Chapter 6
I stopped reaching for the sesame oil in the lower kitchen cabinet and let out a deep sigh. I thought it might be better to just step out for a bit rather than tearing through the house like I was catching mice, but taking Baek Ha-min out was impractical, and leaving him alone was even more so. There might be more remnants besides those guys from earlier.
At the sound of the bread bag rustling, Baek Ha-min flinched and pressed himself into the corner.
It was less than before, but his eyes looking at me were still full of vigilance.
...Well, at least he isn't raising clover.
"Instead of rice, I'll bake you some bread."
At my words, Baek Ha-min's eyes widened.
"You said... you'd mix it for me..."
"There's no rice. I'll mix it for you tomorrow, so just eat this and go to sleep today."
At my words, Baek Ha-min nodded with a dejected face.
Does he really want soy sauce egg rice that badly?
I wanted to feed the kid who had a hard day some proper food, but given the current situation, egg-dipped toast was the best I could cook.
While I mixed the milk and eggs, Baek Ha-min stretched his neck and observed me. It seemed like a look somewhere between curiosity and vigilance, so when I pulled out a chair and placed it next to me, he carefully approached and climbed onto it.
"What are you doing?"
"Baking bread."
"What's this?"
"Eggs mixed with milk."
Baek Ha-min chattered incessantly while I dipped the sliced bread into the egg mixture and cooked it in a pan greased with cooking oil instead of butter. What's this, what's that—as I answered each of the curious child's questions one by one, the toast browned nicely.
I transferred the appropriately browned bread to a plate, and also moved the chair Baek Ha-min was sitting on to the dining table.
"Kyahaha!"
Baek Ha-min tightly gripped the swaying chair and burst into laughter, but then glanced at me and clamped his mouth shut. I thought he had relaxed a bit from the smell of the bread, but I guess he's still on guard.
"Eat."
Wait. How old is this kid?
He looked about eight or nine years old, so I figured he could use chopsticks, but when I gave him the only pair of chopsticks in the house, Baek Ha-min's expression turned serious.
Wow, when he frowns, he looks exactly like his uncle.
Thinking of Baek Eun-seong made my insides boil. I was about to leave, feeling like I might take my anger out on an innocent kid, but Baek Ha-min grabbed me with tearful eyes.
"Where's the bunny fork...?"
No, what's a bunny fork? I couldn't hide my bewilderment for a moment and let out a hollow laugh.
I didn't even have a regular fork, let alone a bunny fork.
At the word that there wasn't one, Baek Ha-min clumsily gripped the chopsticks. Seeing his trembling fingertips, it was obvious he would spill everything before it even reached his mouth. Taking the chopsticks instead, I picked up a piece of toast, dipped it firmly in sugar, and put it in Baek Ha-min's mouth.
"But what's a bunny?"
When I asked what I was curious about, Baek Ha-min looked at me with a shocked face. He seemed to want to say something, but unable to speak because his mouth was full of toast, Baek Ha-min just chewed before spreading both his palms and pressing them to the sides of his head.
Then, seeing him wiggle his fingers and sway his body,
"Rabbit?"
"Yeah."
I see. I nodded, then frowned. His speech... is short? Wasn't he speaking politely earlier?
"I want more."
For a small kid, Baek Ha-min had quite an appetite. I looked at Baek Ha-min, who patted his full belly in satisfaction only after eating an entire bag of sliced bread. I was going to just put him to bed since I didn't have any clothes for a kid in the house, but perhaps because he had such a hard day, his clothes were covered in dust.
Can I wash this with a skill too?
I stood Baek Ha-min up and diligently patted his clothes with 'Splash Splash', but the clothes didn't get clean, perhaps because the skill only applied to living creatures.
"What are you doing?"
"Your clothes are too dirty."
At my words, Baek Ha-min pulled at his clothes, stared down at them, and muttered, "Right. They're dirty," before taking them off.
"Give me clothes to change into."
As if I had any. I rummaged through my sparse wardrobe and handed him a short-sleeved t-shirt, but Baek Ha-min made a crying face.
"This isn't Ha-min's clothes."
I barely managed to sit him up and change his clothes as he threw himself down, demanding his pajamas and complaining that there was no bunny. On the child's small frame, the short-sleeved t-shirt was so big it looked like a dress. Unlike me, who was satisfied to see clothes that perfectly covered his body, Baek Ha-min pouted, saying it wasn't his clothes.
"Let's wash you up. There's something on you here."
I grabbed his arm to wash him and put him to bed quickly since he must have had a hard day, but Baek Ha-min recoiled in shock.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"No, it's not that..."
What do you mean, 'it's not that'.
The way he mumbled and stepped back was incredibly suspicious.
When Baek Eun-seong comes later, if Baek Ha-min has so much as a single injury, he will definitely kill me with a look. Or maybe he'll just bury me up to my neck.
"Let me see."
I grabbed the wrist of Baek Ha-min, who was pulling his butt back, and checked various parts of his body, finding a black spot on the inside of his knee. The thought of 'what is this?' crossed my mind, and at the same time, a dreadful sense of revulsion washed over me.
It wasn't an ordinary black spot; it was a curse written in tiny, speck-like letters. It contained such a dreadful resolve that even the wavelength emanating from it was black.
The undulating flow looked similar to the flow coming from a monster, so when I gave it a light poke, golden letters appeared in the air.
[Would you like to view the information?]
As I gave a small nod, the book I had seen before appeared.
The book floating in the air flipped through its pages on its own with a flutter, then opened to the page with Baek Ha-min's name written on it.
As before, most of the text was illegible, but there were some letters I could read.
[Awakener: Baek Ha-min
Age: 7
Skill: Vegetation
Status Effect: Medusa's Gaze B]
Medusa... doesn't that turn the body to stone?
No way.
"You can't move this part well, can you?"
"A little..."
At first, Baek Ha-min kept shaking his head at my question, but at my firm tone, he reluctantly nodded. Watching him wiggle his left arm reminded me of an episode in the original work.
Baek Ha-min and Do Yu-dam joined forces to prevent the dungeon's seal from breaking, but like oil and water, they couldn't get along. During that time, Do Yu-dam noticed Baek Ha-min's curse and yielded the elixir to him.
I don't know how touched I was to see Do Yu-dam's caring side, yielding to Baek Ha-min even though he was severely injured himself.
That was... when Baek Ha-min was around 22?
He said he was seven now, so that's 15 years from now. By then, the curse will have spread to his entire leg.
No, but isn't he going to pick a fight later, claiming I did this? Knowing Baek Eun-seong, he'd definitely do that.
Can I lift this curse...?
As soon as I pondered it, the text blinked once.
I placed my palm on Baek Ha-min's leg where the curse was written.
The flow of the curse fluctuated and resisted, but it was only a B-grade curse. As if it could stand against an S-grade.
I couldn't lift it perfectly, but once I calmed the surging flow, a childlike, rosy complexion finally returned to Baek Ha-min's face.
"Uh..."
Baek Ha-min felt his leg, then looked up at me with wide eyes.
"It moves now?"
"Yeah..."
"Tell me if it hurts."
"Yeah!"
Baek Ha-min nodded, suddenly jumped up, and started running around the room. Wondering what he was doing, I called him to sit down, but he bounced over the short distance and squatted in front of me.
"Don't run. The downstairs neighbors will come up."
"Yeah!"
"At least you answer well."
"No, Ha-min acts well too."
Sticking out his belly, Baek Ha-min made a point to walk on his tiptoes as quietly as possible. Since he was already up, I opened the bathroom door and told him to wash up, and impressively, he came out after washing himself. In the meantime, I rummaged through the closet and scratched the back of my neck.
I need to buy clothes for myself first, not clothes for Baek Ha-min.
Having already given up what little clothes I had to Baek Ha-min, I now had nothing to wear. I'd have to look around the market tomorrow. Clicking my tongue, I laid out the blanket and called Baek Ha-min. Baek Ha-min, who had been tiptoeing around, jumped onto the blanket.
"Ow!"
Clicking my tongue again, I looked at Baek Ha-min, who was holding his forehead and crying.
"Why is the blanket so hard?"
"Blankets are always hard."
The blanket laid out on the floor wasn't very thick with cotton. At my words, Baek Ha-min pressed down on the blanket, protruded his lips, and looked at me with a displeased expression. But then his expression softened, and he lay down, covering himself with the blanket.
"Uncle sleeps together too."
"Uncle?"
"Yeah."
Hmph, I'll let the informal speech slide, but Uncle?
"Not Uncle,"
Not Uncle... then what should I tell him to call me? There's almost a twenty-year age gap, so 'Hyung' is weird, and 'Dohyun-ssi' is weird too. 'Ajeossi' feels a bit sad.
"Not?"
Seeing his eyes sparkling with anticipation, it seemed Baek Ha-min was planning to see me for a long, long time... but will your uncle allow that? I smiled bitterly and patted Baek Ha-min's head. Right, he's someone I'll only see for a few days anyway, what does a title matter.
"Never mind. Just call me Uncle."
"Yeah."
Nodding, Baek Ha-min fiddled with the pillow I had made out of a towel, then turned over to face me.
"Hey, Uncle. This is a secret, but..."
"You shouldn't share secrets carelessly."
At my words, Baek Ha-min clamped his mouth shut. Then, with a look of wonder, he stroked his own foot.
"Then, there's something I'm curious about... How did you do this?"
"With my skill."
"What kind of skill does Uncle have?"
Baek Ha-min continued to chatter for a long time after that, until at some point his words slowed down, and he quickly fell asleep. Even then, he kept his grip on my hoodie; looking at him, I took off the hoodie and draped it over Baek Ha-min's belly.
Then, just as I was about to do some cleaning up around the house, I got a call from the Association President.
—Uh, Dohyun. A dungeon break occurred, but can you come in for a bit tomorrow morning instead of right now? It's for the missing persons search.
"Tomorrow?"
I looked at Baek Ha-min and hesitated for a moment before answering. I was tight on money, so I had to go, but I couldn't leave my seat empty for long with Baek Ha-min here.
Baek Ha-min, fast asleep, and the morning glory vine blooming from his fingertips, tightly gripping my ankle. I fell silent for a moment, looking back and forth between the two, before asking with a sigh-like breath:
"Um, would it be okay if I brought a kid with me?"