Chapter 64
After wiping her tears, Baek Hamin lifted me up with both hands as I sat there having shrunk. Resting my forehead, I compared Baek Hamin's hand to my height.
"Ha."
It was probably just a little bigger than Baek Hamin's palm. I had become unbelievably small.
At my sigh, the anxious child first placed me inside Pannie's house. I glared at Baek Hamin who was desperately avoiding my gaze, then rummaged through the tissue box wardrobe set up in one corner of the room.
It's a relief this was here at least. Otherwise I would have had to face people naked. I lifted up the overalls and got dressed, then gestured to Baek Hamin through gritted teeth.
"Come here."
"U-um..."
I sent Asil toward the child who was shaking his head saying he didn't want to come, and dragged over a pink chair to make him sit. Baek Hamin, who had been struggling against Asil's strength, was eventually dragged before me with a tearful face.
"You did this, right."
"Umm..."
The child rolled his green eyes to one side, watching my reaction, then fidgeted with his hands and nodded.
"Is it a hidden skill?"
"Yes..."
So Baek Hamin shrinking last time was also because of his own skill. Did Baek Hamin have such an ability? I started recalling the original work but shook my head. There was a more urgent problem right now.
"Undo this."
That's me.
I was the most urgent.
My pride was a bit hurt, but for the first time since the possession, I felt afraid. If I could feel this much pressure from Baek Hamin who was much smaller than me, what if I encountered Baek Eunseong? The thought that came to mind first was—if Baek Eunseong, who had no fondness for me, tried to harm me, would I be able to escape?
I shoved my trembling hand into my pocket, then lifted my chin toward Baek Hamin.
"I won't get mad, so undo it."
"I don't know how to undo it..."
"What?"
Come to think of it, that was true. Back then too, after he shrank, he didn't know what to do so I was the one who undid it. Recalling the memory, I hastily ruffled through my hair. Asil also joined in, searching for the ribbon that would be mixed in my hair, when a noisy sound was heard.
"Baek Hamin?"
Hunter Seong Dohyun?
Baek Hamin, whose head shot up, grabbed a blanket and covered Pannie's house. Following that was the sound of him scurrying out and the voices of children waking up and looking for me. I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled the end of the blanket to hide myself completely.
Then I called Asil, but...
"Did you get smaller too?"
Asil had similarly become miniaturized, matching my reduced size. I stared at Asil with hollow eyes, then opened the skill window. Fortunately, all skills were in an activated state. Just like with Baek Hamin before, it seemed being smaller had nothing to do with one's abilities.
I looked at the mirror attached to Pannie's house and began searching for the ribbon that would be hidden in my hair along with Asil. Asil tried to help by tugging at my hand to find the ribbon, but my fingers only kept plucking at the wrong strands of hair.
I was repeating that until my scalp went numb, when I sensed a familiar presence—Baek Eunseong must have returned.
"I'm home...?"
"Uncle..."
"Where is Hunter Seong Dohyun?"
"Well..."
With a sound like something dropping and urgent footsteps following, the vibrations felt exactly like an earthquake. Even though I knew Baek Eunseong wouldn't use cowardly tricks against the small and weakened me, my feet were already busily running away.
The only problem was that the only place to run was Baek Hamin's room.
Having escaped from Pannie's house, I could only sigh in the middle of the room. At that moment, the golems stuck to the wall fell off and started rolling around me.
Curling up as much as possible to avoid being stepped on by the golems, I attacked them one by one. Thud! With that sound, the golem's head burst, and only then did I let out a laugh. Fortunately, only my body had shrunk; the power was the same.
"Hamin, where is Hunter Seong Dohyun?"
"Um, Uncle..."
Listening to the busy footsteps of Baek Eunseong, I reassured myself. While trying to comfort myself that it would work out, I habitually thought about who would mourn for me if I died in this world.
"Uncle Dohyun is in my room..."
Baek Hamin would probably cry, and the Association President... I don't know. No, setting aside people who would mourn, I wondered if there would even be anyone to attend my funeral. The moment that thought crossed my mind, the door burst open.
"...Hunter Seong Dohyun."
It was Baek Eunseong.
Having discovered the shrunk me, Baek Eunseong just sat down on the spot. Seeing him clutching his chest, he must have been really shocked. Well, if I came home and saw Baek Eunseong walking around at this size, I'd be terrified too.
While I was on guard, wondering if Baek Eunseong would change his mind and attack me after coming to his senses, the kneeling Baek Eunseong muttered something.
"I, I, so..."
What is he saying.
He was so intimidated that his words were mangled. Even raising the "Day Speech, Night Speech" skill to its maximum, I couldn't hear properly.
"So, I thought you had left..."
"What? Speak properly. What did you do?"
At my question, Baek Eunseong turned his head away sharply, avoiding my eyes. His nape slowly turning red along his neck looked strikingly vivid.
He must have been really shocked.
Kicking away the golem fragments, I reached out my hand to Baek Hamin who was hesitantly coming in. Then the child created vines like stairs. Soon, having modified the room so I could move around here and there, the child looked at me with a proud face before folding both hands politely and bowing his head.
"Anyway... what in the world is this..."
Baek Eunseong, who stood up supporting his knee, approached me. I looked up at Baek Eunseong for a while, then used Asil to draw a line, meaning he shouldn't come any closer. Only then did he stop walking, and kneeling in place, he matched my eye level.
"Your nephew says he'll raise me along with Pannie."
"Yes?"
As Baek Eunseong blinked and turned around, Baek Hamin slowly backed away.
"Uncle, should Hamin sit on the thinking chair?"
I didn't know what that was, but when I nodded, a giant mushroom suddenly sprouted from the floor. Baek Hamin, with his back turned facing the wall, sat on it. His slumped round shoulders almost made me go soft, but I hardened my expression and shook my head with a sigh.
Raising a person. Having such a mindset since childhood, no wonder he grows up to be trash who uses and discards people like objects.
With a sigh, I stepped on the leaves made like stairs and climbed onto the desk. Looking into the slightly tilted mirror, Baek Eunseong who had approached me bit his lip.
"Why?"
"I'll prepare a dungeon as quickly as possible, but until you come out..."
"Why a dungeon?"
We looked at each other with mutually puzzled expressions, then I suddenly realized. He was falling for my own trick.
When Baek Hamin had shrunk before, I had lied that we needed to enter a dungeon to procure supplies for repairing M's belt. Baek Eunseong was recalling that time and offering to prepare a dungeon for me.
If I said "I can just grow back" now, wouldn't the image I've built up until now completely crumble? But isn't my life more important than that?
While I was weighing my pride and my life on a scale, Baek Eunseong, who had been hesitating, reached out to me.
"Why?"
"That..."
Baek Eunseong trailed off, but I could tell. A tense flow was emanating from him. He must be worried that he might accidentally step on me and make me pop.
Is he telling me to ride on him since I can't go around carrying a sunflower like Baek Hamin? That seems too troublesome.
I alternated between looking at Baek Eunseong's hand and the skill window, then called Asil and wove fabric in the air. When I draped it around my neck like a cloak, the golden fabric sparkled behind my back. Watching that, Baek Eunseong gave a small nod but didn't withdraw his hand.
"Why?"
Eventually, when I climbed onto his calloused palm, Baek Eunseong moved me to Pannie's house.
"Are you telling me to live here?"
"For the time being. Just in case..."
"What if I suddenly grow back and the house bursts."
"We can just buy a new one, so it's fine."
Then, telling me to stay here for a bit, he left the room.
With a sigh, I wandered around every corner of Pannie's house. Pannie's house, which was excessively large for a dollhouse and even had a villa attached... I didn't want to admit it, but it was wider and cozier than my studio apartment.
Except for the pink checkered pattern, both the blanket and mattress were soft and nice. They said it was made by a craftsman or something, and it had everything you'd need. The only thing missing was electricity, but it even had light bulbs installed.
"Uncle... can Hamin wake up now?"
"No."
"Hmph."
I looked at Baek Hamin's slumped back, then turned my head at the busy presence coming in. And I was horrified by what Baek Eunseong had brought when he reappeared.
I thought he might have looked into the dungeon, but in his hands were none other than doll clothes.
"What is that."
When I asked with killing intent, Baek Eunseong answered hesitantly.
"I had ordered them before, but Hamin grew back before I received them..."
I was going to tear them apart if they were overalls again, but looking through them, there were also T-shirts and comfortable pants. I quickly accepted them with gratitude and organized the clothes neatly in the tissue box. Meanwhile, Baek Eunseong approached Baek Hamin who was sniffling.
"Baek Hamin."
"Yes..."
"Unlike you, Hunter Seong Dohyun could get seriously hurt. So why did you do that."
"I'm sorry..."
Baek Hamin apologized to me while sobbing, and I let it pass since what was done was done. Until then, I believed everything would be resolved if I just undid the ribbon hidden in my hair.
But despite combing through my hair all night with Asil, I couldn't find the ribbon.
As the days passed like that,
"Hey."
"What do you need?"
I had completely adapted to this lifestyle.
"Hunter Seong Dohyun?"
Because of that bastard Baek Eunseong.