Holy crap, Rangii you’re adorable. Seriously adorable. And I’ll be releasing the color photos from the beginning of the book very soon. Look forward to them!
"Yeah!"
With the tiger by me, we left the tiger's cave. Although, I didn't want to experience that old proverb to survive in a tiger's cave, keep your wits about you like this.
"Ah, but one thing. Are Corn FlaXes your main diet?"
"…what is that?"
Rested, I was able to simply go down the mountain, and after putting some clothes on, I turned on my cell phone to text Narae when the messages came flying in. In total there were… 13 of them. And the sender of all of them was my childhood friend and unrequited crush, Narae. The messages started out as [have you arrived?] [Well? Why aren't you replying?] but changed to things like [wanna die?] [Wait there. I'm going there right now to get you!].
Just one day after summer vacation started a problem like the east and west lines blowing up simultaneously has occurred. And Rangii, not knowing my miserable situation,
"Why do I have to wear such bothersome things?! The clothes Sunghoon gave me is enough!"
While saying things like that,
"In order to live in the human world, this must be done, Master."
She kept up her stubbornness to Saehee. And Baduk? She was curled up on the floor dozing, not caring at all to those two. In human form. She must feel totally at peace. I also want to run around and to my carefree childhood… No, no. That's not the problem right now. For the time being, I called Narae. Before one whole ring could finish Narae answered the phone.
"Hello…"
[The heck! Did something happen?! Why was the power off?! If I call you, you're supposed to answer, you idiot! Don't you know what a cell phone's for?!]
I comprehended Narae's bullet-like voice. Ah, it's scary. But still, in comparison to the shirt-wearing Rangii who was screaming about not wearing clothes and the expressionless Saehee, who was preaching the importance of attire, I was so thankful for this normal story that I could cry.
"Ye, yeah. Something came up while I was going up the mountain, so I forgot about my phone. I'm sorry."
[Then there's no point in you having it at all!]
She's still talking about that.
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
[Who, who was worrying!? Why would I worry about you?]
"Because we're friends?"
[These days, who cares enough to bother their friends during vacation?!]
"You."
Hello, Miss Narae? Why are you not saying a word?
"Narae?"
[I didn't hang up! That's right, like you said I was worried because we're friends. So what happened?]
She asked about me after regaining the use of her words. I want to tell her I'm alright, but the truth is I'm going to die. That's because this place is a phantom paradise. And also, Narae still thinks that I'm here to attend a funeral, right? Since I thought that it until I got here. I hadn't even imagined that someone would lie about a person's death to lure me here.
"Just, I somehow sent…"
It was then.
"Sunghoon! Say something to Saehee as well! Why must I put on such cumbersome articles as that! I said I am comfortable being naked!"
That was Rangii yelling loudly inside of the house.
"Wait, I'm in the middle of a call."
[……who was that just now?]
I felt a chill on the back of my neck. Has Narae's voice ever been so cold? …no. Never.
"No, that's…"
"The lolicon young master should persuade Master. Will the young master not be aroused if the Master continues to be naked?"
You're making my life harder.
[……master? Naked? Aroused?!]
I listened to her as goose bumps popped up. Na, Narae. Since when were your ears so good?
"No, that's not it. The situation here is more complicated than the ocean is deep and the sky is wide, so there's definitely nothing weird…"
"In the first place, when a man and a woman mate, things like clothes are…"
"Uwaak!!"
I quickly covered Rangii's mouth with my hand and yelled out at Narae over the phone.
"So things like this!!"
But all I could hear in my ear was the segmented beep, beep, beep of my phone. A message arrived as I was stunned. It said, [Go die. Just die there.] ……how am I supposed to interpret this. And then,
It flicked out-.
Rangii licked my palm with her rough tongue.
"Uraaak?!"
What are you doing, so disgusting? There's saliva on me!
"Why are you blocking my mouth? I said nothing wrong!"
Looking at the indignant and angry Rangii, I felt my patience explode and I spoke to her.
"Nothing wrong, my ass!! Humans have to wear clothes! And what kind of girl talks about mating and being comfortable when naked! Learn to be embarrassed!!"
I clenched my fist and hit Rangii on the head.
"Owie!"
She raised her hands to her drooping ears, protecting her head. Thanks to that her t-shirt started flapping, and a secret hidden part was dangerously close to being seen.
"He, he hit me! Sunghoon hit me!"
Close to tears and acting as if this was unfair, Rangii ran screaming to Saehee, and looking at Rangii clinging to Saehee's chest, I felt like a complete bastard, but, hey! You were in the wrong first!
Saehee, who had no idea in how to educate a child, rubbed Rangii's head while calming her down.
"It's okay, Master. That just now is how the young master expresses interest and love."
You're speaking complete nonsense again.
Mentally/morally mature good feeling annoyingly express appear
"The young master is mentally immature so he expresses his affection for the Master in an annoying manner. Especially, the violence like before is a sign of love."
"Don't do as you want and label me as an elementary school brat who can't express his feelings of love! That just now was punishment!"
Her ears and even her tail pricked up and Rangii gave protest.
"What did I do wrong!?"
"I was talking to someone on the phone and you were screaming weird things right next to me!"
The tail drooped down. In its place, her hair formed a question mark. Oh man. What a convenient body.
"……what's that phone thing you're talking about?"
Do I have to start explaining from there?
"A phone is used as a means of electrical communication, turning sound waves from spoken words into electrical currents, transmitting and travelling far away, turning into a voice so that spoken words may be exchanged. In this case, a conversation is being struck with the recipient of the phone call.
My jaw dropped at Saehee's explanation. What are you, a living encyclopedia?
"How amazing!"
Rangii's hair flew straight up.
"You mean humans have created such a device?!"
I think that you're a lot more amazing.
"Then does that mean I was interrupting Sunghoon's conversation with a person?"
This tiger's quick to catch on.
"Yaaaay. That's right, you brat."
"I'm sorry."
Oh? I couldn't help but feel embarrassed when Rangii bowed her head to me. Her tail went straight down, too, so it seems like she's really apologizing? I never thought that she would apologize so honestly.
"Ah, no. It's fine. Nothing terrible happened, anyway."
Something terrible did happen. After hearing all that, Narae sent me a message telling me to die. Ah, while I have the chance let's message her, telling her I'm sorry. When I sent the message, Rangii spoke.
"Then that's a relief. Since I mustn't cause the man to be my husband any trouble.
At those words, Saehee's eyes suddenly flashed with light. No, that had to be my imagination. There's no way a person's eyes can shine like that.
"Master. If you do not wear human clothing, you will cause the young master much trouble."
No, actually I don't think it was my imagination. Actually, my thinking was wrong from the beginning. Because she's not human.
"…is that so?"
Rangii carefully asked me. Although her gaze was almost begging me to say no, walking around like that with only a t-shirt on is a nuisance. Think about it. If she passed by my head when I was lying down on my bed…
"Yeah. It's a nuisance. It's a huge nuisance."
"……if that's the case, then I have no choice."
Rangii bowed her head while speaking lowly. Saehee didn't waste this opportunity and with the hands of a master craftsman skillfully began to dress Rangii. It looked like a white hanbok for the top and blue shorts, but……
"Hey. You need to take off my shirt first."
Why are you dressing her while she has on my clothes.
"Is that so?"
Rangii looked up at Saehee when she asked.
"No."
What do you mean, "no". Ask those questions to me.
"That's my shirt. Take it off quickly."
"I know that couples are to share even a grain of rice."
These days, property management tends to happen separately.
"I will prepare clothes like this for you, young master."
But that's not the problem. Until now I told myself this situation couldn't be helped, but the fact that a girl is wearing the clothes I wore for half a day doesn't make me happy. Moreover, it's clothes drenched in sweat while I was climbing the mountain, and now the wearer's a phantom who looks like a child. I feel embarrassed that that shirt is over her bare skin. I opened my mouth to have a word with them, then I quickly turned my head.
"Hey, hey! Don't dress her right in front of me! No, why is she changing here in the first place?!"
Because I caught a glance of something when she was raising her leg to put on panties! Do you lack understanding of the word shame?
"Is it embarrassing to change clothes?"
[Saehee] "It is not."
"Then shouldn't he not care?"
"What do you mean, no!!"
At this cry from my soul, Rangii answered.
"But it seems to me that Sunghoon is embarrassed when I change clothes? Then I won't wear clothes."
So then Rangii moved to take off her panties. Before Rangii's hand that grabbed her panties could move downward, I hit my head to the ground, bowing to her as I spoke.
"Because I am not embarrassed when you change clothes, from now on please wear clothes."
Let's throw away common sense. That's right. Rangii is a child who knows nothing. She may be old, but she's just a little kid who has no common sense. No, she's a newborn baby. Let's think of her as that. Seriously, let's think of her as that. But why are there tears coming out of my eyes? Farther away, Baduk yawned. ……really, a dog's life is envious.
After she took off the t-shirt –I was desperate in my own way– and she put on the clothes Saehee prepared, I was unable to look at Rangii with a different meaning.
She had the bangs of her black and white hair left alone, her long hair neatly braided with a black band tied to the end, dressed with traditional Korean wear as her top, with blue, hot pants-like shorts, and looking at her from the front makes it look like she's not wearing pants.
Ahh, the human imagination is truly mighty. There's obviously something there, but imagining such a vulgar lack of covering… why am I imagining that from a little brat?
"It's the first time I've ever worn clothes, but it's definitely uncomfortable."
Rangii complained to Saehee.
"You will get used to it. Above all, won't the perverted young master like this?"
"Is that so? Does Sunghoon like it when I wear such bothersome clothing?"
I was unable to answer back I like big breasted older sisters wearing clothing that shows off a lot of skin because I couldn't ignore Saehee who was standing behind Rangii, expressionless. And I didn't want to reject the excited Rangii because of my tastes.
"That's right. It really fits you. You definitely look prettier than before."
Her ears were fluttering and her tail was wagging. I wanted to say this before, but are you really a tiger? You're a lot more like a dog or a cat.
"I'm happy! I'mhappyI'mhappyI'mhappy!"
Seeing Rangii express her happiness with her excitement and by jumping about, I could only see her as a normal little kid. I couldn't believe that this innocent kid and that tiger screaming "I'm going to burn this earth and kill everyoooone~" were the same phantom. But,
"Sunghoon! I'm really glad that I met you!"
Seeing Rangii running up to my chest, there was definitely no way a human could jump…… wait. That kid jumped way too high? Rangii's thin thighs were acting right before my eyes. Thank goodness this brat was wearing shorts properly. I could clearly see her top-obscured shorts. No wait. What is this?!