Seol Jihu couldn't win against Maria's pestering and forced himself off from the ground. He dragged Mikhail and Chohong, while Maria dragged Veronika out of the underground cavern.

They eventually left the hilly region altogether and returned to their initial campsite. Only then did he feel that he had indeed survived the deadly encounter. Tears threatened to burst out of his eyes, but he suppressed them.

However, Maria cried. Although her manner of speech was a bit on the rough side, in the end, she was still a human being just like him. Seol Jihu felt a sense of kinship from her and formed a quiet smile.

“What are you cracking that grin for?! Fuck you, is it funny watching someone cry?”

“….”

As it turned out, Maria's sorrowful tears were for the crucifix she had to sacrifice during the Ceremony. She said something about it being an item that no amount of money could buy, even if its cost was factored in the equation.

Maria had lost her invaluable artifact, and her appearance was beyond messed up as well. Perhaps it was only obvious that she'd start unloading her tears with how wretched her current state was.

Seol Jihu tried to console her as gently as possible with the words, “But we still got to solve the mystery”, but Maria was triggered immediately and yelled back, “Does fame put food on the table?!”

She then proceeded to spit out all sorts of blaming fingers and sighs of lamentation.

“I shouldn't have come with you lot, if I knew something like this would happen, forget about 15 silver coins, I wouldn’t have said yes even if you gave me 150 silver coins”

But Seol Jihu had something to say about this as well.

“Well if you sided with me during the vote….”

“I didn't know things would turn out this way!”

Maria grabbed his collars and began shaking him around in sheer madness. She shouted out, “Why?! Why couldn't you have persuaded me better?!”

She was no longer thinking straight. She breathed like a raging bull, shot up from her seating position, and strode to where Mikhail and Veronika were sleeping peacefully. She then kicked the living daylights out of them over and over again.

'….She's gone mad.’

Seol Jihu sighed cautiously under his breath and switched his attention off from her. He shifted his worried gaze over to Chohong. Somewhat mysteriously, her hair remained in the shades of brilliant silver even now. With this look, she came across as a different person altogether. She was quite beautiful to behold, like a slumbering goddess quietly lying on her back.

Seol Jihu wordlessly brushed her smooth hair for a little while longer before laying down quietly next to her, while he still held a strand of her hair.

*

It was already early morning by the time he opened his eyes. He also realized that he slept like a baby after completely forgetting...