Chapter 47: I Became a Mother (2)

The contract with the child was successful.

As a result, the skin that used to melt away outside the bathtub changed to become like that of any ordinary person.

“Mama! Hold me!”

Huh? Mama? Did she say mama?

The child rose from the bathtub, beaming as she stretched out her chubby little arms.

The girl was taken aback, but still embraced the child.

“Oof!”

And down they went!

The girl’s small frame was no match for the child’s full-force hug.

She toppled backwards, still holding the child.

“Oww…”

Thankfully she didn’t hit her head, but her back hurt…

Ouch, her bottom really stung!

“Hehehehehe! Mama!”

Oblivious to the girl’s pain, the child kept giggling and nuzzling her cheek.

“Ugh… This, this isn’t okay. People can get hurt falling like this.”

“Huh? Can’t hug Mama…?”

Oh boy.

How should I explain this?

The girl grunted as she managed to sit up, placing the child on her lap.

As she did, she felt something soft and squishy.

The sensation against her hand was strangely pliable and squishy.

“…Huh?”

What’s this?

Looking closer, she realized the child was still in her birthday suit, having just emerged from the tub.

She’s naked!

This wasn’t the first time she’d seen a woman’s naked body in the cult, but it was different now.

She remembered how difficult it had been when she first switched to Mia’s body, unable to even use the bathroom properly, let alone bathe.

The girl’s face turned as red as an apple, flushed with embarrassment.

“Mama’s all red!”

She’d suddenly become a “red” person, but luckily no one here knew what that meant.

“Oh, you don’t have clothes?”

The child tilted her head at the girl’s urgent question.

“Clothes?”

“Like what I’m wearing!”

“Have to wear clothes?”

“You shouldn’t show your body to others carelessly!”

“Aww… It’s uncomfortable…”

Fortunately, the girl didn’t need to make a wish to summon clothes for the child.

The child waved her hand towards the bathtub like she was swatting a fly.

Whoosh!

A stream of water shot up from the tub, weaving together like threads to form a sky-blue dress.

It looked just like what the girl was wearing, only a different color.

“Ugh… Dizzy…”

But perhaps due to using her spirit powers, the child in the blue dress started to melt from her toes up.

“Huh?”

What, what’s happening?

This isn’t supposed to happen!

The girl panicked.

She hurriedly reached out to grab the child, but that wasn’t enough to stop her body from melting.

If anything, she kept dissolving until even the dress hem turned to water and spilled out.

The girl stomped her feet and bit her nails before finally having a realization.

She belatedly remembered what she’d learned in the cult.

A contract with a demon requires a “true name.”

A true name is one’s innate identity, given at birth and unchangeable by personal will.

Though this was a spirit contract, not a demon one, it still needed a name.

Which meant…

It needs my name?

“Ugh… Dizzy, hold me…”

Feeling her body disappearing, the child flailed and clung to the girl.

The girl silently embraced her, closing her eyes against the child’s cool, watery body temperature as she steeled herself.

My name.

The precious name given by my late mother and father.

Han Gyeonwoo.

It wasn’t a name a sinner who caused her parents’ deaths should use.

But there was no other way to save the child.

So…

Yes.

Mia said there are people who cherish me now.

I should love others as much as I’ve been loved.

Giving as much as you receive is what brings happiness.

It should be okay to say my name once for this unfortunate child.

Gyeonwoo gently pushed away the child she was hugging tightly.

“Huh? Mama…?”

Meeting the teary-eyed child’s gaze, those blue eyes so similar to her own, she spoke:

“The name I’ll use to contract with you is Gyeonwoo.”

Then, flash!

The child’s eyes lit up brightly as a warm energy began flowing between them.

It felt like their bodies and hearts were connected, just like when they first made the contract.

But it wasn’t enough yet.

The child had stopped melting, but her body hadn’t returned to normal.

The contract needed both of their names, not just one.

However.

“What’s your name?”

“…Don’t know that.”

The man had said the child’s past self was dead.

She’d died beyond the Gate, eaten by spirits, then reborn as a spirit.

That meant she had no true name to speak of.

“Can I give you a name?”

Gyeonwoo asked cautiously.

She wasn’t confident she could give as good a name as her parents had, but…

Even though she was a sinner, this was the only way to save the child.

Her expression was full of guilt and hesitation, revealing those thoughts.

The child reached out and hugged Gyeonwoo’s neck tightly.

“Mm! Like Mama! Don’t cry!”

She felt the child’s cool skin against her own.

Conversely, warmed by the child’s feelings, Gyeonwoo smiled slightly as she thought of a fitting name.

“How about Pureumi?”

A water spirit.

Her all-blue appearance.

And… her pure heart.

So, Pureumi.

Hoping she’d live a bright life going forward, Pureumi it was.

“Pureumi… Mm! Like Pureumi! Like Mama!”

Pureumi giggled and tightened her arms around Gyeonwoo’s neck.

“Ack! Too, too strong! Loosen up!”

She was stronger than expected.

Gyeonwoo frantically tapped Pureumi’s arms and flailed, but Pureumi just kept giggling.

“Mama! Mama’s white! Like Mama! Hug! Love you!”

She clung tightly to Gyeonwoo’s neck, twirling around like she was on a ride, her skirt fluttering.

She stood on tiptoe, dancing gracefully.

“Ah…”

Her feet that had been melting earlier had returned to normal, like an ordinary child’s.

Seeing this, Gyeonwoo finally relaxed, going limp with relief.

Right…

She must be excited after nearly dying.

It would be too much to stop Pureumi from enjoying herself just because I’m tired.

If she wants to play, let her play.

I’ll just rest a bit…

Time passed like that.

Gyeonwoo dozed off for a while, recovering her exhausted body.

She made a wish to change the room’s environment for Pureumi.

“Mama, milk!”

“N-no milk comes out! And I’m not Mama!”

She kept having to stop Pureumi from touching her chest.

She tried to change the embarrassing “Mama” title.

“That’s when the Guild Master arrived… Hehe, but she still won’t stop calling me Mama.”

“Mama is Mama!”

“See what I mean?”

The Guild Master, who’d been listening quietly, let out a long sigh at the oncoming headache.

How should he even respond to this?

She followed a ghost and ended up becoming the mother of a spirit child?

Summarized in one sentence, it sounded exactly like the kind of absurd situation that would get you called crazy.

It was admirable that the girl had acted to save a child and help others, but…

On the other hand, it would have been a horrific situation if this had been the cult’s doing.

“…We’ll discuss the rest after we get back. This environment isn’t good for staying long.”

What else could he do?

Since it had already happened, all that was left was to thoroughly prepare for the future.

“Okay! Can I bring the child too? I gave her a name! It’s Pureumi!”

“S-sure.”

There were many suspicious aspects, but the child was innocent.

If anything, he’d been able to hear the girl’s name, so it could be seen positively.

“Pureumi, time to get up. We’re going home.”

“Home? But this is our home…?”

The Guild Master silently watched as the bigger child tried to persuade the smaller one.

“Yes. This was the old home. Now we’re going to a new home.”

Gyeonwoo, who’d gotten up first, took Pureumi’s hand to help her up.

Pureumi seemed to think Gyeonwoo was playing, giggling as she just waved her arms while sitting.

“New home? Cheep cheep? Cheep cheep!”

“No! That cheeping is birds. I mean a new house!”

“Mm! Birdie house!”

Oh.

There wasn’t much difference in size, but there was quite a gap intellectually.

“Th-that’s not it…”

The girl seemed to be thinking how to explain the difference between a new home and a birdhouse.

It was an intriguing situation, but it looked like she’d given up on explaining.

“I mean… It’s bigger than here and… um, wider… and you can see the sky!”

“Can see the sky?!”

“Yes! You can see the sky, and mountains, and there’s even a swimming pool!”

“I wanna go!”

“Then our Pureumi needs to get up, okay?”

“Mm!”

A home bigger, wider, and where you could see the sky.

Big and wide might mean the same thing, but it sounded quite convincing to a child.

Pureumi, who’d been sitting with her bottom firmly planted, jumped up.

Standing side by side, Gyeonwoo and Pureumi…

Looking at them like this, with their matching blue hair, they really did look like sisters.

…Sisters. Sisters, huh.

The Guild Master, who’d been watching with a fond smile, suddenly flinched.

An inexplicable sense of foreboding made him shudder.

Gyeonwoo is a good kid, so she won’t end up like the Han Dayeon and Han Yuyeon sisters, right?

But then again, considering everything that had happened so far…

Disappearing without a word to help an unfortunate person.

Going in and out of Gate contamination zones to pick poisonous mushrooms to pay for lodging.

Rampaging about how demons should be beaten to death.

Stirring up trouble online, calling the internet demonic…

If even Gyeonwoo, with her adult-like intelligence, was like this, what about with the even more innocent Pureumi?

“Tch.”

This is giving me a headache.

Is this how fathers feel raising children?

“Guild Master?”

“Gild Masta!”

The Guild Master, who’d been standing there dazed, quickly snapped back to his senses at the surround-sound voices.

Well, it wasn’t really his place to worry about this here.

In the end, it would be the Han Dayeon and Han Yuyeon sisters living with the children.

Even if it was difficult, those thoughtless girls would be the ones struggling.

“I’ll carry you. Come here.”

“Okay!”

“‘Kay!”

The Guild Master sat the girl on his right arm and Pureumi on his left.

He slowly made his way back out the path they’d entered.

The girl’s move was originally scheduled for next week, but…

It would be awkward to return to the temple with the new child, and after today’s events, he planned to move her to the Han sisters’ house right away.