Gaiden ― Later story (12)
Laune looked up at Yoo Ji-hyuk, crying while holding glass cups in both hands.
He now owns what she brings… It was because he was shocked by his words that he could not drink the liquid in the glass.
Yoo Ji-hyuk wanted to cry as well.
“… … ?!”
Laune continued to hold out the cup to Yoo Ji-hyeok with an expression that seemed to not understand the English language.
He refused to accept it and told her in a friendly voice.
“Raune, thank you so much for this, but now I am… I can’t drink. No, you can’t drink it. It’s not that I hated you or anything like that, so please understand me, okay?”
“… … ? … … ??”
Raune shook her head as if she didn’t know what to say.
It was something she had been doing on a regular basis, because it symbolized and confirmed the deep bond between the two.
For Laune, the words just before were as shocking as Yoo Ji-hyuk saying that he would cut off his relationship with her.
In such a situation, Belluna, who had been flirting with her, seemed to laugh out loud and intervened between the two with a cough.
“Ugh. Comrades, would you like to talk to me for a moment?”
She skillfully began to persuade Laune.
There is something to be wary of about how to live in the future, and the safety of Laune as well as the people around him is at stake, and above all, it is an important secret only for the spirits, so we have to talk about it alone… It was a very suspicious story no matter who heard it, but it had a strange persuasive power.
In the end, Laune, who was listening to her story, had no choice but to nod her head as if she understood.
Belluna sent a signal to Yoo Ji-hyuk at that moment.
It was when he was relieved and grateful for her signal to act quickly when he was away.
“… … .”
“yes?”
“… … .”
“Aha, yes.”
She looked at Yoo Ji-hyuk with a slightly surprised expression on her face.
“You’re supposed to drink after you come back, Yoo Ji-hyuk.”
Laune nodded her head as if not to worry and opened her mouth.
“… … !”
“If it’s empty, I’ll bring you a new one, so don’t worry.”
After leaving those words, the two left, and Yoo Ji-hyuk looked at Han Soo-young, Lee Ye-eun, and Yoo Ji-na with an expression of utter bewilderment.
“Save me.”
Eugene smiled brightly at his urgent request.
She looked at her brother, who secretly revealed her ugliness in front of others, with kind eyes.
“Why don’t you just close your eyes and drink?”
“Gina, you call that a horse, now?”
“Can’t we just replace it with something else?”
At Han Soo-young’s words, Yoo Ji-hyuk shook his head.
“It contains magical power, so if you change it clumsily, you will be found out quickly. After all, it contains the energy of the world tree… .”
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Of course, if it was Han Soo-young, she could use magic to imitate something similar enough.
However, as a spirit, Laune was very sensitive to magical powers, and above all else, time was running out.
In fact, it would have ended if he simply refused, but after seeing Raune’s crying face, it was his wish that he wanted to find another way if possible.
And Ye-eun Lee was not a cluttered person to miss such a sudden but certain opportunity.
“Hey there, Jihyuk.”
She gulped and swallowed, opening her mouth.
“I have a way, but… .”
* * *
In the huge tank, many fish were swimming in their own way.
Yoo Ji-hyuk sat quietly in his seat and looked up at the fish blankly.
He moved his eyes nonstop following the faint light shining in the dark space unique to the aquarium.
In fact, he preferred to watch these incessantly flaccid lights than to watch the fish.
He continued to move his eyes, paying attention to the movement of the light, which was changing every moment.
Yes, enough to ignore the gazes of passersby or the voices they hear.
“Oh, look at those kids.”
“You’re cute… They are siblings.”
“It seems that the younger sisters really like you. They both just stick together.”
“Puffy… Look at the boy’s face. I guess you really didn’t want to come. Are you ashamed?”
“They look so pretty. When I grow up, the boys will cry a little.”
“… … .”
He didn’t say anything.
Normally, it wouldn’t have been a bad sound, but at least it wasn’t the sound I wanted to hear now.
“… … ♪”
To his right was Laune, who was clinging to one another, hugging one arm, just in case he could escape.
Laune seemed to have more fun clinging to Yoo Ji-hyuk than watching fish or dim lights.
Looking at it, he thought he was more fortunate.
At least because it seemed certain that her mood was relieved.
“… … ?”
“Yeah, nothing. Laune. Isn’t the aquarium more fun than that?”
In response to Yoo Ji-hyuk’s question, Laune nodded.
“… … !”
“Yeah, I’m glad you did.”
Seeing Yoo Ji-hyeok saying that, Laune smiled wryly.
Yoo Ji-hyuk also looked at her at the same eye level as himself and smiled.
… okay.
Eye level is the same
He was now about the same age as Laune.
I don’t know if I should say it’s fortunate, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve experienced it, so I couldn’t be too embarrassed.
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Of course, this was caused by taking a potion created by Evangeline Lohengrin.
He almost sighed without realizing it, but when he realized that Laune was sitting right next to him, he just quietly caught his breath.
It was obvious that if he had sighed, Raune would be restless again and look at this side.
“Hmm.”
The girl sitting on the other side of Raune, to his left, coughed and fidgeted alternately between her head, buttocks and back, and blew out her nose as if she liked it.
“It is worthwhile to train hard. There are no traces of horns and tails left, so whoever sees her will be nothing more than an ordinary human child.”
As Yoo Ji-hyeok grew younger, Minerva didn’t seem to care at all.
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On the contrary, it seemed quite enjoyable to see her legs alternately swaying, which were shortened and did not even touch the floor.
“… … .”
Minerva glanced at Yoo Ji-hyuk and his interlocked hands, and then smiled wryly like Raune.
After a while, she muttered in a quiet voice to Yoo Ji-hyuk.
“Hey, darling.”
“yes?”
“As promised, you and your mother came to a fun place to play. It’s my first time visiting this aquarium, but it’s not bad. No, it’s rather fun.”
“okay? If so, I’m glad… .”
“Because, uh… … .”
Minerva, who was trying to spit out the words, ‘Maybe it’s because I’m with you’, was unable to utter a word out of shame, and just shook her legs.
“Is it really better than that?”
“What do you mean?”
“I was thinking, Minerva, I’ll go where you want to go, alone.”
“No, this is enough.”
Minerva shook his head at Yoo Ji-hyuk’s question and muttered.
“It’s even more surprising. I hope Mandragora becomes a human.”
In retrospect, she was also responsible for a surprising case similar to Laune, but he decided not to point it out.
“… … ?”
Laune quickly held out the pouch he was wearing around his neck, seeing his gaze on him.
The pouch contained a small water bottle.
Fortunately, what was inside was an ordinary drink.
“No, no. Laune. It’s okay, I’m not thirsty.”
“… … .”
At his refusal, Laune pouted and pursed her lips as if she was deeply disappointed.
Despite his seemingly insignificant appearance, he realized how much he had opened his heart to Laune.
“More than that, the body of a child like this… I never dreamed that I would experience something like this again.”
Minerva muttered, as if feeling something new.
“Didn’t you say you should be there at least until tomorrow?”
“That’s right. What the hell is this?”
At Minerva’s words, Yoo Ji-hyuk finally let out a sigh.
How did things turn out like this?
He quietly lifted his head and looked at the fish, still flabby and swimming helplessly.
It was because I still couldn’t understand why the situation had come to this.
He drank Evangeline’s medicine in front of Laune who returned and became a child.
Laune was bewildered by the sudden change, and Belluna said, ‘Maybe there was something wrong with the potion in the glass that my compatriots gave me.’
Fortunately, Laune no longer recommended ‘water’ to him, but he suddenly died of grass because he thought it was his fault for being young.
Then, as if waiting, Yeeun Lee came out.
She comforted Laune by telling Laune, ‘I’ve had a similar thing happen before, so don’t worry too much, but I know an expert on this kind of thing, so I’ll be able to fix it soon.’ Laune was able to regain her energy.
‘But Gina, why did she suddenly say that there?’
Yoo Ji-hyuk leaned against the backrest as if he still didn’t understand his brother’s sudden behavior.
The reason they had to come to the aquarium even though it was late in the afternoon was because of Eugene’s request.
She asked Yoo Ji-hyeok if he could go to the aquarium as promised, and at her earnest request, he had no choice but to accept her request.
At first, she said that everyone else should also call her, but she even added that it would be a nuisance to call anyone else, so let’s just go on our own.
Thanks to that, the only people who came to the aquarium were Lee Ye-eun and Han Soo-young, except for him, Yoo Ji-na, Laune, and Minerva.
‘I’m not the kind of kid who would act like that… .’
What kind of change of heart happened?
Feeling something unusual, he tried to have a conversation with Eugene, but each time she was contemplating something or deliberately avoided him.
In fact, she, who had been by her side up until recently, even took Han Soo-young and Lee Ye-eun and left her seat under the pretext of buying drinks.
[It’s been like that since you turned into a child. It was quite a shocking sight.]
Sbangali opened her mouth secretly, and Yoo Ji-hyuk nodded her head.
He himself was already aware of that.
But, what on earth did the change in his appearance to have touched the child?
It was in the midst of thinking so deeply.
“Well?”
Minerva tilted her head in a strange way.
After that, Laune also frowned, as if in a bad mood, and buried her face in Yoo Ji-hyuk’s arms as it was.
“what’s the matter?”
“no… Well. The maiden misunderstood I thought it was Milited’s energy, but it wasn’t. It was so similar that I reacted in an instant.”
Having said that, Minerva burst out a small laugh as if it was ridiculous.
“It’s been several years since we confirmed that it was extinct.”
“It’s an energy similar to Milited.”
A person who exudes an aura similar to Milited.
As far as he knows, there is only one such person left in this world.
Yoo Ji-hyeok straightened out the energy he felt around him and began to look around.
After a while, he found familiar faces.
“Are you okay, Professor?”
“Ah, yes. are you okay. It was just that I was suddenly a little dizzy.”
Cass Lyle.
Alice Blesbuck.
It was those two.
It was such a delightful meeting because I had never thought of it.
It was when he got up straight away from his seat and approached me.
“Then shall we go home? You have to be careful. I’m not alone anymore… .”
“Ah, it’s okay. Don’t worry. Look, Lyle, thanks to you for worrying, I think you’re already fine.”
As he got closer, he heard an unusual conversation in his ear.
After discovering something, Yoo Ji-hyeok gasped and screamed without realizing it.
Alice Blesbuck’s stomach was bloated.