9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 32 - Modern Man's Physical Improvement (7)

Drip, drip.

The sound of water droplets falling could be heard. Mixed with the wheeze and gasp of breathing, it echoed through the quiet cave.

She wondered if she even truly existed, Erika thought.

The boundary between dreams and reality.

Wandering between them, Erika was paralyzed by memories that surfaced sporadically.

“Have you thought about what you want to do after graduation?”

Just before winter break began, her father asked during breakfast.

Really, it was the first time in so long they’d sat at the same table that she couldn’t even remember when it last happened.

In the quiet dining room where only the sounds of servants carrying food and the clatter of dishes could be heard, the sudden question felt utterly surreal.

“……”

Erika suddenly froze with her spoon of oatmeal suspended in midair. She was so surprised and flustered that she couldn’t answer.

“Hmph!”

When she remained silent for a long while, her father cleared his throat to break the deadly silence that had settled and continued speaking expressionlessly.

“If you haven’t thought of anything, then learn the business under me. You’ll have to inherit it someday, won’t you.”

“……”

Cracks appeared in Erika’s expression.

She knew how her father had grown the company and accumulated wealth.

A pile of money swollen by causing countless people suffering and collaborating with evil.

The fact that everything she ate and wore came from that money had been so unbearably disgusting that she’d been recording every expense in a notebook since high school.

Being told to work at such a company was tantamount to being told to deny her entire life up to this point.

She opened her mouth stiffly.

“I already have somewhere to go.”

She got up first, leaving her bowl still full of oatmeal behind.

That entire day, she packed useful things in her room. It was something she’d been doing little by little for a while, careful not to let the maids notice. So she could leave this house at any time.

Night came and rain began to fall steadily. Erika walked slowly down the corridor feeling like she’d become a ghost.

Her mother’s room still had the lights on. Her powerless mother did nothing during the day but always couldn’t fall asleep until late at night.

Erika carefully opened her mother’s bedroom door.

A room she was entering again for the first time in seven years.

The last time she’d visited, when her mother urged her to apologize please, to hurry up and make up, she hadn’t said anything. She just kept her mouth shut tight and stubbornly held her ground.

Her mother had let out a deep sigh, and before long began to speak less and less.

“Mother, Mom.”

Erika called to her mother, who was lying diagonally on the bed, staring vacantly into space.

Her once-beautiful, long wavy hair was now streaked with gray and disheveled in all directions.

Her emaciated body and dull, rough skin. In her lifeless face, none of her past beauty could be found.

Her mother’s eyes moved slightly. Nervous for no reason, she moistened her lips with her tongue before speaking with difficulty.

“I’m going to leave this house soon. Come with me, Mom.”

Her mother looked at her with vacant eyes and reached out her hand. Erika firmly grasped the hand that was dry as a tree branch.

“Let’s escape from this hellish house. I’ll take good care of you.”

But after a moment of silence, her mother slowly shook her head.

Just as expected.

Erika remained still for a long time. After her mother closed her eyes, she let go of her hand and left the bedroom.

***

The night in Lüdelheim was so different from the day.

At the hour when even the magically-operated streetlights had all gone out, only the pale gray moon hanging round in the sky gave off a faint light.

I ran through streets shrouded in darkness.

The snow-covered ground was muddy. Several times my feet nearly slipped.

My lungs felt like they would burst, making me stop again and again. I ran while controlling my breathing, but long distances were still too much.

“Huff, wheeze, ha……”

I stood gripping my burning thighs and caught my breath.

I’d been running for over an hour with this frail body.

Since I kept going and stopping repeatedly, I probably hadn’t even covered the distance an ordinary adult man could run in 30 minutes.

Mrs. Schmidt’s house was in a middle-class neighborhood caught between the wealthy district and the slums.

And the cave where Erika was located required crossing the slums and then traversing a considerable stretch of abandoned land.

I rushed past alleyways reeking with broken bottles and illegally dumped garbage.

Running through the spider web-like paths for so long made me dizzy, as if I’d lose my sense of direction.

If it weren’t for the geographical information in Lucas’s memories and the map of District 13 I’d copied and memorized from the archive room, I never could have attempted such a crazy feat.

“Almost there, Colin.”

After pushing through the scattered residential area, a wide-open hill finally appeared.

In the distance, the river water sparkled under the moonlight. Erika was somewhere along those riverbanks.

‘Where exactly was it?’

Sitting down in the overgrown bushes, I pulled out my notebook from my pocket.

A map drawn in as much detail as possible on a small piece of paper. I tried to find the X mark indicating the cave’s location while holding it up to the moonlight.

‘500 meters west from the suspension bridge, no, about 500 setins…’

“Woof woof! Woof!”

Suddenly a loud barking sound rang out, nearly making me fall backwards.

“Col…!”

I looked back at Colin, but the fellow who was now approaching medium-sized dog proportions was just lying quietly beside me with his belly pressed to the ground.

‘Then?’

“Woof woof woof!”

The sound came again from somewhere not right nearby but not very far either.

“Must be over there. Let’s look around more.”

Around the clearing area leading out from the slums, lights were flickering and the sound of several people running could be heard. The footsteps of trained people, at that.

“What the fuck……”

A curse slipped through my teeth.

Instinctively, I pressed myself flat into the bushes to hide. Colin also wisely crouched down low.

It was a very wise decision. Soon about five or six people came close and began rustling around, searching the area.

“Even if she’s the daughter of some rich businessman, does it make sense to stir up completely unrelated agencies? And at this hour of the morning?”

“That’s what I’m saying. And if she was really kidnapped, she’d obviously be out of Lüdelheim by now.”

“Shh! Don’t run your mouth carelessly. The atmosphere right now is no joke.”

They searched here and there, waving their lanterns. With my cheek pressed against the cold earth, holding my breath, I frantically turned over thoughts in my head.

‘They mobilized police from other districts too? Then those must be low-ranking patrol officers from District 13. Has the case been transferred to the police headquarters? Or maybe the District 8 police chief requested support. Either way, there must have been some trigger serious enough for the police to stake everything on it……

From what I heard, the police chief who was reluctant even about posting a reward wouldn’t have changed course under pressure from Erika’s father. So what the hell is it?’

My head felt like it would overheat and explode.

“Woof!”

Suddenly a police dog barked very close by, making my body tremble with shock.

“Hey, Rudy, is there something there?”

‘Damn, I’m caught!’

Countless thoughts flashed through my head in an instant.

Should I drop Johann Werner’s name again, say I was after the reward, or maybe……

“Grrrrrrr……”

Then suddenly Colin began making a very low, threatening sound. The growl of a predator that made your spine crawl just from hearing it.

With my forehead pressed to the ground, I glanced over to see the police dog tucking its tail and backing away hesitantly. Colin was baring his teeth with an angry expression I’d never seen before.

“Rudy?”

The patrol officer approached closer, but the police dog kept backing away hesitantly before running off with the sound of pattering footsteps.

“What? Hey, catch that dog!”

While chaos ensued as they tried to catch the dog, I crawled on my belly toward the river.

“Colin, what exactly are you?”

Colin was panting and had returned to his usual gentle expression as he followed.

After a considerable time had passed, the rustling sounds died down. The patrol officers had gone away toward the suspension bridge with their dog.

Even though my clothes and face were dirty with mud, the corners of my mouth turned up.

‘Anyway, this could be useful.’

After watching carefully and waiting until they disappeared to tiny dots, I got up and started running.

***

River wind blew in.

While not as cold as South Korea’s frontline military posts, it was still quite cold winter weather, and I was secretly worried whether Erika would be okay.

The riverside, still undeveloped land about which only rumors circulated that some company had bought the land before going bankrupt, had an incredibly dense colony of reeds growing that completely blocked the view.

“Erika!”

After frantically cutting through the reeds until my hands were bleeding, I finally found the cave entrance.

I hurried inside and lit a match.

At the very back of the cave, in a corner where cold wind didn’t blow in. On a large rock where the chill couldn’t rise up, Erika lay collapsed.

“Erika, I’m here.”

I whispered as I untied her bonds and blindfold.

When I held up the light, pale-faced Erika was breathing roughly with her eyes closed, whether asleep or unconscious.

‘She doesn’t look too bad, thank goodness.’

Relieved, I looked around the cave floor. Among the things Oscar had left behind, I found an old dagger.

“I’ll use this.”

My hands trembled as I gripped the dagger.

But after making such a fuss about everything needing to be perfect and putting Erika through all this suffering. If I went soft in the face of my own sacrifice, nothing could be more pathetic.

Huff, huff.

I took deep breaths and struck down at my arm without hesitation.

“Gasp!”

Blood spread over my thick coat as tremendous pain overwhelmed me. Heat rushed to my face instantly and I felt like I might faint.

“Fuck, this hurts like hell!”

I pulled the dagger from my arm and slashed across my right shoulder area. Where the coat protected me it only stung slightly, but around the collarbone my shirt tore and blood seeped out.

Colin began whimpering anxiously.

“Huff, gasp! Don’t worry, Colin. Now, jump up there!”

Finally, after getting Colin to jump up onto the rock where Erika lay, I had him bite the dagger.

“Hold it tight and stay still.”

After putting enough distance between us, I quickly backed up, then threw my body and slammed my back hard against the rock.

“Aaahhh!”

The tip of the dagger’s blade stabbed into my lower back with a chilling thunk!

“Nngh, whine!”

“Good job, Colin.”

My heart pounded violently. Adrenaline flooded my entire body.

With superhuman endurance I petted Colin, then pulled out the dagger and crawled across the cave floor to the entrance.

A trail of blood followed with swish, swish sounds.

Coming outside and standing up, I squeezed out my last strength and swung my arm.

The dagger flew in an arc far into the unfrozen river water, sinking with a splash!

“Now, Colin, bark as loud as you can. As loud as possible!”

Colin, who had been pacing anxiously beside me, began barking loudly as commanded.

“Woof! Woof woof! Woof!”

I also lay down in front of the cave and forced out my voice.

“Catch…… catch him! Ugh, catch him! That bastard’s running away!”

Warm blood flowed down. The pain gradually intensified. I hadn’t made any serious wounds, but that’s exactly why it hurt like hell.

So these screams are genuine.

“Help! Me!”

“Woof! Woof woof!”

Lights flickered in the distance toward the suspension bridge. Watching the lights gradually approach, I bit my lip to keep from losing consciousness.

After what felt like eons, the lights finally reached right in front of me.

“Gasp! Are you alright!”

A young-faced patrol officer bent down and looked down at me.

“Stay conscious!”

He shook my shoulders. I barely opened my eyes and moved my lips.

“Long live the Supreme Leader……! In the cave…… the missing Miss Brightner is……”

At my increasingly fading voice, the patrol officers rushed into the cave with thundering footsteps.

“My goodness, it’s true!”

“She’s still alive!”

“We need to get her to a hospital right away.”

“B-but there aren’t any hospitals open at this hour in District 13……”

“If there aren’t any, we’ll have to go to the university hospital. Or get cooperation to have one opened. Go request support first!”

“Yes sir!”

One patrol officer began running toward the slums.

“Are you alright? Please hang in there just a little longer. You’ll be able to receive treatment soon.”

My vision was becoming blurry and hazy, making me feel like I might get motion sick.

“I’m, I’m fine…… I’m fine, so please hurry and get Miss Bright, cough! The bastard who kidnapped her and stabbed me……!”

“You witnessed the perpetrator? No, did you see which way he escaped?!”

“Over there, the reed field……”

I weakly raised my hand. When I moved my arm, I felt blood gushing out around my collarbone area.

“This won’t do. Apply pressure to stop the bleeding first. The rest of you search the reed field!”

“Yes sir!”

Someone loosened my clothes and tore my shirt to bind the wound. It hurt enough to make me scream, but I couldn’t even manage a groan.

I lost consciousness just like that.