episode_0275

***

A woman with chestnut brown hair habitually smoothed out wrinkles that had recently increased with her hands.

“MZ… Nabal…”

She didn’t think anything good would come out of someone she was meeting for the first time, so she kept her mouth shut.

“Ahaha… That’s right, a tutor. My personality is a bit 4D.”

Her nephew smiled exaggeratedly and stepped between her and the man.

“Okay, I figured it out.”

She backed away while still looking at the man with unresolved distrust.

If your nephew is okay, it’s okay. Rather than believing in my nephew, it was because I thought it was up to him to make the choice.

The man began taking out the purchased items one by one and putting them in the refrigerator.

“Wow, but why did you come here?”

“I have some business to take care of in Seoul for a while. That…”

“Oh, that? Do you think you’re ready?”

“Yes.”

When Kim Seong-ah spoke in a cheerful voice, Lee Jeong-ha nodded with a bitter expression.

“Anyway, why can’t I contact you?”

Kim Seong-ah’s aunt, Lee Jeong-ha, asked her nephew, who was standing vaguely, in a questioning tone.

“Contact?”

Seongah Kim took out her cell phone from her pocket. 8 missed calls alone.

All senders were listed as [aunt].

“Yes, suddenly an emergency disaster text message comes, and they say a swarm of giant bats has appeared outside… but I can’t even contact them!”

Seeing his nephew’s troubled expression, Lee Jeong-ha brought out once again the worries he had barely suppressed.

“Ah… I’m sorry about that.”

“We already live so far away that we can’t meet often, so I told you to keep in touch.”

“Yes, I did.”

Seongah Kim lowered her eyes and looked at her toes.

“…….”

Her aunt, who consoled herself with tears in her eyes, and Kim Seong-ah, who was scolded by her suddenly visiting aunt, kept their mouths shut.

In short, an uncomfortable silence.

Lee Jeong-ha, who had been struggling with the air for a while, took a breath and opened his mouth.

“I don’t have much time to take care of you anymore…”

Seongah Kim flinched, and strength went into Seongah Kim’s hand.

“It’s okay, Auntie. I can do well on my own.”

Kim Seong-ah raised the corners of her mouth and smiled.

“Okay, I see that the house is a bit clean. I’m glad you seem to be living well.”

My aunt said, looking around the living room. Kim Seong-ah laughed bitterly inwardly.

“Please take care of Seong-ah. Since the child has the ability to study, please make sure to let him study in Seoul.”

The aunt looked at Kang In-ho. Just as he was putting eggs in the refrigerator, he turned to his aunt in a hesitant posture.

“Ah, yes… Well, don’t worry. All the students I taught went to good universities.”

“Then I’m glad.”

“Ah, ah~ Auntie! Are you going to sleep here today?”

In order to prevent the conversation from continuing any further, Kim Seong-ah hurriedly spoke.

“No, I decided to spend the night at my friend’s house, and I’m going down to Busan tomorrow.”

“I see.”

“Yes, I just stopped by for a moment.”

Her aunt went to the front door and put her feet into the shoes. And then opened the front door.

Kim Seong-ah followed her aunt to see them off, and Kang In-ho briefly glanced at the door they left through before putting things away again.

Two women walked through a quiet yard.

“I need to clean up some weeds.”

Kim Seong-ah nodded as her aunt spoke, looking at the lush weeds.

Although they spoke without hesitation like close friends, the topics of conversation were barely scratched the surface.

When Kim Seong-ah talked to her aunt, she felt coldness and a sense of obligation.

Maybe she is seeing a fantasy of her older sister in herself.

“Then, I’ll go.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

Say hello in front of the gate.

“I will definitely graduate this year.”

Kim Seong-ah laughed weakly at the nagging.

“Okay.”

“The choice is yours, but if my aunt were to give her advice as an adult, it would be better to go to college.”

“Yes, thank you.”

She closed the door on leaving the people she could call family.

Bang, bang, bang

The huge, rusty iron door closed heavily. Just like her heart.

***

Kang In-ho noticed Kim Seong-ah’s strangely depressed mood after her aunt’s visit.

At a glance, Kang In-ho’s eyes followed Kim Seong-ah, who was bringing curry to her mouth.

Red hair roughly plaited with a rubber band, clear eyes, and small, light pink lips.

A short stature that only reached the solar plexus, and long legs that did not suit such a height.

“Why?”

Sensing his gaze, Kim Seong-ah looked at him.

“Would you like some more curry?”

Because eating a meal with only the sound of clinking dishes was uncomfortable, he didn’t say anything.

“It’s okay.”

“Why? Isn’t it delicious?”

“It tastes good. It’s just that I feel like I’ll be full just by eating this.”

“Really? I guess I’ll have to eat the rest tomorrow.”

“…Are you curious?”

Kim Seong-ah was the first to open her mouth after seeing Kang In-ho whining like a puppy that wanted to poop.

“Huh?”

“My aunt.”

“Ah… well…”

He scratched his head and gave a vague affirmation.

“I’m not sure if I should see him once or twice a year. Because we live far away, it’s hard to meet often.”

“You seemed friendly.”

“It just looks that way. Neither my aunt nor I are that interested in each other. If you were really interested, do you think you would have simply believed him when he said you were a tutor?”

“Ahaha….”

Seeing her criticizing him with wide-open eyes, Kang In-ho laughed awkwardly.

“To my aunt, I am ‘my sister’s daughter,’ and to me, my aunt is ‘my mother’s younger brother.’ The relationship is exactly like this. I can’t really take care of you, but I just ask how you are.”

“It’s complicated.”

“…But my aunt talked about bats earlier. Is that okay? The memory will be easily erased, right?”

Kang In-ho changed the topic.

“One day must pass. To be exact, when the sun rises the next day, memories and records disappear.”

“Are you using magic?”

“It’s not me doing it… It’s the power of the stars.”

“What is the principle?”

“What principles do you look for in magic?”

Seongah Kim asked back, saying it was absurd.

That too. Kang In-ho laughed. Kim Seong-ah’s face became softer than before due to his bright smile.

“You ate it all, right?”

Kang In-ho started cleaning up the empty dishes.

Kim Seong-ah watched him quietly as he carried the empty dishes without anyone asking him to, put on rubber gloves, and wiped the dishes with detergent.

Watching someone prepare a meal, talk to someone, clean the dishes, or wash the dishes.

In this large house, I miss the scenery that is now unfamiliar to me.

She gulped down the water in the cup.

She choked for no reason.

***

After the dishes were finished, Kang In-ho sat across from Kim Seong-ah, who was still sitting at the table.

“Why are you here instead of the sofa in the living room?”

“Director Nam. Wherever you are or not.”

Kang In-ho laughed as if it were absurd to see her pouting for no reason.

“Well, you are the landlord. What did I say?”

He took a plastic box of house tangerines from the refrigerator.

It wasn’t ripe yet, because it was green.

He handed a tangerine to Seongah, then took out another and started peeling it.

“Oh, I have a question.”

When he opened the shell halfway, he said:

“What?”

“You are transforming. Do I really have to memorize that spell? [Twinkle, twinkle little star] This.”

“[The power of the brilliant, sacred star]?”

“Anyway.”

“Actually, you don’t have to. But since it is a kind of self-suggestion, it is a necessary process to derive power. You know what those sports players do? What was that…”

“Routine?”

“Ah, that’s right. Routine! And now that I think about it, when I first became a magical girl, I couldn’t transform into a martial arts chant. As I was doing this, I was able to chant without chanting.”

“Beginners need chanting, and experts don’t need chanting…but chanting is needed for efficiency.”

“To summarize, that’s right.”

“What happens to magical girls? Something white and red-eyed comes and says, “Make a contract with me and become a magical girl.””

“…Not really.”

Her face, which had relaxed, hardened again. Kang In-ho felt like something had touched him.

“I inherited this power from another magical girl. Should I say that knowledge came into my head as soon as I took over the power? I just found out on my own.”

“It’s magic.”

Kang In-ho said seriously.

“It’s magic.”

Seongah Kim said seriously.

Kang In-ho ate the peeled tangerines in one bite, and Kim Seong-ah put one piece in her mouth and munched on it.

“I have another question.”

Kang In-ho, who was munching on a sour tangerine down his throat, placed his hand on the second tangerine and asked.

“Mister, you were a talkative character.”

Kim Seong-ah frowned as if she was tired, but a gentle smile appeared on her lips.

“What did I look like when I was the Four Heavenly Kings? It won’t look the same now, right?”

“Um… I fought wearing a mask. When you change the mask, your abilities also change…”

“If you go?”

“Yes, a mask. Let’s see… Wait a minute.”

Seongah Kim got up on her knees and went up to the second floor.

Kang In-ho tried not to pay attention to her back, which was wearing a baggy T-shirt and dolphin pants.

A moment later, she came down the stairs, holding a ballpoint pen and white paper in her hand.

“If you explain it a hundred times, you won’t understand it. I will draw it for you.”

“Are you good at drawing?”

“In a way?”

She triumphantly picked up a ballpoint pen and started drawing on white paper.

Kang In-ho looked at her drawing while putting half of a tangerine in his mouth.

“Oh….”

Kim Seong-ah, who completed the drawing by tracing the lines several times without hesitation, made a sighing sound and held the paper in front of her eyes.

“It looked like this. How do you feel?”

“…Don’t go into art.”

“???!!! Why???”

Anyway, just don’t go. Kang In-ho said that and shoved a tangerine into his mouth.