Maybe

Maybe

 

Seo-rin couldn’t hide her bewilderment as she watched Somteol suddenly disappear.

It didn’t just vanish, it popped like a balloon.

So Seo-rin waved her hand in the air and asked me:

“Somteol disappeared…?”

I nodded at those words and told her ‘it might have been a ghost’.

“Hmm, a ghost? Ha-eun, there are no ghosts in this world. Unless it’s an unidentified strange life form made of mana.”

Seo-rin spoke as if ghosts absolutely don’t exist, waving her hand dismissively.

Looking at Seo-rin like that, I reminded her of something she had momentarily forgotten.

“If it’s not a ghost, did a monster enter the association?”

“Ah.”

Seo-rin, perhaps thinking it would have been better if a ghost had entered,

Picked me up with a somewhat startled expression and looked around while saying:

“Uh, this is a big problem, right?”

“Yeah.”

In fact, there wasn’t much of a threat from the monster itself.

After all, most of the people here were hunters, so even if they were ambushed by a monster, they could counter-attack and eliminate it.

‘The real issue is the fact that a monster entered the association, which boasts impenetrable security.’

A monster suddenly appeared in a space where unauthorized monsters should never be able to enter?

This was equivalent to saying that a very serious problem had occurred within the association.

It was understandable why Seo-rin was so flustered.

I pondered for a moment while looking at Seo-rin’s state.

Feeling it was time to act, I told Seo-rin that we should investigate this incident.

“You’re right, Ha-eun. We should investigate. Wait a moment, okay? I’ll contact A-rin unnie.”

Contacting Han A-rin seemed important even to me, so I nodded and stuck close to Seo-rin, looking around the surroundings.

Just then, I felt a strange sensation unfolding in the distance.

Wondering what it could be, I stared intently in that direction, but couldn’t see anything.

‘What could it be?’

Thinking it would be good to check it out, I pointed to where I felt the strange sensation.

Seo-rin nodded as if she understood, quickly moved her fingers on her phone, then lowered it.

“Shall we go over there?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Come here, let unnie carry you.”

She must have judged it dangerous for me to walk while holding hands.

Seo-rin picked me up suddenly and slowly walked forward.

*

To put the strange feeling differently, it was like saying there’s probably something there based on past experience, even without concrete evidence.

Of course, opinions may vary from person to person.

Since it matched my definition closely, I stared intently in the direction where I felt something might be, hugging my tail tightly.

‘Could it be my imagination?’

It’s possible.

There’s a curse that makes people’s imagination run wild in the evening when visibility is poor.

Having seen something ghost-like and with darkness falling, it could be a misperception.

So just as I was about to tell Seo-rin we should go back.

I saw something strange – a white ball of fur suddenly popping up from the ground.

“Beep.”

It was Somteol’s appearance.

I screamed “Kyaaak!” in shock at the sight.

Seo-rin patted my back while trying to hold back laughter.

“It’s okay, pfft. Your big sister is here.”

“……”

Something about her laughing beside me was annoying, so I was about to pout… but I held back, considering social etiquette.

Seo-rin hugged me tightly and rubbed my cheeks, then said with a satisfied sigh.

“Anyway, since the ghost or whatever has come back, shall we check it out? You, come here.”

Seo-rin beckoned to the ghost Somteol (presumed) with a wiggle of her finger.

The ghost’s fur stood on end as soon as it saw Seo-rin’s actions.

“Peep!”

It started to run away somewhere, making a sound similar to a chick.

Never in our wildest dreams did we think a ghost would run away, so Seo-rin and I were bewildered as we watched this.

Soon, as if dumbfounded, we quickly began to chase after it.

Seeing Seo-rin move at a fast pace, I asked, ‘Can’t you catch it quickly if you use mana?’

However, when Seo-rin heard my question, she smiled bitterly and explained the reason.

“Well… if I grab it with mana, I feel like it might explode or something?”

“Ah.”

As I was nodding my head, thinking that a disaster could indeed happen if we’re not careful, just as Seo-rin said.

Suddenly, Seo-rin stopped in her tracks and started looking around.

“Judging by how it suddenly disappeared here, its main body seems to be nearby… Ha-eun, do you feel anything?”

At that question, I closed my eyes tightly and slowly looked around.

While looking around to see if there was any unusual sensation like I had felt before.

This time too, when I pointed to where a strange sensation was rising from one side, Seo-rin nodded and ran towards that place.

After running for a while, what we saw was my lair shining brightly.

 

‘… Light?’

Of course, there are many elements in the lair that could emit light, but since there was nothing that could shine so brightly at dawn, my suspicion intensified.

I showed a reaction to Seo-rin suggesting we should hurry and check it out.

Seo-rin, preparing for any possible danger, held me tighter in her arms as she headed inside.

That’s when I looked inside the lair and saw fluffy creatures popping up everywhere.

“Peep!”

“Pee~”

“Peeep?”

As I was bewildered by the endless summoning of fluffy creatures, wondering what on earth was going on.

Seo-rin, seemingly finding it amusing, filmed it and said to me.

“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s related to Seo-a.”

I nodded as it was roughly what I had expected.

Seo-rin slowly moved forward and looked around.

“They don’t seem particularly hostile, so there shouldn’t be any major issues. But just to be safe, let’s try to figure out why they appeared.”

“Mm-hmm.”

As I was looking around, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

If the mass creation of fluffy creatures was because of Seo-a, wouldn’t it make sense to just ask her directly instead of searching for reasons elsewhere?

When I immediately shared this thought with Seo-rin, she smiled awkwardly and said to me.

“Oh… you’re right?”

It seems she hadn’t thought of it because it was too obvious.

Of course, Seo-a would be sleeping if we went back now, so it would be better to investigate a bit more before returning. As we were looking around here and there.

I spotted a fluffy creature with a flower on its head.

‘That one looks a bit unique.’

Wanting to check out the fluffy creature with the flower, I gestured towards it to Seo-rin.

Seo-rin approaches the cotton ball I pointed at and shares her observation.

“Oh? The flower on top of the cotton ball’s head. What was it called? Isn’t it the flower that the black ones gave as a gift?”

Looking closely, it certainly looks the same.

As I’m carefully observing this and wondering why it’s there.

The cotton ball (presumably a ghost) with a flower on its head bounces towards me and says something.

“Peeee.” (We are friends!)

I’m a bit taken aback by the word “friend”.

It’s funny that it’s calling us friends now, when it was pretending to be a ghost to scare us before…!

So I pretend not to know and turn my head away quickly, and the ghost cotton ball makes a “peeeek” sound in surprise and tries to cling to me.

“… Hmph!”

At first, I tried to push away the ghost cotton ball.

But since it’s a bit cold yet soft and squishy, I couldn’t bring myself to push it away, so I had no choice but to hug it.

‘It’s definitely not because I feel good about it.’

Thinking that I’m hugging it only because it would be pitiful not to, I pretend to be aloof and turn my head away.

Then I start petting the ghost cotton ball’s fur vigorously.

“Pee!” (I like it!)

The ghost cotton ball expresses its affection for me by gently swaying the flower on top of its head.

Since it doesn’t seem to be a bad cotton ball, I decide to accept it and pet it for a while.

Then I ask the ghost cotton ball about its identity.

“How were you born? Who are you?”

“Beep, beep.” (I was born to protect the World Tree!)

World Tree… In other words, I could grasp the general context from the statement that it was born to protect Seo-a.

Looking at the ghost fluff saying this, I started asking one by one the things I had been curious about until now.

“Then why were you born here?”

“Beep! Beep!” (Because it’s the best place to be born!)

At those words, I felt good for no reason and wagged my tail.

After all, saying it’s the best place to be born meant that even to the ghost fluff, my lair looked cozy and safe…!

As I was giggling, thinking that the ghost fluff knew something, Seo-rin spoke with a thoughtful expression.

“It’s all good, but I’m not sure how the association will take to the ghost fluff.”

Seo-rin showed a somewhat worried expression, as it was questionable whether they would favorably accept the continuously generated unidentified life form.

Then, as if she had a good idea, she smiled slightly and said to me.

“Ha-eun, if someone important comes and says it’s absolutely impossible to raise it, tell them you’ll go straight to Grandma Lecia, okay?”

…?

“That will solve everything. Probably.”

I was terrified, thinking that the reason she added “probably” at the end was because the aftermath could be so powerful that unimaginable things might happen.

For now, I blinked blankly, thinking that asking Grandma Lecia for help should be the last resort.

*