Chapter 139: Standing Alone (1)

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When Jinseong returned home using teleportation several times, he saw the garden being turned upside down.

The garden, which had been a mess but still maintained some order before Jinseong left, was now completely unrecognizable with its surface overturned.

But even in chaos, life finds a way.

In the ruined garden, flowers and trees were moving around, showing that the garden was still intact, and flowers were using their leaves to move small stones while trees moved larger stones with their branches, demonstrating that goodwill was still alive in this land.

Jinseong muttered as he watched this touching scene.

"What's going on here?"

He blinked a couple of times and moved towards where he sensed a presence.

However, there were too many obstacles to reach his destination.

Walking without thinking would have been perfect for bumping into flowers or trees.

He almost kicked flowers carrying pebbles countless times, and nearly collided with trees moving stones using their pointed roots like octopus legs three times. Moreover, when he almost collided, the trees even warned him by shaking their branches as if telling him to be careful, which was truly astounding.

And when he finally reached where he sensed the presence, the first thing he saw was Arin moving her arms like a traffic officer.

Arin was standing on a large stone, laughing gleefully as if something was very amusing. Below her were flowers, moving in unison according to her movements. The flowers moved their roots like legs and their leaves and stems like hands, faithfully following her instructions.

When Arin pointed to a place, they would rush there to dump or gather pebbles, and when she gestured, they would move in a line along a set path. Moreover, when Arin playfully saluted, they would even salute back by moving their stems to bring their leaves to their petals.

It was truly a bizarre sight.

But the bizarre scene didn't end there.

A little distance from Arin was a pile of sand from who knows where, and Serin was taking a sand bath there.

She had covered herself with warm sand like a blanket, perhaps using her ability, and was wearing an expression of utter happiness like someone warming up under an electric blanket in winter. Moreover, there were two small trees on either side of her, leaning against each other to create shade for her comfort, and if she kept her mouth open for a certain time, they would move their roots to peel fruits from a basket and pop them into her mouth.

Judging by the large shade, the demon must be there.

Jinseong took his eyes off Serin and walked towards Arin.

Arin, who was playing while directing the flowers, noticed Jinseong and smiled welcomingly.

"Oh, Oppa. Where have you been?"

"Just went for a bit of sightseeing."

Jinseong replied lightly to her question, which sounded like a gentle reproach, and then pointed at the flowers standing at attention and asked.

"What are these?"

"Huh? They're flowers, aren't they?"

"I can see that."

"Ah, you mean why are they walking around? It's that, what's it called... Witchcraft? They say you can do this if you use that!"

"I know that too. But what I'm asking is not how this is possible, but why the garden has become like this and why the flowers are working."

Hearing this question, Arin's eyes lit up. She then jumped down from the stone, landed on the ground, and ran over to Jinseong.

"Oh, Oppa. You see, it was really amazing!"

Arin poured out words as if she had been waiting for Jinseong to ask.

It was like a chatterbox whose mouth had been sewn shut for three days and was finally released.

"You know, the Grand Witch, her expression soured when she saw the garden. And she also made an uncomfortable face at the indoor decorations. But after you left somewhere, we had a meal, and she exploded after seeing that. She said she couldn't stand this kind of meal with no nationality, that it was hard to even consider it cosmopolitan, and that she would tear apart and fix this chimera-like house..."

Jinseong skillfully extracted the information he wanted to hear from this flood of words.

Tsk tsk. She couldn't overcome her temper.

Jinseong could almost see the Grand Witch's angry face.

She was a person who should be counted from the top when it came to bad temper.

She could barely control herself when she saw the garden and artworks because Jinseong was there, but with Jinseong gone and faced with a meal lacking in foundation and unnecessarily lavish, her barely maintained patience must have reached its limit.

Before the regression, her temper was so terrible that all the mercenaries avoided her. I wonder how it was this time.

Thinking this, Jinseong continued to listen to Arin's words.

"I've never seen our old man so flustered before! Yeah, the original old fogey is really different. I knew from what she did to Ella, you know. Those mother-in-laws in morning dramas don't even compare. Really... Hmm."

Arin paused mid-sentence and glanced around cautiously. Then, as if afraid Odilia might hear from somewhere, she brought her mouth to his ear and whispered.

"You know, I could tell her personality was messed up from how she tormented Ella. Wow. She was an old fogey to an admirable degree."

She whispered like this while clinging to Jinseong's side, then noticed her body was full of sweat and slightly moved away. Then, as if nothing had happened, she slightly widened the distance and continued speaking.

"Our old man said there was no problem, that he had decorated it in his own way, so what was the problem. And then he started talking about Japanese gardens and the freedom of English gardens, and then he gave this really difficult and seemingly profound explanation, like those pretty older sisters explaining things when we went to art museums on school trips. Yeah, and then..."

Arin twirled her hair with her finger and chuckled.

It seemed she was laughing again at the memory of that time.

"Wow, really. Normally, I should be angry because our old man was insulted. But what she said was so absurd and funny that I couldn't even get angry."

"Hmm."

"She said this, you know? Oppa, wait a second."

Arin chuckled a few times, then completely changed her expression, putting on a solemn look as if trying to imitate the Grand Witch. Then she frowned deeply and raised her tone slightly, impersonating the Grand Witch.

"How dare you talk back when an adult is speaking! How old are you-!"

"Huh."

"Where do you get off looking straight at me! When an adult is speaking, you should listen attentively thinking 'This is good advice, this is right,' and carefully give your opinion, not talk back so rudely! I'm trying to give you advice that will be your flesh and blood and organize things for you, what's the problem-!"

Arin finished her imitation and chuckled, finding something very funny.

"Wow, really. It was so ridiculous to see someone who looks no different from an older sister on the outside acting like that. But she is older than our old man... Geez..."

"Hmm. Still, it was rude."

When Jinseong said this, Arin shook her head.

"It's okay. Well, it was rude, but I was more dumbfounded than offended. Besides, after blurting that out, she seemed to come to her senses and apologized politely. And as an apology, she said she'd change all the garden and interior decorations herself. All at her own expense. Plus, she said she'd actively help when Gwangyang Group expands into Germany, so isn't this a profitable deal?"

She said this and then smiled slightly. And as if it were a secret, she covered her mouth slightly and said:

"And, you know. I also thought it would be nice to change the interior and meals and such. Isn't it good when things are good?"

After saying this, Arin climbed back onto the stone. Then she gestured to gather the flowers again and started giving orders to the flowers like before.

Jinseong watched this quietly for a while and then went inside the house.

And on his way to his room, he encountered the Grand Witch.

"Eek."

The Grand Witch was startled as soon as she saw Jinseong, as if something was pricking her conscience.

Odilia was surprised like someone caught doing something wrong and slightly moved away from Jinseong. Then she glanced at Jinseong cautiously, cleared her throat softly, and said:

"Um... You're back?"

The way she turned her eyes to one side resembled a dog avoiding eye contact after doing something wrong. Jinseong looked at this and approached her, asking:

"How could you commit such rudeness?"

"Ahem. Hmm."

At his questioning, the Grand Witch cleared her throat a few times and avoided Jinseong's gaze.

But unable to withstand Jinseong's stare, she squeezed out words as if making an excuse.

"It was just too much..."

It was an excuse like a child might make.