Chapter 15: Clenching

“Sigh…”

Nagu looked at the burning wood in the fire pit, sighing worriedly. About two hours ago, Hamoyin had left the treehouse despite her attempts to stop him, clearly annoyed by her interference.

Nagu felt incredibly bitter. She was worried about him going out at night, but it seemed like she was doing something wrong. How long would it take for Hamoyin to return? What if he got caught stealing or encountered wild animals in the rainforest?

Previously, Nagu wouldn’t have worried about Hamoyin’s ability to fight, but now he had injuries on his back, even though he claimed, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

How could it not hurt? She wasn’t stupid!

“Sigh…” Nagu sighed even longer. Hamoyin had previously threatened her not to move around with her injuries, or he’d throw her out. Now, despite his own injuries, he could still move around at night. It was completely unfair.

Thinking this, Nagu became anxious again. It felt like three hours had passed. Was the tribe really that far from Hamoyin’s treehouse? Or had he encountered danger on the way? What should she do, just sit and wait?

Feeling restless, Nagu stood up and slowly walked to the window, wanting to open it and look outside. But she remembered Hamoyin telling her not to open the window, so she awkwardly withdrew her hand.

Honestly, she was in a precarious situation herself, so Hamoyin couldn’t understand why she was still worried about him…

In the end, it was because she was useless. If she could find a way to survive in this environment, she wouldn’t still be relying on Hamoyin. The fact that he was still willing to take care of her was a miracle.

Consumed by self-loathing, Nagu wandered around the house like a headless fly until sleepiness overwhelmed her, and she fell asleep by the fire pit.

When Nagu woke up again, it was already bright outside. The dazzling sunlight shone directly on her face through the skylight.

“Ugh…” Her eyes were almost blinded. Nagu stiffly sat up from the wooden board, looking around. The fire pit in front of her had long since extinguished, leaving only ashes, and there was still no sign of Hamoyin in the house.

“Still… still not back?” Before falling asleep, she had hoped to wake up and see Hamoyin sitting in the house, carving his wooden arrows. Now, Nagu was genuinely panicking. Wait, if Hamoyin hadn’t returned, who opened the skylight on the treehouse roof?

Nagu dumbly looked up at the skylight, hesitating for a few seconds before calling out, “Ha, Hamoyin?”

After a while, Hamoyin’s head appeared outside the skylight, still chewing on something. “What?”

He’s back…!! Nagu couldn’t suppress the joyful smile on her face. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you came back?”

“I did. You were sleeping too deeply.”

Oh my god, am I a pig? Nagu awkwardly scratched her cheek. “…I see. Did you get what you went to the tribe for?”

“Yes.”

With that, Hamoyin jumped through the skylight into the house. He walked over to Nagu and handed her a few clusters of reddish-brown berries he had just picked from outside. “Eat.”

“Thanks…”

“After eating, help me pull out the scales.”

Nagu’s remaining half of the ‘thank you’ got stuck in her throat, and her hand stiffened as she took the berries. “Do we really have to pull them out?”

“Yes.”

She looked at Hamoyin’s expressionless face, noticing the faint dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t seem as energetic as he did last night.

“At least rest for a while first. We can deal with it after you rest.”

“I’ve already slept.” Hamoyin took a bundle wrapped tightly in a few leaves from the rope around his waist. “After you pull out the scales, clean the blood and apply this to the wounds.”

Nagu looked at the small lump of pale red, jelly-like substance in the leaves Hamoyin held out to her. “Is this ointment? Did you get it from the tribe?”

Hamoyin nodded.

It seemed she had to help him pull out the diseased scales. Nagu felt weak as she held the suspicious pale red fruit. “I understand… but if it hurts too much, you must tell me, and I’ll stop.”

Seeing Nagu’s nervous expression, Hamoyin almost thought it was her teeth that were going to be pulled. “It’s fine. It won’t hurt much.”

Don’t comfort me. It makes me feel even more useless…

And how could it not hurt? Nagu looked at Hamoyin’s back with a pained expression as he sat down and took off his shirt. His back still had the old ointment from yesterday, which had turned a different color from soaking in blood.

Nagu fetched clean water and slowly washed off the ointment, revealing the crimson wounds underneath. Fortunately, the wounds weren’t infected, but pulling out the damaged scales from this mess seemed… too cruel.

“Really, just pull them out by hand?” After cleaning the wounds, Nagu’s hands trembled as she placed them on Hamoyin’s back. His scales felt hard, like stone.

“Use your fingers to grip the scales,” Hamoyin suddenly instructed Nagu.

The coach started giving directions. Nagu could only obey, carefully lifting the edge of a diseased scale with her fingertips and pinching it with her thumb and forefinger. “I’ve got it. Do I pull down? Or up? Wait, wait, wait…!”

Nagu suddenly panicked because, after she gripped the scale, Hamoyin’s left hand suddenly reached back, grabbed her wrist, and pulled it forcefully outward. The scale she was holding was torn from the flesh.

“…Why did you do that?” A few drops of blood splattered onto Nagu’s face. She looked at the scale in her hand, its base still attached to bits of skin. She could clearly feel Hamoyin’s grip on her wrist tightening, undoubtedly because he was enduring the pain.

“If I didn’t do that, you wouldn’t know how long it would take.” Hamoyin, his face pale, released Nagu’s wrist. “If you don’t want to help me pull them out, just point out the scales, and I’ll do it myself.”

Nagu bitterly reached out to grip another scale. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you. I’m just afraid it will hurt too much…”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

Liar, his voice was starting to tremble.