Lying on the medical transport bed as if dead, Minju didn’t even twitch.

The bedsheet was stained bright red, as it had been from the start. Without needing to check, one could tell—it was all Minju’s blood.

“Master…!”

Startled, Suhyun covered her mouth. She couldn’t even scream at the gruesome sight of Minju; instead, she began to tremble violently.

…

Standing beside her, other legion guild members, including Eunha, who usually showed no change in facial expressions, were the same. With widely dilated black pupils, Eunha remained motionless as if frozen.

“Protector. Right now, it’s not—”

Passing the medical personnel, Suhyun approached Minju with heavy steps. The red-stained bandages covered the boy’s entire small head, obscuring even his eyes. Beads of cold sweat glistened around his nose under the fabric.

Even someone with no medical knowledge could see that the situation was dire.

“Mas… Minju…”

Suhyun reached out with trembling hands. Before her hand could reach, Minju’s cape, soaked and almost crunchy with blood, fell to the ground.

The green cape, now stiff and soaked in blood until it was almost black, adorned with silk-stitched stars.

“Ugh…”

Suhyun, her mouth covered, slumped into place with a thud. Tears that she hadn’t been able to hold back streamed down like heavy rain.

“I will transfer him.”

The paramedic who spoke heavily grabbed the bed handle. But then.

“…Me.”

A twitch.

Minju, who had been motionless like the dead, moved his fingers ever so slightly. With a wet, labored breath, Minju faintly moved his lips.

“Bleeding… per…mitted…”

“Yes, Master. Yura has arrived.”

A heavily suppressed voice. It was Junhwan. With his lower lip tightly bitten, he turned his head towards Eunha.

In response to his gaze, Eunha hesitated for a moment before cautiously approaching Minju.

…

But that was it. Eunha remained frozen, unable to move her lips. The sight of Minju up close was too horrifying to describe.

Rustle—

The sound of the blanket brushing against something. Minju, with bandages wrapped around him, desperately reached out.

His small hand, which had once confidently held a self-made rifle, had transformed like decaying autumn leaves.

With a thicker needle than my finger stuck in his back of the hand, Minju aimlessly fumbled in the air.

“Nu… m-m… he-re…”

“Um.”

Eunha replied softly.

Perhaps because his voice was too faint, Minju groped the surface of the sheet again, then struggled to move his lips again.

“Nu… m… I’m… he-re?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

This time, she answered a bit louder. However, Minju’s hand still lingered in the air.

“Junhwan, hyung… nu… m… I fee…”

As if unable to hear Eunha’s voice—

Minju didn’t show even the slightest movement again.
With a face stained by tears, Eunha, frozen stiffly, belatedly discovered the thin thread she clutched tightly in her small hand. Covered in dirt, it had originally been orange.

Orange, the wish bracelet.

“What on earth happened?”

In the silent hallway, Suhyun’s voice, suppressing anger, resonated sharply.

Through the silent guild members, Junhwan, who had shaken his head heavily, spoke.

“Calm down. Master’s recovery is the priority now.”

Recovery? Suhyun frowned, unable to make sense of Junhwan’s words.

Suhyun had already checked Minju’s condition. Could that really be a level of recovery one could wish for?

No. Absolutely not.

Although the surgery had already been completed, Minju’s condition was more gruesome than before the operation.

Electrocardiogram cables sticking all over his body, thick tubes inserted to secure his airways, and lancet needles piercing through the delicate skin on his back of the hand. In addition, numerous unknown medical devices were densely attached to his small body.

“Master has never been to the hospital even when he caught the flu. He hates injections so much…”

Firmly biting her lower lip, Suhyun’s eyes widened in a flash.

“Speak. Right now.”

I’ll kill them all. With this added statement, something slipped under Suhyun’s cloak like a snake.

A tail. The tail of a bird with blue feathers.

Junhwan, who had been silently watching her, finally opened his mouth.

“Stop. What can we do now? The Unknown Gate is already closed. All we can do now is pray for Master’s recovery.”

“What the hell…!”

Suhyun, who shouted in frustration, grabbed Junhwan by the collar. Veins throbbed on her tightly clenched fist.

“What were you doing? What were you doing to let Master end up like this!”

“…We did nothing. Following Master’s orders, we escaped from the gate first.”

“What?”

Suhyun blinked as if thunderstruck.

“You mean you left the dungeon, leaving Master behind at this point?”

Without releasing her grip on Junhwan’s neck, Suhyun confronted him with a look of disbelief.