episode_0023

[ What -.. ]

As she failed to understand Lian’s question and was about to ask again, her vision suddenly changed.

[ What is this -…Gyahhh! ]

Her sight rapidly started to change. Unaffected by gravity, she began to fly at an incredible speed.

As Julianna disappeared before his eyes, Lian spoke in a cheerful voice as if wiping away the dust.

“Phew, handled it without any problem.”

The question “How are you fixing the horizon coordinates?” was one of the most certain methods for exorcising ghosts. In the world of comedy, asking that question to a ghost could be a dangerous statement, possibly leading to being taken to the police station.

“L-Lian, what did you just do?”

“Oh, I blew away that ghost like an evil spirit.”

“Blew… it away?”

In a situation he had never heard of, Noah’s mind was filled with all sorts of question marks. Soon, all those questions were overshadowed by ‘regret.’

“If… I had held his hand, could I have become stronger?”

At the casual offer of strength, Noah felt compelled to grab his hand as if enchanted, but he didn’t easily believe it. Every book he had read before finding the white book demanded a price for easily obtained power.

Whether Noah had refused the power by his own choice or not, when the opportunity itself was forcibly taken away, his desire for power grew stronger.

“…Let’s look for another book.”

As Noah got up from his seat and reached out towards the bookshelf.

Thud.

“Huh?!”

Lian firmly grabbed Noah’s hand.

“Noah, I told you before, this is Mia’s place, and she said not to come in here. Besides, I heard separately that there are extremely dangerous books here, and just opening them could cause your bones and skin to separate.”

“Uh, uh…”

Today, it seems like you came to a place with no one around because something bad happened… Instead of being here, let’s go and have something sweet together. It will make you feel better. If there’s something you want to complain about, I’ll listen!

Lian sparkled her eyes and spoke eloquently with an enthusiastic attitude.

“Ahh! So this is what a friend is!”

In the world of comedy, when it comes to mischief, friends are together, but when it comes to serious talk, they quickly cut ties and get discarded. Residents of the comedy world can’t stand a boring story for even 5 minutes.

Finally, the fact that she could have a “friendly” conversation made Lian’s expression brighter than ever.

“Uh, um…”

Noah just looked at Lian holding his hand, unable to say anything sensible.

“Then let’s go out soon!”

As Lian pulled, Noah was dragged along.

***

“Did you eat properly?”

“…No.”

“Well then, let’s eat first—”

Shoo—.

Before I could finish my sentence, something flew towards me like the wind and stuck to my face.

“Juin-nim…! Where did you go!”

It was Jess’s voice. I reflexively tried to remove Jess, who clung to my face, but he didn’t come off easily.

“Jess… I’m suffocating.”

..!

At my words, Jess released his grip from my hand. Something thudded like an echo, and Jess fell while still holding onto my hand.

“Ugh…”

Jess started sobbing as if he would burst into tears at any moment. An emergency bell started ringing in my head. I lifted Jess up and put him down repeatedly, comforting him.

“Why… Why is our Jess crying? Is it because he’s hungry?”

Then, Jess, who had been choking back sobs, spread his arms and said, “Hug me…”

“Y-yes!”

I immediately embraced the whimpering Jess. I patted Jess’s back, which clung to my stomach like a koala, and looked at Noah.

“Then let’s go too.”

“…Okay.”

It seemed like we needed to hurry. Noah’s expression didn’t look good at all! I immediately headed to the kitchen, still holding Jess in my arms.

“Has Jess eaten?”

Jess shook his head vaguely. It seemed like he was saying he starved because I wasn’t there.

“You shouldn’t do that from now on. Not eating might affect your growth.”

“…!”

Jess raised his head and made a shocked expression.

“I’ll eat well from now on!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Fortunately, there was some leftover food in the kitchen, so it seemed like we could easily warm it up and resolve the situation. Since I had already taken care of our meal before heading out for the experiment, I only prepared meals for Jess and Noah.

Originally, the plan was to comfort Noah while he ate his meal or snack, but it seemed difficult with Jess around. However, it was not right to drive Jess away.

I decided to look around the kitchen while the two of them were having their meal. It seemed like Pia had already tidied up, so there was nothing else to clean.

Clatter, clatter.

I heard the sound of the two of them eating, so I took out the remaining fruit and cut it all. I planned to give it to the kids as a snack.

After cutting them into bite-sized pieces and filling a plate, I finished cleaning up the surroundings just as Jess and Noah finished their meal.

“I’ll do the dishes.”

“I want to help too!”

Jess held up his bowl high and wagged his tail, but Noah shook his head and said,

“Jess, you’re still too small to do this.”

“…!!”

Jess looked shocked at Noah’s words. The kitchen they were using had been adjusted to my height thanks to Mia, so I, Pia, and Noah could use it comfortably, but children like Jess, who were only half my size, couldn’t use it.

As if unable to believe reality, Jess looked at the sink, which was higher than his height, and drooped his ears and tail.

After transferring the plate filled with fruit onto a tray, I handed it to Jess and said,

“Since we’ll do the dishes, can Jess take this to the restaurant instead? It’s for everyone to eat, so it would be nice to invite the others too.”

“…! Okay!”

Jess perked up his ears, nodded, and carefully walked with the tray.

“Noah, will you go with Jess? I’ll do the dishes.”

“But…”

“It’s okay. I need to wash the knife and cutting board used for the fruit anyway.”

“Ugh… I’ll prepare tomorrow’s meal instead.”

“Alright, thank you.”

When the kids were learning simple cooking, Noah also learned how to cook. Thanks to that, Noah was able to prepare simple meals.

Since there was no meat or fruit left, they agreed readily to Noah’s suggestion as it was just as good as any other meal they could have made.

“Euhuheung, Newheung.”

As Jess hummed a tune and moved away, Noah hurriedly left the kitchen.

“Well then… I should check the ingredients.”

I needed to check the ingredients before they completely ran out, so I could ask Mia in advance if anything was missing. As I thought about that, just as I was heading towards the freezer…

“You scoundrel!”

“…!”

With a loud thud, a white book fell in front of me. The book opened on its own, and a new white woman popped out.

“Oh, it’s a ghost.”

“Iyik…!”

The ghost trembled, clenching her fists. How did she come back? I had used a terrifying exorcism spell.

“Hmm, one time isn’t enough? Jiphyeon -”

“Aargh! Stop it!”

As I tried to question how she was fixing the horizon coordinates again, the woman screamed and wildly waved her arms forward.

Clang, swoosh –

Then things in the kitchen began to float. It was a poltergeist phenomenon that occurred when the ghost’s mood escalated.

“Huh? W-what’s this?”

The ghost made a bewildered expression as it looked at the floating objects, then quickly turned its face into a stern one and swung its hands at me.

[Die!]

At that moment, the floating objects began to fly towards me all at once.

Whoosh! Swish!

All sorts of things, including forks, started flying towards me. I chuckled and lightly twisted my body, beginning to dodge the incoming objects in various ways, as if performing in a circus.

Not stopping there, I even caught items that seemed likely to break when they hit the ground with my mouth or hands.

“What, what is this?!”

As the ghost’s anger turned into disbelief, the floating objects lost their strength and began to fall to the ground. I swiftly ran out and rhythmically caught the plates that seemed about to break.

“Oh…”

Clap clap.

Seeing the ghost unknowingly applauding, I smiled proudly. Mocking the household skills of the comedy world, don’t make fun of it!

“Phew… Are you calm now?”

[…!]

Seeing the ghost belatedly open its eyes wide as if coming to its senses, I let out a sigh. I immediately opened the cupboard, and hot tea came out.

It was not tea leaves or a teacup, but truly just boiled water. I placed the tea in front of the ghost on the kitchen table and said,

“Come here and tell me. What’s the lingering attachment that’s making you act like this?”

[Wha…?]

“Is it because you have lingering attachment?”

[Ri…right.]

“After you say everything, you’ll feel relieved. Just tell me everything. Have some tea too.”

“No, I can’t drink tea… Alright.”

The ghost picked up the teacup with an expression that seemed to say “This isn’t right.” Naturally, the teacup ended up in the ghost’s hand.

“Oops, it’s hot!”

“It’s hot, so cool it down and drink it.”

The ghost’s expression changed into an indescribable one.