Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Winner is Justice
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This time, it was a perfectly normal hospital visit.
She'd brought a fruit basket like you do. Sat down normally and asked how I was feeling.
Maybe those two earlier were the weird ones? No, Sophia was normal too.
Sophia's the best. Yeah. The one who makes food is the best.
"Anyway, do you know how shocked I was when you just vanished like that? Are you even listening?"
"Yeah. I'm listening."
Truth be told, I wasn't. She was worried when I disappeared out of nowhere, but shocked that I'd cleared a hidden stage.
Something like that. She asked after me a bit. I wasn't okay at first, but now I am. We kept chatting along those lines.
Visiting the sick isn't anything special. It's just like this.
Still, better than watching TV, I guess.
As I was thinking that, something suddenly thrust right in front of my face. It was Isia, leaning in close.
I nearly fell backward in surprise.
"You're not listening, are you?!"
"Ah. Yeah. I'm not sorry, so I won't apologize?"
"Jeez."
She let out a sigh and went back to her seat. She glared at me like she'd expected as much, then opened her mouth again.
"Fine, whatever. I was worried, but you're okay now, so that's what matters."
"Thanks for that."
"I-I'm serious! I wasn't worried or anything? You probably won with some weird method anyway. Right?"
Sorry, wrong answer. I won fair and square.
Thanks to Raphael's buffs and Levatein's buffs, but a win's a win.
"Oh. Right."
"What? Does it hurt somewhere?"
Isia looked worried, so I shook my head and spoke. Come to think of it, she'd said she was covering the bill for this huge hospital room.
I'd never been hospitalized before, so I didn't know for sure, but I heard they cost a fortune.
And this was a spacious single room. As a decent human being, shouldn't I at least say thanks?
"Thanks."
"Pardon?"
Huh? Why that response? I repeated it to Isia, who was leaning in like she'd misheard.
"Thanks. For paying the hospital bill."
"!!!"
What the heck? Why's she acting like that? Why's she stepping back like that? Did I say something weird?
I tilted my head and looked at Raphael.
"No idea. Why's she like that?"
"Beats me."
Even shrugging at Raphael together didn't help. Why was she doing that?
"T-Thanks, you say?"
Is she deaf or something? I nodded, and Isia backed away even further.
"Ah. I get it now."
"What?"
"This might be the first time Seong-hoon-ssi has ever said thanks to her?"
No way. I'm grateful when I should be.
Have I really never said thanks in my life—
"Does that sting?"
"...."
Nothing to say to that. I racked my brain desperately, but yeah, I hadn't said thanks much.
Am I that stingy?
I looked up, still clueless no matter how I thought about it—
"What are you doing?"
"Huh? Oh? I thought it was a dream."
That big a deal? If it makes her that happy, I don't mind saying it.
Her reaction's kinda pissing me off, though.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
"..??"
So I decided to unleash a barrage of thanks. I can do it if I try.
"Thanks for playing maid all the time."
What else? Nothing I'm that grateful for comes to mind.
"Thanks for beating Lucy for me."
What else?
"Thanks for giving me a treasure~ And~"
"W-Wait a sec!!"
Why? I've got plenty more. Isia thrust her hands out and waved them frantically.
The flapping sound was kinda funny.
"I get it! I know you're grateful normally, so stop!!"
"No? I've always been the grateful type?"
I kept going. Thanks for fighting the fog in my place. Thanks for handling the dwarves in the dungeon.
Running out of stuff, I even went with thanks for being born. Even I knew that was forced.
"Um."
"Not done yet."
"I'm leaving!!!"
Isia bolted so fast it made a whooshing sound, vanishing from my sight in an instant.
"Hey!! No running in the hallway!!"
"I'll handle it!!"
I grinned at her retreating back. I win. That's what you get for messing with me.
I know how to be grateful. Anyone would think I'm ungrateful otherwise.
Also, learned something new today. Faces can blush that hard from praise.
"Seong-hoon-ssi."
"What."
"I win. You're thinking the same thing, right?"
I won, though.
"That's childish."
"No such thing in the world of victory. The winner is justice."
I ignored the sigh from beside me.
It opened its eyes. Well, "opened its eyes," but it had no eyes.
It regained consciousness. That was the right way to put it.
It looked around. No eyes, yet it could see its surroundings clearly.
It wasn't dark. It felt dark, but everything was perfectly visible.
Strange, mismatched rocks of odd sizes were scattered about. Unpleasant black swords oozing demonic energy. Clothes and masks, crude scythes and massive ones. An enormous number of papers.
All sorts of junk and treasures filled its view. It surveyed its surroundings, grasping its situation.
'Why?'
It rummaged through its memories. It had memories. It had just awakened, but they were vivid.
From the moment it was born by someone's hand. Until it rampaged through the world and was sealed away.
Sealed for eons, then swept into some dungeon, where it met that man.
From its memories, it knew. He had granted it life. Given it will.
It knew instinctively, but couldn't express it. Too much it didn't know.
It crawled. Was this how to move? Its gooey, flowing body crawled diligently, and something came into view.
Wings that stole one's gaze with their beauty. Purple scales. Sharp eyes.
A completely alien presence unlike the warehouse-like place it'd seen moments ago. It was entranced.
Their eyes met. Not sure if "met" was accurate, but anyway, they did.
[Ho. Interesting.]
The purple something with one eye open stood and approached. Its body was covered in wounds.
[Can't speak, eh?]
It wanted to answer the question. It understood speech. It knew language from its memories.
But no words came. It was just a lump of liquid. No vocal cords anywhere.
[Truly fascinating. I've seen countless ego weapons, but you're the first like this. A weapon that gained will after the fact.]
'??'
It barely understood half of that. This being's words were too hard.
[Hmm. Frustrating.]
With those words came a sensation like its body was pierced. Like someone was peering into every corner.
It tried to make sense of the feeling with its limited vocabulary.
It pondered for a long time but gave up, clueless.
[Hm. I see. Got it. You have 「Shapeshifting」.]
The being nodded as if understanding, then—
Bang!!
With an exploding sound, it vanished. It wriggled in surprise, crawling around, but from the fog where she had disappeared, something emerged.
A beauty with purple hair. Tall stature, beautiful long hair, sharp yet captivating eyes.
But it didn't calm down. With that being gone and a strange woman appearing, it grew more confused.
[Whoa, easy there. You can change like this too, right? I'm that dragon.]
Dragon? What's a dragon? It thought for a while, then realized that earlier being was the dragon.
So this woman was that being.
[Can't transform into a person?]
Person? It tilted its nonexistent head.
[Like me. You know what a person is, right? Try turning into one you know.]
Person? It knew. Memories held countless people. But most were incomplete.
Swept away in flames, sliced in half or melted by it—only the broken ones remained.
It searched its memories. There was definitely a whole person—
Yes.
The one who made it. Surely a person. It focused its mind. And activated its skill.
It felt its body writhing, forming something. After a long wait, its view shifted.
Now looking down at the woman it'd been gazing up at. It had a body now. Not gooey, but solid flesh that moved as intended.
[Ho. Can you speak?]
At those words, it tried to make a voice. Not knowing how, it took a while, but finally a raspy sound emerged.
[A...ah...]
[Speaking too, eh. Truly intriguing. What's the name of the person you transformed into?]
Why ask that? It tilted its head and said,
[Lo...ki...]
It grew accustomed to the human body. Mastering free movement didn't take long.
The issue was elsewhere. Its intelligence. As a sword that had lived eons despite just being "born," it had basic smarts.
But its mental age was under 10. It could talk, but not properly, and knew so little.
It could only utter basic phrases. So Benia taught it.
Human speech, and intelligence.
[Your name is Levatein.]
[Levatein.]
It beamed, repeating it. Absorbent like crazy. As an ego weapon, it was leagues beyond a human child.
Just days after gaining will, it had intelligence beyond a 7-year-old.
It didn't forget. A sponge soaking up every word.
Speech was still clumsy, but it had reached a decent level.
The biggest change was its appearance. At first, a man named Loki, its creator.
Now, a little girl. Perfectly matching its mental age.
Ask why, and the answer was always the same.
[Don't like man. Hate.]
What did that mean? Benia felt a slight headache.
On the third day of teaching Levatein, it showed interest in Lee Seong-hoon, so she projected the situation a bit.
That's how it turned out. Benia couldn't understand, but to Levatein, it was natural.
Lee Seong-hoon was the one who made it like this. Gave it will even its creator couldn't.
In other words, its parent. What child doesn't want to look good for their parents?
There was another reason for the girl form.
Levatein kept watching Lee Seong-hoon through Benia.
The whole time he was in the hospital room.
He was always with women. Starting with the ever-present blonde.
The lively blue-haired one visiting daily.
The flower-like brunette dropping by occasionally.
The black-haired one peeking in every day.
The silver one bringing lunch promptly.
He clearly liked women! So Levatein became a girl. Few intact people in its memories, but digging turned up one.
It mimicked a girl fleeing its waves of fire.
[Me. Want meet Daddy soon.]
Levatein's memories were screams and silence.
People fleeing fire waves. Those charging its wielder, bisected and howling.
Screams and shrieks. And eons of utter silence.
But watching Lee Seong-hoon felt different. Noisy, yet not. Peaceful, unlike the noise it knew.
So it wanted to go there.
[Hm. Is that it?]
Benia, roughly getting it, raised her hand. Her wounds were healing anyway. She'd see it again outside, no regrets.
Forcing open a gap in the [Inventory].
[Before you go, one question. If Daddy's little, who's Mommy?]
Why ask that? To the obvious question, Levatein tilted its head. Per what she'd taught, parents are always together, trusting and relying on each other.
So, one and the same.
Levatein toddled out without answering, into the space she'd made.
"Seong-hoon-ssi, didn't you say no ramen or junk at the hospital?!"
"Shut up!! First time's hard, second's easy? It's Sophia's fault for bringing lunch every day. Not my problem. I'm innocent. Don't know~~"
"Wow, really... Huh?"
"What? Huh?"
Levatein slipped between the arguing pair and grabbed their hands. Like a fairy tale scene Benia had shown.
[Hi. Mommy. Hi. Daddy.]
So it smiled as brightly as it could.