Ch.129Chapter 5. Do Ji-hwan’s Ambitious Project (6)

Ymir and Baek Seol-hee were spending time together with me.

I prepared dinner for the two of them, and they sat down at the table with difficulty, staggering with slightly pale faces.

“Was it that hard?”

“…….”

“How can you even ask that now?”

Baek Seol-hee silently drank the tea I gave her, while Ymir let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Teacher, are you perhaps an ability user?”

“Me?”

“Something like that. If not, this doesn’t make any sense.”

While Ymir seemed to be scolding me, she was actually gaslighting Baek Seol-hee.

“Be honest with us. You’re an ability user, right? You have some ability that lets you generate infinite stamina, don’t you?”

“Not at all.”

Not an ability user, he says.

Do Ji-hwan is not a Goblin, he says.

He’s not a Goblin, but he’s implying his counseling skills with women are even more impressive than a Goblin’s.

“It’s just one of the many advantages that a human named Do Ji-hwan can boast.”

“How many advantages do you have, teacher?”

“Countless if you look for them. Like cooking, for instance.”

I had prepared a perfect dinner that required them to do nothing more than sit at the table.

The ingredients for dinner had already been prepared by Mr. Jang, the pension owner, and I processed and cooked them to create revitalizing food for the two.

“Eat. They say abalone is very good for the body. Ms. Seol-hee, you too.”

These foods are normally good for hangovers, but right now, the two needed something to recover from fatigue.

“Was it… really that difficult?”

“…It was so different from last time.”

Baek Seol-hee glanced at Ymir, then picked up her spoon with a deep sigh.

“I thought I was giving it my all last time, but it turns out I didn’t even show half of what I could do and… sigh.”

“That was a day when you had to go to work the next day, Ms. Seol-hee.”

“What would you have done if I couldn’t go to work?”

“I would have pushed even harder than today. But today at least you have time to sleep and recover overnight.”

“…What if tomorrow was a day off?”

“Well, that goes without saying.”

Baek Seol-hee turned pale.

It seemed like she suffered so much this time that bringing up the topic of patriotism might trigger a seizure.

“Ymir, how about you?”

“I agree with Ms. Seol-hee. It’s really fortunate that we stopped there. Ugh, that was the first time I lost consciousness.”

Ymir was in the same state.

“I’ve never experienced that even when facing villains with my ability.”

“Ymir, is it okay to talk so openly about revealing your identity?”

“What does it matter? Both Ms. Seol-hee and I are in the same boat.”

“In the same boat…”

Baek Seol-hee blushed and fidgeted with her chopsticks.

“That sounds somewhat suggestive.”

“Ms. Seol-hee. When Ymir speaks like that, it’s not meant to be suggestive—you should take it at face value. That’s how she intended it.”

“Teacher, you know too much about me.”

“And you know more about me than anyone else.”

It sounds like we’re talking about knowing each other’s preferences as a man and woman, but in reality, we’re referring to the Goblin and Platinum Sun.

“Did you two become close by talking to each other often?”

Of course our innocent hero falls for it.

“We found we have a lot in common when we talk, and more than anything, Ymir is incredibly perceptive, often understanding what I want to say before I even say it.”

“That’s right. I’m very good at reading people. Partly because I’ve been conscious of others’ gazes since I was young, and partly it’s innate.”

Ymir raised her glass toward Baek Seol-hee with a grin.

“I also noticed that while you were wary and disliked me at first, after our three-way deep conversation with the teacher, you don’t hate me quite as much anymore.”

“…I do dislike you.”

Baek Seol-hee answered curtly and moved her spoon again.

It seemed she was a bit uncomfortable being led around by Ymir, who tends to take initiative and lead due to her personality, despite being much younger.

‘Or maybe she thinks she’s being pushed aside.’

That’s probably it.

Because Ymir is so perceptive, in her conversation with Baek Seol-hee, she portrayed herself as someone closer to me, who knows more about me and has deeper conversations with me—essentially, as a closer friend.

That’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not 100% true either.

Still, as I always say, if it benefits me, I don’t mind.

After all, Ymir is helping me thoroughly conceal that I’m the Goblin.

“Ms. Seol-hee. I feel a bit awkward asking this here, but please take care of Ymir. Unlike me, who can only offer mental care and prepare meals like this, you can help her a little in the field, can’t you?”

“…Since we’re in the same boat, I’ll help. Helping people in trouble is what heroes do, and I have no intention of handing over your counseling partner to the trash who are targeting Ymir.”

That’s a relief.

Baek Seol-hee has decided to keep silent about the theory that Ymir = Platinum Sun.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Seol-hee. If someone becomes a demon later, I’ll go and purify them.”

“Purify…?”

“It’s a purification ritual that eliminates demonic energy when someone has fallen to become a demon.”

I cut in before Ymir could speak.

“Ymir’s ability is to save demons. To return them from demons to humans before they die as demons. That’s all it is. In fact, the demon Haftod became human from a demon thanks to Ymir… I mean, the Gold Taoist’s efforts.”

“What happens to their ability then?”

“That—”

“It disappears.”

When I glanced at Ymir, she immediately pointed to herself.

“The ability disappears along with the demon.”

(From the ability user’s body.)

Perhaps because I opened the conversation first, Ymir chose the most plausible setting from our previous discussions.

“The term ‘purification’ is a bit embarrassing, but if demons are considered negative and wrong, then purification would be the right word. Yes, purification. If it’s about returning someone who has fallen into negativity back to being human, then it’s certainly appropriate to call it purification.”

One who steals abilities from demons.

One who purifies demonic energy and returns them to being human.

If someone were to ask which sounds better, the latter definitely has a better image.

“I see. Purification… Then, Ymir, I need you to answer this truthfully. I’m asking this as Snow White.”

“What is it?”

“What is your relationship with the Goblin?”

“He’s an obstacle.”

Ymir answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“The Goblin tries to kill demons, while I try to save them. The Goblin mocks me, saying, ‘See? The demons you’re trying to save end up attacking and despising you. What’s the point of saving such beings? It’s cleaner to just kill them.'”

That’s correct.

That’s exactly what I said to Solar Platina when I first met her.

“But I want to save people. Even if they’ve committed sins deserving death, they should live to atone for them. They shouldn’t just die. Right, teacher?”

“…Of course.”

Agreeing here would hurt the Goblin’s pride, but Do Ji-hwan needs to support Ymir’s words.

“I once heard a story. A heinous criminal was dying in a terrible way, and the severity of the death process was determined by the victims or the bereaved families of the crimes the criminal committed.”

It was a foreign short drama, I think.

A heinous criminal trapped alone in a room like an interrogation room was begging for his life, and the bereaved families outside the door didn’t pull the lever that would inflict pain on the criminal.

“Such things might actually happen, but Ymir’s thinking isn’t wrong at all. If anything is wrong, it’s whatever force makes her worry about such things.”

“The government?”

“Ms. Seol-hee, I didn’t say anything.”

“…Heh.”

Baek Seol-hee laughed softly at my exaggerated gesture of surrender with both hands raised.

“Ji-hwan, you’ll have to get used to criticizing the government. Like Ymir, living with a hidden identity is no easy task.”

“What? What did you just say?”

Ymir asked Baek Seol-hee as if she hadn’t heard properly.

“Living with a hidden identity…”

“That’s obvious for Ymir.”

Hmm.

The nuance just now seemed to suggest that the Platinum Sun issue wasn’t something I should worry about.

“Ji-hwan will have to be careful from now on. Obviously.”

Is this not about the Goblin?

I thought she might be targeting me because of Platinum Sun and the Goblin, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“If I announce that I’m pregnant in about four months, everyone will start looking for the father.”

Ah.

That’s what she meant.

“You know, Ji-hwan, people have told me this before.”

“…What is it?”

“Imchoimom.”

“No.”

She’s saying that herself?

“Huh? Imchoimom…? What’s that?”

This is an unfamiliar term to Ymir, who has only been in Korea for less than three months—a term from Korean web novels that the author unnecessarily inserted.

“It means a body optimized for pregnancy.”

“Uh….”

Like Ymir, I’m extremely embarrassed.

Usually, such terms are used in male-dominated online communities.

“I may not know much else, but I’m confident about this. I’m widely acknowledged as having an imchoimom.”

“Ms. Seol-hee?”

“Soon.”

Baek Seol-hee placed her hand on her lower abdomen.

“Soon, I hope to be pregnant. For your sake, Ji-hwan.”