Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 294

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 64.
Finding the Cat in the Hearth (13)
“Then let me ask you something. First, did you know that man from before? I heard he’s hiding his real name here. How did you find out? What’s your relationship with him?”
Riche opened and closed her lips several times, searching for words, before finally asking a question of her own.
“So Cardi’s real name was actually ‘Jo’?”
Maximian shrugged his shoulders.
“That name ‘Cardi’ sounds rather strange to me. This man’s true name is Joshua. When he was young, rolling around in the Countryside, we called him Jo, or sometimes Jo.”
“I see.”
She seemed to lack the standing to be truly angry, so she stopped mid-complaint, leaving her expression awkward, but Riche spoke nonetheless.
“In any case, we’re not particularly close acquaintances. We just happened to meet once. It was at the Dining Hall.”
“The Dining Hall?”
“The Dining Hall where I work as a server. He was just a customer. He had his hat pulled down low, a fake beard on, and now that I think about it, he was clearly trying to hide his face. Anyway, while I was chatting with the other servers that day, Cardi came up in conversation, and since I had my reasons for disliking Cardi, I made a face. Then he called me over and asked why I disliked him.”
“Heh.”
Maximian nearly burst out laughing but held it back and nodded instead.
“Go on.”
“Anyway, while we were talking… yes, I accidentally splashed water on his face. Then the fake beard stuck to his face fell off. When I saw his face… yes, now that I think about it, I was probably flustered because his face was exposed. He gave me two tickets to that performance yesterday. And he said… yes, that he was Cardi’s friend. After that, we parted ways, and that’s all there is to it.”
“When was this?”
“About two months ago?”
“Can’t you remember more precisely?”
Riche searched her memory for a while before speaking.
“It must have been around the end of March. When I saw the tickets… yes, I thought there were about two months left. It wasn’t April, and March… around the 20th?”
Maximian’s brow furrowed with tension.
“You’re certain about that?”
Riche then looked at Maximian with an irritated expression.
“It’s just an estimate. How am I supposed to remember that precisely?”
“At least it wasn’t February, right?”
“Mid to late March, I’m telling you. That much I’m sure about.”
Maximian nodded.
“Fine. That settles it. Unfortunately, it’s no longer a possibility—you’re now in genuine mortal danger. I don’t know what words of comfort to offer.”
Maximian stretched with a weary face and yawned several times in succession. But Riche couldn’t afford such composure.
“Comfort…?”
Moments later, Riche’s expression twisted, her lips pressed tightly together before tears began to glisten in her eyes. Maximian hadn’t witnessed the entire process, but when Riche’s hands suddenly seized his shoulders, the situation became unmistakably clear. She shook his shoulders violently.
“This isn’t a joke! Is this really the time to be yawning? Come up with a plan, quickly! I can’t die here! My current life is truly, indescribably, wonderfully precious to me! I absolutely refuse to flee into the mountains or escape to another country!”
Of course, Riche had harbored considerable dissatisfaction with her life until now, but in this moment she forgot it all. Even if her own actions had led to this predicament, since she couldn’t immediately hunt down some unknown villain and strike them from behind, Maximian—who seemed connected to the heart of this incident—felt like the root cause of everything. Not that she genuinely believed this to be true, but that was how she felt.
“That’s enough.”
Surprisingly, Maximian displayed the kind of patience that would have bewildered anyone who knew him, enduring in silence until Riche exhausted herself and finally released her grip.
“I’m hardly in a better position. My circumstances are no different from yours. If anything, the only difference is that I also have to deal with that man lying over there, making my situation considerably worse. I never imagined something like this would happen when I came here. I lived in the Countryside all these years until now, and I came rushing here because of one careless friend. That cursed bastard—I haven’t seen him in five years, and I doubt he even appreciates the effort I’ve made. And why is that rich man’s son so thin, like a stick? On top of that, after five years, my friend shows up and just sprawls across the bed playing dead? Why did I ever befriend such a fool in the first place? Ugh, this is a headache. I wish I could drink a bottle of something strong enough to split my skull.”
What had begun as words directed at Riche gradually became muttering to himself. Eventually, Maximian removed his glasses and threw them into the corner of the bed, cradling his face in both hands as he sank into thought. As an awkward silence hung in the air, Riche’s tears dried on their own, and she glanced at Joshua lying on the bed.
Even if both their positions were sympathetic, she lacked the mental capacity to think through her own predicament step by step. To face a life-threatening crisis over something so absurd—there had to be limits to such mockery. She wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard any of this, go home, and sleep deeply. And she truly wanted to believe that nothing would happen at all. But what if some crazed villain came chasing after her and set her house on fire while she slept?
With such thoughts consuming her, sleep would be impossible even if she went home, and any future of sleeping peacefully with her limbs stretched out was utterly finished. Her life had never been comfortable to begin with, but now—now was when her truly twisted life would truly begin.
As such thoughts crossed my mind, my anger naturally subsided, and I grew desperate for a practical solution. I recalled the handful of people I’d come to know over the dozen-odd years of my life, but among them, not a single soul possessed the exceptional qualities needed to help in such a dire situation. In the end, the only person I could consult was that figure over there, face buried in thought, lost in contemplation. Someone who had fallen into the same predicament as myself.
“Fine. Why I got dragged into this doesn’t matter anymore anyway. From what you said earlier, it seems you—Cardi, that is—came all the way here because you anticipated something would happen to that person. So you must know something. Whatever information you have, no matter how trivial, tell me everything.”
Maximian didn’t lift his head immediately. I couldn’t tell if he was lost in thought or had fallen asleep.
“What does it even mean that I saw that person in March? Why would that translate to danger coming my way? And more than that, what exactly are you and that person? If someone’s hunting you down to kill you, you must be either someone extraordinary or someone with serious crimes to answer for.”
When I finished speaking, Maximian lifted his head and merely looked at Riche without responding immediately. But when Riche spoke next, he clearly reacted.
“You said you wanted a drink? I know a place that opens at dawn.”
“Find my glasses from the back, would you?”
“Stop lying there. Look, do you see something on the right?”
Wind-tousled hair brushed against my eyebrows and swept across my forehead. Joshua, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, opened them and glanced around. The previous landscape had vanished, replaced by a narrow, circular clearing atop a towering mountain peak. Below my feet, I heard the sound of a waterfall plummeting. Who had created this scenery? I had no memory of doing so, yet somehow it seemed more pleasing than before.
When I turned to look where Kelsniti’s voice had directed me, a dark mass caught my eye. I thought it might be storm clouds, but it wasn’t. It was a flock of birds—hundreds of them. As it drew closer, it became unmistakable. Though still distant, it was rapidly growing larger.
“They look like birds.”
“Yes, birds. But not multiple creatures—a single bird.”
“How can it be so large and moving so erratically?”
“A single bird composed of hundreds of birds. You’ll see that bird again someday. For now, we must leave this place. Before that bird discovers you.”
“Discovers me? Isn’t it already looking at me?”
“No, that bird isn’t looking at you. It’s searching for someone else. But that person no longer exists. So let’s go. That bird could take your life.”
“Why would it kill me?”
“That’s… because of an old grudge entangled between your ancestors. So let’s leave now. Your friend is waiting for you.”
“Wait, a friend?”
“The friend you’ve been longing to see day and night—who else would it be? Do you have any other friends besides that one?”
Joshua rose to his feet. Mist surged up the mountain peak as if alive. The bird’s silhouette had now doubled in size. How could I escape? Yet strangely, this time a clear method came to mind. Joshua nodded and, without hesitation, threw himself over the cliff. The wind rushing to tear my forehead, my body floating for an instant, the afterimages of objects rapidly approaching and receding—all of it was vivid, as befitted a lucid dream.
And then I awoke.
“Ah…”
Dawn light tinged with blue seeped through the window gap. As I sat up, I found myself drenched in sweat from head to toe. Beside me lay a damp towel, seemingly fallen from my forehead. On one side sat a basin filled with water.
It had the atmosphere of someone receiving care, yet the caregiver had long since vanished. The narrow, shabby room felt unfamiliar. I couldn’t recall why I was here at all. Moreover, my body felt sticky and unpleasant, the makeup on my lips was smudged, a stench emanated as if from a thoroughly drunk drunkard, my head throbbed, my stomach growled, my throat was parched, and my lips stung with cracks. It was, in short, the worst state of my life.
After a long while, Joshua recalled the voice he’d heard in his dream and muttered in a disgruntled tone.
“Nobody’s here, so who came?”
A voice answered.
「That’s simply how your friend is. Wait a bit.」
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Month Books
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Month Books.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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