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Episode 24: The Awakening (I)
“

!”
With a flash, a powerful force erupted from Annette’s small body.
The white light pouring from her instantly pierced the monster and annihilated it.
Just as Sislin’s black power reached it, it was entangled with the white light and fell like a wave with a tremendous roar.
Thud–
It was then that Annette’s small body, which was floating in the air, fell to the ground.
“Annette!”
“Sister!”
The two boys rushed over, calling Annette’s name in a frenzy.
As soon as Heinrich saw the collapsed Annette, he burst into tears.
“Sister, please come to your senses!”
At that moment, Sislin, who was carefully examining Annette’s face, said,
“She fell asleep.”
“
What?”
“Annette, she’s just asleep.”
Both boys knew that great exhaustion came after awakening.
When they looked again, Annette was asleep – her small cherry-like lips slightly opened, steadily breathing.
She looked just like a tired baby rabbit.
“
Ha, that’s good.”
Only then did Heinrich feel a little relieved, bowed his head, and sighed. However, his surprised heart had not yet calmed down, so he narrowed his eyes and said.
“Did you see that? It was such a great power. It felt stronger than when I awakened. What kind of power did she awaken?”
“Well
”
Sislin answered silently and looked down at the sleeping Annette.
His eyes had a slightly complicated look in them because he was worried about the girl.
‘Can Annette handle it?’
He knew that gaining this ability would greatly change her life.
Sislin immediately lowered his eyes, looked away and glanced at the necklace.
“Is her necklace broken too?”
“Huh? The necklace?
What the heck, it’s just a bunch of scrap metal.”
Heinrich frowned and looked at the necklace that had lost its light.
“Why is this like that?”
“Strange. All three of us have broken necklaces.”
“
Yes. Come to think of it, isn’t it strange that she’s in such a dangerous area?”
“

”
Sislin silently picked up Annette’s body and hugged her.
“What? Where are you going to take her?”
“It will take a long time for the teachers to find us.”
“So what?”
“It’s dangerous for us to get out of here on our own. It’s a very deep part of the forest and it’s easy to get lost when the sun goes down. Until then, we need to move Annette to a safe place. Let’s go to the ‘cave’.”
The ‘cave’ was a kind of safe area for the children taking level tests.
Usually, a teacher was dispatched when a Tree was in danger. But the cave was prepared for an unexpected accident. As the high-level area was dangerous, everything had been prepared to ensure the safety of the children.
In the current situation, the magic suppressor has become a kind of GPS.
Heinrich’s eyes shifted upward, as if he was uncomfortable.
“
You, but why are you hugging my sister? I’ll hold her, get lost.”
Heinrich strode over and swung Annette out of Sislin’s arms.
However, Sislin walked quietly and silently snatched Annette back into a hug within a second.
“

!”
Whoosh! Heinrich took Annette back straight away again, like a greedy cat trying to eat a snack alone.
A second later, like lightning, Sislin was hugging Annette again.
“Hey, you bastard. Don’t hug my sister with that sneaky look on your face!”
“Your expression is sneakier.”
“I will hug my sister!”
Swoosh, woosh.
Annette’s position changed several times during the journey to the cave.
However, in the midst of that, the two boys were extremely careful, fearing that she might shake and wake up, so Annette was able to sleep peacefully, as if lying on a feather bed.
***
“It’s a cave with a safety barrier.”
“Hah
”
As soon as they entered the cave, Heinrich sat down with his head bowed.
Sislin carefully checked the inside of the cave to see if there was anything dangerous.
There was a bit of moist air that was typical of caves, but it generally felt comfortable.
“Let’s make the bed first. Take off your clothes.”
Sislin said so to Heinrich as he took off his clothes. Then he picked up a bunch of leaves and stems in front of the cave.
He placed them closely to make a cot and laid his outerwear on it.
Normally, he wouldn’t have listened to Sislin, but Heinrich followed without a fuss because it was for Annette.
“Sister, don’t be cold.”
Heinrich took off his coat and covered her with it.
Then, looking at the sleeping Annette, he secretly blushed.
“Sister, you’re so cute like a rabbit.”
“Stop it, and follow me.”
Heinrich frowned in dissatisfaction at Sislin’s words.
“Where?”
“We need to find something to eat. We need water to drink and we need to look around.”
“Ugh, I’m not leaving Sister behind? You go. I won’t move even a single step from here.”
Heinrich grabbed Annette’s hand while she was asleep and, pakk! It was quickly slapped away. As they clashed, Sislin said with an expressionless face.
“It will take me a long time because I don’t have enough hands on my own. I have to come back quickly. Annette will be hungry when she wakes up.”
When Sislin said that Annette would be hungry, Heinrich’s eyebrows went up.
“
Damn it.”
“When you had your first awakening, you were very hungry. Did you forget?”
Usually, it would consume a lot of mental and physical strength, so they would fall asleep immediately as if their power was turned off, and would suffer from hunger from the moment they wake up.
Recalling his own experience, Heinrich sighed and stood up.
“
I can’t help it, because I don’t want Sister to be hungry. There’s a safety barrier here, so beasts won’t be able to enter, right?”
“Yes. I checked.”
Heinrich was somewhat anxious even after hearing the answer, so he checked the barrier with his own magic several times.
Then he picked up a suitable stone. Sislin, who was watching, urged.
“We should find it and come back before the sun goes down.”
“You ignorant bastard. Won’t Sister be worried when she wakes up? You have to leave a message.”
That’s true. Sislin watched Heinrich silently writing on the wall.
The content was a lovely message with the words ‘I love you Sister’ written at the end.
Sislin, who was silently reading the message next to Heinrich, said,
“
Write about me too.”
“Tsk.”
As if it was annoying, Heinrich briefly added the content about Sislin in a bizarre-looking font.
“Are you ready?”
Sislin looked at the words carefully and thought about it, then nodded.
“Let’s go quickly.”
The two boys then left the cave.
***
At the same time, the worried teachers of the Forest gathered in one place.
“We have to go find the children now, they must be in danger!”
“Calm down, Miss Rose. First of all, we need to figure out the situation together.”
“Ahhh, the children must be waiting for me
!”
Rose, who was in charge of the test, covered her face with both hands and lowered her head in despair.
Obviously, she heard Annette’s scream of ‘Help me!’ through the necklace.
However, she could not respond to the child’s request for help. It was because suddenly the necklace magic tool didn’t listen.
The magic tool was enchanted with a spell that would transport Rose to the location, but somehow, it lost its light and became useless.
Rose, who had a strong sense of responsibility over the well-being of the children, looked very distressed.
“Surely, I have to go first by myself! Madam Mimosa, please allow me.”
With a cool energy in his deep blue eyes, Julius restrained her.
“They must have found a safe place, Rose. And even if you go to find them, you’re alone, the ‘Forest Hall’ is wide and deep, so it’s useless.”
“But
!”
Rose’s eyes trembled.
At that moment, Madam Mimosa, who was listening quietly, opened her mouth.
“Coincidentally, only the necklaces of those three children are broken?”
Rose answered.
“Yes, Madam. I checked all the necklaces of the other children who returned and they were all fine.”
“

”
Mimosa’s eyes darkened. How could this have happened?
Heinrich, Annette, and Sislin.
Of all things, only the Trees she was paying close attention to disappear? In fact, only the most important children in the Forest had disappeared.
Wasn’t it a real disappointment?
‘This is totally an unexpected accident.’
There was a crease in Madam Mimosa’s forehead.
It was in her plan to move Annette to a high-level testing site in the middle, but it was never intentional to break the necklace.
However, the children suddenly lost contact. Moreover, in the forest.
She couldn’t lose the children like this.

In particular, Annette.
Soon, Madam Mimosa opened her mouth. A calm, stern voice filled the drawing room.
“From now on, do your best to find the children. When it gets dark, take a torch and search everywhere. Do not leave even a single corner unsearched!”
“Yes, Madam!”
The teachers all bowed their heads in unison.
“These three Trees are the most precious treasures of our Forest.”
Golden eyes shone sharply.
“You must find them.”
Each teacher played a role.
Rose and the other teachers decided to divide the testing area and search (Rose volunteered for the deepest and most rugged area), and Julius decided to stay in the woods to look after the restless children.
“

”
Finally, the drawing room was quiet.
Madam Mimosa picked up the little green box on the table.
Annette’s initials were engraved on the box.
It was a gift for the child.
A gift for the best and greatest Tree that had awakened and returned.
‘She wouldn’t have died. That child. My gut is telling me so.’
She had this strangely strong belief.
But even at this moment, there was one thing she wasn’t really sure of.
‘Did Annette awaken?’
If she had awakened, her life would change 180 degrees from now on.
‘So, please show me a wonderful Tree in an awakened state.’
But first, she should come back to her arms.
Certainly

With eyes tangled with anxiety and anticipation, Madam Mimosa looked out the window.anticipation.
‘Where are you, Annette?’
***
Drip, drip—
Cold drops of water fell on my cheeks, stirring me from my slumber.
“Ugh
”
Why was I sleeping? What happened? I entered the scary forest and met a strange monster that cried ‘Koong-ya—’.
And, I awakened.

Awakening? Me, who had no talents?
I furrowed my eyebrows.
No, it’s probably a dream. It must be a dream.
Because I went through such a terrible thing, and above all, there was no way I was an Awakened.
‘It’s a dog’s dream, so when I wake up again, I will come back to reality, right?’
It was when I turned around and tried to go back to sleep.
A voice whispered softly in my ear.
[Look at these luscious cheeks. Are all children’s cheeks like this? It’s white and fluffy like bread made with glutinous rice flour. ]

What? Glutinous rice?
Subsequently, I felt a finger pressing on my cheeks, poke poke.
‘Um, what are you doing?’
‘My cheekbones aren’t public slimes.’
‘Who the hell is doing this?’
The fingers were getting more and more aggressive, and now they were pressing at my cheeks freely. As if pressing freshly baked bread.
[
Cute.]
‘Heuk-heuk, I’m going to get crushed like this.’
I quietly opened my eyes to see who was pressing my cheeks.
“

!”
Then, I was startled.