197 – EP.34.5 After the flashback
It’s warm. The feeling that the whole body is surrounded by warmth.
But it was different from the warmth of Lumadia that I felt in the past.
Her hands holding my body didn’t belong to her, and her scent didn’t match either.
There were very few similarities, but the only thing that resembled Lumadia was that it reassured me.
“Thank you, Yata.”
“…… Did you manage to notice without even opening your eyes?”
She is the only one who smells like a freshly dried blanket.
Furthermore, Yata was nearby the moment I consumed the marble, and I thought that Yata’s personality would accurately predict the moment I would wake up and come to meet her first.
‘I never expected that she would just hug me as soon as I woke up.’
I could understand Yata’s actions now.
Because it was Yata, not anyone else, who informed me in advance that I would be madly in pain when I woke up.
Perhaps he hugged me to ease my pain as much as possible.
“Thank you for your concern. But I’m really fine It hurts a little bit, but it’s bearable.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Thank God…. At least it looks like you’re not haunted by the past.”
“Huh? What do you mean by being obsessed with the past?”
“Among the futures I saw, there were futures where Nanggun refused to escape from the past or drew his mind from the past. If such a future had come, Nanggun would live in a coma for the rest of his life or become an infantile regression.”
That word gave me a little goosebumps.
The future that can never happen is scary, but the imagination that I would occupy my grown-up body was even more bizarre and terrifying.
“Sorry, I made you worry because of my greed.”
“It’s okay. Now that I know that the Prince in front of me is safe, that’s enough for me.”
Yata waved his hand and laughed lightly.
After a while, she gently grabbed my hand and brought it to her own cheek.
She must mean that this time she wants to get some warmth from me herself.
“Nang-kun, thank you for coming back safely. And if you want to cry, you can cry in my arms. That doesn’t mean the wound will heal completely, but I hope that even a little bit of that burden will be lessened on me. Because I am Nanggun’s pet.”
“…… Huh. I will,”
As Yata said, I couldn’t change my once pierced heart to a normal state.
However, instead of that, I was able to fill my empty heart for a while with the warmth I received from my current pet.
The effect won’t last very long, but at least I didn’t feel any pain while the warmth stayed in my heart.
“Yata, there are so many things I want to ask you, can you tell me all of them?”
“Anything.”
“First of all, I’m asking the confirmation car before the full-scale question, but do you know about the past that I lost?”
“Of course. Thanks to Nanggun’s recovery of the past, the opaque future has finally become clearer. So now I can understand why Nanggun is suffering.”
Shortly, Yata added that I was acting as a link between the forgotten past and reality.
It means that I, who have seen the past, is here, so I can check the future that Yata couldn’t observe.
I guess it doesn’t matter if you don’t tell Yata about Lumadia.
“Then I’ll cut it down and ask you. I want you to tell me everything about these two divine beasts, Rumadia and Aseus.”
“First of all, unfortunately, it is difficult for me to tell you about Lumadia. Just because Nanggun recovered her past, the traces of her that were erased will not return or disappear. To put it simply, the only traces of Lumadia left in the world are the past of Nanggun.”
“I see… ….”
It meant that if I disappeared, Rumadia would be completely forgotten by the world.
I will do anything to stop such a thing.
“On the other hand, I know a lot about the divine beast named Aseus.”
“… ….Tell me all the information you know.”
“Okay. Before that, would it be okay to have some coffee to lightly quench your throat?”
When she lightly nodded that it didn’t matter, Yata sat down on the chair in front of her table.
Then she grinned and tilted her head toward the door behind her.
“I say so. I’ll do you a favor, Cor.”
“Ah! Yes… !”
Cor’s voice flowed through the gap in the slightly open door.
In addition, it was confirmed that Tia was also looking at the room through the crack in the door.
I gestured lightly for her to come in, and Tia burst open her door and she ran towards me.
She jumped high and landed precisely on her and her lap, Tia clinging to me like her leech.
She then pushed her head toward me, so she must mean to be stroked.
Upon request, I put my palm on her and lightly swipe it down, and I heard a gentle laugh.
“Come to think of it, how much time did the real time pass while I was reminiscing about the past?”
“One hour!”
Tia boldly answered my question on behalf of Yata.
“One hour? It didn’t take as long as I thought.”
I stayed in the past for 15 days, but only 1 hour had passed in reality, so it was concluded that 1 hour in the past is 10 seconds in reality.
The flow of time was a bit draining.
But why were Cor and Tia worried about me?
It’s only been an hour.
“Can you tell me why?”
“Yes.”
Yata, who read my thoughts through the future, looked at me and smiled meaningfully.
She was uneasy, but curious, so she nodded her head.
“Because I was dead for a while during that hour.”
“…… Ok?”
“In other words, for about an hour after Nang-gun consumed the beads, Nang-gun was in a corpse state. A corpse that was just breathing.”
“My, I was a corpse… ?”
“Yes, due to that influence, the ties between Nanggun and his companion divine beasts were severed, and of course, the marks engraved on our bodies disappeared for a while. It was to the point that all the divine beasts stopped what they were doing and flocked to the place where Nanggun was.”
“Ah… That’s why Tia became like this.”
I lowered my head and stared at Tia, who was below.
Tia is holding my waist tight and in the immovable cicada posture.
I’ve only seen Tia like this once in the past.
When I was about to die fighting Shinsoo Docheol, Tia at that time clung to me just like now and was very angry.
I still remember Tia who was angry with her tear-stained face because it was impressive.
However, this time he didn’t cry or get angry, he looked slightly sarcastic.
“There was a great uproar because of the sudden death of Nanggun. Tia was almost on the verge of crying, and the other divine beasts also rushed at the lying Nanggun in contemplation.”
“How did you fix that?”
“Somehow, I explained it in a well-coordinated way while sweating. I mean there’s nothing wrong with you.”
“Sorry. You really made me suffer because of me.”
“Since I’m fine, soothe the other priests.”
“Okay.”
I never thought that I would be dead during my flashbacks.
I deserve an apology for causing trouble to my precious companion animals by worrying about me.
As soon as the story with Yatawa is over, I will go to each one and ask for forgiveness.
“Ah, by the way, be careful when meeting a fox. I explained it to the point where he didn’t even listen and even came up with the idea of destroying Nang-gun’s intact heart and making a new one to save him.”
“…… I’ll keep that in mind.”
It seems that you can be forgiven only when you turn around with your head on the ground.
“I brought you coffee here… !”
“Thank you.”
A cup of coffee placed in front of Yata.
Afterward, Cor handed me a cup of warm citron tea.
At her kindness, I nodded her head in gratitude and apology, and Cor waved her hand and said it was okay.
I was a grateful companion wolf who always understood me and accepted me kindly.
“So what was I supposed to tell you?”
“Information about Aseus.”
“Ah, right! That said, I’ll let you know again tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Sadly it times out.”
With her own mouth tinkling, Yata took her coffee cup and rose from her seat.
And then he really turned his back and wanted to leave.
As I was about to ask what time-out meant, Tia, who was on my lap, also fell off me.
For some reason, even Tia acted like that, and the conversation went cold.
“Nang-kun, aren’t you curious why only Alice’s figure is not visible when all the other divine beasts are here?”
“Now that I think about it, where is Alice?”
“I mean Alice. She was acting as a temporary deterrent to the monster until Nanggun woke up. But it seems she couldn’t stop it any longer.”
“Monster… ?”
Kuung kuung kuung-!
At that time, the sound of shaking the ground came from outside.
Something approaching this place, emitting a terrifying atmosphere with a roar.
The moment I swallowed my saliva out of tension.
Kwaang-!
My door was smashed, revealing the identity of a man with tremendous spirit.
Nine wagging tails, golden hair, a bewitching appearance and a ferocious expression that contrasts with the figure.
My body began to tremble.
“I heard that Mr. Seo has awakened. Where is he?”
At that word, all the pets stood aside as if they had been concocted.
Something is wrong with this.
“You are definitely alive and moving. But I still can’t believe that Mr. Seo is still alive. Unless you try it yourself…… !”
“Mi, Miho? I’m alive and well… !”
“Everyone, please leave. From now on, I will personally determine if Seo Bang-nim is still alive.”
While the others in the room went out without saying a word, the golden fox began to take off her clothes layer by layer.
It was only then that I realized what Yata meant by timeout.
“Then Seobangnim, let’s go now to the room of truth… ♡”
“Oh! Ah… !”
Isn’t this the warmth I was looking for?