At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 242

They say astronomers always carry a romantic sense in gazing into the truths of the universe. Apparently, no matter the world, that much holds true, though the process differs.

What stood out was the way he described it, saying the world itself was broken. If they were to chart only the points where dimensions collided, starting from the center and watching the fractures spread outward, it would look exactly like glass breaking.

“Here.”

Skiass finally stopped in front of a tree with a gaping hollow.

The trunk was massive, carved out from its base to the middle as though scooped clean with a giant spoon. And yet, it didn’t feel artificial.

It looked as if the tree itself had grown into the shape of a giant basin. The inside was large enough to fit six or seven people at once.

And sure enough, water had pooled within. Whether it was rainwater or something else, Jiwoo couldn’t tell, but under the moonlight it shimmered beautifully.

Plop. Drip.

Skiass dropped something he had been working on all night into the water. A sweet fragrance immediately wafted up from the hollow tree.

“What were you doing all night?”

As he stirred the water, Skiass glanced at Jiwoo.

“Seo Jiwoo, I heard you’re still in pain.”

“Huh?”

“Solmih told me. That your old arm injury still aches whenever it rains. We talked about what to do… I want to take that pain away.”

“Ah…”

Jiwoo was a little startled.

So that was what he had been so absorbed in preparing.

“Can you really do that? It’s not that I’m still injured, it’s just a scar now.”

“It’s because it healed wrong. If it hurts whenever it rains, that means something twisted when it closed up. Like when a bone breaks and doesn’t set right. If I reconnect the nerves properly, it should be fine.”

He spoke without hesitation, not stuttering once, when he usually mumbled shyly. 

It was exactly what Solmih had said before. They really did intend to erase even the scars of Jiwoo’s past.

But it sounded daunting. Reconnecting nerves? It felt more like surgery than magic.

“…Are you insane?”

Kaman, who had been listening, snapped before Jiwoo could.

“It’s fine.” 

Skiass said firmly.

After that, he fell back into his usual bashfulness, stammering again.

“It’s just, in the process, I, I have a favor to ask.”

“What kind of favor?”

Skiass lowered his gaze.

“I want you to give me a tattoo…”

“What?”

“Cough, what did you just say?”

Both Jiwoo and Kaman were caught off guard. Kaman even choked on his breath.

A tattoo, out of nowhere?

“Skiass, I can’t draw.” 

“It doesn’t matter…anything you draw is fine.”

“No, I’m terrible at it.”

“As long as it’s from Seo Jiwoo, I don’t care…”

Then Skiass pointed at Jiwoo’s pinky finger. At the gray-tinted nail that had never faded.

“Seo Jiwoo already carries marks like that. Why can’t you do it the other way around?”

So he must have been really bothered about Callan’s mark on Jiwoo’s body.

“Alright. If you want it, I’ll do it….”

But that wasn’t the problem.

Feeling like she had to test it out, Jiwoo picked up a fallen twig and scratched a doodle in the dirt.

Kaman glanced at the squiggly lines and said. 

“Snail.”

“…It’s a rabbit.”

Jiwoo sighed and turned back to Skiass.

“Are you really okay with this?”

“Yes…”

“Really?”

“…Ye, yes.”

Skiass blushed and nodded. It was hard to tell if it was his shyness, or hesitation at Jiwoo’s lack of drawing skills.

“So… where did you want it?”

“Ah, that… here…” 

Skiass pointed to his forehead. Jiwoo instantly shook her head. 

“Absolutely not.”

“…Then here.”

He pointed just below his navel.

“Wait, but what does that have to do with a tattoo?” 

“…Hoo.”

Skiass let out a shallow sigh before organizing his thoughts.

“You remember how the arm you used to hurt yourself sometimes aches? Even if it looks fine on the surface, the nerves underneath healed wrong. Your body thinks it’s all better, but it isn’t fully repaired. That’s why it hurts when it rains. The scar tissue is sensitive to pressure changes. To really fix it, we’d have to reconnect everything properly. But to do that…”

Jiwoo listened quietly as he rambled on, though she still couldn’t see the connection between treatment and tattoos.

“… Then, what about the tattoo part?” 

“The problem is we don’t know the exact location. It’d be safer to take apart the whole arm and reconnect it. That process will inevitably hurt, and a certain degree of pain is actually necessary for it to work…”

“Skiass.”

Kaman cut in sharply, unable to hold back anymore.

“Stop forcing nonsense.”

Kaman’s voice was filled with annoyance. Skiass’s explanation wasn’t entirely wrong, but the tattoo part felt unnecessary.

Still, the tattoo is the real issue here…

“And you’re saying you’d do this yourself?”

…That was the problem.

“And not here of all places. If it has to be done, it should be somewhere safer and cleaner, when we’re back, not out here.”

He didn’t add it aloud, but Kaman clearly meant Skiass didn’t need to be the one doing it at all. There was no need to rush something that wasn’t life-threatening.

“Instead of some strange tree, it could even be done back home, with the tree we’ve nurtured ourselves! Right, El?”

“Uh? Oh… yes.”

Jiwoo had been holding back a laugh at the phrase ‘strange tree’.

“Th, then?”

At that, Skiass’s expression turned grim.