Chapter 95
The Despairflower looked at Wendy, who was gazing up at the sky.
Well—maybe not looked, exactly—
‘Uuu!’
It lifted its bud with all its might.
It wiggled its leaves, its stem, even its roots energetically.
Finally, Wendy’s gaze turned toward it.
“Do I have something on my face…?”
Maybe she found its gaze uncomfortable.
Scratching her cheek, Wendy yawned and rolled over onto her side.
That sight—like a child dozing off—made the Despairflower smile faintly.
Though, of course, as a mere flower, it couldn’t actually smile…
Still, that’s what it felt like.
The Despairflower, despite being a plant, was deep in thought like a person.
Sura’s Calamitous Despairflower.
That terrifying name belonged to it.
It had been born in a dark corner of the Western Flower Field—
On the banks of a black lake made of blood and hatred.
The land it had originally grown from was barren, filled with death and malice.
There, the Despairflower sprouted by feeding on hatred and death—
And by fate, was destined to harbor the very essence of “Destruction.”
But it had been a mutant among the Despairflower cluster.
The other Sura’s Despairflowers were instinctively driven to consume the hatred and death of all living beings—
Driven to hold an unshakable will to annihilate everything.
But not this one.
This one had a soul far too gentle to be called a “Despairflower.”
‘Uuuu!’ (You were born to plunge people into despair!)
‘Uu, uuuu!’ (Rip everything apart and devour it!)
‘Uu…’ (I don’t want to. I can’t.)
To this flower, hatred was something to fear.
Death was something sorrowful.
The other flowers in the cluster treated it like a heretic.
‘Idiot.’
‘Useless wretch.’
‘You should’ve never been born.’
‘What a waste of nutrients.’
A Despairflower that couldn’t even kill an ant?
It was a tiger without fangs.
Bullied and shunned daily, the Despairflower finally made up its mind to run away.
That place might’ve been its birthplace—
But it had always known.
It didn’t belong there.
It was a stranger in disguise.
It knew that it would probably wilt and die the moment it put down roots in a new place—
But staying there was the same as being already dead.
So it figured—
It was better to face death on its own terms than to rot away standing still.
And so, with trembling roots, it began to inch forward—
Past the edges of that land filled with death and pain—
Toward a wider meadow.
‘Uu…?’
Then, one day, caught in a sudden gust of wind—
It was blown away and landed in a sunlit patch of the Western Flower Field.
That unfamiliar warmth and softness—
Bathed in sunlight instead of hate, in rain instead of death—
The flower began to grow.
A week passed like that.
Though it was slowly weakening day by day, as this nourishment didn’t suit it—
The joy of being freed from fear and sorrow overwhelmed everything else.
As it basked in the sunlight like always—
‘Uuu~♪♬’
Suddenly, a pink-haired girl lifted it up.
The flower froze in fear—
“Grrh, careful with the roots…”
But the girl’s touch carried no malice.
If anything, it was overly gentle.
She took great care not to damage a single leaf or root—
And brought it to her sister.
Before long, it was face-to-face with a woman with crimson hair.
‘Uu…?’
In that moment, it felt something indescribable.
As if it had finally found the sunlight it had been seeking all along.
Overcome by a nameless longing, the flower couldn’t help but try to speak to her.
‘Uu, uu.’
It was barely more than a whimper—
But seeing the woman respond made it happier than it could understand.
And so, half out of stubbornness, it insisted on tagging along on her journey.
It slept for a while in the inventory of the woman named Wendy.
And in that moment—
“Mom…”
A golden thread pierced the flower’s consciousness—
Like a dream from long ago—
On a spring day when cold rain had fallen.
‘It’s evening already, but Mom still isn’t here… She didn’t abandon me like Dad, did she?’
A dream of a kind girl who held an umbrella over a nameless wildflower, torn and trampled, fading away.
‘I’m a mess, but you’re pitiful too, huh?’
The young girl crouched down and fumbled through her pocket.
‘Here.’
She took out a small crinkling candy.
‘They can be mean sometimes. Last time, they threw rocks at an innocent cat.’
She gently stroked the wilted leaves and gave a sad smile.
‘Geez, what am I even doing… giving candy to a flower that can’t even talk…’
The girl stared quietly at the wildflower for a moment, then stood up abruptly at a voice calling in the distance.
‘I think Mom’s back! I have to go!’
Leaving only a small candy behind, the girl disappeared.
Raindrops like glass beads fell onto the lone candy wrapper.
Tap, tap, tap.
With the rhythmic sound came an odd sense of calm.
And soon, a brilliant white light flickered—and the flower began to regain consciousness.
Was this a sign to wake up from the dream?
Having awoken from a fleetingly sweet dream, the Despairflower—
In that moment, it sensed a scent from the woman named Wendy that was just like that girl’s.
And before it even realized—
“Kyah!”
It jumped out of the inventory.
Wendy’s startled voice rang out, clearly not expecting that.
But that wasn’t important.
Overwhelmed by the familiarity and warmth it hadn’t felt in so long, the Despairflower bounced with joy.
“Since you’re out already, should I give you a name?”
Worried it might be cast aside, the flower crawled back into Wendy’s front pocket and quietly basked in her voice.
And then—a strange feeling of déjà vu washed over it.
“Your name will be—”
‘Your name will be—’
Wendy’s voice overlapped with that of the dream girl, whose face it couldn’t remember.
“Myeolmangi. Let’s go with Myeolmangi.”
‘Fieldy. Let’s go with Fieldy.’
Hearing the name, the Sura’s Calamitous Despairflower—
No, the flower who now had the name Myeolmangi—
Trembled its leaves, letting out a joyful cry at the tenderness that soaked into its soul.
‘Uuu, uu!’
It was a small voice, but even so—
Within this flower, which should have been filled with hatred, death, and malice—
A brilliant warmth of happiness slowly began to bloom.
* * *
Celestine regained consciousness about an hour after they started resting.
“Wendy! Celestine’s awake!”
At Yeriel’s voice, who had been tending to her side, I shot up.
“Celestine!”
I rushed toward where the two of them were.
There sat Celestine, her expression still dazed from just waking up.
“I’m so glad. I was worried it might get worse…”
Yeriel exhaled in relief.
The other teammates, too, seemed to have heard the news.
Everyone who had been resting gathered around.
“Hey kid, you okay?”
Darwin, sweat dripping and half-shirtless from strength training, looked over with concern.
“Are you alright now?”
Lyria and Nia fidgeted with their fingers as they called out to Celestine.
“Your complexion looks fine. Seems you’ve recovered.”
Even Sylvester, who had been tinkering with scrap materials in the corner, spoke up.
“You’re up. Let’s go.”
Xenon, who had been meditating under a tree, did too.
Seeing all her companions around her, Celestine blushed and spoke quietly.
“Um… Sorry. I slept way too much, didn’t I?”
I smiled faintly at the sight of her cheeks turning red as if they’d explode.
Judging by that, it seemed like she’d mostly recovered from the aftereffects of Divine Descent.
“Nope. It’s only been an hour.”
At my words, Celestine’s eyes widened.
“Really? It felt way longer… I think I even had a really nice dream…”
Was she thinking of the dream she just had?
She paused in thought for a moment, then shook her head and jumped up.
“Anyway, thank you everyone. Thanks to you, I got to rest well.”
Maybe she felt guilty for slowing us down.
Celestine looked uncharacteristically hurried, prompting me to shake my head.
“No, if anything, we all got to rest thanks to you.”
The next trial should be laughably easy.
‘Much easier than the last two.’
I bit my lip, holding back the words that almost slipped.
The first material, <Asura’s Finger>.
The second, <Crystals of the Bloody Sea>.
Both were known in the original as notoriously difficult materials to obtain.
We had to persuade a tiger with words, communicate with souls—unlike the combat-only approach we’d used up to now.
But the final material, <Heart of the Hell Glutton>, was simple: defeat a single boss.
Compared to the last two, this one was relatively easy to secure.
And a boss fight? With our team’s power, that would be a walk in the park.
“Woof woof!”
I smiled as I looked at the white puppy that had suddenly reappeared.
The final climb was just ahead.
—
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