CHAPTER 87: AM I PRETTY?

Lee Nari offered a meaningful smile, eyes closing as she nodded slightly—arms crossed, the red parachute flare resting calmly against her chest. Not caring enough to know why she was smiling peacefully and not crashing out, Cheon Areum tossed the megaphone back into his inventory without a second glance, taking Yoon Seoyul’s hand, lacing their fingers together, and turning away from the crevasse.

"Do you mind that we left Lee Nari behind?"

Cheon Areum asked, glancing up at Yoon Seoyul for a reaction, which never came, as Yoon Seoyul spoke as unperturbed as ever.

"She’s safer if she doesn’t interfere."

"The monsters and the boss are definitely below us. They won’t reach Lee Nari, but..."

They came to a halt at the edge of the mountain, where a winding staircase had been hastily carved into the snow-covered slope. The steps descended sharply into the white abyss below—narrow and uneven, as if rushed by someone desperate to make a path. Cheon Areum’s gaze followed the zigzag descent, eyes narrowing in quiet disdain. The staircase seemed to stretch endlessly, vanishing into the mist that clung to the lower cliffs. Each step looked more exhausting than the last.

"Yoon Seoyul, time for a piggyback ride."

Cheon Areum waited expectantly, arms loosely at his sides as he glanced at Yoon Seoyul, fully anticipating the usual crouch for a piggyback. Yoon Seoyul stepped forward and, without a word, slid one arm under his legs and the other behind his back, casually lifting him into a bridal carry and beginning to descend down the stairs. Cheon Areum quickly wrapped his arms—almost habitually—around Yoon Seoyul’s neck.

"You will get tired like this, I’m telling you..."

"I still prefer it this way."

"You do always carry me like this. Is there a reason for it?"

Yoon Seoyul’s eyes moved to his face instead of the steps, staying there for a moment before returning to the path and responding in a low voice.

"I can see you like this."

"Why? Is it because I’m pretty? Do you like what you see, Yoon Seoyul?"

Pestering him with the questions, Cheon Areum put his hands beneath his chin, elbows against Yoon Seoyul’s chest as if posing for a cute photo, highlighting his face. He tilted his head, blinking up at him repeatedly.

"Seoyul~"

He sang in an annoyingly sugary tone, voice high-pitched like a spoiled brat.

"Why won’t you look at me now? Am I not pretty enough to distract you from all these boring stairs?"

"No. That’s not it..."

Yoon Seoyul muttered under his breath, eyes finally flickering down to him in reluctant surrender before moving away again. Cheon Areum blinked faster, tilting his head from side to side with each flutter.

"I’m literally sparkling in your arms right now. How can you not be in love with me?"

"Hmm."

Cheon Areum grinned victoriously and hugged Yoon Seoyul’s chest, swaying his legs in the air happily when Yoon Seoyul began to speak.

"Areum—"

"Wait."

Cheon Areum placed a hand on top of Yoon Seoyul’s chest as a sign to stop. Yoon Seoyul paused in his tracks as Cheon Areum’s eyes moved in a zigzag, staring down at the stairs.

[Energy Explosive has been activated.]

[Target the energy to a point in air or an object for an explosion.]

Cheon Areum’s hand snapped upward at eye level without warning, fingers clenching around what appeared to be nothing but air. A deep crack resounded as a burst of black energy erupted from his palm. Only then did the monster appear: a headless corpse collapsed down the stone steps with a sickening thud, its lifeless form tumbling across the snow-dusted ground. The severed head followed moments later, rolling down to catch up with the body before accepting defeat, stopping at the snow above a few steps and blooming the white snow crimson.

The head retained a human shape—but had been hideously mutated. Three large, swollen, spherical eyes occupied the space where a face should have been, blinking erratically even in death. There was no nose. No mouth. Only taut, veined skin stretched disturbingly between the eyes, pulled tight over a distended skull.

The body itself was coated in a viscous, web-like membrane that clung to it like a second skin, twitching faintly, as if it had once moved with the creature. Whatever it had been trying to become, it was far from a normal human.

"Put me down. I’ll have to walk the rest of the steps."

"Are there a lot of them?"

Yoon Seoyul asked as he lowered Cheon Areum to the ground.

"There’s one standing at every few steps... just stay behind me."

"You can tell me where they are and—"

"That’s more bothersome. Just follow me, you’ll get a chance to fight too."

With every few steps down the staircase, Cheon Areum’s hand would shoot out as he seized an invisible throat midair. A faint crackle of dark energy pulsed through his fingers, and a sharp shockwave would detonate in his palm. Each time, another cloaked monster was revealed, its hideous form fully visible for a split second before collapsing into a convulsing heap on the stone steps. One by one, they fell as he never missed.

By the time they reached the final step, a miniature mountain of conjoined corpses stacked with severed heads at their base. Some had landed in unnatural angles, limbs tangled in webs of thick, fibrous slime. The eyes of the decapitated heads remained open—three each, wide and glassy, their gaze empty.

The once pristine white stairs were now drowned in red—thick, syrupy blood that soaked into the snow and ice, forming a slick, dark river beneath their boots. But not a single drop had touched Cheon Areum. Not a splash on his pale skin. Not a stain on his fuzzy white sweater or the silver jewelry adorning him. The blood seemingly too thick to even spray on him.

Cheon Areum pushed the small mountain of bodies aside with his energy. His nose wrinkled in visible disgust as the thick, congealed blood came into view beneath the mound of corpses. Hesitating to step on it to pass—though his boots were already tasting the same blood—it was still too gross.

"Here, take my hand."