Chapter 56 - Now, Look at This- (8)

While we were chatting about this and that over the meal, Si-on asked me a question this time.

"Yo-han-ssi, would it be alright if I asked you something too?"

"Sure, and you don't need to ask permission every time."

Si-on carefully opened her mouth.

"...Could you tell me why you didn't stay in the game world, like Gremory suggested?"

It seemed Si-on was curious about why I'd destroyed a world where I could have lived like a king, indulging in every pleasure, without a moment's hesitation.

And since it was a question that didn't even require thinking, I answered immediately.

"Because I'm sane."

It wasn't about the moral issue of it being a false world holding countless people's lives hostage.

"The only reason I was able to corner Gremory was because of her carelessness and the cheat code that is magic.

She might have submitted for the time being, but given enough time, she would've figured out a countermeasure. Staying there would've been the idiotic act of making myself a slave. And..."

And above all, it wasn't to my taste.

"Happiness given by others is happiness that can just as easily be taken away at any time. No matter how badly I want it."

I picked up a cherry tomato, chewed, swallowed, and continued.

"I'm not in the habit of laughing and crying at the mercy of someone else's palm."

Getting scolded at work or bowing my head was fine. It couldn't be helped when you needed to put food on the table.

That wasn't being controlled by someone else. It was just briefly lowering myself to protect my livelihood.

That's just how the working world is.

...But having my entire life jerked around by someone else was an entirely different matter.

During the most pathetic period of my life, when I was five years old, I fawned and failed, trying not to be abandoned.

I held her hand and went outside. That hand let go on its own, and I was dumped at an orphanage.

Suffering that kind of humiliation once, as a powerless child, was more than enough.

Happiness, even if it meant crawling on the ground, even if it was the tiniest scrap of happiness, had to be grasped with my own hands.

Not something to cling to others and receive.

"...Sorry. I went on a pointless tangent trying to sound profound."

I soon finished with a light smile.

"I just refused because it was ridiculous and left a bad taste in my mouth."

Si-on shook her head slightly and said,

"Not at all. It could have sounded like a doubting question... Thank you for answering honestly."

After that, small talk continued.

Time passed and we finished the pasta, so we decided to start cleaning up.

"Thanks, that was a great meal. You must be tired too. You went through a lot making the food. I'll handle the cleanup, so get home safe."

"No, really. I enjoyed the food too, and I did this as a way of saying thank you. I'll take care of the cleanup as well."

Si-on said that and gathered the plates from the table. She even did the dishes before heading back.

...She was a Special Operations Division agent I was wary of, but the fact that she cooked and even did the dishes earned her a few points.

After Si-on left, I petted the head of Grizzly, who had come out of the grimoire.

"Gyaaa~."

Grizzly does the "gyaa~ gyaa~" thing well, and eats food well.

The image of Si-on saying that with an embarrassed face inside a locker came to mind.

"Gya, gyaa... gyaaa...."

Budget Grizzly (Si-on) cooks meals and does dishes well.

"Ha...."

"Gyaa?"

A stupid thought made me laugh without thinking.

‧

‧

‧

Si-on's studio apartment.

Wiping her wet black hair with a towel,

"Whew...."

Si-on came out of the bathroom in her pajamas.

After leaving Yo-han's place, she had reported to the Special Operations Division about what happened inside the game, and upon being told to rest, came home.

Having washed up, Si-on simply collapsed onto the soft bed.

Flop~.

'I really need to dry my hair properly....'

Her calm, pretty black eyes blinked drowsily from exhaustion.

".........."

It hadn't even been a full day in real-world time, but so much had happened.

Si-on suddenly recalled something Yo-han had said while mocking Gremory inside the game.

'Next time, check the weight class before you open your mouth, you pelican.'

She searched for "pelican" on her phone.

Seeing one of the pelican images that came up, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Ha... pfft... hehe...."

It was an image of a pelican with its mouth wide open at a giraffe sitting and resting, and the giraffe showing absolutely zero reaction to said pelican.

Si-on got up from the bed and took out a hair dryer to dry her hair.

There was a lot to think about, but....

For now, rest for tomorrow.

***

The Bureau for Abnormal Phenomena Countermeasures.

Though it belonged to the government, the organization that formed its foundation was a shamanic exorcist family, and the Director's seat had always been held by the head of that family.

Because of this, it felt more like the Director's private organization operating under the government's umbrella.

Currently, in the Director's office, Shin Si-on's father Shin Do-ryong narrowed his eyes at the woman before him, one who looked young for her age with an old-fashioned elegance. Shin Do-ryong was the Director of the Bureau for Abnormal Phenomena Countermeasures and head of the Shin clan.

"What's the reason you won't even take a second wife and produce a son to carry on the family line?"

He was looking at his paternal aunt, Shin Se-hee. Se-hee spoke to Do-ryong without restraint.

"You're still in good health, so have one yourself. If the problem is with your woman, take a new concubine. You enjoy chasing skirts, don't you?"

"...I have Si-on. I've got a perfectly fine legitimate child to pass my assets to. Why would I need another?"

"A girl, born from a frail woman."

Shin Do-ryong's cold black eyes narrowed to slits, sinking low.

To Shin Do-ryong, Si-on was the product of his love with his beloved wife, and because of that, he had no need for another child, a boy, who would stand in Si-on's way.

However, explaining this at length hadn't been very effective, so....

Shin Do-ryong's low voice rumbled.

"Auntie, would you like to get hit?"

".........?!"

Se-hee's eyes flew wide at what was truly an outrageously disrespectful, vulgar thing to say.

However, she couldn't raise her voice in a "How dare you!" sort of way.

Shin Do-ryong was, after all, the same man who had beaten his own father in front of all the relatives to force through his marriage to that cursed, frail woman.

Se-hee's face crumpled at Do-ryong's words, which were essentially telling her the conversation was over, and she left the Director's office.

".........."

She had brought it up for the sake of the family. But the thought of being hit by her nephew stung her pride.

...And pain was unpleasant.

The moment Shin Se-hee left the Director's office, Team Leader Park, who had been waiting outside the door, read the room and entered cautiously.

"Director, I'm here."

"Right, did you bring the file I asked for?"

"Right here, sir."

Team Leader Park placed the file on the office desk.

It was a photo and brief profile of Yo-han, the civilian collaborator attached to Special Ops Team 3.

"So, this is the guy who was stuck with Si-on for a week inside that bizarre game?"

"Yes, six days to be exact, Monday through Saturday."

"...Look at the eyes on this bastard. Looks like a psycho."

Shin Do-ryong looked at the photo of Yo-han's face and spoke as if it displeased him.

"Guys like this act all nice and sweet to your face, then go around beating their girlfriends behind closed doors. Then they whisper things like 'I'm sorry,' 'You're the only one,' 'I love you.'"

Setting aside Shin Do-ryong's slander and wild assumptions....

Team Leader Park looked back and forth between Yo-han's photo and Shin Do-ryong and said without thinking,

"...He's something oddly similar to you, Director."

One of Shin Do-ryong's eyebrows shot upward.

"What?"

What kind of logic was it to say someone resembled the guy he'd just called a psycho?

Team Leader Park hastily added,

"No, that's not what I meant, it's just that he vaguely resembles you when you were younger, sir. Just the looks. Just the looks!"

Shin Do-ryong squinted and frowned at Yo-han's photo.

"Where?"

Then he carelessly flicked it across the desk.

"Whatever, he's a grimoire owner, so don't provoke him with unnecessary surveillance or control measures."

...Still, as Director, he gave his order.

"Si-on says she'll handle him. Let her."

***

A secret temple in the region where the ancient Babylonian city of Uruk once stood.

A beautiful song echoed through the dreamlike atmosphere of the temple.

And then....

Clop, clop.

As the sound of camel hooves began to ring out within the temple, the people joyfully parted to make way.

"Aah..."

Within her temple, they bowed with blissful expressions, awaiting her.

Flutter.

Pure white doves took flight inside the temple.

Wearing a golden crown adorned with white lace,

Clop, clop.

a camel carrying a beautiful red-haired woman walked down the path the parting crowd had created.

The 56th of Solomon's 72 demons.

Gremory showed not the slightest arrogance at the people's worship.

"There's truly no need for each of you to kneel like that."

She spoke in a gentle, benevolent voice and smiled, but

the people, feeling Gremory's love as she thought of them,

"Aah... O Great One."

curled their bodies even more joyfully and sang her praises.

Gremory had no choice.

She moved to the seat of honor the devotees had prepared.

When the camel lowered itself, Gremory leaned against it and sat down. At that moment...

"Hm?"

Something riding the wind toward her caught Gremory's beautiful red eyes.

It was a strand of red hair.

"This is...."

She remembered. Long ago, a certain human had come to her, saying they wanted to create a space where people could joyfully enjoy love, and she had lent them her magical power.

Seeing it return like this, things must not have gone well.

Gremory reached out to reclaim the magical power, but

the red hair did not absorb into her hand immediately, instead swirling above it.

As if asking her to look at something.

"Hmm?"

So Gremory looked at the memories the strand of hair held.

As the memories unfolded, Gremory's elegant brow furrowed.

".........."

Honestly speaking, the fake world called [Harem Academy] was not to Gremory's taste.

The academy itself wasn't bad, but she couldn't understand what was supposed to be fun about tormenting and killing humans.

There were demons who enjoyed this sort of thing, but Gremory simply could not comprehend it.

She sensed no love, only malice.

Cruel and tedious memories devoid of any meaning.

But at a certain point,

Gremory's red eyes flew wide open, and

".........!"

she burst into laughter like a young girl.

"Ha, hahahahaha!"

Gremory wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and thought of the man who had mercilessly crushed and mocked her other self in those memories.

"Hehe~."

She thought of Yo-han.

That his love was sufficient... What an arrogant, servile, bold, wretched, beautiful, and ugly man.

Gremory's red eyes shimmered alluringly as she smiled with her gaze.

Her heart was pounding.

She gently bit her index finger with her lips.

Aah... yes, she wanted to teach him about love.