Lien dusted off the bread that fell on the ground as if she had already experienced this many times.
And then, she took a bite without a care, shocking Chester and Karzen who were watching.
Toward the two who were flustered and couldn't say anything, Lien held up three fingers and said.
"It's okay if you pick it up and eat it within 3 seconds. You don't even know that?"
"...T... That can't be true...."
Rarely, Karzen denied another person's opinion. Lien burst into laughter loudly as if Karzen's reaction was quite amusing.
The other name for the Boundary Forest where Karzen found Ivy was the Suicide Forest.
No one who crossed the boundary where the black fog rose inside the forest had ever returned alive, and since corpses weren't found either, it was called the perfect place to disappear from the world.
Ivy's belongings had the same composition as what was sold in the so-called black market under the name 'One-Way Package'.
A suicide package that could only be obtained through secret illicit dealings even in the black market. Because of the illegal teleport crystal which was not easy to obtain, the price was on the quite expensive side.
In other words, this one-way package was an item that most of those who wanted to give up on life would spend their entire fortune to buy as the last purchase of their lifetime.
"...."
Karzen was lost in thought while looking over the items arranged on the towel.
That day, the reason Karzen went to the forest was the same as usual. It was to relieve the stress accumulated in his body. It was a day when the number of monsters rushing at him was unusually small and the forest was quiet.
He came to relieve stress but it looked like he would only accumulate more, so as he walked toward the boundary line, he saw a swarm of forest goblins gathering in a circle and dancing. The moment he discovered a white hand visible between the forest goblins, Karzen's body moved first.
With the ridiculous thought that perhaps he had returned, he slashed away the forest goblins, and was disappointed to realize at a glance that the human he found was not the person he missed so much.
However, seeing that breath was still attached, Karzen did not hesitate. Lifting the body that had suffered wounds severe enough to show life fading away, he tried to reassure him.
"It is okay now. Do not lose consciousness and endure just a little longer. I will surely save you."
This man was the first person Karzen had found since he started frequenting the forest.
And a living person at that.
The existence of a survivor found in this damn forest had a special meaning to Karzen. He had to save him, absolutely, no matter what happened.
But of all days, he had left his bag on his horse and entered the forest that day. In that bag was a highest-grade potion.
He had carried it just in case he discovered someone alive in the forest, but after repeated failures over a long time, thinking he would no longer find anything, it was a day he had left it behind thinking he would probably never have a use for it.
Unexpectedly discovering a survivor for the first time, Karzen ran while drawing out his power to the maximum after a long time. Thanks to that, he was able to perform first aid before it was too late.
Since potions are useless if internal organs are damaged, Karzen, who hurriedly tore off the tattered clothes that were in the way and checked the wounds first, wanted to shout thanks to every god existing in the world. Of course, the wounds were extremely large, but fortunately, the internal organs were in an undamaged state.
As he poured the highest-grade potion unsparingly, the man who had fainted woke up and cried while trembling all over. Whether it was because he couldn't move his body, he couldn't even struggle properly.
The effect of the highest-grade potion that rapidly healed open wounds was powerful, and knowing that it was just as painful, Karzen had to soothe the small body while treating him.
Just bear with it a little longer, it's almost over. Even though he had just started, he reassured him with obvious lies.
He tried to feed him a potion for internal recovery, but he couldn't swallow it himself and coughed it up. Eventually, Karzen had to hold the potion in his mouth and force it down his throat to make him swallow.
After barely feeding him a few sips by repeating that, when he poured another potion on the wounds that were still open, he screamed a soundless scream. Only then could Karzen read his mouth shape.
The man who couldn't produce a voice was begging to live. He was sobbing, shouting soundlessly that he desperately, truly wanted to live.
Karzen promised the frightened man. That he would definitely save him. To be at ease. That he would surely rescue him. So please, do not give up. Perhaps reassured by the appealing words, the man willingly fainted.
He barely managed to rescue him with breath still attached, but the treatment afterward wasn't easy either. As luck would have it, the priest who was his friend and possessed strong healing power was absent, so he had to call healers with weak healing power and doctors to treat him.
The man suffered throughout the treatment that continued for several days. When awake, it was a repetition of crying in pain and begging to be saved. Karzen, who had no healing power, could do nothing but hold his hand and reassure him.
The wounds were so deep that he repeatedly fainted after struggling with pain. Sometimes when he regained consciousness, he would deliver incoherent and unintelligible words with his lips upon seeing Karzen or the vice-butler.
Although they shared short conversations in the same manner while his mind wasn't intact, when he woke up after the final faint, he couldn't remember at all why he was in the forest or who he was.
"Phew...."
Recalling the first meeting with Ivy, Karzen began to agonize over what to do with the belongings in front of his eyes.
Currently, Ivy was in a weak state of mind and body. To Ivy, who couldn't remember who he was, how he came to enter the forest, or where he lived—anything at all. To Ivy, who cried saying he wanted to live so much, to please save him....
'I can't say this....'
Karzen knew better than anyone that looking at the current Ivy, he was absolutely not a person who would want to die.
'But will it be the same even if his memories return?'
In the first place, Karzen didn't know the person named Ivy well. Even if he knew him well, it was a part he couldn't be sure of. The one thing he could be sure of now was that Ivy wanted to live.
Through past experience, Karzen knew all too well how much depression, wounds, and pain pile up layer by layer until a person decides on death, and what the eyes of someone who wants death due to that much pain look like.
The moment the empty eyes of a person who has given up on themselves take on a gleam again is only right before executing their decision.
Karzen squeezed his eyes shut as he recalled the moment a person precious to him long ago put a necklace on him. That day, his eyes, which had looked empty for a long time, were unusually lively unlike usual.
Wondering what wind blew when he hadn't met him even when he visited all that time, that day he came to find him first, gave him the necklace he cherished the most as a gift, and even expressed gratitude saying it was truly a relief that Karzen was by his side.
Young Karzen had been convinced. That the illness of the mind he was suffering from was finally healed. At his words that he smiled brightly as usual and said everything would be okay now, Karzen too had smiled brightly in joy.
And after that day, Karzen could never see him again. No one could save him, and that was the same for young Karzen as well.
'I'd rather Ivy's memories didn't return....'
Ivy wanted to live more desperately than anyone else, and Karzen had absolutely no intention of breaking that desire. The words he firmly promised, that he would definitely save him, that he would rescue him, were like a promise made to himself.
So Karzen folded the note neatly, put it in his trouser pocket, and began to clean the rest of the items. If Ivy found his memories, he would have no choice but to confess, but Karzen had absolutely no intention of speaking first.
'Later, when Ivy finds his memories. He might despise me then. But still....'
Ivy was the first person Karzen had saved from the forest filled with despair. Just that fact alone made Ivy already an important person to Karzen.
Because of his own selfishness, and in a way as atonement toward Ivy who would live a new life contrary to his own will having been deceived by him, Karzen intended to help him be happy no matter what.
After Karzen left, Ivy kept thinking about himself. Even though there was nothing more to see on the necklace because he had scrutinized it so much, he couldn't put it down.
Holding the necklace in his hand, Ivy frowned and pushed out his lips. It was a habit that came out unknowingly when he concentrated.
Even thinking about it no matter how much with a pouting duck face, it seemed he had never seen the names Ivy and Rain in Wizard of the Forest.
'Since the author didn't attach names even to the extras in the work... Then am I an extra whose name never appeared in the book, or Villager A who didn't even make an appearance? Hmm~ Or perhaps do I appear in the spin-off BL? I stopped reading the spin-off series only after the beginning....'
Books to read during his long hospital life were limited, and since he didn't particularly discriminate against genres, he used to read BL genre novels often if they suited his taste back when he was Kim Hyun-seo.
In the case of BL, he mainly read ones recommended by his twin sister, but 90% of his sister's taste consisted of characters called so-called 'Obsessive Top (Gwang-gong)' and 'Regretful Top (Huhoe-gong)'. Thanks to that, there were many cases where the recommended works didn't sit well with him.
'If you like someone, you should treat them kindly and gently from the start without doing things you'll regret. Why show madness....'
Unlike his sister who liked stories with devastating content where the protagonist suffers and the male lead regrets, Ivy liked sweet and happy stories.
Especially regarding endings, he liked stories that ended with a very definitively happy ending. Stories where everyone is happy.
His sister would jump in surprise if she heard, but as Kim Hyun-seo, his thought was that one should treat the person they like gently, kindly, and honestly and cherish them, and that thought remained the same even now.
Realizing that his thoughts on the figures Ivy and Rain had somehow drifted to BL and Obsessive Tops, Ivy shook his head.
'Ack! Focus! Again! Let's think again. Maybe I'm a supporting character.'
Ivy began to retrace the content of the Wizard of the Forest novel right from the very beginning.
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