Even as the deep night settled in, Jung Garam, who appeared like a storm, did not leave the room. He flopped onto the bed that could only hold one person comfortably, and Lackey, held in my embrace, kept an eye on him. Seo Dawon was speaking to Kim Olim in the living room. I had wondered what they were talking about, but judging from the name ‘Geum Miyoung’ popping up from time to time, they must be discussing ways to approach her. “Is it okay for you not to be there?” I sat on the edge of the bed and asked Jung Garam, who was still lying on his stomach. He must have been playing games on my phone–he only glanced at me before returning his attention to the screen. “Why? Are you going to sleep?” “Yeah, I have to sleep…” Even though he knew I was shooing him away, Jung Garam only tilted his body slightly and did not stand up. After leaving me a tiny place on this bed, he shrugged his shoulders as if expecting me to lie next to him. Dumfounded, I pointed my finger at Jung Garam. “This is a single bed!”
“How nice and cozy.” “Are you happy with this?” This punk, perhaps because he’s young, he’s absorbing all the bad slickness that Seo Dawon often exudes. After futilely looking at Seo Dawon in the living room, I tried to pull Jung Garam out of the bed by grabbing onto his arm. Of course, Jung Garam didn’t budge one inch. Only when I used more strength and started to slap the back of his hand did he belatedly exaggerate what he felt, “Now you’re beating up your servants…” “Haah……” “What? Where are you going?” Eventually, I gave up and went to the ground under the bed; Jung Garam peeked his head over the edge of the mattress and observed me lying on the floor. Simultaneously, I felt a weight on my body. Looking towards my feet, I saw Lackey’s rounded body attached to my hip. Gently pulling the blanket over us, I took the skeleton into my arms. “I’m sleeping.” “Are you really going to sleep on the floor?”
Even the energy to answer the Treasure Hunter was chased away by sleep, and a mangled sentence managed to mumble out of my mouth. However, Jung Garam looked down at me and began to poke me with his feet. Seriously. Even if I were to hit him, I’d still be considered innocent right? I blocked the bothersome Jung Garam with my arms, but the punk simply climbed off the bed and started rolling me with his feet. Frustrated, I groaned, “Hey…..” Even though I tried to be fierce, Jung Garam seemed to enjoy my reaction. “Choi Lee-kyung, Let’s move. I’m doing this because I don’t have my own bedroom.” “Haaaah…..” Of course, with the new contract with Kim Olim, the house felt more cramped. In particular, Kim Olim’s presence was so strong that the space felt even narrower… “I was just talking about that topic.” Seo Dawon said. Perhaps he heard Jung Garam and me quarreling, he and Kim Olim were standing in front of the bedroom door. I eventually overcame my encroaching sleepiness and raised my upper body. “Someplace closer to the downtown of the hub. The size we’ll need should be around 10 bedrooms and at least 2 floors. How do you feel about scoping out some places tomorrow morning?” “…..Mmm, Fine.” If one considers how we’re going to revive the rest of the Red Lotus guild members, that’s not too extravagant.
“Hm.” Kim Olim, who entered the bedroom with Seo Dawon, circled the room once and suddenly opened the bedside table. Don’t these people know that’s a very private location? “T-that’s my diary…!!” “…….” Though I was a little nervous, I moved hurriedly to stop her from taking my diary out of the bottom drawer of the table. Kim Olim flipped through the pages with one hand before hearing my complaint and placing it back in its original place. Well, to be honest, it wouldn’t hurt much even if they read it–I bought and wrote in the diary with hopes of becoming successful as a User. After a few days, I stopped and it stagnated in the bottom drawer. ….Or, did I? I couldn’t quite remember what I had written, but I was sure to have written something very ambitious and hopeful… Still, since Kim Olim didn’t open it and read each page carefully, I didn’t say much. However, the Paladin suddenly grabbed the diary again and asked me, “The very last sentence in the last entry reads, ‘When I become a Necromancer Ranker, I won’t forgive all those bastards who looked down upon me…’ What happened for you to write that?” “W-Why would you ask that?!” “It concerns me that the page is stained with tear marks. Were you crying?”
I just shook my head furiously, red-faced and speechless. Didn’t you just simply glance through it? It’s too rude to read another’s diary in such detail! In addition, the mention of tear marks brought a memory to mind; it suddenly occurred to me that I wrote in the diary while angry from being treated poorly after that first time randomly joining a party for the [Owl’s Ghostship] dungeon. Fuck…I think that’s it? Just as she pointed out, I wrote in my diary while in tears that day. “Ah, that’s right. Hey, Choi Lee-kyung. You wrote that you need to attend guild interviews, but why don’t you have a guild now?” Jung Garam said.
“W-What do you mean?” “Was it April 3rd? ‘No matter how I see it, I need a guild…’ After writing that, you never mentioned a guild again. No way, did you get dumped at the interview?” Jung Garam asked, reciting the contents of the diary. He asked purely, with an innocent look on his face, but…Do these bastards really have no common sense? Why are they asking these kind of questions after memorizing a diary that someone hid in the table? It’s not like they’re my homeroom teachers or anything! 1 Furthermore, seeing how Seo Dawon was smiling with a mysterious expression, it seemed like he had already read my diary. “Hey, get out of here!” I tried to endure, but eventually I jumped up and grabbed Jung Garam, pulling him out of bed. Earlier he wouldn’t budge, but now he docilely allowed me to catch him and send him out of the bedroom. Bang! After sending all three servants out of the room, I slammed the door in front of them and quickly placed the diary in my inventory.
Crazy bastards…… They’re so mean to people at every opportunity… Because of this diary incident, all my sleepiness was chased away and I was up until dawn. How can I get my revenge on these servants? Time passed as I bit at my fingernails. I was filled with chagrin–how easy to handle must I be for them to act this way?
* * *
The next morning. I stayed up all night, and, when the time to wake up arrived, I opened the door with the nastiest face I could muster. It’s late, but I thought I should at least get started in standing my ground. “You’ve woken?”
“……” “I tried to make breakfast.” However, I couldn’t see hide nor hair of Kim Olim nor Jung Garam. Instead, Seo Dawon smiled, saying that he made breakfast, wearing a black wrap-skirt apron that looked good on him. In order to not fall for Seo Dawon, who looked more kind and handsome than usual, I plunged the fork into the runny yolk of the fried egg that was placed in front of me! “You guys!” I shouted. “Mhm?” “The Diary…Wasn’t that too much?! You can’t just read that thoughtlessly and tease me!” Unexpectedly, Seo Dawon nodded. I thought he would make an excuse for his friends and fellow guild members, but, instead, he drew a smiley face on top of my fried egg with ketchup. Dazed, I looked down at it and grabbed some french toast, who knows when all this was prepared.
Seo Dawon ignored my efforts to try and spear the french toast with my fork and simply directly placed it in my mouth. Eating like this was comfortable, but…it felt like he was deliberately acting cute, trying to appease my anger. Though, my disgruntled heart was slightly shaken. Damn……Why can’t I hold onto anger for long? “Y-You guys are seriously weird!” Eventually, I, though my feelings were successfully deflected, threw one last-ditch temper tantrum at Seo Dawon. However, Seo Dawon simply handed me warmed soy milk and smiled brightly. Then, he drew a line in the sand as if he were an uninvolved party, “That’s right. Those kids are a bit bad-tempered.” “You speak as if you aren’t the same…” “Me? I’m completely different.” Seo Dawon said, making the argument that he, at least, had some tact. He laughed when I didn’t respond, but soon spoke in a serious tone, “Kim Olim and Jung Garam are being clumsy and tactless because they’re trying to collect various information on you.” “So, you’re asking me to understand them?” “No, rather than that I’d ask for you to make the best out of a bad situation.” Seo Dawon opened his mouth as if to say something more, but closed it without another word. I said nothing, recalling Seo Dawon when I first summoned him–how persistently he questioned me, investigating my private life. Do all users who turned into servants change this way? I was appalled at that thought… “You woke up?” Just then, Jung Garam’s cheeky voice barrelled through the awkward silence.
TL: FYI, I might have to slow down/or do a short hiatus as my school year starts T_T I’ll update more in the discord channel once I figure things out. Still mega-scatterbrained >.< but="" i’ll="" totally="" continue=""> Footnotes This is, of course, referring to how homeroom teachers may rifle through your desks for sudden checks.