Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Yereum’s college entrance exam results came out.
The results were all A grades in every subject, and she had clearly passed the minimum requirements for early admission. In short, she had been accepted into Korea University.
“Yereum, good work.”
“Yes…!”
Yereum, who had been happily munching on fried chicken, smiled brightly as she expressed her joy without holding anything back.
I gently patted her head while looking over her report once more.
I was truly proud of her. Every subject was essentially at a stable A grade level. I really was proud.
And now, this very proud Yereum was going to Korea University.
“Hey, how do you feel? That girl you’ve been raising as a guardian since she was little got into Korea University.”
How do I feel?
“I’m really happy.”
So happy. It was hard to imagine anything making me happier than this.
…If only it weren’t for that damn monster.
“Yereum.”
“Yes, mister.”
“Do you really want to go to Korea University?”
At my question, Yereum nodded without even a hint of hesitation.
“Yes. I already got in through early admission, so I have to go.”
That was true. If you get accepted through early admission, you can’t switch to regular admissions.
What should I do? What is the right choice?
What choice would be best for Yereum?
After thinking it over carefully, I spoke.
“Hey, Yereum.”
“Yes, mister.”
“Have you ever thought about… livi—”
I wanted to ask her.
Have you ever thought about living at home?
If Yereum lived in the same house as me, in the same neighborhood, then at least she wouldn’t have to go to the city that becomes the main stage of Magical Girl Estia.
And if something happened, I could protect her. I could even shield her from that damn mascot if it came near.
But the moment I thought that, I realized something.
A single misunderstanding I had been carrying all this time.
I had believed that as long as she avoided the Seoul city where Magical Girl Estia takes place, Yereum would be safe.
That was why I opposed her going to Korea University. That was why we had been living together in this neighborhood far from that city.
But…
The domain of Amunis, which I had killed about ten years ago, was here.
It didn’t make sense. If incidents were supposed to happen in that Seoul city, then Amunis’s domain shouldn’t be here. It should be in Seoul.
And even if the domain had been moved, Amunis wasn’t a character who could move it on his own. Someone had to influence it.
So who was that influence? Who in the original story had affected Amunis and made him move his domain?
Me.
Nacht, the tentacle monster.
A high-ranking monster of the Fomor Rohlán faction, the first commander-class monster to descend into this world, and Amunis’s direct superior.
I had been far too careless. Far too foolish.
It wasn’t about the place of the invasion.
It was about who was in that place.
Did Fomor Rohlán choose that location to invade in order to deal with magical girls, with Yereum?
No. Absolutely not. They were the greatest enemies of magical girls. They would never deliberately invade a place where their greatest enemy was.
Yereum had simply been there by coincidence, like fate. The reason that city in the game became her setting was entirely because of Nacht.
And realizing that only now, when Yereum was about to become an adult, felt like a curse.
Kim Hyun-min, you idiot. How could you only realize something so important now?
Even though I swore to protect Yereum, even though I said I would keep her safe, I had missed the most critical truth.
Just as anger and self-loathing began to rise inside me—
“Mi…ster…?”
Yereum’s voice reached me.
She was looking at me with wide eyes, a frightened expression on her face.
For a moment I thought it might be the worst case scenario, but there were no tentacles or anything like that. I had just failed to control my expression.
And yet, even that alone was enough to scare her like that.
“Are you… okay…? Nothing’s wrong, right…?”
Even though she looked scared of me, she was still worried about me.
She reached out toward me, her gaze trembling but not avoiding me.
Strangely enough, seeing her like that calmed me down instead.
Right. What’s done is done.
It’s not too late. Yereum hasn’t become a magical girl yet, and Fomor Rohlán’s invasion hasn’t started.
There’s still something I can do.
“…Yereum.”
“Yes, mister.”
I looked at her again.
She was so beautiful, so precious, that it made me smile and hurt at the same time.
There was only one way to keep her from danger.
A painful, difficult choice, but the only one that could save her.
If the invasion location wasn’t the place, but Nacht himself…
“Do you… want to live somewhere else?”
Yereum just needs to leave.
If she lives independently, away from me, everything would be solved.
“Mister…? Why are you suddenly…?”
“It’s just… Korea University is far from here. It takes over an hour, long bus rides too. And commuting like that every day must be tiring. So…”
“Why…?”
“You might be better off living on your own.”
“Why…?”
“You could live freely… and go to school more comfortably…”
“Why…?”
“Yereum…”
I called her name again, but she looked at me like she had lost the world.
“Why…? Why do you want to separate from me…?”
“Yereum, it’s not like that…”
“I don’t want to. I want to keep living with you.”
Her expression wasn’t like a child throwing a tantrum.
It looked like a child who was being abandoned.
Desperate. Begging.
Asking not to be thrown away. Asking to stay together.
“I’m… I’m sorry… I was wrong…”
“Yereum…?”
Thud.
Yereum dropped to her knees.
That small, fragile girl knelt so hard it must have hurt, and began rubbing her hands together in panic.
“I was wrong… I won’t go to Korea University… please… don’t leave me… I want to… I want to live with you… please…”
It was a side of her I had never seen before.
For a moment I froze, then immediately pulled her into my arms.
Lowering myself, I held her tightly, feeling her body trembling.
A small tremor.
Feeling that, I could no longer say anything about her living away.
“…You can go to school from home.”
“R-really…?”
“Yeah… I was the one who said something wrong. Sorry. Forget what I said earlier.”
“…Thank you, mister.”
Yereum was still trembling, but she thanked me.
I held her gently, trying to calm her down.
I understood it logically.
For her sake, this wasn’t the right choice.
Even if she cried and resisted, I should have separated her and handled things properly.
But instinctively, I knew.
If I separated her now, something truly bad would happen.
And… honestly, I didn’t want to see her like that.
I wanted her to always be bright. Always beautiful.
Always smiling. Never crying.
So I decided to leave the consequences to my future self.
Right now, I just needed to comfort her.
Thankfully, I could rationalize it.
Even if I separated her, that damn mascot would come looking for her anyway. That was its fate.
Then it might actually be better if I stayed by her side and protected her.
Of course, that too was just an excuse.
I didn’t need to be physically next to her to protect her. My tentacle monsters were enough to keep her away from that mascot.
I knew that, but I still made excuses.
All of this was for Yereum.
But of course.
Of course, it was a huge mistake.
A mistake that would put her in danger? Yes, that too. But there was something even worse.
I had been so focused on calming her down that I missed why she had been holding onto me so desperately.
If I had known…
I wouldn’t have ended up like this.
Bound by Yereum, unconscious inside a dark house.
But that was a story for much later.
For me at that time, the only real crisis was watching magical girl shows with Yereum after her exam results came out and she was completely free.