Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Part 2 Episode 25 - World Transfer Illitihia_dc143c-G13
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[Part 2 Episode 25]
§ World Transfer Illitihia_dc143c-G13
“No! Don’t go! Stay here with me forever!”
Prim wailed, clinging to Dun’s leg.
She’d stuck by his side persistently while he practiced mana control, and now that he’d finally gotten the hang of it, he was talking about going home.
“Mom’s waiting for me at home.”
“Ask for her permission and stay a little longer, okay?”
“I’m starting to miss Mom.”
He’d only permitted Prim to stay with him temporarily, but Lihowel would probably be a bit disappointed deep down.
Lately, her nagging had been tapering off, which was starting to bother him a little. He’d pretended to hate it, but he’d secretly enjoyed it.
“Don’t you miss me?”
“You’ve seen me plenty up until now, all clingy and all. I’ll come visit again.”
“……Tch, fine.”
Dun headed for the ducal mansion, leaving Prim—who was pretending to cry with a handkerchief she’d pulled from somewhere, whining about his heartlessness—behind.
Lihowel’s room was near his own. Dun flung open her door and stepped inside.
“Mom, I’m home.”
Lihowel was sitting at her desk, jotting down inventory and profits from the general store in her notebook.
Even after Dun became the duke, she hadn’t stopped working, so she still handled all the miscellaneous tasks for the store diligently.
Lihowel turned her head, saw Dun approaching, and broke into a wide smile.
She spread her arms, and Dun dove into her embrace.
“Did you have fun? Play lots with your friend?”
“Yeah.”
Dun nodded obediently, twirling a strand of Lihowel’s purple hair around his finger.
“Did you eat well?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you buy snacks with the allowance Mom gave you?”
“Um…… Yeah.”
“Really?”
“……No. But there aren’t any places to buy snacks in the imperial palace anyway. They just give them out for free. I’ll buy some with the village kids next time.”
Only then did Lihowel’s expression brighten fully. Dun smiled back at her.
“Our baby…… When did you grow up so much…… Already talking about sleepovers. Are you going to move out already?”
At the word “move out,” Dun looked up at Lihowel.
“That’s not it. If I grow up, will you kick me out?”
Lihowel recalled what she’d read diligently in books lately.
Usually, it wasn’t bad to encourage a child’s healthy independence when the time came……
But looking at that face, she really didn’t want to.
“Do whatever you want, dear. You’ve already got your own house, so you could say you’re independent, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Guess I can’t get kicked out then.”
Dun grinned in satisfaction.
He’d been researching dungeons and gates diligently with Prim, but old memories kept resurfacing.
Why had the number of gates surged around this time? Why had the average monster attack power increased then too? The more he learned, the more past memories bubbled up.
But at the same time, the relationships he’d built here came to mind. Prim, Tiaリン, the creatures, Heail, the legion commanders, the villagers, and so on.
He hadn’t meant to get attached, but since he couldn’t stop caring, he’d failed miserably.
And above all, Lihowel.
Dun gazed at Lihowel’s face. Her eyes brimmed with affection.
The realization that she was family made his heart swell, then feel blocked.
How had he ended up with these relationships?
“……Mom. Um, that. You know. That, um…….”
“Hm?”
Dun wrinkled his nose, fumbling for words.
“That, um. You know. That, um…….”
“Tell me.”
He knew it was an embarrassing, pointless question, but he mustered his courage and spoke.
“……Do you. Love me……?”
Even after saying it, Dun ducked his head shyly. Confirming affection still scared him a bit.
If her expression soured or she dodged the answer even slightly, it’d hurt a lot. It was easier to just assume on his own.
“What kind of question is that!”
Without a hint of hesitation, Lihowel squeezed Dun tightly.
“How could I not love you? Of course I love you so, so much. My daughter.”
Lihowel grabbed Dun’s face and planted several kisses, making Dun’s lips twitch upward as he bowed his head even lower.
“Ah, okay, okay. Stop, that tickles.”
He hated hearing those words from anyone else—they’d sound over-the-top—but when Mom said them, even if they made him cringe, he wanted to hear them steadfastly.
Amid the barrage of kisses, Dun burst into laughter, then suddenly recalled past connections.
He’d tried erasing them from his mind once, but learning the present was the past brought those relationships back to life in his head.
Lately, those memories had been surfacing more vividly. The nostalgia had grown stronger recently.
Dun wiped the smile from his face.
‘Separate the past clearly. The life I’m living now is the present.’
If he waffled between caring for both, he might end up protecting nothing.
For Dun, the past was a task he’d already completed to the best of his ability. What happened after, and to those relationships, wasn’t his concern.
Lihowel stroked his hair.
Feeling at ease, Dun closed his eyes and thought.
‘Focus on the present.’
§ § §
Pew! Pew!
Sparks shot brilliantly into the sky before bursting.
He’d gotten a stick fireworks kit from Xbang for a mood booster and was trying it out.
He’d planned to enjoy it alone, but the tired kids who’d just closed a gate joined in naturally.
“Wow…… So pretty…….”
“What’s this? Way lamer than I thought.”
“Yeah, to see grand fireworks, you gotta spend a ton…….”
“Dawn, Dawn. Light this one too!”
I pulled out my lighter and flicked it on. This was a sparkler stick. When I held the flame to the end, a pretty star bloomed at the tip of the gray rod.
I swung the pretty star I’d summoned in a circle, making a ring.
Maybe I could write words in the air too.
“Ye……o…… Woo…… Hee…….”
I wrote Yeo Woo-hee’s name in the air while glancing at her, who’d been filming me.
“What? It vanished before I could even finish reading it.”
Yeo Woo-hee pouted.
I tried writing her name faster in the air. This time, it was too fast, and the shape fell apart.
“See? It lasted a bit longer just now.”
“Hmm…… Fine, I’ll say it did.”
“Picky jerk.”
“Hehe…….”
Yeo Woo-hee grinned and drew a heart near my face with her sparkler.
Tap, tap.
Suddenly, someone tugged at my collar from the side.
“…….”
There stood Byun Woo-jin, lighting a sparkler.
The fastest hand in the Abyss was now writing my name with a sparkler.
My name held its shape perfectly.
“What’s this? You live for this stuff?”
“…….”
Byun Woo-jin shot Yeo Woo-hee a glare, then nodded with a small smile.
Pew! Pew!
Moon Se-rim fired off a cannon firework toward the sky.
Woo Ji-yoon joined in, using fire magic to prolong the fireworks’ afterglow so we could enjoy the blooming lights longer.
Rainbow sparks lit up the pitch-black night sky.
They’d flare up and fade quickly, so we kept firing to prevent the light from dying out.
Lee Kyung-seop’s eyes sparkled as he snapped photos of the sky, then whined that they didn’t capture the fireworks well.
The light from the bursts reached Seol Do-yoon’s face as she leaned against the rooftop door, staring at her phone alone.
I tore my gaze from the kids and looked up at the exploding sky.
Whenever the fireworks in the night sky seemed about to fade, the next one followed, keeping the glow alive.
I pulled out the massive fireworks set I’d prepared, worth hundreds of thousands of won.
I secured the large set firmly on the ground and lit the fuse.
“Hey! Big one incoming!”
At my shout, the kids whipped out their cameras.
Piiiieeeuuuuw!
With a massive boom, fireworks filled the sky.
“Wooow…….”
“Bye-bye! Dawn’s hundreds of thousands of won!”
“Fuck, dude! Don’t ruin my vibe!”
Everyone burst into bright laughter, gazing at the fireworks illuminating the night sky.
“Wh…… What’s going on?”
The constant explosions drew the association president up to the rooftop in surprise.
Seeing us laughing at the fireworks, he smiled too.
Just then, the food delivery someone ordered arrived, prolonging our laughter thanks to the fireworks.
I wasn’t hungry, but to keep the mood going, I headed toward the delivery.
If the future never came.
If an unknowable tomorrow never arrived.
I wished I could just melt into this moment.
§ § §
Dun curled up in bed.
Lately, past nostalgia and sensations had been hitting him so vividly that sleep wouldn’t come.
No sooner had he resolved to separate past thoughts from the present than the memories and emotions surged.
Truth be told, he’d avoided the kids who came to play in the game world because he didn’t want to see them.
Anyone else was fine, but he hated how they treated him like an NPC.
After falling into this world, he’d longed for them alone for so long, and he’d finally overcome it.
He’d avoided meeting them, but he was glad they were there. That might be why being treated like data stung.
“No, fuck.”
He’d been living fine without a care, but out of nowhere, those memories and emotions struck his soul hard. Too hard.
Dun grabbed his hair and yanked.
[……Denya.]
Ggaedong crawled over and leaned against Dun’s tormented shoulder.
[Denya……. You okay……?]
Dun buried his face in the pillow silently for a moment, then lifted it at the chill on his arm. Ggaedong had turned bluish-green.
[What’s wrong……?]
Tears began pouring from Ggaedong’s eyes.
[If Denya sad, I sad too…….]
“…….”
Dun stared blankly at Ggaedong, then reached out, hugged him, and patted his back.
As Ggaedong’s color returned to normal, Dun set him aside.
‘I should practice the mana control Prim taught me.’
Dun sat up straight in bed and pinned a Soul Arrow to his hair. Practicing with reduced mana was much easier.
He began refining the sharp mana swirling around him, just like he’d done with Prim.
[……If hard ……tell me. Ggaedong help…….]
Ggaedong, who’d been watching Dun intently, spun his flower and patted Dun back in solidarity with the sudden mana practice.
Dun, silently refining his mana, glanced at Ggaedong and chuckled softly.
“If you wanna help, come here.”
Dun patted his knee. Ggaedong sluggishly crawled over and climbed onto it.
Dun hugged Ggaedong and resumed refining his mana.
[Ability utilization rate has increased!]
The utilization that had been stuck rose by 1% at last, two days later.
Right now, even just breathing passively kept it in the high 10s to low 20s.
Consciously controlling mana pushed it to the high 30s to low 40s.
He’d planned to practice until it rose, but the notification came sooner than expected.
Yawning, Dun hugged Ggaedong and flopped back onto the bed to try sleeping again.
§ § §
“Fireworks all gone?”
At Woo Ji-yoon’s question, I nodded, eyeing the empty box.
Darkness had returned to the night sky, thick with only lingering smoke from the spent fireworks.
Fun while blasting them nonstop, though.
The filthy darkness after the spectacle felt so hollow.
“That was fun.”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Time to head to bed.”
The kids tidied up and returned to their rooms. He should sleep too, but he hated to. He wanted to linger in that moment just a bit longer.
Regretfully, he stared at the now-empty sky.
§ § §
Somehow, he craved a beautiful night sky.
Dun’s eyes snapped open. He’d been sleeping tightly.
Night sky splendor meant Daboseok, so he got out of bed.
Time to see Daboseok’s night view again after so long.
“Ggaedong, night walk.”
Dun scooped up the now-sleeping Ggaedong and activated World Transfer.
[[World Transfer] activated.]
A vast night sky stretched overhead. Cool wind filled his lungs.
[Skill [World Transfer] level has risen!]
“?”
An unexpected notification appeared.
Dun tilted his head at the window in front of him.
‘What’s this?’
It had leveled up last time too, and now again.
Last time, it allowed transferring larger areas. He wondered what new ability this brought.
Dun opened the info window.
[World Transfer lv.3]
Description: Can transfer to [Daboseok][More] worlds. Can also transfer targets touched by body or in contact up to 10 consecutive touches.
Dun checked the [More] option.
World Selection
>dc143c-T
>dc143c-G
>dc143c-O
“…….”
Dun stared piercingly at the information before him.