Chapter 182
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Our House
“I'll eat well!!”
“I'll eat well.”
[I'll eat weww!!]
Hearing their voices echo around, I nodded. As expected of an angel—one total idiot who prays before eating.
And two adorable cuties following her lead, praying before digging in. Of course, I didn't join them.
Prayers go straight to God, after all. No way in hell I'd do that. Never again.
“Ahh. That's what they call an atheist, right?”
“Quit talking nonsense and eat already. If you don't, I'll finish it all?”
“It's fine. We can just order more. Eat whatever you want.”
“...?”
The damn blonde paused at my words, tilting her head. She eyed me suspiciously, but?
It's the truth. The broke old me is gone. Now, only the rich me exists.
I had no idea money could come this easily.
Go into a dungeon once, come out, and bam—your money's multiplied. All this time, regressors and possessors had been hogging it for themselves.
Good things are meant to be shared, you know.
[How much money did you even make, nya?]
Hard to put into words. A lot. Just selling the byproducts from dungeons is enough to live off for a year.
Of course, I sold them online. The internet these days is insane. If it sells, anything goes.
Plus, the items from boss kills? Haven't sold those at all. They're safely stashed in my Inventory, waiting for the right buyer. These babies are gonna fetch a high price.
Customers are a dime a dozen, anyway.
That maid girl? Or the guild heiress? Or the sword clan lady?
“It's all about connections in this world.”
[Connections are everything!]
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Maybe because we came to a tasty spot after so long, I wiped the sauce from Levatein's mouth—she was eating with it smeared everywhere.
I patted her head after, and she beamed, chomping away happily.
Her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's. So cute.
Is this what fatherly love feels like? 'Not hungry but still full'—is that what they meant for times like this?
As I smiled contentedly, a voice came from the ones sitting across from me.
A voice too quiet for me to hear. Barely drowned out by the surrounding chatter, but unfortunately, I caught it.
—Sion. This is weird. I have a bad feeling right now. My senses are screaming.
—What?
—Think about it. Lee Seong-hoon. Lee Seong-hoon. The guy who tells me to stop eating if I keep going.
—True.
—But did you hear what he just said? “It's fine. We can just order more. Eat whatever you want.” Weird, right?
—Weird? Oppa is always nice.
—Only to you, Sion!! He picks on me. You know what they say—hurt the ones you like.
—??
—Anyway, I think this is a Lee Seong-hoon clone. Why else would he do something so out of character?!
—Doesn't seem like it...
“Jeez.”
Couldn't stand listening anymore. Too busy chattering to notice me staring right at them, apparently.
Amused, I rested my chin on my hand and watched for a while until Levatein looked up at me.
Cheeks puffed full, fork and spoon in both hands, sauce smeared on her mouth.
[Daddy. Is it a clone?]
“No.”
[But what's a clone?]
She asked even though she didn't know? Ignoring the noisy idiots, I wiped her mouth again.
“Hmm. Hard to explain. Think of it as a copy.”
[A copy?!]
Oh no. Slipped into the question pit. No choice—answered every derivative question about copies—
[So Daddy's the real one?!]
“Not fake.”
[?!]
I gave a sly smile as Levatein stared in surprise. Joking here with 'Actually, I'm a clone with Seong-hoon's memories' would just unleash a barrage of questions, so I just patted her head.
Patted her, then glanced ahead again—
The blonde and black-haired girl were glaring at me. Somehow it had spread to Raphael, and Sion was staring wide-eyed.
“Where's our oppa?!”
“Where'd you hide Seong-hoon?!”
These two, seriously.
[Sion looks dumb too, nya.]
Yeah. Totally.
Guess there's truth to 'hang with fools, become one.'
“Ugh. I'm so tired. So tired.”
“Seriously? You who slept through the dungeon? Or me who went down to the lower floors alone—which one's more tired?”
“Seong-hoon doesn't get it, but sleeping is hard work. You think sleeping in a strange place is easy?”
“......”
For a split second, I wanted to kill her, but barely held back. No way I'd win against that gorilla in a fight.
—This trash!!
—Octopus limbs. Turn into an octopus head...
—Nuclear waste. Trash not even recyclable.
Stuff like that happened, so I decided to let it slide today. How stressed must she have been to say all that?
Drunk words are sober thoughts, they say. Least I can do is keep home stress-free.
Forcing down the rising anger, I nudged the rolling Raphael with my foot.
“You're at my house now, right?”
“That's why I'm doing this. Do I look like someone who rolls around in other people's houses?”
“This is my house.”
“'Our' house. Speak properly.”
Look at her acting all bold. Nothing to say back, so I just stared from the sofa. Arm propped, looking down.
Raphael was grinning. Probably thrilled I didn't deny it. I'd be happy too if someone acknowledged my claim to their house.
Free money, basically.
“Tired? Go sleep inside.”
“Gotta wash first. Lily's washing the kids right now.”
True. Better than sleeping dirty, so I let Raphael have her way. She seemed in a good mood after the tasty meal.
She wriggled around the floor. Her long blonde hair scattered everywhere, but I didn't say anything.
It'd all go back when she got up anyway. As she squirmed, her golden locks reached my feet.
By the time I noticed, it was already tangled in, too annoying to move, so I left it. Then it spread more, impossible to clear.
Annoyed, I stepped on it firmly with my other foot. Only then did Raphael stop and look up.
“What.”
“Move your hair.”
“Too lazy.”
“Breathing's lazy too—stop that.”
“That's different. Fine, how about this instead?”
What? As I eyed her curiously, Raphael grinned like she'd hooked me.
“Play games with me. Until bedtime.”
Heavy labor just to get her to move her hair. Normally I'd say no—
“Sure.”
“Huh? For real? No 'no'?”
“We'll play.”
“Tomorrow too.”
“Fine.”
“Day after too?”
“Whatever.”
“Until school starts!!”
“...Not the day before.”
“What the hell?! Seong-hoon! Did you eat something bad?!”
Raphael jumped up and came over. One hand on my forehead, the other on hers, checking temps.
She tilted her head.
“No fever?!”
Does she hate gaming that much? Just take the kindness. As I opened my mouth to retort—
[It's cowd!!]
“Levatein, no running!!”
The kids burst out from the bathroom. Levatein running with wet hair. Sion chasing after.
Lily followed, wiping splashing water.
[Daddy!!!]
They both ran to me at once, so ignoring my clothes getting wet, I scooped up Levatein.
“Dry your hair before coming out.”
[Too wazy.]
“Still gotta dry it.”
[Hng.]
I took a towel from nearby Sion and naturally dried Levatein's hair. Cute or not, some things you gotta do.
“Oppa. Brush my hair too.”
“Yeah. After Levatein's dry.”
“Yay. Hehe.”
Seeing happy Sion, I grabbed the hairdryer. Raphael suddenly jumped up from her spot.
“Seong-hoon! I'll be right back. No running away, okay?”
Run where? This is my house.
“We're playing the game I want?!”
“Dry your hair first.”
“Am I a kid?!”
Pretty much.
Levatein whined at first but ended up letting me brush her too. Now she's got Sion on her lap, brushing away.
Feels good, apparently—her head keeps drooping forward.
“Stay still.”
“Okay.”
Even while brushing, my mind wandered. School starts soon. Meaning second semester kicks off.
What events await? Festival first, then school trip, second round of ranking matches, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.
The demon worshippers will start moving, and the vampires and half-demons in cahoots will follow.
Tons of incidents ahead, but preparations are mostly done.
As long as no demon descends to the mortal realm, we can handle it.
Really. For real. Unless some demon or vampire boss pops out of nowhere. We can fight to some degree.
And that's not all. One 'fragment' is in my hands now.
What that means? Worst-case scenario averted. As long as I keep it secret from them, the apocalypse won't happen.
“So, just one thing left.”
“What?”
“Just... normal school life.”
“Oh? Important?”
Yeah. Super important. Living without getting caught. One slip, and it's all hellfire.
Still, until then, blocking what needs blocking while doing normal school stuff doesn't sound bad.
“Seong-hoon!! I'm back!! Hair's totally dry!!”
“Good job.”
She really dried it—fluffy hair as she declared, pointing at me.
“Tonight, I'm your wall. Try surpassing perfection!!”
“You sure you can handle that talk?”
“Of course!!”
Tonight. A new darkness awakens within me.
Do you know the souls of light and darkness, chosen after thousands of years?
[Dumb nya.]
Shut up.