“Wow, this place is so much bigger than the last place I went.”
Han Soo-young, who came out to buy things with me, stuck out his tongue.
As she said, the city we stopped at was large, complex, and crowded with many people.
It was not even comparable to the modern city where he had lived many times in his original time zone.
“I know. They really sell everything.”
I mumbled as I looked around.
This world was in a very different time zone from the world I originally lived in, so just because it was 300 years ago doesn’t mean it was outdated or far behind in science and technology.
If I had to express it, I would say that it feels similar to the generation before I was born.
“By the way, Jihyuk-ah.”
“yes.”
“What happened to Milited?”
“I would not have died.”
She nodded in anticipation of my answer.
“Is that so too? Slimes are naturally tough. That guy is a giant slime, so it must be tougher.”
Sbangali burst into laughter at her words.
Uh-huh, uh-huh-huh! The sound of his laughter, which made him laugh out loud, was very loud, but I just let him laugh as he pleases.
“If everything goes according to plan, we can go back in at least a month.”
“Hopefully, we can go back sooner.”
“I am very worried about the children.”
“I know.”
She giggled and burst into laughter.
“How much time has passed? It’s just been 10 years, isn’t it?”
“… Then it’s a bit of a big deal.”
“Ahaha!”
She burst out laughing at my reaction to shaking her head slightly.
And then the response was, what the hell is that, and slapped me on the forearm.
“I’m also worried about Hyunwoo and Master, Yeeun and Yeseul… And Yuna must be half crazy about Jihyuk because of you.”
“… yes.”
“Ivan… a little worried Are the wounds okay?”
“I will. There are only a few experts out there.”
“I want to see everyone. Even that… Was it Ahn Do-hoon? I think it would be nice to see him too.”
Those were the names I missed.
As I recited their names once, I became even more depressed than I thought for a moment and surprised myself.
I’ve only been away for less than a month, but they seem to have been a bigger part of me than I expected.
“When you go back.”
“yes?”
“What are you going to do when you get back?”
I answered her question casually.
“Well, for now, we need to find Venus and Juno, who will leave it sealed here first. and… .”
“I didn’t ask that.”
Han Soo-young muttered quietly.
I stopped talking and looked at her.
She was deliberately looking elsewhere without making eye contact with me.
Her hands were shaking helplessly, with nowhere to go.
“If you go back to the real world you lived in.”
“… … .”
“What are you going to do?”
I closed my mouth.
Then, as she lost her place to go and was lost, her hand carefully grabbed my hand.
She naturally interlocked and gave strength to the hand that was holding my hand.
It’s like I won’t let you run away.
“Hey, Jihyuk.”
“yes”
“that… . If I don’t go, I can’t… ?”
“… … .”
I couldn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know what to answer her.
No, I didn’t even know what I wanted to answer myself.
As the silence grew longer, the strength in her hand that was holding my hand gradually grew stronger.
As if she would never let go, as if she would never let go, her hand that had been holding on to her suddenly swung away.
“Ah, what is it? What are you taking so seriously?”
She looked at me and smiled playfully.
“It was a joke, a joke. Jihyuk, do you really have no gag sense? You don’t take jokes like this lightly because you only like gags, you idiot.”
She burst into laughter in a cheerful voice, then quickly swung and grabbed my wrist and pulled me in.
I could only see her back as she strode forward.
“let’s hurry. There are so many things to buy. I have to buy food, I have to buy a backpack and clothes… .”
“Wait, wait. swimming.”
“yes?”
Then I stopped her walking.
Then he gently grabbed her hand and walked towards a little distance from the roadside.
“Jihyuk?”
“Isn’t this pretty?”
Saying that, he pointed to the trinkets sold on the street.
It was characteristic of the unusual pattern that I had seen for the first time, but it was selling special items, starting with earrings and necklaces, on a stand.
“I’ll buy you one.”
“Uh, I’m fine… .”
“I’ll buy you.”
As I said holding my hand, she stared at me.
“So Sooyoung, will you buy me one too?”
“… … .”
She nodded without a word.
After staring at the trinkets on the kiosk for a long time, she picked out two small trinkets.
It was a small ornament like a key chain.
“Come here.”
He quietly bowed his head at her gestures.
She soon skillfully threaded the ornament into the string of the pendant hanging from my neck and held out the other one to me.
“Come on, me too.”
Grasping her hair with one hand, she reached out to me.
I also put the jewelry on the necklace hanging from her neck.
“… therefore.”
After paying the price, she was looking at me with a strange look.
“What else is this?”
“What are you doing?”
“That’s right. Suddenly it’s a gift… Jihyuk is already overflowing with the things he received from you.”
“Just a guarantee?”
“guarantee?”
Seeing her tilting her head, she smiled slightly.
“A guarantee that even if I ever get to go back, I will never tell you, especially Sooyoung, that I will never feel betrayed as much as you.”
“… … .”
“look. It’s a two-way contract, so it can’t be softened anymore.”
With a smile and a joke, she silently fiddled with the jewelry hanging from her necklace. With a sullen expression on her face, she grumbled a little.
“Well, I mean… .”
“Isn’t that my charm?”
“Hey, damn it.”
With those words, she slapped me on the forearm once more, but unlike before, she was full of energy, and she screamed without realizing it.
“Ah! Hey, what if I hit you with emotion? It really hurts!”
“Oh, what? Were you beaten with power? So, it’s tough!”
“Hey, it’s tough… .”
As she was muttering absurdly, she licked her lips once and whispered.
“… If you break the contract at will, I really won’t let you go.”
After saying that, she smirked and turned her head.
I followed her silently, stroking my forearm.
how far did you walk
“ah.”
“what’s the matter?”
She nodded as if she had finally remembered what she had forgotten.
“If it goes back like this, Ner… No, now Minervage. Anyway, I want to be pissed off.”
“… What do you see Minerva as?”
She stuck out her tongue in response to the absurd question.
“At least I know that Jihyuk is obsessed with you. Anyway, I don’t know if I’ll feel really bad if I get a present and go back, right?”
Having said that, she said to me as if everything went well.
“I think you should buy a present for Minerva.”
I nodded my head involuntarily at her suggestion.
Then, suddenly, as if possessed by something, he turned his head away.
“That… .”
A woman in a fancy dress had just passed us by.
There was only one present for her.
* * *
He left early in the morning and returned near sunset, but Minerva was still sleeping curled up.
Seeing this, Han Soo-young smiled bitterly as if to see it.
Then he slapped me on the shoulder and muttered in a cold voice.
“Mr. Yoo Ji-hyeok, who treats people discriminatory, will you come right away?”
“no. swimming.”
She still had a smile that didn’t look like a smile.
Then he slowly shook his head and pushed me once more.
I looked at her as if why was she doing this, and she looked at me with a beautiful smile.
The eyes weren’t smiling at all.
Then, Minerva woke up to the sound of whispers.
At that sound, Han Soo-young let out a small sigh and touched my shoulder.
“… Stop joking around and go.”
I nodded silently and walked over to Minerva.
When she woke up, she suddenly raised her head and stared at him.
[You’re late.]
“yes. The town was a little farther than I thought.”
[…] It was the moment when I was thinking whether or not to chase after him, wondering if he had run away.]
“haha.”
I smiled and sat down moderately across the rock.
Then he took out the gift he had bought for her from the box he was holding.
It was a black dress to match her hair.
[that… It’s human clothing.]
“What, you know?”
[How stupid do you think you are.]
Minerva sniffed, snorted and muttered.
[It doesn’t look too cumbersome. I’d rather the clothes you wear be strong and efficient… Isn’t the reason people with soft skin wear clothes to protect their bodies? What the hell are you going to use that fuzzy, cumbersome piece of cloth for?]
“uh… Minerva When you were human. I thought it would match the look of you back then. So I brought it as if I was possessed without knowing it.”
[…] … .]
I couldn’t hide my embarrassment because I didn’t know how to spit out such a bad review.
Minerva took turns looking at me and the dress without saying a word.
“… Don’t you like it that much?”
After being silent for a while, she finally opened her mouth.
[…] And it was said that humans also wear clothes for the purpose of showing off to others, like birds showing off their feathers. In that sense, the clothes you are holding can serve their purpose well enough.]
Saying so, she slowly turned her head.
[If you change into a human form, don’t let me be willing to wear it. … I don’t know if it will be possible.]
First of all, she put the dress back into the box.
As she stared at me like that, she opened her mouth again.
[Come to think of it.]
She asked me quietly and, to my surprise, looking into my eyes.
[I told you that you have a sister.]
“uh. It did.”
[How does it feel to have brothers and sisters?]
“What?”
I didn’t know she would ask such a question, so I turned my head and looked at her.
[This woman is… This is because all Seven Evil species, including the main woman, do not exist. She, who was alone since birth, didn’t know what it felt like, and she didn’t want to know. but… Ever since I met you, such a question has been lingering in my head and I don’t know how to leave.]
Minerva asked me quietly.
[Can you tell me the story?]
“… Could it be a little longer?”
[It doesn’t matter. So tell your maiden about you.]
Minerva nodded.
[Unlike you, the flow of time has nothing to do with the real woman. … No, it’s not like that anymore.]
I shrugged at the sight of Minerva smiling lightly.
And he spoke silently to Sooyoung, who was watching this side.
‘I think I’ll be late.’
Then, with her arms crossed, she pouted her lips and answered.
‘I knew.’
In response to her answer, I sat on a rock and quietly raised my head and looked into her bright red eyes.
“Then, what shall we talk about? okay. My younger sister is called Yoo Ji-na… .”
So I slowly started talking to her about me and my family.
Talk about the friends and colleagues you met in this world.
* * *
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One day was not enough to tell all the stories.
Two and three days passed, and Minerva did not stop listening to me.
Suddenly, Sooyoung also sat with her and listened to what I had to say.
And on the fourth day.
As usual, I fell asleep while talking and woke up startled by the sound of a shriek.
A woman with long dark hair stood in front of her.
“Ahhh… !!!”
The woman with horns and a tail fluttered her black, straight hair and grabbed me with both hands with a look of excitement.
“Look, look! Look at this, darling! It’s a human body, I fell asleep with you and then woke up thinking something was strange. !”
Minerva, who had exclaimed in excitement, asked me with a puzzled look.
“Then why do you keep closing your eyes, dear? Aren’t you awake yet?”
Then, Sooyoung, who woke up from a nap just like me, said in a tired voice.
“Minerva… If you want Jihyuk to open his eyes, first put on his clothes.”
… Four turbulent days have passed.
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On the fifth day, we headed to the place where Venus was hiding, and it was only two more days before we arrived.
Finally we reached the desert.