Chapter 16
“Lee Seonghyeon, hey, what are you doing? Get up.”
“…Why?”
“Go wash up. Why do you look so completely burned out?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yeah. You’ve got your head down, looking all gloomy like you’ve already lived your whole life. What else am I supposed to say?”
When Seonghyeon looked up, Suyeon was already washed and dressed, gazing at him.
Had that much time already passed? He’d had a rough day, too, and sleep was catching up with him.
He’d sprinted at full speed and taken on the job of leading everyone, so maybe he was tired enough to doze off sitting up.
“I dozed off a little.”
“You? And you have eight Stamina.”
“No matter how high your Stamina is, you still get tired. For the record, in the lower levels, you have to train yourself to sleep collapsed by the roadside.”
Seonghyeon ruffled Suyeon’s hair as he walked past her.
Suyeon glared at him.
“Hey! Did you wash your hands before touching me?”
“Huh? They’re clean.”
“Ugh… Now I have to wash my hair again. Do you know how hard it is to wash long hair?”
“Want to cut it?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t like having long hair, either.”
At the suggestion of cutting her hair, Suyeon lowered her head.
Could it be that she liked going around with long hair like a girl?
Well, any hairstyle would probably suit that face, but long hair did look better on her.
“I can’t cut it…”
“Huh?”
“It’s weird. They tried to cut my hair at the black market.”
“Yeah.”
“But when I woke up the next day, it had grown back.”
“Hmm… Is that some kind of pretty-girl bonus? It wasn’t in your status window.”
“……”
Suyeon looked at Seonghyeon as if he were a bug.
Seonghyeon saw her expression, snorted, took off his clothes, and went into the bathroom.
Without thinking, Suyeon turned her head so she wouldn’t see Seonghyeon naked.
Why?
They’d gone to the bathhouse together all the time when they were little, hadn’t they?
Regardless of that past… the Suyeon of today was afraid of the elephant.
It had only been a month, but the horrific time she’d spent at the black market had changed so much about her.
**
When Seonghyeon finished showering and came out, Suyeon was fast asleep in his bed.
With a towel draped around his neck and only his underwear on, Seonghyeon came out and sat on the empty bed, staring blankly at Suyeon.
Ah, that’s my spot.
A year ago, sitting like this and fiddling with his phone would have been part of his daily routine.
Now, Seonghyeon’s daily routine was sitting like this and maintaining his weapons.
He wiped the blood from his mace, cleaned and dried his gear to get rid of its smell, reviewed the day’s hunt, and looked for new spellbooks to read…
To soothe his loneliness, Seonghyeon had thrown himself relentlessly into his work.
Even though he’d been carried, that was how he’d been able to level up so quickly.
But now… he wasn’t quite so lonely.
“You said you’d do the laundry, but you didn’t.”
Suyeon didn’t move at all. She must have fallen into a deep sleep.
He briefly considered doing something to the little freeloader, but in the end, Seonghyeon didn’t wake her.
Why was this little girl, fast asleep, so cute…
He’d have to keep feeding her until the [Emaciated] debuff disappeared completely.
Seonghyeon sprang up, grabbed the clothes and armor Suyeon had taken off, and went back into the bathroom.
His strength and stamina made the laundry quick and thorough.
“Phew…”
After hanging everything haphazardly on the line in the inn room, Seonghyeon lay down on the empty bed.
What should he do…
The notice for joining the hunting party clearly said to come alone if he wanted to participate.
The hunting party wasn’t a quest, but they could split the spoils from hunting the Dire Wolf, a fearsome middle-level boss monster.
There was also a bounty from the Labyrinth City, on top of the loot.
But the hunting party would have quite a few people, so Seonghyeon would probably get somewhere between two and five thousand ducats.
And no matter how versatile a Paladin-type class the Cleric was, Seonghyeon’s level was low, so he’d only be able to cast buffs from the back.
So he wasn’t worried about himself. His friend was the problem.
Leave her alone and go?
It was ridiculous, considering he was the one who’d said that.
Unlike Seonghyeon, who’d lived here for a year, Suyeon didn’t seem to have been here all that long.
He could tell from how she still stumbled around, unable to adjust to her shorter height.
And besides…
The words he’d heard from the captain of the guards earlier that day came back to him.
The noblest of the noble elves. The most reclusive and most dangerous race.
They’d probably be what we’d call ‘High Elves’ in Korean.
His friend was apparently a princess of the Lacia race.
What would those elves think?
Seonghyeon had hardly ever encountered elves, so he had no idea.
Besides, it seemed Suyeon had no memories at all of her time as an elf princess.
If they found Suyeon, wouldn’t they think humans had changed her soul with black magic?
If so…
Something even more horrifying than he could imagine might happen.
Seonghyeon liked his life as it was now.
His friend was a little rambunctious, but having her around meant he wasn’t lonely.
He couldn’t let elves he’d never even seen take Suyeon away.
“Now then, I wonder if there’s somewhere I can leave her while I go to the hunting party alone…”
As Seonghyeon wondered where he could leave his friend, he drifted off to sleep.
That night, Seonghyeon had a nightmare that a bandit elf he’d glimpsed was stealing Suyeon away while something pressed down on him.
**
“Hey, Kim Suyeon.”
“Mmm…”
“Come on, don’t just keep going ‘mmm.’ Wake up.”
“I… want to sleep a little longer. Hngh…”
“Hngh? Hngh? Are you insane? You turned into a girl and now you think you’re some cute girl in an otaku game.”
“Ugh… My whole body aches.”
“And you think it’s okay to climb on top of me and fall asleep?”
“Huh?”
“Mmm~?~?~?”
“Why am I sleeping over here?”
When Seonghyeon opened his eyes, Suyeon was on top of him, hugging him as she slept.
And to top it off, she’d drooled all over his chest.
The chain around her neck and her shackles—or was that a neck shackle?—must have been pressing down on him and giving him those awful dreams.
“Get up. It’s morning.”
“Mm…”
Suyeon rubbed her eyes, spun around, and bumped into the bed with a thump.
She was completely defenseless, but seeing her like that didn’t stir any strange feelings in Seonghyeon.
On the first day, she’d looked every bit the slave, and there’d been an odd tension in the way she acted, but a friend was still a friend.
Seonghyeon sighed at his friend’s ridiculous antics, got up, washed his face, and came back out.
Suyeon was asleep again.
“Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”
“College students don’t eat breakfast…”
“Are you a college student right now? You’re a Sorcerer slave.”
“Ughhh! Don’t touch that! Hah, hah.”
Suyeon jerked upright as if she’d had a fit, breathing hard as she glared at Seonghyeon.
Seonghyeon, ignoring whatever Suyeon did, threw on some clothes and got up.
“You have to eat three meals a day, even if you don’t feel like it.”
“You said you’re broke. You should save money by cutting back on food first.”
“I’m not that poor, you know?”
“O-Okay, I’ll get up. I said I’ll get up, didn’t I?”
“Don’t get mad.”
“Yes.”
When Seonghyeon waved the slave seal, Suyeon tucked in her nonexistent tail.
For today, the plan was to eat breakfast, come hell or high water, and sign them both up for the hunting party.
If they couldn’t join the hunting party, Seonghyeon planned to take some odd job outside it that needed extra hands instead.
“Didn’t you skip breakfast, too?”
“Here, eating three meals a day is part of my routine. I’m telling you, eating well is what counts.”
“That’s strange. You were never the healthy-living type.”
Suyeon and Seonghyeon went downstairs and entered the inn’s dining hall.
The incredible spread was still there. The inn was amazing to prepare all this every morning.
Suyeon thought so, too, but Seonghyeon felt the same way.
Seonghyeon filled his plate as usual and sat down. Suyeon glanced at him, then picked out a reasonable amount and sat across from him.
“I’ll dig in.”
“Yeah. You look better with some weight on you, so eat your fill and put on weight as fast as you can.”
“Is that so…”
“Why?”
“No, nothing.”
Suyeon shook her head.
Seonghyeon stared at Suyeon, fork still in his hand.
“You really have gotten weird.”
“Why? You’ve gotten pretty weird yourself.”
“Not as weird as you.”
“I’m not as weird as you.”
“Yeah~ You’re a gender-swapped pretty girl, at least on the outside.”
“Ah.”
“But did your personality change to match a girl’s, too?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t changed, okay? Keep watching me like that. Isn’t that what you live for?”
“Seong~hyeon~ Lee~ Seong~hyeon~ You’re~ Seong~hyeon~ right~”
“Hey!”
Suyeon’s hand trembled as she gripped her fork, but she held back because there were so many people in the dining hall.
When Suyeon stayed quiet, Seonghyeon made a bizarre face and imitated the voice from that day in a weird way.
“Help me~ Please help me~”
“Fuck, what are you doing? You’re ruining my appetite. Besides, I never said anything like that!”
“Pwahahahaha!”
To swallow her anger, Suyeon shoved the meat from her salad into her mouth.
It was morning at the inn, with warm sunlight pouring in.