episode_0090

The words from Stay that Mei Luina heard through Nis, “I hate those three.”

When Mei Luina first heard those words, she unconsciously sensed that she wouldn’t be able to handle the truth behind them and forced herself to suppress her anger without interpreting the meaning.

If she had been alone in that moment, Mei Luina herself would have realized that the anger she was feeling was forced and ultimately had to accept Stay’s intentions, but fortunately, there were others present besides her.

The intensity of emotions increases as more people express the same kind of emotion, and so Mei Luina, along with Dain Adamas and Mir Ryuin, burned with anger, completely burying Stay’s words that Nis had conveyed.

“Ugh… What should I do? If I suddenly show up like this, especially in the middle of the night, you’ll definitely hate it…”

And now, Mei Luina was recalling Stay’s words from that day and didn’t know what to do.

If she had prepared in advance, she would have made an effort to bring a gift and try to win his favor, but Mei Luina was a coward who didn’t even have the courage to delve deeply into her relationship with Stay and was more afraid of being abandoned by him than anything else.

So, filled with fear and forcing her anger, Mei Luina had put off the problem that she couldn’t interpret at this crucial moment.

“If I were to hear Stay’s words saying he hates me… I really couldn’t bear it. I would immediately kneel down and cry my eyes out…”

Just imagining hearing such terrible words from Stay made her nose sting and her vision blur.

That’s why, even though it was well past midnight, Mei Luina couldn’t run to his side, despite the cafe where Stay’s presence was clearly felt and the lights were still on, because hearing Stay say he hated her was much more terrifying and painful for her.

“But… I can’t go back. I’ve come this far. I can’t leave without even seeing Stay’s face.”

However, going back to her own home was out of the question.

After feeling Stay’s absence for the past week and experiencing immense loneliness and pain, moving away from Stay was something Mei Luina couldn’t even imagine.

“So, I have no choice… I’ll have to stay in this neighborhood for a while and keep an eye on Stay’s movements. Hehe.”

After a week, a smile finally broke out from her lips.

※

“What the… How did it get so late already?”

As much as Yanggi allowed, I manipulated the status windows of the machines to reinforce them and practiced making the cafe’s menu, and before I knew it, the clock’s hour hand was pointing to 3 a.m.

Whether it was due to my ability to manipulate status windows or my exceptional talent, every time I made coffee or anything else, the results were so excellent that I found making them so enjoyable that I didn’t notice the time passing.

But still, proper sleep was essential for living, and whether it was because I used Yanggi to reinforce the machines or not, once I realized the time, fatigue washed over me.

“Ugh… I need to go and sleep quickly.”

I felt like I was about to collapse as soon as I got home.

Yawning stiffly from the overwhelming fatigue, I tidied up the cafe.

The grand opening was scheduled for three weeks from now, so it was okay to postpone cleaning for a while. Just turn off the lights and lock the door.

In reality, I was someone who had only learned about cafe work through YouTube videos, so I was worried about whether I would be able to do well until the moment I signed the contract.

However, through the power of manipulating the status window, I was able to differentiate myself from other cafes and achieve success in creating cafe menus with my innate skill. In just one day, all my worries disappeared.

As someone who aspired to be a hero in my awakening days, I didn’t know the joy of my own growth. That joy kept a smile on my face even though my body was exhausted to the point of collapsing the moment I lay down.

“What should I try making tomorrow?”

Feeling excitement for the next day deep in my heart, I realized for the first time in 4 years that I was truly living my life.

※

“Ugh… I’m so sore.”

When I worked as an emergency room assistant, sleeping on the cheap mattress that came with my one-room apartment was fine. But during the 40 days I worked as a caregiver for S-rank individuals, I developed bad habits that affected my body.

“The beds in the special care room were really comfortable.”

The mattress in my one-room apartment now was much better than the one I used while working in the emergency room, but my body, accustomed to the beds in the special care room, couldn’t be satisfied with this low-quality mattress.

Unable to forget the beds in the special care room, I ended up waking up to mornings filled with a lingering sense of longing, not feeling quite right.

“Can I ever sleep well on a bed like that again?”

Although it was definitely of a lower grade than what the S-ranks used, the bed in the special care room was still an artifact.

Furniture-type artifacts were custom-made for awakened individuals with special manufacturing characteristics, and as a result, the price was something ordinary people could only dream of.

“Let’s work hard.”

But I believed in my barista talent, which allowed me to dream of running a cafe and eventually buying a bed-sized artifact.

“But doesn’t one of those artifacts cost almost as much as a house? How many coffees do I have to sell to buy a bed?”

…Let’s forget about those realistic thoughts for now! If I work hard, I’ll be able to afford it someday!

I briefly tried to calculate the cost but it seemed like it would be more expensive than I imagined, so I shook my head and decided to focus on working hard, erasing the number of coffees I needed to sell to buy the artifact from my mind.

“Alright! Let’s hurry up, shower, and head to work! Today, we’re going to practice hard!”

Feeling motivated, I quickly got dressed and turned to enter the bathroom.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, a creepy sensation passed through my body, giving me chills and making me turn my head in surprise.

All I could see was the window on the third floor and the villa across from it.

There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

“What was that? Am I just tired?”

Living alone often led to various delusions, so I simply dismissed this strange feeling and grabbed a towel before heading to the bathroom.

※

“Uh, uh… I almost got caught…!”

Mei Luina, the culprit who caused the shiver in the room across from Stay’s one-room apartment villa, trembled with excitement as she hid under the window, her heart racing.

Even the heroic savior, Saint Mei Luina, couldn’t help but feel pathetic in her own eyes for being in such a situation, but she felt no shame at all.

After experiencing the harsh reality of trying to uphold her dignity as a saint for the past week, she realized how difficult it was.

“By the way, seeing Stay’s reaction… hehe. I’ve seen something quite nice this morning. It seems like today will be a lucky day, doesn’t it?”

Unable to sleep and writhing in loneliness, the past week turned Mei Luina into a desire-driven perverted stalker.

In fact, she thought she could maintain her composure and not cross the line until she saw Stay in person, but seeing the real thing made her realize how foolish that notion was.

For a week after being freed from the curse, and for 40 days as a plant-human, Stay, whom Mei Luina had wanted to see with her own eyes, was shocking enough to shatter Mei Luina’s social norms.

[Splash- Hmmm~]

“What?! I’m rinsing my hair! I can’t stand this wet-haired Stay!”

The enhanced hearing of an S-class Awakener easily caught the sound of the shower and humming from the villa across the street.

Excited at the thought of seeing Stay with wet hair, Mei Luina, like a meerkat, eagerly positioned herself under the window to capture the sight with her own eyes.

Wooong-!

Her pumpkin-colored eyes, enhanced with sexual energy, were so sharp that she could see every strand of Stay’s fur. Feeling a sense of duty to capture it on camera, Mei Luina raised the cannon camera in her hands and aimed the lens at the interior of the studio.

“Haa… Haa… Oh, is that Stay with wet hair coming!?”

With a black hoodie turned inside out, Mei Luina, pushing the dark cannon camera towards someone else’s house, looked like a perverted stalker to anyone who saw her.

“Uh?”

Mei Luina, in such a risky state, was waiting for Stay to come out of the bathroom when suddenly, she saw something she shouldn’t have.

“…”

It was Mir Ryuin, with his ear pressed against the wall next to Stay’s apartment, eyes closed, focusing all his senses.

“Wow… He’s really sharp.”

Of course, it applied to himself as well.