Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Magic
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"That's not it. If anything, I prefer older people."
- Well, that's a relief then. I was worried Su-young seemed to be overly attached to you, Mr. Joo-hyun. I'm really glad you like older types.
"I get where you're coming from."
I shake hands firmly with Su-an-ssi.
A dazzling smile plays on my lips!
'Oppa Alliance' has been formed.
We're around the same age too, conveniently.
I have a good feeling we'll be great friends.
"Anyway, enough joking around. We've only just met, so it feels a bit awkward to ask this, but..."
- What's on your mind? Go ahead and ask.
I swallow dryly and ask calmly.
Making sure it doesn't sound playful.
"Do you believe in magic?"
- Sounds like you're recruiting for a new religion. Sorry, but I'm an atheist, so I don't do religion. If that's it, you should look for another customer.
"No, it's not like that."
I'm making excuses all day today.
But there's no helping it.
If I don't build it up like this, when it actually happens soon, Su-an-ssi might end up founding his own new religion.
"Just curious. But if you're an atheist who doesn't believe in gods, then you probably don't believe in magic either, right?"
- Nope. Isn't magic just what we call things that can't happen?
"That makes sense."
- In that sense, I've often thought it'd be nice if magic or gods existed. It stimulates the imagination and is fun, you know.
"Fun. Yeah, it is fun."
It was a philosophical conversation.
He seems pretty interested in fantastical topics like magic or gods. Lucky.
"So, if magic actually happened to you, Su-an-ssi, what would you do?"
- Magic happens? Ah... like that? Like imagining all sorts of things and dreaming big.
"Pretty much."
- What kind of magic are we talking about?
"You decide."
- How many can I have?
"Just one."
- Just one.
Su-an-ssi rests his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
He takes a couple sips from his water glass or adjusts the nose pads on his sunglasses.
Then he smiles quietly.
- I've decided.
"What magic?"
- That's a secret.
If he doesn't tell me, the conversation can't continue.
But at least for Su-an-ssi, I can guess what it is. He defined magic as 'something that can't happen.'
"Okay. So if the magic happens, what would you do first?"
- Ugh, that's tough. Give me a sec to think realistically... Ah!
He came up with it pretty quickly.
- Drawing.
"Drawing?"
- Yeah, I'll draw.
"Nice. Realistic enough. Not too flashy. Then include Yoon-seul in that drawing too, please."
- Sure. Su-young said Yoon-seul is so cute. I've been wanting to try drawing her.
"She's my little sister, so of course."
- Haha. Up until middle school, I dreamed of being an artist. I even won awards in poetry contests. My drawings from back then are probably still at home?
"You must've been really talented."
- That skill's probably all rusted now.
A wistful smile crossed Su-an-ssi's lips as he said that.
Now's the time to make the three promises.
"If that magic actually happens, Su-an-ssi, you can't tell anyone about it."
- I can't? That's a declarative sentence.
"Nope. Because you said it yourself—it's something that can't happen. Wouldn't you be shocked if you told someone?"
- True.
"And you absolutely can't say who the magician is who cast the spell."
- Why not?
"Because the magician might get offended and cancel the magic."
- That's risky. Can't upset a benefactor like that.
"Finally, you have to always be grateful to the magician."
- Yeah. If magic really happens, I'd live gratefully toward that magician forever.
I stick out my pinky finger to Su-an-ssi.
It's something the Kwon siblings do often.
"Promise me."
- Huh?
"Let's promise on it. Just keep those three things."
- Wow, you're really committed to the concept.
"Of course. Our 5-year-old at home is big on sticking to the role. From villains to heroes to gunslingers. This much is nothing to play along."
- Got it.
Su-an-ssi hooks his pinky with mine, looking somewhat indifferent.
All conditions are now met.
As his body leans forward slightly from the pinky promise, I slip the completed pendant around his neck.
Modeled after Rui's face.
A wooden pendant.
And then my phone vibrates.
[Onui Tycoon!]
[Synesthesia – Transfer Rate 50% / Are you sure you want to transfer it to the target?]
[Yes / No]
I tap Yes without hesitation.
Then.
- Huh...?
A dumbfounded sound escapes him.
It comes from Kwon Su-an-ssi's mouth.
- What is this?
He fumbles with the pendant around his neck.
- Huh, this?
His hands tremble.
His lips tremble.
He runs his fingers through his bangs, pushing them back deeply.
He jerks his head and looks at me.
Then his legs give out.
Thud-
Slurp-!
Rui comes rUnnieng from the other side of the shop, startled.
And then licks Su-an-ssi's cheek wildly.
Slurp-
Slobber-
- R-Rui...
The blind man beholds his guide dog for the first time.
**
Long, long ago.
Kwon Su-an lost his sight.
To Kwon Su-an, who dreamed of being an artist, light was color.
It was the world.
So Kwon Su-an lost the world.
But he protected something too.
His little sister's world.
No weighing one against the other.
His own life was precious, but so was his sister.
He never regretted it once.
Saving his sister.
Yet before the fact of lost sight, his heart crumbled like an old stone wall time and again.
And one day, magic came calling.
The magic's name was Rui.
A lighthouse illuminating the world he could not see.
Living magic.
A new world.
New light.
That child had lit up Kwon Su-an's world for a long time until now.
And it would continue for quite a while longer.
Because the pendant around Kwon Su-an's neck right now was also named 'Rui.'
"Hoo..."
He rotates his stiff wrists left and right.
Drawing after so long wasn't easy, as expected.
Yet even that difficulty made Kwon Su-an's heart race.
Cheap palette and brushes from a stationery store.
He locks the door, grips them, and draws lines.
Fills in colors.
Captures a new world on the canvas.
Indescribable joy surges in.
His heart pounds.
The living feeling he hasn't had in ages.
The sense of existing in the world.
All thanks to the magician.
"But it's a secret. The three things."
Don't tell anyone that he can see now.
Don't reveal who made him able to see.
And always be grateful to the magician.
He's keeping them all.
For example, he always locks the door when drawing.
Even though he hasn't locked it once in nearly 10 years. Isn't it dangerous in emergencies?
"But the magician is... Rui."
Slurp-!
Thinking someone called his name, Rui reacts.
He strokes his back gently.
Kwon Su-an recalls what Song Joo-hyun said.
'Did you do this, Mr. Joo-hyun? Why... can I see right now?'
'Shh, we promised to keep it secret. And I'm not the magician. The magician's name is on the back of that pendant.'
The pendant.
Song Joo-hyun had put it around his neck.
That much was certain, but he couldn't see the back of the pendant. Because Kwon Su-an's vision matched the pendant's vision.
In other words.
"The vision's all new, so it's hard to adjust."
The eyes of the pendant, modeled after Rui's face, had become Kwon Su-an's new eyes.
Kwon Su-an had no idea how.
It was pure magic, an impossibility.
But he knew exactly who did it.
That's why he asked Song Joo-hyun, but that guy essentially answered that the magician's name was 'Rui.'
Later, using his smartphone camera, he barely managed to photograph the back, and it said Rui.
Not wrong at all.
Rui had been Kwon Su-an's eyes all this time, sharing life together.
And would continue to be.
Either way.
"Magic really happened."
The owner and the restaurant were both wondrous.
Like a miracle.
Even this moment of seeing before his eyes.
Everything was magic.
He rotates his sore wrist a few more times, then picks up the brush again. Continues coloring.
Not a bad level of completion.
Back in the day, his lines were even prettier, color sense better too, it seems.
But he wasn't in the mood to nitpick.
Only two models on the canvas.
Rui and Jang Yoon-seul.
Rui lying down, tongue lolling out pant-pant.
Next to him, Jang Yoon-seul awkwardly frozen, making a V-sign with her spindly fingers.
With such cute models, it was a painting that was fun to draw.
It was also a request from the guy who worked the magic but wasn't the magician.
'Please include Yoon-seul in that drawing too.'
So he draws.
If he dreamed of being an artist, he'd complete commissioned work as perfectly as possible. Professional spirit.
And the title of this one piece was decided even before the first brushstroke.
"Magic."
No better title came to mind than those two words.
Maybe because there wasn't one.
**
"Wow, Yoon-seul-ah, come here and check this out?"
"What is it?"
"The drawing Uncle Su-an said he'd do arrived already?"
"Ooh?! Really? Does it have Yunseul-i in it?"
"You remember. Here."
I crouch down holding the drawing, showing it clearly to Yoon-seul.
A picture of her standing side by side with Rui.
Not quite professional artist level where your jaw drops, objectively speaking.
Still, it warms the heart.
A painting like spring sunlight. Its meaning is huge too. A blind artist's work, after all.
"I love Yunseul-i in it so much!"
"Yeah? Glad to hear it."
"Yeah!!"
Yoon-seul loves it too.
We decide to hang it on an empty spot on the shop wall.
It fits perfectly on the wall without the car poster, blending with our shop's vibe.
"Not bad for using a spare ability."
[Synesthesia]
The ability I sacrificed to restore Kwon Su-an-ssi's sight. As I judged before, it's completely a sub-ability of [Chef's Intuition], so no real need for it.
It's only partially used when Yoon-seul interferes with memories via trigger foods.
So for me, it was just surplus.
And I transferred it wholly to Su-an-ssi.
So he could synesthetize with the pendant.
Sharing vision.
Synesthesia requires certain conditions: to share senses with someone, you must hold strong feelings for the target.
No issue with close family like me and Yoon-seul.
But an inanimate object like a pendant is different.
That's why I used Rui's likeness.
So Su-an-ssi could feel even a little familiarity. Without the bond built with Rui over time, it would've been impossible.
Their bond truly created the magic.
"Oh, right."
I'd forgotten one thing.
I hurry outside the shop.
Crouch in front of the door.
And scribble in the lower space of the sidewalk chalkboard that says [Today's Menu].
[Guide dogs are welcome! Come in freely and enjoy your meal.]
"Forgot to write this."
The reason isn't for the sightless. It's for sighted customers.
Some feel uncomfortable with guide dogs in the shop. This is to ask for their understanding.
My phone vibrates.
[Onui Tycoon!]
[The shop atmosphere has been upgraded from 'Heartwarming' to 'Overflowing with Affection!']
[Will positively impact future customer satisfaction!]
The Tycoon app strongly approves of my choice.
From outside, I gaze at Yoon-seul still inside. She's beaming at the painting on the wall.
Still short, she has to crane her neck way up.
She's so cute I snap a photo without thinking.
Our shop feels more and more like a place brimming with happiness, making my heart tingle.