Chapter 327

"Wow, this place is way bigger than the one we hit last time."

Han Su-yeong, who'd come along to shop with me, shook her head, impressed.

She wasn't wrong. The city we'd stopped in was big and busy, packed with crowds.

It held its own against the modern cities I'd spent most of my life in back in my original timeline.

"Yeah, no kidding. They really do sell everything here."

I muttered the words as I looked around.

This world seemed to be on a fairly different timeline from the one I'd come from — three hundred years ago and yet not exactly underdeveloped, nor particularly far behind in science and technology.

If anything, it had the feel of the generation just before mine.

"Hey, Ji-hyeok."

"Yeah."

"What do you think happened to Milited?"

"Not dead, that much I'd bet on."

She nodded like she'd expected as much.

"Yeah, figures, right? Slimes have a stubborn grip on life to begin with. And that thing's the king of slimes, so it'd be that much harder to kill."

The line set Sbeungali off into peals of laughter.

Huhh, huh-huh-huh-huh! — his booming laugh rang out so loud I just let him have his fun.

"Anyway, if things go to plan we should be able to head back in a month, at most."

"With any luck, sooner than that."

"The kids must be worried sick."

"Yeah."

She giggled.

"How much time do you think has passed? What if it's already been ten years or something?"

"…That'd be kind of a disaster."

"Ahaha!"

The slight shake of my head sent her into another fit of laughter.

Then she swatted my arm — what kind of reaction is that?

"Hyun-woo and Master have to be worried sick, and Ye-eun and Ye-seul… and Yu-na's probably halfway out of her mind over you too."

"…Yeah, probably."

"Ivan… I'm a little worried about him. His injuries okay, you think?"

"They will be. There've got to be more specialists looking after him than I can count."

"I miss everyone. Even — what was his name? Ahn Do-hoon? Even him, I'd be glad to see again."

The names brought back a wave of nostalgia.

As I went through them one by one, I caught myself feeling more wistful than I'd expected, and the realization was a small shock.

We hadn't even been gone a month, and yet it turned out they took up more space inside me than I'd thought.

"When we get back."

"Yeah?"

"What are you going to do, when you get back?"

I gave her question an offhand answer.

"Well — first I've got to find Venus and Juno and seal them off here before we leave. And then—"

"That's not what I asked."

Han Su-yeong said it quietly.

I stopped mid-sentence and looked at her.

She wasn't looking at me — she was deliberately staring off somewhere else.

Her hand swayed listlessly at her side, as if it had nowhere to go.

"When you actually go back to where you lived."

"……"

"What are you going to do then?"

I closed my mouth.

And then her wandering hand carefully took hold of mine.

She laced our fingers together and tightened her grip on my hand, easily and naturally.

As if she had no intention of letting me get away.

"Ji-hyeok."

"Yeah."

"…Could you not go? Would that not be okay…?"

"……"

I couldn't answer her.

Because I didn't know what answer to give.

No — I didn't even know what answer I wanted to give.

The longer the silence stretched, the harder her grip on my hand became.

And then, the hand that had been holding on as if it would never let go — never, no matter what — abruptly pulled free.

"Eh, what's with you. Why are you taking it so seriously?"

She turned to me with a teasing smile.

"It was a joke, a joke. God, Ji-hyeok, you really have zero comedy sense, you know that? It's because you only like dad jokes, that's why you can't even roll with something this light, you idiot."

A bright, breezy laugh burst out of her, and she snatched my wrist and tugged me forward.

All I could see was her back, striding along ahead of me.

"Come on, let's go. We've got a mountain of stuff to buy. Provisions, plus backpacks, plus clothes—"

"Wait, wait — Su-yeong."

"Yeah?"

I brought her to a stop.

Then I took her hand gently and led her off to the side of the main road.

"Ji-hyeok?"

"Don't you think these are pretty?"

I pointed at the trinkets laid out at a street stall.

They had unusual patterns I'd never seen before, and the vendor had laid out everything from earrings and necklaces to all sorts of odds and ends.

"Let me buy you one."

"Oh — that's okay, really…."

"Let me buy it for you."

I said it while taking her hand, and she stared at me.

"And you can buy me one too, all right?"

"……"

She nodded without a word.

After a long while spent looking the trinkets over, she picked out two small ones.

They were small, about the size of keychain charms.

"Come here."

At her gesture, I obediently bent forward.

She deftly slid the charm onto the chain of the pendant around my neck, then held out the other one to me.

"Here, mine too."

Gathering her hair up with one hand, she offered me her neck.

I slid the charm onto her necklace in the same way.

"…So."

After we'd paid, she was looking me over with an odd expression.

"What's this whole thing supposed to be?"

"What do you mean, what's this whole thing?"

"I mean — out of nowhere, gifts? Ji-hyeok, what you've already given me is more than enough."

"Just, you know — collateral?"

"Collateral?"

She tilted her head, and I gave her a small smile.

"Collateral that even if I do find a way back, I won't take off without a word — that you, of all people, are never going to feel I betrayed you."

"……"

"See, it's a mutual contract now. Can't undo it."

I'd tossed it off like a joke, but she only fiddled silently with the charm dangling from her necklace. Then her face went a little pouty and she muttered:

"Honestly, the way you talk…."

"That's part of my charm, isn't it?"

"Oh, sure it is."

With that, she swatted my arm again — and unlike before, there was real force behind it. A yelp slipped out of me before I could help it.

"Ow! Hey, why are you putting your back into it? That actually hurt!"

"Oh, please. I held back, you know? Such a baby!"

"What do you mean, baby—"

I was still muttering in disbelief when her lips worked for a moment, and she whispered:

"…You break the contract on your own, I really won't let it slide."

That was the last she said before she turned her head away sharply.

I rubbed my arm and followed her in silence.

How long had we walked?

"Ah."

"What?"

She nodded as if something she'd been forgetting had just come back to her.

"If we go back like this, Ner— no, it's Minerva right now. Anyway, I thought, she's going to get her feelings hurt."

"…What exactly do you take Minerva for?"

She stuck her tongue out at the question.

"I know she's completely fallen for you, at least. And if I'm the only one coming back with a present, she might actually get really upset about it, you know?"

She said it like the timing had just worked out perfectly.

"I think it'd be a good idea to bring back a present for Minerva too."

I found myself nodding at her suggestion without really thinking about it.

Then, in the next instant, something pulled at me and I turned my head almost without meaning to.

"That's…."

A woman in a dress that was clearly high-end had just walked past us.

There was only one possible present for Minerva.

We'd left early in the morning and only got back near sunset, but Minerva was still curled up in the same spot, asleep.

Han Su-yeong took one look and gave a wry smile, as if to say see what I mean?

Then she gave my shoulder a sharp little shove and muttered in a frosty voice:

"Mr. Yu Ji-hyeok, who plays favorites — how about you go take care of that?"

"Hey, come on, Su-yeong."

She kept that smile on, the one that wasn't really a smile.

She shook her head slowly and shoved my shoulder again.

I gave her a what is your problem look, and she beamed back, beautiful and gracious.

Her eyes weren't smiling at all, though.

While we were still at it, the rustle of Minerva stirring awake reached us.

At the sound, Han Su-yeong sighed and tapped my shoulder.

"…Quit messing around — go on."

I nodded silently and walked over to Minerva.

Awake now, she'd lifted her head and was watching me come.

[You're late.]

"Yeah. The town was a little farther than I expected."

[…I was just debating whether I ought to give chase, on the chance you'd run for it.]

"Ha."

I let out a laugh and settled myself on a nearby boulder.

Then I drew the gift I'd brought back for her out of the box in my hands.

A black dress, meant to suit her hair.

[That's… human clothing.]

"Huh, you can tell?"

[How much of a fool do you take me for?]

Minerva let out a small snort and muttered.

[Looks dreadfully cumbersome. At least the clothes you wear are sturdy and efficient… Don't humans wear clothes because their thin-skinned bodies need protection? What in the world is the use of a flimsy, fluttering scrap of fabric like that?]

"Uh… well, Minerva, when you were human. The way you looked then, I thought this would really suit you. So I kind of just grabbed it without thinking — it pulled me in, you know?"

[……]

I hadn't expected such an expression of distate from her- I couldn't hide my embarrassment.

Minerva's gaze moved silently between me and the dress.

"…You really hate it that much?"

After a long pause, she finally opened her mouth.

[…I also heard, once, that humans wear clothes for the purpose of showing off — like a bird preening its feathers at the others. In that sense, the garment you're holding will more than serve its purpose.]

She said it and tilted her head slightly to one side.

[If I do manage to turn human, I shall gladly put it on. …Assuming I can.]

I took her at her word and folded the dress back into the box.

She watched me steadily, then spoke again.

[Now that I think of it.]

She kept her voice low, and — astonishingly — she seemed to be feeling out my reaction as she asked:

[You said you had a younger sister, didn't you?]

"Yeah, I did."

[What is it like, to have siblings?]

"What?"

The question caught me off guard enough that I turned to look at her.

[I — every one of us Seven Calamities, myself included — have no such thing. I was alone from the moment I came into being, and I never knew what such a thing felt like, nor did I want to. But… ever since I met you, the question has kept circling in my head and won't leave me be.]

She put it quietly, almost as a request.

[Will you tell me?]

"…It might take a while, though?"

[That doesn't matter. So — tell me, about you.]

She nodded.

[The flow of time was always meaningless to me, unlike to you and your kind. …No — that isn't quite true anymore, is it.]

A faint smile touched her face, and I shrugged.

Then I passed a silent message to Su-yeong, who was watching us from where she stood.

This might run long.

Arms crossed, she pursed her lips into a small pout before replying.

Already figured.

At her answer, I quietly lifted my head from where I sat on the boulder and met those scarlet eyes.

"So — where to start… right. My little sister's name is Yu Ji-na…."

And with that, I slowly began to tell her about myself and my family.

About the friends and comrades I'd met in this world, too.

One day wasn't enough to tell her everything.

Two days passed, then three, and Minerva still didn't stop listening.

At some point Su-yeong was sitting there alongside her too, listening to me talk.

And then on the fourth day.

I'd nodded off mid-conversation, the way I always did at some point, when a shrill cry jolted me awake.

In front of me stood a woman with long black hair.

"It — it…!"

The woman — horns and tail and all — had her sleek black hair tumbling around her, and she'd grabbed me with both hands, her face lit up with excitement.

"L-look! Look at this! A human body — I fell asleep right beside you, and when I woke up something felt off, and then — this, a human body—!"

Mid-shout, in the thick of her excitement, Minerva paused, puzzled.

"Why are your eyes still closed? Are you not awake yet?"

Right around then, Su-yeong — who'd been dozing the same as me — jerked awake and said in an exhausted voice:

"Minerva… if you want Ji-hyeok to open his eyes, let's put some clothes on you first."

…And so the noisy four days came to an end.

On the fifth day, we set out for the place where Venus had gone to ground, and only after another two days of travel did we finally arrive.

The place we'd finally reached was a desert.