“Eat slowly, a little… I won’t steal it.”
Ivan mumbled that in a voice that looked like he had given up halfway.
He sat next to Belluna and skillfully wiped the dirt off her cheek and mouth with a handkerchief.
“Yeah, uh-huh.”
Belluna nodded innocently and put the food I had bought into her mouth.
I thought she was going to devour the food until she rushed to the table and ripped open all the wrapping paper.
But she could only taste little by little, gracefully, like the nobles from old movies.
“Okay, very good.”
She mumbled the squid and muttered in an excited voice.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been treated like this. It’s a tribute, how long does it take to receive it!”
Belluna was a high spirit of the wind who had lived for a very long time.
And, long ago, she was even held up as the god of wind in a certain area.
I don’t know much about the spirits, but at least I remembered clearly what was described in the description of Belluna, ‘Being revered as a god and becoming an object of faith, I gained the power to be different from other spirits.’
So, I thought that the tribute would have a lot of meaning to her, but fortunately, it seems that it was the correct answer.
“Uhhh. ok i like it Really, um um.”
She started humming to the point of feeling really good.
Then he looked at me and took something out of his arms in a hurry.
It was a seal with the old tiger picture.
“Come on, I’ll give you an euhung stamp to mean it’s unique.”
“thank you.”
I immediately reached out and got a second stamp.
So, I have eight Ivans, and I have two.
Ten of them gathered like this.
“Belluna-san, you said that if ten gather, you would grant one wish, didn’t you?”
“It did. Oh my, have you already collected all ten?”
“It’s not… Together with Ivan, there are only ten.”
At those words, Belluna tilted her head as if thinking deeply.
“Well… This never happened, okay. Together, we can count on ten! Instead, I will grant only one wish, whose wish will I grant?”
I took a step forward and she took turns looking at me and Ivan.
And still, he asked, staring at him with incomprehensible eyes.
“What wish will you grant me? Will you kill the leader of a country? Or will you rescue the treasures that lie in the deep sea? Otherwise… .”
“Minerva.”
Belluna heard the name and stopped talking.
“In a few days, there will be a great battle to subdue Minerva. Then give me strength.”
she giggled and laughed.
And he was so cute, he looked at me and muttered as if he wanted to bite me to death.
“Hey, you ate one. You’ll be beaten by a child who doesn’t live a hundred years. I would have laughed at the me of yesterday.”
“… … .”
“I hope you will rip off the spirit. If you were born as a spirit, you would be a really good spirit… … Would you like me to turn you into a spirit even now?”
Her fingers slowly moved towards my forehead.
It was Ivan who stepped forward as if protecting me.
“mother.”
“… It was just a joke, son. Don’t make that face.”
[That spirit, do you know that I was seriously trying to kill you right now?]
I nodded my head slightly.
Belluna still had a terrifying smile.
“Ugh, it’s ugly to keep doing this… I can’t help it. A promise is a promise.”
She muttered and nodded her head.
“Okay, as you wish, when you attack Minerva, I will appear on the spot and give you strength. Instead, I have to be there and if I think I’m going to die, I’ll run away without any regrets. Do you have any complaints?”
Belluna suddenly raised her hands and brought them close to her cheeks.
Then he said to me with a shriek.
“If you want to improve your treatment, please collect ten more Eheung Stamps. Instead, you will be filmed after going through a rigorous screening process.”
“No, that is enough.”
I bowed my head to her.
“Thanks for your help, Belluna. I will offer another tribute later, so will you please?”
“… hmm. If you get hit twice, you’re stupid. I am not stupid.”
“I have no intentions whatsoever. It’s okay if you don’t stamp it. It’s just a way to show my respect.”
“Uhm, then what… .”
She nodded and shook her head as if her anger had quickly subsided.
She got up from her chair and waved her hand to me.
“Well then, as you promised, pay the tribute again later. And don’t worry about the appointment. Because promises are more important to us than anything else.”
She added that she seemed to have forgotten as she walked with her back to us.
“And speaking of potato chips, I would appreciate it if you could try spicy chili instead of barbecue next time!”
At the end of it, she literally became the wind and flew away.
Ivan looked at him and muttered in a low voice.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen a crazy person like you.”
“Thank you.”
“This is not a madman in the sense of admiration, you madman.”
Ivan exhaled in a nonsensical voice and then let out a small sigh.
“Uh-huh, I’m glad it turned out well anyway. Rather, my mother reacts like that… This has been my second time, so what the hell is Minerva?”
“ah.”
Come to think of it, I haven’t explained it properly to Ivan yet.
After thinking for a while, I said to him.
“… I’ll explain later, not now. I was just trying to explain it properly in front of the kids anyway.”
“It seems like a very important thing to say.”
“It’s very important.”
Ivan looked at me for a moment and then nodded.
“Yeah, then. After all, we all decided to leave for Yuna’s house in a little while… Are you going to go there and talk?”
“right. Thank you for understanding.”
“What are you thankful for… .”
He smiled and tapped my shoulder.
“Then shall I go first? I took them all, but just in case I didn’t know, I’m going to check again to see if there’s anything I didn’t bring.”
“Okay, see you at the promised place. Are you coming out late?”
“Did you see I was late for my appointment?”
With those words, Ivan walked towards the dormitory.
In my case, I didn’t have to prepare much because I left all my belongings in the waiting room that I had already set up for my appointment.
The appointment time is short, so should I go ahead and wait?
With that thought in mind, Sbangali opened her mouth as she moved.
[You’ve done enough. It would be difficult to scrape it like this.]
It was as he said.
ten ten.
Hyunhwa Nam and her colleagues.
And Belluna.
No more powerful forces or people could come to mind.
The presence of Lydia and Red Case passed by at first glance, but I immediately shook my head.
Bringing them along was because the harms outweighed the benefits.
The Red Case, led by Lydia, was overwhelmingly lacking in combatants.
Without going too far, Lydia and Esmeralda are not fighters, are they?
There, they were known as a criminal group to the extent that they would not be held legally responsible even if they were killed on the spot.
Above all, they had to do something else later, so it was very inefficient to consume them in this way.
In fact, when Hyunhwa Nam and Belluna were together, even if there was a red case, it would have been a hindrance.
“Yeah, I did enough.”
There, the Aegis system was still maintained until now.
This was a very big fact.
In fact, when I asked Lee Myung-joon as if passing by, he said that he would go and check it himself at regular intervals, so there was no need to worry.
“First of all, take a break for a while to reorganize and refine your operations… Most of all, I have to explain it properly to the kids.”
[If that’s your choice, I won’t stop you.]
“Something sounds like a curse.”
[No way. Your mental stability is directly related to my survival, so I just hope things go well.]
Hearing his words, I slammed the waiting room door open.
Then, where my luggage was placed, to be precise, Han Soo-young, who was standing in front of the fish tank, stepped back in surprise.
The sight of that made my eyes narrow.
“You must be swimming… .”
“Oh, no! You didn’t really do anything!”
She hurriedly waved her hand and screamed in shame.
Recalling that he had heard that the fish had something enchanted, Svengali opened her mouth with a sigh.
[Really. I didn’t do anything. Whether it was just before she did it, or whether he or she had no will to do it, only she would know.]
Hearing those words, he slowly approached Han Soo-young’s side.
She and I were the only two in the spacious waiting room.
Han Soo-young smiled and looked at the fish in the mobile tank.
“Did you take good care of me?”
“yes?”
“Look, your stomach is very chubby.”
“Ahh.”
I nodded and matched her words.
“He ate very well.”
“Oh, I can’t give it to you like that. The fish will eat whatever they give you. Especially since he is a very good eater, you have to be more careful.”
“He really did.”
Nodding my head, I let out what had happened before without a second thought.
“Are you trying to eat my flesh too? Oops, I almost would bite my finger.”
“… What?”
At those words, Han Soo-young immediately stared at the fish with sharp eyes.
After having a snowball fight with the fish for a while, she quietly opened her mouth.
“Jihyuk-ah, it looks like he has gained so much weight that it’s good to eat… .”
“Sooyoung… .”
“It’s a joke, a joke.”
She giggled and burst into laughter.
It was when the two of them were silently staring at the fish swimming in the tank for a long time.
tock tock.
Han Soo-young carefully placed her hand halfway over the back of my hand and tapped it like a knock with her fingers.
“This time.”
“yes.”
“Did I say Minerva?”
“It did.”
“… Is it really that dangerous?”
“right.”
I nodded.
She was wise and diligent, so she’s probably asking me this after I’ve done all my research on Minerva.
“It’s dangerous enough that I want to go alone, leaving you all alone if possible.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m really not going to be alone.”
For a moment, I asked her this without realizing it.
“What are you going to do if you don’t stay still?”
Jihyuk will kill you, or he will surely chase you and punish you.
As she expected these words, she uttered something truly unexpected.
“I will cry.”
“… What?”
“I’m going to cry.”
she muttered quietly.
“I won’t eat anything for a week or so, and I’ll just sit there and cry until I can’t move. Even if you come to me in good health, I will continue to cry. Even if I get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness, I will continue to cry. Even if all the moisture is drained from my body through tears and I become like a mummy, I will continue to cry.”
“… … .”
After imagining it for a moment, I immediately shook my head.
“It’s scary. It scares me more than you say that you will come to kill me.”
“right?”
Han Soo-young looked at me with a frown and smiled like a child.
“So why not do that?”
“It should be. Because I don’t want to die from the elderly and Hyeonu. … Most of all, I don’t want to see you cry.”
“Hi-Hi.”
She looked at me and smiled at her smiling face.
And we turned our heads at about the same time, as if we had promised, and looked at the tank again.
When I looked at the tank without saying a word for a long time like that.
This time too, Han Soo-young tapped and touched the back of my hand.
“Ji-hyuk.”
“yes.”
“That’s what happened in your original world… .”
She glanced at me with a squint and opened her mouth.
“I know you are older than me… At least you’re the same age as me right now, aren’t you?”
“Well… Perhaps it is.”
Because it was written that way in my personal information that I first checked in this world.
While thinking that, Han Soo-young nodded her head.
“How was your birthday, Jihyuk?”
“March 22.”
“Five months ahead of me.”
Then, Jihyuk, you will become an adult 5 months before me.
She muttered so blankly.
“But why all of a sudden… ?!”
Suddenly, Han Soo-young came closer.
Soon after, she felt her hand clasping the back of her head as she pressed something against her lips.
I could feel her breath in front of my nose, and for a moment a sweet smell came out.
[Five.]
Sbangali exclaimed with admiration and began to applaud with her mouth.
“… Next up.”
After a while, Han Soo-young, who moved away from me, spoke quietly, but in a voice that seemed to bear the shame.
She grinned and carefully wiped the corners of her mouth, looking at the tank.
“Next time, let’s both become adults.”
So, will you first become an adult and wait for me?
Han Soo-young, who muttered like that, put her hand on the back of my hand as if not to worry.
“it’s okay.”
“… … .”
“Okay, really. I’m not just saying that. Jihyuk, you can do well this time too. Like it was last time and last time. It will be difficult, but I will be able to do it again this time.”
Her hands were small and soft.
And it was surprisingly warm, and it was loaded with indescribable but irresistible power.
I was surprisingly reassured by that small act.
“… … .”
i trust you
I could feel the worries and anxieties that had been corroding her heart melt away like snow melted at her words.
Then, I suddenly remembered the words Nam Hyeon-hwa had told me.
worthy enough
It was inevitable that I would have doubts.
Does a guy like me really, really deserve the trust and favor of a child like this?
Are you really okay with that?
That was when those thoughts began to bloom like a fungus beneath the roots of a tree.
[I’m really sorry for saying things like this when the atmosphere is good, but… .]
take a look back
At Sbangali’s words, I blankly turned my head and looked back.
Han Soo-young also followed me and turned her head, and then she let out a gasp and swallowing sound.
“… … .”
“… … .”
“… … .”
Choi Hyun-woo and Lee Yu-na.
And Jin Ye-seul was standing there.
Choi Hyun-woo was making a half-liberated expression as if he was familiar with it.
Lee Yu-na’s face was so red that I thought I would get burned if someone touched it.
Jin Ye-seul just smiled.
“S, Master… .”
Help me.
Han Soo-young muttered quietly.
Jin Ye-seul just quietly beckoned Choi Hyun-woo and Lee Yu-na to get out.
She was still smiling.