Chapter 53

–

I regretted it a little.

‘What’s the use of entering quietly.’

If I knew someone was going to burst in so happily, I would’ve just smashed my way in. But it wasn’t too late.

Bang…!

I immediately fired sharp threads at the door. At my will, the thin threads lodged in narrow space of the door began to pry it apart.

Crack!

Once the locks broke, the traps were immediately triggered.

Swoosh!Crackle!

I deflected the poison needle and avoided the burst of flame from the wall.

Rumble!

Almost at the same time, the floor across the hall began to collapse.

‘They’re getting better at these.’

I thought with a somewhat lukewarm attitude. While thinking so, I fixed a thread to the ceiling and jumped.

Shhaaaa…

After a while, the cloud of dust that filled the hallways settled down. Below the open void in the floor was a dense plot of embedded iron spikes.[1]

I didn’t know who designed it, but it was a pretty classic trap. I extended the web coiled around my hand to the broken door and threw myself in that direction.

Clang!

Then I kicked the door off and entered inside. The building was still noisy, so no one seemed to notice the noise I made. And even if they did, I was sure it would take a good while before the guards got here.

I heightened my senses and looked around, but I couldn’t feel any other presence. Except for the small breathing I could sense in the center of the room. I took a few steps forwards, stepping on a feather on the floor.

There was a large cage hanging in the room. And inside, was the person I was looking for. However, they looked like a complete mess; their wings were plucked entirely, and they were covered in bloodstains.

The slender arm hanging outside of the cage moved, and the shackles affixed to them rattled loudly. As the woman slowly lifted her head, her wavy blue hair flowed along, drooping down her visage. Her face was exposed with her movement, revealing a few red scars strewn across her face.

“Arachne…”

Her colorless lips moved slightly.

“You came.”

She was in considerably worse shape than when I last saw her at the research institute. But it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t tell that she was Siren. In the first place, the aging of test subjects slowed down rapidly when they became adults. Of course, I didn’t know why she was trapped in a place like this and in such state.

“Why did you call me?”

I went straight to the point without wasting time. I didn’t ask how she got imprisoned here or about her current state.

I guess you could say it was a bit heartless for that to be what I had to say to an old roommate who I was seeing for the first time in years. So my attitude might seem cold from Siren’s point of view. Even when we were in the lab, she used to grumble about my unaffectionate personality.

However, Siren merely stared at me with bleary eyes, as if she didn’t even have energy for that.

Then I spoke again.

“Did you call me to save you?”

Again, Siren stared at me without saying a word. Her lips were clenched tightly shut.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I also knew how strong Siren’s pride was. Which is why, even though she could have sent out a bird earlier, she didn’t and probably endured till she reached this point.

“If I’m right, then tell me.”

I repeated in an emotionless voice. Then Siren’s body shivered slightly in the cage.

“I…uk…”

She began to talk but cut off and took a short breath. Then the voice that followed was so rough and cracked that it was hard to believe it belonged to the Siren whose singing was so beautiful and enchanting that it stole the soul of all who heard it.

“Please get me out of here.”

And I moved right away.

Clang!

Sharp, targeted threads cut through the top of the cage and the cage in the air fell with a loud bang.

“Ack!”

Siren let out a short scream. However, before the cage hit the floor, I held her up with threads, so she didn’t take any actual damage. I broke Siren’s shackles as well and pulled her out of the cage. Up close, she looked like she was in even worse shape.

When the cage was falling, she reflexively flapped her wings to fly up, but her powerless wings eventually fell, and a feather fluttered down.

The same thing happens to Odin too; do guys with bird powers lose feathers often like this? Is it a kind of hair loss?

“It’ll probably take a while for the feathers to grow back.”

I said with a click of my tongue. Because I knew how proud Siren was about her attractive wings.

Siren stared blankly at me; her hair disheveled as she floated in the air supported by my threads. Then she looked mildly confused by my statement which didn’t suit the situation at all. Soon, she parted her trembling lips.

“You, you’re helping me…?”

“You said I should.”

I walked past her suspended figure, putting her behind me and moved to the door.

“Where is Leo?”

At that question, Siren paused.

“You’re going to save that watchdog too?”

“Why do you think I came here in the first place?”

I gave her a look, wanting her to hurry up and answer. But Siren’s reaction was strange.

Her dark blue eyes which were same color as her hair, suddenly filled up with tears and venom at the same time.

“You…you’re really a horrible b***.”[2]

I was a little taken aback by the curse thrown at me out of nowhere. When I looked at her with a dumbfounded gaze, her face turned sour and she yelled with tears in her eyes.

“You didn’t contact me once since we left the lab! But why are you still keeping that son of a b*tch next to you…!”

I was slightly annoyed.

“You never contacted me either.”

“How are we the same?!”

Siren got upset at what I said for some reason. I furrowed my brows when she even flapped her wings with indignation. I wanted to ask what was so different about us, but her following words were nothing I expected at all.

“I’ve always been watching you!”

“…”

“Ever since I found you after we left the lab!”

“…”

“But I was hoping you’ll come looking for me first this time…so I’ve been holding back but—! You’re so busy hanging out with that s.o.b. and that crow, you don’t even care about me…! Do you know how long, how long…uk…*sob*…”

I wasn’t quite sure how to react to this sudden confession of stalking.

Listening to Siren suddenly reminded me of when we were in the research institute. Siren was strangely affectionate to me especially. To the point where Odin called her ‘that gum-like th*ing’. However, she was just as mean-tempered as she was sticky, so I generally thought Siren was fickle.

On the other hand, Siren disliked Leo severely and her relationship with Odin wasn’t very good; they were almost natural enemies. When Siren and Odin met, they would snarl at each other, pretty much like water and oil. They both had the ability to control birds but maybe they hated people of the same kind.

“You…you don’t even know how much I wanted to see you. Arachne, you idiot!”

In no time, Siren was sobbing like a child. After watching the whole thing, I opened my mouth.

“So you wanted to give me trouble and told those slave trading bastards where Leo and I live?”

“T-That—”

At my smart guess, Siren flinched. Her pupils quivered as she looked at me then she spiritlessly tried to explain.

“I was so sick of being tortured…”

With her red eyes and nose, her mumbling figure looked pitiful.

“They kept asking where the other guys were and no matter how much I said there weren’t any, they didn’t stop.”

Hearing what she said, I unconsciously sighed.

“Still…I knew if it’s Arachne, you’ll be fine. Since you’re strong.”

After that, Siren ground her teeth and added.

“Besides, even if that watchdog gets caught, it’s obvious you’ll rescue him.”

Tak!

“Ow!”

I flicked Siren on the forehead.

“Grow up a little.”

“I-I’m older than you, you know?”

Siren looked considerably flustered, maybe because she had never been physically attacked(?) by me before.

“Leo. Location.”

“He’s probably in the room on the righ…”

Boom!

Once I heard that, I thoughtlessly destroyed the right wall. But it was only an empty room.

“Nothing there though?”

“H-Honestly, I don’t really know. I just thought they’d keep a ‘variant’ like me somewhere else.”

At that, I began to smash through the walls one by one, moving to the other side.

I wasn’t sure where Leo was but seeing as they locked Siren in the center of the building, I figured Leo might be nearby. The drug I had smelled faintly in Leo’s hideout was definitely a sleeping pill. If it could make even Leo fall asleep, it must have a really strong effect. But with so much chaos going on, I was sure he would wake up soon.

“Umm, I’m sorry if the watchdog get hurt because of me.”

Siren, who was still tied to my thread and hanging behind me, hesitantly apologized.

-Roar!

Only

Right then, I heard a familiar cry not too far away.

“It’s not Leo I’m worried about.”

Siren seemed curious about what I meant but I no longer spoke and quickly moved to where the sound came from.

Translator’s corner:

[1]It says iron bars but I’m assuming that means spikes, considering the context.

[2]Context-wise, she’s probably saying nappeun nyeon which literally means bad b*tch but due to censoring, can’t say for sure. In this case, she’s just calling Yuri a horrible person but in a more coarse form.

[3]The gum here means chewing gum. Aka as sticky as chewing gum. I’m not sure what the **** stands for so I just put thing

T/N: It’s still a bit funny to me how ‘son of a bitch’ is not censored at all in the raws. I guess it makes sense since it literally means child of a dog.