Chapter 701: I’ll Be Back
“Peace! Peace!”
– Grr.
A child’s bubbly laughter rang out. Tiny feet bounced on the rumpled bedding, soaked in the morning sunlight. Peace looked annoyed, but still enlarged his body just enough to properly catch the clinging Star. He seemed to have decided he had new younger siblings now.
“Careful, you’re going to fall!”
Gyeol chased after Star holding a huge cushion, while Seol quietly watched him. Compared to Gyeol, Seol was quieter, but those red pupils didn’t miss Star’s movements for even a moment.
“Of course I’m fine! It’s okay, nothing’s going to happen.”
Yerim sat on the couch that had been pushed off to one side, keeping an eye on the kids while frantically keeping up with her friends. She called, she texted, she posted on social media.
“Let’s cook another pot of rice.”
I said it while looking at the rice cooker humming away in white rice mode. Normally one batch was enough for the whole day, but now we had more kids, and they’d be hungry. Better make plenty, just in case. Yuhyun nodded and took out more rice to wash. The breeding facility staff had delivered ingredients to our front door early in the morning.
“And you expect me to cook when I can barely even carry these eggs?”
Seong Hyunjae turned to look at me, holding an egg as big as his torso. Then he tossed the egg high into the air. Spinning as it rose, the egg smacked against the rim of the bowl, split cleanly in two as if cut by a knife, and its contents poured neatly into the dish. Before the shell could fall in, Hyunjae, chopsticks somehow in hand already, flicked it away.
“I will concede that the movement of ingredients requires time. Pass me another egg.”
“Here’s a whole tray. You know the kids eat a lot, right?”
Seong Hyunjae bowed with exaggerated politeness, as if entrusting the kids to me. He’d cook something delicious anyway. In the meantime, the lively sound of Yuhyun chopping vegetables came from where he’d left the soaked rice. Let’s see, there was some deboned mackerel from earlier. Since we were grilling meat too, I took out lettuce and perilla leaves to wash. We’d woken up late, so it was somewhere between breakfast and lunch – might as well feed everyone properly.
“Should I rinse some kimchi, too?”
“Isn’t that level of spice fine?”
“They’re still kids. They like sweet stuff. Mister Seong Hyunjae, can you make, um, a soft, slightly sweet rolled omelet or something?”
“I will prepare whatever you like.”
Since we’d emptied the fridge before leaving, side dishes had been on the shopping list too. I took out the neatly packaged side dishes and plated them. As I set the side dishes on the table, Star showed up at the kitchen entrance, flanked by Gyeol and Seol, peeking in.
“Play a little longer, then we’ll eat.”
“Is it tasty?”
“Yeah, tasty stuff.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Star ran back to the living room. Maybe because he’d been given a name, he could stay human for a long time now. He still turned back into a beast when he slept, though.
I scooped out the rice, set a fresh batch in the empty pot, and the soup was just about done. Yuhyun brought out the grill pan and the meat. He grabbed the grill handle with one hand and laid the meat on with the other. Without even needing a burner, the pan heated up in an instant, and the meat sizzled as it cooked.
“Tasty smell!”
At the spreading smell of grilled meat, Star came scampering over. This time he couldn’t hold back and wandered right into the kitchen near Yuhyun. He usually didn’t eat much meat, but apparently he liked the smell. Last time he’d dived straight into the braised ribs, too.
“Come here, my little brother.”
“You can’t bother Uncle.”
Seol and Gyeol quickly pulled Star away from Yuhyun. It wasn’t like Yuhyun couldn’t control the heat, but the kids still shouldn’t get too close to fire. Just then, with a pop, droplets of water in various shapes appeared in front of Star. Star, entranced, chased after the glittering droplets that caught the light.
Yerim, of course.
The meat, grilled to perfection by mana laden heat, piled up on a stone plate. Iryn circled around the plate on the table, sticking close. Flames swept over the grill once, and as if it had been washed, the pan was spotless again; this time, marinated duck was spread over it. I was getting hungry too. We were almost ready.
“…What is all this?”
Hugging the spatula in both hands, Seong Hyunjae flicked a fried egg into the air. The egg flew through the air and landed neatly on top of a bowl of rice. Beside him were rows of rolled omelets, steamed egg, scrambled eggs, and omelets. When did he even take out the pizza cheese? Putting down the spatula, he pretended to wipe nonexistent sweat.
“Now I just need to make pudding.”
What more was he planning to make here? Still, Star would love it. I finished setting the table and called the kids over. I set out the food I’d prepared for Peace as well. Star, still short and clumsy with a spoon, I sat on my lap.
“Star, you have to say, ‘I’ll eat well.’”
Gyeol, sitting across from him, prompted him. Clutching his spoon awkwardly, Star bowed his head and mumbled, “I’ll eat well.” Then he bounced his legs impatiently.
“What do you want to eat?”
“That one, that one, that one, that one–”
So he wanted to try everything. Seol, sitting next to me, didn’t touch his rice and just stared at Star. Then, using chopsticks with surprising skill, he picked up some meat and held it out. Star quickly accepted it, chewing and swallowing. It wasn’t even seasoned.
“It’s good!”
“Yeah?”
Did he not like marinated meat? Or was it because of Yuhyun’s mana? I told Seol it was fine, he should eat too, then fed Star rice. He ate whatever I gave him, but made a little scrunched up face at anything salty or spicy. He still didn’t spit it out. He ate the marinated duck happily; as expected, he seemed to like food made with magic. Gyeol and Seol dug into the meat with their chopsticks, and so did Yerim.
But as expected, the thing Star liked most was–
“I like this.”
– the soft, sweet rolled omelet.
At this rate he’d turn into a total junk food kid. As long as it didn’t affect his health, he could eat as much as he wanted.
“I want more.”
Star blinked up at me, gauging my reaction. He seemed to be thinking, There are a lot of people, so we have to share. Yerim laughed at that and pushed the plate of sweet rolled omelet toward Star.
“You can eat mine, too.”
“And mine!”
“Eat it all. It’s okay.”
After Gyeol, Seol also nodded and spoke. Star happily grabbed the plate. Then he dug in with his spoon, clumsy but determined.
“Hyung, you eat properly too. I’ll watch him. I’m done eating.”
Before I could say anything, Yuhyun moved Star – plate of omelet and all – onto his own lap. No, it’s fine… Seol immediately glared at Yuhyun for taking Star, then dragged his chair over to sit right next to him. Star stayed completely focused on the eggs.
“Wow, Han Yuhyun surrounded by kids. It really doesn’t suit you.”
“Why? I think it looks nice.”
“Their target is you, Mister. He isn’t even looking at them properly.”
Hmm… he did look like he was being forced to take a promotional photo with kids he didn’t know. Everyone’s gazes were all over the place. Yuhyun was looking at me, Star at the rolled omelet, and Seol at Star.
“Yuhyun, don’t you have anything to say to the black dragon? You two are connected, after all.”
You were the one who convinced him to be reborn; wasn’t he being a bit too indifferent? At my words, Yuhyun finally turned to look at Seol. Seol looked back up at him.
“So the Ruler’s Sword can grow now?”
…Hey.
“Yeah. It isn’t an independent entity yet, but now that it can manifest in reality, it’ll grow.”
Seol answered just as businesslike as Yuhyun.
“How long until it’s fully grown?”
“I don’t know either. It’ll go faster once it gets a name, but it’ll still take quite a while to reach L–rank.”
“Mister, I guess they don’t just look alike.”
Yerim shook her head as she spoke. Well… I didn’t have much to say either. Both of them had fire attributes, but leave those two alone and the air turned downright chilly.
“Little lady, could you cool the pudding for me?”
Said Seong Hyunjae, who was making dessert since eating was hard in his current body.
“Star’s the little lady now!”
“Then do you wish to be called ‘young lady’?”
“Ugh, forget it! I have a name, you know!”
“Miss Park Yerim, I’m counting on you.”
“I’ll do it perfectly, Mister! Mister Seong made a whole mountain of pudding!”
What? Once the table was cleared, a pudding that looked like someone had turned a rice cooker upside down was brought over, gleaming a beautiful color. Star’s eyes and mouth both went wide. He immediately tried to climb up onto the table; I almost grabbed him to stop him, but let it go. With pudding that big, what could I do?
Gyeol and Seol were given normal, small puddings. Even Yerim took a plate, though she looked a bit overwhelmed. Since the biggest pudding was Star’s, Gyeol and Seol probably wouldn’t try to argue about it.
“I’ll finish cleaning up. You sit.”
Yuhyun stopped me as I tried to help with the cleanup. Then Seong Hyunjae held out a pudding plate to me.
“This portion is for you, Mister Han Yujin.”
Star’s happy voice rang out. The pudding… was good, though.
“Hello!”
Kang Soyeong appeared, both hands full of shopping bags and a bright smile on her face. Her burning gaze went from Gyeol to Star and then to Seol. The corners of her mouth, already stretched up, trembled.
“I’m the best babysitter in all of London!”
After announcing that with full confidence, Kang Soyeong sidled up to me and whispered,
“Those two kids are Dragonkin as well?”
“The small one is Star – he used to be Dragonkin, but right now it’s not certain. The kid next to him is a huge black dragon. Fire attribute.”
“Perfect!”
“But it’ll probably just be Star and Gyeol left here. The black dragon cares an awful lot about Star, so I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t worry! Here are the clothes you asked for.”
Kang Soyeong set the bags down on the floor. Gyeol, being a fairy dragon who handled illusions, could change his clothes freely. Seol, as an ancient dragon originally, could manage to create clothes somehow too, but Star couldn’t. After becoming independent from me and weakening his link with Seol, he could barely keep on something like a baggy set of pajamas. Even that seemed hard for him, so I’d asked Soyeong to go shopping.
“While I was at it, I picked out clothes for all three of them! They’re winter outfits. I blew through my allowance–”
“Not bad.”
“…You are taking our Guild Leader with you, right?”
I stayed silent. Soyeong glared at Seong Hyunjae sitting on my shoulder, almost on the verge of tears, then quickly recovered.
“There are always a few obstacles added into any great love story!”
Then she went inside with the kids along with Yerim. Through the closed door, I heard Gyeol shouting that he’d be fine on his own.
“We’ve got about five hours left now.”
I looked at Pongpong, sitting on top of the display cabinet. If we ate dinner a little early, it’d be time to leave. Maybe because it had been so long since we’d been home, or maybe because we had to leave the kids behind. I really didn’t want to go.
“…Hyung.”
Yuhyun looked like he didn’t know what to say. I patted my little brother lightly on the back.
“Let’s go thinking this will be the last time.”
And once we came back home, we’d really have to refrain from going far away anymore. We had little kids now.
“Look at this! Isn’t it adorable?”
The door opened and Star came hopping over, wearing a bright coat with soft, fluffy fur. All three of them had coats in the same design, just in slightly different colors.
“The big sisters said I’m pretty!”
“Yeah, you really are!”
I picked up the giggling Star. Since they were already in outdoor clothes, we all went up to the rooftop garden. When we’d first moved here, it had been summer, with insect noises buzzing; now it was winter, bare branches exposed. Even so, the evergreens still added summer green color to the scene.
“Mister Yujin!”
While I was watching the kids run around on the dry grass, Noah flew over from the building. Star froze in place at the sight of those great golden wings beating with a whoosh.
“Liette didn’t cause any trouble, did she?”
Liette had pestered me about wanting to see where Noah lived, so the two of them had gone to the building together. She moved with Noah in mind these days, but I had still been worried. Thankfully, Noah nodded.
“Yeah. Even if I’m fine, it’s where Myungwoo hyung’s workshop is, so she was at least a little careful. She’s with Seok Hayan’s team right now.”
“Hayan must have liked that.”
“She did. They get along better than you’d think–”
Noah looked down. Star was holding tightly onto the tip of Noah’s wing, eyes shining.
“I like this. I want wings too.”
Then he brought a feather to his mouth again. I moved to quickly pick him up, but Noah bent down first and smiled at him.
“If you really want them, you can get them.”
“Really?”
“Mister didn’t originally have wings like these either. But he kept changing, without giving up, and in the end he got this cool present.”
From a twin Venom and Curse Dragonkin overshadowed by his sister, to a solitary light dragon. At Noah’s gentle words, Star nodded seriously. Then he reached his arms out toward me, asking to be picked up. When I lifted him, he whispered softly,
“I wanted to become something else too.”
“Yeah, Star.”
“So I became Star.”
“Yeah, and you’ll keep doing that. You can become anything you want, Star. What do you want to do?”
Star thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“I don’t know. I already did everything I wanted.”
“You’ll keep finding new things you want to do. And you’ll be able to do them all.”
Gyeol, Seol – all of them.
Time was short and there was a lot to do, but we only handled the urgent things. Yuhyun also dropped by Haeyeon for a bit and then stayed home with us. We all had dinner together. This time Noah and Liette joined us, and Kang Soyeong practically swooned with happiness.
[Thirty minutes until return.]
The moment we finished eating, the message window popped up. I wasn’t completely free of regret, but I did feel thoroughly rested. It had just been ordinary, uneventful daily life – exactly the time I’d wanted most.
“Star, you can stay here with your big brother and big sister, right? If you wait, Hyung and Dad will come back home. This is your home now. From now on, always.”
“From now on, always.”
Star nodded. Thankfully, his link with Seol remained, so he wouldn’t be too confused even if Seol disappeared first.
“Star’s home.”
“Yeah, home.”
When I told him I was going too, he got a little teary eyed. Seeing him hold it in so well made my heart ache. I couldn’t help thinking he’d brought that patience over from before he was reborn.
“I’ll take good care of him.”
Gyeol must have been sad about staying behind too, but he just told me not to worry. Five minutes now. Time was almost up. I hugged Gyeol and Star tightly.
“If anything happens, you have to go with Miss Soyeong. Dad already explained everything.”
Not just Haeyeon, but everywhere else. I’d also told Yun Yun to take good care of our kids, so that even if Korea ended up being taken, they’d be able to escape safely.
“We’ll be back soon! When we get back, let’s all go to an amusement park!”
Yerim said energetically. One minute.
“I’ll be back.”
With that final farewell, the two children’s figures vanished from before my eyes. Yuhyun, Yerim, and Peace were gone as well. We arrived in a wide space, and I turned to my side. The Seong Hyunjae from before the regression was looking back at me as well.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt