Please Raise This Lord
Crack.
Kim Na-yeon sat on the edge of the bed, chewing on a snack while she stared at the girl lying there.
She never skipped her daily workout regimen. That was her ironclad philosophy: if you couldn’t improve your innate ability, then you had to make your body strong. So she needed endless energy, and energy came in the form of food—candies, meat, fruit, whatever. She ate like a starving animal, living off calories and nothing else.
Thanks to that endless training and perfect nutrition, Na-yeon had grown tall, nearly 170 centimeters, with a firm, athletic frame that matched her hunter lifestyle. Even though her female body didn’t show it off, her abs were impressive. It suited her perfectly, too. The solid body was exactly what the “tank” role in her skill called for.
Yet even as she kept popping snacks into her mouth, worry gnawed at her. She had only just changed the girl’s soaked clothes and laid her on the bed, but the child showed no reaction whatsoever.
Just a dazed stare, mouth hanging open like a fish out of water.
It was a far cry from the wild, predatory eyes she’d seen moments ago.
“Is she going to be okay?”
The sight of that tiny mouth gaping so cutely was almost too adorable.
Wasn’t that the same girl who’d looked like she wanted to devour the world?
About 130 centimeters tall, probably around ten years old. The mysterious aura was gone now; she just looked like a tiny, harmless creature.
On the bedside table sat a bowl of porridge.
The child was locked in her own little world, not even glancing at the food.
“You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to.”
……
No response.
Na-yeon puffed up her cheeks. The memory of that terrifying gaze had vanished, and now the girl simply looked like an innocent child. She had hugged her, bathed her, and changed her clothes—there was no harm in getting closer now.
Quietly, she rose from the caregiver’s chair and approached with careful steps.
She waved her hand in front of the girl’s face a few times, but nothing.
She glanced at the bowl of thin, watery porridge on the table—nothing too heavy for a recovering patient.
“No appetite?”
Just to be safe, she slipped a piece of the candy she was eating into the girl’s small hand.
Startled.
“Ah!”
The girl’s body jerked, and her eyes locked onto the candy.
Crunch.
She bit down and chewed with obvious delight.
Red eyes widened.
“Oh.”
The girl let out a tiny, delighted squeal, and Na-yeon nearly jumped out of her skin.
Her stomach churned. Should she be happy?
Still, she took a cautious step back and watched from behind the chair.
The tiny hand lifted the candy, turning it over and over as if studying it for the first time.
Then.
Crunch. Crunch.
“Kyah!”
Na-yeon clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream she almost let out.
She had eaten it! She was chewing and swallowing with that small throat.
The girl’s red eyes sparkled brighter.
“Oh.”
“Kyah! Kyah!”
Inside, Na-yeon was screaming. She wiggled in place, unable to stop herself.
What now?
The reaction was positive, at least.
But would she stay guarded?
The girl’s gaze shifted from the half-eaten candy back to Na-yeon.
She covered her mouth, eyes shining with hope.
And finally, the first words between them were spoken.
“……Are there any sweets left?”
Crunch. Crunch.
The small hands kept dipping into the bag, then coming out again.
She put one in her mouth, crunching with obvious pleasure, eyes half-closed as if savoring every bite.
It looked like she was tasting it for the first time.
Na-yeon watched the scene with a honey-like smile, her heart melting right beside the bed.
Was she already getting close?
The girl had already stopped treating her like a stranger.
Na-yeon rummaged through the bag and arranged various snacks right in front of the girl’s eyes.
“Good? Want more? I brought a lot.”
“Any that taste similar?”
“This one is sweet, this is fried potato flavored.”
“C, hmm… I want the sweet one.”
The girl coughed shyly, then pointed at the snacks, clearly enjoying the interaction.
Na-yeon wondered if it was okay to give candy to a child who had only just woken up, but this delicious food had already cracked the ice between them.
She simply couldn’t refuse when the girl ate with such delight.
After a while, the girl’s face showed she was full, and a gentle smile appeared.
“Hic….”
Na-yeon quickly covered her mouth again.
That smile was so destructive it made her want to hug her right away.
The girl stared at Na-yeon’s honey-dripping face, then coughed and opened her mouth.
“C, c’hem. I apologize for being late. You were the one who rescued me from there.”
“There” referred to the laboratory where the girl had been held.
“U, um! Me and my brother!”
Na-yeon nodded frantically.
Then tilted her head.
Why did her speech sound so weird?
“The world was strange and I was confused, so I made a mistake. But this seat will not treat you like an ungrateful beast. In any case, I shall express my gratitude.”
She bowed her head while sitting on the bed.
But Na-yeon could only laugh, holding her stomach.
“This seat?”
“Ehehe.”
“……What’s so funny?”
“Ah, no! Sorry! The, the way of speaking. C, hmm. It just doesn’t suit you.”
An old person’s words coming from such a small child.
The girl looked a little displeased, but didn’t scold her harshly.
Na-yeon finally stopped laughing, tears still in her eyes, and decided to ask all the questions she wanted to ask.
“Why were you in that place?”
“What happened in the bathroom?”
She giggled nonstop at the girl’s strange speech, enjoying the conversation for a while.
But even after listening, Na-yeon still couldn’t quite understand.
“You’ve been in that place since you were born?”
“I can’t be sure, but that seems likely. I began to recognize my own body while already inside it.”
“Really? You speak so well. The speech is a bit off, though.”
“The words have always been in my head.”
Na-yeon’s face hardened.
She had probably been fed knowledge during the experiments.
She had heard of something similar in a Hunter Academy class—back when that horrific body experiment involving the huge awakeners’ crime organization had happened.
They had kidnapped infants who could easily accept power and forced them to awaken with superhuman abilities.
Even in this era where the hunter system was more established, there were still victims of awakener crimes.
That explained the old-fashioned speech.
You couldn’t use a powerful awakener if they didn’t understand commands. So they brainwashed them and fed in some basic knowledge.
In this girl’s case, something had gone wrong during that process. The speech was awkward and old-fashioned, but at least she was intelligent.
“So you could use that power from the very beginning?”
“Mm. This power is entirely mine.”
Whoosh!
Na-yeon watched the empty candy bag in the girl’s hand fly straight into the trash can on its own and let out a startled sound.
A clever child. She had seen Na-yeon use the trash can and learned right away.
This power was probably electromagnetic or mana manipulation, but a special case.
Even though the girl had no mana in her body, she was freely manipulating the mana in the air.
“So you used it in the bathroom too? Did it not work well?”
The girl crossed her arms, looking offended, and let out a puff of air.
“Hmph! What nonsense! This seat’s body is still growing, but that’s no excuse for not handling such a simple power.”
“Then why did you destroy that place…?”
The girl’s face turned pale.
She shook her head as if she didn’t want to remember.
“……Something that shouldn’t have changed did change. The shock was immense.”
“……?”
Na-yeon tilted her head, but the girl didn’t seem willing to explain.
“Hmm, medical center. Or a hospital or pharmacy?”
“Hospital…? Well, similar idea.”
“And people like you who possess internal energy are called hunters.”
“Internal energy…?”
The girl’s mouth stayed open as she kept asking Na-yeon question after question.
She seemed full of curiosity, like someone who had just stepped into the world.
Her word choices were extremely old-fashioned, which made Na-yeon doubt the researcher’s taste in knowledge. But the bright child clearly understood what she was told.
She crossed her arms, nodding repeatedly while savoring the new knowledge.
The adorable sight made Na-yeon smile like a mother.
She didn’t know what the girl thought, but to Na-yeon, it looked like a child trying to copy adults.
“Good. It’s decided. What is your name?”
“Name? Kim Na-yeon. Call me Na-yeon-unni.”
“Unni…? Well, all right. Hey, Na-yeon-unni. This seat is Wiji Yeon.”
“Cute.”
Na-yeon hurriedly covered her mouth to stop the laugh that was about to escape.
Unni?
That sounded ridiculously weird.
“This seat is still growing. I need a hunter and a place to protect me while my body grows and my power strengthens, and I need knowledge about this new world. So I need someone to help me.”
“C… hehe. So?”
The girl raised a finger and pointed at Na-yeon, shouting excitedly.
“You are the one who will raise this seat!”