Please Take Me Back
“I earned a lot of money too.”
Narin paused for a moment before adding one more line.
“I kill people well.”
I looked at Narin for a moment.
Ever since the start, she had been repeating similar stories over and over.
By now, I could guess what she was getting at.
She had been like this even back when I was young.
She couldn’t directly say things like “I want you to praise me for what I did well,” so she kept talking about her own actions until I noticed.
Thirteen years had passed, and this hadn’t changed at all.
“Well, you did well.”
I said it flatly, and Narin’s eyes widened slightly.
But she was still staring at me intently.
Was words not enough?
How had she done it back then?
I thought for a moment and raised my hand.
“You managed to survive alone.”
As I slowly stroked her head, the corners of Narin’s lips lifted.
It was a shy smile, to the point where it was hard to imagine her pinning someone against the wall in an alley.
The tension in her shoulders visibly eased.
“…Yes.”
And then,
“…Grung…”
A very small sound came out.
I stopped and looked down, and Narin slightly lifted her eyes.
“What was that just now?”
“Nothing at all.”
“It made a sound.”
“It didn’t.”
Did I mishear?
I tried to remove my hand, but this time her gaze followed my fingertips.
The hint of reluctance was too clear, so I stroked it a few more times.
It didn’t seem like there was any reason to stroke the head of someone who killed well.
There was no reason anyway.
Well.
It was fine if she liked it.
This much wasn’t expensive.
“So?”
“Huh?”
“I survived alone.”
“You heard that just now.”
“The Young Master said at the end that…”
“Did I?”
“You can live well alone.”
Only then did the memory come back.
Thirteen years ago.
It was when I provided independent funds and a place to live and sent Narin away.
At the time, it was a sort of praise.
Having taken care of her for five years, I thought she could be sent away alone without starving.
I also provided money.
I prepared a place to live and necessary identification, so I thought I had done everything I needed to do.
“It was like that.”
“So, I really lived well.”
“Yeah.”
“I earned a lot of money.”
“I heard that too.”
“I kill people well.”
“Hmm.”
Was it still not enough?
I raised my hand again, but this time Narin pushed her head into my palm first.
It wasn’t the obedient waiting like before.
With her forehead pressed hard against my palm, my hand naturally rested on top of her head.
“This way?”
“Yes.”
The answer was quick too.
I brushed her hair several times.
“Well done.”
“…Yes.”
“Grung.”
This time it was clearly heard.
I decided to pretend I didn’t hear it.
If one praise and a few strokes of the head made her this happy, it was convenient for me.
Above all, Narin immediately stopped when I told her not to kill people a moment ago.
Even after thirteen years, she listened well, and with simple praise, she reacted this much.
It didn’t seem like she had become difficult to handle.
“So, please take me back again.”
The moving hand stopped.
“What?”
“Please take me back again.”
Narin was still looking up at me with her head on my hand.
It seemed I hadn’t misheard.
“Just a moment.”
“Yes.”
“I sent you away thinking you could live well alone.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you come back?”
Narin blinked once.
Her face looked like I had asked an odd question.
“I lived well.”
“…Why does that become that?”
“The Young Master said I could live well alone.”
“It was like that.”
“So, I did.”
“What?”
“Living well alone.”
I knew that far.
“So, now I can go back.”
“Where?”
“To the Young Master.”
It was a reply as if it was too obvious.
I stared at Narin for a moment and asked.
“You, perhaps.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I gave you a test back then?”
Narin thought for a moment.
“A test…”
“Yeah.”
“It was similar.”
“You thought that if I lived well alone, I would take you back?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Right.”
“But I thought that as long as I lived well, it was fine.”
I don’t know where that conclusion came from.
I really thought it was over.
Raising one child.
Raised her enough to live alone, provided money and a place to live, then sent her away.
That was the limit of my responsibility.
After leaving my hand once, I didn’t look back.
It was bothersome to keep worrying about something I had finished, and I didn’t see the need to look into the life of someone whose responsibility had ended.
Narin had pushed that corner of her memory aside and lived on.
She remembered that she was the first child I raised, but she rarely recalled it.
But Narin was different.
Thirteen years.
It seemed like she had really been waiting for me to call her back.
“Thinking about it…”
I fixed my gaze on Narin and put a bit of strength into my eyes.
Normally, the faint light would have been dim, but it slowly became clearer.
A sphere of light spread out around Narin’s body.
Inside the sphere large enough to wrap one person entirely, two colors were swirling and mixing.
Bright, clear red.
And black that dug between them.
“Was it originally like this?”
The red color wasn’t much different from the memory.
When I put strength into my eyes, it became clear enough to attract attention.
But the black color seemed to have spread wider than before.
It wasn’t just thinly mixed between the red light, but it seemed to be deeply coloring the areas here and there of the sphere.
“…Is it a misperception?”
I soon relaxed the strength in my eyes.
It was unlikely I remembered the colors from thirteen years ago exactly.
It might have been like that originally.
More importantly, I still didn’t know what kind of talent the black color was, so even if it had widened a bit, I couldn’t figure it out.
More than that, I had to answer now.
“Young Master?”
“Yeah.”
“Please take me back again.”
She said it again.
Seeing her say it like that, it seemed I couldn’t just brush it off.
Curious, I asked.
“If I say no?”
Narin’s smile disappeared.
It was sudden, to the point where it was hard to think of the person who had been pressing her head on my palm a moment ago.
Her pupils didn’t move.
The gaze staring straight at me was so quiet that it was odd.
“…Why?”
Lowered voice.
For a moment, a cool sensation brushed my nape.
I turned my gaze thinking wind had come through the window crack, but it was closed.
Looking back at Narin, the hand resting on my knee was slowly curling in.
The fingertips dug into the fabric of my pants.
“Why can’t I?”
The expression was obedient.
But somehow, I felt that if I gave the wrong answer, something troublesome would happen.
“It’s not that I can’t.”
“Then it’s okay?”
“Just a moment. I have to think.”
When the words ended, the strength in her fingers loosened.
The strange unease I felt just now disappeared in an instant.
Hearing that she had waited thirteen years and then being refused in front of my eyes, I might feel bad.
I decided to think that way.
The important thing wasn’t that.
How much would taking Narin back help me?
I had seen the fight earlier.
Three people had rushed at her, and it wasn’t even a proper fight, and seeing how the lower-tier people avoided her just by looking at her face, her influence in this neighborhood seemed significant.
She seemed to have accumulated quite a bit of money.
Since she didn’t know the exact amount, she wouldn’t spend my money on immediate living expenses.
Moreover, she still listened to me.
Conversely, I had lost my citizenship and fallen to the lower tier, and only three days later, I almost died on the street.
From now on, I would have to find a place to replace the treatment I received from the family.
Even if I had hidden money, in a situation where I didn’t know when stable income would come, continuously pouring money into accommodation and security didn’t sit well with me.
If Narin was beside me, at least I could buy time to solve that problem.
What I got by refusing didn’t come to mind.
It would be a bit bothersome to have to worry about someone else again.
But compared to the value of a life, it was cheap.
“Young Master?”
“Thinking is done.”
“How?”
“Towards taking you back.”
Narin’s waist straightened immediately.
“Okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But I have a favor to ask too.”
“Anything.”
The answer was too fast, so I paused for a moment.
“Help me for a while.”
“…For a while.”
“You don’t like that word?”
“A little.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s an end.”
Narin said that and closed her mouth for a moment.
She was strangely honest.
“I can’t stick to you forever.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
I tried to answer but stopped.
I was the type who didn’t say anything about uncertain things.
I didn’t know how things would turn out either.
“That’s something to think about later. For now, I need your help until I properly settle in.”
“Help.”
“Yeah. Like escorting, I don’t know much about the lower-tier situation.”
“I will do as you say.”
“I was thinking that.”
The corner of Narin’s mouth lifted a little.
As expected, she liked it when there was something to assign.
Then it would be more convenient.
“But there’s one thing bothering me.”
“What?”
“I don’t have a house to take you to right now.”
“…Huh?”
“The family is ruined.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you surprised.”
Narin blinked for a moment.
“You don’t have a house either?”
“The family is ruined, but why would the mansion be mine?”
“…”
Her face was one I hadn’t thought of that far.
I let out a dry laugh.
“I still don’t know much about this side.”
“The house was the Young Master’s, right?”
“Precisely, it was the family’s property. I just used it comfortably.”
“Then I can go back.”
“To whom?”
“To the person who took it.”
“…If that becomes easy, I wouldn’t be here.”
Narin closed her mouth.
Thirteen years and twenty-seven days, remembering that, she still seemed to be missing a bit in this place.
Even when I was young, she was similar with things outside her interest.
“Anyway, this accommodation is all I have now. I was trying to find the next place while staying here for a few days.”
Narin’s gaze slowly scanned the room.
From the wall unit with old tape, up to the ceiling with water stains.
After seeing the crooked door, she got up from her seat and went to the window to check directly.
When I pushed the lock with my fingertips, it was locked but the window frame wobbled a bit.
“It’s not okay.”
“What?”
“Here, sleeping.”
“I can endure for a few days.”
“It’s not safe.”
“I know that too.”
I had been hit directly today, so I knew well.
“Come to me.”
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a house?”
“Yes.”
“Is it safe?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to take on new requests?”
“I don’t have any assigned now. I can stop taking new ones for a while.”
“Then money?”
“A lot.”
“I heard that earlier.”
Narin closed her mouth.
This time, she didn’t push her head.
It seemed that the praise for earning a lot of money was enough earlier.
“Maintenance cost for the house?”
“Not much.”
“How far is it from here?”
“A little.”
“Do many people come?”
“Almost none.”
“Security?”
“I am here.”
“That sounds believable.”
Then the story became much easier.
I didn’t have to keep paying for the same accommodation, and if I was with Narin, I wouldn’t need to worry about the surroundings until I slept.
I had planned to preserve the hidden funds as much as possible until I secured treatment methods and created stable income.
Since I could use a good place for free, there was no reason to refuse.
“Then, please take care of me.”
“It’s not a favor.”
“Then what?”
“Living together.”
She corrected immediately.
“Yeah. Let’s live together.”
“Yes.”
The corner of Narin’s mouth lifted a little.
It turned out easier than I thought.
The family was eventually not mine, so I lost everything in a day.
From now on, I would have to create a foundation that I could maintain with money or treatment myself.
With Narin’s help until then, I could save quite a bit of time.
If I needed combat power, I would use Narin, and if I didn’t know something in the lower tier, I would ask.
Considering the reduction in living expenses and security issues, the request to take her back was too cheap for the value.
“Within a few months, it should somehow work out.”
I muttered absentmindedly, and Narin’s smile stopped.
“A few months?”
“Huh?”
“After how many months?”
“By then, I should have found my place to live, and I need to make a way to receive treatment or find a place where money comes in.”
“Then, I don’t need it?”
“It’s not that I don’t need it…”
Narin’s eyes fixed on me again.
It was similar to a moment ago.
She wasn’t smiling, but it didn’t look like she was angry.
Just staring at me as if she wouldn’t miss any word I said.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Speak.”
“What.”
“Then.”
I didn’t need to twist the words here.
“Let’s think about it when I go back.”
“…Yes.”
The answer didn’t seem to please her.
Still, I didn’t ask further.
For now, the important thing was that Narin would stay by my side.
That was enough.
“Then let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“But it’s night, is it okay?”
“So, I have to go now.”
“More late, it’s dangerous?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“I can’t sleep more here.”
“…Is that more important?”
Narin was already reaching her hand towards my bag.
The bag was just the small one I brought when I first came down to the lower tier.
She pulled out the charger for the terminal and packed the toiletries.
When I put on the coat and turned around, Narin extended her hand.
“Here.”
“Bag?”
“Yes.”
“I can carry it.”
“I want to carry it.”
“Alright.”
The time for haggling was a waste.
When I handed over the bag, Narin carefully accepted it.
Then, like when I stroked her head earlier, the corner of her mouth lifted faintly.
It seemed her personality of liking assigned tasks remained.
If I handled it well, she could live quite comfortably.
“But where do you live?”
“Towards the waste line.”
“Waste line?”
“The old elevated railway control tower I used.”
“Electricity and water?”
“Out.”
“Communication?”
“Out.”
“Entrance?”
“One.”
“No other paths?”
“I have a path I use.”
“Can’t others use it?”
“Can’t.”
“Then it’s fine.”
It didn’t need to be wide or fancy.
As long as it was hard to enter from outside and could hold out while I found the place to receive treatment and income sources.
When I tried to open the door, Narin stepped out first.
“I will go first.”
“Escort?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
I immediately stepped aside.
There was no need for me to lead and check for danger.
After Narin opened the door, she slowly scanned both sides of the corridor.
After confirming no one was there, she moved to one side.
“Let’s go, Young Master.”
“Yeah.”
When I tried to leave the room.
Narin pulled the bag a bit inside her arms.
Then, with her face close to the bag, she slowly took a deep breath.
As if checking the smell.
“Huh…”