I Reject Quests

There was a thin stick hovering around in the air.

The youth squinted his eyes.

The woman beside him was the same. "Is this a mage?" She questioned. Even if it was a mage controlling the thin stick, why would he go through the lengths of doing so? Both she and her husband weren't bothered by the fact that the stick was in free air but rather, why?

"Perhaps it's telling something. Be careful." The youth appeared in front of her and slowly approached the stick.

The woman followed him closely.

Just as they were near, the stick suddenly went to the ground and started scribbling something.

"What are you doing? Just tell us." The youth seemed to understand what the 'stick' was trying to do.

The woman also had a meaningful expression.

---

GO BACK QUICKLY.

YOU'LL BE ATTACKED BY BEAST.

---

The one writing on the ground was naturally Rewen. Even if the memories are nothing more than a copy, how could he bear to watch himself standing by while his father gets killed? He has to do something.

After writing, he looked at the expressions of his parents.

The youth was momentarily stunned by the words written on the ground, then a thoughtful look came on his face. "Is this a divination…?"

The woman was also perplexed by the writings. Looking around, she tried to find the person controlling the thin stick.

The stick started scribbling on the ground again.

---

NO. THIS IS THE TRUTH.

PLEASE LEAVE.

---

The youth and the woman looked at each other, then they laughed out loud.

"This is exactly what a divination "expert" would say." Even immediately the youth said that, the stick again went to start scribbling on the ground.

"It's fine. We are going back. Thank you for this. Why don't you come to my place and stay the night?" 

The woman stepped forward and asked.

The stick didn't write anything more and fell down.

"That's a no, I guess." The youth chuckled. "Let's go."

The woman turned back and nodded. "It's weird though."

"What is?" The youth asked while both of them started walking.

"The divination."

The youth didn't immediately answer her. He turned back and brought his face closer to her ears. "Which divination isn't?"

"Don't say that. The expert had good intentions." The woman pinched his arm.

The youth wryly smiled. "When have I ever said about his intentions? Forget about it. How many berries did you pick?"

"Hm? Berries? A handful." The woman said, looking at the pouch hanging on her waist. "Probably not enough for him." 

The youth gave a light laugh. "How many berries are enough for the brat?"

"By the way, Evirie had a daughter." The woman shifted the topic on to their neighbor who was pregnant."

"Is that so? Good for him." The youth said, then went quiet. A few seconds later, he opened his mouth. "Are you interested in having a second?"

The woman was taken aback by the sudden question. "There's time, place, and atmosphere for a conversation like that." She didn't know what she should do with a partner who occasionally asks awkward questions randomly. Huffing, she proceeded to answer the question. "Also, I don't think… it's a good idea."

"Not a good idea? Why not?"

She opened her mouth to answer the question, then closed. A few seconds later, she snorted. "It hurts. Why don't you try being pregnant?" 

The youth halted in his tracks, turned around, and came close to her. "Who are you trying to fool? You don't need to worry about unnecessary things. Do you want a second or not?"

"Su...re…" The woman lowered her head as her ears turned red.

The youth smiled. "What's with you blushing like a maiden? I thought we were past that."

"Come. Let's go. Rewen is alone." Pretending to not hear him, the woman started walking when the youth caught her hand. "What now?" She asked without turning her head around.

"Than-"

The hand she was feeling was suddenly taken back.

"Ardie?" She turned her head and saw…

A young man in his mid-twenties was laying on the ground. His eyes closed. Golden arrows penetrated his upper body from all sides. Blood oozed out from his entire body. 

It didn't take more than a single look to conclude that the person was no longer alive.

He was dead.

"Ardie!!" Not wanting to believe her eyes, she walked to her husband with confused steps and fell on her knees. Her shaking hands touched the wound on his chest. She looked at the hand on her blood and then on the body. 

The shock was so great that she couldn't even cry and fainted within a few seconds.

*Tap*

*Tap*contemporary romance

*Tap*

"Beast… no, beasts that can shoot out arrows are very interesting." 

Rewen walked into the scene and crouched near his father's corpse. His shirt was pulled on to cover his face, his body shaking uncontrollably.

"All these years, I was living in the dark… foolishly believing in what she said. Although it was suspicious for a skilled hunter to get killed by a beast, I decided to believe her because… I was naive enough to believe that she wouldn't lie about the death of Father to me."

He paused, then shook his head under his shirt. "...No, there's… no excuse. There's no excuse. There's no fucking excuse." He asked himself: Could he continue living ignoring the sudden mysterious death of his father?

The answer was - No.

A few minutes later, Rewen got up rubbing his face with his shirt.

For some reason, the arrows on his father's body had disappeared.

Rewen was in no mood to care about it. He found huge leaves around the area and placed them on his shoulder and kept some on his hands.

'Hm, the claim that I could only touch non-living beings is false, apparently. That also makes sense. If I could only touch non-living beings, I would be flying on to space. There's microorganisms everywhere. For now, I can touch everything other than animals and humans. Leaves are considered non-living beings.'

He went over to his parents and picked them up on his shoulders. He couldn't touch them but the huge leaves could.

***

The village crowd gathered around a corpse.

Little Rewen stood in front of his father's corpse and appeared confused. Looking at his mother sitting on the bare ground with a crestfallen expression, he walked to her. "Is… Father no more?" He had a tinge of sadness, confusion, and curiosity mixed in his voice.

His mother gave a small nod, looking at her dead husband.

It has been two hours since she woke up and she has neither said a single word nor moved one bit from her place. If there is anyone who was the most affected by his death, it would undoubtedly be her. 'Rewen couldn't sort out his feelings due to his small age yet. Now… it's entirely up to me to take care of him.'

She felt the responsibility on her shoulder doubling. 

An hour later, villagers gathered in the graveyard.

Little Rewen's mother herself dug the grave and rested her husband on the grave.

A prayer was recited by a priest and then, everyone went back to their homes continuing their usual life. Everyone except for Little Rewen and his mother. Both of them stayed for a while looking at the grave silently.

A few minutes later, they also went back.

There was not a single person left in the graveyard, visibly speaking.

There was a person not a single person could see.

That was a red-haired young man who was sitting beside the grave blanking out once in a while.

"Death is painful."

He said the most obvious thing out loud.

"It's countless times painful to people who were affected by the death."

Rewen felt an indescribable rage boiling within himself. Now that a considerable amount of time has passed, his mind has cooled down to some degree and he has started thinking about the cause of the death of his father. With regards to it, he had already deduced some things but there was a whole lot he didn't know about. 

And there was only one way through which he could know the things he doesn't currently - his mother.

He was almost certain that she knew everything.

He wanted to get to the bottom of this.

If necessary, he would kill the people responsible for his father's death.

If necessary, he would kill the people not directly related to his father's death.

If necessary, he would kill innocents who had nothing to do with it.

He was consumed by rage but why should he hold back?

He had always believed that revenge was merely a method to seek petty satisfaction and he is now craving for it.

He was seeing himself get masked off revealing the hypocrisy he hid within himself.

He wanted to embrace it just when he heard a familiar voice in his mind.

Always remember, Rewen. No matter what path you choose, what you say, what you do… you will be loved… at least by one person….

The voice slowly faded away.

He broke down.

done.co