Chapter 61
The hamburger sets we ordered came out, and we each grabbed our hamburgers and took a big bite.
“O-oh, ooooooh……!”
Priella was the first to react.
She cautiously bit into her bulgogi burger, closed her eyes, and began chewing rapidly like a rabbit while making a huge fuss.
“T-the exquisite harmony of the meat and sauce! Adding vegetables between the buns to create such a stimulating yet rich texture! It’s delicious no matter when you eat it! Is this the taste of capitalism?”
“Good grief, you old…… I mean, Elfie. You’re acting like some kind of food critic over a hamburger. You’ve got sauce all over your face.”
Gabi scolded Priella while wolfing down her fries, oblivious to the mayonnaise smeared around her own mouth.
“Mmm~ nom nom. I’m telling ya, McDoria really is the best when it comes to hamburgers. Mr. Mincheol, did ya know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Burger King versus McDoria. Do ya know which one is sex?”
“…Pardon? Your choice of words is a little strange.”
What on earth was this woman talking about?
She snickered at my reaction and took a long sip of her cola.
Her cheeks hollowed as she drained the cup, then she grabbed another cola and shouted.
“McDoria, obviously! Burger King’s patties are so dry they get stuck in your throat. Don’t ya think?”
Gabi finished one set in an instant and pulled out her second hamburger, intending to start a hamburger debate, but…
Unfortunately, there was no one here to argue Burger King’s side.
I had never been particularly attached to fast-food brands in the first place, while Priella was already so absorbed in the taste of her bulgogi burger that she wasn’t listening to anyone.
“Tch, how boring. This was the perfect subject for a wholesome debate.”
“Hmph, whatever it is, delicious food is the best. I don’t concern myself with such things.”
“Or is it just because ya can’t afford it?”
“What? Back in my day, we found happiness in fruit borne by trees from a single drop of sacred dew formed at the tip of the World Tree’s branches. I’m not going to fall head over heels for something as crude as ground-up animal meat grilled over a fire.”
“Then why’re ya licking up every last bit of sauce?”
“T-this is because I’m grateful that you bought it for me……”
Gabi set her empty cola cup down on the table with a thud and patted her stomach with the happiest expression in the world.
“Haa, that was really delicious. Maybe the reason I fell from heaven was so I could taste this perfect hamburger.”
“Don’t angels have delicious food?”
From what I’d heard, you never had to worry about going hungry in heaven.
“Hmm……. Mr. Mincheol, ya know about Pyongyang cold noodles?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Just imagine that all three meals consist of Pyongyang cold noodles. Maybe they’d serve bibimbap as an occasional special meal.”
Hmm.
Pyongyang cold noodles for all three meals?
That would be pretty divisive.
No, wouldn’t you get sick of them before that?
“Hmph, Pyongyang cold noodles are delicious. This is why people with no taste don’t understand.”
The hamburgers we shared were delicious.
Extremely delicious.
Except for the fact that it was a little noisy.
“Thanks for the meal, sugar daddy.”
“It was an excellent meal for me as well. I now have one more debt of gratitude to repay.”
After finishing our meal, we opened the door of McDoria and stepped outside.
The cool night air pleasantly brushed against my cheeks.
“Ah, my stomach’s full. As expected, after a meal……”
Gabi habitually reached into the pocket of her sweats.
Along with the rattling sound of a lighter, a familiar cigarette pack appeared in her hand.
She was planning to enjoy her post-meal smoke as usual.
Then, all of a sudden, her movement stopped with the cigarette pack halfway out.
Her gaze flicked once toward me, then once toward Priella standing beside me.
“……”
Gabi smacked her lips, then stealthily put the cigarette pack back in her pocket.
“You’re not going to smoke?”
“…Well, the air’s clear and I’m full today, so I’ll hold back for one day for the sake of a fallen angel’s lung capacity.”
I couldn’t help laughing at Gabi’s excuse-like explanation.
She was holding back from smoking for the sake of the people accompanying her.
So being an angel really isn’t for just anyone.
“Oh, wait a sec!”
On our way home.
Gabi stopped abruptly in an alley in the busy commercial district not far from McDoria.
It was a large arcade blazing with neon signs.
It was closer to a gachapon shop than an arcade.
“Look over there!”
Inside, it was packed with all kinds of claw machines and gachapon machines.
Gabi pointed at the largest machine among them.
Inside the machine she indicated was a pile of cute monster character plushies that were supposedly popular in Taepyeong City these days.
“That’s a limited-edition Rabbit Slime plush! I could make a nice little profit selling it on Pumpkin!”
Gabi’s eyes sparkled.
“If I win that within five tries, I’ll make about four times my money. It costs around twenty thousand won on Pumpkin.”
She scurried over to the claw machine, shoved a crumpled bill into it, and gripped the joystick with a solemn expression.
“Watch closely, Mr. Mincheol. I’ll show ya what a gold-farming pro gamer’s controls look like. Against such an old-fashioned machine, my hand movements will……ah.”
Tap.
Contrary to Gabi’s boast, the claw slid over the plushie as if merely patting its head before cutting through empty air.
“Well, I was just calibrating it.”
Another bill.
“Eek! Why did that miss?”
Another one.
“Ah, I didn’t even press it that time?”
Then came five consecutive failures.
“N-no! The machine’s rigged! Why is the claw’s grip so weak? You scammers!”
Watching Gabi pound on the glass after losing eight thousand won, Priella, who had been standing with her arms crossed, snorted.
“Tsk, tsk. A true master does not blame their tools. Why are you blaming the machine for your lack of focus and skill?”
“Then why don’t ya try it, Elfie? I’m telling ya, the claw really does nothing but brush against it!”
“Hmph, elves are a people skilled with bows. Precise judgment that sees through the target and delicate control of force are our specialties. I shall show you.”
Priella stepped forward confidently, crossed her arms, and stood there motionless.
“What are ya doing? Show us already.”
At Gabi’s urging, Priella bit her lip and looked at me.
“Mincheol, could I borrow two thousand won?”
“You didn’t have any money.”
“…No.”
“Here you go.”
I took two thousand won from my wallet and put it into the machine for her.
“Thank you. If I win this, I’ll give it to you as a gift!”
However.
“No, why won’t it grab it?!”
“Puhahahaha! What happened to being a master archer? You’re completely missing!”
As Gabi rolled around clutching her stomach, Priella’s face turned red as a tomato.
“Y-you were right, you pigeon—no, fallen angel. The machine is a mess. Taepyeong City’s profiteering is truly vicious.”
Watching the two of them play the claw machine, I thought.
‘They’re just bad at it.’
Contrary to how proudly they had stepped forward, both of them were more inept than I had expected.
Of course, the machine was rigged as they said, but they seemed even worse at it than the machine itself.
Usually, these machines were programmed with weak claw strength until a certain amount of money had been spent.
Once enough money had been spent, there was a point when the claw became stronger, but they hadn’t taken advantage of it at all.
It was almost as though neither of them had played a claw machine very much.
By now, the machine should have reached the point where the claw had proper strength.
‘At least five tries.’
If I was lucky, the claw might strengthen within one or two tries.
“I’ll give it a try.”
“Are ya sure? Even I, an expert, failed at this machine.”
“That’s right. We’d probably be better off doing something else.”
I pushed aside the two stubbornly determined women and stood in front of the machine.
I lightly moved the joystick, aimed more or less at a cluster of plushies, and went for a spot with plenty of them.
“Huh? You shouldn’t do that.”
“Mincheol, that’s such a beginner’s mistake……”
As expected, I didn’t catch anything.
The two of them looked at me with disdain.
“It’s good to be young and bold, but that was a little……”
“Yeah, that was a bit much.”
“I’ll get it this time.”
The first attempt had merely been to calibrate the machine.
The real attempt was now.
Though I did sound exactly like Gabi with that excuse.
But this time, I meant it.
I steadied my breathing and moved the claw toward the Rabbit Slime Gabi had targeted.
The moment I moved the joystick, I got a feel for it.
‘This one will work.’
Ignoring the two people giving me advice from the side, I aimed with precision and.
Whirrrr-.
Pressed the button.
The descending claw grabbed one of the Rabbit Slime plushies.
But then.
Tap.
As the claw rose, the tag attached to the plushie became tangled around the arm of another plushie beside it.
“Huh?”
When two plushies dangled from the single claw as it rose.
The two people beside me covered their mouths and began screaming.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
“D-did it work? Is it going to work?”
The tangled plushies dropped toward the prize chute.
Roll-roll.
The two plushies landed side by side in the chute.
“…Huh?”
“…Gasp.”
Gabi and Priella’s mouths dropped open at the same time.
I took the two plushies out of the chute, holding one in each hand.
“There we go. I got a little lucky. I didn’t expect to win two.”
A blue Rabbit Slime plush and a green Rabbit Slime plush.
Holding the two plushies, which weren’t as squishy as they looked, I said.
“Would you two like them?”
I handed them the plushies.
“Y-you mean matching plushies for me and Elfie? I don’t really like that.”
Gabi recoiled and waved her hands.
However.
“E-elves don’t refuse gifts. I do feel bad just accepting it like this……but it’s a gift.”
It seemed the word ‘free’ held an irresistible magic for the queen, whose finances were less than comfortable.
After watching her out of the corner of her eye, Gabi pouted her lips and stealthily took hold of my left hand.
“Ms. Gabi?”
“Ah, it felt a little unfair for Elfie to be the only one getting one. That wouldn’t be fair, so I’ll sell it on Pumpkin.”
Though she said that, Gabi hugged the Rabbit Slime plush tightly.
She only claimed she would sell it secondhand, but it seemed she liked the character more than she had expected.
“Shall we go?”
Just as I was about to suggest going back to our respective homes.
“Mincheol!”
Priella called out urgently.
“Th-the World Tree. It’s growing well, isn’t it?”
“Of course. It’s growing well.”
I knew why she had suddenly asked about the World Tree.
We had planned to go see it together last time, but Belarus had appeared, so we had to postpone it.
Hadn’t she said she wanted to see the World Tree after she’d had time to calm down?
“Would you like to go see it?”
A smile appeared at the corners of Priella’s mouth at my suggestion.
“Of course! I’d like to see for myself that it’s growing well.”
“Then let’s go right away……”
At that moment, Gabi, who had been stuffing the plushie into her pocket, suddenly stuck her face between us.
“Oh? I’m curious too. I’ll go with ya.”
“Kyaa!”
Priella jumped in surprise and stepped back.
“W-why are you coming to Mincheol’s house?”
“What do ya think will happen when a grown man and woman go into a room alone in the middle of the night? I have to protect our sugar daddy’s chastity from this lecherous elf who’s trying to pounce on a younger man.”
“L-lecherous?! W-what nonsense are you spouting, you pigeon?! I-I wasn’t thinking anything like that……”
“Sure ya weren’t~. Anyway, I’m going too. If ya don’t like it, go home on your own.”
“Ngh……”
Faced with Gabi’s attitude that she would absolutely not back down, Priella nodded.
“…Then you must follow quietly.”
“Of course. I’m a cultured angel, ya know~.”
“Bullshit.”
Ms. Priella, your speech bubble changed.
***
When I opened the door, the small flowerpot was the first thing I saw.
“It’s really growing well.”
Priella, who had sensed the World Tree’s energy even before entering the house, approached it with a deeply moved expression.
“It’s much fresher and livelier than before. You’ve been taking such good care of it……”
As she stroked its leaves, I told her how carefully I had been caring for this little friend.
“I wipe its leaves every day and spend the end of each day with it. Time flies when I talk to it about all sorts of things.”
“You spend time with it every day?”
“Yes. I just tell it about what happened during the day.”
“You treat it with such care even though I never told you to. What a relief.”
Meanwhile, Gabi had not the slightest interest in the World Tree.
She looked around the room as comfortably as if it were her own home, then walked toward the display cabinet beside the flowerpot and stopped.
“Whoa, holy crap! Mr. Mincheol, you have this?”
Gabi’s eyes went wide.
What she was pointing at was a figure of Celestial Asteria placed in the center of the display cabinet.
It was a limited-edition figure posed proudly, with sparkling pink hair and mecha-style accessories.
“That’s a limited-edition Celestial Asteria figure! They only gave it to ten people on the entire server as an event reward. How did you……!”
Gabi couldn’t take her eyes off the glass display cabinet as she continued to marvel.
“Hehe, I was lucky enough to win it. I got it from the last event.”
“No way! Mr. Mincheol plays Stella Echo too?”
Gabi’s face lit up as she looked at the figure.
She looked as though she had been reunited with a long-lost family member.
“I play too! What’s your username? Let’s add each other right now!”
Gabi pulled out a smartphone with a screen cracked all over at lightning speed and moved right up to me.
“We can exchange stamina! I’m always struggling because I run out of stamina whenever I play, so this is perfect! Mr. Mincheol, ya have to log in every day and send me stamina without fail, okay? If ya don’t, I’ll come to the convenience store and make a scene.”
Gabi chattered excitedly, feeling a sense of solidarity as a fellow gamer.
“Oh, right. How far have ya gotten in Solo Raid? You’re in the top three percent, right?”
At that moment, Priella, who had been admiring the World Tree, tilted her head and turned toward us.
“……What is that?”
Priella asked with a thoroughly bewildered expression.
“Stamina? Is Mincheol tired? That isn’t something to exchange; he should simply rest. If you wish, I can use the forest’s spirit arts to completely wash away Mincheol’s fatigue……”
“Not that kind of stamina, Granny.”
“Y-you little brat, not again!”
“The old elf granny who can’t even change the YouTube video quality on her smartphone shouldn’t butt into young people’s conversations.”
At Gabi’s provocation, a vein popped on Priella’s forehead with a snap.
That was when it happened.
Sway, sway.
The World Tree waved its branches gently from side to side.
“Huh?”
Even Priella, who had been about to get angry at Gabi.
And Gabi, who had been provoking Priella.
Both of them blinked as they watched the World Tree swaying despite there not being a breath of wind.
“Just now……”
“The World Tree……?”
The two of them looked at me almost simultaneously after seeing the movement.
“How did this happen……? It hasn’t even been a month since you started taking care of this World Tree, Mincheol.”
“In just one month? How did ya do it? It should take a year to raise it to this level……”
At that moment, the World Tree’s pure power filled the room.
Fresh air filled my body.
It felt as though all my fatigue had vanished.
“This much vitality after only one month……. I-if things go well, we might even be able to restore the forest.”
Emotion welled up in Priella’s voice.
“Whoa, my fallen heart just recovered, and I almost got dragged back up to heaven.”
Gabi pressed a hand to her forehead beside her as though she were dizzy.
“Really?”
A fallen angel could recover enough to ascend back to heaven?
I looked at her in surprise.
“Heheh, I’m kidding.”
