Chapter 30: Chapter 30- Poison
Hyun-Jae didn't comprehend what happened at first as she felt her body being pulled down into a tight hug. Her eyes opened widely and her breathing halted for a second.
The first thing she felt was warmth, a very comforting warmth akin to that of a warm hot spring on a cold day. The type that would truly soothe her body and soul. Then, she felt relief washing up her worries and stress. The feeling was almost magical with how fast it happened. Her body instinctively relaxed and her arms that were tightened into fists released the tension.
For a while, she simply enjoyed the hug as if it was the best massage of her life. However, eventually, she realized what was happening and her panic reaction kicked in making her pull away.
"What..." Staring into Talon's eyes, she was about to ask what he was doing, only to end up speechless again. She didn't see any weird glint in Talon's eyes as she expected from such an intimate and unpredictable action. After all, Hyun-Jae was aware of her charms and how she could attract the eyes of all men around her, everyone without exception. Or so she thought till she met Talon.
Not only did he not show any blatant attraction toward her, he even treated her coldly for the most part. So his sudden hug did scare her. Was he the same as everyone else?
However, all of those thoughts vanished when she looked at him. In his eyes, she only saw seriousness.
"You did great, Hyun-Jae. We would've not survived without your skill. Your contribution is even better than mine since yours came in the crucial moments. I simply did the rest of the work."
"..." Hyun-Jae blinked silently.
"You helped me and I helped you... Isn't that how a team works?" He asked with a small smile.
The girl could only open her mouth and close it like a fish for a few moments before she finally gave up and sighed. Talon's words were very simple and straightforward and yet they completely wiped Hyun-Jae's guilt.
One would think that Talon could've been simply lying. But, for some reason, Hyun-Jae was convinced that he wasn't lying. She had no basis for that and yet she believed it wholeheartedly. He really thought that she did more work than he did.
"You're really a very weird man..." She murmured as a small smile bloomed on her face that Talon couldn't see.
Looking up, Hyun-Jae fisted his chest lightly as she continued. "But I like you. Does that also make me weird?"
Looking at her, Talon thought for a second before he smiled. "Maybe?"
"Pfft! What kind of answer is that?" Chuckling briefly, she finally rolled from on top of him. "I guess if I'm weird then nothing can be done about it."
"It's ok, you aren't alone in Weirdland."
"Weirdland? Is that the name of your world?" She asked with a playful tone.
"You can say that. Weirdland is a nice place, we welcome all kinds of guests."
As the two looked at each other, they started laughing. After the whole chaos that happened and when they finally found some peace, the urge to simply laugh was too hard to ignore for them.
"Am I witnessing some kind of love blooming?" Acrypha asked as she sat down on the control panel and watched Talon with a smug face.
"Dream on. I have no feelings for her." Talon replied.
"You say that now, but would it still be the same in the future? I mean, she's a very pretty girl, isn't she?" Acrypha asked as she squinted her eyes.
"I doubt. Besides, how can I look at Hyun-Jae when I have you?" Talon retorted with a smirk.
Acrypha rolled her eyes as she looked away. "So romantic of you."
"Hehehe. Ouch!" Groaning from the stinging pain, Talon closed his eyes. "Hey, Hyun-Jae, can you get the stingers out of my back?"
"Huh? Wouldn't you bleed even harder if I do that?"
"Don't worry, my health status is high, the bleeding will stop." He replied as he rose from the ground slowly and sat cross-legged with his back facing his companion.
Seeing his bloodied back, Hyun-Jae frowned as she stood up too and got closer to him. Meanwhile, Talon pulled his sleeve and cut a small part of it before he bit on it hard.
"Don't hesitate and pull as fast and as hard as you can." He said through his gritted teeth.
"... Ok." Taking a deep breath, Hyun-Jae finally looked up again. "Are you ready? I'm going to count to three and then pull, ok?"
"Ok."
Talon then looked ahead and closed his eyes as he started taking deep breaths.
"Here I go then... 1...2...3!"
At 3, Hyun-jae pulled one of the stingers with all her strength.
"Aghh!!" Talon groaned through his gritted teeth lowly.
The pain he felt at that moment was brutal. Way worse than the stab itself. For one reason or another, Talon's pain was increasing rather than decreasing by the second.
'Come on, it's nothing, Talon. You aren't weak. You can handle this.' He thought to himself.
"Talon..." At that moment, Hyun-Jae called his name in a mysterious tone.
"What?"
"Can I rip your shirt off?" She asked again, her voice was even more serious than before.
Talon felt uneasy when he heard her but he still nodded his head. Immediately, Hyun-Jae grabbed the shirt and ripped it from the back, revealing his naked torso. After his strength stat reached 25 points, Talon's muscles also went through a visible improvement.
They weren't mind-blowing changes but they made his body look generally better than before. An eye candy for girls, in other words.
However, Hyun-Jae ignored all of that as her focus was on something far more alarming.
"Talon..."
"What?"
"This is bad..." Hyun-Jae murmured.
"What's bad? What is happening?"
"Your whole back... It's covered in purple spots." She replied.
"Huh? Purple spots?" Talon was confused.
"Yes."
Acrypha was listening to the conversation so she curiously floated closer to take a look.
"Oh, she's right. Your back is messed up. That looks like poison."
"Poison? I got poisoned?"
"Yes, probably from the stingers."
The news was already bad as it was but for Talon, it was far worse considering what he was about to do.
'Oh man...' Rubbing the back of his head, he asked.
"Is it that bad?"
Although his question was directed to Acrypha, Hyun-Jae still heard it.
"It looks... Sigh, it doesn't look good." She shook her head.
"One sting might've not been a big deal. But, you were punctured by multiple ones, Talon." Acrypha added.
"Shit!" Cursing, Talon smashed his fist on the ground. Out of everything that could've attacked him, he had to be attacked by poisonous bees, if that wasn't bad luck, Talon didn't know what was.
"What should I do, Acrypha?" He asked.
"..."
"Acrypha?"
"I have an idea. But it's definitely not a pleasant one."
"You do? Come on, tell me. I don't care what it is, I just want to get rid of this poison."
The beautiful woman seemed conflicted for a second before she finally gave up. "For now, just get all of those stingers out of your back and make sure to not throw them away."
"... Ok."
Talon didn't know what Acrypha wanted with the stingers but he didn't want to argue. So, he simply turned to Hyun-Jae.
"Can you continue getting them out? I will be ok."
"How can you say that you're going to be ok with how your back looks now."
"Trust me, I will be fine. I promise." Talon assured Hyun-Jae.
The latter seemed conflicted but since she had nothing else to do, she decided to continue what she was doing.
"Turn around. I will be more careful now."
"Thank you, Hyun-Jae."
"... Sigh, on the count of 3... 1... 2... 3..."
*Swish*
"Agh!!"
The horrible pain came back as the stinger was pulled out, revealing a gaping hole in Talon's back.
"Hah... Hah... Hah... Goddamn..." Talon's face was already pale and sweaty from the torture but he didn't complain as he closed his eyes again. "Go ahead."
Then, for the next few minutes, Hyun-Jae continued pulling the stingers out and each time, Talon would groan in pain.
If it wasn't for the piece of cloth in his mouth, he would've already lost it from pain. It was by far the worst torturous pain Talon went through. Nothing can come anywhere close to it.
"We're done..." His companion finally exhaled a long breath as she put down the stinger.
"Ok... Ok..." Talon heaved up and down as he finally relaxed his muscles and tried to calm down. He was still feeling horrible pain in his back but it was significantly less than before.
"You need medical care, Talon. You really don't look too good." Hyun-Jae said with a hint of worry in her eyes.
"You think they will know what kind of poison this is? Besides, where are we going to find medical care?" He asked as he wiped the sweat off his face weakly. "Don't worry, I can deal with this. Our plan will continue as it is."
"..." Hyun-Jae knew that he was right and could only shake her head.
"Now, what am I supposed to do, Acrypha?" Talon asked.
"You will have to drink all the poison left on the stingers." She replied.
"... Excuse me?"
(A//N: Thanks for everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )
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