Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Can You Protect Her? (1)
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“Huh? Eye contact. Yerin-ssi~!”
Min Writer waved her hand, but Min Yerin turned her head as if she hadn’t heard and walked off somewhere else.
“Min Yerin-ssi brought it?”
“Yeah. Yerin-ssi’s got a lot of pride and can be pretty picky, but seems like she liked it herself.”
“……Huh?”
“Check out the drinks. We all got coffee. But she deliberately got one that matches Yeonwoo-ssi’s taste, right?”
“……How’d she know?”
“She apparently asked Seonghyeon-ssi’s manager on purpose?”
So the culprit was Kwon Seonghyeon’s manager?
“Anyway, Yerin-ssi might seem one way on the outside, but she’s different inside, so don’t misunderstand. Got it?”
It was pretty unexpected.
“Yeonwoo-ssi, who gave you that?”
Min Writer had barely stepped away when Kwon Seonghyeon showed up out of nowhere.
He spotted what Yeonwoo was drinking and froze, his face turning guarded.
Coincidentally, he was holding a mint choco drink too.
It was the same famous brand logo, and who knew how either Min Yerin or Kwon Seonghyeon had managed to find these in this rural spot.
“Min Yerin-ssi gave it to me.”
“Min Yerin-ssi……? How’d she know your taste, Yeonwoo-ssi?”
“She said Kwon Seonghyeon-ssi’s manager told her.”
“……Manager hyung. I see.”
There was a slight delay in his response.
And somehow……
‘Is that what they mean by smiling but looking pissed?’
Maybe because he was an actor, his expressions were incredibly varied.
Of course, Yeonwoo had no idea why Kwon Seonghyeon’s mood had soured so suddenly.
“I’ll go talk to Manager hyung for a sec. Have this one too.”
“Huh?”
What was he supposed to do with two drinks?
Suddenly stuck with two, Yeonwoo pondered for a moment.
‘Well, good things are better in abundance, right?’
Flowers in both hands—no, mint choco in both hands.
***
After a series of mishaps that had everyone nursing headaches, filming resumed.
Min Yerin’s jump into the water scene was rescheduled from the dead of night to just before dawn.
“Even if she says she’s fine, the viewers won’t be…… Yerin-ssi’s secretly stubborn…… Sigh.”
They couldn’t very well push someone who’d nearly drowned back into the pitch-black water at dawn again, so they’d compromised on pre-dawn.
Before shooting started, Min Yerin suddenly asked Yeonwoo.
“The drink. Which one did you have?”
“Huh?”
“I saw Kwon Seonghyeon-ssi’s.”
“……?”
“What’d you drink?”
She looked ready to keep asking until he answered.
“Both.”
“……Really? Tasted good?”
“Yeah. Oh, right. Thanks again for that. How’d you know my taste anyway?”
He’d downed two of his favorite brand drinks, the ones he used most back home.
When he thanked her, Min Yerin primly turned her head and replied.
“The recipient’s supposed to like it. Whatever, glad you enjoyed it.”
Then she headed lightly to the pond’s edge, looking oddly satisfied.
‘What was that?’
Had she come all the way here just to ask about that?
Before Yeonwoo could even wrap his head around it.
Another unexpected visitor approached him.
[Um…… excuse me…… Could you…… talk to me……?]
The face peeking out was familiar.
Of course it was.
It was the child’s soul who’d been desperately hiding behind Min Writer’s skirt.
***
The kid who’d called Min Writer “Mom.”
The one who’d been tussling to peel off the Obsessive Thoughts clinging to her.
“Do you have something to tell me?”
After he’d removed the Obsessive Thoughts from Min Writer a couple times.
The kid had sparkled with admiration every time she saw him.
Yet she still hid behind Min Writer’s skirt and never came out.
So why would such a shy kid suddenly have something to say?
[Yes…… Is that no good?]
“What’s up?”
Fortunately, no one was paying attention to them.
“Shooting starts! Ready!”
It was Min Yerin’s scene from yesterday, the one where she’d nearly drowned.
Everyone’s focus was there, so Yeonwoo could talk to the kid freely.
[Um…… well…… you see……]
The kid fidgeted with her chubby fingers.
‘She kinda reminds me of the Child Spirit.’
She looked a few years older than the Child Spirit, but her innocence was the same.
“What is it? Hard to say?”
Naturally, Yeonwoo’s tone softened.
Emboldened, the hesitant kid finally spoke.
[Um…… Could you…… protect my mom?]
***
“Mom? Min Suji Writer-ssi?”
[Yes……]
“Is something wrong with your mom?”
That question hit a nerve—her face crumpled.
[Bad guys keep bothering my mom. They even show up in her dreams…… She’s suffering so much she cries all the time.]
She sniffled, then burst into tears.
Yeonwoo, who had zero resistance to kids crying, panicked.
[Yeonwoo?! What are you doing right now?!]
“Here, play with this.”
They said kids loved cute things.
Hamsters were cute.
The contents weren’t so much, but the packaging was cute anyway.
With that miraculous three-step logic, Yeonwoo pulled the Child Spirit from his chest pocket without hesitation and held it out.
[Hamster……]
[I’m not a hamster! I’m the great Child Spirit……!]
[It’s a hamster……!]
[I said I’m not!]
[Hamster!]
[Hey…… listen to me……]
She couldn’t touch it, but just watching seemed fascinating and cute—her face lit up.
The Child Spirit’s face crumpled in proportion, but sadly, a hamster face didn’t show it well.
It just looked cute.
“Phew, crisis averted.”
One of Yeonwoo’s major weaknesses.
Top of the list: people around his mother Kang Yeonhwa’s age.
And from that, parent-child issues.
“……You want me to get rid of the Obsessive Thoughts?”
[Those black sticky things—are they called Obsessive Thoughts? They keep coming back no matter how many times I remove them……]
“You’ve been removing them?”
[I could before. But lately, it’s too hard. No matter what I do, the bad guys won’t go away.]
Mid-sentence, emotion welled up and she started sniffling again.
“Here. Hold this while you talk.”
[Whoa…… it’s squishy……!]
[Yeonwoo! What is this outrage! Oh noooo! This brat’s killing this old ghost!]
Using spiritual power to materialize it let her feel the texture, and she gasped in delight.
‘Make yourself useful like this, Child Spirit. You won’t die. You’re already dead. Anyway…… If she could remove them before, that means she had divine power too.’
A pretty substantial amount, at that.
That’s how she’d kept her soul pure after death and even handled Obsessive Thoughts.
But that also meant……
‘So that’s why she died young.’
He knew the situation all too well.
If not for his mother Kang Yeonhwa, Yeonwoo wouldn’t have survived childhood either.
“……”
He couldn’t help empathizing.
With his younger self, and his mother.
The past always came with pain.
Yeonwoo pressed his forehead with his fingers and said.
“Obsessive Thoughts don’t vanish just because you remove them once. They keep getting made.”
[So Mom will keep hurting……?]
The kid asked.
[Oppa’s so strong and cool, so you can make Mom stop hurting, right?]
“It’s not impossible, but it needs your mom’s will too, not just me.”
[I’ll tell her!]
“……But why do you need my help? If it’s spiritual power, I can share some.”
Spiritual power wasn’t like lifespan.
It’d be better for the kid to handle it as she had been, rather than him stepping in.
He was willing to give her some.
But the kid shook her head.
[No. I…… have to leave soon. Time’s up.]
She’d stayed out of worry for her mom, but her allotted time was ending.
Some souls were like that.
Unlike earthbound or grudge spirits that lingered on their own, these had ‘permission’ to stay.
Like welfare for promising talents from the other side.
[So I want to ask you to protect Mom. Mom said nothing’s free, so…… can I give you this?]
And at that moment.
-Ding!
[You’ve received a proposal.]
[Additional acquirable ability: Intent Discernment [B+]]
[Accept the proposal?]
[Yes/No]
“……?”
An unexpected notification popped up.
***
He was stunned.
‘You can propose additional abilities too?’
He had no clue how this damn system worked.
‘In this day and age, what system doesn’t come with a manual?’
But this one had no manual.
Not only that—it even activated on its own sometimes.
Well, that had saved his life once, so fair enough.
‘Come to think of it, Kwon Seonghyeon gets lifespan pop-ups for requests, so why not trade additional abilities as bait?’
Just as Kwon Seonghyeon was special, this kid probably was too.
‘……Don’t overthink it. Headache.’
Yeonwoo gave up pondering.
He didn’t waste energy on unknowns.
[You don’t like it……?]
Misinterpreting the silence, the kid asked timidly.
[Mom taught me hard…… She called me a genius……]
Downcast, she kneaded the hamster harder.
[Let me go! I’m innocent! Free me……!]
No one paid the Child Spirit’s cries any mind.
[It’s really good…… Mom called me a genius, you know? Said I was super smart. Told me to go to the gifted class, that I’d be a great writer…… It’s really, really good…… Mom said I was psychic too…… How I could read it so perfectly……]
Like a peddler hawking wares, the kid earnestly listed the perks.
Yeonwoo crossed his arms, staring at the still-floating window.
[Accept the proposal?]
[Yes/No]
“As I said, I can’t do it alone. Without your mom’s will, it’s pointless no matter how hard I try.”
Her head snapped up at the hopeful words.
[I’ll tell her!]
“Talking’s not the issue. It’s believing.”
[She will! Mom knows too. Because of me.]
It clicked immediately.
A kid with divine power—her parent wouldn’t be ordinary.
“……Alright. I’ll help. But you explain it to her. Got it?”
[Yes! Awesome! Thanks, Oppa!]
-Ding!
[Proposal accepted.]
[Yes/No]
The unclicked window faded away.
***
[You’re really gonna help?]
“Well, I promised.”
[You’re such a sucker for that stuff…… No wonder you got in an accident saving a kid.]
Sigh.
The Child Spirit muttered, sighing unlike a hamster.
[But how? You can’t stick to Min Suji Writer all the time.]
“Of course.”
[Then?]
“I’ll use a talisman. That way I don’t have to be there myself.”
[A talisman to block Obsessive Thoughts would take a lot of power, though?]
“No choice. Gotta deliver on what I got.”
The item the kid had offered as trade was more impressive than Yeonwoo expected.
[Intent Discernment] [B+]
-An ability that lets you better grasp the other person’s true intentions.
Specialized in text-based media, maximizing the effect.
You can discern the writer’s intended meaning, purpose, direction, and emotions at the time of writing.
However, the ability weakens with non-text media.
‘This is totally busted.’
No wonder the kid offered it confidently.
Min Writer, with her own talents, had called her a ‘genius’ for real.