Chapter 21
"This place is...."
Baek Eun-seong looked around with a bewildered face before grabbing his own wrist. Right, he slept with his arm as a pillow all night, so of course there'd be no feeling in his arm. I watched Baek Eun-seong summon a golem while staying alert, then opened the skill window.
[Splash splash]
Using the flow as it was, I struck Baek Eun-seong hard on the side of his head, and his eyes flew wide open. Then he stared at me blankly for a moment before suddenly searching for Baek Ha-min.
"Ha-min is...."
He started to get up but slumped right back down in his place, still with a dazed face looking down at his own feet. Right, he fell asleep sitting up, so of course his feet would have no feeling either. They must be quite numb.
Just as I was shaking my head at his rather foolish-looking appearance, a thoroughly delighted voice filled the room.
"Kekeke, Uncle! Try to find me!"
Baek Eun-seong, whose face had gone pale, raised his head sharply, and upon hearing the playful laughter that followed, he laughed in disbelief himself.
While washing rice, I watched him search for Baek Ha-min with a faint smile on his face.
That guy can smile with that kind of face too. Even though it's objectively a pretty smile, it always gave me a strangely suspicious feeling, so I thought he couldn't smile unless he made that kind of expression.
"Ha-min is hiding too well. Uncle can't find you."
When Baek Eun-seong, who had asked my understanding and was rummaging through every corner of the studio, gave up searching not long after, Baek Ha-min pressed his lips tightly together holding back laughter before popping out of my hoodie with a "Ta-da!" Then, clutching the dandelion he had been holding tightly, he urged me.
"Uncle! Blow it, blow it!"
When I blew as requested, Baek Ha-min flew around the room on the dandelion seeds. A little while later, the child landed quietly on Baek Eun-seong's outstretched hands and shouted triumphantly.
"Uncle, did you sleep well? I was right, wasn't I? Do-hyeon's sa... mmph!"
"Ha-min."
Baek Eun-seong avoided my gaze with an embarrassed expression and hastily covered the small chattering mouth. Despite being so vigilant, it seemed he was quite ashamed of having fallen asleep after being hit by my skill.
Baek Ha-min, who flailed his arms as if frustrated, soon glared at his uncle with a sulky face before hopping down to the floor. Leaving behind Baek Eun-seong who gasped and hastily reached out, the child ran toward me, stepping on the leaves that instantly sprang up from the floor one by one.
Naturally climbing onto my shoulder, Baek Ha-min looked at me with a face full of dissatisfaction, smacking his lips, but Baek Eun-seong before him kept shaking his head to the end. Even with eyes full of disbelief.
Well, I could accept that now. Thinking about the original story's content, even I wouldn't trust "Seong Do-hyeon" either.
I offered Baek Ha-min a cut-up sausage skewered on a toothpick. While watching Baek Ha-min munching on the sausage with gusto, I was pondering what to do from now on, when Baek Eun-seong belatedly smoothed out his clothes and greeted me.
"I'm... ahem, indebted to you."
"Uncle, want some water?"
Seriously, his voice barely came out and he's pretending to be fine. I clicked my tongue inwardly and pointed at the dining table with my finger. Baek Eun-seong turned his gaze there following my gesture, then asked me with an awkward expression.
"Are you... going to eat?"
"I have to eat. Why? Oh, I guess in your eyes that doesn't look like a dining table but a bed? And this looks like a blanket?"
When I sarcastically remarked about Baek Eun-seong who had fallen fast asleep at the dining table, he reddened ears and sat down.
After packing rice tightly into a bowl and handing it to him, I took out a silver spoon and stuck it straight in.
"There's no poison in it."
Between me and Baek Eun-seong glaring at each other, Baek Ha-min, who didn't know what to do and was watching the situation, reached out to the rice bowl, grabbed some rice grains, and shoved them into his mouth.
"Ha-min!"
Even though Baek Ha-min had thrown his whole body to prove my cleanliness and opened his mouth to show there was no problem, Baek Eun-seong made a huge fuss and took out potions from his pocket to feed Baek Ha-min.
"There are all kinds of jerks. Hey, if you don't want to eat, don't. I prepared this for Baek Ha-min to eat, not for you."
I tried to remove the rice bowl in front of Baek Eun-seong, but Baek Ha-min blocked it with his whole body. I could have forced him off, but it felt wrong to remove a kid who was scurrying around the rice bowl like a hamster.
I clicked my tongue loud enough for Baek Eun-seong, who was staring down at the table with his lips rolled in, to hear, then pushed some seaweed cut to the size of a fingernail toward him, and Baek Ha-min opened his mouth wide.
"Uncle, ah."
"If you have a conscience, you roll it yourself."
"Eeng. Ha-min, ahhhh."
Baek Eun-seong, watching me roll gimbap smaller than a finger and feed it to Baek Ha-min, pulled out the silver spoon stuck in his rice bowl. Then he started shoveling rice into his mouth with a resolute expression.
It seemed he would live with Baek Ha-min and die with Baek Ha-min, as I watched Baek Eun-seong wrap rice in seaweed exactly the way Baek Ha-min was eating, I secretly wet my lips with my tongue.
"Hey, you know."
"Not 'you,' it's Ha-min!"
"Even if I don't know how to break the fundamental curse, there is a way to return to the original state."
At my words, Baek Eun-seong suddenly raised his head while eating. Seeing his pink eyes glowing red, it seemed to contain the will that he wouldn't let it go if it was a lie.
"...What is that method?"
"First, it can't be done here. We need to go to a place with a lot of mana."
"By any chance, are you talking about a dungeon?"
When I quickly nodded, Baek Eun-seong, who had been silent for a moment, laughed softly with a snort.
"That's a lie, isn't it?"
Tsk. So it doesn't fool him after all?
* * *
Last night, I had looked at the sleeping Baek Eun-seong and Baek Ha-min and used a skill.
[Viewing right used]
As a book floating in the air opened, I examined the items needed to repair M's sash and realized that the places where the items could be obtained were all dungeons managed by the Baekwoo Guild.
Until now, the Association and Center had managed dormant dungeons, and the five major guilds had managed active dungeons to maintain balance, and the Baekwoo Guild managed a total of eight dungeons.
The place where the keys sealing those dungeons were stored was P's box, and what could open it was M's key managed by the guild leader.
In the original work, the first guild leader stored P's box in his coffin with the request to never open it. However, Baek Ji-seong used M's key to open it to kill Baek Eun-seong and bring down Baek Ha-min. Just because of his own inferiority complex.
The Baekwoo Guild, true to its name 'Baekwoo (White House),' seals dungeons in the form of houses. Therefore, to become the Baekwoo Guild leader, one needed abilities related to houses.
However, the ability of Baek Gyeong-min, Baek Ji-seong's son, was swamp. By no means an ability that suited a house.
Baek Eun-seong handled earth and Baek Ha-min handled vegetation, so both were worthy of becoming the next guild leader. That was why Baek Ji-seong, who handled iron, desperately kept the two in check.
Since Baek Ji-seong had taken Baek Gyeong-min, who passed the Academy test, to dungeons to support him, Baek Ha-min could also enter a dungeon now. If I tagged along there, I might be lucky enough to obtain one of the materials.
Ah, I did lie to enter the dungeon to obtain materials, but the statement that Baek Ha-min could be returned to normal was true.
"Uncle, whiiy?"
"Eat one more."
I looked down at Baek Ha-min, who was chewing gimbap thoroughly, then glanced at Baek Eun-seong.
'That guy's eyes... don't seem to see this, do they?'
Whether it was due to the difference in skills we possessed, some random object that hadn't been there before seemed to be visible only to me. An unfamiliar ribbon fluttering among his light brown hair. And this was definitely something that hadn't existed before but suddenly appeared after that day. I was convinced that if I pulled this ribbon, Baek Ha-min would return to normal.
As if confirming my thoughts, Asil, who had come to my side and was fluttering about, also nodded. If I told them to pull the ribbon, the problem of Baek Ha-min's reduced size would be solved immediately, but then I would lose my way to enter the dungeon.
Well, it's not like I'd never solve it for them; I was just planning to receive a little compensation.
Also, while Baek Ha-min was shrunk, he could escape Baek Ji-seong's attention, which was good, and I could obtain materials to repair M's sash by entering the dungeon, which was good too—a win-win for both of us. Though Baek Eun-seong might feel a bit frustrated.
[Awakener: Baek Ha-min
Age: 7 years old
Skill: Vegetation
Status Effect: Medusa's Gaze (B)]
For reference, Baek Ha-min's shrinking wasn't due to the curse. The status effect still only listed one, and as could be seen just by looking at that ribbon. If so, it was either because of someone's skill or Baek Ha-min himself was the cause....
'Did Baek Ha-min have such a skill?'
Frowning, I racked my memories as much as possible. If I had known this would happen, I should have read Baek Ha-min's side story properly. I regretted having skimmed through it, thinking what was the point of knowing a villain's narrative.
Chewing the soft flesh inside my mouth, I looked at Baek Eun-seong, who was sitting cross-armed and askew.
"So, what will you do?"
"Dungeons are out of the question. I told you yesterday. I don't want others to know that Ha-min is in this state."
"Who said anything about telling anyone? We just need to enter the dungeon."
At my answer, Baek Eun-seong frowned. After contemplating for a moment, Baek Eun-seong opened his mouth with an expression of disbelief.
"So you're saying... you want us to conquer a dungeon just the two of us?"
"Why are you excluding this one?"
I pointed at Baek Ha-min, who had a sausage in his mouth with cheeks puffed to bursting. Baek Eun-seong glared at me with an expression saying he was at a loss for words, but the determined answer came promptly from beside me.
"Ri, keuk, right! I'm a hunter too!"
"Talk after you finish eating."
After receiving the water I scooped with a spoon and drinking it, Baek Ha-min's eyes sparkled. I didn't know how atrocious of a villain he would become later, but I clearly felt that a kid was still a kid.
Baek Ha-min stomped his feet just hearing the word dungeon, then suddenly looked at me with a serious expression.
"Why?"
"No, it's nothing...."
How silly. While Baek Ha-min, who shook his head, resumed eating without a word, Baek Eun-seong was sitting with his head bowed and a face full of worry.
I looked back and forth between the two, then crossed my arms and said leisurely.
"I think it would work with just the two of us. Seems like you don't think so."
Scared?
At my words, openly containing the meaning of provocation, Baek Eun-seong smiled that cotton-candy smile again.
Hmph, even if you smile with the marks pressed into your cheek, it doesn't feel threatening.
"For now... I'll look into Ha-min's condition first, and when we're ready to conquer the dungeon, I'll contact you."
"Do as you like."