the crows?

A strange sense of déjà vu swirled in my mind. I stood there without being able to say anything and just stared at the manager. However, he merely waved his hand dismissively as if annoyed.

There was something else odd too.

I worked in the marketing department of a game company.

To do my job well, I needed to know the game thoroughly.

So, it was natural for me to ask for game information.

But…

This wasn't some state secret; at most, it might be a minor spoiler. How could it be that I wasn't allowed to access it?

I wasn't a rookie; I had enough experience by now.

"..."

But judging by the manager's attitude, there was nothing more I could learn here.

I guess I'll have to check the USB when I get home.

On my way back, I stopped by an izakaya (restaurant) that I often visited with my junior. We ordered a few skewers and some drinks.

-Sizzle, sizzle…

The sound of skewers grilling and the fragrant smell of smoke made me feel at ease. From scallion and chicken thigh skewers glazed with soy sauce to ginkgo skewers, bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms, chicken skin skewers, and the classic sausage skewers.

"Boss, we'll have the seafood scorched rice soup too, please."

"Sure thing!"

We chatted casually. As the food started to arrive, I finally opened my mouth, eager to talk from the start. I wondered if my junior might know something. He was an even more enthusiastic AOE player than I was.

"Sung-hoon."

"Yes?"

"About AOE…"

"Oh, come on, talking about work even here?"

"I'll pay today, just hear me out."

"Alright then, as much as you want. Hold on, let me order some grilled mero too."

"..."

"Boss~! We'll add the grilled mero too!"

"Sure thing~~!" came the cheerful reply from the boss. I glared at my junior briefly, cleared my throat, and spoke again.

"You've been playing AOE much longer than I have, Sung-hoon."

"I'm different from those who play for healing effect. I'm a hardcore player."

"Right, anyway. So you know more about AOE than I do."

"That's probably true."

"…About the crows."

"..."

For a moment, a cold silence settled around us.

Again.

This strange atmosphere.

It felt as though I had brought up a topic that should never be mentioned.

"…Haha, crows? What crows? Birds? A bird you mean?"

My junior belatedly laughed and responded, but I had already sensed the strange atmosphere.

"The crows in AOE. Do you know anything about them?"

"Crows appear in AOE?"

He spoke nonchalantly, but his reaction only heightened my suspicion. This guy definitely knew something but wasn't telling, just like the boss…

If the other party wasn't going to talk, there was no point in continuing the conversation. I stopped trying to extract information and started eating the skewers.

I'll just have to check the USB when I get home.

We drank moderately and left the restaurant. My junior kept pestering me to go for a second round, but I was only thinking about getting home quickly to check the information on the USB.

"Oh, come on, let's go to a karaoke room for the first time in ages~!"

"No way. I have to go to work tomorrow. If you want to go that badly, go to a coin karaoke alone or something."

"It's no fun without someone to listen!"

"Just call a taxi. Call a taxi."

How long did we bicker like that?

-Beep, beep…

While waiting for a taxi under the street trees, I heard a sound like the cry of an exhausted bird. I looked up and scanned the area. There, under the street tree, I saw a plump bird that looked like a sparrow.

Do sparrows chirp with a beep, beep sound?

Don't sparrows usually chirp? Feeling a trivial curiosity, I bent down to get a closer look at the bird. This sparrow was much plumper than usual and had an unusual tail. It seemed to have a mismatched purple feather stuck in it…

…Huh?

Could this be…

"What's that?"

Just as something was about to dawn on me, my junior approached and snatched the sparrow.

"Oh, it's a sparrow. A sparrow. It looks hurt. This little guy is about to die, isn't it?"

"Sung-hoon, give it to me."

"Hey, why? Are you planning to keep it? You can't."

"If it's hurt, we should take care of it. We could take it to the vet tomorrow."

"It's going to die anyway. The kindest thing to do is to kill it quickly."

This crazy bastard… I barely swallowed the curse rising within me and grabbed my junior's wrist. And then, I was shocked. My junior who had never beaten me in an arm wrestling match had an incredible amount of strength in his wrist. It was as if he really intended to crush the sparrow to death.

-Caw, caw, caw…

Crows began to gather around us as if they were watching us intently. They seemed to be eyeing the sparrow's corpse. I became even more anxious and pulled my junior's wrist.

"Hey, Park Sung-hoon!"

I yelled so loudly that veins stood out on my neck, but my junior didn't budge. Meanwhile, the sparrow, who was sounding weaker and weaker fluttered feebly, as if it might die any second.

-Thud!

Finally, I couldn't hold back and punched my junior. He fell backward, dropping the sparrow, and the crows, as if they had been waiting for this moment, lunged at the sparrow.

"Get lost! Get lost!"

I tried to chase the crows away. But instead of retreating, they ignored my kicks and continued to attack. Their beaks and claws scratched at me. I quickly grabbed the sparrow and started running aimlessly.

-Caw, caw, caw!

I could feel the crows screeching and pursuing me. I ran through alleys, again and again. My breath grew ragged, and my legs began to weaken. Damn it, if only I were a druid. I could have run faster, farther, and with more strength, and I could have healed this sparrow that looked like Beepy…!

"Huff…!"

I hit a dead end.

And that wasn't the only problem.

That's….!

On the wall blocking the alley, something like a mass of black shadows was gathering together. The moment I saw them, memories from the previous day which I had completely forgotten rushed back to me. Yes, that's right! The darkness had swallowed the girl, and then there were those huge, multicolored flames…

-Beep…

The weak cry, as if it might stop at any moment, interrupted my thoughts, and I looked down at the sparrow in my arms.

"…Beepy."

I called its name just in case. It blinked its small black eyes and fluttered its wings slightly.

"Beepy, is it really you?"

It fluttered its wings once more, a bit more vigorously this time.

-Rumble…

-Caw, caw, caw…

At the same time, the shadow in front of me grew larger, and the cries of the crows grew closer from behind.

-Beep…

"…Alright."

I held Beepy close and stretched out my hand toward the darkness that seemed to engulf us. With a sense of realization, I felt the familiar flow of magical power from my core to my palm.

"Arzan, grant me the glory of your radiance, if only for a moment."

As if it had been waiting for my prayer, a strong light burst forth from my palm.