Slender Forearms Are Strong, Part 1
“...”
Was it because of his meeting with the Goddess Lupinus? Yunjae was usually bright and talkative, but today, he was unusually quiet, lost in deep thought.
“This one is pretty, isn't it?”
Although he had reluctantly tagged along to look at uniforms,
“Ah, ah! Yes! Akemi!”
He was so distracted that, unlike his usual self, he couldn't focus on examining the clothes properly.
Seeing him so unfocused, both Akemi and Suyeon wore worried expressions.
“Um, I'm going to go get some fresh air.”
“Oh! Sure! Go ahead!”
When Yunjae finally stepped outside Akemi's favorite boutique, everyone's faces filled with concern.
“...Will he be okay?” Suyeon murmured.
Yunjae had finally learned why he had ended up in this situation. Even if he had been chosen by a goddess to save a world in crisis, he had been torn away from his parents, and the passage of time he had subjectively experienced spanned thousands of years. Even if his parents had lived wealthy lives before passing away, it would be incredibly difficult for any normal person to accept such a reality.
“I know,” Mari sighed.
He had put on a brave face in front of Lupinus, but after she vanished, saying, “I'll come back when you've had time to process things,” Yunjae had fallen into a deep, contemplative silence.
“Mari, you should go talk to him!” Akemi said, her face puckering up as if she were about to cry, unable to bear watching him like this.
“What am I supposed to say?”
“But you're the closest to Yunjae! You should comfort him this time, Mari!”
Remembering how she had witnessed Mari comforting him before, Mari's face flushed red at Akemi's words.
“...Alright.”
While the memory of that day played a part, the truth was she simply didn't know what to say to him. Should she tell him to cheer up because his fifty-seven years of suffering had given him the power to save everyone? Should she say it was a relief that his parents had lived wealthy, comfortable lives before passing away? Or should she tell him not to worry about it because the past was in the past and could never be changed? Amidst her confusion over what to say,
“I didn't want to pretend to understand when I don't really know...”
She remembered the words he had spoken to her that day.
“I'll be right back.”
With that thought, Mari stepped out of the shop. Yunjae, looking exceptionally sharp in his slim-fit suit, was staring up at the sky. The username Slender Forearms and the status window still floated above his head, proving he was no longer an ordinary human, but she had grown so used to it that it didn't even look strange anymore.
“...Are you okay?”
Seeing his face filled with so many complex emotions only deepened her worry.
“Mari.”
Yunjae nodded at her question and offered a gentle smile. She wished he would let out his usual flustered “Ah!”, but right now, his true feelings were completely unreadable.
“Everyone is really worried about you.”
“Ah! I'm sorry for making you all worry!”
“No, it's fine. It's only natural.”
Shaking her head to show she wasn't blaming him at all, Mari stepped up to stand right beside him.
“To be honest, I came out here to comfort you, but I don't know what to say. I don't want to pretend to understand when I don't.”
Mari confessed her feelings honestly, just as Yunjae had done for her before.
“No, it's okay. Just hearing you say that makes me incredibly grateful. It makes me realize... ah, I'm not alone here.”
Yunjae chuckled softly and shook his head. Though he was the absolute epitome of introverted shyness, in some ways, he had always possessed a remarkably broad mind. No matter what happened, he never got angry. That was why standing beside him now made her feel even more anxious for him.
“Anyway, that goddess... she seems incredibly irresponsible. Locking you away for fifty-seven years and then just leaving like that.”
Lupinus surely had her own reasons, but Mari couldn't bring herself to like her.
“She completely upended your life.”
Even if his parents had hit the jackpot in Las Vegas, become filthy rich, and passed away happily, it still meant Yunjae had never been able to see his family again.
“It certainly is a bit sad,” Yunjae agreed, nodding slowly. “But... I could understand how Lady Lupinus felt, so I couldn't bring myself to be angry with her.”
“...Huh? How Lupinus felt?”
Taken aback by his unexpected words, Mari stared at him, prompting an awkward smile from Yunjae.
“I think Lady Lupinus must have had a really hard time too. If all the other gods died, that means her family and friends are all gone as well.”
“Y-yeah, I suppose so.”
“And she had to keep fighting against that monster all by herself. But even then, she failed three times in a row. She had to watch our world get destroyed three times.”
He was considering a perspective that had never even crossed her mind.
“...That's true.”
Hearing him put it that way, she realized that even a deity would probably lose their mind under those conditions. Lupinus's personality seemed eccentric to begin with, but perhaps her tragic past had driven her even further into chaos.
“So, I thought... maybe while I was trapped in Mamon Saga, Lady Lupinus wanted to stay inside there too. Because it was a game world, and it was truly peaceful.”
“Ah...”
“Constantly failing and falling into despair all alone must have been so painful. I wondered if she just wanted to linger in that peaceful place. Of course, that might just be my own silly theory.”
In the end, this absolute epitome of introverted shyness was actually empathizing with the very goddess who had put him through all of this.
“That's why I couldn't be angry. Though, to be honest, I don't really know how to get angry anyway.”
“You really are something else...”
Hearing him speak like that, Mari let out a deep sigh and pulled him into a tight embrace.
“Ah! Mari!”
“...I think I understand why Lupinus chose you.”
It wouldn't have been strange at all for him to fly into a terrifying rage, yet here he was, worrying about the goddess's circumstances.
“But still, your family...”
“Even so... No, I don't really know.”
With Mari's face resting against his shoulder, his cheeks flushed red as he shook his head.
“You know how people ask those kinds of questions when they're young?”
“What kind of questions?”
“Those ridiculous, playful 'would you rather' questions.”
“Yeah... people do ask those sometimes.”
“If someone asked me whether I'd sacrifice my own life to make my parents filthy rich and happy, or if I'd rather just live normally by their side... I think at least once, I might choose the first option. I'd usually choose the latter, but maybe just once...”
This was that “once.” He hadn't actually made the choice, but it seemed he had decided to reconcile with his fate this way.
“You don't have to force yourself to accept it like that. It's okay to feel hurt, and it's okay to be angry.”
Feeling deeply sorry for him, Mari hugged him even tighter, her eyes filled with comfort, but Yunjae shook his head.
“But the past can't be undone. And thankfully, my parents passed away without wanting for anything...”
“But you still didn't get to see them!”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Mari's eyes welled with tears. Yunjae looked at her, slightly startled.
“My mom died when I was ten. Monsters suddenly appeared out of nowhere...”
“Ah...”
“After that, my dad taught me how to use a gun. He said I had to protect myself.”
This was the first time Mari had ever shared her own past. As she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand,
“Mari...”
This time, he wrapped his arms around her. Even without Mamon's Grace compelling him, he felt it was only right to do so. As Yunjae gently embraced her shoulders, Mari buried her face in his chest and whispered,
“My dad died when I was thirteen. He died saving me...”
Since then, she had been entirely on her own. She had become a hunter to seek revenge, but she was only a C-class. In reality, she had struggled just to make ends meet, leaving her physically and mentally exhausted.
“I know exactly how painful it is to miss someone you can never see again!”
Yet he had endured that for fifty-seven years. Considering his subjective perception of time, it must have felt like an eternity. Crying out like a child that she understood his pain, she sobbed, and Yunjae, instead of replying, simply held her closer. He gently stroked her ash-blonde hair in silence.
“Ugh...”
Mari wept aloud. She bit her lip, frustrated that she had come out to comfort him only to end up being comforted herself.
“You are a truly kind person, Mari.”
But the gentle hand stroking her hair and his warm voice made it impossible to hold back her tears.
“Why do you always do this?”
She wanted to be strong and dependable, but he always managed to make her feel so vulnerable.
“I'm practically in my eighties, you know. So it's fine. I'm much older than you, Mari.”
He reassured her that she was allowed to lean on him. When she had first met him, she thought he was just a bizarre guy, but as time passed, he felt warmer and warmer. And now, being held in his arms, she felt as if all her negative emotions were melting away, replaced by pure happiness—like a cherished childhood memory that could never be reclaimed.
“It must have been so hard for you all this time.”
“...”
Mari didn't say a word, fearing that if she spoke, she would burst into uncontrollable sobs. She simply closed her eyes tightly and hugged him with all her might. Yunjae gently patted her back, just as he had learned to do before. *Pat, pat.* Gentle and tender, just like his polite way of speaking. How much time passed like that?
“...I was supposed to be the one comforting you. It was supposed to be the other way around,” Mari mumbled, feeling a long-forgotten warmth spread through her body with every touch of his hand. Yunjae replied,
“I'm in my seventies, remember? Besides, I shouldn't complain about my blessings.”
His parents had passed away happily, even if he hadn't been there to see them. Compared to Mari, who had lost her parents to monsters, he felt he had no right to wallow in self-pity. He couldn't bring himself to whine or show weakness in front of her out of sheer consideration. Although he didn't know the exact details, he knew she had lost her parents in a tragic accident, which was why he had never brought it up until now.
“...You really are an idiot.”
“Ah! Can't you call it being sensitive instead?!”
Seeing him return to his usual flustered self, Mari burst out laughing.
“My makeup must be completely ruined...”
Realizing her state, she hastily dabbed at her eyes. Yunjae shook his head.
“You look a little bit like the Joker, but you're still fine, Mari!”
“How is looking like the Joker fine?!”
“Ah! Then Harley Quinn!”
Startled, Mari quickly pulled out her compact mirror. Somewhere along the way, she had grown accustomed to makeup and cosmetics.
“Oh, no way! I need to fix my makeup, so wait right here!”
Desperate to hide her ruined face, she covered her cheeks and dashed back into the shop. Yunjae chuckled softly.
“Mari really is cute.”
She looked chic and aloof on the outside, but she was incredibly soft-hearted.
“Heheh.”
And just as she had a broad mind, her exceptionally generous bust had provided Yunjae with immense comfort, bringing a deeply satisfied grin to his face.
“I can die happy now!”
Since a hug was still his ultimate goal, he seemed to have achieved a small sense of fulfillment once again.
“How absolutely cancerous.”
At the sound of that twisted voice, Yunjae turned his head.
“A hero with a ridiculous name like Slender Forearms, letting himself get dragged around to shops like this by women. And all you did was pat her back? You really are a walking tumor.”
The man who stepped forward possessed eerie, amber-colored eyes. Though he was of a similar height, his muscular build stood in stark contrast to Yunjae's slender frame, and a savage, violent aura radiated from his entire body.
“Ah! Who are you?”
He had clearly said, “A hero.” That meant he knew about his connection to Lupinus!
“Even your way of speaking is cancerous.”
In any case, he clearly harbored immense hostility toward Yunjae.
“Yunjae!”
Meanwhile, Mari stepped back outside. Having fixed her makeup, she looked much more composed.
“Women...”
Whoosh! In an instant, the man vanished.
“...should be handled like this!”
Crack! Just as the man reappeared and lunged at Mari, Yunjae's fist slammed into his face first.
Boom!
The man was sent flying, crashing violently into the building across the street.
“W-what was that?!”
As Mari stared in utter bewilderment at the sudden chaos, Yunjae stepped in front of her to shield her.
“You're really making it obvious that you've never met a woman in real life.”
He might not have dated, but he had met plenty of women! In fact, Yunjae had never lacked women around him.
“You cancerous bastard!”
The man snarled, his amber eyes flashing as he lunged out of the rubble toward Yunjae.
“Rock-Crushing Strike!”
He unleashed the very skill Yunjae had used to obliterate the Great Demons during the random portal incident.
Thwack!
But before he could even complete the move, Yunjae's fist connected with his face once more.
Crash!
The man was sent flying back into the building yet again.
“Ah! That was just a basic attack.”
Rumble. The man emerged from the crumbling debris, his face twisted in sheer disbelief.
What the hell is with this guy? How is he this strong? He's just "Slender Forearms"!
The damage was far greater than he had anticipated. Unable to charge blindly like before, he glared at Yunjae with his amber eyes.
“You cancerous piece of shit, how dare you...!”
Staring at his rage-filled face, Yunjae wore an unusually pitying expression.
“You've never received a chocolate from a girl in your life, have you?”
“Chocolate?”
Mari tilted her head, still trying to make sense of the situation.
“S-shut up! Shut up!”
Driven to absolute madness, the man charged at Yunjae once more.
In truth, Yunjae's words had hit the bullseye. Before the man, Domian, had ever become a hero, the only chocolate he had ever received was...