Side Story 54. The Story After (54)

“Hmm…”

Lee Hoyeon lay on the sofa, blankly staring at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the regular pattern on the ceiling caught his eye.

‘Why did I ever wonder how many of those there were back then?’

Just lying on the sofa doing nothing, all sorts of thoughts came to mind.

But since there was nothing to do even if he got up, Lee Hoyeon remained lying on the sofa.

He felt like he had become an octopus.

Kkiik-

How much time had passed?

The front door opened, and noisy sounds were heard.

“Dahee-ya. Don’t run, go slowly! Liliana-ssi! What are you doing running together like that!”

“Euehehe. Liliana unnie. Go with me!”

“No way! If you’re late, all the snacks are mine!”

Tadadadadak-

At the sound of two people’s footsteps running from the entrance to the living room, even Lee Hoyeon, who had been looking at the ceiling, couldn’t help but turn his head.

The two of them were running around the living room, laughing as if they were overjoyed.

‘Must be nice to have so much energy.’

Today, Lee Hoyeon had been lying on the sofa all day long.

The schedule in France had been quite tiring, but it couldn’t be helped because the academy was forcibly closed.

‘Those crazy bastards should know when to stop…’

The reason for the closure was that the academy had been paralyzed by tens of thousands of reporters who had flocked from all over the world.

Thanks to that, Lee Hoyeon had to forcibly take sick leave from the academy.

It was obvious that if Lee Hoyeon went to the academy, reporters would flock again, causing a ruckus trying to hear even a single word from him.

‘This seems like it won’t be possible for at least a few months…’

If professors felt burdened by him before, now the entire academy seemed to feel burdened by Lee Hoyeon.

If this is the life of a celebrity, it’s something one must endure, but I wanted to graduate from the academy…

“Hoyeon-ah. Why are you still lying down?”

Just then, Nam Daeun, who came in with Liliana and Nam Dahee, sat down beside Lee Hoyeon’s head.

When Lee Hoyeon slightly lifted his head, Nam Daeun smiled and gave him a lap pillow.

Only then did Lee Hoyeon feel like time was properly flowing.

“Daeun-ah. If things go on like this, I’ll be the first person in the world to graduate the academy without any credits.”

“No way… Let’s go see the professor together next time.”

“Just the thought is enough, thank you.”

Resting my head on Daeun’s lap, I felt a warmth spread through my chest.

Right. How important could the academy really be?

This kind of life is what’s important.

“Oppa-ah.”

“Keuhuk.”

I was feeling Nam Daeun’s warmth when suddenly, a strong impact hit my side.

As I slightly lowered my head, I saw Nam Dahee struggling, trying to hug me.

“Dahee-ya. Oppa’s dying here.”

“Huh? Wow wow! I’m flying!”

Lee Hoyeon lifted Dahee’s body with his magic power and placed her down on his stomach.

When lying on the sofa, Dahee sometimes used to lie down on his stomach like this.

‘At first, it was nice because it felt like we were getting closer…’

Right after being rescued from the guild, she couldn’t eat properly and was incredibly light, but now she had become relatively heavy.

The force pressing on his stomach was strong enough that he had to tense his abs.

“Dahee. Haven’t you gained weight lately?”

“Oppa. You were told not to say things like that to a lady.”

“…That’s true. Sorry.”

Come to think of it, Dahee is a middle schooler.

Although she was treated like a young child due to her poor development and mental trauma, thinking of Dahee as a normal middle schooler made it clear that anyone would see him as a sexual harasser.

‘No. Since I think of her like a younger sister, she’s practically family.’

Lee Hoyeon thought so and made eye contact with Nam Dahee.

She was eating snacks bought from outside, smiling with a ‘hehe’.

“Oppa. Lately, Unnie doesn’t play with me.”

“Dahee-ya. What are you talking about all of a sudden…”

Nam Daeun, who had been stroking Lee Hoyeon’s head, said with a flustered expression.

She was worried because her beloved younger sibling had grown up so much lately.

“That’s right. Yesterday too, you left me with Liliana unnie and sparred with Oppa in the basement for four whole hours.”

“….”

Nam Daeun turned her head away, blushing.

“….”

Lee Hoyeon likewise quietly closed his eyes.

Actually, yesterday’s sparring ended in just 30 minutes.

The remaining time was spent setting up a barrier in the training room and exchanging passionate affections with Nam Daeun.

Since we met after a long time, we had to catch up.

“I wanted to go watch in the training room too, but Liliana unnie blocked me from going.”

“Here, Dahee-ya. Come here. Shall we go somewhere fun this week?”

“Really? I wanna go! I wanna go! When?!”

Lee Hoyeon ultimately invested his own future to capture Nam Dahee’s attention.

“Where do you want to go?”

“An amusement park!”

“An amusement park? Okay. Since Dahee and Daeun have to go to the academy, let’s go on the weekend.”

“Oh! As expected, you’re the best! Then, can I brag to my friends?”

“… No, you can’t.”

“Why?! I want to become popular by borrowing Oppa’s name too!”

“Haa…”

Lee Hoyeon squeezed his eyes shut.

If Liliana had said something like that, he would have given her a knuckle-tap, but seeing the innocent Dahee say it made his headache feel worse.

“I even pretended to know you in the auditorium last time. Isn’t that enough?”

“Do it again! I need to show off our friendship.”

“…I’ll do it next time. But you can’t mention going to the amusement park. If you do, reporters will chase us, and we won’t be able to go.”

“Huk. I don’t want that.”

“So just bear with it for a little while. You can take photos there and show them later.”

“Oppa, you’re a total genius!”

Lee Hoyeon chuckled, indulging Nam Daeun’s childish request.

Enjoying amusement parks isn’t really his personality, but sometimes this kind of healing is necessary.

He didn’t want to deal with public matters anymore.

“Thank you for taking care of Dahee too, Hoyeon-ah.”

“It feels nice, like I gained a younger sister. Daeun, please look into the amusement park. Since we’re going with Dahee, don’t worry about the cost.”

“Okay. Got it.”

Lee Hoyeon felt pleased seeing Nam Daeun’s bright smile and lay down on her lap again.

‘Today too, I managed to protect one person’s smile…’

‘Isn’t finding happiness in these small places what real life is about?…’

He had such funny thoughts.

‘I’ve completely caught the world-class disease.’

Lee Hoyeon placed Dahee beside him, got up from the sofa, and stretched towards the ceiling.

Since Daeun was back, it was about time for dinner.

“Dahee-ya. What about Liliana? You ran together earlier.”

“She went to the broadcasting room!”

Liliana, whose past and present personalities had merged, had started broadcasting again.

It seemed she was leaning a little more towards the present personality.

“Eumph. Daeun-ah. Do you know where Rebecca-ssi is?”

“Rebecca-ssi went out briefly to buy something. She’s been going out often lately.”

“Really?”

He had seen her briefly last night, but he hadn’t properly greeted Rebecca-ssi.

Lee Hoyeon walked towards Rebecca’s room.

She had said she was preparing something since yesterday, so he became curious if she bought new pregnancy supplies.

Kkiik-

Lee Hoyeon naturally opened Rebecca’s door.

Anyway, since they knew everything about each other’s private lives, it was an action taken without much thought.

However, upon seeing the inside of the room, Lee Hoyeon frowned.

“… What is this?”

A baby doll. An instrument like a kkwaenggwari.

A ritual table set up as if performing a ritual.

A shaman’s hat, likely to be used by a shaman, and even a folding screen with strange pictures drawn on it…

They were bizarre objects he was seeing for the first time in his life.

“Ah, Baby’s Daddy!”

Just then, Rebecca’s voice was heard from behind.

When I turned my head, I saw Rebecca’s face, smiling brightly.

“Rebecca-ssi. You came?”

“Yes. Why are you in my room? Did you come to borrow pregnancy-related books? Those are over there in the corner.”

“No. … What is all this?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Tomorrow is the decisive day! This is preparation for it! If we perform the ritual here and then have sex, you’ll get pregnant much more easily!”

It was true that a full moon was rising tomorrow… but what did that have to do with this?

“A ritual? Where on earth did you hear about such things?”

“From a shaman!”

“….”

Ttaak-

Hearing Rebecca’s words, Lee Hoyeon snapped his fingers.

Simultaneously, the ritual items neatly placed in Rebecca’s room floated up into the air.

“Aaaaaah! Baby’s Daddy! No!”

Lee Hoyeon grabbed the shoulders of the thrashing Rebecca.

Every time she tossed her head, her red hair kept poking his face.

“Rebecca-ssi. It’s okay even without doing this. Let’s do exercises instead. What era do you think this is…”

Shamanism in a world where magic cars fly around?

This is too much.

“Sob… It just shows how serious I am about getting pregnant…”

“Here, do this instead.”

Lee Hoyeon picked up a book lying discarded in the corner and offered it to Rebecca.

It was a book titled ‘Exercises to Promote Pregnancy’.

This would be far more scientific.

“But even doing these exercises, I haven’t gotten pregnant, you know.”

“Until now, you didn’t know you could only get pregnant on the full moon, right? Now, let’s throw these things out.”

Lee Hoyeon threw the ritual items into the trash can one by one.

Having ominous things like this in the house only makes the mood worse.

“Then will you help me a lot tomorrow?”

“Of course. Don’t worry and rest. Stop doing strange things and let’s eat dinner too.”

He did understand Rebecca’s feelings.

He knew she was trying to bring back the Rune tribe, but he disliked rituals in a world filled with magic.

“Can you do it all day?”

“Huh?”

“Since it’s only once a month, we have to take as many chances as possible…! So we have to do it all day!”

“Uh…”

‘Is that so?’

Come to think of it, since there’s only one chance, it seems like the right thing to do to provide as much semen as possible.

“Then, I’ll trust only you, Baby’s Daddy, and won’t do the ritual. Thank you!”

Lee Hoyeon belatedly nodded his head.

All day sex… Surely she doesn’t mean literally 24 hours, right?