episode_0114

“Are you awake?”

“Yeah.”

Erio said that and quietly straightened his disheveled clothes.

But is it because I’m not used to wearing a yukata?

No matter how much I moved my hands, my clothes did not get neater and instead became more disheveled.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, please.”

When Do Yu-jin, who was frustrated, spoke first, Erio looked at him as if he had been waiting for him and raised both arms to the left and right.

Swish- Swish-

Since Doyujin had already roughly checked the structure of the yukata with his eyes, he skillfully arranged Erio’s outfit.

Even though the part covering their chests was barely open, neither of them moved.

Erio had never felt embarrassed about this in the first place, and Doyujin had been used to it by now, as it was her daily routine to tidy up her clothes every morning.

“Okay, it’s over.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Erio briefly touched the part that Doyujin had finally organized and then said.

“I was waiting for Eugene because he said he would be here soon, but I got worried when he didn’t come, so I came to look for him.”

As Erio said this, he gently shook the device wrapped around his wrist.

There, just before leaving the village, a text message that had been sent to Erio in case of an emergency was shining.

“It would have been okay if I had just waited.”

“No.”

Erio said firmly.

“I am Eugene’s guardian.”

Do Yu-jin was slightly taken aback by the news she heard for the first time in her life, but soon came to understand.

‘While I was traveling, I felt like you were strangely trying to stay close to me. Was that what you were thinking?’

Sigh-

‘I guess I shocked him too much at the club festival.’

Do Yu-jin scratched her cheek and then asked.

“So you came all the way here?”

“Yeah, originally I was wandering around because I couldn’t find any sign of it.”

Dismissed-!

“I suddenly felt a noise in the middle of the road, so I came to look for you.”

It seems that he sensed a presence at the timing when he was releasing [The One Who Walks Through the Transparent World (5★)] while using [The Ultimate Summoning (9★)].

‘No, but even so, in that short period of time, you were able to pinpoint my exact location in this vast mountain and come all the way here?’

While Do Yu-jin was once again amazed by the main character’s abilities, Erio asked quietly.

“You’ve been here alone the whole time?”

Hearing that, Do Yu-jin tried to nod while wiping away the small goosebumps that had appeared on her skin with her hand.

It was natural for that to happen.

Do Yu-jin kept her identity and purpose a secret from Erio.

That would be the case, because he had no intention of giving Erio a reason to notice the secret connection between Doyujin and the ghost.

‘Yuna knew that too, so she probably left after giving me a warning out of consideration.’

That is, the correct answer here and now was to nod as if nothing had happened and say yes.

But why is that?

“Why?”

Do Yu-jin’s head only rattled and did not move up and down.

As if something was stuck between the gears, preventing them from turning, something stuck like a thorn in my chest was preventing me from nodding.

‘Why?’

At the same time that he was feeling puzzled, a somewhat strange thought occurred to Do Yu-jin.

‘Even though my words were a bit harsh, I called him ‘dad’ anyway.’

And Do Yu-jin nodded and accepted Yu-na’s words.

It was no different from saying that he would accept and treat Yuna as a family member, rather than treating her as a summoned creature like before.

‘Parents… … ‘

It was a familiar word.

Because it was a word that I had buried in a corner of my heart, not only when I was young, but even now.

But when I went from being the speaker to the listener, those familiar words felt even more awkward.

But there was no problem.

Fortunately, he already knew the ideal type of parent who could be a solid, unwavering guidepost.

‘And if there are two of you… … ‘

Do Yu-jin thought, feeling the string of the contract and the small emotions flowing through him.

‘Obviously, no matter what the situation, he would have cared about me, his child, before himself.’

The moment Do Yu-jin thought about it that way, she naturally knew exactly what she had to do.

◎ ◎ ◎

Swish-

“I still can’t feel anything.”

Yuna, sitting on a tree branch, muttered in an indifferent voice.

Even though her voice sounded lonely at first glance, her face was simply calm.

The smile that had been on his lips until just a moment ago had long since disappeared.

All I could see of her now were the black eyes that reminded me of the abyss I had briefly seen in the beginning, and an expressionless face as cold as ice.

‘It’s amazing. I only separated from one person for a little while, but my condition changed so much.’

Yuna also felt this change in herself.

And why did this change happen to you?

‘Is it dad… … ‘

The being in the abyss wanted to communicate with the mysterious human and have a small self that could look at his world with the same eyes as him.

Is that why?

Yuna was unknowingly greatly influenced by Do Yu-jin, and in fact, that was the reason why the first thing that came to mind when she saw Do Yu-jin was the word “dad.”

Because the word written most prominently in Do Yu-jin’s heart was family.

Up to this point, it seemed like a true father and daughter had been born, simply caring for each other and thinking deeply about each other.

Actually, that wasn’t wrong, but…

Swish-

The truth was a little more twisted there.

‘dad……’

Red letters written on white paper instantly change the atmosphere of the paper and the space, and strongly capture the attention of those around them.

For Yuna, who was ignorant of the world, others, and herself, the emotions Do Yu-jin felt through the contract were incredibly intense.

To the point where, without even realizing it, he ended up giving all his attention to Do Yu-jin, his only family member.

And this means, conversely, that I have become uninterested in anything except Do Yu-jin.

Even this interest was influenced by the previously mentioned secret story of Yuna’s birth and the sticky curse that Do Yu-jin had been worried about.

‘Hehehe, dad… … ♥’

In this way, it transformed into an even heavier and stickier emotion than the original and coiled itself deep inside her heart.

Perhaps that was why the world that had been so colorful just a moment ago seemed to Yuna like a fake painted in black and white.

‘Ahhh~ I miss Dad.’

The moment Do Yu-jin first saw Yuna, a famous sword came to mind.

Well, the words that Yuna said afterwards were so shocking that even Do Yujin herself ended up forgetting that image, but in fact, at that time, Do Yujin’s eyes had accurately pierced Yuna’s inner self.

Yuna’s inner self was similar to a sword.

It shines with incredible transparency and spreads a cool aura around it.

Slashes all targets that come near it.

But only to one person, the one who held him and waved him around, he obeyed like a cute puppy and waggled his tail.

‘Tch, if I had known it would be this hard, I would have just risked my dad being in a bit of trouble and stayed nearby.’

Well, there were some slightly rough parts like this, but let’s just skip over them.

Because she was almost like a child who had just come into the world.

‘I don’t want to see the two of you together, so I’ll stay here a little longer and then go back.’

At that moment, Yuna quietly leaned against the tree, closed her eyes, and tried to recall the memory from a little while ago.

“Oh, you’re here.”

A very familiar voice pierced into her ear.

At first, Yuna thought it was the sound of a memory playing in her head.

But she soon realized that wasn’t the case.

“Huh? Are you sleeping?”

“Huh?”

Yuna opened her eyes with a surprised expression when she heard a line she didn’t remember saying just a moment ago.

“Dad?”

Yuna, who was looking around like that, was surprised to see Do Yu-jin, who should have been returning to the dorm with Erio by now, in front of her.

Why is dad here?

By any chance, Erio, is that woman coming here too?

Then should I go somewhere else from here without being caught?

When many thoughts were swirling around in Yuna’s head.

“Okay, grab it.”

Do Yu-jin reached out to her as if to reassure her or to tell her that it was okay.

Yuna instinctively tried to grab his hand, but hesitated slightly and asked.

“Why are you here?”

“Um… … ”

Do Yu-jin, who had been thinking for a moment, smiled and said.

“As you said, I’m still a sloppy dad with many shortcomings… … ”

She stared blankly at that smile.

Is it because of the contract?

A face shining in the moonlight.

The corners of her lips went up to reassure her.

Eyes looking at her with a bit of bitterness.

To others, Do Yu-jin’s face would have looked blurry, as if obscured by fog, but now, to Yu-na, it was clearer and clearer.

“But still, I’m your father.”