The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 106
106 – Bao Noi, the Fairy Waiting for Spring
106 – Bao Noi, the Fairy Waiting for Spring
I met Bao Noi when I was struggling to heal my wounds.
The darkened fairy forest.
Strange beast cries echoing from all around!
─Dot. Dot. Dot. Dot. Dotdotdot, Dotdotdot-!
─Hooowoo, Hooowoo-!
─Meowoo-! Meowoo-!
─Churichuri Michurit…!
This was the world of the fairies.
I didn’t know what kind of ferocious animals might be there, but judging by the cries, they were definitely not normal.
In such a situation, wandering around with the smell of blood made me the perfect prey.
“Ouch, ouch…”
First, I took out a pungent-smelling ointment from the bag that Bbangdaengi had dropped and slowly covered the wound that stretched from my side to my back, which I got while saving Seogaeul.
“Is it because it’s an ointment that it smells so bad?”
━Grrr…!
My terrible joke made Ing-Ing growl in anger.
Don’t ever say that again.
It seemed to say.
Anyway, it was a really painful wound.
If there’s any consolation, it’s that only the skin was scratched, and there was no problem with the spine or nerves, so there was no issue with walking or moving my arms.
“But it still stings a lot.”
If Seogaeul had been hit by this, a big scar would have remained on that beautiful body. That might have been cool in its own way.
Because future Seogaeul had a big scar on one eye and exuded the vibe of a “one-eyed beauty prosecutor.”
The scar on the side was also quite impressive.
For a warrior, scars can sometimes be a splendid badge of honor.
But still, it’s better for a work of art to have no scars or wounds.
“Since I saved her so gallantly, maybe I’ll get a kiss on the lips when we get back?”
━Ing-Ing-ya-ing.
“Yeah, if we can get back, that is.”
I thought the chances of the subjugation team that captured Nam Woo-joo and returned would come back to rescue me were slim. At least for the time being.
Since Mr. Kogae, who was in charge of transportation, had overexerted himself, he would have to lie down for at least fifteen days.
And since they learned about the existence of “Darkness” and “Fairy Knight Hameln,” it was not strange that they became reluctant to explore the Great Labyrinth.
If it were the cautious Nambada, he would probably issue a ban on entering the Great Labyrinth.
Such things happened even in the world before I returned.
“Everyone will think I’m dead.”
Maybe my funeral is taking place right now.
What if I suddenly return alive at that moment?
Everyone would be shocked, and all the attention would be on me!
I want to go back quickly.
“Inging, it’s been a while since it’s just the two of us.”
But the forest was vast, and finding the way was not easy.
Even Inging, who somehow got out of the “food storage,” was reluctant to find the way, so we had to wander through the forest.
“Hey, if we run out of food like this, you’ll become my emergency food. So, put some effort into finding the way. Unless you want to be eaten by me!”
━Gyuiing.
“You don’t have eyes, so how can you find the way? I don’t know either!”
The top priority was to get through the night.
So, while looking for a suitable shelter, I saw a door installed in a tree that had grown magnificently like a thick baobab tree.
If someone hollowed out the inside of a large tree and made it their home, wouldn’t it look just like this fairy tale house?
Knock, knock.
I knocked on the door just in case, but there was no answer.
An empty house.
Just as I was about to open the door, someone inside spoke.
━Who is it…?
“Uh….”
It was a slightly youthful voice.
A voice of a girl, probably in the upper grades of elementary school.
It reminded me of Kim Jang-dong’s daughter.
“I am Han Nam-jin.”
━I won’t be fooled…! Because Bao Noi knows better than anyone that no one would visit Bao Noi at this late hour…! It must be an illusion…!
An illusion?
I thought they wouldn’t easily open the door.
Clunk, creak-.
The wooden door of the house seemed to open, and a little kid, barely reaching my chest, showed their face.
A girl with orange hair wearing an orange mushroom-shaped hat. The old orange tracksuit she wore, which looked like it was picked up from somewhere, was impressive.
“Are you really a person…!? Are you not an illusion created by Bao Noi’s mind…? If so, recite words that Bao Noi cannot know…!”
Is that so.
This kid thought I was an illusion created by their own mind.
I used to have such thoughts often in the past.
When you live alone for a long time, loneliness can show you illusions like a disease.
So, when Seo Ga-eul came to the shack, I thought I was seeing a waking dream.
Anyway, meeting a person in this forest was a fortunate thing for me too.
I don’t know if you could call it a person.
Its ears were short and triangular, pointed at the tips.
“Are you a fairy?”
“Muhuhu, this Baonoi is the nymph Baobao Baonoi of the stream…! The nymph who grows baobab trees the best…! No other nymphs can grow baobab trees as well as this Baonoi…!”
Tudadadadada-.
The fairy Baonoi darted around the cramped house.
Its way of speaking was peculiar.
“It’s been a very long time since a guest has come…! Would you like to see the flowers this Baonoi has diligently planted…? You won’t find pots like these anywhere else…!”
It seemed that this creature had lived alone in this treehouse for a very long time.
When you talk to yourself for a very, very long time, your way of speaking can become strange.
Whatever the case, I could tell that it was harmless.
# # #
Anyway, this is how I met Baobao Baonoi.
I received precious sap from it and felt the wounds on my back healing.
“Works well, doesn’t it?”
“Muhuhu, this Baonoi is good at extracting sap…! Outsider…! If you need anything, just say the word…!”
“Do you have a magic lamp that grants wishes?”
“There’s no such thing…!”
“A ring of power?”
“I don’t even know what that is…!”
“So, what exactly is there?”
“There are mushrooms that are tough but edible if dried…!”
“That’s awesome! Mushrooms are nutritious!”
“Awesome…? What language is that…?”
“It means incredibly amazing.”
“Indeed, it is awesome…!”
Baonoi was extremely kind.
Maybe it’s because I’ve only met grumpy people lately, but seeing someone so kind made me uncomfortable.
This guy probably hasn’t talked to anyone other than himself for a long time.
So he wants to keep me around for a while. In fact, he seemed to be anxiously watching my reactions.
He seems like he would answer honestly if I asked him anything.
“Baonoi, are there any other fairies here besides you?”
“Indeed, that’s right…! They all left me and went to the castle high in the sky…! I was late to evacuate because I was gathering baobab tree seeds….”
“The castle in the sky, you mean the fairy palace?”
“Exactly…! I don’t know when they will come back down to the ground…. When the forest, polluted and dirtied by the black rain, becomes clean, the other nymphs will surely return…!”
So, to sum it up:
The fairy forest used to be a better place to live, but one day it started to become extremely polluted, crops and flowers stopped growing, and monsters increased.
So the fairies decided to abandon their homes and evacuate to the castle in the sky, but Baonoi was late because he was gathering baobab tree seeds.
“The other nymph sisters say they don’t need baobab tree seeds… but I, Baonoi, don’t think so…! But because of that, I ended up alone….”
When the candle made of sticky sap flickered with Baonoi’s sigh, I noticed small scratches on the wall.
It looked like marks left by a survivor on a deserted island, or like small streaks of rain pouring down.
////////////////////
///////////////////
///////////////////
….
..
.
There are countless of them. Do these slashes represent days? Weeks? Months?
This guy, he must have endured an incredibly long time alone.
Surely over 10 years.
“If this Baonoi succeeds in reforesting the woods, surely the fairy sisters will return…! But the scary monsters have increased, making the work slow…!”
━Eeeingyaing.
“Yes…! Surely the monster crying so strangely… Hieek…!”
Baonoi jumped up.
He was horrified when he saw Eeeingyi, his hair standing on end.
“A monster that spits lightning…! The scariest monster that has appeared in the forest recently…! We must drive it away…!”
“Don’t be scared. Eeeingyi is a good monster.”
“Oh, have you tamed the monster…?”
This guy, he adapts faster than I thought?
Interesting.
“There were beings among us fairies who could tame monsters…. Such beings would become knights of the high fairy king and show off their splendid appearance…!”
Knight.
Something comes to mind.
“Have you heard of the Grand Knight Hameln?”
The one who controlled the rats.
I asked, wondering if this guy might know some weakness of his.
Brrrrrr-.
Baonoi trembled.
“Hameln is a long-eared fairy who became a subordinate of the fairy king by taming a ferocious ‘squirrel’ and presenting it to the royal family…! The rats he controls are terrifying…. If you meet them, you must run away…!”
I see.
We chatted like that until morning came. I took out some chocolate from my bag and gave it to Baonoi, who was very pleased.
“Chocolate…! No nymph has ever tasted something this delicious…! When my nymph sisters return from that high palace someday, I want them to taste it too…!”
Fairy Baonoi believed that his sisters would return.
How long will it take?
“Muhuhu, it will be soon…! As long as we find the treasure that the fairy king hid somewhere…! We just need to plant the seeds of spring hidden inside it at the right time in the forest…!”
“Treasure?”
“Yes…! Just before the fairy king floated the palace high in the sky, he hid the seeds of spring on this land in preparation for the day spring returns…! If we can just find that─.”
The day the world of fairies suddenly collapsed.
It seemed that the fairy king had hidden some seedlings tightly somewhere for the future development of the world, after evacuating the other fairies high into the sky.
The fairy king’s treasure and the seeds of spring.
It feels like something might come to mind.
Isn’t that the ring I gave to Seo Ga-eul?
The ring’s name was “Seed,” wasn’t it?
“This Bao Noi thinks that the treasure might be in the ‘Food Storage’ or the ‘Treasure Hall’…! But it is said that it is not easy to access the Great Underground Labyrinth…”
“Do you know the way to the Great Labyrinth?”
“Of course…! I know it…!”
What is “of course” again?
I saw an English vocabulary book well-placed on one side. Did this guy pick up the vocabulary book that one of the Great Labyrinth explorers dropped?
Anyway, it was quite fortunate for me that Bao Noi knew the way to enter the Great Labyrinth. Then we might also find the exit of the Great Labyrinth.
“Alright, Poo Bao! Let’s go together!”
“Who is Poo Bao? I am Bao Noi…!”