Yo folks. Man, this part was tiring. Though not particularly difficult. This is the last part of chapter 1, meaning chapter 2 is up next. Now, enjoy the loliconism :3
It's cold. Even though I have the blanket over me, it's cold. The cold woke me up. Ugh—. How is it this cold. I curled my body together, but I'm not a bug so I couldn't just roll into a ball. I flailed my arm on the ground out of the blanket to find anything extra to cover me with. My bag should be around here somewhere…… Ah, I don't know what it is, but I grabbed something warm. With my hand outstretched, I used it as a substitute heater and hugged it to me. It was big, a perfect fit on my chest, and extremely warm. With even a nice fragrance coming from it, it was the perfect thing to hug and sleep with.
"Uu-ung…… What the…… Su, Sunghoon?"
Hm? The heater was wriggling and now it's talking. Well, not like I care. If a dog and a tiger can talk, why can't a heater talk. But still, it might be a strict heater, so I slightly opened one eye to look at the heater and as I lifted my head, I saw Rangii looking at me. Ah, the thing I thought was a heater was actually Rangii. Then I don't care.
"Since it's cold— I should sleep like this……"
"Ye, yeah."
Even if I didn't like this, it'd be nice to sleep like this. But it's not as warm as before? Back then, I clearly…… Ah, back then, her tail was wriggling because she turned around. This little minx. I turned Rangii back around and stuck close to her back.
"This side…… is warmer."
"Uu—uk."
With my face on Rangii's head and my arm under her neck to give her an arm-pillow, I wrapped my arm around her hip and thanks to the heat and smell radiating from her, I fell asleep.
"I, I can't…… go to sleep like this."
I can go to sleep easily.
"……it feels wrong to go through something so troubling."
It's definitely troublesome. It felt nice to hug her because her body is so soft. I moved my hand and touched her belly.
It's soft.
"Unyak!"
*Feel, feel* A kid's belly is definitely soft and round. This might become a habit. Then how will other places be? And so I fell asleep while caressing Rangii's soft body like this.
"U, unyaaang—."
It's troubling. I woke up and was greeted with an unprecedented development, unable to figure out how to deal with this, so it was extremely troubling. I, I should calm down. I calmed down and objectively examined the situation.
Right now I'm lying on the bed like a shrimp in the blankets. And Rangii's lying down with her back on my chest. My left hand is under her neck, giving her an arm pillow, and my right hand is on her stomach. No, it was touching it. Since I moved it right after I woke up.
This brat, her belly is strangely softer than her chest…… no, I mean right now I look perfectly like a degenerate. A pervert. Like a lolicon. What should I do in this situation? I can't even change my position because of my left arm. It'd be counterproductive to move my left arm and wake up Rangii. And while I was unable to do anything,
Cock a doodle doo~.
A totally generic-sounding chicken's cry echoed through the air. Ah, has the first chicken cried? For the sun to rise now, I must've woken up really early. Actually, it's a relief I got up so early. Since I woke up before Rangii.
Right then,
Du-ru-ruk.
The door's open.
"It is time to wake up."
Wearing the same black modernized hanbok and maintaining her lack of expression, Saehee opened the door and entered, although just saying 'it was Saehee' would have sufficed, I purposefully increased the amount of words I used to try and slow down time, but it didn't work.
Our eyes met. A moment later the corners of Saehee's mouth rose slightly.
"Lolicon. Pervert. Human scum. Which do you prefer, young master?
"You're wrong! What you think happened didn't really happen!"
"It seems your exhaustion from last night has not been reduced, so I shall contact you later."
This damn woman doesn't have any thoughts about listening to what others say.
"I said that's not it!"
"U—ung. What's…… not it?"
Oh God. Rangii woke up.
Rangii rubbed her eyes and while still half-asleep,
"Ha—ahm…… I wasn't able to sleep properly because of Sunghoon…… so I'm going to sleep more."
After saying something bound to cause a misunderstanding, she spun to my side and after looking towards me,
"Snoore—."
She fell asleep.
Du-ru-ruk.
The door's closed.
With Saehee acting as if she knew everything already, I gave up on explaining the situation to her, and for whatever reason there was only stamina food for breakfast, so after eating that I started packing up. Mom said for me to go back to Seoul so I'd better thoroughly prepare beforehand. Rangii crouched beside me and started talking.
"Is there somewhere you're going?"
"I need to go home. I can't stay here anymore."
"Home?"
"My home."
"……you're going to Seoul?!"
After being lost in thought for a bit, she jerked back in surprise. What's wrong.
"Wha, what are you going to do about me? Are you just going to throw me away and leave?"
Are you a dog I picked up from the street? Throw you away? I tried to say of course you're going with me, but Rangii stopped me with a shocking statement.
"Then what was all that last night? Was it a mid-summer night's prank?!"
"Don't say something that can be so easily misunderstood!!"
What do you mean what I did last night! All I did was hug you and go to sleep!
I'd better change the subject before she says something strange again.
"Also, of course you're going with me so what's going to be thrown away?
"……eh?"
A question mark appeared above Rangii's head.
"Then are you not going to go? You'll stay here alone?"
Rangii looked like she was about to cry. That expression made me uneasy. A kid shouldn't make that kind of face. So I spoke a little angrily.
"I told you in the cave. Let's go together. Do you have dementia?"
Rangii's tail stretched out straight.
"The Sunghoon who talks about dementia is bad!"
I'll ignore that.
"So is there any problem with following me?
After getting lost in thought about it for a moment, Rangii shook her head.
"……there's no big problem."
Are you saying that there's a small problem then.
"But if I follow you I may be a nuisance."
"What about it?"
"Can't you remain here?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"My mom told me to come to Seoul immediately."
And since it's best to fix the misunderstanding with Narae as soon as possible. But Rangii, this brat. After hearing about Mom, she lowered her head and her tail was shaking from side to side. She seems depressed?
"What's wrong?"
"If it's a command from my mother-in-law, then there is no helping……"
"And just who's your mother-in-law."
"Is it strange to call the mother of my husband mother-in-law?"
Your assumption is wrong in the first place.
"No, moving on from that."
But will this go beyond the level of a little girl saying when I grow up I'm going to marry Dad~. I guess I've grown up.
"But your reaction to me saying it was my mom was weird?"
"Ah, that."
Rangii fiddled with her tail as she spoke.
"Mother-in-law is difficult to go against, even I cannot do anything."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Mother-in-law believes that if she put her mind to it, she could do something even to a spirit like me."
"……it must be difficult when someone's so delusional."
Her real body is Jirisan and just her spiritual body is the size of a mountain, so if there's someone who deludes herself into thinking she can take on Rangii, then of course it'd be difficult to face her.
"But for that to be truly possible……"
"Eh?"
Why're you saying something that makes no sense? Mom's definitely a little unusual, but she's still a normal human? How can such a mom face a phantom like you?
"Listen well. We phantoms most fear humans who believe in themselves and think they can do anything. Great phantoms such as I cannot injure humans who have no substance."
"So you're saying my mom's that kind of person?"
Rangii nodded her head. Wow, Mom. You were acknowledged by the tiger from the Dangun myth.
"Well, is that so."
Even if I didn't know that, Mom's the one who married Dad to reform him. If you look at it in a certain way, she's more of a freak than Dad. She had the strange confidence that led to her motivation to fix Dad's personality.
Maybe it's because I inherited that from her, but I grew up believing only in what I thought was right while totally disregarding others no matter what they said. I know it's a bad habit, but it's really hard to fix what's called a personality.
But the problem I need to think about right now isn't my personality, but how I can go to Seoul with Rangii. Because Mom said to come back to Seoul together, if I don't do that then my life may be in danger. So I looked at Rangii again.
"Are you saying you won't go with me?"
"But if I go to Seoul……"
Rangii shook her tail from side to side, lost in worry. I don't know what you're worrying about, but I might end up being beaten by my mom if you don't go to Seoul.
So I'm saying it.
"I'll protect you."
"……eh?"
"No matter what my mom does, no matter what happens I'll protect you, so let's go together."
Don't go together and get killed or go together and something happens. Between those two, obviously I'll pick the latter.
"Sunghoon……"
Rangii was shaking.
"Do you really mean it?"
"Of course."
Even though if you don't then I'll die.
Totally clueless of my circumstances, Rangii crouched down and
"Truly, I knew you were my fated one!"
Uwak! Rangii made me fall by suddenly jumping up and rubbed her face on my cheek. Even as I was surprised by how soft and warm she felt, I grabbed her waist to try and pry her off when,
"There is a saying that teenage boys are like dogs in heat, but that seems to be the truth."
At Saehee's words, who inexplicably opened the door and was sitting respectfully outside, I hugged Rangii, set her down to the side, and got up.
"You should stop with the nonsense, you human."
"I am not a human."
Now I'm not even curious about what you are. I'm talking about what kind of phantom you are.
"More importantly, Rangii's going to Seoul with me, but is there a bus that comes here?"
But Saehee ignored me and looked at Rangii then spoke.
"Are you planning on going to Seoul, master?"
Rangii nodded her head. Saehee's usual emotionless expression collapsed for a moment but returned to normal in an instant, leaving me unable to know what that expression was.
"Is that so. In that case, I will prepare the car."
"But what are you going to do?"
"Obviously I shall attend to Master and remain at her side."
Couldn't you just stay here? For the sake of my sanity.
No, I should look on the bright side. If I go with Rangii alone then I'll have to take care of her as well. Since Mom's busy with work and Dad's that kind of person. In that case it'd actually be best for Saehee to come with us. But I'm still going to ask what I have to ask.
"What about the house?"
"Baduk will be here."
Baduk became a guard dog.
"……will it still be okay? Won't Baduk be lonely if she's all by herself?"
"You do not have to worry. The children that left because of the smelly young master will return after realizing you have left and they will play with her."
If I respond then I lose. I ignored Saehee's deliberate word choice and asked a question.
"Those children you talked about, they're phantoms right?"
"That is correct."
Then this place really will become a phantom's mansion.
"Then I shall prepare the bags."
Just like when she came here, she disappeared silently. She really lacks a presence. If I were walking on a road in the middle of the night and she spoke to me from behind I might have a heart attack.
"I'm gonna pack my things, so you too. If you have anything to bring then pack it."
At my words, Rangii grabbed me from behind and hugged onto my neck.
"……what're you doing."
"What I'm going to bring."
Am I an object.
"Anything else?"
"None. All I need is Sunghoon."
……ah, that's actually a little touching. This brat, so she's so young that she's able to such incredibly embarrassing things. That's why she's cute. Isn't she cute, she's cute. So much so that I want to bite her.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Since I couldn't bite her, I put my hand on top of her's.
When I packed my backpack and headed to the yard, Baduk was waiting for me.
"Young master, isn't there any way you could stay here longer?"
Although it's sad to see Baduk with her tail down straight down and looking at me so mournfully as if she was about to cry,
"Sorry. Something urgent came up."
Because in this world, there's nothing more precious than one's own life.
"Whi—ine."
Uwak?! She's really crying! Tears fell from her eyes like waterfalls and as I saw her wiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands, I thought such a weird thought as 'in this world, could this dog girl's tears be the most precious thing in the world.'
No, that's not right. If my mind weakens here then tonight I'm going to be eating dinner in hell. For Mom, it'd be an easy task to capture her son from Jirisan. I spoke while petting Baduk's head.
"I'll be back after I settle what I have to do. Don't cry, you brat. If strangers saw this, they'd think we were separating forever."
"You're going to come back?"
"That's right."
"Then when will you?"
Ummm……. It'd be okay to say that I'd stay for a week before summer vacation ended, right?
"After 20 days? So during that time you need to be sure to guard the house well?"
Baduk nodded her head at my words and, making it unbelievable that she was crying just a moment ago, had her eyes filled with resolution and looked at me as she spoke.
"Yes! I'll protect it for sure!"
"Yeah, aren't you a good girl."
I was petting Baduk like that when suddenly,
"The young master is truly a lolicon."
"Heek?!"
I was totally surprised when I heard Saehee's voice from behind my back. (I gave up on caring that Saehee calls me a lolicon.) Ra, rather than a phantom, don't you have the characteristics of a ghost? Looking at Saehee in the middle of the day absorbing sunlight made her seem even less like a human. Ah, she's not a human. Anyway, she was carrying a black travelling bag with two hands.
Huh?
"……so it's not a bundle?"
"Following common sense, I believe it would be strange to carry a bundle in this day and age."
……sorry. I honestly thought you would pack things up in a sack-like bundle. But the thing is……,
"Then does that mean those clothes aren't weird?"
"This is my preference."
Ah, yeah. Since it's your preference, I'll respect it.
"So where did Miss Rangii go?"
At my words, Saehee turned around and looked at the house's roof. My eyes naturally went to that direction as well.
I got goosebumps on my back.
There was something there I wasn't able to see, no wait. Totally different from how she is originally, Rangii was standing seriously, looking adamant and proud. It was clearly a small, cute child's form, but she seemed to be wider than the sky, heavier than a mountain, and deeper than the ocean, an appearance just like that of a character from a myth.
……what am I thinking of while looking at Rangii?
More importantly, what is she doing there? What'll she do if she falls and hurts herself? I opened my mouth to warn her, but
"Then, please excuse me for a moment."
Is what she said and then Saehee blocked my ears so I had to stop myself from talking. And then……
A tiger's fierce roar, undescribable in words, spread through the heavens and the earth. I could see it going through the earth and vibrating the ground. I would have collapsed if Baduk hadn't grabbed me from behind, and I would have blacked out if Saehee hadn't blocked my ears.
Wha, what was that? Did something just happen? Saehee took her hands off my ears. I forced open my inexplicably dry lips.
"J, just now…… what was that?"
"For Master, it is similar to a farewell. There is no need for you to know."
Farewell? You're saying that that's a farewell? But to me it sounded like she was threatening something? Did I hear it wrong? Do all tiger's roars feel like that? My head was filled with those kinds of thoughts when, without my realizing, Rangii had come down from the roof, approached me, and grabbed my hand.
"Did you wait long?"
"……no."
Seeing her innocent expression, I felt that I somehow had misinterpreted it. I guess tiger's roars are always like that. Rangii nodded at my words and spoke to Baduk, who until just this second was acting as my legs.
"Then, Shin-ah. Please take care of the house."
"Yes, Master."
"Shin-ah?"
Wasn't her name Baduk? As I was thinking that, the kind Saehee graciously explained it to me.
"That is Baduk's name which she was blessed with by heaven. Simply put, you can consider it to be her true name."
"Is it something important?"
Saehee nodded her head.
"More important than one's own life. Carelessly using such a name will result in the speaker getting murdered without excuse. Although we have only just met, I hope you go to a better place."
"……am I being murdered?"
Is Baduk going to transform into her original form and bite my head off?
"It's okay, young master."
Whether Baduk read my thoughts or not, Baduk casually walked in front of me and spoke.
"Because the young master is the one who will become Master's husband it is okay. If a normal human had said such a thing, I would have bitten him and rolled him around in my mouth."
Husband, I've never heard the word said so magnificently.
"Yeah, okay. That's a relief."
"Cheh."
Did you just click your tongue? No, don't argue back. In the world, pretending to not notice something is a solution for better problems than this. Just then I heard a car pull up outside the front gate.
"Then I'm going."
"Good bye, Master. Young master, please return soon. And Saehee, please take care as well."
As I received Baduk's farewell, I went out the front gate. Saehee followed right behind me, and Rangii was…… no, she was standing in front of the gate, completely lost in thought. This brat. Does she really not want to leave? Although there's the seal, it's probably because she's leaving a place she's lived for over 4,000 years.
……there's no helping it.
Since I need to survive. It's not like me, but I guess it'll be okay to just push her on the back a little.
"Rangii."
"Hunyak?!"
Rangii was completely surprised, let out a young-sounding voice, and all the hair on her body bristled upwards. ……are you a cat? I gave Nyangii, no. Rangii my hand.
"Let's go."
"……yeah!"
Although she was hesitant for a moment, she quickly smiled widely and grabbed my hand. I opened the door and Rangii entered first, then I went in.
But Saehee had no plans to enter the car. Are you going to ride in the front? is what I was going to ask, but she was looking off somewhere and both corners of her mouth rose into a frightening smile and after seeing Saehee my mouth stayed still.
Wh, what are you smiling like that for? I stuck my head out to see what Saehee was looking at, but all I could see was the tree's shade shaking in the wind.
"……what's wrong?"
"A cute few are talking amongst themselves as they watch us leaving."
Rangii's in the car. ……that was a bad joke.
"What is it?"
"It was three bears."
In my head, I automatically remembered a children's song. (tn: Korean song many children learn. Called "Gom Se Mari" or the "3 Bears Song")
"They may have come to avenge the papa bear."
"The father bear died?!"
"It is okay. The mama bear is still alive."
…….I need to get them out of here to protect the ecosystem. Since the black bear family will probably end up in phantoms' stomachs.
"Such rudeness. If you wish to eat them, I will prepare them very quickly."
"It's fine."
"It is likely they will follow us up to Seoul so serving them as a meal would be very simple."
Saehee's joke was scary because it didn't seem like a joke.
-End of the first chapter-