The Nine-Year-Old's Grumbling Confession
“So to sum it up…”
Isabelle stood with her arms crossed, staring at me. Her face would normally have been wearing a smile as bright as sunshine. But not right now.
She was smiling, all right. It just didn’t look anything like a smile.
“You ditched your hardworking sister to go play by yourself.”
I nodded.
“Then your clothes got torn.”
I nodded harder.
“And finally, you fell into the lake and now look like a drowned rat?”
I nodded even harder.
Every time I nodded, Isabelle’s expression grew a little stiffer. A brief silence fell. A breeze stirred, lightly swaying the tips of my wet hair. Isabelle stared at me for a long moment without a word, then quietly opened her mouth.
“Rowoon.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you even realize what you’ve done right now?”
“Of course.”
I answered with complete confidence.
“I came back alive, didn’t I?”
“……”
Isabelle’s eyebrows twitched.
“That’s not the important part.”
“Why not?”
“What do you mean, why?”
She let out a sigh as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“What if you got hurt?”
“I didn’t get hurt.”
“What about your clothes right now?”
“……”
“They’re torn.”
I couldn’t exactly walk home covered in blood!
“That’s because the clothes are weak.”
“Rowoon.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t blame the clothes.”
“…Yes.”
I gave up fast. For some reason, words never worked properly with Isabelle. Back in the Tower I’d even tried talking to monsters dozens of meters tall, but looking back, that had been way easier.
At least the monsters never argued back.
“And.”
Isabelle narrowed her eyes at me.
“You went into the forest alone again, didn’t you?”
I put on the most nonchalant face I could manage.
“How could a nine-year-old go into the forest alone?”
It was a perfectly logical argument, if I did say so myself. Commonsense agreed. A nine-year-old kid wandering into a dangerous forest by himself? It didn’t make any sense. I nodded to myself inwardly. Perfect.
“Do you think I’m an idiot right now?”
“No?”
I answered instantly.
“You hesitated just now?”
“……”
“I also know your eyes shake a little when you lie.”
“…There was something like that?”
I muttered without thinking. Isabelle’s eyes went wide in that instant.
“See.”
“……”
“You just admitted it.”
I was screwed. Not only had my body gotten younger—apparently my lying skills had gotten younger too.
“Ugh…”
Isabelle clutched her head. Then she finally let out a snicker. She looked angry, yet somehow resigned.
“You’re really hopeless.”
She stepped closer, reached out, and lightly ruffled my wet hair.
“Still.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.”
It was a short sentence. But the worry packed inside it came through clearly enough.
I shut my mouth for a moment. In the Tower, I’d almost never heard words like that.
Survive. Get stronger. Don’t die. Mostly just those.
Are you okay? I’m worried about you. Glad you came back. Those kinds of things barely even existed in my memory.
“Got it.”
I answered quietly.
“I’ll be careful next time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Promise.”
Isabelle held out her finger. I stared at it for a second.
“……”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I let out a small sigh and hooked my finger with hers.
“Just thinking that now that I’m nine, I do stuff like this.”
“You don’t want to?”
“No. Just that it’s new.”
Isabelle smiled and shook her head.
“And you are nine, you know.”
Then she stroked my head again.
“And.”
“Yeah?”
“If you go into the forest alone again, you’re really getting it.”
I pondered for a moment.
“……”
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Thinking about how not to get caught.”
“Rowoon.”
“Joke.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Isabelle narrowed her eyes.
“Your answer just now was way too fast.”
“……”
As expected. A nine-year-old body was way too disadvantageous. Me—who used to take down dragons and demons in the Tower—couldn’t even properly withstand a single interrogation from a fourteen-year-old girl. Weird.
Even Geukwang hadn’t been scary. Even the demon worshipers hadn’t fazed me. So why was Isabelle’s nagging this strong?
Could it be that the real final boss of this world was someone else entirely?
Just then—
“Here we go again.”
A low, gentle voice drifted over. I turned my head.
A man was walking out from the kitchen. Dark brown hair, a face with a slightly rough cast to it—but eyes that were strangely warm.
Isabelle’s father. And the owner of the house I was currently freeloading in. Lawrence.
He looked me over and let out a small sigh.
“Rowoon.”
“Yes.”
“Did you go into the forest again this time?”
“……”
I averted my gaze.
Damn it. Why is everyone in this house so sharp? Isabelle was one thing, but Lawrence always quietly smiled while driving straight at the core of the matter.
“No.”
I put on the most innocent face I could manage.
“I just went for a walk.”
“A walk?”
Lawrence looked at my clothes. Torn fabric. Wet hair. Shoes caked in dirt. And the traces I couldn’t hide no matter how hard I tried.
“…You fell in the water.”
“…Yes.”
“And?”
“…I went into the forest too.”
“……”
A moment of silence. Isabelle crossed her arms and nodded.
“See. You did go after all.”
“……”
I couldn’t argue. I’d lost completely on pure logic. I quietly lowered my head.
“I’m sorry.”
Seeing that, Lawrence chuckled.
“I wasn’t going to scold you.”
He lightly patted my head.
“I was just worried.”
“……”
“Do you remember when you first came to this house?”
His hand stopped for a moment.
“You were always on guard. Jumping at even slightly loud noises. Getting ready to run the second someone approached.”
Lawrence smiled quietly.
“And now that same kid is wandering the forest alone.”
“……”
“Of course.”
He smiled faintly.
“It’s not only in a good way.”
“……”
“Isabelle.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Keep a good eye on him.”
“Why me?!”
In an instant Isabelle’s expression flipped to pure injustice.
“I’m a victim too!”
“…Victim?”
I muttered under my breath.
“…The person who dumped half the potato field on a nine-year-old?”
“Rowoon.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s keep quiet.”
“Yes.”
As expected. Family was terrifying. Lawrence looked at the two of us while holding back a laugh.
“You two really are like siblings.”
“……”
“……”
In that moment my eyes met Isabelle’s.
Siblings. A word I couldn’t even have imagined when I first arrived here. I wasn’t originally from this world. I had nowhere to return to. I was just hanging on in order to survive.
But at some point the warm smell of this house had become familiar, the nagging I heard every morning had become natural, and the voice calling my name had become comfortable.
It was a strange thing. I had originally been twenty-three, after all. But in this moment right now, I really felt like I’d become a nine-year-old kid.
“Rowoon.”
“Yes?”
“From next time, make sure to tell us before you go.”
Lawrence said.
“Whether you’re strong or weak doesn’t matter.”
“……!!”
I couldn’t say anything for a moment. Then I nodded small.
“I understand.”
Of course, I didn’t say I wouldn’t go into the forest again. …Probably. I might go a little.
I am a brat.
Of course. Since my body is nine years old right now, being a brat is technically correct. But even before transmigrating I was twenty-three. So to put it precisely—
I’m a double brat.
…
Well. Doesn’t seem like much of a difference.
Anyway. Let’s organize what happened today. My head isn’t that great, so.
First. I discovered a suspicious group that wasn’t in the original work. Name: Demon Worshipers!! Of course I named them myself. It sounds kinda cool, right?
“We are those who serve the great master.”
That’s what the guys advertising themselves said, so roughly demon worshipers, right? Or well. Maybe just a gathering of people who like demons?
…
Nah. No way.
Anyway. The problem is that those guys are highly likely not the end. The ones performing a ritual in the forest can’t just stop at a few people. With a group of that scale, there’s definitely more behind them.
And second. I got a stalking declaration from one of the strongest beings in the world.
“Heh heh… I’ll keep an eye on you for now, you know!”
“You rude little brat! Brace yourself, you know!”
…
The more I think about it, the weirder it is. Why does one of the world’s strongest talk like that? It was fine when I saw it in the novel, but hearing it in real life is like my mental resistance just can’t take it.
No. Is she actually a scary person?
In the novel she was a monster who could overturn an entire country. The version I saw was just a bad-tempered little kid.
Of course. The knuckle sandwich hurt. It really hurt.
Third. Lawrence. This guy is a bit weird too.
“Whether you’re strong or weak doesn’t matter.”
…This. No matter how I look at it, isn’t that a loaded statement? Normally those words are said when you already know the other person is strong, right?
Could he have noticed my identity? No way, right? Impossible. I’m currently pulling off a perfect nine-year-old brat act. …Though it does seem a little lacking.
Fourth. I got a knuckle sandwich from Isabelle.
Wait. Why is this fourth? Isn’t this the most important incident?
No. No. The importance is low. Probably.
Anyway. The most important is still the first.
Demon worshipers. Why the hell do they even exist? Why do those guys appear in a romance fantasy?!
Of course there were villains in the original too. A jealous noble young lady. A crazy mage expelled from the Magic Tower. Occasionally rampaging monsters that show up. Orcs. Ogres. Those kinds of guys, you know.
Just that much! Obstacles blocking the protagonists’ path. That was it!
But a crazy group hanging people up and drawing magic circles with blood to summon demons? That didn’t exist. Really! Not a single line!!
And what’s even weirder. The four strongest in the world. Self-proclaimed.
The Four Sovereigns.
…Ugh. Who the hell named that? They didn’t name it themselves, right? If they named it themselves… a little… no. It breaks immersion a lot.
Anyway. Those Four Sovereigns appear in the mid-part of the original. Each finishing their closed-door training and revealing themselves to the world. In other words, at the current point? They should still be training.
But me? I came back after getting a knuckle sandwich from one of them.
“……”
The more I think, the weirder it gets. Something is gradually going off from the original. And if these changes keep piling up, who knows what will happen from now on.
So. Conclusion! I follow Isabelle!
My original plan was this. Isabelle enters the Academy. I quietly live in the village digging potatoes. And once I recover my power appropriately, I set off on adventures again!
It was a perfect plan. Really perfect. Peaceful. Safe. And above all—no chance of seeing blood.
But. If the demon worshipers are really existences outside the original? The next place they’ll target is obvious. A place where talented humans gather. The Academy.
Countless nobles. Genius mages. Powerful knight aspirants. To them, it’s no different from the best hunting ground.
Hmm… Of course. This is an excuse.
To be honest, I was a little curious. Academy life. The original’s leads. And being an ordinary student. An experience I never had in the Tower. Every day killing monsters. Killing people. Struggling just to survive.
Friends? School? Ordinary daily life? Those were stories that had nothing to do with me.
But now it’s different. I gained a new life. A young body of nine years old. A new family. And a peaceful village.
Maybe. This time I can try living ordinarily.
So. Decision!
Lee Rowoon! Academy sortie!!