Ch.529Chapter 20. American Doblin (19)

Speaking about my relationship with the Chairwoman gets a bit complicated.

To put it in complex terms, she knows I’m a possessor.

And I know her true identity.

But I can’t mention it because the Chairwoman placed a taboo on me.

“You know the saying about not thinking of an elephant, right?”

She placed a taboo on me to prevent me from thinking about her identity.

More specifically, a taboo that prevents me from thinking about her ‘age.’

“Are you that embarrassed about your actual age being revealed?”

“Oh, I can’t hear anything. Can’t hear a thing.”

“Should I clean your ears out, or would you prefer I write it down and show it to you?”

“Targeting someone’s weakness. Do you have no conscience?”

The Chairwoman narrows her eyes and points at me accusingly.

“What you’re doing is like calling a balding person bald, or calling a short person a dwarf, or calling an older woman an ajumma!”

“I’ve never thought of you as an ajumma, nor have I ever called you that.”

“But you’re trying to think something similar right now, aren’t you!”

The Chairwoman’s index finger points between my eyebrows.

“You’re thinking it again, aren’t you? That the Chairwoman wants to look younger, so she made herself smaller under the name of weight reduction to appear younger than her actual age!”

“I wasn’t thinking that far.”

“‘That far’ means you were thinking something similar, doesn’t it?”

“Thoughts are the driving force of my power, and humans can’t stop thinking altogether. Especially…”

I lightly tapped the floor.

“In this space where all restrictions are lifted, even more so.”

This is the space between heaven and earth.

A space only the Chairwoman and I can enter.

Others cannot enter.

Because this is a space detached from Earth, metaphorically speaking, it’s like a space 0.5 dimensions above.

The space between worlds that can only be entered by those whose cognitive awareness clearly recognizes the existence of ‘another world.’

There’s no specific name for it.

It could be called the Magpie Bridge where Gyeonu and Jiknyeo meet, or the gap between worlds, or perhaps the place of truth where a possessor and an omnipotent goddess share everything and talk openly.

At least, since people of the ‘lower world’ cannot observe this place, the conversations we have here remain secret to those in the lower world.

Even if.

Even for me.

“So now age talk is forbidden. If you keep saying I’m old, people who find out later will say weird things about me.”

“Even if people find out…”

“Like people observing from outer space, or beings who can eavesdrop even on conversations in this place.”

“What would they say?”

“Well, you know what they usually say about older women. Not ajumma, but grand-“

“Okay. I understand.”

I pressed my index and middle fingers against my temple.

The Chairwoman is young.

The Chairwoman is youthful.

When the Chairwoman says she’s 17, it means her heart is 17.

And the Chairwoman’s actual age is 20, but she lied about her age because she wants to look younger than other women.

Any suggestion that the Chairwoman isn’t an adult is merely material she uses to threaten me, and I should think that I feel guilty about committing a serious crime that I could never commit in reality.

“I will self-hypnotize.”

“Please do. Otherwise, I might really hear those kinds of comments.”

“I can’t let my wife hear such things.”

That wouldn’t be proper husbandly behavior.

“Thank you for your consideration. You know how much I love that thoughtfulness of yours, right?”

“Do you know how powerfully binding those words of love are to me?”

“Oh my. I didn’t put any hypnosis or brainwashing into that though?”

“The sense of responsibility that comes from the word ‘love’ itself becomes the standard that determines my actions.”

I approached the Chairwoman and embraced her.

“Don’t you think that I want to reciprocate your love, since you love me enough to give me your most precious thing?”

“You don’t have to. Who says that’s love? That’s just you misunderstanding what others have arbitrarily defined as love.”

“Then let’s say that’s the kind of love I want to give.”

“Tsk…”

The Chairwoman twisted the corner of her mouth.

“I clearly did the kidnapping, confinement, restraint, and attachment, so why does it feel like I’m the one being trained?”

“Didn’t you know? You made me this way.”

I held the Chairwoman’s face with both hands.

“Just try looking at someone else, falling for another man, showing any NTR elements whatsoever. The moment you do, I’ll destroy everything you cherish and love.”

“That sounds like something I should be saying, doesn’t it?”

“Why? Is my love a bit too heavy?”

“Hmm… no.”

The Chairwoman firmly shook her head.

“It might be a bit burdensome to bear alone, but I thought if we share it among several people, we could carry it together.”

“Wouldn’t that make you even more anxious? If even one of those people shows such tendencies—”

“I’ll cut them off, so don’t worry.”

The Chairwoman stood on her tiptoes and held my face.

“I said it’s burdensome alone, not that I can’t handle it, okay?”

“You say that…”

“And who knows? If we have a daughter, I might become a daddy’s girl fanatic and some of that love might go to her.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit ugly to try to transfer your responsibility to your daughter by becoming a mother?”

“Hmph. All fathers are destined to love their daughters more than their wives, you know?”

“That’s love for your own flesh and blood, not love for a romantic partner.”

“Who knows? To borrow your terminology, it could become ‘haps.'”

“No.”

The fact that she knows me becomes somewhat uncomfortable at times like this.

“Even if you say it indirectly, why bring up such a topic? Couldn’t you just not bring it up in the first place?”

“I don’t know. If I lose you to our daughter later, I’ll come here and argue about it. I’ll throw your words right back at you, that your love for your flesh and blood became greater than your love for your partner.”

“……”

“Hard to answer, isn’t it? Hmph.”

“…I suppose so.”

It’s not an easy question to answer.

“Having a daughter, or rather, having a child at all would be a first for me too.”

“Hehehe, we have so many firsts with each other, don’t we?”

The Chairwoman reaches her hand behind my shoulder.

“Things outside seem to be settling down, and we’ve said most of what we wanted to say… Let’s go back. To the lower world.”

“Are we leaving already? A little more—”

“Anyway.”

The Chairwoman put her index finger on my lips and stood on her tiptoes.

“We’ll meet again within three months, so just be patient until then. Okay?”

“…Well, it might be sooner than three months.”

I embraced the Chairwoman.

“Let’s be patient with this for now. Remember. The moment your love turns to someone else…”

“I know. You remember too. Others may love the Goblin and Do Ji-hwan, but…”

The Chairwoman approaches me closely, exhaling a warm breath.

“In this world, I’m the only one who can love you as a possessor.”

In the gap between worlds, we felt each other’s warmth and quietly spent time in a place where no one else could come.

* * *

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel like I’ve forgotten something important.”

“It’s probably something important but not something you need to worry about, so it’s fine, right?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Well, it’s probably something I don’t need to worry about right now.

Sometimes it’s better not to think about it than to misspeak.

Like the saying about not thinking of an elephant, sometimes it’s better not to think at all.

“Here, take this magical power.”

The Chairwoman handed me a golden orb.

The sphere of magical power I grasped with both hands was as large as a baseball.

“Is it okay to give me this much?”

“Yes. If any problems arise in Japan, use this magical power. You’ve already given both external cores to the executives.”

“Since I’m going to find Managold again anyway, is this much really necessary?”

I accept it since the Chairwoman is giving it to me, but it does prick my conscience a bit.

“Is it really okay to give me this when it’s more than the pitiful amount of magical power that can be squeezed out of America?”

“It’s fine. You just need to work hard enough to make up for it.”

I feel quite sorry for the people of America.

Even though a very small amount of mana reaches this place, the Chairwoman is gathering it all here in Phoenix City.

And now she’s giving some of that gathered magical power to me, so I can’t really criticize the American people.

It feels like the Syndicate and I are taking all the mana that should go to them.

“Well then, shall we go out?”

The Chairwoman took my hand and opened the door.

We returned to the space we were in before, and in front of us were three women sitting neatly dressed in the living room.

“Ah, Chairwoman.”

“Taotie, Hundun. The results?”

“…They’re definitely strong, I’ll give them that.”

“We lost. Completely.”

Ymir bit into an apple and made a small V sign with her finger.

“Hmm, then it seems I should give Ymir a reward. What kind of reward would be good…”

“Can’t it be what you two just did?”

Ymir clasps her hands together, her eyes sparkling.

“You two look like you just had an intense session.”

“……”

“Oh, am I wrong?”

“Mir. Do you think I would just wildly make love with the Chairwoman just because I haven’t seen her in a while?”

“But you’re a married couple who haven’t seen each other in ages.”

“Hmm…”

The Chairwoman looks at me.

Her gaze shows a bit of embarrassment, sending me a look that asks for ‘understanding.’

“We just…”

I can’t help it.

“As a married couple, we had one intense gaming session inside.”