There's Something I Want to Talk About (2)

The convenience store had been an excuse from the start, so I headed straight from the café to the hospital room.

Sparring words with someone more difficult than expected had left my head drained; I'd been thinking of just collapsing into bed for a rest when—

"Oh my. You're back."

Yeon-hui's mother was sitting in my room.

She'd been stroking the two sleeping sisters. When she turned her gaze on me, her eyes traveled over every inch of my body, checking me over.

The worry in her look made me a little self-conscious. I managed an awkward smile.

"Auntie has something she'd like to say to you, Yeon-chan. Is that alright?"

"Ah—yes. Should I wait outside?"

I was summoned before I could get another word in.

Figuring outside would be better than talking here with the kids asleep, I pointed toward the door—but Yeon-hui's mother shook her head, disagreeing.

Then she quietly rose from her seat, stepped in front of me, and—

"…!"

—pulled me into her arms.

"Thank you, Yeon-chan."

"Huh? No, I—uh…"

Even as I fumbled through a reply like a snarl of tangled tape, Yeon-hui's mother went on in a calm, steady voice.

"Yeon-hui and Yeon-ah are the only treasures I have in this world. Just thinking about what might have happened if something had gone wrong… my vision still goes dark."

"…"

There had been a future like that.

No—that probably was the future.

Fortunately, luckily, I'd been able to stop it.

"Even so."

The slight catch of tears in her voice vanished as if it had never been there. Her expression and tone turned stern in an instant. She took hold of my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I'm so grateful to you, Yeon-chan. But Auntie still doesn't want you getting hurt either."

"…"

The unwavering look that refused to leave me any room for excuses was hard to bear—and yet something about the sincerity behind it got through.

Faced with that scolding posture, that tone reserved for a child who needed correcting, my head dipped on its own.

"I heard from Yeon-hui. She said you worked yourself to the bone."

My heart plummeted.

What exactly had she told her?

Did she know I'd killed people as if it were nothing?

While I sat there with my chest tight, a warm hand touched my cheek. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Reflexively, the head I'd been hanging slowly lifted.

"Whatever kind of boy you are—you're my son."

"…!"

At those words, something like a switch flipped the wrong way. Heat flooded my eyes.

You're a monster! A child of Satan!

"I already know you're a kind boy. That's enough."

The strength went out of my clenched fists. My hands drifted uselessly through empty air.

No.

Maybe on this side of things—but on the other side, I'd committed too many sins that couldn't be called self-defense.

I couldn't let a single sentence like this make me feel forgiven.

I couldn't.

"I—I'm not as good a person as you think I am."

It was true.

Not some pathetic excuse—an objective fact.

"And what is a good person, exactly?"

"…Pardon?"

"The Yeon-chan I've watched all this time looks after Yeon-ah, is considerate of Yeon-hui, and when the two of them are in danger throws himself in without a thought for his own body. That sounds like a pretty wonderful person to me."

"That's…"

Was it, though?

I'd only done what needed doing because I already knew the information.

It wasn't something I'd done with any great pride. It wasn't something born of some noble conviction either.

There you go overthinking it again. You're so cool about everything else, but the second it's something like this you get ridiculously picky. If someone says you are, just—

"It's alright. We'll take our time getting to know who you are."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

—think of it that way.

Who was that meant for?

Herself? Or me?

Why was that voice surfacing all of a sudden?

Hey.

Even now. Still.

I don't think I understand what you meant.

Yeon-hui's mother had only stopped by on her lunch break after hearing I'd woken up. She headed straight back to work.

Left in the room with the still-sleeping Yeon-hui and Yeon-ah, I was fiddling with my laptop when—

"Nn… mm…"

Yeon-ah, who'd been out cold, stirred and started to push herself upright.

"Haaawn… nn…? Oppa…?"

"Sleep well?"

I greeted her as brightly as I could—she'd almost certainly collapsed from Mana Exposure Syndrome.

"Oppa!"

"Guh—!"

Apparently thrilled that I was up, Yeon-ah launched herself into a full-body tackle.

"Oppa! Are you okay?!"

"I was, up until just now…"

"I'm sorry! Oppa, because of me…"

The apology wasn't for the tackle.

She was blaming herself for getting kidnapped—convinced that was why I'd ended up hurt like this.

Yeon-ah clung to me, crying and apologizing over and over. I stroked her hair and soothed her until the sniffling eased a little, then turned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to grab a tissue—

—and found Yeon-hui, woken by the noise, staring my way with a distinctly sulky look on her face.

"Tissue."

"…Here."

She handed it over with a halfhearted response, but she handed it over all the same. When I passed it to Yeon-ah, she took it with a little hmph and blew her nose hard.

Haha. If you blow your nose while glued to me like that, what happens to Oppa's clothes?

Yeon-ah seemed calmer, but she still refused to peel herself off my side, clinging tight—and that was clearly getting under Yeon-hui's skin. Looking thoroughly put out, she said,

"Could you get off him a little?"

"Stocks keep dropping in this economy. What else are you trying to drop?"

"What are you even talking about. That's enough—get off."

Okay, but I'm not the one clinging. She's the one glued to me. Why am I getting yelled at?

"I get that you're jealous your little sister is stuck to me, but—"

"When did I—! I'm not jealous!"

"You're jealous because it feels like I stole your sister."

"…"

It was written all over her face. No point denying it.

Maybe because Yeon-ah had suffered from Mana Exposure Syndrome, Yeon-hui tended to dote on her a little too hard.

Well—no harm in that.

Apparently she didn't appreciate hearing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it from someone else, though. Yeon-hui's expression soured even further.

"You're so annoying!"

Unable to hold it in, she snatched up the pillow beside her and hurled it.

The pillow traced a clean, perfect line—

—and did not hit me. It hit Yeon-ah square in the face as she hung off my arm.

Whump!

A solid, satisfying sound. The pillow slid slowly down Yeon-ah's face.

A rare flash of panic crossed Yeon-hui's features.

"Yeon-ah, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

She rushed to apologize—but Yeon-ah only murmured, low and quiet,

"Unnie…"

She picked up the pillow in silence. There was no mercy in her eyes.

Whoosh! Whump!

A clean hit, dead center on Yeon-hui's face, complete with that same solid sound.

"Yeon-ah! Unnie said it was an accident!"

"Mine was an accident too."

"You little—!"

Whoosh! Whump!

Hahaha.

Kids. This is a hospital room.

I am a patient.

I am going to lose my mind.

It took a thorough scolding from Nurse Nunna—who'd come in for a checkup in the middle of the chaos—before the kids finally settled down.

When evening came and I told them to go home, they threw a fit about sleeping here instead. Once again, today's MVP Nurse Nunna assisted in getting them out the door.

I felt bad for them, but my body still hadn't fully recovered. I was exhausted and wanted to rest properly—and there were things I needed to look into on my own.

Yeon-hui and Yeon-ah's sudden awakenings.

That had never happened in the original story. There was no telling what kind of butterfly effect it might set off.

I needed to gather whatever information I could.

And the biggest problem of all—

The Hero Association is watching.

Someone on the hero team with sensory abilities might have picked up on Yeon-hui's power at the time—or maybe some kind of equipment had registered it. That would explain why the Association had gone so far as to send a team-leader-level investigator.

The silver lining was that Yeon-hui didn't remember what had happened then.

Same for Yeon-ah. She seemed to have no memory at all of healing my body.

Which meant all I could do was dig through every third-generation awakening paper I could find and hunt for anything on the two of them—

Ding—

In the middle of sorting my thoughts, an email arrived out of nowhere.

This address was one I'd created after transmigrating. Nothing should have been coming in except spam.

Thinking that, I opened it anyway—and then,

"…What."

My heart dropped the second I saw the sender field.

yeonlee2233

An address far too familiar.

An address I hadn't seen again after a certain day—and never should have.

Of course I shouldn't have seen it.

That email belonged to my dead friend. The creator of this world.

The author's email.

I stared at the mysterious message for a long moment. Then I activated every security barrier on the laptop and opened it.

The contents: a single blank-looking attachment.

I carefully clicked the text file open.

"What the hell is this…"

The file looked half-corrupted, slapped together in a rush—but inside it were pieces of information I couldn't just ignore.

And then there was that character assessment, written only under my entry.

Self-important little brat.

That nickname was almost affectionate, in its way.

Of course it was. It was what the owner of this email address used to call me all the time.

"Haha… what even is this… Are you here? In this place?"

A hollow laugh slipped out before I could stop it.

"If that's the case, you're going to make me want to give it everything I've got."

If you're really here—

No matter what it takes.

"I'll come find you."

Yeon-ah already had a kidnapping on her record, so the security detail this time was far tighter than before.

Not the kind that stuck right to her side—personnel waiting out of sight, unobtrusive. They'd assigned a large number of people specifically to keep the last incident from happening again. From the sisters' perspective, the guards weren't even visible, so there was nothing to feel uncomfortable about.

More pressing than that—

Right now, every ounce of Yeon-hui's attention was locked on her little sister.

Yeon-ah walked home humming under her breath, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"That happy about it?"

Yeon-hui already knew what she was so happy about.

Park Yeon-chan waking up. That had to be it.

So why ask when she already knew?

Even thinking that, Yeon-hui somehow couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Yep! Aren't you happy, Unnie?"

"Me? I'm just… glad, I guess."

She mumbled something noncommittal at the question suddenly turned on her, but it left a restless, unsatisfying feeling in her chest.

"I like Yeon-chan oppa."

"…What?"

Her little sister slammed the accelerator with no brakes whatsoever. It took Yeon-hui a second just to process what she'd heard.

Her heart gave a hard, lurching drop.

She opened her mouth on pure reflex, scrambling for something to say—

"Hey… that…"

"After Mom and Unnie, I like him the most."

The addendum pulled a sigh of relief out of Yeon-hui before she even realized it.

Why did I…

"Unnie, hurry up! Tomorrow we have to wake up early and stop by before school!"

Yeon-ah had already scampered on ahead. Yeon-hui pushed the unsettled feeling aside and quickened her pace to catch up.

Time slipped by in a blink. A full week had passed since I'd woken up, and the doctor cleared me for discharge.

"Might be some kind of third-generation constitution. Being young probably helped too—your recovery speed was unreal."

I answered with a vague "Is that so," but I had a pretty good idea.

The aftereffects of Yeon-ah's power were probably still lingering in me.

Yeon-hui's mother had already handled the discharge paperwork in advance, so all I had to do was pack my things. I stepped outside the hospital to wait for the taxi I'd called ahead—

"Oppa!"

From up ahead, Yeon-ah came running toward me at full tilt.

"Huh? What are you two doing here?"

They should have been at school at this hour. The second I saw them, I could guess why.

These little brats.

"You skipped, didn't you. That's not okay. Back in my day—"

"What are you talking about. Do we look like you? We explained the situation to the teacher and got early leave."

Ah. Okay then.

Still sounding prickly, Yeon-hui snatched the bag out of my hands and headed straight for the taxi I'd called.

"Come on. We're going to our place."

"…."

I must have looked blank for a second—then I pulled myself together, answered,

"Yeah. Let's go."

—and climbed into the taxi.