Chapter 305:

Chapter 305:

Hata, the executive director, did not object to Lotfiout’s decision.

He had seen how great the chairman was by his side, and he believed that there was a reason for whatever he did.

In fact, if he thought about it for a while, he could understand why he made such a choice that others would find strange.

The chairman always had a plan.

But Hata thought this time was different.

“Didn’t you want to give him a chance?”

“Executive director Hata. What do you mean by that?”

“I’m talking about Deputy Director Kang Yu-hyun.”

“Oh, right.”

As if he had forgotten his own verdict, Lotfiout made it harder for Hata to read his intentions.

“So, what’s your question?”

“You said you wanted to give him a chance, but I don’t understand why you sent him to that notorious exile. It’s not a chance, it’s practically sending him to die.”

“Is that what worries you? You don’t think my judgment was fair?”

“To be honest, yes.”

“Well. I guess it might look that way to others.”

Lotfiout answered that it was possible, even though Hata questioned him.

Lotfiout stroked his long beard with his hand and then shrugged his shoulders.

Hata’s wrinkled face was full of doubt.

The chairman Lotfiout was smiling as if he couldn’t contain his joy.

“Chairman?”

“Heh. Ah, sorry. I just remembered what happened then and couldn’t help but feel happy.”

“Happy?”

“Why did I send Deputy Director Kang Yu-hyun there?”

Lotfiout waved his hand as if it was nothing.

“He wanted it.”

“What?”

“Deputy Director Kang Yu-hyun. His eyes told me. He wanted to go there. That’s all. He had such young blood that wanted a chance, how could I, an old man, refuse him?”

“What do you mean...”

Hata, the executive director, had many questions, but Lotfiout firmly refused to say anything more.

As the executive director who knew the chairman’s personality better than anyone else, he had no choice but to nod and suppress his curiosity.

‘The chairman is expecting something.’

Who?

Isn’t it obvious?

Lotfiout was waiting for Deputy Director Kang Yu-hyun, who had left for exile, to succeed and return.

‘But even if he is the chairman, he might be wrong this time.’

He didn’t know how many tellers had been exiled so far.

Was there no one among them who was called talented?

Even the tellers who were once praised as great talents never came back after being dragged to exile.

That cursed world was where everything was frozen and even stories didn’t move.

No matter how genius Deputy Director Kang Yu-hyun was, Hata thought he couldn’t come back once he went to exile.

***

“This is something.”

Even Yu-hyun, who didn’t usually talk to himself, couldn’t help but say that in this situation.

He knew that he would be given a body and some stories that matched it.

But who would have guessed that it would be a woman?

He couldn’t see what he looked like in this snow-covered place, but he thought he could tell by his voice that he was a beautiful woman.

‘It feels alien.’

Was it because he had a body of a different gender, and one whose face he didn’t even know?

Everything from his balance to his breathing felt very different from usual.

Yu-hyun clenched his hand and checked his body condition by jumping lightly or bouncing on the spot.

He needed to adapt to his body first.

‘Well, the body specs themselves don’t seem bad.’

He had a slender body, but he was strong. His arms felt like they had no muscles, but they were powerful.

She was also resilient.

That meant she had strong bones by nature.

Yu-hyun checked her clothes and belongings.

She wore clothes made of animal fur that looked like ancient Nordic people wore, and on her belt around her waist there was a sharp sword and some food that he could eat in an emergency.

‘I won’t starve to death right away, and I have a weapon for self-defense.’

He didn’t feel the weight of the sword. It wasn’t because the sword was light, but because his physical ability was strong.

‘Well, her physical ability itself is much stronger than an ordinary person. No, at this level, she might be able to compete with some of the awakened collectors.’

He brushed his long hair that fluttered in the blizzard with his hand and walked slowly.

His skin, which had been strong against the cold for a long time in this harsh environment, began to sting slightly.

It was a stroke of luck to meet a survivor.

‘But.’

Yu-hyun’s forehead wrinkled as he continued walking.

‘Something seems strange.’

He thought he was close enough as he walked, but he saw no sign of getting closer to the owner of the shadow.

Even if his sense of distance was distorted by the white snow and the blizzard that swept over everything, he couldn’t have mistaken something so far away.

That thing, which looked like a person from afar.

Soon, it grew so huge that Yu-hyun had to look up at it.

‘That’s not... a human.’

Soon after, the black shadow in the blizzard turned its head towards him.

The moment he met its blue eyes that glowed faintly in the harsh wind, Yu-hyun felt a chill run down his spine.

Yu-hyun hid behind a slightly sloped hill of snow, throwing himself into the air.

‘That thing was huge.’

His current body was not that small either, but the creature he had just seen was at least 7m tall.

He had thought it was a normal person even though it was very far away in his distorted sense of distance.

The thing he saw up close was much bigger than he expected.

‘If it looked human in that strange sense of distance, then it’s practically a giant.’

Yu-hyun clenched and unclenched his fist.

He had fought giants before in the world of Don Quixote. But back then, he had the power of Kang Yu-hyun, while now he had lost most of his stories.

And this body, though physically capable, felt inadequate to face such a monster.

‘I don’t have to fight to know. That monster is dangerous.’

He thought he had found a survivor, but it was a giant with a human shape. And the eyes he had glimpsed just now were not rational enough to communicate.

He would die as soon as he met it.

Yu-hyun realized that and lowered his body as much as possible, watching its movements.

‘Damn. I think our eyes met just now. I hope it was my imagination.’

Yu-hyun wished that to himself, but reality was cruel.

Thud.

He heard a sound of stepping on hard snow. He wondered why he could hear footsteps from afar, but it made sense since such a giant was moving.

Yu-hyun bit his lip as he observed the unidentified giant slowly approaching him.

He couldn’t see its appearance clearly, only its vague shape, but that made him feel more pressured.

‘I have to run.’

The thing didn’t know exactly where Yu-hyun was hiding, but it had narrowed down the direction and was coming closer. If he stayed still, it was only a matter of time before he was discovered.

Yu-hyun got up from his spot and ran like an arrow.

Roar!!

The giant roared as it saw Yu-hyun running away. As soon as he heard that sound, Yu-hyun knew that his decision not to try to talk to it was right.

That monster had no reason. And that giant was very ferocious.

He would be killed if he was caught.

‘I can’t die here.’

Yu-hyun ran desperately through the blizzard, racking his brain.

The flat land with nothing on it was dangerous. Even if the weather was dark and the visibility was low, there was no guarantee that the thing would be the same. Maybe it could see better in the dark snow.

Yu-hyun aimed for a large mound that he saw in the distance and moved his legs without stopping.

Was it thanks to the power of this body? He could run fast on the snow that should have been deep and soft.

But still, the sign of being chased from behind did not seem to get farther away.

‘It’s getting closer!’

He didn’t dare look back.

Thump thump sounds came from behind him.

Yu-hyun sped up his running pace. He didn’t like the feeling of cold air filling his lungs.

That’s how Yu-hyun arrived at an endless ice mountain that he had to look up at.

He looked around and soon found a gap in the huge ice mountain.

It was an entrance that only one person could fit in, so Yu-hyun threw himself in right away.

‘Is it not following me?’

The entrance was narrow, but the interior space was larger than expected.

Yu-hyun entered the ice mountain and quickly scanned the smooth and translucent ice cave inside and watched the entrance.

The giant that had been chasing him hard seemed to have lost him somehow.

‘Phew. That’s a relief.’

Just as he was about to sigh in relief, a rough hand grabbed his mouth from behind him.

“...!”