Chapter 5
So, to sum it up…
Isabel looked at me with her arms folded.
Normally, her face would be wearing a smile as bright as sunshine.
But not now.
No, actually, she was smiling.
But it didn’t look like she was smiling at all. It was scary.
“You abandoned your hard-working big sis and went off to play by yourself.”
Nod.
“Then your clothes got torn.”
Nod, nod.
“And finally, you fell into the lake, so now you look like a drowned rat?”
Nod, nod, nod.
Each time I nodded, Isabel’s expression grew stiffer.
A brief silence passed.
The wind blew, making the tips of my wet hair sway slightly.
Isabel stared at me without saying anything for a while, then quietly opened her mouth.
“Rowoon.”
“Huh?”
“Do you even know what you’ve done?”
“Of course.”
I answered confidently.
“I came back alive.”
“……”
Isabel’s eyebrow twitched.
“That’s not the important part.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
She sighed as if she couldn’t believe me.
“What were you going to do if you got hurt?”
“But I didn’t.”
“What about your clothes?”
“……”
“They’re torn.”
You can’t come home wearing blood-soaked clothes!
“The clothes were just weak.”
“Rowoon.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t blame the clothes.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
I gave up quickly.
Strangely, words didn’t seem to work properly around Isabel.
I had once tried talking to monsters dozens of meters tall in the tower, but looking back, that had been much easier.
“And.”
Isabel narrowed her eyes as she looked at me.
“You went into the forest alone again.”
I put on the most composed expression I could.
“How could a nine-year-old go into the forest alone?”
It was perfect logic, in its own way.
Even common sense supported me.
A nine-year-old child going into a dangerous forest alone?
That made no sense, right?
I nodded inwardly.
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“No?”
I answered immediately.
“You hesitated just now.”
“……”
“I know your eyes twitch slightly when you lie, too.”
“…Was that a thing?”
I muttered without thinking.
Isabel’s eyes widened for a moment.
“See?”
“……”
“You just admitted it.”
I was screwed.
Not only had my body gotten younger, it seemed my mind had gotten younger too.
“Ugh…”
Isabel clutched her head.
Then she finally let out a snort of laughter.
She looked angry, yet somehow resigned.
“You’re truly impossible.”
She stepped in front of me and reached out her hand.
Then she lightly tousled my wet hair.
“Still.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s a relief you didn’t get hurt.”
It was a short remark.
But I could feel the concern behind it clearly enough.
I was silent for a moment.
I had almost never heard words like that in the tower.
Usually, all I heard was, ‘Survive and get stronger.’ I hardly remember hearing things like, ‘Are you all right?’ or, ‘I was worried about you.’
“Got it.”
I answered softly.
“I’ll be careful from now on.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Promise.”
Isabel held out her little finger.
I stared at it for a moment.
“……”
“Why?”
“No.”
I let out a small sigh and hooked my finger around hers.
“I was just thinking, so this is the sort of thing you do when you’re nine.”
“You don’t like it?”
“No. It’s just fascinating.”
Isabel smiled and shook her head.
“And you are nine, after all.”
Then she stroked my head once more.
“And.”
“Yes?”
“If you go into the forest alone again, you’re really going to get it, okay?”
I thought about it for a moment.
“……”
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“I’m thinking about how not to get caught.”
“Rowoon.”
“Just kidding.”
“Really?” “Really.”
Isabel narrowed her eyes.
“That answer came awfully fast.”
“……”
As expected, being trapped in a nine-year-old body was far too disadvantageous.
I had hunted dragons and defeated demons in the tower, yet now I couldn’t even withstand one interrogation from a fourteen-year-old girl.
Something about this was strange……
The Supreme King hadn’t scared me, and demon worshippers hadn’t bothered me either, so why were Isabel’s lectures so terrifying?
Could the true final boss of this world be someone else entirely?
Just then.
“Here we go again.”
A low, gentle voice reached us.
I turned my head.
A man was walking over from the direction of the kitchen.
He had dark brown hair and a somewhat rugged face, but there was something strangely warm in his eyes.
He was Isabel’s father and the owner of the house where I was currently staying: Uncle Lawrence.
He looked me over and let out a small sigh.
“Rowoon.”
“Yes.”
“Did you go into the forest again this time?”
“……”
I looked away.
Damn it.
Why was everyone in this house so perceptive?
Isabel was one thing, but Uncle Lawrence always smiled quietly while striking right at the heart of the matter.
“No.”
I put on the most innocent expression I could.
“I was just taking a walk.”
“A walk?”
Uncle Lawrence looked at my clothes.
Hmm……
My clothes right now? Torn.
My hair? Wet, too.
And there were traces I couldn’t hide no matter how hard I tried.
“……You fell into the water.”
“……Yes.”
“And?”
“……I went into the forest too.”
“……”
A brief silence followed.
Isabel folded her arms and nodded.
“See? He did go.”
“……”
I couldn’t refute that.
Logically, I had lost completely.
I quietly lowered my head.
“I’m sorry.”
Uncle Lawrence chuckled when he saw me like that.
“I wasn’t trying to scold you.”
He lightly patted my head.
“I was just worried.”
“……”
“Do you remember when you first came to this house?”
His hand stopped.
“You were always on guard. Even the slightest loud noise startled you, and whenever someone approached, you prepared to run away first.”
Uncle Lawrence smiled quietly.
“And now that child is wandering all the way into the forest alone.”
“……”
“Of course.”
He smiled faintly.
“It’s not entirely a good thing.”
“……”
“Isabel.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Keep a better eye on him.”
“Why should I?!”
Isabel’s expression instantly turned aggrieved.
“I’m a victim too!”
“…A victim?”
I muttered softly.
“…The person who dumped half the potato field on a nine-year-old?”
“Rowoon.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s be quiet.”
“Yes.”
As expected, families were terrifying.
Uncle Lawrence looked at the two of us while holding back his laughter.
“You two really look like siblings.”
“……”
“……”
Isabel and I happened to meet each other’s eyes.
Siblings……
It was a word I never could have imagined when I first came here.
I hadn’t originally belonged to this world.
I had nowhere to return to.
I had only been enduring things in order to survive.
But at some point, the warm scent of this house became familiar, the nagging I heard every morning became natural, and the voices calling my name became comforting.
It was strange.
I had definitely been twenty-three years old originally.
But in this moment… I truly felt like a nine-year-old child.
“Rowoon.”
“Yes?”
“From now on, make sure you tell us before you go.”
Uncle Lawrence said it plainly.
“Whether you’re strong or weak doesn’t matter.”
“……!!”
I couldn’t say anything for a moment.
“Understood.”
Of course, I didn’t say I wouldn’t go into the forest again.
……Probably.
I might go a little.
***
I’m a brat.
Of course.
Since my body was nine years old, I was technically a brat.
But even before I transferred here, I had been twenty-three.
So, to be precise.
I’m a brat-brat.
…
Well.
It didn’t seem all that different.
Anyway.
Let’s organize what happened today. I’m not particularly smart, after all.
First.
I discovered a suspicious group that didn’t exist in the original story.
They were demon worshippers!!
Of course, that was just a name I came up with.
It sounded cool.
‘We are those who serve the great master.’
That was what they had been advertising, after all.
So they were probably demon worshippers, right?
Or maybe they were just some sort of club for people who liked demons?
…No way.
Anyway.
The problem was that they probably weren’t the end of it.
There was no way the people performing a ritual in the forest were limited to just a few.
A group of that size definitely had more people behind it.
And second.
One of the strongest people in the world declared that she was going to stalk me.
‘Hehe… I’ll watch you for now, okay?
You rude little brat! Prepare yourself!’
…
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Why did the strongest person in the world talk like that?
It had been fine in the novel, but hearing it in person made my cringe tolerance plummet.
No, was she really a frightening person?
The novel had described her as a monster capable of overthrowing an entire country.
But what I saw was just an ill-tempered little brat.
Of course, her knuckle tap had hurt.
It had really hurt.
Third.
Uncle Lawrence was a little strange, too.
‘Whether you’re strong or weak doesn’t matter.’
…Wasn’t that a suspiciously meaningful thing to say?
Wasn’t that usually something you said when you knew the other person was strong?
Could he have seen through my identity?
No, right? That was impossible.
I was currently putting on a perfect performance as a nine-year-old brat.
…Though I did seem to be falling a little short.
Fourth.
I got a knuckle tap from Isabel.
Wait. Why was that the fourth item?
Anyway, the first one was still the most important.
Why did these demon worshippers even exist?
Why were people like that appearing in a romance fantasy?!
Of course, the original story had villains.
A jealous noble lady and a mad mage who had been expelled from the Magic Tower….
And the occasional rampaging monster.
Orcs. Ogres. You know, things like that.
That was the extent of it!
Those were the only obstacles standing in the protagonists’ way!
A lunatic group that hung people up, drew magic circles in blood, and summoned demons?
There had been nothing like that!
Seriously!
Not one line!!
And what was even stranger was this.
The four strongest people in the world.
Self-proclaimed.
‘Four Emperors.’
…Ugh.
Who came up with that name?
Surely they hadn’t named themselves?
If they had named themselves.
A little… no, a lot of the cool factor would disappear.
Anyway, the Four Emperors only appeared around the middle of the original story.
That was when each of them finished their secluded training and revealed themselves to the world.
In other words, at this point, they should all still have been training….
But then, what did that make me?
I’d just gotten a knuckle tap from one of them.
“……”
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
The original story was drifting out of alignment little by little.
And if these changes continued, there was no telling what would happen in the future.
So. My conclusion!
I’m going with Isabel!
My original plan had been this.
Isabel would enter the academy while I dug up potatoes in the village and enjoyed a quiet farming life.
Once I recovered a reasonable amount of strength, I would set off on an adventure!
It was a perfect plan.
A truly perfect plan.
It was peaceful and safe, and best of all, I wouldn’t have to see any blood.
But what if the demon worshippers were genuinely beings who existed outside the original story?
Their next target was obvious.
Where else would talented humans gather? The academy, of course.
Blue-blooded nobles, but still weak?
They would be nothing less than the perfect hunting ground.
Hmm…
Of course, this was just an excuse.
To be honest, I was a little curious.
About academy life, I mean.
And even about being an ordinary student.
It was an experience I had never even been able to imagine in the tower.
Every day, I killed monsters and people, and struggled simply to survive.
An ordinary life with friends and school had always been far beyond my reach.
But now, things were different.
I was living a new life.
I had a young body and a new family, and even a peaceful village!
Maybe I could live an ordinary life this time.
So, then… “Decision!” Iro-un! Academy, here I come!!
I fixed the accidentally split sentence corresponding to the source line about life in the tower and translated the three numbered-list labels as “First,” “Third,” and “Fourth.” I also kept the intentionally repeated “brat-brat” wordplay in the title and prose.
notes
The source line about the tower’s usual words was accidentally split in the draft and has been recombined. The Korean numbered-list labels were translated for consistency.