The Difficulty of Soothing a Woman
Honestly, is there anything harder than soothing a woman? There was one thing my closest female friend once told me. Soothing a sulking woman is harder than plucking a star from the sky and stuffing it up your nostril. I laughed it off back then, but now I realize she was right. Oh, my friend, I will never forget you. But couldn't you have taught me the method too? A mountain of worry weighed on me, and a sigh escaped on its own.
Still, I had to soothe Airi. If she wrote a bad evaluation in her letter to her father, I would be dead on the spot. So this is why delivery app owners obsess over every single rating. Airi, the letter you casually send could be a death sentence to someone. No, seriously, I'm already getting a headache from my fiancée problem alone—don't add to it.
I knocked carefully on Airi's door. When the sound echoed, she answered in a curt voice.
"What is it?"
Whoa, colder than the glacier Douli rode in on. "I have something I'd like to discuss. May I, my disciple?"
"Come in or don't, do whatever you want. You always do whatever you please anyway, Master."
The invisible status window seemed to be mocking me. This damn thing never shows up when I need it most, but pops out to tease me only when I'm screwed. You joker of a system, one day I'll rip your mouth open—three times over.
"Then I'll come in."
Just as I carefully opened Airi's door, I spotted a small bug crawling along the hallway. It felt like the bug was saying to me, 'You're screwed, you idiot.' The bug, which would die from even a graze of Rock, Fire, or Flying-type moves, must have gone mad wanting to die. Just as I was about to stomp it, a thought struck me. This might be my last moment, so at least I need someone to remember my final appearance. Bug, from today your name is Rabun. Rabun, I will definitely return here, so wait for me!
The door creaked open. Rabun, please cheer me on. Airi was lying on the bed, staring at the wall. She wasn't practicing wall-facing meditation by accepting the Way of Fire... Ah, she was just sulking so badly she didn't even want to look at my face. Then another tip from that girl came to mind. If the girl is even facing you, that's already decent; if she's turned her head away, you're truly screwed—repeat after me. I believe it. I'm definitely screwed. But damn it, if you were going to tell me, you should've also taught me how to soothe a woman who's turned her head away. Anyway, that girl died on the very day she promised to teach me.
"Hey, Airi..."
"What now?"
"Can't we at least look at each other while we talk?"
Well, it's uncomfortable watching someone who hasn't accepted the Way of Fire do wall-facing meditation. More than anything, I didn't want to deal with the extreme difficulty of soothing a sulking woman who's turned her head away. I suggested lowering the difficulty to the operator, but...
"I don't want to."
Rejected. Isn't the basics of operation communication and compromise? Today I'll fix the operator's attitude through a truck protest. In another world, it's trucks; trucks mean another world, right? Ah, trucks are things that send you to another world, not things that come here.
"Airi... I understand why you're angry, but..."
"...You said you understand?"
Why is it getting colder again? Was Airi secretly a cryomancer? In Dragnity Fantasy 2, that's a notoriously bad tech tree that even veterans avoid—unless it's WoW.
"Yeah, I understand."
"Do I look like a fool who always does what Master says and endures when told to endure, so I believe everything Master says?"
I wasn't this scared even the first time I killed someone. My mind is going blank. Is this fighting spirit? You had the qualities of a king, Airi.
"Master, you said you understand me, right? Then tell me why I'm angry. Don't gloss over it with vague words."
Wow, even my specialty of glossing things over with ambiguous words has been blocked. Airi is pure when spoken to nicely, but a bit dumb when spoken to badly, so I was planning to deceive her appropriately.
"Airi, ever since I was seventeen and you were five, we've eaten together, slept in the same house, and I've taught you knowledge."
"...So what?"
"Did you think our relationship was so shallow that we wouldn't even know each other's hearts?"
"I told you not to try glossing over it with appropriate words!"
Honestly, now I'm even questioning if I did anything that wrong. Rabun, give me logic.
"Airi, if you want, I'll tell you. I'll tell you why you're angry. However..."
"I'm a little disappointed that you thought our relationship was so shallow we wouldn't know each other's hearts."
I let out a small sigh. Honestly, this was my gamble. Because I still don't know what I did wrong. At twenty-nine, it's normal to drink a bit outside, and since I'm not a married man, I can hug a close older sister, can't I? Come to think of it, when I fought the slave trader leader, I did break the rules of the Magora by using magic. But the rules of the Magora are meant to be broken.
"Yeah, Airi... What I did wrong was..."
At that moment, I paused briefly. If the gamble worked even a little, Airi would think this was her last chance.
"I know... I know Master feels sorry toward me... But I was just a little angry."
It worked. Thank you, Goni hyung-nim, Agwi hyung-nim, and Jeong Madam noona.
"Yeah, Airi, I understand. You must have been very angry."
"I searched the streets for Master from dawn... and Master was hugging Camellia unni, so I got a little angry."
Thinking about it, I did do something a bit wrong.
"My disciple, Camellia noona was actually very worried about me too."
"I know that... Camellia unni also went out to look for Master from dawn."
"She just hugged me without thinking because she was relieved to see I was safe."
After all, Werner was like a precious younger brother to Camellia. No wonder in the official side story manga, she got teased by her colleagues for liking younger guys so much she'd get arrested. Young Werner didn't understand what that meant, and Camellia turned red and just kept drinking. Of course, afterward, drunk Camellia knocked everyone down.
"Without thinking...?"
"Yeah, because she's like family, a hug is nothing, right?"
"If someone is like family, is a hug okay?"
"Of course."
She must lack knowledge in that area because she's been living far from her family. It feels like spreading culture to someone from another world. Ah, this is called a hug.
Airi moved her lips for a moment, then asked in a trembling voice.
"Then am I someone like family to Master?"
I gently hugged the hesitant Airi. So lightly that I could barely feel the scent of her hair. The unique floral scent from Airi's hair stimulated my sense of smell. And in the gentlest voice possible, I said,
"Family... No, more than that. Airi, you are a special existence to me."
Of course, since the original Werner cherished Airi enough to risk his life for her. She was that precious a disciple.
"You said I'm a special existence...?"
"Yeah. At first, I thought I was stuck with a troublesome kid. But not anymore."
I think I was stuck with a terrifying kid. I always think of her as the executioner holding my death button.
"Then, if I want from now on, I can hug Master anytime, right?"
Agreeing to this question felt like it would bring trouble later. But if I denied it, she'd send her father an educator rating of 1 and I'd die, so I had no choice but to agree.
"Yeah, of course."
And as usual, I patted Airi's head.
"You're unusually quick to allow it, unlike Master."
Well, because I'm afraid of that 1-star rating from the education nation. If that rating gets messed up, the owner (Zeke) will come to complain. And the day of the complaint will be my memorial day.
"Well, this master has always been generous. If your anger has subsided, I'll take my leave now."
Thus, I managed to clear the very hard mode. I could see fireworks exploding with three stars popping up. Rabun, are you watching? I have returned.
Maybe because I was tense for so long, my throat was dry, so I walked toward the kitchen to drink water. But there was my fiancée's... her name doesn't come to mind. It must have been Saccharin.
"Yeah, Saccharin, it seems you've brought the letter."
Saccharin's gaze seemed even fiercer, but I decided to ignore it. A letter, huh—mountains beyond mountains. After solving Camellia, it's Airi; after solving Airi, it's my fiancée. How do the Siwoos endure this kind of life?
As I approached to collect the letter, I witnessed a shocking sight. That idiot Saccharin was eating Rabun.
"You damn bird-brained bastard!"
Rabun... I will definitely avenge you. Of course, if I kill that bird-brain, my fiancée will kill me. But you would have told me to live forgetting about revenge. I will carry on your will.