Chapter 37: Persuasion (3)

We’ll be able to meet with real bodies?

Though it was just a verbal promise, the girl gaped like an idiot.

I’ve already taken over Mia’s body.

Even her remaining consciousness seems to be fading, with our conversations getting shorter and shorter.

Despite these doubts, the girl trusted Mia.

Mia had kept her promise to find her after escaping the cult.

She’d also kept her promise not to interfere until the girl was kicked out of the cult.

If she couldn’t trust Mia, who could she trust?

“Yeah! Then… let’s play together! We’ll eat tanghulu and drink beverages!”

Her smile was as bright as a blooming flower, without a trace of worry.

Seeing the girl’s reaction, Mia swallowed the emotions that were about to burst out.

Mia and the girl.

They weren’t just simple friends.

They’d been through hell together, trusting each other with their lives.

It wouldn’t be strange to say they were as close as friends, colleagues, comrades, and even family.

“You… you shouldn’t follow someone just because they offer you something tasty, okay?”

The girl chuckled at Mia’s worried advice.

Come on, I’m not really a little kid.

She’d been treated like a saint in the cult, raised differently from others.

The girl, forgetting she was sprawled out on the bed, replied confidently.

“Hmph, of course I’ll give proper payment!”

What does Mia think I am!

Wow. This is why she really can’t be let out alone.

Mia shook her head at the girl’s lack of common sense, which was worse than she’d expected.

She’d completely misunderstood the warning not to follow strangers.

Having grown up in the cult, it was natural for her to lack common sense, but…

This is too much, isn’t it?

What if she acts like this outside and gets arrested by the police?

Cold sweat ran down Mia’s back at the entirely plausible scenario.

For now, the powerful Chungseong Guild Master would help somehow, but.

Hmph, that attention probably won’t last even a year.

Since escaping the cult thanks to the girl, Mia had seen all sorts of people.

Openly bad people were actually easier to deal with.

With her S-class Awakened power, she could subdue them by force.

The problem was the sneaky types with two faces.

Like the director of a government orphanage who’d tried to touch her body slyly.

Or someone who’d offered to sponsor her for her abilities, then threw a fit when she didn’t follow their orders.

These situations were not only mentally exhausting but could also harm those around her.

That’s why Mia didn’t trust the current attention from the Guild Master, the sisters, and the monks.

They’d fallen for the girl’s appearance; they’d probably get bored soon.

So before that happened, she needed to succeed in creating a new body.

“Then, when can we meet again? Can’t you come out and talk like this sometimes? Is there a way for me to call you out? It’s so unfair that you always appear and disappear as you please!”

The girl chattered non-stop, showing how much she’d wanted to say.

“I’m still trying different things, so I can’t say for sure when.”

Mia tried to explain to reassure the girl, but.

She started talking about the ship of Theseus, whether an ultra-regenerator’s soul is in the brain or in some kind of Awakened ability, and so on.

As the explanation got longer, the girl’s eyes started to glaze over.

Her mouth hung open as she nodded off, clearly about to fall asleep.

So, not wanting to waste the precious time she’d managed to create, Mia quickly raised her voice.

“Instead! Let’s talk about everything we’ve missed. I can stay with you for today at least.”

At that, the girl’s head snapped up.

Her face was full of exhaustion from wandering the city all day.

Still, her lips kept moving, showing she had so much to say.

Seriously.

Tanghulu and whatnot, making such a fuss over things only kids would like.

It looked fun when she was beating up villains in the virtual reality game, but honestly, the girl’s stories today were far from Mia’s taste.

Their personalities were so different, it wouldn’t be strange if someone said their genders were swapped.

Even so, Mia listened carefully because…

“So?”

“They said it’s made by grinding fruit into a drink! People on the surface must live so abundantly! They must have needed at least ten of those small lemons to fill the drink container!”

Grin, grin.

The girl’s chattering, beaming smile, and obvious excitement made Mia happy.

Above all, her incredibly unique thoughts, which more than made up for her lack of speaking skills, left no room for boredom.

Those giants, martial arts novels, and comics.

It seemed she’d seen all sorts of things while Mia was unaware, stuck in that room.

If only she could have seen her like this underground too.

Well, it was good that she seemed to be learning about happiness, even if it was late.

This conversation made both the speaker and the listener happy, but there was one drawback…

Woof-! Woof-!

Chirp-! Cheep-!

They’d stayed up all night talking without realizing it.

At dawn.

As soon as the sun rose, dogs and sparrows started raising their voices.

Soft lights turned on all over the temple, which had been so dark you could barely see in front of you.

The girl who’d stayed up all night could hardly tell if it was 4 or 5 o’clock in her drowsy state, but the monks seemed to have already gotten up and started their daily routines.

At the careful footsteps approaching, she hiccupped! and hid her face under the blanket, as if caught doing something naughty.

“…Did I stay up all night?”

She peeked out from under the blanket, and saw the monks’ long shadows appearing and disappearing as they moved around.

Aaah! What have I done!

The monks told me to sleep early!

Big Sis Dayeon said I need to sleep early to grow taller!

What if I end up bald like the monks who don’t sleep at night?!

I need hair to offer as payment for wishes!

Monk Jamyeong had set the girl’s wake-up time at 9 AM.

If she were a graduate student or office worker, she might have been happy to have 5 more hours to sleep, but.

“Mi-Mia, what should I do!”

The panicked girl couldn’t calm down easily.

If I sleep now, will I be able to wake up at 9?

They said children need to sleep 12 hours!

But I might not get another chance to talk with Mia like this!

Thinking she’d broken her promise, she thrashed about under the blanket like she was swimming.

Hmm, why is she making such a fuss over this?

Mia was unimpressed.

Her eyes were bloodshot like a rabbit’s, her lips were chapped from talking all night, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

The girl’s face… clearly showed she’d stayed up all night.

But who could scold her for that?

From what Mia had seen of people so far, they’d probably say, “Oh my, if you’re tired, you should sleep more!” and try to bury the girl in her blanket.

“What if I get scolded?! Should I just sleep now?!”

Watching the girl panic, Mia had a sudden realization.

Come to think of it, if her sleep schedule changes, doesn’t that mean she’ll have fewer chances to meet other people?

Then, we’ll have more time alone together, like before.

I won’t have to watch her being happy with other people while I can’t do anything.

So, with her jealousy belatedly exploding, Mia said:

“This is bad, huh? But isn’t it also deceiving the monks if you stay up all night and then sleep now? If you did something wrong, you should just go be scolded. Go and honestly tell them you stayed up all night.”

Yeah~ You did something wrong~

But will I get scolded?

Yes, you’ll get scolded.

“Ah! Look at the time, I have to go now! See you later.”

Then she disappeared without a trace, giggling.

When Mia’s voice, which had been constant all night, vanished, the room suddenly felt empty.

If it were the usual girl, she would have laughed it off, saying “Ah! Mia’s trying to tease me again!” but…

“! That’s right. Deceiving them is wrong from the start! I should go tell them my sin right away!”

The current girl was in a daze from fighting sleep all night to chat.

Hehehe-

With a vacant smile she’d never shown before, she slowly got up.

The blanket slid down sluggishly.

Beneath it, her fragile body in pajamas was revealed.

After rolling around all night and even kicking at the end, one pant leg was rolled up to her calf, and her shirt had slipped to one side, but.

Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp.

The dazed girl rubbed her eyes and left her room barefoot.

“Unng…”

I’m sleepy.

But I promised the Guild Master we’d investigate the contaminated area today.

As she staggered along, she bumped her shoulder against the wall and walked on instinctively.

It was truly a superhuman effort, and thanks to that effort…

“Child?”

“…What are you doing at this hour?”

She succeeded in running into Monk Jamyeong and the Guild Master, who had also stayed up all night in a long conversation.

The two were shocked.

What! Why has the child we sent to bed come back looking like a walking corpse?

Unfortunately, the girl wasn’t in her right mind to consider their thoughts.

“Uh… hehe… I, I stayed up… all night…”

With those last words, her head drooped-

“Child?! Child!!”

Unable to fight the drowsiness in her young body any longer, she collapsed.

“Han Dayeon! To the main hall, now!”

Naturally, the temple was thrown into chaos.

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