Chapter 90: Someone Precious to Si-ho
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 90: Someone Precious to Si-ho
“You’re staring.”
Seol-hyang poked me in the side with her index finger.
I cleared my throat and looked away. She just gave me a slightly displeased look but said nothing more.
It was in that moment.
“Whoa.”
The instant Naek let out a short gasp of admiration, even Baeksan was staring at Juksim with wide eyes.
The ceiling.
Where a chandelier had been just moments before, a night sky was now spread out above us.
It was as if the cosmos had been scattered across it, with countless stars spewing light and forming the Milky Way.
The sheer spectacle was overwhelming enough to leave even me, a newcomer to such things, in awe.
“So this is her power.”
I heard Seol-hyang mutter to herself.
It seemed even she was surprised by the sight Juksim was creating.
“I had an inkling, but she’s really from the Divine Realm.”
Hearing Baeksan’s voice, I glanced over at him.
Still unable to tear his eyes from Juksim, he met my gaze and swept his hair back once.
He had recognized my silent request for an explanation.
“From the Divine Realm. In other words, she’s one of those things called Constellations.”
Constellation.
It literally means a group of stars.
“I told you before that there was one guy in Girasung who was dangerous even from the Association’s perspective.”
When I nodded, Baeksan clicked his tongue with a ‘tsk.’
“That one member of Girasung was a Constellation from the Divine Realm. And that girl over there, Juksim, is the same as him.”
So, to put it simply, Juksim was…
‘An insanely overpowered character?’
I looked at Juksim, who still held Eva’s hand while displaying the star-filled sky.
Baeksan had said the world had been destroyed.
Considering that even he hadn't been able to find Juksim, did that mean she never left her room, even as the world was ending?
‘What kind of shut-in is she?’
And yet, I was incredibly grateful that someone like her had come out in person just because I asked.
As I watched Juksim’s back, the night sky on the ceiling slowly began to fade.
She let go of Eva’s hand and adopted a thoughtful expression.
“Juksim, how is it?”
I asked, a little worried. Juksim immediately raised her phone again.
[ She says it’s possible, for now. ]
Possible.
The moment I heard that, my eyes shot to Eva.
Her eyes widened as she met my gaze, and she quickly covered her mouth.
This was a woman who had accepted her own death and was living on borrowed time.
To hear that she could be saved—there could be no greater joy.
“‘For now’ implies there are conditions.”
Just then, as if to say it was too early to celebrate, Seol-hyang spoke while looking at Juksim.
She was right. Juksim had added the qualifier ‘for now’ instead of giving a definite confirmation.
As I waited for an explanation, Juksim seemed to feel the weight of our gazes and slightly hid her face with her hair.
Why was someone from the Divine Realm, a Constellation, so weak to people’s attention?
The more I saw of her, the more puzzling Juksim was.
[ She says the reason she said ‘for now’ is because the thread connecting the spirit body and the physical body is too thin. ]
[ She says that while the basic condition for revival is that the spirit body has not yet perished, Eva’s case is the opposite. ]
A very long time had passed since Eva’s soul and body had been separated.
Juksim saw that weak connection as the problem.
[ She says that in her current state, Eva wouldn’t have been revived even if she had regained her body. ]
Hearing that, I realized why the Song Hyeok-seo from that other worldline had failed to save Eva, even after successfully kidnapping Si-ho.
Even if he had brought back her body, there would have been no way to revive her.
Having to just stand by and watch Eva die right before his eyes after recovering her body… Song Hyeok-seo must have gone mad.
[ But in this state, she says that even if she wanted to create a new body, the probability of the soul severing during the transfer is higher. ]
Juksim’s eyebrows furrowed into a troubled expression.
“Then what do we have to do?”
I asked worriedly. Juksim glanced at Eva before continuing.
[ She says that if we had even a piece of her original body, like some blood or a nail clipping, the problem could be solved. ]
A part of her body.
Needing that was the same as saying we had to retrieve Eva’s body, which was trapped in a dimensional rift.
In other words, we were back to square one.
No, wait.
“…If it’s Si-ho.”
She might be able to retrieve a part of the body, even if not the whole thing.
No, there was an even easier way.
Couldn’t we just ask Si-ho to bring an Eva from another worldline here and ask for a drop of blood?
Si-ho had already brought her mother over once.
It wouldn’t be impossible.
I immediately explained this idea to Juksim.
After hearing me out, Juksim thought for a moment before shaking her head.
[ She says that’s impossible because a different worldline means the imprints on the body and soul are different from each other. ]
Another sigh escaped my lips.
In the end, the first method was essentially a mandatory requirement.
[ She says she’s sorry she couldn’t be of more help. ]
“No. Why would you be sorry, Juksim? In fact, if it weren’t for you, this would be an unsolvable problem even with Si-ho.”
I quickly shook my head as Juksim apologized with a gloomy face.
When her expression didn’t brighten, Eva, who was behind her, bent her knees slightly and wrapped her arms around Juksim’s head.
“Don’t be sad. Thanks to you, we’ve finally found a glimmer of hope.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Then, Seol-hyang patted my back and said, “In any case, all we need is a part of the body, right? Ha-chan, you haven’t even asked Ha Si-ho if this is possible or not. Let’s talk about that first.”
“…Alright. I’ll call Si-ho.”
Seol-hyang’s words lifted my spirits. I straightened my back as if to pull myself together and took a breath.
Right, it wasn’t time to give up yet.
“I’ll be back after the call.”
With that, I left the four of them and stepped out of the room.
I immediately took out my phone.
The time was already approaching 11 PM.
It was quite late, but the situation was urgent, so I decided to call Si-ho right away.
Trrr-ring—
[ Hello? Manager? ]
The call was answered almost instantly after a single, short ring.
“Si-ho.”
[ Is something wrong? Just a second. I’m coming over. ]
As soon as she heard my voice, she seemed to sense something was off and said that.
Before I could even reply, Si-ho appeared in front of me a moment later.
Still as petite as ever, she was dressed in the same animal pajamas as last time, as if she had been getting ready for bed.
Her large eyes went round as they met mine. She immediately stood on her tiptoes and cupped my cheeks with her small hands.
“What’s wrong, Manager? Did someone bother you? Tell Si-ho. Si-ho will listen to everything.”
The warmth from her hands and the worried look in her eyes helped to ease my mind a little.
I raised my hands and held hers, which were still cupping my cheeks.
Perhaps I had been more stressed about Eva and Song Hyeok-seo’s situation than I realized.
“Bother me? Do I look like someone who’d let that happen?”
“If you were, Si-ho was going to go punish them. Tell me. What is it?”
Was that her attempt at a joke?
Si-ho smiled as she spoke.
“If anything happens to you, Manager, Si-ho will be the first one to help, so hurry up and tell me.”
How did a 19-year-old grow up to be so dependable?
Hearing her response, I began to calmly explain what had happened.
Si-ho stood before me, nodding as she listened to the whole story, then glanced around.
“So this is the Chairwoman’s house.”
“Uh, yeah? It’s Seol-hyang’s house.”
“Hmph. And you followed the Chairwoman here, Manager.”
I flinched at her reaction.
Seeing the slight smile in her eyes as she looked at me, I belatedly remembered that Si-ho had a crush on me.
From her perspective, the person she liked had just followed another woman to her house.
“Si-ho, look…”
“I’m kidding. Si-ho isn’t that clueless.”
For a joke, her smile didn’t quite look like a smile.
“So, it’s about the dimensional rift, right?”
“R-Right.”
As Si-ho changed the subject, I stammered in response. She put on a thoughtful expression.
When it came to spatial travel, Si-ho was more of an expert than anyone.
As such, I waited patiently while she thought.
A few minutes later, she slowly began to nod.
“I think it’s probably possible.”
“‘Probably’ means you’re not certain.”
“Yeah, since I’ve never tried it before. But I think I can find an answer if I talk with that person, Juksim.”
Her answer was more hopeful than I’d expected.
“Mmm, but the problem is, I don’t know how much of the body has been consumed by the dimensional rift. To be honest, it’s hard to say if retrieving even a part of it is within the limits of my power.”
“So you won’t know until you try.”
“That’s right. And as you know, Manager…”
“Yeah, it’ll have to be after you send your mother back.”
Si-ho looked at me apologetically.
The day she had decided to part with her mother was September 14th.
It was the most important day for Si-ho, the day she had made the decision after talking with her mother and Seo-ho.
I knew very well how much she had cried that day when she talked to me after making that decision.
If there was one thing I had to protect for Si-ho, it was this.
Seeing her hesitate, I began to pat her head.
“This is the most important thing for you, Si-ho. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry.”
Eva’s limit was next month.
September 14th was two days from now.
We had more than enough time to wait.
Watching me, Si-ho suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around my waist.
I froze at her action, and she spoke while still holding me.
“…Please know that you’re just as important to me as my worries, Manager.”
Hearing that, I could only smile and stroke her hair.
“Thank you.”
“Just with words?”
“Thank you, really, really.”
“Then give Si-ho a proper hug.”
Ah, that’s…
As I wore a troubled expression, Si-ho looked up at me expectantly.
“Hurry.”
For some reason, I thought I could see a tail wagging behind her back again.
Creeak—
“That’s far enough, don’t you think?”
Just as I was hesitating, the closed door creaked open.
Seol-hyang was standing there. She glanced at Si-ho hugging me and offered a chilling smile.
“Ha Si-ho, it’s been a while. Isn’t it a bit late for a ‘minor’ to be wandering around outside?”
“Well, since Si-ho is a ‘minor,’ my manager will have to make sure nothing bad happens to me on the dark road home.”
“Why would he need to walk you home when you can just use spatial travel, Ha Si-ho?”
“Oh, Si-ho is getting a nosebleed. I must have overused my powers.”
“Oh dear, that’s terrible. I’ll call a car for you right away. Let’s go to the hospital first. How about being admitted?”
Si-ho and Seol-hyang began glaring at each other, sparks flying between them.
I looked back and forth between the two of them, stayed quiet for a moment, and then finally spoke.
“…Do you two just want to talk without me?”
I knew they were acting this way because they both liked me, but being stuck in the middle was a real headache.
No, this was actually my fault.
If I were dating one of them, it would be a different story, but since I couldn’t commit one way or the other, they were both pointlessly fighting for dominance.
‘Haa, what an utter scumbag, Kang Ha-chan.’
“You just figured out you’re an utter scumbag now?”
Just then, Baeksan, who had read my thoughts, poked his head out from the wall and clicked his tongue.
“I told you before. If you’re going to date someone, either date them all or date no one.”
And he calls that advice?
Have some common decency. How on earth could one person date multiple people at the same time?
That would be incredibly disrespectful to them.
“The world might be ending, and you’re here agonizing over such happy problems?”
On that point, I had nothing to say.