The time when warm sunlight seeped through the cracks of the window.
Elin’s day began.
Rrrrring—.
“Hwaaah!”
When the alarm clock rang, she lifted her tousled head and got up.
Slap, slap.
She lightly patted her cheeks to wake herself up.
“Let’s be lively today too!”
Her eyes flew open, and she took a deep breath.
She opened the window to air out the room, then straightened her bedding.
When she went down to the kitchen, her mother, Mari, was cooking breakfast.
“Good morning, Mom!”
“I’ve set out breakfast, so wake Min and eat together. I’ll head to the restaurant first!”
“Okay. See you later! What about Dad?”
“He came home late yesterday because of a company dinner, so let him sleep a little longer.”
“Okay~.”
After washing up and getting ready, Elin left her room and stood in front of the door to the room next door.
Until not long ago, it had been a storage room filled with odds and ends.
But now, a new member of the family was staying there.
Before knocking, she checked her appearance one more time and cleared her throat.
“Ahem. Hm. Ahh.”
No problems.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Min? Are you awake?”
Silence….
Just as she was about to knock on the door again.
Crash, bang.
“Uwaaah! $^#^%Elin!”
It seemed Min had woken up in a small commotion.
The door flew open, and Min poked his face out.
He roughly combed down his bird’s-nest hair with his hand and said something.
“&^*#%^.”
“Breakfast is ready. Come out when you’re ready.”
Min and Elin spoke different languages, so they couldn’t understand each other’s words, but it seemed they could communicate to some extent through the situation.
Catching the nuance of what Elin had said, Min nodded and replied.
“@@$%$!”
Seeing Min flustered like that, Elin smiled as if she didn’t entirely dislike it.
After sitting at the table and waiting for a moment, Min appeared looking neat and tidy.
“Sit down. Let’s eat, then go to the restaurant together. Mom went ahead.”
“$#%#*&.”
“Ah, this? It’s water. You can drink it. Eat slowly.”
“%#$@Elin.”
“Hoho.”
Elin didn’t think the current situation was all that bad.
Normally, she would have roughly rubbed her eyes in the morning, gotten up, and pecked at her food while clinking her utensils.
But just by Min being there, her previous routine had been broken, and it felt like a lively day was beginning.
And Elin wasn’t the only one who wished life like this would continue.
Cheolmin, whom Elin called “Min,” had originally been living a lonely everyday life as well.
Recently, he had suddenly been dropped all alone in a faraway foreign land, but he didn’t feel alone at all.
He had saved money while pursuing a free lifestyle, and though this wasn’t complete freedom, he somehow found himself thinking that perhaps this was the sort of life he had wanted.
Even when he went with Elin to the restaurant, their workplace, Cheolmin was happy.
Having escaped his dreadful former workplace, this place was heaven.
His coworkers here were kind, and the actions he took aligned with what his superior wanted.
It was a rare situation where his annoying experiences at his previous company and his ability to read the room were shining.
Cheolmin thought.
‘So my old job really is helping me like this.’
When the busy hours passed and things became quiet, he was given a little free time.
One day after he had started working, Elin approached him and spoke.
“@@%$$%&^^.”
Of course, he didn’t understand.
Then Elin kindly took out a pen and notebook.
“$%. $%^. ^&*”
She pointed back and forth between herself and Cheolmin with the pen, then mimed writing something in the notebook.
“You’re saying you’ll teach me how to write?”
Cheolmin imitated Elin’s actions.
From that day on, he began spending time learning the language of this other world.
It was only natural for Cheolmin, but Elin and Mari also found the language barrier extremely inconvenient.
If the work became a little complicated or the instructions a little long, Cheolmin—Min—couldn’t understand, so they couldn’t ask him to do anything beyond simple chores.
They wanted to have him take customers’ orders or handle payments, but Min didn’t even know how to count in this world, so sooner or later, studying letters was necessary.
“Good. Min. Now, repeat after me from here. One.”
“O… ne?”
How long would it take for Cheolmin to start speaking?
###
“Ah! I’m exhausted.”
As he practiced the letters Elin had assigned him as homework, the night had grown deep before he knew it.
“How long has it been since I fell here…?”
Seeing the night sky outside the window, he felt strangely sentimental.
“The night sky looks the same as it did from Earth. The stars are a little easier to see here, though.”
It seemed that nearly a month had already passed since he began living in this other world.
Since he worked regularly day after day, time flew by in an instant.
It had felt exactly like this when he first got a job.
When he came home, he was drained and collapsed onto his bed.
When he opened his eyes, he went back to work.
When he got off work, he was drained again.
Every day like that.
“Should I have worked at a restaurant from the start?”
Back on Earth, his mind had been full of thoughts like, ‘Why am I living like this?’ and ‘Am I living properly?’ but the work he was doing now was full of meaning.
How strange.
Recently, he had become able to manage simple greetings and counting, so he could handle easy customer service, making it even more enjoyable.
What had changed?
Was it a matter of mindset?
A matter of environment?
Every day felt new and thrilling.
###
“Hey, Cholmin! Good morning!”
“Thomas! Hi!”
“Haha! Not hi—you have to say hello properly!”
“This. Help?”
“Would you? I’d appreciate it.”
Cheolmin helped carry the delivered goods.
Goods were often delivered early in the morning, and at this hour, there weren’t many people to carry the load. Besides, using his body made him feel refreshed.
And Thomas’s favorability rising was a bonus.
“That’s the last of it. You worked hard, Cholmin.”
“It is fine. Me. Healthy!”
“Hahaha! That’s right. It’s become so convenient having young manpower around. How about taking this chance to transfer from the restaurant to the trading company?”
Thomas patted Cheolmin on the back, saying he had done well.
“Honey, are you trying to recruit one of our employees right now?”
Mari, who had heard the conversation from behind, glared at Thomas.
“It’s a joke. A joke. Still, it’s fine if I borrow him for a little while when we’re busy, right?”
“We’re always busy these days too. I brought some drinks, so drink this instead. Min, you drink this too.”
Cool fruit juice.
“Mari. Thank you. But I not Min. I Cheolmin.”
“Would you like more? Min?”
“…”
Cheolmin said nothing more and held out his cup.
His expression said he was used to it.
Time passed, and the otherworld language lesson came as usual.
Today’s method was a bit unusual.
Elin said practical experience was important and obtained free time outside of work from Miss Mari.
Because of that, the restaurant closed early.
Cheolmin and Elin were out at the market together.
For a situation supposedly arranged as Cheolmin’s practical training, Elin was extremely excited right now.
Whether she simply liked going out,
or whether she had some other intention, Cheolmin didn’t know, but he also thought this might be his first time enjoying such leisure since coming to this other world, so he decided to enjoy the moment.
“Min! Over there, over there!”
Following Elin around the market, he saw all kinds of sights.
Those who had only heard rumors that the Carter Trading Company had brought in a strange person of an unusual race showed interest and tried to talk to him.
And those who had seen Cheolmin at Mari’s Restaurant acknowledged him as a member of the village and exchanged greetings.
“Min. I want to eat that bread over there. Shall we practice?”
Using practice as an excuse, Elin guided Cheolmin into conversations with the market vendors.
At times like that, some of the vendors would tease them.
“Hey, Elin. Did you finally get a boyfriend?”
“N-no, I didn’t!”
“Whew~. Looks like a nice date to me. How about giving this as a gift to your girlfriend?”
“Come on! Don’t tease me!”
Elin’s cheeks reddened, and she seemed flustered, but somehow, she also seemed to be enjoying it.
Miran Village was peaceful today as well.
“Ahem. Min, forget about the market vendors teasing us.”
“Forgot.”
“Anyway, how was it? Today.”
“Date with Elin? It was good.”
“Ehehe. Really? No! Not that! I’m asking if it helped you study!”
“Right. Helped a lot. Thank you.”
“Really? I’m glad it helped. In that sense, this one’s on me.”
Elin handed Cheolmin a sweet dessert.
“Sweet. What name, this?”
“It’s good, right? It’s called ‘hai.’”
“Hai… first time this taste.”
“Hehe. Tell me if you want to eat it again. I know how to make this. I’ll make it for you.”
“Thank you. Elin. Today good day.”
Cheolmin wanted to say that it had become a day he would never forget.
“Me too!”
Perhaps that feeling was conveyed.
“Ah, right. Come to think of it!”
“?”
“Follow me this way.”
Elin took Cheolmin up a high hill.
The sun was setting.
“I wonder if we’ll be able to see it?”
“What?”
“They said there would be fireworks inside the castle today.”
Only after climbing the hill could they see the city walls far in the distance.
That place was the capital of this kingdom.
Glass.
“Fireworks. Why do? Celebrate something?”
“I heard about it, but what was it again?”
Fweeeee—.
A thick trail of fire shot up toward the sky.
Boom—!
Crackle, crackle—.
The blooming flames looked like a gigantic shining flower.
Was that gunpowder?
Or, since this was another world, magic?
Cheolmin thought.
Whatever it was, it was a beautiful sight.
He hadn’t expected the fireworks to be so vivid in the darkening sky as the evening glow faded.
As he admired the view, Elin lightly rested her head on Cheolmin’s shoulder.
Bang—.
Babang—.
Was the sound he heard right now the fireworks bursting?
Or was it Elin’s heartbeat?
Cheolmin showed no reaction, as if nothing had happened.
Elin didn’t even have the composure to notice that.
In this moment, the two simply remained still.
Still, they gazed endlessly at the beautiful sky, where the sun was setting and fireworks embroidered the darkness.
Even after the fireworks ended, the two didn’t move from that posture for a while.
The chirping of grass insects should have been enough to break the silence.
But in both their ears, only the sound of pounding hearts rang.
How much time had passed?
Elin opened her mouth.
“…It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
Cheolmin already knew what he would say.
“It is pretty….”
With those words, the two fell silent again and counted the stars for a long while.
There were so many stars.
“Oh right, earlier you asked what the fireworks were celebrating, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“I just remembered. They said those fireworks were to welcome @^.”
“@^? What is that?”
Cheolmin expressed his confusion at the word he had never heard before.
“How should I explain it? @^ is someone who defeats bad people, protects people from enemies… and saves everyone?”
What was that?
A police officer?
There was no way something like that existed in this world.
Then a guard? A knight?
Cheolmin sank into thought.
But soon, he decided it probably wasn’t that important and stopped thinking about it.
###
“Hero. Was the welcoming ceremony to your liking?”
Sophia spoke to the back of the Hero, who was looking out the window.
“It seems too grand. I wonder if there was really any need to go this far.”
“Hero, I understand very well what you are concerned about, but we must do at least this much for the people to fully feel the majesty of you and our Kingdom of Glacius. Rather, if we lower ourselves despite being capable of such a display, the people will doubt our strength.”
“…”
“…For now, I will relay your opinion, Hero. Then please rest comfortably.”
Creak— thud.
The massive door to the room closed.
The one called the Hero looked down at the crowds enjoying the festival welcoming him.
The people looked extremely happy.
“Me, a Hero….”
The Hero let out a faint chuckle.