Ch.167Moment 4

In a transparent glass.

One clean, massive ice cube.

Two ounces (60ml) of strong Ron Diaz rum over the ice.

One ounce (30ml) of nutty almond-flavored Amaretto.

Finished with half an ounce (15ml) of refreshing lime juice.

“Jisoo, it’s your turn.”

Red Death’s call.

Responding to that call, Jisoo approached the Catharsis.

“Yes, coming—”

And as she flicked her fingers…

A subtle flame blossomed over the surface of the Catharsis.

<Catharsis>

Rank: ★★★☆ (Singularity)

Effect: Willpower reduced by 10 for 1 hour. In exchange, Composure increases by 10.

Information: A Catharsis with a higher rum ratio. Stronger and more intense than the original. Drinking it makes you hazy and reduces willpower. A catastrophic existence for a woman who just turned twenty.

“Here, drink this and I’ll acknowledge you as an adult.”

Intense red eyes.

With those eyes, Red Death looked down at Seah.

However, Seah was originally famous as the Academy’s mad dog.

Now an adult, she had nothing to fear.

“Alright, if I win, I get to touch Siho unnie as much as I want, right?”

“???”

At her words, my lower eyelid twitched.

“What is she saying?!”

I hurriedly approached to stop her.

But at that moment.

Seah defiantly grabbed the Catharsis.

And began to pour it all into her mouth as if it were cola.

“S-Seah, no! If you drink it like that…!”

The strong liquor that had been swirling in the glass flowed down the throat of the girl who had just become an adult.

Once the glass was completely empty…

“Keh-hack!!”

Seah began coughing from the fiery alcohol.

A realistic cough that made her seem nothing like a young girl.

“She did it…”

Soon her face turned bright red, and she began to breathe heavily.

Then she raised her head and stared at me.

“Unnie… I did it.”

Alcohol dripping from her mouth.

Disheveled hair.

And unfocused eyes.

The girl grinned at me.

“Can I touch you now…?”

Soon she raised both arms like a zombie.

And staggered slowly toward me.

But…

“…”

Seah eventually collapsed into my arms.

And began to melt down like a level 9 monster slime.

“Yes… yes. Touch all you want.”

I patted Seah, who had buried her face in my chest.

However, she had long since lost consciousness.

She fell asleep grinning in my arms.

I carefully laid the collapsed Seah on an empty table.

Having no customers is helpful at times like this.

Afterward, I looked at Red Death.

Very intently.

Red Death turned her head away from my piercing gaze.

“The glass is dirty.”

She took out a glass she had just cleaned and pretended to clean it again.

I approached her with a sweet smile.

And admonished her coldly.

“How could you give a kid two ounces of Ron Diaz?”

Red Death, who had only seen me giving in to her before.

She was flustered by my serious demeanor for the first time.

“What? You gave Catharsis to Jaei too!”

“That was because she threatened to kill me if I didn’t!”

I grabbed the cheek of the ranker from Ilsim.

And pinched it while shaking it.

Because now she’s just my employee.

“When she wakes up, apologize and replace it with a Red Eye!”

“I get it…”

The ranker agreed with a grin.

“Sigh…”

Still, what Red Death did wasn’t entirely bad.

Thanks to Seah passing out, I had room to breathe.

After that, I also joined the bar.

Red Death served Blue Sky to Hayoon.

I served Kahlua Milk to Sehee in turn.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere heated up.

The kids created a lively scene chatting with Jisoo, whom they were meeting for the first time.

“How is it? Unnie makes a good Blue Sky too, right?”

“Ah… yes, it’s delicious. But can I stop drinking now? I’m feeling dizzy… achoo!”

Red Death with her generous pours.

Even Hayoon got drunk from her cocktail offensive.

When she sneezed, wolf ears popped up and she began to sway.

Red Death, familiar with that sight, seemed interested and played with her ears.

Jisoo and Sehee, watching from the side, giggled as they enjoyed the sight of the freshly twenty-year-old drunk college girls.

Thanks to them, laughter never ceased at the cocktail bar.

I watched the scene with contentment.

Then I slowly backed away and stepped outside the building for a moment.

“Whew…”

The night sky had fallen.

The faint voices of people coming from afar.

Five years after the monster crisis began.

Sindorim had mostly regained its peace.

People started walking the streets again.

Most of the villains who mindlessly killed people followed Park Shinae and vanished with her.

Thanks to that, I can now take night walks like this openly.

I took a deep breath of fresh air.

And admired the stars in the night sky.

I haven’t done much in this world.

I just desperately struggled to survive while mixing drinks.

That’s all I could do with what I thought was my powerless self.

But meeting rankers and precious connections changed my thinking.

That I… could do more than I thought.

I always thought I was an unfortunate person.

Wherever I went, misfortunes piled up on me alone, and I was powerless.

However, because of that, I was able to come this far in the end.

Thinking about it that way, a smile naturally formed on my lips.

“Precious connections.”

I should live even harder for their sake.

With that thought, I was about to return to the store.

As I was about to turn the doorknob.

“—.”

I stopped abruptly at the faint presence approaching from afar.

An oddly unpleasant feeling swept through my entire body.

Perhaps because I had been immersed in recent peace.

I swallowed deeply at the strange energy I felt after a long time.

And I slowly turned my head to see whoever had come to find me.

“A hat…?”

A woman standing at a distance.

No, judging by her small stature, she was closer to a girl.

That child was staring at me intently with her hat pressed down.

“Who are you?”

I slowly approached the child.

Eventually, I could see that her hair was blonde.

Straight, beautiful golden long hair.

And her small stature.

“Could it be Misha…?”

At my question, the girl became even more hesitant.

She began to back away as if trying to maintain distance from me.

“It’s Misha, right?”

At my direct question, the girl stopped in her tracks.

And hesitated how to answer with her fist covering her mouth.

“It’s me, Siho. The bartender who worked at the lab.”

I approached her and crouched down.

Thanks to that, I could see the young Western girl’s face hidden under the hat.

“Unnie…”

A pitiful expression.

She looked at me and gave a bitter smile.

“Why are you running away?”

“Well… because I don’t have the face to see you.”

Misha pressed her hat down even more.

I moved even closer to her.

“What do you mean you don’t have the face?”

At that question, Misha hid both hands behind her back.

And mumbled while twisting her body.

“You probably don’t remember, but… I did a lot of things when you were kidnapped.”

“I know.”

I answered firmly to her gloomy words.

Misha’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You knew?”

“Yes, I know that you pretended to own me like a pet to save me, and that you hid the last drop of Angelic Hand.”

After Park Shinae died.

When my ability returned to my body.

I remembered everything Misha had done.

Thanks to that, I could roughly understand her actions.

“Still… in the end, I’m the one who put you in danger.”

Misha’s blue eyes wavered.

Soon she bowed her head deeply and began to mumble.

“Because of me, you almost turned into a fox, almost lost your intelligence… it’s all my fault… You must have been scared…”

I hugged the self-blaming girl tightly.

And let her rest her face on my shoulder.

“No, you must have been more scared than me.”

At those words, Misha fell silent.

“You had to do things you didn’t want to do, and threaten someone you cared about.”

One calm statement.

Perhaps because of that one statement.

Misha’s body began to tremble.

My shoulder, where her face rested, became wet.

“Unnie, you’re really a bad person… If you keep doing this, what will become of me?”

The sobbing girl.

Soon her voice became so choked it was hard to understand.

“You should at least get angry…”

I silently patted the girl’s back.

“I’m actually grateful to you. Thank you for protecting me all this time.”

I expressed my gratitude to Misha.

The girl cried hard, as if releasing all the fear and guilt she had accumulated.

“Come on, since you’re here, come inside. I’ll make you a warm drink.”

I handed a handkerchief to the girl covered in tears and snot.

But Misha shook her head.

“No, today I… just stopped by one last time before leaving.”

“Leaving? Where suddenly?”

At my question, Misha gave a sad smile.

And pointed north.

“Russia, my homeland.”

“Do you know anyone there?”

As far as I knew, Misha also grew up in a facility.

Someone like her couldn’t possibly have a homeland…

“No, but there are too many people here I can’t be forgiven by.”

“People you can’t be forgiven by?”

When I asked again, Misha wore a bitter smile.

“Yes, actually Anna told me to leave here. She told me never to approach you again…”

“I see…”

Anna could say something like that.

From her perspective, not knowing the inside story, Misha was just an enemy.

I grabbed the girl’s shoulders.

And said with a serious look.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s okay…?”

At Misha’s question, I nodded.

“If I explain, everyone will understand.”

“B-but…”

As Misha hesitated, I grabbed her arm and confidently headed toward Moment.

“I told you not to worry. If Anna gets angry, I’ll scold her.”

I’ve been working out hard lately, you know.

Of course, I’m a bit dissatisfied that Red Death only makes me do squats instead of self-defense.

“O-okay. Just go a little slower!”

Misha hurriedly followed me toward Moment, led by my hand.