“Can we have duck shaved ice too?”
“Yeees.”
Gru swallowed hard, calming her murmuring heart.
When Gru cried, “Become delicious!” and made a snow duck to place on top, Mun Ira clapped her hands and smiled with her eyes.
Meanwhile, Seonu Gyeong murmured, looking somewhat surprised, “An Awakened?”
It wasn’t an era in which young Awakened were rare, but it was difficult to find one this young.
“Enjoy your mweal!”
After making one snow duck in each of Mun Ira and Seonu Gyeong’s bowls, Gru gave them a polite bow and toddled over to the next table.
As Seonu Gyeong picked up his spoon, he looked at Mun Ira and asked in confusion,
“Is something wrong? Is there something there?”
Mun Ira was examining every detail of the snow duck with a serious expression.
Without taking her eyes off it, she said in a delighted voice,
“Unmeasurable……?”
The lens she was wearing had failed to read the snow duck’s information and was displaying ‘Unmeasurable.’
Even though it was clearly a snow duck she had made with such ease right in front of them, as if it were nothing more than a toy.
‘What is this child……?’
All Irina knew about Gru was that she had seen through her skill, and that she was the child Jenya had cherished and searched for so desperately.
‘No wonder she was worried about a child like this.’
She was curious about the child.
As curiosity and interest stirred within her, a tingling sensation swept over her in an instant.
The child was the unknown itself.
What else could she do? How far would she grow?
A living, moving unknown.
The child Jenya had searched for so desperately.
Just as her feelings and affection had suddenly surged forth in that instant when she had loved Jenya, complex emotions and affection welled up within her.
Even as Irina, she could find no way not to love the child.
Irina followed the child’s back with an entranced gaze.
“That child is Gru…….”
“Teacher?”
Startled by Mun Ira’s reaction, Seonu Gyeong looked at her. She was not a person who ever displayed such emotions.
What on earth had she seen in the child?
What was so extraordinary about merely making a snow duck?
‘Even an F-rank can do this easily.’
Thinking it was nothing special, Seonu Gyeong scooped up a large spoonful of shaved ice and put it in his mouth. Then he caught sight of something and stiffened.
‘Ham Hong-gi?’
He wasn’t someone who should be here. Why?
Seonu Gyeong lost his appetite and set down his spoon.
He had been acting strange lately.
They had said there were some problems at home. Had those problems driven him mad?
“I’m done with it now.”
At first, Seonu Gyeong hadn’t believed Ham Hong-gi’s words.
But as though his declaration had not been spoken in a moment of emotion, Ham Hong-gi had been faithfully keeping his word.
He had stopped looking for the drugs he used to seek out every other day, and, as if that weren’t enough, had begun acting like a ‘model student.’
‘A model student?’
Ham Hong-gi? Seonu Gyeong snorted at the thought.
“Teacher, do you think people can change?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t think so.”
Seonu Gyeong kept his eyes fixed on Ham Hong-gi.
‘People never change.’
Mun Ira looked toward the place Seonu Gyeong was watching and smiled faintly.
Ham Hong-gi had been Seonu Gyeong’s first test subject, as well as the object of his jealousy.
Irina had burrowed into Seonu Gyeong’s sincerity, which he had revealed far too easily, and planted a seed there.
The seed would put down deep roots and sprout, making its host react to Irina’s will.
Irina quietly observed Seonu Gyeong.
Until he met Gru, Seonu Gyeong had been one of Irina’s cherished seeds.
A young and capable Awakened.
He never hesitated to get his hands dirty, allowing the seed to burrow in all the faster.
She had also rather liked the fact that Seonu Gyeong secretly considered her one of his kind.
Seonu Gyeong would make a decent ‘master,’ she had thought.
But.
‘I’m losing interest now.’
Irina chewed on the shaved ice.
To her, eating snow as a snack was absurd. In Kyrus, snow was something the starving frantically stuffed themselves with to fill their bellies.
‘It’s delicious.’
Irina sucked on her spoon.
The cold, sweet-and-sour flavor was new. Fresh stimulation released dopamine.
Irina, who had been born insensitive to emotions, was always searching for new unknowns and stimuli, and easily discarded anything boring.
Just like the dull Kyrus.
Pressing her index finger firmly against her lower lip, Irina said,
“……The results for that child were just about to come out, too. What a shame, don’t you think?”
“Pardon?”
Seonu Gyeong stared at her blankly.
“I wanted to see how Hong-gi would turn out. You would have liked to see it too.”
Mun Ira’s voice seemed to buzz inside his head.
“I also thought people didn’t change easily. But for Hong-gi to change like that in an instant…… Amazing, isn’t it?”
There was laughter in her voice.
For some reason, that gentle voice gouged into him like a blade.
What was so amazing about it? He had merely become too dejected to feel like taking drugs for a little while. He would soon return to being the delinquent Ham Hong-gi he had always been.
“……”
As though Irina’s words had flipped a switch, Seonu Gyeong rose to his feet as if possessed.
I’ll prove it.
‘That bastard hasn’t changed.’
*
“—What a shame, don’t you think?”
Iromi, who was passing beside Table 10, abruptly turned her head.
‘That voice…….’
She had definitely heard it before.
Iromi was sensitive to vocal tones by profession. Especially with such a beautiful voice, she would not have forgotten it easily……
There was no way she was mistaken.
Smiling at the people asking her to take pictures with them, Iromi racked her brain.
An unexplained gap in her memories.
A familiar voice.
From deep within her memories, Nayeon’s voice surfaced.
“Romi, you really don’t remember anything?”
Romi grabbed Nayeon’s wrist as she happened to pass by.
“Jjang Nayeon, over there…… I’m not sure. I don’t really know either. But…… I thought it might be what you asked me about back then.”
“Hm? What is it?”
Romi whispered into Nayeon’s ear.
Nayeon turned her head toward the direction Romi was pointing.
The blonde woman sitting alone at the table watched Gru, then faintly lifted the corner of her mouth. Her white index finger pressed firmly against her lower lip.
‘……!’
At the familiar gesture, Nayeon pressed her lips tightly together.
The hairs all over her body stood on end.
She was certain. That woman was the one who had controlled Iromi.
And the person in the direction of her gaze was Gru.
[The effect of the title ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ is applied.]
[Upon detecting the caster’s powerful desire, you will strongly resist all damage, and all stat effects will be increased by 30%.]
Whoosh—the body felt lighter.
Energy burst forth in an instant, sending a tingling sensation all the way to her fingertips.
As Nayeon made her way through the bustling crowd toward the table, the blonde woman stood and began walking toward Gru.
Nayeon grew anxious.
The woman’s hand was just about to touch Gru.
Just as Nayeon frowned and reached to seize her wrist—
“Upsy-daisy! Got you.”
“Oh my!”
Having made too many snow ducks, Gru’s body had begun to sway heavily from depleted mana. At just the right moment, the woman pulled the child into her arms.
“Pretty baby, aren’t you overdoing it?”
Mun Ira turned her head while holding Gru. Nayeon’s hand was gripping Mun Ira’s wrist.
Mun Ira glanced once at her captured wrist and once at Nayeon’s face, then spoke gently.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I thought the child was about to collapse, so my hand moved before I could think.”
Nayeon hurriedly released her.
“No, no! I should have been paying attention.”
“Hmm, shall I show you to the infirmary? Ah, I’m Mun Ira, and I teach English in the high school division.”
“Oh…… So you’re a teacher.”
“I don’t look like one, do I?”
Mun Ira smiled prettily.
“Gru, would you like to go rest in the infirmary?”
Gru shook her head vigorously. She was only a little dazed from using too much mana.
She would feel better after having some syrup and resting for a while.
More than anything, she didn’t want to be separated from her older sister and brother.
“Then let’s go rest in the lounge for a bit.”
Gru nodded repeatedly, then clung tightly to Nayeon.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Mun Ira smiled faintly, gave Nayeon a small bow, and waved gently at Gru.
As Nayeon led Gru behind the partition, she stared pensively at Mun Ira’s retreating back.
It was then that Gru looked at Nayeon in bewilderment.
Suddenly, a pop-up window appeared before her eyes.
Ding!
[Updating…… 50%]
‘Updating?’
The number climbed in an instant.
[Updating…… 97%]
[Update complete.]
[A new quest has been generated.]