At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 309

Jiwoo was the only one who couldn’t agree with that conclusion, which was why she voiced the question. But Kelvar and Silevion, who had been bickering until moments ago, exchanged a glance and silently agreed not to explain.

Meanwhile, Jiwoo was more concerned with finding a way out of their current predicament.

She ran a hand along the dark wall, then pressed her forehead against it. Closing her eyes as though trying to commune with the tree, she remained still for a moment before placing her lips against the spot her forehead had touched.

The careful kiss she pressed to the earth almost made it look as though she were reverently worshipping the place.

“What are you doing?”

Jiwoo pulled back and tilted her head.

“If this really is a void, I wanted to see if I could use my powers as an Akarna to get us out. Purifying contaminated land and restoring it to normal used to be part of my job too. But it’s not working.”

“…Is that how you normally do it?”

“No.”

Kelvar frowned and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping Jiwoo’s lips himself. Judging from the way he glared back and forth between the ground and the lips that had touched it, he was either unhappy that she had put her mouth against something dirty or deeply offended by how reverently she had kissed the earth.

Surely it was the former. There was no way he could be jealous of the ground.

“If that’s what you’re trying to do, can’t you just do what you did when you purified the land before?”

“I spilled my blood on the ground that time.”

“…Oh. Sorry.”

Silevion, who had been watching from a short distance with his arms folded, clicked his tongue.

“Kelvar, why do you insist on saying things that would have been more helpful left unsaid?”

“F*ck off! At least I’m being more productive than you standing there with your mouth shut because you don’t know sh*t!”

“Sometimes keeping quiet is the best way not to make things worse, you know?”

“Hold on, Jiwoo. Let me hit this bastard just once…”

Whatever happened, they had to find a way out with only the three of them here.

***

To put it simply, they couldn’t.

They spent some time exploring every possibility they could think of, but no promising solution presented itself.

There wasn’t much they could do when they had been trapped in a cramped space with no tools or supplies. All they could really do was listen carefully for any sounds from outside and search the walls for cracks or any sign that a crack might be forming.

As the situation dragged on, however, Jiwoo couldn’t help growing worried.

“Do you think everyone else is all right?”

This place remained relatively safe because Jiwoo was here, even if it was cramped. But there was no telling what might be happening wherever the others had ended up without her.

“They’ll be fine. Those bastards can take care of themselves no matter where you throw them.”

That much was true. Narkreed had exceptionally sharp eyes, and Quilon had experienced a void before. For some reason, Jiwoo couldn’t bring herself to worry much about Lugarmel either…

If there was anything fortunate about this, perhaps it was that the ones who had been separated from her were all perfectly capable of looking after themselves.

Kelvar pulled Jiwoo into his arms as if to reassure her, and his rich lilac scent immediately enveloped her. Perhaps because they were trapped in such a confined space, his fragrance seemed much stronger than usual. 

Silevion, apparently displeased by it, had moved a little farther away.

“Still, they said voids are dangerous, so I can’t help worrying… Wait.”

Had her knee been touching Silevion’s just now?

She didn’t think it had. Silevion had deliberately been keeping his distance from Kelvar in the first place.

“What is it…? Doesn’t it feel like this place has gotten smaller?”

“Hmm?”

“Has it?”

“Look. There was enough room up to here before, but now there isn’t.”

“No, how could the space itself possibly get…”

Rumble. Thud.

The instant they became aware of it, the walls visibly shifted.

“Ah!”

“Kyak!”

“…”

Their knees weren’t merely touching anymore. Their legs were practically tangled together as the three of them stared tensely at one another.

“F*ck, that moved just now, didn’t it?”

“Ye, yeah…”

“…”

The space was shrinking. There was no obvious way out, and now the walls were visibly closing in on them.

Naturally, all three arrived at the same horrifying thought.

“…No way.”

“Surely not.”

They forced out uneasy smiles, but the amusement quickly faded from their faces. What would happen if they remained inside a space that just kept getting smaller?

Rumble, thud!

“Ah!”

“Damn.”

“Ugh!”

Before they could think about it any further, the space contracted again.

Jiwoo was now wedged tightly between the two men, unable to move in the cramped confines. Her forehead was pressed against Silevion’s chest, while Kelvar was crowded close behind her, leaving her feeling as though she might be crushed between the two men before the walls even managed it.

One of their thighs had ended up between Jiwoo’s legs, though she couldn’t tell whose, and both men’s legs were tangled around hers so tightly that none of them could move properly.

“Ugh.”

“Wait, we should try to put some distance between us.”

“Damn it, there’s no room! How the hell are we supposed to move apart in here?”

Each of them twisted around, trying to find a slightly more comfortable position. But in such a confined space, all that accomplished was tangling them together even more.

Their awkward attempts to reposition themselves only left their bodies pressed together with virtually no space between them.

If anything, by crowding closer together, they seemed to have helped the shrinking space along.

“Ke, Kelvar, your hand…”

“Fu, f*ck, sorry!”

In the confusion, Kelvar’s hand had accidentally closed over Jiwoo’s breast.

He tried to pull it away, but there simply wasn’t enough room. Moving his hand only resulted in him inadvertently squeezing her again. Despite his rough language and temperament, Kelvar was always exceedingly careful whenever he touched Jiwoo, which only made the hesitant movement of his fingers more noticeable.

“Uh… ah.”

Against Jiwoo’s ear, Silevion’s heart gave a violent thump inside his chest.

“You, you ill-mannered…”

“It was an accident! I was trying to help her get comfortable! Blame the f*cking wall, idiot.”