Chapter 104

“Let’s order chicken. Chicken.”

Come to think of it, I’m worried.

That night we moved to Eve’s house, the moment I saw Eve saying she’d order chicken, that thought came to mind.

What happened to the couple who ran that chicken shop that got destroyed?

Did they at least get some compensation?

If it had been Eve’s building, I might have asked her to take more care, but it just had to be the building across the street.

I can’t ask Eve to worry about that too, can I?

I wonder if I’ll ever see that bright-eyed baby again.

“Do you have something on your mind?”

“Yeah, there’s one thing.”

“What is it? Spill it to this lady.”

Eve plopped down on the sofa across from me and handed me a beer can.

“Do you have a fridge in every room?”

“Yeah. TV, fridge, air conditioner—they’re all in every room.”

“You bad girl.”

“Suddenly?!”

Must be nice to be rich, you brat.

Hmph, I snorted lightly and popped open the beer can.

“Let’s drink when the chicken arrives.”

“We can drink when it gets here. How many did you order?”

“Five. For us, Dusik, and Sohee.”

“Order thirty. Let my kids have one each.”

“Stop it, where would twenty people sit and eat? They’d be uncomfortable too. Let’s treat them to a company dinner later.”

Yeah, that makes sense.

I heard there’s a big dining hall, but if twenty people stormed in at this late hour, it’d be a burden on the staff.

Let’s just treat them to a company dinner next time.

“Anyway, what’s worrying you?”

“Yeah, um… remember that chicken place we ate at before?”

“Yeah. It was tasty.”

It’s the place where Eve, Kabe, and I ate together once.

We had chicken with lots of veggies because we needed to eat more greens.

“That building collapsed.”

“Are you worried about the couple who ran it?”

“No, not exactly.”

I really don’t know about that.

“The baby was cute.”

“Huh?”

“I said the baby was cute.”

“Oh, yeah…”

Did I say something wrong?

Eve, who had been staring at me blankly, sipped her beer and nodded.

She didn’t look particularly strange.

“Right, it makes sense coming from you. Anyway, I got it. I’ll look into it. So, just live without worrying, okay?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

She really is a woman with land in LA.

The TV was broadcasting news about Gwangmyeong.

Honestly, as the boss of the Mogmog Group, I feel a bit guilty.

They say that kind of scene used to be everyday life, and before the Dark Realm was developed, it would end up like that whenever it appeared.

It’s not directly related to me, but since I’m the captain of an organization that used to be like that, I can’t help but feel guilty.

“Eve.”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t you fix that with your power?”

“I can.”

Eve chewed on jerky and answered nonchalantly.

But to me, who was expecting a negative answer, even that was surprising.

“You can fix that?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be able to? I can’t bring back the dead, but I can restore buildings and stuff.”

“Then can’t you help?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Come on, it’d be nice if you helped. Even if we can’t bring back the dead, restoring the buildings would still be a huge help with the property damage.

But Eve, who flatly refused, is someone I can’t quite understand.

“Yoon-Woo. Aren’t you too nice?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve seen the dirty side of humanity firsthand. Why are you so desperate to help people?”

Eve’s eyes were fixed on me.

Does she know I used to be a man? How does she know? That Keru kid… Speaking of which, where is Keru?

“Well…”

They’re pitiful.

What crime did those people commit?

It’s not their fault that yellow beetle came and caused all this.

They were just minding their own business and got hurt. Helping them would be good.

“Yoon-Woo. If I help those people, they’ll be grateful, right?”

“Of course. They’d be so thankful.”

Eve took a sip of beer and put the can down.

She picked up a piece of jerky and started chewing.

“Next time, call me again.”

“Huh?”

“If I say I can’t do it now, or that I don’t have enough magic power… and I don’t go, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Then they’ll curse me, right? The people who were thankful last time will curse me.”

“No, the people who were thankful and the ones who curse can’t be the same…”

“Well, that’s true.”

Another sip of beer.

“People aren’t connected by nerves or anything, so they’re not the same people. But that’s how human psychology works. No, last time you helped, why aren’t you helping this time? How stingy! Huh? I’m angry! Stuff like that. It’s easier not to help from the start than to deal with that.”

“You’ve been through it, huh.”

Eve looked at me for a moment at my words.

She put down the beer can and picked up the remote to change the channel.

“You don’t have to go through it to know, you just see it. Yoon-Woo, you shouldn’t be too nice to people. You, who got used like that, why are you so desperate to take care of people? You idiot.”

This time, I had nothing to say to Eve.

“Besides, even I don’t want to provide my power for free. I don’t have unlimited magic power, you know? A large-scale restoration spell is exhausting. I need to be paid. If they don’t pay, I won’t do it.”

“Oh, I see. I didn’t know if you couldn’t do it because magic is your specialty or if you just wouldn’t.”

At my words, Eve took a swig of beer and grinned at me.

“Yoon-Woo. You’ll realize it someday too.”

“What?”

“Don’t do what you’re good at for free. Charge for what you’re good at. Got it?”

Normally, I’d brush it off with a “What are you being so serious about, you brat,” but this time I couldn’t.

Eve’s gaze, fixed on me, was too intense to be just idle talk.

“Still, help that chicken shop couple.”

“Okay. Don’t worry.”

“The baby was cute, right?”

“Yeah. Really cute. I also find babies so adorable when they’re chubby like little tires. You just want to poke their cheeks and see them sink in.”

“Right, and when you sniff their forehead, it smells like baby formula.”

“Do you like babies that much?”

Eve grinned.

I grinned back at her.

“Of course. How could I not? Those babies will grow up, take their first steps, run around, fall down, cry for their mom. That’s what babies do. They grow day by day. How wonderful. They have infinite potential.”

“Wow. You’re really…”

I talked for a while, but Eve didn’t respond and just made a random comment. I glared at her, annoyed, but Eve was impressed.

“What? Why?”

“You just had this look in your eyes, like, wow. You were so mom-like, it made my heart flutter.”

“Don’t you get flustered just by my beauty?”

“You crazy girl. The chicken’s here. Let’s eat.”

*

Even so, sleeping in the same bed already feels a bit much, but it doesn’t really matter.

We’ve slept together before, and the bed in Eve’s master bedroom is custom-made, way bigger than a king size… What was it called? Triple king size or something.

Anyway, the bed is so big it’s practically the size of a room, so we can just lie down and sleep comfortably.

With Kabe in the middle, I lay down, and Eve lay down too.

Kabe, already asleep with soft snores, had kicked off the blanket, so I pulled it back over her and lay down beside her.

The pillow is too low.

I won’t sleep well like this.

“Yoon-Woo, are you asleep?”

“No, not yet.”

“About that yellow beetle.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you think we should meet him?”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“Right?”

We should meet him at least once.

It’s a problem that things get messed up every time he attacks.

Even if we can’t get him to agree to maintain balance, we at least need to reach an agreement to fight only within the Dark Realm.

“But will he agree nicely?”

As Eve said.

Will he agree nicely?

If he doesn’t agree to even use the Dark Realm, it’s ultimately us who lose out.

Given the nature of this game, even if he doesn’t kill humans, if we magical girls are defeated and disappear, the balance will be broken, and disaster will engulf this place.

Besides, seeing how he talks about regenerating the world, he’s not completely insane, and given that he’s a god, the scale of the disaster could be huge…

It’s us who lose out.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“The girl who said she wouldn’t get married sure talks well.”

“Well, that’s…”

And then there was silence for a while.

“Well, that’s… what? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Yoon-Woo.”

Eve’s voice was heavy.

“I’m sorry. I spoke without thinking.”

“…Huh?”

Now it’s my turn to be flustered.

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