My Childhood Friend’s Stock Will Never Fail Chapter 46

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Crunch, crunch.

 

With every step they took, mysterious specks of light like fireflies began to drift out from among the bare trees. It was proof that the World Tree was nearby.

 

Seokhun and Gayoung, who had been walking ahead, began to tread a little more cautiously.

 

Joohoon and Yoohee, following behind them, slowed their pace as well. But then Yoohee’s instep caught on a hard protruding stone.

 

“Ah.”

 

Yoohee stumbled, but Joohoon quickly caught her, allowing her to regain her balance almost immediately.

 

“Sorry.”

 

Yoohee quickly apologized and hurried her steps to close the distance with the others.

 

But Seokhun had stopped a little farther ahead.

 

As Yoohee cautiously approached, she couldn’t help but sense that something was wrong.

 

The side of Seokhun’s face was deathly pale.

 

“Senior…?”

 

It happened in an instant.

 

While Yoohee had been tripping over the stone, in that brief moment when everyone’s attention had been diverted…

 

Gayoung disappeared.

 

Gayoung, who should have been standing beside Seokhun, was nowhere to be seen.

 

Seokhun’s face was devastated. She had vanished before he could do anything.

 

“Gayoung…”

 

His voice calling for her faded into the empty air, but no answer came back.

 

Then—

 

Along with the roar of a fierce wind, arrows began flying in from all directions.

 

“……!”

 

Joohoon immediately scooped Yoohee into his arms and dodged the arrows.

 

Seokhun also came to his senses belatedly and summoned flames, knocking the arrows away.

 

When he looked up into the trees, he saw that a group of elves had already surrounded them, approaching without making a sound.

 

“The World Tree is deep inside the forest. If we destroy it, we can save Gayoung, too.”

 

Seokhun’s voice carried a metallic edge.

 

“I’ll buy you as much time as I can. You two go to the World Tree. Now.”

 

Walls of red flame rose around Seokhun like a barricade.

 

Perhaps because his face was illuminated by the flames, his eyes gleamed with an intensity that seemed impossible to extinguish.

 

Yoohee was worried about whether he would be able to hold out, but there was no time to hesitate.

 

“Okay.”

 

At her quick answer, Seokhun opened part of the barricade wide enough for the two of them to pass through.

 

“I’m counting on you.”

 

The desperation in his low voice was unmistakable.

 

Joohoon, too, accepted his request with a serious expression.

 

Then the two of them immediately began sprinting through the forest.

 

The snowstorm made it difficult to see what lay ahead.

 

Even so, Joohoon did not slow down, racing forward by relying on his heightened five senses.

 

Then, suddenly, he felt the flow of the air change.

 

Joohoon abruptly slowed down and set Yoohee, whom he had been carrying, down on the ground.

 

Countless sparkling specks of light drifted among the swirling snowflakes.

 

And at the center stood a single enormous, majestic tree that inspired awe just by looking at it.

 

The World Tree.

 

It was a spiritual tree that embraced an overwhelming amount of life force, to the point that it would not be an exaggeration to say that the elves’ power came from this very tree.

 

“Intruders!”

 

A sharp, ringing voice like an animal’s cry echoed through the forest.

 

At the same time, although they couldn’t see them, Yoohee could feel countless arrows being aimed in their direction.

 

Yoohee swallowed the white breath that had escaped her lips, and Joohoon carefully took hold of her wrist.

 

“Don’t be scared. It’s okay.”

 

Through the hazy veil of falling snow, Yoohee caught fleeting glimpses of elves drawing their bows from the trees.

 

At least four of them.

 

With every nerve stretched taut, even a single second felt long and heavy.

 

Gulp.

 

As Yoohee swallowed nervously, the solid ground beneath her feet suddenly trembled and turned soft.

 

“—!”

 

It happened in an instant.

 

If Joohoon hadn’t been holding her wrist, she would have been dragged straight beneath the ground.

 

Something with tremendous strength—strong enough that even Joohoon struggled to resist—had seized Yoohee’s ankle and was pulling her down, down, down.

 

And that wasn’t all.

 

Whoosh! Shhhk!

 

Arrows came flying from every direction.

 

Unable to counterattack while trying to save Yoohee, Joohoon relied purely on instinct to block them.

 

Wherever the arrows came from, pillars of ice erupted with heavy thuds, obstructing their paths.

 

“Yoohee, hold on to my hand tight…!”

 

Joohoon kept pulling Yoohee with all his strength, while Yoohee dug her toes into the ground, desperately trying to free herself. But as if mocking their efforts, the tough vines wrapped around her ankle only tightened their grip.

 

‘What the hell is this…? Could it be the World Tree’s roots?’

 

The only thing capable of taking root while possessing such incredible strength was the World Tree right before them.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Just then, an arrow that had slipped past the ice pillars struck Joohoon directly in the shoulder.

 

Bright red blood quickly soaked through his coat and spread across the fabric. Yoohee’s eyes widened at the sight of the crimson stain.

 

‘No… I have to let go.’

 

“Hold on tight, Yoohee!”

 

Joohoon shouted the moment Yoohee loosened her grip.

 

Even though he must have been in terrible pain, Joohoon didn’t relax his hold on Yoohee’s hand.

 

Instead, the moment Yoohee weakened her grip, he held onto her even more tightly.

 

“J-Joohoon, let go. If you keep this up, you’ll get—”

 

“I said hold on tight!”

 

Joohoon shouted desperately.

 

Yoohee had never seen him this desperate before.

 

His eyes were bloodshot, while arrows dangerously grazed past him from every direction.

 

There was something strangely familiar about it.

 

He had shouted like this back then, too.

 

Joohoon’s figure seemed to waver before her eyes, and for a brief moment, she saw someone else in his place.

 

The person who had spent every day by her side in her past life—their best friend, and the awkward lover she had eventually ended up with.

 

Yoohee squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again.

 

She had to face reality.

 

This wasn’t the same as back then.

 

She had to keep Joohoon alive.

 

And she had to survive, too.

 

Perhaps her desperate wish had reached them—or perhaps it had nothing to do with that at all—but for once, the Constellations finally reacted.

 

[Constellation ‘Die-Hard Romance-Fantasy Fan’ is moved by Joohoon’s sacrifice.]

 

[Constellation ‘Die-Hard Romance-Fantasy Fan’ sponsors you with a Snip-Snip Rose Knife.]

 

[Snip-Snip Rose Knife has been stored in your inventory.]

 

[Constellation ‘Galactic YOLO’ wipes away tears at Joohoon’s spirit of self-sacrifice.]

 

[Constellation ‘Galactic YOLO’ bestows upon you a Saturn Ring Shield.]

 

[Saturn Ring Shield will activate automatically when its conditions are met. From now on, it will absorb one fatal attack.]

 

Joohoon’s complexion grew paler by the second.

 

If he kept holding onto Yoohee like this, there was no doubt he would be put in danger as well.

 

“Joohoon, I’m not going to die.”

 

Her voice came out firmer than she expected.

 

Relieved that it wasn’t trembling with anxiety, Yoohee continued with determination.

 

“I’ll come back. So let me go for now.”

 

It’s okay.

 

She conveyed the same message with her eyes, but Joohoon refused to let go.

 

In the end, Yoohee had no choice but to release the hand she was holding.

 

One by one, she pried their tightly intertwined fingers apart.

 

Joohoon no longer had the strength to hold on, and his face became filled with despair, as though his entire world were collapsing.

 

“Im Yoohee!”

 

Joohoon screamed her name one last time.

 

But the fragile connection between them finally snapped.

 

Gasp!

 

By the time Yoohee drew in a breath, she had already lost Joohoon’s hand and completely disappeared into the depths of the earth.

 

Vrrrrr.

 

A ringing sound filled her ears.

 

Where am I…?

 

As she opened her eyes and tried to regain her bearings, a sharp pain traveling up from her tailbone made her grimace.

 

‘It said there was a shield. Why didn’t it activate?’

 

Irritation flared up instantly, but at least that meant she still had one use of the shield left.

 

Supporting the small of her back with one hand, she slowly got to her feet.

 

Her other hand, pressed against the ground, sank into damp soil.

 

Apparently, she had been dragged underground by the World Tree’s roots and had fallen into a tunnel beneath the earth.

 

“This is insane. What are you doing here, too?”

 

A familiar voice came from behind her.

 

The voice was sweet and gentle, but the words carried a distinctly cynical edge.

 

Yoohee turned around.

 

Gayoung was sitting against one of the thick tree roots protruding from the wall.

 

“Senior!”

 

“I guess elves really are pretty clever. They know that if you separate an Esper from their Guide, the Esper loses their strength.”

 

To an Esper, a Guide was practically a healer.

 

A perfect healer who not only restored their stamina but also kept replenishing their mana so they could continuously use their abilities.

 

Without a Guide, an Esper’s operational lifespan was short.

 

And Joohoon was already injured.

 

After fighting against so many enemies without a break, his body would inevitably become exhausted, and his wounds would only worsen.

 

Damn it. We need to get out of here quickly.

 

“Oh, I have a knife.”

 

Yoohee remembered the rose knife she had received just before falling and called up her inventory.

 

A knife engraved with a rose pattern.

 

It looked a little flashy, but surely it would be enough to cut their way out of here.

 

But Gayoung shook her head.

 

“I already tried everything.”

 

She pulled a dagger from her pocket.

 

Unlike Yoohee’s knife, it was a proper combat blade—sleek and sharp-looking, the kind normally used for fighting.

 

“They’re too tough. Ordinary knives can’t cut through them.”