Chapter 162
He cut across the dark night sky.
Calling it flight was generous—truthfully, it wasn’t much different from falling. The reason Woojin came to think that was simple.
Is this speed even normal?
It wasn’t merely fast. It felt as if he were riding on top of a missile.
As he enjoyed the dizzying rush of speed, he spotted something in the distance—a flying magical beast. It was a rather large bat-like creature.
Should I try chasing it?
It was already flying in the same direction. Lowering his posture, Woojin pushed his speed even further.
Fwoooooosh—!!
The air tore apart with a sharp sound, and in an instant he shot past the bat monster.
An utterly abnormal speed.
Wings normally act like parachutes. Birds flap them to maintain altitude and keep a reasonable velocity.
Woojin, on the other hand, was accelerating like a madman without any safety mechanism at all.
Well, even if I crash, I probably won’t die.
Even if he were unlucky enough to fall, he likely wouldn’t die. Of course, he would be badly injured… but with the Hydra’s regeneration, he would recover quickly.
The real problem was fuel.
My mana’s already running out.
The speed was incredible, but he couldn’t maintain flight for long. It was like a 100-meter sprinter—perfect for short bursts, not endurance.
If he hadn’t trained to expand his mana capacity, he would have crashed long ago.
Almost there.
He could already see his destination—the place where Arwen, Coco, and Manta were staying.
Because he had gotten sidetracked practicing flight, it looked like his mana would run out before he arrived. He would probably need to land soon and walk the rest of the way.
He stopped the board and descended toward the ground.
Woojin landed safely on the earth.
Not bad for a first flight.
For his first attempt, it had gone quite smoothly. Satisfied, Woojin started walking.
After a short while, he arrived at the destination—a large cave carved into a rocky cliff. Peering inside, he saw the magical beasts sleeping.
Grrrr…
A faint snoring sound.
Manta smacked his lips in his sleep, while Coco the squirrel slept soundly under the manticore’s wing as if it were a blanket.
Someone could carry them away and they wouldn’t even notice.
He had felt uneasy about leaving them behind earlier, but seeing them now, they seemed so carefree that it made his worry feel unnecessary.
While he was looking around the cave—
…Where did Arwen go?
For some reason, Arwen wasn’t there. Perhaps the snoring had driven her out for a nighttime walk.
He thought about organizing their camping supplies to pass the time, but meticulous Arwen had already neatly arranged everything.
There was nothing to do.
After poking the campfire a couple of times with a stick, Woojin simply stood up.
Let’s go find her.
Sitting around doing nothing didn’t suit him. After tearing across the sky like a speed freak earlier, he felt even more restless than usual.
He stepped outside and searched for traces.
Soon he spotted Arwen’s footprints.
Shouldn’t take long to find her.
He followed the tracks steadily.
After walking for a while…
A strange sight unfolded before him.
Flowers and butterflies glowing in the darkness.
White flowers growing around a pond emitted a secret, firefly-like glow.
Drawn by that light, blue butterflies fluttered over. Their bodies were semi-transparent, as if carved from colored glass. The butterflies danced through the air before gently settling on the flowers.
When a butterfly kissed a flower—
The petals gradually turned a pale blue, like a shy blush spreading across a face.
Starcluster flowers.
Among the plants found in the demonic realm, these were at least one of the few with genuine beauty. They were quite rare—it seemed this was a natural habitat for them.
It was a beautiful sight.
But Woojin didn’t like those flowers.
Because their pollen contained a powerful poison.
I touched them once before and suffered for it.
Beautiful and dazzling things often hide poison. Woojin had learned that fact firsthand.
He continued following the trail.
Looking around, he soon spotted the person he had been searching for.
Arwen sat on a tree stump, gently rubbing the back of her hand.
Did she come out to admire the flowers?
Maybe she had come alone to think. Perhaps it would be better not to disturb her.
…Still, it felt a little wasteful to just leave.
Since I’ve come this far, I might as well talk with her for a bit.
He walked toward the stump.
Hearing his footsteps, Arwen turned her head.
“Ah… Jin. You’re here?”
She greeted him with a warm smile.
But when Woojin saw her, he flinched slightly.
“…What’s wrong with you? Why do you look like that?”
Arwen’s complexion looked bad. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and her skin was paler than usual, faint blue veins showing through.
Had something happened?
When he voiced his concern, Arwen smiled again and answered.
“There’s nothing to worry about. I just… haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve had a lot to think about.”
It’s nothing.
The answer sounded evasive. It didn’t seem like she intended to speak openly about it, so Woojin didn’t press further and simply continued the conversation.
“So you came here to clear your head?”
“Yes. I found this place while taking a walk yesterday. The scenery is really beautiful.”
“Yeah. It definitely is.”
Since they were already here, they might as well enjoy the flowers. Woojin sat down beside Arwen.
As they quietly admired the scene—
Arwen suddenly touched the back of her hand again.
A pure white moth had landed there. It looked like a silkmoth, with feathery antennae.
“Is that a new friend you made?”
“Something like that.”
Arwen murmured softly.
“…Do you think this one envies the butterflies?”
“Who knows. Is there really any reason for it to?”
“It’s all alone, isn’t it? Those butterflies are all playing together in the flower field.”
Maybe, from the moth’s perspective, it might feel that way.
For some reason, it sounded like she was talking about herself.
After all, Arwen was a fairy with the power of a moth.
Woojin asked carefully.
“Do you envy butterflies?”
“Yes. Everyone hates moths.”
Butterflies are loved, but moths are considered repulsive.
That was how the world saw them.
Even among fairies, it was the same.
Fairies with insect wings—pixies—had different wings depending on gender. Women had beautiful butterfly wings, while men had sleek dragonfly wings.
But Arwen…
“…I’m a mutant. That’s why I was expelled from Paradise with my memories erased.”
Arwen muttered gloomily.
She had recovered the memories she had once forgotten.
The reason was obvious.
“When you heard the Magic Tower Master talking about pixies… that’s when your memories came back, right?”
“How… did you know?”
Arwen looked at him in surprise.
Woojin answered casually.
“It’s obvious if you’re paying attention. And nothing else really happened around that time.”
“…That’s true.”
Recently, nothing particularly unusual had happened to Arwen. She had spent her days comfortably at Cindy’s mansion and rested peacefully in the naga city.
But after meeting the Magic Tower Master, Duran, her complexion had worsened dramatically.
That was the most likely cause.
Anyway, returning to the main point—
“So what exactly is this ‘Paradise’ place?”
“It’s the sacred land of the Dark Priests. The largest and most beautiful city—an ideal realm protected by the Outer Gods.”
The most exceptional and devout dark priests were summoned by Him and brought to Paradise.
In that sense, pixies were a privileged race.
They possessed great power and were few in number, so they were allowed to live in Paradise from the moment they were born.
“Male pixies become knights who guard Paradise, while female pixies become attendants who serve Him. If they’re lucky, they can even become concubines.”
Serving the leader of the Dark Priests—commonly called Him—was considered a great honor among the faithful.
Because of that, male pixies trained from childhood in combat and flight, while female pixies practiced speech, dance, and song to catch His attention.
Arwen had been an elite among the fairies of her age group…
But—
“…As I grew older, it started to become obvious. I was a mutant, different from the others.”
When she was young, she hadn’t seemed much different from the other pixies… but as she matured and her wings grew larger, it became clear that Arwen’s nature was different.
A mutant with moth wings and antennae. The pixies despised her existence.
“Expel the mutant.”
Arwen was driven out of Paradise.
Killing a rare fairy would have been wasteful, so instead they gave her a minor position and expelled her to the city of the Dark Priests beyond the mountains.
“Since I might become a problem… they probably tampered with my memories using magic as well.”
Arwen even forgot her own identity. Believing herself to be a human with slightly unusual powers, she continued working as a Dark Priest.
And as she diligently lived her life…
“…Then you came to my city, Jin. After that… well, somehow we ended up here.”
“I see.”
The long story ended.
A silence settled between them, as if they had agreed upon it beforehand. Lost in thought, Woojin gazed at the flower field.
He remembered something Arwen had once said.
“I… hate being abandoned.”
When he had been betrayed by a subordinate he trusted and lay dying with a sword in his chest, Arwen—wearing a butterfly mask—had murmured those words.
In that hazy moment as he faced death… had she been longing for the Paradise she had left behind?
“Do you want to return to your homeland?”
Woojin asked carefully.
After all, it might be a situation where he would have to let her go.
But the answer he received was—
“…Why would I?”
Arwen tilted her head and looked at him, clearly baffled.
Woojin continued, slightly flustered.
“Well… you seemed pretty down. I thought maybe you missed that place.”
“What are you talking about? Why would I want to go back to people who threw me away like trash? And besides, that place isn’t even that great.”
Paradise had been beautiful and abundant.
But that was only when compared to the cities of the Dark Priests. Compared to the great cities of humanity, Paradise wasn’t particularly impressive.
“Living at Miss Cindy’s mansion was way better. Eating all kinds of delicious food every meal, going to see plays whenever we felt bored… it was amazing!”
“R-Really?”
“Of course! That was the golden age of my life!”
Arwen spoke with great enthusiasm. Bringing up her homeland now felt almost embarrassing.
Still, one question remained.
“If you didn’t want to go back home, then why were you looking so gloomy?”
Arwen had clearly seemed depressed. What exactly was bothering her?
She hesitated before answering.
“Well… it’s just…”
“Yeah?”
“…I’m a mutant, right?”
“So?”
As Woojin kept urging her to continue, Arwen faltered slightly.
“Um… doesn’t that disappoint you?”
“In what way?”
“I’m not a butterfly—I’m a moth.”
A failure.
Butterflies are loved, but moths are seen as disgusting. That was why Arwen had been abandoned by her own people and expelled from Paradise.
At those words, Woojin chuckled lightly.
“Give me that.”
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“That thing on the back of your hand.”
He gestured toward the pure white moth resting there.
Arwen looked a little worried.
“What are you planning to do with it…?”
“Just give it to me. I won’t hurt it.”
Hesitantly, Arwen held out the moth.
Woojin carefully took it from her.
Flap, flap—
The white silkmoth fluttered its wings and crawled forward. Apparently it had the spirit of a climber—it began climbing up Woojin’s arm.
Soon it reached his shoulder, its wings brushing lightly against the back of his neck.
“…Doesn’t that tickle?”
“It’s nothing.”
Woojin calmly picked the moth up and placed it back on his palm, then watched it climb again.
Then he spoke.
“When I was a kid, I raised silkworms.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah. Someone I knew gave me a few, so I raised them. They were pretty cute.”
They grew quickly as he fed them mulberry leaves. One day they spun cocoons in the corner of their enclosure.
The thread spun by silkmoths—commonly called silk—is an extremely valuable material.
From that perspective, moths can actually be far more valuable and beloved than butterflies.
At that, Arwen murmured quietly.
“But… I’m still a mutant. Just bad luck at birth.”
“Why do you keep acting so pitiful?”
There was something Woojin had wanted to say anyway.
“You said there’s no fairy in your entire race who has the power of a moth like you, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Then that just means you’re the most special one.”
“……”
A one-of-a-kind existence.
Because of that, Arwen had been able to leave Paradise and come here.
When Woojin reminded her of that fact, Arwen blinked blankly for a moment…
Then, like a flower blooming, a small smile spread across her face.
“…So I’m special from now on.”
“You always were.”
Thankfully, it seemed her mood had improved.
Mission accomplished. Time to get some sleep.
Just as Woojin yawned and tried to stand—
Thump.
Arwen suddenly sat down on his lap.
Caught off guard and unable to stand, Woojin looked at her in surprise.
Shhh—
For some reason, Arwen’s eyes glowed with a faint pink light.
She whispered softly.
“If I’m special… then it’s okay for me to be a little more greedy, right?”
What?
The question never made it out of his mouth.
Arwen lowered her head first and kissed him.