Ch.221221 – The Little Prince and the Roses 2

# 221 – The Little Prince and the Roses # 2

“A shop that grants wishes?”

9 PM.

At a hair salon located in downtown Gaeryong.

Yang Juhui, who was sweeping fallen hair with a broom, twitched one eyebrow. She seemed moved by something troubling she’d heard.

Dahui, sitting in a chair, also reacted strongly.

“How would it grant wishes? If such a shop exists, I’d like to visit too. Could something like Yeongwon’s clock really exist?”

I had the same thoughts as Dahui.

By what principle, what power, could something grant people’s wishes? Of course, whatever it was based on, it had to be false.

Objects or items that could perfectly fulfill people’s wishes didn’t exist in this world.

I’m saying this, so it must be true.

“I think it’s probably some kind of urban legend meant to tempt people down the wrong path. When I looked into it a bit, I found strange items circulating among students.”

“A pen that always gets the correct answer when guessing with 50/50 odds”

“A hand mirror that makes you more beautiful each time you look at it”

“Glasses that reveal other people’s true feelings”

Such items were becoming popular among students. Supposedly available at the wish shop. I don’t know if they actually exist, but shadows without substance don’t exist.

If such things were really circulating among students, it would be my duty as an adult to handle and resolve the situation.

Because no matter what, people entangled with urban legends and the supernatural never meet good endings.

Such items always come with a price.

“I wonder if there’s a pencil that automatically fills blank manuscript paper?”

Dahui groaned and collapsed on the desk.

Seeing this, Yang Juhui growled.

“I wish there was a broom that could drive away unwanted guests. You two, Yu Dahui and Kwon Sua! Coming to my shop every day and being a nuisance!”

“But somehow ideas just flow when I’m here! Writing ‘I Became a Legendary Raccoon’ isn’t easy, you know!”

“I understand that feeling. Being in this shop makes me feel calm, and broadcasting ideas just pop into my head! Is it because of the doggy?”

—Woof woof…!

—Woof woof…!

—Grrrr…!

—Grrrr…!

“Ah, those guys are fighting again!”

The flying squirrel and the wolf spider began chasing each other.

The hair salon at 9 PM remained noisy and bustling.

“Mhehe, this Gubulnoi must now head home… I earned lots of coins today…”

“Gubulnoi, let’s go home together with Nayu!”

On this bustling autumn night.

I imagined the wish shop that supposedly existed somewhere in the shadows of this city.

# # #

“It should be around here.”

I wandered through the dark alleys of Gaeryong City, searching for the shop location a female student had told me about. Yang Juhui, Yu Dahui, and Kwon Sua searched the area with me, but we couldn’t find anything suspicious.

“Didn’t those Lamp High School girls say that uninvited people can’t come to the shop? Maybe we can’t see the shop because we weren’t invited?”

Dahui tilted her head. It was a reasonable point.

Perhaps it was like a forbidden realm that not just anyone could enter.

Maybe similar to the “Nightmare Corridor.”

“If it’s similar to the corridor…”

Yang Juhui hummed softly and gently pressed her palm against a nearby wall, then shook her head. Seems she couldn’t find anything either. As we were feeling disappointed, Yang Juhui snapped.

“Well! This isn’t really my specialty anyway. There’s someone who’s good at this kind of thing. Let’s call her. She’s been complaining about being bored lately.”

Someone who’s good at finding hidden objects and passages. There was indeed such a person.

After calling her and waiting about 20 minutes, a woman with gleaming glasses appeared in the alley. It was Jeong Sojin.

“Hey everyone, hello. You needed my help?”

“Yes, we’re wondering if there might be some hidden secret or mechanism around here.”

Jeong Sojin was exceptionally good at finding taboos, secrets, and gimmicks. She searched around us for a while, looking here and there, and finally found a small passageway.

“Could this be it?”

It was a path between walls, just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. We hadn’t seen it while searching earlier.

Once we recognized it, everyone could see it clearly.

“How are your wedding preparations going? You decided to throw three bouquets, right? I heard two will be caught by Jin Seoyeon and Bong Jiyeon, but who’s getting the third one?”

Jeong Sojin showed interest in the bouquet.

Since wedding bouquet talk was women’s business, I closed my ears and slowly squeezed my body into the narrow passageway.

Swish, swish-

The winding alley seemed endless.

Had such a maze-like alley always existed in Gaeryong City?

This was probably a hidden world like the “Nightmare Corridor.”

I felt dizzy as the alley continued endlessly no matter how far I walked. The women following me also seemed slightly tense about this strange phenomenon.

“Are we trapped in a labyrinth?”

“I can’t believe a place like this still existed in Gaeryong City. Why didn’t we know about it?”

“Could we possibly be dreaming?”

It truly was a dreamlike space. Walking through this place brought back memories of our struggles as students, bubbling up in my mind like droplets.

“At times like this… we need this!”

Swish-

Yu Dahui pulled something from her hand. It was a paper folded into a Tyrannosaurus. Whoosh—Dahui blew on the paper, and the paper T-Rex waddled off in a certain direction.

“Let’s follow it! The paper T-Rex’s effect is finding exits!”

Dahui was very good at origami. Thanks to her, we could find an exit from this seemingly infinite alleyway.

After following the T-Rex for quite some time, the alley ended and we arrived at what appeared to be a shop. It was a place best described as a “store” or “shop.”

Looking at the items chaotically displayed outside reminded me of shops near beaches or valleys selling tubes and fishing rods.

There were letters on the sign, but they were difficult to make out. It seemed to be the shop’s name.

“Let’s go in.”

The bravest, Yang Juhui, led the way into the shop.

Unlike its exterior appearance, the inside was extremely spacious. Though I called it a shop, its interior was as vast as a department store.

A space that defied common sense. Truly a hidden world.

“There are so many strange items! Look at that creepy armor!”

Kwon Sua pointed at a blood-stained samurai armor and trembled. As she said, the shop was full of strange items.

Thinking it best not to touch anything carelessly, we chose to continue forward. Eventually, we reached what could be called the center of the shop.

“It’s been a while since uninvited guests came to this place.”

She appeared to be the shop owner. She was extremely tall, nearly 2 meters, with hair so long it touched the floor.

She wore a black suit with pants like a man, but the most bizarre thing was the countless hands extending from behind her back, resembling the halo of a Buddha or saint.

And her golden eyes had pupils shaped not like round patterns but like the omega symbol (Ω).

“That woman isn’t human!”

The perceptive Kwon Sua shouted.

“But she doesn’t seem to be a ghost either!”

A being neither human nor ghost.

While everyone was tense, I could vaguely identify her nature.

“She seems similar to me.”

“You got it right away. I am a being similar to you. If we’re being precise, I could be called your brother or sister. I am Omega. The infinite Aion who runs this infinite shop.”

Infinite Aion. I couldn’t believe such a being existed in the world.

She identified herself as my brother or sister, which seemed entirely possible. This person was an entity far older than I had imagined.

“For reference, this form is borrowed. I’m merely wearing the body of a human I met long ago like clothing.”

“Mhehe, this Neruneruneru is the part-timer and successor of this shop…!”

There was also an imp like Gubulnoi.

Neruneru Nerunoi.

A very strange name. She looked like a middle school girl with orange hair tied on both sides.

Her tail was very long and straight.

“Mhehe, this Neruneru Nerunoi aims to someday inherit this infinite shop and become a proper merchant…!”

Well… that’s how it seems.

Anyway, what mattered was why we came to this shop.

“This mask was also sold by you to people, right?”

“That mask is indeed mine. A woman once requested an item to hide her son from people. It’s an extraordinary item. Wearing this mask allows you to hide your identity from anyone.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop selling strange items to people. It’s causing chaos in the world.”

“And if I refuse?”

“If you refuse…”

Infinite Aion. A being on a completely different level from the ghosts and demons I’d encountered so far. Would I have to fight an opponent who was the very embodiment of a concept that couldn’t be bound by dimensions?

While I was deep in thought, the sibling who called herself Omega laughed.

“I’m joking. If the two of us fought, we’d have to continue an eternal conflict. I don’t like that sort of thing. I returned to this city to find a certain item. Once I find it, I’ll leave cleanly.”

“An item?”

“I invite people to find that item, observe their lives, and so on. And it seems part of the item I want is inside you. Inside you. Something solid.”

“That woman is sexually harassing Master Yeongwon!”

“Let’s beat her up!”

Kwon Sua and Yu Dahui flared up.

However, I could easily understand what Infinite meant. I took out a box from the hip bag I’d been carrying since my student days.

It was a box my mom and dad had sent me from Egypt. Infinite’s expression brightened.

“That’s the ‘Box of Aion.’ It’s an object that can preserve part of the power of Aions like us, who can be seen as conceptual embodiments. It’s the only one in the entire universe. It’s what I’ve been looking for.”

“The ‘Box of Aion.’ It was more amazing than I thought.”

“What’s inside is even more amazing. As far as I know, the power of the Aion who created this universe is preserved in there. If I get my hands on that, we can become even more extraordinary beings.”

“Oh no!”

I suddenly felt cold sweat running down my entire body.

What was inside… had somehow escaped on its own…?