Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Episode 137: A New Beginning After exiting the underground waterway, I recalled my memories and headed towards the inn where I had been staying. The sight of the surface world after so long was as I remembered. People bustled about in the streets, customers went in and out of shops, and guards strolled leisurely. There was no gloomy atmosphere or bizarre decorations on the streets outside. In many ways, it was very different from the gloomy and brutal-feeling underground plaza. I definitely preferred the outside. Especially, I liked the sunshine. Watching the warm sunlight pouring down made me feel at peace. I was a little worried about becoming a demon, but fortunately, it didn’t seem like I was weakened by sunlight. Well, not all demons have the same properties. Vampires are weakened by sunlight, and mandrakes are strengthened by it.

-Creak.

As I passed through the streets of Karaldin and returned to my inn room, a familiar face came into view. I greeted the woman who was sitting on the bed with a haggard expression, twisting her black hair with her fingers. “Hello.” Erzebet. Or, was it Elysion now? Anyway, either way, it starts with El, so it doesn’t matter. Emily wasn’t in the room. She was registered with the Adventurer’s Guild, so she must have gone to work. “….?” El tilted her head, looking at me with a puzzled expression. Judging by the question in her red eyes, she didn’t recognize me at all. “Long time no see.” “Who… are you?” There was bewilderment mixed in her question. That was understandable, as my current appearance was very different from before. I was about 170cm tall with black hair and black eyes. And like my hair color, my eyebrows were also black. My features were similar to before, but just changing the color of my hair and eyes changed my whole vibe. What’s more, my height and chest had grown considerably. It would be stranger if she recognized me. She probably thought a stranger had entered the room. “Your friend.” I chuckled as I answered, and El tilted her head even more, looking even more clueless. However, she narrowed her eyes and scanned my attire. Then, she made a face as if she understood something. “Hmph…. Look, I understand that life is hard for both of us, but I’m not going to fall for such a half-hearted scam. I’m a little upset right now, so would you please leave quietly?” ….It seemed like I was being misunderstood. But, I guess she could think that way. It was quite possible, but I hadn’t anticipated it. My clothes were quite shabby, so it was possible that she assumed I was a con artist. But why was she upset? I wanted to ask what had happened in the meantime, but to do that, I had to reveal my identity to her first. Of course, proving it wouldn’t be difficult. We had the simplest way to recognize each other. I looked at El and smiled slightly, then opened my mouth again. “Kim Seung-oh.” I called her name in Korean. That should be enough to prove it. But to my words, El sighed and replied. “Haa, those voice phishing scams don’t work.” “…..?” This time, even I couldn’t help but be taken aback. What on earth was that answer? El’s expression as she said that looked genuinely indifferent. Even though she answered in Korean herself. ….How does one’s thought process have to flow to show such a reaction? El’s reaction was so natural that I momentarily wondered if I had said something wrong. However, I hadn’t said anything wrong. “Where are you trying to trick people…. Huh?” El continued to speak to me in Korean, but stopped mid-sentence as if she realized something was wrong. Then, she scanned my face with a scrutinizing gaze. “….Just now, you, Korean?” “Of course, it’s Korean.” Could it be that she only just realized that we were talking in Korean? I couldn’t help but think that she had gotten a little dumber in the time I hadn’t seen her. She was a little crazy to begin with, but I was no better, so I couldn’t say anything. Anyway, I didn’t expect her to get dumber in the meantime. “You, who are you!? How do you know my name?” “I know because we’ve been together all this time. It’s me, Seo Hyun.” “Ah, really…? No, wait a minute, what nonsense are you talking about!? The Seo Hyun I know is so different! She’s not this big…. not this big.” Cruelly, El said “not this big” twice. She acknowledged the height part, but the chest…. I didn’t think it was that small. It was at least medium-low. But that’s irrelevant now. “No, it’s me. I drank a lot of milk, so I got bigger.” I couldn’t just keep standing, so I placed the pouch hanging from my waist on the table and sat on the chair opposite the bed. El narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “That’s a sex joke, isn’t it? Then you must be Seo Hyun. How much male energy did you suck out….” “No, that’s not what I meant!” To understand it that way, her brain was perverted. Of course, if you carefully consider the cause and effect, it’s somewhat true, but that’s not what I meant. If it were me in the past, that’s what I would have meant, but at least not now. When I strongly denied it, El tilted her head in confusion and asked again. “Really? Didn’t you suck out male energy from men and undergo a complete transformation? You use the Absorbing Energy Technique, don’t you?” That was true, so I couldn’t argue. But, she noticed that I had undergone a complete transformation. Of course, it’s rare for someone’s appearance to change this much without a complete transformation, but I didn’t expect her to immediately arrive at that answer. I was impressed by her amazing reasoning and apologized to her. “….Sorry.” It seemed like I had to take back what I thought about her being stupid. “What for?” “Nothing.” If I told her what I was thinking, she would get angry. There’s no need to say it. // “But, aren’t you surprised?” El reacted surprisingly calmly to my complete transformation. She could suggest any number of possibilities, but there’s hardly any natural energy in this world. She should know how difficult it is to achieve a complete transformation in a place like this. But El seemed quite calm after hearing the story. “What, you undergoing a complete transformation?” El’s nonchalant question made her seem different from before. It was a sense of incongruity, or perhaps “mature” was a better word. “Yeah. I honestly thought you’d be quite surprised.” “Yeah. I was surprised. You’re only sixteen and you’ve already undergone a complete transformation. How did you….” El continued, smiling wryly, then suddenly made a stiff expression. ….Please don’t tell me it’s the same pattern as before. If she doesn’t notice anything strange this time and accepts it, my evaluation of El will drop quite a bit. Not by much, just one level…? “….Is that even possible? In this world?” That’s right. It seemed like El hadn’t become more composed or mature, but was just spacing out for a moment. And first of all, to answer her question, it’s a long story. Rather than long, it’s a little complicated to explain. So, I can do it all at once when Emily comes later. I decided to naturally skip over that issue for now and turned the topic to her. “I’ll explain that later. Anyway, you’re acting strange today. What happened?” The moment I asked that question, El’s expression changed as if she was dying to confide in someone. She moved her lips a few times while maintaining that expression, then sighed and replied. “….Nothing happened.” If you could believe that, you’d be a very pure-hearted person. Of course, I wasn’t pure enough to not notice that she was lying. “You’re really bad at lying. I’d let most lies slide, but that one’s a little hard to let go.” “Haha, you’re right, aren’t you?” When I scolded her, El nodded with a hollow laugh. She made a thoughtful expression for a moment, then sighed deeply and opened her mouth again. “I messed up.” “Are you pregnant?” “W-What crazy talk is that!?” Ah, that’s not it. I was asking in case I had a comrade. It didn’t seem like that was the case. But El blushed and added in a serious tone. “B-But, I didn’t use contraception… Just once… I-It wouldn’t happen, would it?” Knowing what those words meant, I couldn’t help but be quite surprised. She was a virgin before I went to the underground plaza. What on earth happened while I was gone that she ended up spending a night with a man? “Well, I don’t know. I think we need to calculate the timing.” “Ugh, I’m crazy. I shouldn’t have drunk so much….” When I answered vaguely, El sighed heavily, placing her hand on her forehead for what felt like the hundredth time. Yeah, usually alcohol is to blame. It seemed like she couldn’t escape that common situation either. // While I was listening to El’s complaints disguised as consultation, “I’m back…. Huh, Layla….?” Emily returned, as if it was already evening. Unlike El, she looked at me and immediately recognized my identity. ….How on earth? Just as I was about to look at El in shock, I noticed Arum curled up on the table.

-Kyuruk.

How long had she been out? Then it was possible to know. Still, it was a little surprising that she recognized me so quickly. After all three of us had gathered, I told them everything that had happened. From having sex with monsters, to getting pregnant by a tentacle monster, and undergoing a complete transformation into a demon. I even showed them the Doppelganger’s ability by turning the skin on my hand purple. “…..That’s roughly what happened.” “….” “….” As expected. After telling them everything, I could see that the two of them were quite shocked. El was blankly gaping, and Emily…. was covering her mouth. In any case, it was clear that both of them were shocked. “Um… thank you.” El was the first to speak. She thanked me with an expression that still seemed shocked. “Hearing your story made me feel clear-headed, you know? I feel pathetic for worrying about something like that.” Everyone has different lives, so it’s natural to weigh the same things differently, but even so, if the temperature difference is this big, you’re bound to feel something. It seemed like she had blown away the unknown gloominess caused by her first experience by listening to my story. “It’s okay. I don’t need that kind of thanks.” I didn’t intend to say that, and that kind of gratitude felt a little awkward, so I shook my head with a wry smile. At my answer, El smiled wryly and looked back and forth between me and Emily, then got up from her seat with a tired expression. “I, I need to get some sleep. I’m too tired today….” “….You look like it. Sleep well.” I knew that was half a lie, but I ignored it this time. She could be uncomfortable hearing my story. In fact, I thought it was inevitable that she would hate me. Now that I’ve regained my sanity and judged from a more objective perspective, what I’ve experienced is something that could easily make others feel disgusted. ….What does Emily think? “….”

Glancing at her reaction, I saw her wearing a blank expression. Not angry, nor shocked. More than anything, her gaze wasn’t directed at my face. Her brown eyes were fixed on my lower abdomen. “….” It was a bizarre reaction I hadn’t anticipated. Not cursing me for being dirty, nor embracing me to ask if I’d had a hard time. She simply stared at my lower abdomen for a while. Just as the silence was beginning to feel familiar, “Um, Layla?” Finally, she broke the silence by calling my name. And for some reason, a faint blush had crept onto her face as she looked at me. “Uh, yeah?” Wondering what on earth was wrong with her, I asked back, and Emily, still blushing, continued. “Um… can I touch your stomach?” ….Huh?