Chapter 257

Editor: Tide, Reksatan

[Park Jung-ah]

“Can I be honest?”

[Sure . ]

I didn’t know what was wrong with me . Maybe I was too excited about receiving the ring . As if I were drunk, I began to talk about a topic that I usually wouldn’t even think about .

“I know I don’t deserve it . If I go to Earth right now, the families of those who died under my hands will hunt me down . I thought I was right, but now I’m aware that I wasn’t . ”

I wanted to say what I wanted briefly, but this was just the beginning of a long excuse that started to tumble out of my mouth . I couldn’t help it because I had already been deprived of my honor .

“I used the excuse that what I did was for the people, so I decided to live the rest of my life for people with penitence . ”

Kim Min-hyuk once told me something . Had he said it on the day of the agreement? He said I had two jobs . The first, to catch and kill criminals, and the second, to protect people .

Of course, the job that meant more to me was the latter, and the former was only used to support the latter . Kim Min-hyuk had asked me not to justify my actions by saying I was protecting people . Instead of deceiving yourself by using excuses, try to distinguish between the two jobs, and work sincerely . The meaning was sincere, the words I said were kind, but in the end, it only revealed my desire to kill the criminals .

I already knew my true nature, so I wasn’t confident that I could live outside with my head raised .

I imitated Kim Min-hyuk’s words and proclaimed that I would remain in the Tutorial for the rest of my life and take charge of the Order of Vigilance, claiming that I’d do the same as him . When Ho-jae was trapped on the 60th floor while I was close to finishing the floors, I felt sick . When Lee Yeon-hee appeared and began cruising toward the 60th floor, I cheered for her, but I was nervous .

When Kim Min-hyuk went outside, I felt something change . In the end, everything would change over time, and everyone remaining in the Tutorial would go out one by one, and I’d be left here all alone . It was unfortunate, but it was inevitable . I thought it was something I had to endure .

But time passed . When a man’s cunning heart sprouts a new desire, perhaps by itself, it erases his past deeds . Ever since the buried passion had sprouted out in my heart, its presence had been increasing rapidly .

“Now, I want to go outside, too . ”

[You can still go out . ] Ho-jae softly whispered as if it were natural . As if there were no problems with my wishes .

“I want to meet you . ”

I wanted to meet him, talk face to face, and walk around together . After a few short days, I wanted to feel relieved by his side . I wanted to have him by my side . If he wouldn’t stay willingly, I was willing to chase him around .

[We’ll be able to meet soon . ]

* * * * * *

[Hochi]

“You did a great job . Well done . ”

“No, I’ll come back tomorrow morning . ”

I greeted Baek Sung-woong, who stood in front of the door . Today, Baek Sung-woong had a tough day . I could assure you that today would have been more difficult for Baek Sung-woong if Yong-yong hadn’t been there when the bear suddenly appeared out of nowhere .

After visiting their headquarters, we were guided to our accommodation . Yong-yong, who finished organizing his furniture and decorations in the quarters, insisted that the room was now cleaned up, so he wanted to go outside again . His demand was out of the blue for me, who was about to sleep, and for Baek Sung-woong, who was returning to his quarters .

I persuaded Yong-yong to rest today and play tomorrow, but it didn’t work . Eventually, me and Baek Sung-woong had to take Yong-yong around the streets . The streets were like a market . Countless people roamed, and some sold delicious snacks or items .

I had no choice but to look back, keeping an eye on Yong-yong . Yong-yong, who looked around excitedly, wanted to buy things . However, Yong-yong, who had no items for people to use or any currency distributed by the Order of Vigilance, could not buy anything . Sometimes I got some snacks that people gave me because Yong-yong was cute, but it wasn’t enough to fill Yong-yong’s desire .

Baek Sung-woong suggested asking the Order of Vigilance for some money, but I refused because I didn’t know how much Yong-yong would spend . All the items in the market wouldn’t be enough to satisfy Yong-yong’s greed . After all, the boy was a dragon .

I briefly explained business transactions before Yong-yong, who heard the discussion, proudly declared that he would buy the goods he wanted by himself .

His proclamation stunned me into silence . At this point, I didn’t think I’d be surprised if the sky suddenly collapsed upon us . Fortunately, Yong-yong’s bedtime allowed him to postpone the reckless challenge to tomorrow, but in the end, his business would begin tomorrow .

“Haah . Isn’t this too much . ”

I wished I could talk to Ho-jae, but I couldn’t get any advice after I gave the ring to Park Jung-ah . Like Yong-yong, the new items and experiences made me excited . Everything around us seemed to be full of ignorance and unfamiliarity . But, those experiences weren’t just exciting, they were tiring .

Knock knock .

Someone knocked on the door . It was Park Jung-ah . I wondered the reason for her visit, but then I recalled her saying she would come over this evening . I stood up to open the door .

* * * * * *

“Shall we go to another room and drink?” Park Jung-ah asked, looking at Yong-yong, who was dozing off on my lap . Then Yong-yong, who had his eyes closed, shook his head .

“Let’s just drink it here,” I said sheepishly .

As soon as I and Park Jung-ah sat face to face at the table, Yong-yong got out of bed and sat on my lap . He seemed to want to join . He was sleepy enough to doze off on my lap, but I guess he didn’t want to sleep alone in bed .

“The child must have been very tired . ”

“Ah, yes . ”

Tired? Yong-yong doesn’t sleep just because he’s tired . Basically, the dragon species was a species that slept on its own . Therefore, they hibernate for months or years .

Previously, when Yong-yong entered his first sleep cycle, I and Ho-jae decided to come up with measures to deal with it . Every day without Yong-yong was so boring and depressing . Ho-jae took steps to help Yong-yong sleep little by little every day . Since then, Yong-yong has been forced to sleep for several hours a day .

“By the way, the interior is a bit girly . Was it supposed to be like this?” Park Jung-ah asked, looking around the room . I knew what she meant . The room was painted pink, and the furniture that decorated the interior was covered in lace . I let her know that it was Yong-yong’s handmade furniture and decorations .

“Oh, really? Well she’s a girl, so I guess she’d like it this way,” she murmured .

“What? Yong-yong is a boy . ”

“What?” Park Jung-ah asked . “What are you talking about?”

“Yong-yong is a boy . Male . You know, XY Chromosome . Not a daughter, but a son . ”

“What?” Park Jung-ah had serious doubts about Yong-yong’s gender, but I made it clear that the interior design was Yong-yong’s personal taste and that his gender should not even be involved .

The reaction was worse than I thought . Park Jung-ah seemed to be beyond embarrassed . From Ho-jae’s perspective, I knew Yong-yong’s taste was very feminine, but was that something to be so serious about? I didn’t know .

“What about Ho-jae? Did he say anything with the ring?”

“Yes, we were talking about it earlier, but he said he’d stop by the 61st floor in the evening . I haven’t heard from him since . ”

The 61st floor? It was impossible . No matter how little my technical understanding is, I could see that Park Jung-ah’s words weren’t making sense . The 61st floor was already in Hojae’s domain . Whether he was on the 60th floor or the 61st floor, it would have nothing to do with communication .

Then why did he suddenly stop communicating? Did he really have something to do? Or did he not want to join the conversation between Park Jung-ah and me? First of all, I decided to move as I had wanted .

“Oh, and you can take it easy . Think of me as Ho-jae’s brother . ”

In fact, it was better to speak informally and treat her comfortably . It was discomforting to be given an honor that I didn’t deserve, and to top it off, Park Jung-ah was much older than me in terms of age .

“Yes, I will . ”

I could see why this woman fitted well with a crazy guy like Ho-jae .

We drank together in a somewhat harmonious atmosphere .

Park Jung-ah confidently said, “This is the most powerful drink ever developed . ” No matter how good it was, I drank all I wanted, but I couldn’t feel any intoxication . On the contrary, Park Jung-ah got drunk quickly .

Park Jung-ah tried to speed up the conversation before she was too drunk to hear my thoughts . What Park Jung-ah wanted to ask me was related to Ho-jae .

“How do you and Ho-Jae get along?”

“How do we get along?”

“Yes . I’ve been told through messages and the ring, but I still want to know more . How do you get along with him?”

Maybe this question caused Ho-jae to cut off communication . Maybe he was pretending that he couldn’t listen to Park Jung-ah so that she can ask me this question comfortably .

“We’re doing fine . We get along better than you think . We usually eat together, teach Yong-yong, and spend the rest of our time focusing on research . I was unstable and had a hard time, but I’ve gotten a lot better recently . It’s better now . ”

Park Jung-ah listened carefully as if she was trying to memorize what I said . She also told me a little about what had happened in the past, and we shared some anecdotes that we liked .

When I heard as much as I wanted to hear, or when I was satisfied with Park Jung-ah’s face, I asked her a question too . There was always a question I was curious about .

“But why did you two have a bad relationship?”

Ho-jae didn’t explain well . When I was born, the two were already at odds . I had been confused by the inconsistent memories and the facts that remained in my head .

“There are several reasons . First of all, I turned down all the requests . ”

“Requests?”

Park Jung-ah said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t talk about this . ”

The underlying tone in her words suggested that it’d be better to ask Ho-jae myself .

“That’s why we got estranged the first time, and since then, I kept on instigating fights . I was angry and disappointed . ”

The requests seemed to be a big deal, and it occurred to me that even if I asked Ho-jae directly, I would probably not be able to hear the answer .

“Then I threw a stone . ”

“A stone?” I asked her out of the blue, but she ignored me and continued her drunk rambling .

“In the past, I overheard him talking in the second tournament . I didn’t know who he was talking to . I thought he was talking to himself back then, but now that I think about it, it seems like he was having a conversation with the sword he had at the time . It was kind of weird to talk about that with a sword . ”

It was a scene in my memory . One day, Ho-jae once revealed his innermost feelings next to Park Jung-ah, who was asleep .

“I’ve always been anxious . I wonder if the existence of my feelings means little to him . Maybe our relationship doesn’t mean much to him, contrary to what I think . ”

Before I could even recall my memory, Park Jung-ah continued her words . She was already mumbling to herself, not caring at all .

“So I threw it, thinking that the stone I threw could cause a stir in the lake . It was a stupid idea, but it worked . I was happy to see him get angry at me as well, instead of breaking our relationship, but on the other hand I was also upset . ”

It was strange .

“It’s strange, isn’t it? It was then that I got even more furious and swore at him to stir a reaction . Maybe I thought a reaction would provide proof that he still cared about me . ”

I had no idea what she was rambling about .

(Note from Imagine: Ho-Chi doesn’t get it because he supposedly should have all the memories of Ho-Jae and yet he doesn’t understand nor does he have any idea what shes talking about)

“Anyway, I apologize on behalf of Ho-jae . I don’t have all the details, but it’s probably Hojae’s fault anyway,” I reassured Park Jung-ah, and she burst into laughter upon hearing my words . “If there’s anything I can do for you, just let me know . I’ll help you with anything . ”

“Really?” she asked .

“Of course . ”