Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 32

“>Sigh….”

Graine groaned.

The inside of the village was utterly devastated. There were no people on the streets, only corpses strewn about, and even those corpses weren’t exactly normal. It was rare to find one with all its limbs intact.

Vanessa could clearly imagine what the village must have looked like in the past: well-maintained bushes and trees lining a wide road, fences painted white.

People must have walked this road, sharing friendly conversations and exchanging warm greetings when they parted ways.

But now, it was empty and reeked of a foul odor. The contrast was so stark that Vanessa felt tears welling up.

Hisop bent down to examine the corpses closely.

“The bite marks are different sizes. There are at least two entities, or a small one grew large.”

“If they ate this much, they probably reproduced.”

“Let’s hope it’s infertile.”

Hisop meticulously investigated the wounds that Vanessa could barely bring herself to look at.

“The teeth marks are strange. Not the teeth of a normal carnivorous monster….”

“There’s also the possibility of a chimera [a creature with mixed genetic material].”

Andalus spoke softly. Gideon opened the door of the house right next to them. It already looked like an abandoned building.

“We need to find someone to ask questions.”

“I don’t think anyone will open the door….”

Evan scratched his head. Eyes that peeked through the windows were fierce, and even those soon hid behind the curtains.

“Even wearing the Special Forces uniform doesn’t help.”

“Look at what the previous soldiers did. Who would trust us? They must have been short on food too.”

“That house—it looks like the one where that old man said his daughter lives. Maybe they’ll open the door if we give them the letter?”

Vanessa pointed to a pure white house in the distance.

‘I repainted the walls… all white except for the blue chimney… I wanted her to see only clean things, I, I….’

Everyone walked towards the white house in silence.

Moshwi saw the corpse of a child among the scattered bodies and eventually burst into tears. Vanessa bit her lip, trying hard to hold back her own tears.

“Oh, geez. Wipe your nose.”

Graine patted Moshwi’s back, comforting him. Moshwi sniffled and wiped his nose.

“It’s too, too horrible….”

“If the Special Forces can’t handle it, it’ll be even worse than this.”

Major Andalus said quietly. Vanessa silently took in the scene of the village.

Dark and lifeless.

“Most places where monsters appear end up like this.”

Gideon said nonchalantly.

“Don’t get so caught up in their misfortune that you start crying. It only leads to frustration over what’s already happened. Instead, find something you can do.”

He creaked open a broken door.

“Kill the monsters.”

Anna grinned at the cold words.

“That’s our specialty.”

The white house showed no signs of life even as they approached the yard. Anna knocked on the door first.

Knock, knock.

“Hellooo. It’s the Special Forces. Is Mr. Mandolo’s daughter here?”

There was no answer. Anna didn’t give up and spoke again.

“Mr. Mandolo told us about the situation in this village, so we came to check on you. Would you please open the door? Mr. Mandolo also gave us a letter for you.”

Everyone waited for even the smallest response. Eventually, after a few minutes, the door opened just a crack.

A gaunt woman peered through the opening. Her eyes were full of wariness.

“Here, this is a letter.”

Anna calmly handed over the letter, and the woman snatched it, tearing open the envelope with trembling hands.

Soon, tears began to flow over the words of the letter, soaking her parched face.

“Hng, hng… Father….”

“May we come in?”

Graine asked impatiently. The woman nodded with trembling lips.

The five Special Forces members and four students entered the house, filling it to capacity. Despite the chaos outside, the inside of the house was clean.

The woman kept stroking the letter before disappearing into the kitchen and returning with something.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have much to offer….”

What the woman brought out was just water with a handful of grains boiled in it.

Seeing her bony hands, Daloise rummaged through the luggage at his side and pulled out dried meat and dried fruit.

“Eat this. It’s… it’s delicious.”

Daloise barely managed to say those words before clamping his mouth shut again. The woman with prominent cheekbones smiled faintly.

Meanwhile, the door inside was slightly opened and then closed. It seemed someone was inside.

When Vanessa looked over there, the woman whispered.

“That’s my husband. He’s in there with our child…. It’s difficult if the baby cries.”

“Are monsters sensitive to sound?”

“I don’t know about during the day, but they definitely are at night.”

The woman blinked her sunken eyes. Her fingers were still stroking the letter.

“Exactly when did the monsters start appearing?”

“It’s been about two months. The village was sealed off about a month ago.”

“Have you ever seen a monster?”

“I’ve never seen one. Everyone stays locked up at home, trying not to see them.”

“Why?”

“Because people who saw the monsters died quietly, as if offering themselves. Even the big, burly guy who was a soldier, and the blacksmith. There were no signs of resistance. Not even screams.”

The woman murmured.

“Only the sound of bones and flesh being chewed.”

After telling them this, the woman excused herself to make room for the Special Forces members and disappeared into the inner room. The sound of a baby whimpering was faintly heard through the crack in the door, but it soon faded.

“Looks like they have a special ability.”

Gideon said in a tired voice. Andalus also sighed.

“Yes. The problem is that there seems to be more than one.”

Fortunately, the woman said they could borrow her house. It was small, but enough to accommodate the luggage of nine people.

Everyone left behind what they didn’t need and went back outside. Anyway, if the monsters weren’t infesting people, they had to search outside.

“She said they were mostly found dead at night, right?”

“Will all of them have the ability?”

“We can’t know.”

Just then, Vanessa, who had found something, stepped aside. Hisop shouted in surprise.

“Vanessa!”

Vanessa knelt beside a man lying on the street and whispered something. At the same time, white light began to pour from her fingertips. Hisop quickly ran to her side.

The edges of the chewed wounds began to heal in the warm light. It was very slow, but it was working. Healing magic only worked on living people.

The man was alive.

“He’s alive? Will he be okay?”

Evan asked anxiously, but everyone was too focused to answer.

“Vanessa, control the flow. Make it weaker but spread it wider. Very slowly.”

Hisop murmured. Sweat formed on Vanessa’s forehead as she struggled to reduce the amount of magic. As Hisop joined in, the large wounds on the surface began to heal almost completely.

Andalus raised his hand over the man’s forehead, and the man who had been lying there suddenly opened his eyes.

The man slowly opened his mouth.

“Are you okay?”

Vanessa asked hesitantly. Bloodshot and wide eyes met hers. The man’s mouth opened wide.

“Aaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaack!”

Gideon quickly pulled Vanessa away. The man’s hand missed Vanessa and grabbed at the air. Gideon hugged Vanessa, completely covering her eyes.

“Ah, aack! Aaaaa, it hurts, aaaaaack!”

At the continued screams, Hisop gestured for Gideon to cover Vanessa’s ears as well, so Gideon covered Vanessa’s ears completely.

Vanessa turned pale.

What had she done wrong? Was there a mistake in the healing magic? Had it not healed properly?

“Of course it hurts. You opened your eyes so impatiently when only the surface has healed.”

Hisop calmly tried to lift the man, but the man thrashed wildly.

“Let go, let goooo!”

“Good grief.”

Graine restrained the man and lifted him up. The man gasped and began to cry.

“Save me, please… save me….”

“We’re saving you. Where is your house?”

“Hng, hng, haaaaa….”

“Hey, where is your house!”

Anna shouted, and the man trembled and said.

“Th, there, green roof, bu… Ah, it hurts! It hurts!”

The man pushed Graine away violently. After pushing him, he fell over again on his own. Blood seeped out as if the wound had reopened. Hisop grumbled.

“You’re very strong. How long have you been lying here?”

“Aaaaaaa-aaaaaaa…”

Gideon took his hand away from Vanessa’s ears, but Vanessa’s lips were still pale.

Gideon took Vanessa’s hand and slowly massaged it. Her pale fingertips slowly began to regain color in his large, warm hands.

“Healing magic is more effective on external wounds first, so if the internal damage is severe, they often suffer like that even after regaining consciousness.”

“I… did I use my power wrong? I’m not very good at healing magic, and I 괜히… [unnecessarily/in vain].”

As Vanessa whispered, Gideon cut her off sharply.

“That’s not it. It also depends on what you saw right before you closed your eyes. In that person’s case, it would have been a monster….”

“Vanessa, were you surprised? It’s common, but many people are shocked when they experience it for the first time. They feel like they did something wrong.”

Hisop wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled.

“You did well. I’ve met the best intern.”

“Our Moshwi is the biggest, but what’s going on here?”

Graine said leisurely, and Moshwi wondered if he should lift the man’s legs. Andalus shook his head.

Evan glanced at Gideon and spoke to Vanessa.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah….”

Vanessa answered weakly. Evan took out a canteen and handed it to her.

“Drink some.”

Gideon let go of her hand, and Vanessa took the canteen. Vanessa slowly quenched her thirst.

“Thank you.”

Evan subtly moved closer to Vanessa. Strangely, it felt like the Special Forces captain was taking care of Vanessa.