Episode 64: Where Am I?
A rather luxurious inn room.
I was sitting in front of the fireplace, shivering from the cold.
“Hrrrgh… damn it, it’s freezing.”
After switching the regeneration point three times upon arriving in Kern, I immediately holed up at the nearest top-tier inn with Seop Baek and the Demon King.
Operation name: ‘It’s Dangerous Outside the Blanket.’
I am a self-proclaimed pacifist and a safety-first kind of guy. I also believe that enduring patience always leads to victory.
So naturally, my plan was to stay here and wait out the danger for as long as needed.
“You never know where or in what form danger might strike.”
Not even during sleep are you exempt.
Hence, a night watch is necessary.
However, the Demon King isn’t trustworthy for such duty, and I don’t have a convincing enough explanation for Seop Baek.
How can I justify having a night watch when we’re in a super-luxury inn with tight security? I’m not sure.
Ultimately, the night watch duty fell solely to me.
“Sigh… when will the sun rise?”
I fished into my pocket and pulled out the Holy Maiden’s emblem.
A special item that enhances nighttime combat ability, this emblem glows brighter as the night deepens and dims as dawn approaches, allowing for a rough estimate of the time.
Without a watch, this is the best item I could possibly have.
“Hmm… with this level of brightness…”
I roughly estimated it to be around 4 a.m., with at least two more hours before sunrise. Plenty of time left.
I sighed. While idly twirling the emblem that emitted a soft moonlight in my hand, a voice suddenly came from the bed.
“… Wow, what is that, Mr. Jung?”
Turning my head, I saw Seop Baek looking at the Holy Maiden’s emblem in my hand with curiosity.
I stared at her gleaming black eyes in the darkness and asked casually.
“Can’t sleep? Want to take the night watch?”
“… I can’t fall asleep.”
Seop Baek said while twisting her body beneath the blanket.
When she first insisted on sharing a room with me, her face turned bright red, and she beat me up, but now it seems she has decided not to make a fuss about it. Quite fortunate.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Are you getting all sentimental just because it’s dawn?”
“No, it’s not that… I can’t sleep because I’m too cold.”
“…”
That’s somewhat valid. Her twisting was due to the cold, then?
This world’s heating system seems primitive, making the cold during sleep a bigger problem than expected. If a top-tier luxury inn is this cold, what about other places? Isn’t it practically the same as sleeping outside?
I patted the empty space next to me and said to Seop Baek, who was still curled up tightly.
“Come over and warm up a bit before sleeping.”
“Huh? Um… Ah… Yes, yes…”
Seop Baek stiffened at my invitation and looked flustered.
After hesitating for a while, she quickly came and sat next to me by the fire.
“…”
“…”
Her face, illuminated by the firelight, was blushing red. Is it because of the lighting? I didn’t pay much attention.
A spark flew up abruptly. Both Seop Baek and I just stared blankly at the view.
Seop Baek suddenly smiled faintly.
“It’s warm.”
“That’s right.”
Silence fell again. I stirred the firewood without saying anything.
Although we hadn’t spent much time together, with Seop Baek, I felt a sense of familiarity, as if we had known each other for a long time.
“…”
“…”
Maybe it’s because we’ve gone through life-and-death situations together many times since Halsenberg.
Yes, we’ve become comrades who feel at ease without needing to talk constantly.
“Mr. Jung, could you say something? I feel awkward just sitting here.”
“Ah… alright.”
Nope, it was just my imagination. Damn, it’s awkward.
… So, what should I talk about in a situation like this? Should I tell her about my military days? Probably not; she’d probably hate it, even if I’m sympathetic.
As I just scratched my head awkwardly, Seop Baek suddenly muttered beside me.
“What do you think will happen to us in the future?”
“Hmm?”
“Just a random thought. For now, our goal is to find Mr. Jung’s acquaintances, but what after that?”
“After that? Do we even need to think that far ahead?”
“Do you have some determined goal in mind, Mr. Jung?”
Seop Baek looked at me with a serious gaze.
Suddenly, why such a serious conversation? Is the midnight sentimentality acting up?
‘Well, it does make sense. Right?’
A starry night sky, a burning fire, and while Lucy is sound asleep in the world of dreams, there we are, two people gazing at the fire. Even emotions that didn’t exist before could start bubbling up.
Scratching the back of my head, I still gave an honest answer.
“I don’t know. After finding my friends, I’ll just take a break.”
“Eh?”
“After I settle somewhere quiet, and live a life like nothing exists and then die.”
My life plan probably sounded absurd, and Seop Baek stared at me with wide eyes.
Her eyes asked, ‘Are you joking?’ I replied with a serious gaze, ‘Does it sound like a joke?’
“Y-You’re serious.”
“Yes, I’m serious. What’s the big deal?”
“Ugh, please don’t imitate that…”
Yeah, feel free to think what you want. I’m just living my life.
To be honest, beyond finding friends at this point, I don’t have any grand purpose in life.
Even back on Earth when I was alive, it was the same. Without any lofty cause or justification, I was thrown into a life where I died and was resurrected.
“Seop Baek, people don’t change easily.”
That’s right.
People don’t change easily. Even if you die and come back to life, you remain the same.
If you’re not enthusiastic about life, you won’t suddenly become dedicated just because you die and come back.
“To be honest, my ultimate goal is to accumulate enough money and settle down in a quiet village, living a simple life.”
“Ah, I see…”
“With the way things are going, I should have enough for a modest life before long… The only thing left to do is to find the right place.”
“Ahahaha…”
Ideally, I would also hang out and have fun with any of my former comrades who may find themselves around.
If they’re not interested, well, that’s the end of the story. As for me, I’ll just enjoy my own honey days.
At least, I have no intention of contributing to the peace and well-being of this world. Not a bit. None.
Demon King? Demons? Diana? The Immortal Demon King?
All nonsense. Even if I die, I’ll spend my last moments lazily relishing life.
I’ve repeatedly and earnestly vowed to myself not to fall into situations where I end up as a sucker in this life anymore.
‘For that very reason, I need to train Lucy (assistant?) from now…’
I need to stop her from engaging in nonsense like world domination.
I’ll brainwash her through early education (?). I’ll teach her that peace is the ultimate and a harmonious era is awesome. That’s the first step in my grand plan of good fortune.
Immersed in my daydreams, I suddenly asked Seop Baek.
“What about you?”
“E-excuse me?”
“What do you want to do? You’re different from me – dragged into this nonsense – and you must have a goal if you’ve contracted with Ashin, right?”
“Ah… Well, I…”
Thinking about it, Seop Baek was also reborn into this world. That means she had died and revived from her original world. She has some tough experience herself.
When I reached that thought, Seop Baek finally opened her mouth, determined after a brief pause.
“I want to live my life while doing heroic deeds.”
“Heroic deeds?”
“Yes. Helping those in need, rescuing those in trouble… That kind of stuff. I…”
Up to that point, she said confidently, but sadness crept into the corners of her eyes.
When her sentence suddenly trailed off, I looked at her curiously. She looked up with her eyes full of sorrow but smiling.
“I couldn’t protect what I needed to protect and ended up dying. I was furious about it. So, in this life, I at least want to become someone who can protect what I need to protect.”
Seop Baek smiled with a million-dollar worth expression.
That’s what’s called heroic acts but reads as being a sucker. I stopped myself from saying it.
‘She must have her own backstory.’
Anyway, I have no right to comment on someone else’s life motto. I should refrain from prying too deeply.
Instead, as a veteran sucker, I decided to give her some advice.
“It’s tough. The selfish ones are the ones who live comfortably.”
“I believe that’s why it has value. The people who change the world aren’t those who live easily, but those who face difficulties.”
She must have overheard some motivational lines from some CEO of a company that grills and fries pigs. Curse.
As I inwardly sighed deeply, Seop Baek, who had been fidgeting with her fingers, tentatively spoke up.
“Mr… Jung.”
“Hmm?”
“It might be a bit random, but…”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you. Truly.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s because I met you that I can have such dreams… that I can voice them.”
“Wha…?”
It’s really random just as she said.
I turned my gaze toward Seop Baek as if looking at an odd person, and Seop Baek, meeting my eyes, flinched and looked down.
I thought it was just a feeling, but her ears seemed unusually bright red.
