Ch.9590 – Pajama Party

“Ahhh… nooooo…! I don’t wanna!”

Ha-ru’s sharp scream echoed through NoName’s door.

After a moment, silence returned.

The door creaked open and Ha-ru emerged with a pouty face and furrowed brows.

“Why am I the only pig?! I wanted to be a bear or a cat too…”

“Because you lost at rock-paper-scissors.”

“Want to switch with me now, Ha-ru?”

“No… it’s fine… the cat pajamas suit NoName best anyway…”

NoName grabbed Ha-ru’s sleeve, trying to comfort her.

“Look, your pajamas have these special parts. Put your hands in here and they become animal paws.”

“They’re still just pig’s feet…”

“Ha-ru, it’s okay. You look plenty cute.”

“NoName, what about me? What about me!”

Ha-ru flapped her sleeves at NoName’s compliment.

Yu-na begged NoName to compliment her too, but her wish wasn’t granted.

NoName laid out blankets in the living room and had the two girls sit down.

“What should we play first? Jenga? Halli Galli? Or Pirate Roulette?”

This was NoName’s secret weapon to reconcile the two children who weren’t getting along.

The young girls fidgeted awkwardly, seemingly uncomfortable being in someone else’s home.

“Let’s start with Jenga then. Is that okay?”

“Yes!”

“I’m good with that.”

With everyone’s agreement, the tower of wooden blocks was built.

“How about the loser gets a forehead flick?”

“Of course we should.”

“I’m really good at painful flicks, so NoName, don’t go easy on me like you did during the hand-clapping game. You’ll regret it.”

NoName had no intention of losing either. She went first, removing a block and placing it on top.

“Your turn, Ha-ru.”

“You know what? I heard a secret technique for Jenga somewhere. You need to find the center of gravity. See how this block is sticking out a bit? That means there’s no block pressing down on it from above.”

Though no one was listening carefully, Ha-ru continued chattering away.

When Ha-ru confidently grabbed a Jenga block but found it wouldn’t come out easily, she looked troubled.

“Once you touch a block, there’s no going back!”

Yu-na quickly stopped Ha-ru’s hand as she tried to move to another block.

“Where’s that rule from?”

“That’s always been the rule. Is this your first time playing Jenga, Lee Ha-ru?”

“Come on, don’t fight. Ha-ru didn’t know, so let’s let it slide just this once. Okay?”

“Yeah… whatever… fine.”

NoName barely managed to stop the two as sparks flew between them from the start.

NoName imagined a beautiful scene where the two would build camaraderie through games, and Ha-ru would eventually apologize to Yu-na.

“Ah!”

Rumble-

Even before the precarious tower collapsed, Ha-ru flinched and made a strange noise after pulling out a block.

“Go ahead, flick me.”

Ha-ru pushed back her bangs, revealing her pale forehead to everyone.

Seeing NoName only pretending to flick, Yu-na said:

“That’s not how you do it. Watch me.”

Yu-na’s fingertips trembled with excessive force.

NoName was more nervous than Ha-ru.

‘Please don’t hit her too hard.’

“Ouch!”

But NoName’s wish was in vain as Ha-ru’s forehead turned red.

‘Please don’t get angry, Ha-ru. We came here to make peace!’

“You… just wait until you lose.”

NoName’s dream had long since turned to bubbles.

* * *

“Tsk…”

“Ugh…”

The two girls clutched their foreheads, growling at each other.

The score was 5 to 5 to 0.

Meanwhile, NoName had somehow never once collapsed the tower.

The girls silently began rebuilding the tower meticulously.

But the emotions contained within were anything but calm. The current situation was like the eye of a hurricane.

In the subdued atmosphere as they quietly continued the game, Ha-ru expressed a doubt.

“Isn’t something strange?”

“What now.”

Yu-na responded indifferently to Ha-ru’s question.

“How has NoName never lost even once?”

NoName flinched while removing a block.

Yu-na also rubbed her chin at this valid question.

Swish-

NoName successfully removed a block without collapsing the tower.

But the tower kept wobbling from side to side without ever falling.

“It’s your turn, Yu-na.”

“Wait a minute.”

Yu-na stood up and positioned herself behind NoName.

She couldn’t tell while sitting, but from above it was clear.

The tower was swaying at an angle that should have made it collapse.

“What’s wrong?”

“NoName, can you close your eyes for a second?”

Yu-na covered NoName’s eyes with both hands.

Wobble-

The tower’s vibrations intensified.

Rumble-

When the tower finally collapsed unceremoniously, Yu-na let out a shriek.

“I knew it! You were using aura! NoName, that’s cheating!”

“What? Is that true?”

Yu-na and Ha-ru, who had each received five flicks for a total of ten, confronted NoName.

Surely NoName wouldn’t leave extra invisible aura in the empty spaces after removing blocks and then pass her turn? That would be impossible.

But another shocking statement came from NoName’s mouth.

“In my region, there’s a rule that allows using aura.”

NoName demonstrated an incredible feat by simultaneously removing three blocks from the second layer from the bottom of the still-standing tower.

Blocks from the 3rd to 7th floors were all floating in mid-air.

As NoName brazenly pushed forward with this claim,

“There’s no way such a rule exists!”

The girls spoke in unison, punishing the cheater.

In the end, NoName had to receive ten flicks from each girl and clutched her burning forehead while looking at the two giggling girls.

“Why are your hands so hot…”

* * *

Having spent too much time on Jenga, evening came quickly.

NoName’s savior from the swamp of penalties was none other than Professor Cheon Kyu-jin.

“Time for dinner, isn’t it?”

Along with chicken that arrived at the perfect time, Professor Cheon presented homemade hanwoo beef tortillas and strawberry canapés with cream cheese generously spread on crackers.

“Wow, chicken!”

When they opened the packaging, the sweet and savory aroma of chicken seasoning spread throughout the room.

The children were more excited about chicken than the expensive foods they would have to pay a lot for outside.

“Do rich people eat chicken too?”

“We actually eat it often…?”

Ha-ru answered Yu-na’s question with attitude.

She actually liked chicken enough to order it once a week.

As Yu-na and Ha-ru took bite after bite, their cheeks puffed up and gray bones popped out from between their small lips.

True to their age of preferring TikTok over TV, they were absorbed in watching dance videos of creators on Ha-ru’s tablet.

“This big sister is really pretty. She dances so well too.”

“I think NoName will grow up to be even prettier.”

“Isn’t that obvious? But I wish NoName would stay small forever.”

“Me too, me too.”

For once, the two girls agreed.

Since they had nothing in common except NoName, their conversation naturally drifted back to her.

“Have you ever picked NoName up?”

Yu-na’s casual question piqued Ha-ru’s curiosity.

“How?”

“Like this, grab under the arms, like this.”

“Ahh! Hey, that tickles! But did you really lift her like that?”

“Yes! She’s so light it doesn’t take any effort at all.”

Yu-na said she had even spun NoName around once.

“But when did you become friends with NoName? When NoName first came, she didn’t even introduce herself and just went somewhere.”

“Back then… we weren’t close… so that could happen.”

“And also, during group activities, you yelled and cursed at NoName and Yoon Si-hoo.”

“That was…”

Ha-ru had hit Yu-na’s weak spot.

However, their conversation was interrupted when Professor Cheon came to clear the empty plates.

“Was dinner delicious?”

“Yes, it was delicious!”

“It was even better than what the chef at our house makes!”

“It was my first time making these dishes, so I’m glad everyone liked them. I set up a projector in NoName’s room because I thought we could watch a movie after eating. Have you picked what movie to watch?”

“No! This is the first we’ve heard of it.”

“By the way, where did NoName go?”

Looking around, NoName was nowhere to be seen.

Having been so absorbed in the videos, Yu-na and Ha-ru hadn’t noticed that she had been gone for quite some time.

They checked the bathroom thinking she might be washing her greasy hands, but she wasn’t there either.

The only place left was her bedroom.

“But, is it okay for us to go in there?”

“She might be sleeping because she woke up early today and is tired. Go in quietly and check.”

“Open it gently, gently.”

“I know that without you telling me.”

With Professor Cheon’s permission, Yu-na carefully opened NoName’s door and entered.

It was a dark space with no light coming in, especially since the only window was completely covered with blackout curtains.

When the door was half-opened, light from the living room illuminated one side of NoName’s room.

There was a large capsule that looked expensive at first glance.

And on the opposite side was NoName’s bed.

Though it was relatively large for a child to use, NoName was curled up like a shrimp in one corner, taking a nap.

“Looks like she’s sleeping…”

“What should we do?”

It was still early, with the sun just beginning to set.

They felt awkward that the host of the pajama party had fallen asleep first.

“Mmm…”

When NoName, who hadn’t even covered herself with a blanket, stirred, the girls flinched in surprise.

With the sound of swallowing, NoName’s lips mumbled.

“She must be sleep-talking. How is she so cute…!”

“What’s she saying?”

Yu-na approached NoName quietly, making sure her heels didn’t touch the floor, and brought her ear closer.

“El… Ras… Mben… Su… Tra… Hrgh…”

What NoName mumbled in her sleep would have been incomprehensible to any ordinary person.

But Yu-na and Ha-ru looked at each other simultaneously with exclamation marks in their heads.

The rune characters they had recited like poetry throughout the past year at the academy.

‘El, Ras, Maben, Sutra, Arhen.’

It was a familiar sound they couldn’t help but recognize.

Ha-ru, unable to contain her laughter, covered her mouth and made stifled sounds.

“She’s reciting rune language in her sleep…!”

Ha-ru couldn’t help but wonder how NoName would react if they told her about this.

“Wow, is this what it takes to be number one?”

“Seo Yu-na, just give up on being first in school. You might beat Yoon Si-hoo, but you’ll never beat NoName, hehe.”

It sounded like something she’d heard before, but Yu-na wasn’t offended by Ha-ru’s words at all.

They continued to listen to NoName’s sleep-talking, curious about how far she would go with the rune language.

“Su…tris…”

Now the syllables increased to five. Siatris was a rune word that controlled Lorentz symmetry in magic circles.

All ten of Yu-na’s fingers had been folded twice, meaning NoName had spoken about 20 rune words.

And NoName’s lips stopped moving.

“Should we wake her up now?”

“Ah, I wanted to watch more…!”

“Watching more would be disrespectful to NoName!”

“How about just 5 more minutes?”

While they were debating when to wake the deeply sleeping girl, the sleep-talking started again.

“Rif… sleepy… want to sleep…”

She was saying she wanted to sleep while already sleeping.

“Creserium… so tired… but I can’t sleep…”

NoName’s hands unconsciously tensed. The bed sheet wrinkled in her tight grip.

“Yandelbirk… my head hurts… I don’t want to…”

Her voice became clearer. NoName’s head became damp with cold sweat.

“It’s hard…”

“I… feel like I’m dying…”

“Help me…”

“Please… ■■…”