SS #37 Kang Yujin (6)

Landing softly on the ground with Yujin still in her arms, Yuria spoke in a low voice. Yujin, who had reflexively squeezed his eyes shut the moment Yuria had leaped from the balcony, quickly opened them to take in his surroundings.

Night.

Outdoors.

An incredibly large tree.

A high altitude, perhaps.

It was a truly massive tree, its trunk easily several meters around.

It must have been tens of meters tall.

The leaves were as large as the tree itself, casting an immense shadow.

“Whoa…”

But it wasn’t the tree that drew a natural gasp of awe from Yujin’s lips.

Nestled in the shade, untouched by moon or starlight, were countless tiny, softly glowing fireflies.

It was as if the stars themselves had spilled from the Sea of Stars, blanketing the ground in a terrestrial night sky.

“Beautiful.”

Yuria chuckled at Yujin’s heartfelt admiration. The sound snapped Yujin back to reality, making him realize something else.

‘Ah, I’m being held!’

He wasn’t holding her; he was being held. In Yuria’s arms, his own arms still wrapped around her neck.

For a moment, he was so mortified that he wanted to squirm, but he managed to endure, drawing on the patience he had honed in the Guiana Highlands.

Struggling to be put down now would be just too pathetic.

So, Yujin spoke in the calmest tone he could muster.

“Um, now… can you… put me down?”

He’d tried to choose his words carefully, but they came out drawn-out and clumsy, and he wasn’t satisfied with them at all.

His face flushed an even deeper shade of red. In the Guild House of his mind, Captain Kang Yujin issued an eviction notice to Bookworm Kang Yujin, who was protesting the injustice of it all.

And then there was Yuria.

“Hmm… But I don’t want to.”

“Huh?”

Startled by her teasing tone, Yujin turned his head to look at her, only to whip it away again just as quickly.

‘Her face is too close!’

He was clinging to her neck, after all. Of course they’d be close enough to feel each other’s breath if they faced one another.

“Just kidding, just kidding.”

With a bewitching smile that suited her elegant face, Yuria took a few light steps deeper into the shade before setting Yujin down.

“What do you think of this place? It’s a favorite spot of mine.”

“It’s… nice.”

The faint light of the fireflies added a mystical quality to Yuria’s beauty.

He felt as if he’d be completely mesmerized if he looked her in the eye right now.

“Let’s talk here. There won’t be anyone to disturb us.”

“Y-yeah. H-hold on a second.”

Yujin wasn’t completely clueless.

She couldn’t have meant for them to talk while standing. They would have to sit, and the only available seats were the massive roots snaking out from the ground.

The tree was so large that its roots were thick enough to serve as benches, but their surfaces looked a bit damp and were caked with dirt.

Yujin’s first instinct was to pull out the handkerchief Natasha had packed for him and spread it over the root, but he quickly abandoned the thought.

The handkerchief was too small.

Moreover, Yuria was wearing a dress.

A clumsy attempt would just get her dress dirty anyway. He needed a better solution.

-Always think about the victory condition.

Reflexively recalling Alexei’s teaching, Yujin unhesitatingly took off his outer coat and spread it over the tree root.

He laid it lining-side up; it was wide enough for two people.

Yuria, who had been quietly watching him, widened her eyes slightly and asked with a faint smile.

“Is that okay?”

“It’s fine.”

For a moment, Yujin thought of saying something like, ‘Because your butt is more precious,’ but thankfully, he didn’t make the mistake of letting the words escape.

It was because Captain Kang Yujin had successfully gagged Literary Kang Yujin and thrown him out.

In any case, as Yujin kept his mouth firmly shut, Yuria tilted her head slightly, a faint smile still playing on her lips as she spoke.

“Alright. Thank you. I’ll make good use of it.”

“…Yeah.”

Yuria gathered her skirt and sat down gracefully. After a moment’s hesitation, Yujin took a seat beside her.

Though the coat was quite large, it was still made for a boy in his early teens. They were sitting close enough for their shoulders to touch.

‘Think. Think.’

What should I say?

How should I start the conversation?

He had definitely prepared for this.

Hadn’t he created over a thousand conversation patterns while facing the Yuria in the game?

But now that he was actually sitting next to the real Yuria, he couldn’t remember a single one.

It felt like a bomb had gone off in his head.

‘Still, I have to say something.’

He couldn’t just sit there with his mouth shut.

He had to start a conversation, no matter what.

“U-um.”

“Yes, um?”

Yuria replied, tilting her head slightly to look at him. Swallowing hard at the sight of her eyes, which held a mix of playfulness and elegance, Yujin opened his mouth in a panic.

“D-do you like milk?”

“Huh? Milk?”

“Y-yeah, milk.”

I’m screwed.

What the hell was that? ‘Do you like milk?’

I would’ve been better off asking if she liked orange juice.

In the Guild House of his mind, Staff Officer Kang Yujin was meekly protesting to the Captain, ‘Captain, that’s… also not great…’ but a blunder was a blunder.

Yuria’s bewildered expression said it all.

‘It’s over. It’s all over now.’

She’ll think I’m just an immature kid.

With that elegant face, she’ll probably say something like, ‘Hah, just a child after all.’

Instantly imagining all sorts of scornful remarks, Yujin braced himself like a soldier facing his end, but his judgment was too hasty.

Yuria was clearly taken aback by his words.

But instead of saying something scathing, she smiled brightly, looked up into Yujin’s eyes, and said.

“Yes, I like milk too. Milk is delicious. I drink it every day. What about you?”

‘Yuria is a real angel!’

She didn’t just roll with my terrible question, she even asked it back at me.

Shedding tears of emotion in his heart, Yujin quickly replied.

“Yeah, I like it. I… also drink it every day.”

“I like the milk from Uncle Cheshire’s ranch the best. It’s the richest and creamiest. How about you?”

“Uh… I like Seoul Milk.”

“Seoul Milk? Is the ranch’s name Seoul?”

“Uh… it’s not… a ranch, but, well, it’s something similar.”

“Hmm?”

Though it felt like they were talking past each other at times, the conversation stumbled along.

And as they continued to talk, it gradually grew more natural.

“I bet Vivian will declare she’s going to marry Walter later. For real, I’m serious.”

“I wonder if Regina has met her person of destiny?”

“Aunt Natasha is so cool.”

“I’d like to visit the places mentioned in the Scripture, too.”

Yujin knew about Pleiades, albeit indirectly, through the Heroic Saga.

So at first, the conversation was mainly about the people around Yuria that Yujin also knew. It naturally moved on to the people in Yujin’s life, before returning to a common topic: the Scripture.

The Scripture.

Yuria also appeared in that book, personally written by Yuder, the Pope of the Cordelia Church.

The birth of the world’s noblest child.

Yuria standing up on her own.

Yuria taking her first steps.

Yuria saying “Papa” for the first time.

The book was filled with such detailed accounts, accompanied by lively illustrations, that it could almost be called a childcare diary.

“Y-you’ve read all of that?”

“Y-yeah.”

At Yujin’s answer, Yuria’s face instantly flushed bright red.

Her elegant expression vanished, replaced by a look full of embarrassment, bewilderment, and shame. Yujin swallowed hard again at the unexpected charm of her sudden transformation.

And then, one second, two seconds.

Yuria, who barely managed to compose herself, bit her lip lightly and tilted her head even more.

“By the way… according to what you said, you’re thirteen now, right?”

“Yeah, that’s in Korean age. By the standards here, I’m twelve, though.”

“I’m eleven. My birthday is still about a month away, so I’m eleven.”

Yujin was surprised anew by Yuria’s words.

Based on her appearance, Yuria looked to be about middle school age.

Honestly, he would have believed it if someone said she was his older sister.

But that wasn’t what was important right now.

Because Yuria, who was looking up at Yujin with her head tilted, suddenly gave a fox-like smile and uttered words of immense destructive power.

“Then that makes you my Oppa, Yujin. Oppa, Yujin-oppa.”

Yuria truly said it like a fox, equipping cuteness instead of elegance. Yujin reflexively clutched his chest.

His heart was truly pounding.

‘C-cute!’

Is it even possible for someone to be this cute?

Oppa.

Yujin-oppa.

Yujin, his face beet-red, writhed in agony, struggling to breathe. Watching him, Yuria excitedly gripped her own thighs tightly.

She was trying her best not to show it, but in reality, a huge commotion was going on inside her head.

“Yujin-oppa is so cute!”

“Did you see that? His reaction just now?”

“Why is he so cute? How can such a cute creature exist?”

“He’s manly but cute. Cute but manly. My heart skipped a beat when he spread his coat for me to sit on. That was also super cute.”

Yuria was Yuder’s daughter, but also Cordelia’s daughter.

As the Yurias gathered in the salon chattered and squealed, Madam Yuria, sitting at the head of the table, gave an elegant ‘huhuhu’ smile, then clapped lightly to draw everyone’s attention.

“‘Oppa’ was effective, as expected. Now, shall we deploy the decisive weapon?”

“The sprinkler?”

“No, not the final weapon, the decisive weapon.”

As Madam Yuria smiled like a fox, the other Yurias looked at each other and soon wore the same foxy smiles.

“Ah, and Oppa. I have something to show you.”

“Uh-uh-uh.”

Yujin replied, his voice still dazed.

Yuria slipped her hand under her dress skirt, her expression for a brief moment seeming to ask, ‘Do I really have to go this far?’

Having steeled her heart, Yuria took a deep breath, ‘equipped’ the item she took out from under her skirt, and turned to Yujin to speak.

“What do you think, Yujin-oppa?”

Yujin couldn’t answer.

It was partly because of the destructive power of ‘Oppa,’ which he was still far from used to, but it was also because an even more powerful blow—a veritable tactical nuclear bomb—had made all the Kang Yujins in his mind clutch their chests and collapse.

‘B-bunny girl!’

That’s right.

What Yuria had taken out from her skirt and equipped was a bunny ear headband, and Yujin, who had inherited his father’s tastes completely, could no longer hold out.

To see Yuria wearing a bunny headband, her cheeks flushed and her face filled with a shyness she hadn’t shown before…

“Sinking authorized.”

As if to honor Captain Kang Yujin’s final command, a trickle of blood ran from Yujin’s handsome nose, and he prepared to embrace a blissful death.

But it was at that very moment.

A sharp killing intent flew from behind them, assailing both Yujin and Yuria at the same time.

---

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

Please do consider subscribing to my Patreon or donate to my Ko-fi if you like this work or to get early access to chapters