Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Three Peaches (2)
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Huangdo's favorite food. What could it be?
"Hmph, hm hmph hum~"
Huangdo, who was humming a tune while sticking right by my side with her arm linked in mine, immediately shot me a cute wink the moment she noticed my gaze.
"Why, Oppa?"
"Do you have any favorite foods?"
The adult Huangdo always made a huge fuss no matter what I did for her, so I had no real clue what her actual favorites were.
She wasn't so much the type who loved eating as the type who loved being given things by others?
I knew her tastes well enough with chicken skewers, but since we were already out, handing her just one felt like it would prick my conscience a bit.
"Hmm~"
Huangdo stroked her chin with her finger.
"Ah!"
She unlinked her arm, clenched one hand into a fist, and placed it firmly on her palm with a tap.
"Food to eat with Dowon Oppa?"
"......"
This sly little kid.
This sister of mine was one consistent tree.
I stroked the head of Huangdo, who was plastered to my right arm, and after some thought, settled on a restaurant.
"How about a buffet?"
"A buffet? There's no place like that in Dowon..."
"Of course we're going outside."
"Whoa! Outside!?"
At the word "outside," Huangdo's eyes widened like giant marbles.
Her face immediately lit up with a grin, her lips trembling even as she smiled—she was clearly thrilled beyond measure.
"We're really going outside?"
"Yep~"
"Oppa is the best!"
-Whoosh!
Huangdo let out a squeal and wrapped both arms tightly around my waist.
When the person receiving a gift reacts this well, nothing beats that warm feeling—and this was exactly that moment.
"But it takes a while to get outside... Is it okay if we don't tell the sisters?"
There were ways around that.
While helping with Hongyeon's errands on the way out, I'd long since memorized various coordinates outside.
I tidied up Huangdo's hair neatly and channeled my magic power.
"Oppa?"
"Close your eyes tight and count to ten."
"Why?"
"Or we'll end up somewhere outside that you like?"
Trusting my words completely, Huangdo covered her eyes with both hands and began counting.
Covering the eyes reduced motion sickness. Just in case, I gently cupped her eye area with my right hand.
"One... two-three..."
Space magic.
I showed her the magic she'd taught me right back at her.
-Flash!
A floating sensation washed over my entire body. Huangdo flinched in surprise, her shoulders shaking.
When I wrapped my hand around her trembling shoulders, she finally calmed, her shaking subsiding.
"D-Done? Oppa?"
"Open your eyes now."
Huangdo muttered in a voice laced with anxiety, slowly pulling her hands away like a rabbit.
The sight that soon filled young Huangdo's eyes would probably feel like pure magic to her.
"Gasp!"
Dirt paths turned to blocks.
Blooming peach blossoms became street trees.
The faint city smells and car horns.
For Huangdo, who'd spent her whole life cooped up in the mountains with little outside experience, I filled her view with the real cityscape.
"What do you think?"
Huangdo gawked speechless at the city sights, then flapped her hands like a penguin searching for its mom.
"......Oppa."
Gulp.
Huangdo swallowed. A bead of sweat trickled down her cheek as her pupils rapidly scanned the surroundings.
"Th-There's so much I want to go to."
"Then we should go."
"So much I want to buy, but..."
"Then I'll buy it for you."
"R-Really? But-"
"Let's eat first, then take our time looking around."
Huangdo stared at me like she'd met the savior of her life, clutching her hands tightly with an awestruck face.
"......I have nothing to give you, Oppa."
"You'll give plenty later, so it's fine."
"R-Really?"
In truth, I'd already received plenty.
Just the value of the magic she'd taught me was worth tens of billions easily.
If I didn't repay her like this, I'd be the one feeling guilty.
'But... does what I'm doing now affect the present? Does that mean I stick in adult Huangdo's memories too?'
Curiosity suddenly struck, so I quietly called out to the World Tree of Time.
[......]
Cannot answer, huh. Well, topics like this were sensitive; better to hold back.
Shouldn't have asked. Sorry.
I shook off the thought and led the way to the restaurant I'd scoped out before.
-Tap, tap, patter!
Left foot, left, right foot. Right.
Running like a puppy, switching feet mid-stride—just like I used to do as a kid.
Huangdo trotted after me, following my path.
Our casual clothes tailored for Dowon drew curious stares from passersby.
"Those clothes are so pretty... Just like in the magazine."
Huangdo's eyes were fixed only on me and the city, oblivious to the stares.
-Tap tap.
This time, she yanked my arm, squealing.
Following her pointing finger, there was a fountain shaped like a tree.
"Oppa, that! Look at the fountain!"
A fountain pouring water from knots.
The tree shape was carved so blatantly evocative of the female form.
"Hya... It's so naughty."
"Naughty?"
"Eek! You don't like that kind of joke...?"
Men go crazy for it.
She always seemed confident, but Huangdo could clearly charm a good guy even without me.
Of course, no telling when that guy might kick the bucket.
"No, I like mildly naughty jokes just fine."
"Th-Then... Do you read those magazines too, Oppa?"
Those magazines? Like Maxim or whatever.
I'd never seen adult mags in this world.
At most, I'd glimpsed covers in passing.
But... why'd the convo veer here?
I nearly said yes but sensed the topic flowing weirdly and clamped my mouth shut.
'What am I even talking about with a minor.'
Conveniently, we arrived at the restaurant, diverting Huangdo's attention.
"Table for two? Right this way."
We sat, then started piling food onto plates.
Huangdo insisted everything she wanted to try was here and somehow loaded her plate with it all.
Could she finish all that?
Out of control, Huangdo spread out food five times her size on the table.
Chicken, pasta, fried rice, pizza. Steak. Fries. Even ramen, which she wouldn't normally eat.
"And cola! I really wanted to chug some cola."
"Heh, yeah?"
-Slurp.
Huangdo slurped cola through the straw, shuddered, and banged the table.
"Hyaahhh..."
Popping bubbles had her in a frenzy.
Next, she savored a piece of chicken.
"Mmm!"
A nasal hum burst out instantly.
Now pizza. She bit the triangular tip, stretching hot cheese outward along her extended hand.
"Mngh~!"
Immediate reaction again.
Judging by her pace, she wouldn't last long. Watching her eat while I dined, Huangdo's portions were no joke.
"It's sooo good, Oppa. Try this too!"
"Uh, yeah."
Was modern Huangdo putting on airs?
She'd already polished off a bowl twice my face size.
She ate so heartily, spoke so cutely—halfway through, I forgot my own meal and straight-up watched big-eater Huangdo's mukbang close-up.
-Nom nom!
Even sound effects echoed in my head.
The meal ended intensely and swiftly, like a typhoon's passage.
"Fwew."
Huangdo, having cleared about three plates, grinned in satisfaction.
Then, noticing my gaze belatedly, she blushed in embarrassment.
"Was that... weird? I haven't eaten food like this much."
"Not at all."
I was surprised, sure, but it was mostly fun.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really really."
I pulled out a tissue and wiped spaghetti sauce from Huangdo's mouth. She blinked, cheeks flushing pink.
"...Do you do this for other people too, Oppa?"
"Just for you girls. Why?"
"You've dated a lot of trees."
Say "girls," not "trees," or what am I?
I tucked the used tissue out of Huangdo's sight and answered honestly.
"One. Or two? You?"
I knew she hadn't, but tossed it out casually.
Huangdo slumped her shoulders as if it were obvious.
"I haven't met anyone yet."
"Yeah? Kids outside your age are probably dating a ton."
Dowon was different, but outside was precocious as my old world or this one.
Dating started even in elementary school.
My cousin's first time was in elementary, and plenty of middle schoolers if you looked.
By high school, anyone "playing around" had experience.
College? Talking made your jaw hurt.
"I'll only date the person I marry."
"Everyone in Dowon like that?"
"Yeah. Some do the multiple thing... but honestly, not for me."
"Cough, cough."
Multiple?
Two-timing. Got it.
Huangdo's precociousness had long crossed into lewd and debauched territory—I knew that well.
Just sad it started at this age.
"Hope it goes well for you."
"It has to! He's my fated one... He's gotta be born somewhere, right?"
"......Shop around carefully. Don't get duped."
"I know everything! Even stuff you don't, Oppa."
So the girl who knew so much lost to lust and jumped sleeping me?
Recalling that time made my head spin.
I sipped cola and sighed through my nose.
"How was your dating, Oppa?"
Huangdo perked up with interest at my words.
Still sipping cola, I thought it over.
'Dating, huh.'
Azalea's rejection still lingered, souring my gut.
But first love story it was.
Huangdo's head full of pink needed a dose of dating's harsh reality.
"In college. I was quiet, no game back then."
"Herb tree?? No, nerd tree, right!"
"......Something like that. Social skills so low I barely felt human. Even at OT or MT, I bombed. But one girl kept talking to me."
"Kyaa! And?"
Like a middle schooler hearing her homeroom teacher's romance. Huangdo beamed, urging more.
"What're nerd tree traits? Decent-looking girl talks to you, boom—smitten. Dating's usually the lover loses."
"Right."
I received the confession. Sorta.
Despite all signals of interest, my shyness made her confess.
"But we barely knew each other. Just looks and hobbies matched, so we dated."
"Gasp!"
Huangdo's face filled with unease.
Her reactions made spilling the tale kinda fun.
"That's how it started."
Problems began there.
"Always holed up home, couldn't chat properly with girls, dates were awkward. She liked the cuteness at first, but grew bored."
No eloquence lasts forever unrusted without girl experience.
"Dates dwindled, we drifted—I got desperate."
"Oh no..."
No sex either.
Issues piled up—skip.
"Clung to her ankle... Hoed myself? Pathetic dragging, then ghosted."
Skipped military bit here.
Lots more in between, but.
Dunno others' first loves, but mine wasn't great memories.
Might've held interest if I'd been better, but whatever now.
"Get it?"
"Hng. Poor Oppa."
"No poor or whatever."
"Second one?"
Second was...
Trainwreck from start—skip.
"Anyway, one thing I wanna tell you."
"What?"
"Don't rip out your heart and guts for someone you like."
Everyone knows, but some don't.
Like me.
"Put yourself first."
"......Got it."
Huangdo nodded seriously.
Did she really get it?
Stacking empty plates, I recalled adult Huangdo now.
"Don't forget."
"Yes, yes!"
"Your life comes first."
Just in case, emphasized again.
Huangdo didn't catch my intent, but self-satisfaction was enough.
Warnings done... Time to shop gifts for Huangdo.
Placing her cola by the plate last, we stood and left the restaurant.