Ch#55
Veil was at a loss for words.
‘The kid is a grand wizard, so she'll be fine?’
The strongest of the strong, so maybe she'll overcome the delirium and escape like Valentis Lumenen?
A sigh burst from within.
“Pfft.”
So what if Astie was a grand wizard with tremendous power.
‘She's four years old.’
The image of Astie crying inside the subspace while facing the delirium formed in his mind.
Veil stopped grinding his teeth and stared at Nordics.
“We have to find a way out of this. Old timer.”
Nordics looked back at him with a troubled expression.
“But he said there's no way...”
“Then we just sit and watch? Let our captain get devoured by Krazar?!”
Everyone fell silent.
But at that moment,
“Um, how about this?”
Enzo, who had kept his mouth shut the entire time, raised one hand with a serious expression.
Veil's eyes widened at his following words.
* * *
Creeeak—
The rusty iron gate opened with a loud racket.
Tie cautiously gripped the doorframe and climbed over the tall cement ledge.
“Gold Apartment Compwex......”
Her anxious eyes darted around the surroundings.
For the few days since arriving in this bizarre Korea, Tie had been lost the whole time.
Fortunately, she had spotted a familiar alley just a little while ago.
[Jongno-gu XX-dong, Hyeonim-ro 6-beon-gil.]
Tie swallowed after confirming the blue street address sign on the wall.
“No mistwaking it.”
Tie had memorized her home address since she was a baby.
The lady from 203 had once set aside a day to teach her, since Gold Apartment Complex was tucked in such a twisty alleyway.
So this had to be the place.
“It weawwy is......”
She stealthily peeked inside the iron gate once more.
The broken sidewalk blocks and the thick weeds sprouting between them resembled the alley in front of her house.
The rainwater pooled thickly along the roadside, likely due to the low elevation.
“But why no yewwow painting......?”
But there should have been a yellow butterfly mural around there originally.
Passing that butterfly mural and turning right should reveal Gold Apartment Complex.
But no matter how she looked around, the butterfly painting was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe not hewe......”
Tie pursed her lips and cautiously backed out of the iron gate.
Then she turned her head to reassess the path she had taken.
“......Hic.”
The tears she had been holding back leaked out once more.
No matter how much she looked around.
No matter how hard she searched, Gold Apartment Complex wouldn't appear.
It would be one thing if it were completely unfamiliar, but the vaguely familiar yet off-kilter scenery left her utterly hopeless.
“It's okay, I can find it.”
Tie buttoned her clothes as she emerged onto the empty night street.
But her rain-soaked outfit offered no warmth whatsoever.
How long had she walked?
Another similar alley and iron gate appeared.
“This time it might be!”
Tie dashed to the gate and shoved the rough surface with all her strength.
Desperately praying in her heart that she had found the right one.
But the scene beyond the open gate was,
“......The same!”
Exactly the same as the strange alley she had checked and left behind earlier.
She had definitely walked far away.
A shiver ran through her entire body.
‘Typhoon. Darkness. Crackwing wadio, maze-wike streets too.’
All of it was terrifying enough to make her mind blank out, but she endured and endured.
Because she was alone here.
No bone friends or subordinates to call out to.
So she thought just crying wouldn't solve anything.
But now she had reached her limit.
“......Huuu.”
Tie slumped at the doorframe like a raccoon with its cotton candy fur washed away in water.
“I wanna go home......”
This place was too scary.
From the moment she faced the crackling radio until now, her heart had nearly stopped at least ten times.
Just as Tie curled up into a ball while hiccuping,
Swish—
Suddenly, ominous fog began billowing thickly right behind her.
It moved silently and quickly surrounded Tie.
“Basto Uncleee, waaah......”
The fog spread wide, as if ready to devour the huddled Tie at any second.
The fog, paused as if savoring her scent before a meal, was just about to engulf her.
“Found you! Finally! Finally found you!”
Someone popped out from the alley on the opposite side of the gate.
Tie jerked her head up.
After confirming the face, she gaped her mouth wide.
Soaking wet hair.
A face utterly exhausted from wandering who-knew-how-long.
Even Tie's kindergarten bag dangling from one hand.
The figure who ran over pale-faced and hoisted Tie to her feet was,
“Sovereign King! What on earth did you do to Krazar's core! Huh?!”
none other than the Weapon District's factory chief, Berugon.
* * *
“Subspace......?”
In front of the convenience store.
Standing under the completely torn awning, Tie parroted the word Berugon had just said.
Berugon replied with a grave expression.
“Yes, subspace. Right here!”
Tie shut her mouth again.
Berugon's explanation had been so complicated that her head was spinning.
But if she had understood correctly,
“Then this isn't the weal Jongno-gu?”
Berugon, eyeing her dubiously, nodded.
“Correct. Strictly speaking, this is an illusory space. Nothing here is real.”
“......Huuuup.”
Tie covered her mouth with her tiny hand and lowered her gaze.
Then, as if she had known all along, she spoke in a trembling voice.
“Y-yeah, I knew it was that.”
Only now, after hearing Berugon's explanation, did all the riddles unravel.
The maze-like alleys she had wandered endlessly.
The eerily empty streets, the relentless rain.
“I thought it was stwange that onwy things Tie is scawed of awe evewywhewe!”
Her gaze shifted to the dark red haze shimmering near the sewer in the empty street ahead.
‘But all of that was made by that thing to eat Tie!’
The haze had been hovering in the same spot since earlier, fixating on Tie and Berugon.
How could she tell it was watching without eyes?
For some reason, Tie felt its gaze prickling.
Swallowing hard, Tie clutched Berugon's sleeve tightly beside her.
“Factowy chief, how do we get out fwom that?”
This was precisely what Tie had wanted to ask throughout Berugon's entire explanation.
“How do we escape befowe it eats us?”
Meanwhile, Berugon was just as distraught.
‘How to get out, she asks.’
Theoretically, escaping Krazar's subspace was straightforward.
Find and tear the spatial barrier from inside the subspace.
In other words, locate the boundary where the subspace ended.
Berugon looked around and sighed.
“With this setup......”
His gaze returned to the tiny Sovereign King sitting beside him.
“What kind of inner fear do you have to conjure up something like this?”
The Sovereign King's eyes widened round.
“Nyeh?”
“I'm asking what this place even is.”
