LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 93
“Ugh! You’re here?”
“Thank you for your hard work. Please hand over the sword.”
As I arrived home after passing through a road full of signs of battle, Hanarin and Hazuki welcomed me.
“You both had a tough time too… What’s that?”
There were unfamiliar dishes laid out on the table.
It was three chickens prepared in various ways, fried and boiled.
Though I could immediately see three, there must have been more not long ago.
Neatly stripped chicken bones were piled up to the side.
“I brought them myself. We don’t have to worry about anything now.”
“I tried to stop her.”
“Huh? You made all this, didn’t you?!”
“Because you were planning to eat the chicken raw!”
“And you still ate it happily!”
“…Leaving food is not good.”
Leaving aside the pointless bickering, I took a seat at the table.
I faced the very confused expression on Titil’s face.
“I’m back.”
“Ah, yes! …Um, can I ask what happened out there?”
“I just gave a warning to a guy named Luke.”
“…Huh? Lu, Luke? The Overlord…?!”
“Yeah.”
Luke’s wide-open mouth didn’t seem to close anytime soon.
In his mind, it was a story that made no sense at all.
However, seeing Hanarin and Hazuki fighting made me believe it.
“Starting tomorrow, food raids and forced labor will be stopped. They won’t be able to act up outside anymore.”
“…Really?”
If it weren’t a lie, it would be an incredible story.
A life without hunger or hard labor. It was a moment I was experiencing for the first time since I was born.
But it didn’t quite make sense.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why, you say?”
“You’re travelers, right? Aren’t you leaving anyway? Why do something like this…?”
Anxiety outweighed the anticipation for the future.
I couldn’t fathom what the Overlords might do once these people disappeared.
“To liberate you from fear.”
With that, Kim Il-shin began to share the plans he had set up to clear the quest.
Not just a momentary end, but complete liberation.
“Why go that far for us…?”
“Because there are circumstances that make it hard to explain.”
However, he didn’t say anything related to the quest.
If we went that far, the story would drag on. There was no need to indulge in it anyway.
Still, one thing was certain.
“When this is over, we’re going to leave. You don’t need to worry because we won’t leave until it’s perfectly finished.”
“…Is that so?”
Titil murmured sadly, hoping it could go according to his plans.
If that happened, they could be freed from the Overlords. The fear of outside attacks would no longer haunt them.
Whatever Kim Il-shin’s motive, it must be better than the current situation.
Since he claimed food raids and forced labor would disappear starting tomorrow.
‘Just because the goal is bad, doesn’t mean I can stop it.’
In the end, all Titil could do was watch from the sidelines.
Praying that a good future would unfold.
Just then, as Titil finished his thoughts.
“And I want you to help us. We need someone important to play a role.”
“…Huh?”
Titil’s thoughts halted. He never expected to hear such words.
“What kind of help can I offer…?”
“It’s hard to explain briefly. You’re the key to this plan.”
His heart raced. Although he had already made his decision, he asked again.
“Can I really do that?”
“If you don’t, it won’t be possible.”
A brief silence followed. Titil nodded.
“…I’ll do it.”
“Okay. You need to wake up early tomorrow morning, so go to bed early. We have a bit more to discuss.”
“Yes… Goodnight…”
After Titil entered his room, Kim Il-shin assigned tasks to Hanarin and Hazuki respectively.
The conversation wrapped up quickly, and the meeting came to a close.
*
Lying on either side of Kim Il-shin were Hanarin and Hazuki.
Though there was another room available, none wanted to sleep alone, leading to this arrangement.
Then again, Kim Il-shin didn’t want to sleep alone either.
“Yawn…”
From the right side, a snore was heard. Hanarin fell asleep as soon as her head hit the floor upon entering the room.
‘Sleep well.’
Kim Il-shin, glancing at Hanarin’s face, closed his eyes.
There was much to do starting tomorrow morning.
“Il-shin, are you sleeping?”
About three minutes later, Hazuki called out to Kim Il-shin.
“I’m not asleep yet.”
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Nope.”
Kim Il-shin asked with his eyes still closed.
“Why?”
“…Just checking if you’re asleep.”
There was a rustling sound beside him. A light breath brushed against his right shoulder.
“This room feels really cozy. I thought it would be too small for three to lie down, but it’s actually warm and nice.”
“True. Shall we sleep like this again tomorrow?”
“I’m okay with it. But maybe your sister won’t like it as much.”
“Get another chicken. She was so into it, she couldn’t even think straight.”
This was Hazuki’s first experience of being cramped in such a small room.
It felt so good that she thought it could be alright to stay here forever.
Maybe it was more because of the people she was with than the space itself.
“What about you, Il-shin?”
“Huh?”
“What do you want to do later? After everything is over. I don’t know when that will be, though.”
Hazuki knew that Kim Il-shin had a big goal.
Right now, she could vaguely guess what it might be.
‘Hm.’
Kim Il-shin understood immediately without needing further explanation.
It was referring to the future after the crisis of destruction had passed.
He had never thought about it. Vaguely, he thought he might just live at a more leisurely pace.
So, Kim Il-shin answered.
“I’ll do what you all want.”
“…….”
“Hm?”
When there was no response, Kim Il-shin turned his head towards Hazuki.
And he saw it—her eyes were so close he could almost reach out and touch them.
Their breaths intertwined. He noticed a light blush on her cheeks.
After a moment, she smiled brightly.
“……Hehe. That’s nice.”
It was a remarkably satisfying answer for Hazuki.
Which meant she was precious to him too.
“…Indeed.”
Kim Il-shin had to look at the ceiling to clear his dazed mind.
He had just witnessed something incredibly destructive.
“Ahem~”
Feeling better, Hazuki snuggled against Kim Il-shin’s shoulder with a sweet smile.
Out of the blue, she tossed a question.
“Il-shin, do you really not know what [The Song of Iron] is?”
“Huh? Is it that famous of a book?”
“Of course! No one in our generation doesn’t know it! Hehe, I guess you didn’t like books when you were little.”
“Hmm….”
Kim Il-shin realized this was the perfect timing to share a secret with Hazuki.
He had pondered enough, so he decided to speak up.
“Hazuki.”
“Yes?”
“I have something to tell you. I’m from another world.”
Kim Il-shin shared his past without holding back.
Despite how astonishing the story was, Hazuki listened quietly.
After the story was over, Hazuki spoke calmly.
“I see.”
No reason existed for her to reject his past.
After all, the current Hazuki was seeing Kim Il-shin, who had gone through such a past.
“…Don’t you have anything to say? Questions, or something?”
“You’ve told me everything. Just… thank you for your hard work. Up until now.”
“…Thank you.”
With a single word, Kim Il-shin conveyed his feelings. No other words were necessary for sincerity.
“Don’t mention it.”
They both looked at the ceiling in silence. Even in this closed-off room without a window, there was no sense of suffocation.
At that moment, a question popped into Hazuki’s mind.
“Oh! I have something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“What kind of person were you in that world, Il-shin?”
“Umm….”
It was a question that was hard to answer. No, it was more that he was reluctant to respond.
But he felt he could share this with them.
Before that.
“Narin, I know you’re awake. You don’t have to pretend to sleep.”
“Ugh… Since when did you know…?”
“Since the very beginning.”
Kim Il-shin was not someone who wouldn’t notice a suddenly ruffled breath.
Hanarin, not expecting to be caught, moved closer to Kim Il-shin.
And with that, Kim Il-shin’s story began.
*
Kim Il-shin was an animator for a well-known game company.
He wasn’t living in luxury, but he was making ends meet comfortably. He had a somewhat successful life for his young age.
But if he were to say that he was satisfied with such a life, that would be a lie.
The life of an animator bound by contract was not the life he had wanted.
Since childhood, his dream had been to be an artist. To draw whatever he wished freely.
But he gave up when he started learning how to draw seriously.
His talent was still far from being a free-spirited artist.
He had changed his path to make a living.
“Weren’t you disappointed?”
“…I was.”
He himself knew that he had regrets.
That regret began with his artistic sense (A) that lay nestled among various talents.
But he lacked the courage.
“I realized that I couldn’t endure feeling talentless more than once. Haha. …Isn’t that pitiful?”
“Whoa!”
As Kim Il-shin self-deprecatingly acknowledged this, Hanarin perked up dramatically.
She climbed onto Kim Il-shin’s belly, pressing her face close, and shouted.
“You can just do it as a hobby! Let’s work together later! You design, and I’ll whip it up!”
An unexpected reaction came from the side as well.
“No! How about watercolor painting instead? Let’s do it together!”
It was confusing.
Was this meant to comfort him, or was it genuine? He couldn’t quite tell.
“Eh?! Let’s do it together!”
“No! I was first!”
But seeing Hanarin and Hazuki bickering like this made it irrelevant.
Now, he kind of understood how foolishly he had thought until now.
Hanarin, who had been a genius from the start, would not have flourished without significant training.
Kim Il-shin understood well the burdens and deficiencies she must have felt as a genius.
Hazuki, seeing Kim Il-shin, who possessed even greater talent than her, was not discouraged.
Instead, she sought his guidance. And she grew.
The Namgung brothers were also continuing down the path of muscle.
Characters who only stood out at the beginning were now growing to an extent that was unpredictable.
He might not even know if they would ever reach the end of their path, where Hercules would await.
Thinking back on it, he could only find his past self’s presumptions and giving up to be absurd.
Kim Il-shin smiled softly and said.
“How about we all do it together?”
“Hmm… Alright. I’ll yield.”
“I can’t yield though!”
“What?! Hey! You’re saying something different now!”
The two started bickering again. Kim Il-shin watched them with a smile.
“Then how about using the watercolor painting we made as a design?”
“Whoa, that sounds good. What should we make it of…?”
“How about a hammer?”
“Sounds good! We’ll make it pretty for you!”
“Really? Awesome!”
From then on, the three chatted away with joyful voices through the night.
They spent it filled with delightful imaginings.
In the future they envisioned together, the three would always be together.