The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 41

I swallowed hard and spoke hesitantly.

“H-Hey. You guys.”

Only then did the animals seem to realize I was there, all of them turning to look at me at once.

Then, as if beckoning me closer, they began chirping and squeaking—pii pii, chik chik.

After a moment’s hesitation, I shuffled forward and awkwardly stood beside the egg.

Up close, it was even bigger…

“So… what is this?”

What on earth were they expecting from me?

I was floundering in confusion when I heard a sharp crack.

I whipped my head around—and the eggshell was breaking.

I sucked in a breath and reflexively stepped back, but the giant rabbit pressed its front paws against my back, shoving me forward.

“No, what are you doing?!”

There was no way something coming out of an egg that big would be normal!

The first thing that flashed through my mind was a horror movie I’d seen in the operations room.

I wasn’t even fond of scary movies, but those espers always scoffed—What’s scary about this?—and played every famous one they could find.

One of them had featured a grotesque creature hatching from a massive egg.

It laid eggs inside people’s bodies and devoured them from within.

To make things worse, Cha Eunhwi had launched into a lecture about parasitic gate organisms while watching it, nearly driving me insane.

And now something like that is hatching here?!

Crack—crack.

The egg continued to split apart, and I kept getting pushed closer.

The rabbit even stood on its hind legs and shoved me outright.

Under any other circumstances, it would’ve been cute enough to make me laugh—but right now, it felt like an emissary of hell.

“S-Stop it! L-Let’s t-talk this out—talk—aaah!”

My legs gave out as I struggled to resist.

I stumbled forward and dropped to my knees right in front of the cracked egg.

At that exact moment, something popped out.

“Kyuu!”

“Aaah! Kyuu!! …Kyuu?”

“Kyuuruk.”

“…Huh?”

What emerged from the egg was a tiny snake.

A light green snake with a slightly pointy face, round eyes, and an oddly cute, somewhat dopey look.

Flicking out its pink tongue, the snake completely broke through the shell and wriggled out.

I blinked blankly at the empty interior of the egg.

The snake is this small… so why was the egg that huge? And wait—are snake eggs even shaped like this? And that cry was weird…

I had no idea. Maybe monsters were just different.

Then again, staring at the green body reminded me of the so-called “sentinel” snake.

Don’t tell me… is this that snake’s baby?

“Kyuuruk?”

The little snake tilted its head and let out a small cry.

I flinched and turned to the giant rabbit.

“R-Rabbit. What do you want me to do?”

The rabbit flapped its huge ears and pulled a piece of fruit from its fur.

Then it held it out to me with a very clear Feed it expression.

I might’ve hated studying, but I’d spent a full year stuck with Cha Eunhwi, who interrogated me like a teacher checking homework.

And during all those gate raids, of course I’d encountered snakes before.

Which meant—I knew snakes were carnivores.

…Well. It’s a monster, so maybe it can eat fruit?

After all, the rabbits and squirrels here ate candy and chocolate without issues.

Still, why weren’t they feeding it? Why was it on me?

With a sigh, I picked up the nearest apple and held it out to the snake.

The curious little thing wrapped itself around my arm and climbed up.

The squishy, cool sensation was unfamiliar enough to make the back of my neck prickle, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

The snake stared at the apple for a long moment, then lifted its head.

“Kyurrr?”

It looked like it was asking, What is this?

“Um… it’s an apple. I don’t know if you can eat it, though.”

The baby snake alternated its gaze between me and the apple, then opened its mouth wide.

It bit down—chomp!—and immediately dropped it.

“Kyuuuk…”

Tears welled up in the snake’s eyes.

The sight of it clearly being too big to eat made me snort despite myself.

“Wait a second.”

There was no way I could split this with my hands.

I set the snake and apple down, dragged my bag over from beneath the tree, and pulled out a knife.

Holding it up, I warned the snake,

“This is dangerous, so don’t come closer. It’s sharp. I don’t know if you can get hurt, but still…”

“Kyuruk.”

As if it understood, the snake scooted back obediently.

I picked up the apple and peeled it with the knife.

The discarded peel was immediately snatched up by nearby squirrels.

When I offered a small slice to the snake, it opened its mouth again.

This time, it swallowed it easily.

The snake’s tail swayed happily after gulping it down.

“Kyuu, kyuu.”

“Is it good? I’ll cut more for you.”

Only now did I understand why they’d wanted me to feed it.

The rabbits and squirrels couldn’t peel or cut fruit like this.

So that was why they’d asked.

I kept slicing the apple and feeding the snake.

I’m curious what you really are… If you grow up, will you turn into that snake?

If so, then maybe the named monster wasn’t the rabbit after all—but this snake.

In ordinary gates, no matter how many times they appeared, the named monster was always the same.

But this was a unified gate, and even its scenery had changed—so it wouldn’t be strange if the named monster changed too.

As long as it doesn’t hurt me, I don’t really care.

Thankfully, both the snake and the rabbit seemed friendly toward me.

Though maybe that was just because it was still a baby.

The mother snake had been extremely aggressive.

“Kyuuruk.”

After finishing the apple, the baby snake brought me a peach.

I sliced that up too and fed it piece by piece.

Come to think of it, they were researching why named monsters never change…

Not that it ever led to anything useful.

There were still countless unknowns about the deep sea and outer space—how were they supposed to unravel another world?

Still, there was one interesting hypothesis.

Not one I’d looked up myself—I’d just overheard Cha Eunhwi talking.

It proposed that creatures inside gates lived within repeating time loops.

The supporting points were threefold:

First, despite differing time flows, the named monster was always the same individual.

Second, sometimes gates opened with no named monster present.

Third, the traces left by awakened people who never escaped gates.

Sometimes damaged corpses or bones were found—but other times, nothing at all.

In other words, no matter how many times a gate was cleared, the same gate kept reoccurring.

If that hypothesis is correct, then this isn’t just a snake like that one—it’s the exact same individual.

Remembering how it had charged at me and tried to eat me left a bad taste in my mouth.

Ironically, right now I could probably be the one to grab and eat it.

But everything is just speculation. And even if it’s all true, it doesn’t remember me anyway.

I had no intention of taking out my resentment on a baby snake.

“…Wait.”

Hold on—what had I just thought?

It doesn’t remember me, so there’s no point lashing out…

I stared quietly at the little snake.

When our eyes met, it squeaked adorably and wagged its tail, making my eyes light up.

Yes. That was it.

If decades had passed, I could just say I’d been trapped.

But if not—

If Yeon Dogyeong, Lee Shinra, and Cha Eunhwi were still active…

If not much time had passed since I’d been trapped…

“……”

I slowly repeated the thought in my head and exhaled.

In the meantime, the snake finished its peach and coiled up contentedly.

I wiped my sticky hands on the grass and lay down as well.

I don’t know if this will really work…

But this was probably the best option I had.

Still, I hope I can keep living peacefully here.

Letting out a quiet sigh, I gently patted the whining snake’s head and smiled faintly.

 

 

****

 

One month since I began living inside the gate.