The Sun Proposed to the Moon

This and That (3)

Kim Rok Soo held a bag that was twice the size of yesterday's bag as he headed back up to the top of the slums. The two siblings were there to greet him once again. This time however, Cale had joined him in the slums. A noble here was bound to attract attention.

The children kept their mouths shut as they looked toward Cale.

Rok Soo smiled as he took out two small bags and pushed them toward the children.

"Take it."

The young girl slowly approached him. Cale frowned as he watched the girl with coarse gray hair approach him. She had a hand on her side as she limped over to them.

"Hey."

Cale took the bags from Kim Rok Soo and pushed them toward the young boy.

"You come here and take it."

The young boy quickly rushed over and snatched the bags before quickly running back. Compared to Cale's bright red hair, the boy had coarse dark red hair that shook as he ran.

Cale and Kim Rok Soo then turned around and headed toward the man-eating tree.

"Wow."

"It's not bread. It's meat and cake."

They could hear the siblings talking about the food, but they did not care. The couple continued to walk toward the man-eating tree's territory.

Oooooooooooooong-

"How pretty..."

"...It's a bit scary."

The black tree without any leaves seemed to be moving its branches to welcome them and thank Cale for the compliment. This eerie feeling made Kim Rok Soo nervous, but he still poured the contents of the bag into the hole underneath the tree.

The bread quickly disappeared.

It was at that moment.

"...More, give me more."

'...It's driving me crazy.'

The response he read about in the novel showed up. It was the voice of a weak girl. Yes, the person who starved to death was a priestess who served a god. However, unlike the present day priestesses of the temples or churches, the ancient priestesses were shamans. The majority of the ancient shamans could be considered people who had superpowers or natural forces under their command.

"I wonder if she can remember me..."

Kim Rok Soo heard Cale voice his wonders as the redhead walked beside him.

"You've come here before?"

Cale hummed an answer before speaking again.

"For the longest time I'd wondered why I couldn't heal this tree." Cale grinned as he spoke, quickly adding onto his statement with a new found curiosity. "I guess as I got older I should have realized it was the work of an ancient power."

The bright curiosity made Kim Rok Soo subconsciously start to smile. Though the smile quickly disappeared as he watched Cale drag a hand over the sick tree trunk. The look of infatuation and amusement as the redhead studied the tree was very nice to look at but...why touch it?

He couldn't judge his lover for being curious about the tree and the power he'd planned to collect from it.

"You... tried to heal the tree?"

Cale turned to Kim Rok Soo and nodded.

"I made a few attempts when I was younger. After a kidnapping I ended up here and I fell through the branches. That was the first time I tried."