There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 742: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 25

When Kar took out the third flower, he could see cracks forming all around the floor beneath the bunch. It seemed like the flowers were able to grow in that cave because of the mana coming from the crystal, so when they were gone, it compromised the integrity of the cave’s floor.

That was why Kar quickly warned the kid. Honestly, he did not know the kid well, because they were not part of the same circle. But he remembered the kid to be quite braggy. It seemed like his family came from Rexon before moving to Lucre, and was quite proud of it...or something.

When the floor collapsed and the kid fell to the ground, Kar knew that logically, the right thing to do was to call for the adults--their teachers, the guide, or the bodyguard brothers. But he also knew it might be too late by then since they had no idea how deep the hole was, and more importantly...

He knew the kids followed him and Asa there.

If it wasn’t for him, if he didn’t unlock the barrier...none of this would happen. This happened because of him. He had to take responsibility.

I trust you

In the split second it happened, Kar recalled his father’s words, and before he knew it, his body responded to it, rushing toward the falling kid.

Of course, he didn’t mean to fall into the hole either. It would be stupid if he ended up falling with the kid. He was going to grab the kid’s clothes from the ledge and pull the kid out with Asa’s help. However, Kar learned at that moment that gravity was not to be reckoned with.

The kid might not weigh more than him, but he was also nothing more than a boy. He was pulled deeper, and his hand slipped on the ledge, causing him to also fall into the hole.

"K-Kar!"

Asa, who was thrown to the side during the slight altercation, scrambled to the hole as his heart dropped to his stomach. Thankfully, Kar managed to grab onto a jutting stone around thirty centimeters from the ledge. But with his own weight plus the kid on his other hand, things did not look good. It was merely the exercise their fathers gave them that allowed Kar to hold on.

"Oh, no! Arda!" the other kids grabbed each other, trembling.

"Hu-hurry! We have to call adults!"

"Let’s run!"

As the other kids ran outside the cave, Asa tried to reach out to his twin. "Kar!"

"Ugh..." Kar gritted his teeth as his arm’s muscles bulged from the strain. His fingers felt like they were burning, and the only thing he could feel was the cold stone and the hard stalk of the last flower beneath his grappling palm.

And the kid below him just kept making things worse.

"No! No! Don’t let me go!" the kid grabbed onto Kar’s hand, squirming around as he tried to climb the older twin. "I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna fall!"

"Stop squirming!" Kar shouted at the kid, tightening his grip. He scowled in frustration as he felt his hand started to slip from the stone. "Ugh--"

"K-Kar--oh, no! What should I do? What should I do?"

Asa scrambled in panic, trying to reach out to grab his twin’s hand. But Kar yelled before he could do so. "No! You won’t be able to pull us!"

Unless Asa tied himself with a rope or something, he would only get dragged inside with them. Especially, since he was weaker than his older brother. Kar couldn’t possibly let that happen. Things were bad enough as it was, so he didn’t want to make it worse.

The child looked up at his crying twin and groaned. Strength! I need strength!

As if responding to the cry of the child’s soul, the crystal glowed and a warm feeling flowed into the child’s body. Kar blinked, widening his eyes. Was that...mana?

The other child, the half of the soul, also felt it. The flickering hope entered his twin’s body. His eyes widened for a second before his trembling hands grabbed the two flowers inside his windbreaker. With desperation, he pressed the flowers to his twin’s hand, holding them tightly.

"Please, please, please!" Asa closed his eyes. He wasn’t as sensitive as his brother, but he could also feel mana somewhat. He could feel the warmth he always felt from his father’s bracelet and earrings swirling around their hands, and he pushed it toward his brother. "Please give Kar strength!"

Again, responding to the other child’s desperate wish, the swirling mana seeped into the older’s hand. The milky white crystal grew dimmer and dimmer, and the glowing petals fell one by one. Feeling the strength coursing through his body, Kar tightened his grip on the kid’s shirt.

"Aaargh!"

With a shout, he moved his arm and flung the screaming kid to the hole, before clutching the ledge.

"Kar!" Asa reached out once more to grab his brother’s hand. This time, Kar did not tell him away. "Hurry! Hurry up! Go up! Hnnngh!"

With the help of Asa’s pull, Kar used his feet to kick the cave wall and brought himself up. Asa grabbed his twin’s shoulder and finally pulled him out of the hole. With trembling arms, Asa hugged his twin tightly as they collapsed to the cave’s floor, struggling for their breath.

All the while, mana still swirled around them, even as their eyes closed and their mind blanked out from the exertion.

* * *

Kar opened his eyes with a harsh gasp. His breath was short and quick as if he had just been running in his sleep, even though he could hardly remember his dream.

Something with a lantern? Swimming inside bubbly liquid? He wasn’t sure.

But he was sure that he never saw that ceiling before--where was he?

"You’re up!"

Suddenly, his twin’s face appeared in place of the ceiling. Asa patted his cheeks.

"Kar, are you alright? Can you hear me?"

"I can, so stop smacking me," Kar grumbled and pushed himself to wake up, but his body felt so tired and hurt all over for some reason. "Ugh--where are we?"

"The hospital, I think?" Asa climbed to his brother’s bed and whispered. "I just woke up a few minutes ago, but I’m too scared to call for someone." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Scared? Kar tilted his head in confusion. Why would he get sca--

And then, he saw his fathers at the door, and the memory of what they had done came rushing back. Kar took a sharp breath, and felt Asa gripping his arm tightly beside him. Oh...they were screwed, weren’t they?

"You’re awake?" their Dada came inside; his face was stern and his voice dry.

Kar and Asa couldn’t help but gulp nervously. They looked down, biting their lips, knowing that they had done something very, very wrong. Every step their Dada made sounded like a scary bell.

But because they knew, they were also ready to get scolded. It was just...thinking about how disappointed their fathers must have been hurt their hearts more than the possibility of scolding. What if...what if their fathers loved them less because of that?

"Kar, Asa..." Zein saw his trembling sons and put his hand on their heads. "Look at me."

Slowly, the twins looked up. They looked scared, guilty, and sad. Their lips were trembling, and their eyes glistening. Haa...he hadn’t even said anything.

"Do you know what you did?" Zein asked, controlling his voice so it wouldn’t sound too harsh. "Do you know that it is wrong?"

"Yes, Dada..."

"Sorry...we’re sorry..."

They were so scared and sad that they were slipping back to calling him Dada, clutching the blanket tightly while tears were glistening in their eyes. Zein sat down at the edge of the bed and asked them again, this time softer.

"What did you do wrong?"

"We’re...we’re sneaking away secretly and...and going where we shouldn’t," Kar said with a slight hiccup. "We didn’t...we didn’t tell Brother Einar and Brother Arnar...and...and..." this time, the tears finally dripping down Kar’s cheeks. "Those kids...Arda and the others...followed us and...and..."

"We didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt!" Asa said with even more tears. "That kid--that kid suddenly jumped and the floor gone and...and..."

Zein took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Did the twins really know the worst thing they had done? He wasn’t sure. They probably had no idea how scared their father was that night; how terrified Zein was when he suddenly felt lightheaded and just ten minutes later received a call from one of the twins’ bodyguards. But before he cast more judgment, he needed more context.

"Why were you going there secretly in the first place?" Bassena beat him to it, asking from the edge of the bed. "The kids said something about glowing flowers, but no one found anything of the sort."

Kar and Asa looked at each other’s crying faces and, after wiping their cheeks, started to tell their fathers about what they were up to. About wanting to look for a birthday present for Nari and why they didn’t tell the adults. They told their fathers about the flowers and the crystals and how Kar dug them until the other kids found them and the incident happened.

"I don’t know how, but...the mana..."

"The mana from the crystal! Kar used the mana from the crystal so he got stronger."

"But...because of that..." Kar looked down and sighed. "The crystals are..."

Zein and Bassena looked at their boys in frustration, but before they could open their mouths for a scolding, someone already yelled furiously behind them.

"Stupid!" Nari screamed at the top of her lungs. "Big brothers stupid!"

Without realizing it, the children were already in the room. "Nari!" Reina gasped and held her daughter from behind, but Nari stomped her feet furiously while glaring at the stunned twins.

Kar and Asa muttered regretfully. "Sorry..."

"Nari don’t wanna gift if big brothers get hurt!"

Stunned, the twins widened their eyes at the angry little girl. Lucy and Byul, who were holding each other’s hands tightly, started to cry and scream too.

"Lu don wanna chuu!"

"Byul don’t wanna too!"

The twins gasped and scrambled out of bed, rushing toward the younger children and hugging them. "I’m...I’m sorry!" Asa shook his head. "I won’t do dangerous things again!"

"Hwaaaaa!"

"Sorry..."

The children, all crying, hugged each other on the hospital floor. The twins repeatedly apologized with swollen eyes and wet cheeks, while the younger children wailed and buried their faces on the twins’ chests. All the adults could do was watch them with a sigh.

"Ah~" Zein wiped his face and massaged his throbbing temples. "I want to scold them but...I think they already know how wrong they are with this."

"Yeah," Bassena shook his head and chuckled. "But when should we tell them about their awakening?"